Hello! For those of you who may not know who I am, I’m Raninia, the producer on The Lord of the Rings: Online. Severlin hasn’t gone anywhere, but I’m now picking up the duties of writing these letters and keeping you all abreast of the goings-on with the game.

Which brings me to another change being made to these letters –moving forward, these letters will come quarterly, and they’ll cover the next quarter. So today, I’ll be informing you what we’re planning to do from January through the end of March. Next time –which should be around March –I'll give a preview of what’s coming between April through the end of June, and so on.

Ok, on to the meaty stuff you’re here for!

Our first big update of 2022 – Update 32 - is expected for mid-February, and will begin our celebration of our upcoming 15-year anniversary, and bring with it several things:

First, beyond the Falls of Amgaruslun in the Clovengap lies Abnankâra, the Hiddenhoard. Once a grand treasury housing the golden coffers of Durin the Deathless, it has been claimed by Hrímil Frost-heart as her lair within Mount Gundabad. Within this frozen retreat, Hrímil tends her wounds and slumbers, dreaming of vengeance upon Prince Durin and the Dwarves of the Gabil'akkâ. We’re really excited for you all to experience the awesome conclusion of this storyline as we look towards the future. Look forward to seeing this 12-player raid on Bullroarer soon.



Second, we’re bringing player housing to Erebor! One of Smaug's last treasure hoards has been opened and the Dwarves of Erebor have moved to reclaim it. Join them in owning a piece of Middle-earth, in the Great Hall under the Mountain! This new premium neighborhood will include 12 Base Premium Houses, 1 Special Base Premium House, 6 Deluxe Premium Houses, and 1 Premium Kinship house, along with a full suite of town services and social spaces for you to enjoy with your kinship and neighbors! In addition to the new neighborhood, Erebor housing introduces new exterior music and dayfile hook types to allow players even more customization options for their homes! We also intend to extend the usage of housing permissions to allow players to make their yards fully private from uninvited guests.

Third, and long awaited, is our Legendary Item Reward Track! Each season of the Reward Track is planned to run for three months, and will give rewards based on your play that will help you progress your Legendary Items and a few other goodies as well. After each season, the rewards will refresh and you’ll be able to progress anew. All of your characters on a world will contribute to your reward track progress on that world –that means your main and your alts all help towards earning awesome rewards!

Fourth, we’ll also introduce a new area: the Angle of Mitheithel. Stretching south from the Trollshaws to the junction of the Bruinen and Mitheithel rivers is a wild land of rocky hills and deep pine-woods, and a graveyard of ancient kingdoms. The ruins of Elvesand Men alike crumble among the trees, and the Rangers steal through the shadows of the trees, ever watchful, carrying out secret assignments as the north grows more dangerous by the day. The Angle of Mitheithel will be for levels 40 to 45.

Finally, Update 32 will see the return of the Spring Festival with new pets and housing rewards!

During this time, we’ll also be making progress on our Legendary Worlds of Shadowfax and Treebeard. On January 5th, Treebeard will be making its first jump, entering the fabled Mines of Moria, and Shadowfax will continue progressing, this time to the dangerous lands of Isengard. Two months later, on March 2nd, Shadowfax will be entering the vast plains of Rohan! We’ll have more news on when Anor will be making its way to Minas Morgul in my next letter.

Besides all that, we’ll continue with our ongoing work to improve performance and lag, make adjustments to class balance, continue fixing bugs, and further refine the new Legendary Item system. These various things will arrive just about every patch.

I’m really excited for you all to see all of the progress we’re making and the updates we’ll be releasing in this quarter, and I’m also excited to hear how folks feel about the new format of these letters. We’re extremely thrilled tocelebrate our 15-year anniversary this year, and we’re working on fifteen more!

-Raninia

Available through Monday, November 29th, 2021:


Temporary Release: Bombur's Bounty!

A bundle of useful things including Mithril and boosts! Available through Monday, November 29th!

Double Bonus Points is Back!

Get twice the Bonus Points in the LOTRO Store through Monday November 29th!

Black Friday Sales in the LOTRO Store:

• 75% off Stat Tome Bundles
  
• 50% off Stable Master Stands
  
• 35% off Virtue Acceleration Tomes

Now through Monday November 29th!

Also on sale:

Forge Your Own Ring! Get 20% off:

• Crafting Guild Access
  
• Ingredient Packs
  
• Crafting Accelerators
  
• Rapid Crafting, Crafting Tiers, and Recipe Books

Available through Thursday December 2nd

Weekly Coupon

Free Fall Injury Immunity x5

Coupon Code: GETUPAGAIN

Now through Thursday December 2nd!


There is not much time left to redeem your Coupon Code to get ALL of our currently-available quest packs for FREE! Use the Coupon Code LOTROQUESTS2021 through Redeem Code in the LOTRO Store or learn more here: LOTRO.com/getready. The Coupon Code is available to redeem 1/Account through Tuesday, November 30th, 2021!

Following the grueling battles and heavy tolls of the initial assault, Prince Durin and his allies now regroup and prepare their final offensive on the mountain-home of Gundabad, seeking to reclaim their ancestral legacy from the corruption of the Orcs, hobgoblins, and Angmarim that have been infesting it. As the great dwarven army musters, tensions remain high between the Longbeards, Stout-axes, and Zhélruka, threatening to break the already fragile alliance before they can recover and restore their birthright. Meanwhile, thought to be fractured and pushed back by the dwarven victories, the host of Orc-Chieftain Gorgar the Ruthless now unites under the true Lord of Gundabad - the fearsome, great dragon Hrímil Frost-heart - who will stop at nothing to bring an end to Prince Durin and his followers.

Battle as the new Brawler class, take on new foes, forge new Legendary Weapons, and stand at last against Gorgar the Ruthless and Hrímil Frost-heart in a final, decisive battle. Achieve victory and Gundabad will belong to the dwarves once again, and forever! The latest Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Fate of Gundabad, is available now!

Read more about Update 31: Fate of Gundabad in our Release Notes: https://www.lotro.com/en/content/update-31-release-notes

Here are the Release Notes for Update 30: Blood of Azog, released on Tuesday, June 8th, 2021.


Interlude: Blood of Azog

After the escape of Gorgar, son of Bolg, and the sealing of the gates of Mount Gundabad by Hrímil Frost-heart, Prince Durin faces his first true test as the leader of the Gabil'akkâ. As Durin weighs whether it will be vengeance or wisdom that guides his hand, Lord Glóin's thoughts turn to conflicts of old. All too familiar with the triumphs and sorrows of Durin's Folk, Glóin hopes that a lesson in history might temper Prince Durin's desire to bring the War of Three Peaks to an end heedless of all cost.

Blood of Azog introduces a new story set after the events of the War of Three Peaks that allows the player to experience historical moments in Middle-earth’s history as Prince Durin and the Gabil'akkâ make ready to reclaim Mount Gundabad. Meet new characters, see additional Dwarf-folk clans, and prepare for the adventures to come in Gundabad! Players can begin this story by talking to Glóin inside Annâk-khurfu in Elderslade. The Blood of Azog is FREE to VIPs and available to purchase in the LOTRO Store as a Quest Pack inside of the game.

Tales of Yore: Azanulbizar

Among the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain, studious scholars have kept detailed accounts of the history of Durin’s Folk. Within these lengthy volumes is the tale of the Sixth War of the Dwarves and Orcs, which ended with the Battle of Azanulbizar. Players will experience the momentous events of the battle as their own characters, but through the eyes of Hermáth Stormhammer, a hero of Durin’s Folk, as recounted in his written works. Players can begin the Tales of Yore: Azanulbizar content by following the Blood of Azog interlude questline from Glóin at Annâk-khurfu in Elderslade. Players who wish to jump immediately into Azanulbizar, can travel to Akrâz-zahar in the Dwelling-halls of Erebor and click on the Tales of Yore: Azanulbizar collection of books to travel to the new quest area.

As part of the addition of Azanulbizar, T.A. 2799, Update 30 also includes a small visual update to The Lord of the Rings Online’s Dimrill Dale, first introduced in the Mines of Moria Expansion.

Raid: The Fall of Khazad-dûm

Although the fate of Khazad-dûm was all but certain by the year 1981 of the Third Age, the Dwarves of Durin's Folk resolved to make a final stand against the Balrog of Morgoth better known as 'Durin's Bane'. In this new 12-player raid, players will join King Náin I and his vanguard, including Nafni, as they valiantly attempt to drive Durin's Bane from the Second Hall. Can the Dwarves of Durin's Folk prevail against this ancient foe or do they merely delay the inevitable? Witness a battle against Durin's Bane like you've never seen before in the Lord of the Rings Online!

Players can gain access to this new raid by approaching the gates of Khazad-dûm at Azanulbizar. In addition, players who have finished the main questline in Tales of Yore: Azanulbizar are granted an additional quest to complete the raid and earn unique rewards!

Tiers 1-3 are now available! The "Leading the Charge" Deeds will be available to earn through August 11th, 2021. UPDATE: We are shifting the start date for Tiers 4 and 5 of the Update 30 raid The Fall of Khazad-dûm. Tier 4 will now be available starting at Noon Eastern on July 1st, and Tier 5 will be available starting at Noon Eastern on July 15th. The Deed-gated raid gear being made available for Embers is expected to become available around mid-August. The Leading the Charge deeds will no longer be available after 3:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on August 26th.

• Beorning
  
• Expose is now a target debuff that increases incoming damage by about 7.5% for melee and 5% for ranged. In human form it buffs Tactical and Ranged instead.
  
• Vigilant Roar no longer taunts by default, and instead only taunts when the first rank of the Vigilant Roar trait is taken (similar to Biting Edge).
  
• Vicious Claws (tank version only) can no longer miss, nor be blocked, parried, or evaded.
  
• Damage has been increased for the following skills:
  
• Slam
  
• Nature's Vengeance (initial hit)
  
• Bee Swarm (initial hit)
  
• Vicious Claws, particularly in red line.
  
• Grisly Cry
  
• Vigilant Roar
  
• Thrash, particularly for its lower tiers
  
• Expose
  
• Bash
  
• Execute
  
• Cooldown on non-combat resurrection has been reduced from 20 seconds to one second.
  
• Burglar
  
• In line with some other classes that have seen reductions in raid debuff skills, a few of the yellow line trickster debuffs are being similarly trimmed.
  
• Trickster debuff reductions:
  
• Trick: Dust in the Eyes has had its maximum miss rate reduced from ~39% to ~15%.
  
• Trick: Disable Damage reduction has been lowered from -15% to -10%. and the Attack Speed reduction has been lowered from -20% to -10%.
  
• Disable has been reworked to correct various buffs.
  
• Finesse's debuff is now -33% of the target's Finesse, rather than a level scaled value.
  
• Legendary Item bonus to Addle tactical damage has been reduced to 5%, unimbued bonus to induction time reduced to 16%.
  
• Burglar Bob & Weave and Relish Battle trait heals tick faster (1/second).
  
• Captain
  
• The Captain's ability to maintain high and extended degrees of invulnerability has made them irreplaceable in high challenge content, so we've needed to limit a few of their most powerful abilities.
  
• Yellow Line:
  
• Captain Yellow line morale bonus reduced from 25->10%.
  
• Shield of the Dunedain LI legacy cooldown bonus reduced from (+10->+5s) (total duration reduced from 20->15s), Shield of the Dunedain can only be used on others.
  
• Stand Tall Duration bonus reduced from (+10->+3s), Proc cooldown reduced from (1.0,2.0,3.0->1.0s,1.5s.2.0s)
  
• Red Line
  
• Telling Mark base effect reduced from 5% to 3%, The traited bonus has been reduced from 5% to 2%, total 10% to 5%.
  
• As a 100% uptime debuff with no action time cost, Telling Mark's group effect was too powerful.
  
• Kick can no longer miss, nor be blocked, parried, or evaded.
  
• Fixed: Captain banner heralds were not correctly inheriting offensive bonuses from their summoner.
  
• Fixed an old 'Make Haste' duration change that was never processed correctly.
  
• A few captain buffs are now raid-wide. As part of this change Motivating Speech needed to be turned into a duration buff in order to make it raid-wide. Motivating Speech now has a five minute duration with a one minute cooldown.
  
• Champion:
  
• Clobber can no longer miss, nor be blocked, parried, or evaded.
  
• Guardian
  
• Protection by the Sword's group melee damage buff has been increased from 2% to 5%.
  
• Sting has had its cooldown reduced from 3 seconds to 2.5 seconds, which will allow it to be more conveniently slipped between skills with longer attack executions.
  
• Heavy Weapons Training now increases skill damage by 10%, up from 5%.
  
• Relentless Assault now grants a modest amount of Finesse.
  
• The following skills have received a damage boost, listed approximately from the smallest boost to the largest boost:
  
• Brutal Assault
  
• Whirling Retaliation
  
• Redirect
  
• War-chant
  
• Hammer Down
  
• Shield-blow
  
• Smashing Stab
  
• Bash
  
• To the King
  
• Sweeping Cut
  
• Shield-swipe
  
• Force Opening
  
• Overwhelm
  
• Guardian's Ward
  
• Stamp
  
• Turn the Tables
  
• Stamp can no longer miss or be blocked, parried, or evaded.
  
• Hunter
  
• Hail of Arrows has been fixed to properly proc 50% of the time at the first skill tier, and 100% of the time at the 2nd.
  
• Blindside no longer causes the player character to move into melee range with their target if Combat Movement Assist is active.
  
• Blindside can no longer be parried, bringing it into alignment with other ranged Hunter skills.
  
• Lore-master
  
• The magnitude of fire and frost lore debuffs were considerably above where we were comfortable with them being for large group content, so Fire Lore's traited effect has been reduced from 35% to 15% and Frost Lore has had its traited effect reduced from 30% to 15%.
  
• Wind Lore has had its effect increased from 1/2/3% to 3/4/5%.
  
• Wind Lore's duration has been increased to 30 seconds to free up other skills for rotation.
  
• The following skills and effects have received an approximate 20% increase in damage:
  
• Burning/Searing Embers (direct and DOT)
  
• Wizard's Fire
  
• Test of Will
  
• Gust of Wind
  
• Cracked Earth
  
• The interaction between the trait Fierce Lightning and the skill Lightning Storm has been refactored to address frame rate drops caused by the skill.
  
• The tooltip for Lightning Storm no longer erroneously states that the skill consume Morale.
  
• Minstrel
  
• Anthems should now be Raid-wide.
  
• Anthem of War's unimbued Legendary Item bonus to physical/ranged has been reduced from about 10% to about 5%, and Anthem of War's base Tactical bonus has been reduced from 15% to 10%.
  
• The tooltip for Major Ballad now correctly states that it is a damaging skill in the Dissonance form instead of the Resonance form.
  
• Rune-keeper
  
• Most red line skills have received a damage increase.
  
• Mystifying Flames now affects all incoming damage, not just fire. Its damage multiplier has been reduced from 15% to 5%.
  
• Mystifying flame no longer stacks different tiers on a single target.
  
• Mystifying Flames and Molten Flame are no longer able to be resisted.
  
• Fiery Ridicule's damage over time has been changed from seven pulses/2 seconds to 7 pulses/3 seconds, along with an increase in damage per tick.
  
• Essence of Flame has had its cooldown decreased from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
  
• The induction on Essay of Fire has been decreased to 2 seconds.
  
• Smouldering Wrath has had its cooldown increased from 15 to 17 seconds.
  
• Frost affinity now grants +20% outgoing healing rather than force setting the bonus value to 20%, which prevented any other bonuses from stacking.
  
• Warden
  
• Shield Slam can no longer miss nor be blocked, parried, or evaded.
  
• Combat
  
• Update 30's new raid introduces a new mechanic called Revive Counters, which put a limit on the number of revives available to accept during boss fights in the new raid at Tier 2 and above. During boss fights, you may see a "Revives Available" icon in your buff bar, which will track the number of revives available for the entire Fellowship. Accepting a revive effect decrements the counter. If the counter is currently at zero, all revive skills will become greyed out. During the fight, your Fellowship will receive additional revive tokens, up to a maximum of five.
  
• Various difficulties start with additional revives and timers:
  
• T1: N/A
  
• T2: 3 Revives, +1/60 seconds
  
• T3: 2 Revives, +1/120 seconds
  
• T4: 1 Revives, +1/180 seconds
  
• T5: 1 Revives, +1/240 seconds
  
• When a boss fight ends, all revive tokens clear.
  
• All boss and encounter monsters in level 130 group instances have had their damage output reduced to offset the adjustments to player-cast outgoing damage debuffs.

• Players can obtain a new recipe from their Craft Guild Improved Recipes vendors. The output of this recipe can be disenchanted for several Ithilgalad Crafting Components.
  
• The Doomfold recipe for "Braised Oxtail with Roasted Potatoes" now requires the Westfold recipe "Loaf of Barley Bread" as a component. Previously, it required the Apprentice recipe "Barley Bread", which is gated behind Men of Bree reputation.
  
• Housing
  
• When you 'Sell' a premium house, you will now receive 90% of the purchase price in premium housing writs, up from 70%.
  
• Enormous Yard Items should now render at a greater distance.
  
• Using the housing decoration Gammer's Cozy Hobbit Bed will now randomly change the bedding color to one of 8 different options.
  
• The Small Obsidian Wall Carving housing decoration has been made just a bit smaller, to better fit its small wall decoration hook.
  
• The Door to Mazarbul Replica and Free-standing Door to Mazarbul Replica housing decorations will now open and close on use. You may wish to remove and replace these items on their decoration hooks in order to properly update the physics.
  
• Fixed some gloss and glow issues for several housing floor surfaces.
  
• Items
  
• Anniversary, Eagle, and Summerdays Fireworks can now be used while mounted.
  
• Adventurer's gear, when opened at level 130, will now create at item level 432, with the chance to create at up to item level 434.
  
• Crafting materials received from Adventurer's lootboxes will now drop in slightly greater stack sizes.
  
• A Small Cache of Ithilgalad Crafting Components is now available as a rare crafting resource drop from Adventurer's lootboxes, while the Elderslade Supply Pack has been removed as a possible drop.

• Rowan Raspberry has returned and has new cosmetic items available for figments of splendour, including avatar cosmetics, housing decorations, cosmetic pets, and a steed and matching war-steed appearances.

• Remmorchant, the Net of Darkness
  
• Shelob - Shelob's Enrage timer has been increased to 20/21/22/23 minutes on Tier 2/3/4/5, respectively.
  
• Thossulun the Massive - Acidic Ichor Pool's duration has been increased from 30 to 50 seconds.
  
• The spawn of the next Daughter after one is killed has been delayed by 20 seconds.
  
• Bâr Nírnaeth, the Houses of Lamentation - Slightly lowered the damage of Torment, Flense, and Shadow-burst.
  
• All Boss and encounter monsters in level 130 group instances have had their damage outputs reduced to offset the adjustments to player-cast outgoing damage debuffs.
  
• Adjustments related to balance have been made to the following Instances: Shadow Roost, The Harrowing of Morgul, Shakalush, the Stair Battle, and Remmorchant. Additional, some tank DOTS have been reduced in Shakalush, the Stair Battle.
  
• War of Three Peaks - Quest: A Crack in the Iron Crown - Bandrauth Adder-fang has been reduced to Signature difficulty.
  
• Gabil'akkâ Stable-masters are now named 'Mission Recruiters' and will allow lower-level players to access assorted Mission content across Middle-earth.
  
• The Mission Recruiter Stablemasters have networked! You can now travel between Trestlebridge, Elderslade, and Erebor for your daily mission needs.
  
• Yule Festival - Quests - A Mission to Bring Good Cheer: It is now possible to use Mithril Coins to return to Mara Sandydowns.
  
• Eryn Lasgalen - Quests - New Thievery/Ambushed on the River: It is now possible to use Mithril Coins to return to Lorndúr.
  
• Elderslade - The Master of Tur Agal: Breaking combat will no longer cause Bandrauth to become unresponsive.
  
• The Wastes - Camp of the Host: Players will no longer get stuck on invisible objects at certain points in the Camp of the Host.
  
• Midsummer - Quest: A Cure for All Ills: Disciplining noisy revellers on Ioreth's behalf in the Houses of Healing is now more Fellowship-friendly.
  
• Several stuck spots in Minas Morgul and Elderslade have been fixed.
  
• A floating staircase has been grounded in Erebor.
  
• Some region impassability has been refined in parts of The Wastes.
  
• Wildwood - Release the Hounds - The quest's location has been corrected from southwestern Wildwood to the southeastern Wildwood.

• Virtues can now go up to rank 75 at level 130.

• Elf female avatars now use their correct base idle.
  
• Torch-carrying Elf/High-elf Rune-keepers no longer T-Pose.
  
• The game credits have been updated.

• Credits in the German Client will temporarily appear in English.
  
• Players who previously had the Free-standing Door to Mazarbul slotted in their house may experience physics issues around the door. Removing and re-slotting the item will correct these issues.
  
• The name for the new raid chest - Chest of Durin's Bane - has accidentally overwritten the names for the Chest of the Beasts (Tier 1 - 5) from Amdân Dammul, the Bloody Threshold. Therefore, if you run both raids, the chest locks info panel for these two chests from different raids will incorrectly show the same name.
  
• The quest 'Fondness for Festivity (Intro)' will not bestow if you accept the quest 'In Celebration of Midsummer' before accepting the quest 'The Majesty of Midsummer'. If you have already accepted 'In Celebration of Midsummer', cancel the quest, accept 'The Majesty of Midsummer', and then re-accept 'In Celebration of Midsummer' to correct this issue. A fix for this issue ill be part of an upcoming patch.

LOTRO is celebrating it's 10 year Anniversary all April long.
Follow us on Twitch, Facebook, and Twitter to stay in the know of all the events.
Check out our 10th Anniversary Celebrations pages here:
10 Year Celebration - English Version
10 Year Celebration - German Version
10 Year Celebration - French Version


For a limited time: Now - April 28th
Use Coupon Code CORDOVANMAN (1/Account) and get 1 Reveller's Gilded Cloak, Free!

12 hour live stream
Make sure to follow us on Twitch to get notified when we go live with our
12-hr live stream, scheduled for April 25th from Noon-Midnight (EST) - We'd really enjoy
having you there!

Journey through The Wastes!

Update 20, The Battle of the Black Gate, features more than ninety quests in three new regions: the Noman-lands, Dagorlad, and the Slag-hills. Discover new adventures beginning in the Camp of the Host.

The Black Gate

Epic Volume IV, Book 8 is now available. Experience the Host of the West’s climactic confrontation with Sauron’s forces at the Battle of the Black Gate, as Aragorn seeks to draw Sauron’s Eye away from his true peril…

Want to learn more? Take a look at the detailed release notes:


EN release notes
DE release notes
FR release notes

Journey through The Wastes!

Update 20, The Battle of the Black Gate, features more than ninety quests in three new regions: the Noman-lands, Dagorlad, and the Slag-hills. Discover new adventures beginning in the Camp of the Host.

The Black Gate

Epic Volume IV, Book 8 is now available. Experience the Host of the West’s climactic confrontation with Sauron’s forces at the Battle of the Black Gate, as Aragorn seeks to draw Sauron’s Eye away from his true peril…

Want to learn more? Take a look at the detailed release notes:


EN release notes
DE release notes
FR release notes

Update 19.3 brings many changes that our community manager, Cordovan, has posted on our official forums!

Changes to Player housing, Chat Channels, and more!

Release notes

Update 19.3 brings many changes that our community manager, Cordovan, has posted on our official forums!

Changes to Player housing, Chat Channels, and more!

Release notes

Introducing the new Stablemasters Collection: displays all Stable-masters you have discovered, and helps you find those you have yet to discover!

Read the official release notes for more information on what has been updated with this release.

EN Release notes