Here are the Release Notes for Update 44.2.1, released on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

• We have implemented some fixes that aim to correct an issue that causes characters and pets to get stuck in a "flying" animation.
  
• We have implemented some fixes that aim to correct an issue that requires us to undergo twice-weekly restarts on four of our 64-bit game worlds. Note that we will continue to undergo these twice-weekly restarts for now.
  
• Dun Shûma, The King's Fortress
  
• Fixed an issue where Weaponmaster Mâkhragab was not taking reduced damage during Whirling Death.
  
• Reduced the health of Weaponmaster Mâkhragab, Raghtâ Sai, Methân Sai and Kâlach Hûl.
  
• Iti-mêlim can no longer use Terrifying Roar while stealthed.
  
• The Serpent's Glare laser will now despawn after 30 seconds and respawn when the boss uses the ability again.
  
• Fixed an issue where Weaponmaster Mâkhragab and Zidunâm, the Spirit-caller encounters could improperly reset if players wipe just as the boss is defeated.
  
• The Ordâkhai Trader Cache will now be bound to account as intended. Unbound Trader Caches that already exist will bind as soon as they enter your inventory.
  
• Quest - Gundabad: Defending the Shielded Citadel can now be properly completed.
  
• It is now easier to catch the correct fish when next to Dúdrad during the West Rohan quest Edoras: The Last Cast.

Here are the Release Notes for Update 44.2, released on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.


We have corrected an issue with Kinship Escrow during character transfer. Kinship Escrow will now correctly transfer with the guild leader, and can be found in the Escrow on the target game world. Items previously lost from Kinship Escrow during kinship leader transfers will still need to be addressed by Customer Service.

We have corrected an issue with Premium House Storage losing some items during house sale (including on transfer). All eligible items from this per-house storage will now properly move to escrow when selling Premium Housing. Items previously lost when selling a Premium House will be returned to Housing Escrow storage upon first login following this game update.

On Shared Items (account) transfer, items in Premium House Storage will now move into Shared Housing Storage during the transfer. This allows the items to be accessed on the destination game world without requiring ownership of a specific house address.

These changes REQUIRE players to log into their current game world prior to further transfers. Failing to do so will permanently disassociate missing items from your game account, and customer support will not be able to assist. Therefore, it is extremely important that players log into a game world once this fix is in place prior to any further transfers. We also always recommend that players log into a character on their origin world prior to transfer when possible.


Our newest 64-bit game world opens later today! https://www.lotro.com/news/lotro-sting-opens-en.


Myrtle Mint now offers new rewards, and Adventurer's and Traveler's Steel-bound Lootboxes have been updated.


The 14th Legendary Items Reward Track has arrived with new rewards! Make sure to claim your rewards prior to debut of the 15th Legendary Items Reward Track at 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on Wednesday, August 20th, 2025. New rewards include the Incomparable Coffer of the Jade Speckled Serpent, Legendary Coffer of the Heroes of the Dwarven Halls, Legendary Coffer of the Elvish Outpost, and the Legendary Coffer of the Striped Jerboa. 

The Leading the Charge Deed for Dun Shûma, The King's Fortress runs until 3:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on June 26th.

• Two wights that would sometimes aggro on Lalia before the missing begins in "Lalia's Safe Passage" have been removed.
  
• Several wights in "Lalia's Safe Passage" have been moved further back from Lalia's path to ease the difficulty on non-Delving difficulty.
  
• All ideal Locations for "Sparking an Interest" in front of the Prancing Pony should now be available more frequently.
  
• The Anniversary Event wrapper "Another Lovely Year" can now be turned in to Waldo Rumble after the completion of 7 Anniversary Quests and/or Anniversary Missions. NOTE: This fix requires the quest to be reset. Current quest progress has been lost with the release of Update 44.2.
  
• The objectives at the end of "A Gift for the North" have been adjusted for clarity.

• Rowan Raspberry has retired for the season.
  
• Adventurer's and Traveller's Steel-bound Lootboxes contain new "Able Angler" cosmetic items including avatar cosmetics, a steed and matching war-steed cosmetics, a bear cosmetic pet, and new housing items including a chair and painting. These items are also available on Myrtle Mint for Figments of Splendour.
  
• Adventurer's and Traveller's Steel-bound Lootboxes also now contain a Pack of the Able Angler and Desk of the Able Angler. These items are not yet available for barter.
  
• The following cosmetics and housing items are now available on on Myrtle Mint for Figments of Splendour: Mask of the Silent Hunter, Cloak of the Silent Hunter, Hooded Cloak of the Silent Hunter, Settee of the Silent Hunter, & Garden Perch of the Silent Hunter.
  
• A number of items have been moved from Myrtle Mint onto The Curator. 

• Warning indicators for Charging Lions should now render regardless of your "Dynamic Particle Rendering" setting selection.
  
• Bugfixes and Tuning Adjustments:
  
• Weaponmaster Mâkhragab
  
• Reduced Induction time of these skills: Command: Loose, Command: Throw, and Cruel Dagger.
  
• Fixed an issue where players were not always being freed from Pinning Spear.
  
• Fixed an issue where players were not released if the boss dies while they are pinned.
  
• Ushdâla, Lady of the Pride
  
• Reduced the cooldown on Ravenous Lioness' Vicious Claw
  
• Reduced the cooldown on Unleash the Pride
  
• Reduced the cooldown on Shoot to Kill
  
• Increased Damage of Focused Shot (Distributed)
  
• Zidunâm, the Serpent Reborn
  
• Fixed an issue where the Serpent's Glare beam was not visible after a wipe.
  
• Reduced the cooldown on Serpent's Cry
  
• Increased Damage of Coiled Strike

• The Black Serpent Scale > Sand-worn Copper Token exchange no longer erroneously requires 10 Copper Tokens in addition to the scale.
  
• The Guardian set "Claymore of the West" now correctly improves the Damage of all Bleeds.
  
• Shields found in Dun Shuma chests can now correctly disenchant into Embers of Enchantment.
  
• The Temple of Utug-bûr: Garash will no longer summon fragments during the normal stages of the fight.
  
• The Subuzûri and Ekhamâti forces at Garash Kâru in Ambarûl now play combat sounds when you approach them. 
  
• Elder Roshat in Khûtra on the Cape of Umbar no longer despawns if you leave the Elder Hall without accepting "The Wellspring" quest. 
  
• Gorthorogs should no longer become stuck in their fist-pump animation loop.
  
• FRENCH:
  
• Translation for the "Deeds Before Words" objective has been updated with the "Inspire" skill instead of "Influence" Skill.
  
• The translation for the Beorning Quarter master at Bej Mâgha, Cape of Umbar has been updated.
  
• GERMAN:
  
• Translations for "Tall Decorative Walls (Smials)" have been updated.  

Here are the Release Notes for Update 44.1, released on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
The Anniversary Event includes six new Missions, which can be accessed by speaking to the Hooded Stranger in The Prancing Pony while the Anniversary Event is active! These missions are available for characters above level 20, with Delvings available at level cap. Enjoy these "quests of yore" in a new way! Completion of Anniversary Missions advance Another Lovely Year, the Anniversary daily wrapper, as well as the daily mission wrapper. NOTE: The Anniversary Event continues until 3:00 AM Eastern on May 27th!

• An issue has been corrected in the "Year 9 Tales: Gandalf" quest where fireworks failed to appear. These fireworks now appear correctly.
  
• The number of ideal locations available for the Anniversary quest "Sparking an Interest" has been increased.
  
• The mission wrappers "On A Mission (Weekly)" and "On A Continuing Mission (Weekly)" have been reset. This was done to allow the Missions associated with the Anniversary Event to count toward these quests.
  
• FRENCH: The Luck-Stealer and Luck-Maker Anniversary titles now display the proper translations in French.

• The following bundles now contain their expected items, and bundles that have been previously acquired can now be opened:
  
• Ornate Warrior's Shield Displays Bundle
  
• Banners of Bree-land Bundle
  
• World-traveller's Throw Rugs Bundle
  
• All-Encompassing World-Traveller's Runner Bundle
  
• Cozy Cusions of Moria Bundle
  
• The "Tapestry of the Shield-maiden" and "Tapestry of the Mearas" (Left-facing and Right-facing) now face the correct direction when placed on a hook.
  
• All items in the "Warrior's Wall Displays Bundle" now face the correct direction when placed on a hook.
  
• The sideways tapestries of Lalia's Market are no longer sideways.
  
• Several new cosmetic, 2-handed axe appearances purchased in Lalias's Market were incorrectly configured to appear as one-handed weapons. They now correctly function and display as 2-handed axes.
  
• The default orientation for the housing decoration "Painting of the Old Forest" is now correct for wall hooks.

• With the release of "Dun Shûma, the King's Fortress", travel skills to Dun Shûma have been added to the Hamâti Quartermaster in Iridír. Purchasing the travel skills requires completion of the Crown of Hamât story arc.
  
• "Travel to Premium House" skill:
  
• If your skill was giving you the error "The address you have entered is incorrect." it should now work correctly. Additionally, setting your primary residence from the Character -> House panel now updates the destination of the "Travel to Premium House" skill correctly.
  
• The "Travel to Premium House" skill no longer automatically updates to newly purchased premium houses. Please use the "Character -> House" panel to set your primary residence and target of the "Travel to Premium House" skill.
  
• Fixed an issue in the Crown of Hamât quest "Sabotaging Kûr Anzar" wherein a Subuzuri was visible outside of the assault on Kûr An.
  
• Nisigurm in Imhular now has correct radar images.
  
• We have updated the summoned orcs coming out of the Orc Tunnels in Delvings to correctly show their attack skills in the corresponding colour.
  
• Fixed bug causing incorrectly colored frills when Frill Terrain Color graphics option is enabled.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused DX10 Dynamic Shadows - Very High setting to always be in shadow.
  
• Fixed an issue with the new Crown of Hamât landmarks not appearing on maps after discovery.
  
• Fixed a typo in the Sand-smoothed Burl instance currency description.
  
• The Mariner's Barad Guldur helm-slot item name has been corrected from "Shoulders" to "Cowl."
  
• The Burglar's Barad Guldur set bonus now correctly reduces the cooldown of Coup de Grace as stated in its tooltip.

• Several instance currencies for level 150 can now be exchanged with one another at relevant Quartermasters:
  
• 1 Cold-iron Token > 3 Sand-worn Copper Tokens
  
• 10 Sand-worn Copper Tokens > 1 Cold-iron Token
  
• Any Iron Signet from Utug-bûr > 2 Cold-iron Tokens
  
• 12 Cold-iron Tokens and 2,500 Embers > One Iron signet from Utug-bûr of any kind (requires completion of The Temple of Utug-bûr on tier 2 difficulty)
  
• 7 Cold-iron Tokens and 2,500 Embers > 1 Menacing Tentacle (requires completion of The Depths of Mâkhda Khorbo on tier 3 difficulty )
  
• Sword-hall and Warg Pens chests now correctly drop fellowship-tradeable loot.
  
• Sammath Gul
  
• Guldur Corpses will now apply corruptions to nearby denizens of Sammath Gul when they die.
  
• Demafaer now gains power while their fell-shield is suppressed by the power of bones.
  
• Demafaer gains a powerful skill when empowered by the corruptions of defeated Guldur Corpses.
  
• Demafaer's chest now contains an additional level 65 cloak.
  
• Damage dealt by Urchír's Death's Finger skill has been reduced by 66%.
  
• Barad Guldur
  
• Dúrchest's inactive armour reinforcements have been banished back to their holding pen beneath the floor.
  
• Sword-hall of Dol Guldur
  
• Damage dealt by Durkâr's Earth Shock Wave has been increased ~5x.
  
• The Temple of Utug-bûr
  
• Thûr Hin
  
• Khablag's Stolen Strength can now only stack up to 12 times max.
  
• Inner Sanctum
  
• We permanently disabled two skills previously used in the Tier 3 Boss 6 fight of the Inner Sanctum.
  
• After resetting combat for Azagath, the Aladi, or Garash, player skills should now properly reset.
  
• Addressed an issue that could cause the last boss of the Utûg-bur raid to not behave correctly.

The Lord of the Rings Online is celebrating 18 years! Thank YOU for helping make it possible. 

This year's Anniversary Event begins at 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on April 24th and continues until 3:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on May 12th. Learn more about the Anniversary Event in our guide on LOTRO.com.


For players who have acquired the 17th Anniversary Giftbox, the 18th Anniversary Giftbox has arrived! Starts at 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on April 24th and continues until 3:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on April 1st, 2026!

Free Peoples of Middle-earth (Premium and VIP):

18-Year Giftbox:

• Baker's Delight Fireworks
  
• Eighteen-Year Frame
  
• Title: , Luck-maker
  
• Monster Players (Premium and VIP):

17-Year Giftbox:

• Luck-stealer Fireworks
  
• Eighteen-Year Frame
  
• +5% Attack Damage x5 - consumable
  
• Title: , Luck-stealer

All players will receive an Anniversary Gift Box corresponding to the prior year received when they log in during this time.


Here are the new rewards for 2025 in the Anniversary Event:

The Anniversary Festival Barter includes:

• Tome of the Baker's Delight Cub
  
• Steed of Baker's Delight
  
• Shoes of Baker's Delight
  
• Hat of Baker's Delight
  
• Jacket and Leggings of Baker's Delight
  
• Baker's Delight Garments - Gift-wrapped Selection Box
  
• Dining Table of Baker's Delight
  
• Dining Chair of Baker's Delight
  
• Banner of Baker's Delight

The Festivity Anniversary Barter includes:

• Ceremonial Staff of the Searcher
  
• Ceremonial Spear of Battle
  
• Ceremonial Boar-tooth Dagger
  
• Ceremonial Sword of the Mountains
  
• Ceremonial Bow of the Hills
  
• Ceremonial Cleaved Halberd
  
• Ceremonial Great Hammer of Runes

The Anniversary Steel Token Barter includes:

• Baker's Delight Fireworks - consumable
  
• Luck-stealer Fireworks - consumable

The Ikorbân Valley is under threat from a new evil! Learn the story of Mizâdi, Shâra of Hamât Renewed, as she fights for her people and attempts to bring peace to Shagâna. A new quest pack with 50 quests and deeds, 10 new missions, a 6-player instance releasing in May, and more! https://www.lotro.com/update-notes/lotro-update-44-release-notes-en.


If you haven't heard the news, we've opened new 64-bit game worlds! https://www.lotro.com/guides/lotro-64-bit-transfer-faq-en.

Here are the Release Notes for Update 44: Crown of Hamât, released on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.



The Lord of the Rings Online is celebrating its 18th Anniversary with free gifts, the return of the Anniversary Event with new missions and Delvings, and new rewards! Even our Character Select screen (on non-Legendary Worlds) is celebrating our anniversary with a new track celebrating the game's musical journey!

The Anniversary Event begins on Thursday, April 24th starting at 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) and continues until 3:00 AM Eastern on Monday, May 12th.


The Anniversary Festival Barter includes:

• Tome of the Baker's Delight Cub
  
• Steed of Baker's Delight
  
• Shoes of Baker's Delight
  
• Hat of Baker's Delight
  
• Jacket and Leggings of Baker's Delight
  
• Baker's Delight Garments - Gift-wrapped Selection Box
  
• Dining Table of Baker's Delight
  
• Dining Chair of Baker's Delight
  
• Banner of Baker's Delight

The Festivity Anniversary Barter includes:

• Ceremonial Staff of the Searcher
  
• Ceremonial Spear of Battle
  
• Ceremonial Boar-tooth Dagger
  
• Ceremonial Sword of the Mountains
  
• Ceremonial Bow of the Hills
  
• Ceremonial Cleaved Halberd
  
• Ceremonial Great Hammer of Runes

The Anniversary Steel Token Barter includes:

• Baker's Delight Fireworks - consumable
  
• Luck-stealer Fireworks - consumable

Players who received the 17-Year Giftbox last year will get the 18-Year Giftbox this year! Players will get the next yearly gift based on the prior year claimed.

The 18-Year Giftbox includes:

Free People of Middle-earth:

• Baker's Delight Fireworks
  
• Eighteen-Year Frame
  
• Title: , Luck-maker

Monster Players:

• Luck-stealer Fireworks
  
• Eighteen-Year Frame
  
• +5% Attack Damage x5 - consumable
  
• Title: , Luck-stealer

The 18-Year Giftbox can be claimed by eligible players until 3:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on April 1st, 2026 by logging into the game.


A new Quest Pack is available and FREE to VIPs! Crown of Hamât unlocks 50 quests and deeds, 10 new missions, a 6-player instance (arriving May 7th) for level 150 characters, and more. Explore the Ikorbân Valley and fight for the Crown of Hamât!

The Ikorbân Valley is under threat from a new evil. Learn the story of Mizâdi, Shâra of Hamât Renewed, as she fights for her people and attempts to bring peace to Shagâna. Bring the fight to the Ekhamâti invaders with 10 new missions in Iridír in Ambarûl. Then fight evil Ekhamâti leaders in a new 6-player instance in Dun Shûma, the King’s Fortress in the deserts of Khûd Zagin! The Dun Shûma instance arrives on Wednesday, May 7th, 2025. The starting quest "A Message from Mizâdi" is available upon log in with a notification in the "Quest Actions Available" panel. Once acquired, players can reach Mizâdi in Urmâkh, in Imhûlar in the Ikorbân Valley. Also, visit the new Hamâti Quartermaster in Iridír in the Ikorbân Valley for new rewards, including housing items, Tome of the Evergreen Sickle-fly and Tome of the Russet Corgi, available from completing Crown of Hamât quests and missions!


Lalia’s Market has received a major renovation and update! Not content with the close and claustrophobic halls, Lalia has employed Robb Thornley to help with sprucing up her humble market (hence why his worksite remains incomplete after 18 years!). Within, you’ll find a more distinct layout and a variety of vendors offering cosmetics, including brand new housing items, replicas of no-longer-available Legendary Weapons, and many of the items previously only available on the LOTRO Store. With these changes, Lalia’s Market is well positioned to grow and introduce new or rotating items for players to obtain.


In addition to all the changes in Lalia’s Market, Update 44 introduces Homesteading Coins. This new currency is intended to be more flexible than Premium Housing Writs and will eventually completely replace the currency for the purposes of Premium Housing purchase, refunds, and LOTRO Store Bundle purchases. For the launch of Update 44, players can exchange their Mithril Coins and Premium Housing Writs and can use Homesteading Coins to purchase the new housing bundle packages found in the housing wing of Lalia’s Market. In a future patch, the Homesteading Coins will completely replace Premium Housing Writs as an alternate Premium Housing purchase currency, refund currency for Premium Houses, and in the LOTRO Store. 

• The release of Legacy of Morgoth in 2024 brought a new VIP feature for players, and that feature is now being expanded to nearly all of the Reputations throughout the game. The Favored Reputation System grants all characters on a VIP account a bonus to earned Reputation once at least one character on your account has achieved at least Friend rank within a Reputation Faction. Newly-added Reputation Factions in Update 44 are:
  
• Men of Bree
  
• Council of the North
  
• Thorin's Hall
  
• The Wardens of Annúminas
  
• The Eglain
  
• Rangers of Esteldín
  
• The Mathom Society
  
• Elves of Rivendell
  
• Defenders of The Angle
  
• The Eldgang
  
• Lossoth of Forochel
  
• Iron Garrison Guards
  
• Iron Garrison Miners
  
• Galadhrim
  
• Malledhrim
  
• The Grey Company
  
• Algraid, Men of Enedwatih
  
• Men of Dunland
  
• Théodred's Riders
  
• The Riders of Stangard
  
• Heroes of Limlight Gorge
  
• Men of the Wold
  
• Men of the Norcrofts
  
• Men of the Sutcrofts
  
• Men of the Entwash Vale
  
• People of Widlermore
  
• Survivors of Wildermore
  
• The Eorlingas
  
• The Helmingas
  
• The Ents of Fangorn Forest
  
• Dol Amroth (This does NOT include the sub-factions)
  
• Pelargir
  
• Men of Ringló Vale
  
• Men of Dor-en-Ernil
  
• Men of Lebennin
  
• Rangers of Ithilien
  
• Defenders of Minas Tirith
  
• Riders of Rohan
  
• Host of the West (This does NOT include the Sub-factions)
  
• Conquest of Gorgoroth
  
• Men of Dale
  
• Elves of Felegoth
  
• Dwarves of Erebor
  
• Grey Mountains Expedition
  
• Wilderfolk
  
• The White Company
  
• Reclamation of Minas Ithil
  
• The Great Alliance
  
• March on Gundabad
  
• The Gabil'akkâ
  
• The League of the Axe
  
• Woodcutter's Brotherhood
  
• The Habban'akkâ of Thráin
  
• Kharum-ubnâr
  
• Reclaimers of the Mountain-hold
  
• The Yonder-watch
  
• Dúnedain of Cardolan
  
• Stewards of Iron-home
  
• The Renewal of Gondor
  
• and The Citizens of of Umbar Baharbêl

• A change to the Thorin's Hall Hard Tack event now provides an uncooked version of the Dish, Brew, and Snack before using the ovens. You will not get the final
  
• product until the item is successfully delivered to the tables.
  
• We have re-worked the Combe Forester Event as follows:
  
• The event will begin every hour on the hour.
  
• A call will go out to Bree-land when the event starts recruiting; recruiting lasts 10 minutes.
  
• Axes still need to be collected.
  
• Using the Wood Piles, while you have the Axe, grants you Unrefined Wood.
  
• Using the competition workbenches, while you have the event Axe, grants you Refined Wood.
  
• Aldith will collect the Axe and the Refined Wood before you move to the next stage,
  
• You must have a tool that allows skinning, universal or a Foresters Axe equipped, to skin the bears.
  
• You must have a tool that allows skinning, universal or a Foresters Axe equipped, to refine the bear hides.
  
• The event countdowns, cooldowns, and statuses should no longer fall out of synch with the servers.
  
• Whetstones obtained from the Forester Event now appear as Crated Items in the Auction House.
  
• Whetstones obtained from the Forester Event can now be removed from Mail.

• Guardian
  
• Retaliation now has extra verbiage explaining that it cannot be used while specialized in 'The Keen Blade.'
  
• Lore-master
  
• Lore-master The aurochs pet should now interact correctly with all Lore-master traits and skills.
  
• "Don't You Touch Him" is no longer erroneously cleansable
  
• Rune-keeper
  
• Rune-keeper Static Surge now has a 10 target cap limit. It will now correctly benefit from traceries and other bonuses to target counts.
  
• Combat & Monsters:
  
• Goblin Sappers in the Vales of Anduin no longer stay in an over the head pose after throwing their firepots.
  
• Applying a new Daze to an already Dazed target will no longer cause the Daze visual effects to be removed.
  
• Gundabad Bat-riders now use bat-specific animations for their special attacks.

• All versions of the Umbari Feasts have been standardized to a minimum level of 141, with no maximum level.

• Talagan Silvertongue will no longer turn to face you when he is kneeling in the Elf tutorial Instance: "The Refuge of Edheliona".
  
• The Lothlorien quests "Malbrethil Saplings" and "Songs for the Saplings" should now function correctly.
  
• The quests "On a Mission (Weekly)" and "On a Continuing Mission (Weekly)" have been updated to accept new Crown of Hamât missions.
  
• The quest "Forging a Path in the Ikorbân Valley (Weekly)" has been updated to remove bounties and accept new Crown of Hamât missions. Completing either existing Ikorbân Valley or Crown of Hamât missions will progress the quest. Note: this will version these weekly quests upon release, causing weekly progress to reset.

• Hot spots have been visually updated for clarity.
  
• Tul Zakana, The Well of Forgetting
  
• Ordakhai Sorcerers in the Well of Forgetting no longer attempt to use a shadow skill for which they do not have appropriate animations.
  
• Consuming Fire now has a slightly longer delay before it activates.
  
• Consuming Fire damage has been reduced by 20%.
  
• Temple of Utug-bûr
  
• Dhorgruth
  
• The Death Grip skill used by crawling arms on tier 3 now has the correct AoE size and shape: 120 degree angle and 3m range. 
  
• Thur Hin
  
• Weeping Poison now deals Acid damage.
  
• Frenzied Axe now correctly tiers up a bleed.
  
• Shield of Blood now prevents Blood Rupture.
  
• Plague Aura damage reduced on Tiers 2 and 3.
  
• Reduced the number of mobs that can apply the targeted Purge Hope effect.
  
• Adjustments to Boss 2 all tiers:
  
• Nodules reaching blisters will now apply a stun to players for 5 seconds and apply a tier of true despair to players in a slightly larger area.
  
• Nodules reaching blisters will now explode and deal raid-wide damage.
  
• Nodule damage from exploding is increased.
  
• If no blisters or fragments are available for nodules to attack, they will now default to attacking players or pets.
  
• Adjustments to Boss 2 Tier 3:
  
• The skill Drain Reason will now Randomize targets when it is multi-cast. This should reduce a single target being hit by all of the skill plays simultaneously.
  
• There was an effect appearing on players that should not have been visible in Temple of Utûg-bur Wing 3, this effect is now hidden.
  
• Setting an instance to Duo will now be based on Solo difficulty and rewards rather than 3-person values.
  
• Note that Duos can still freely play 3-person mode if they desire the additional challenge.

• Endgame group content has been updated for the release of Mirkwood on the legendary servers Angmar and Mordor. Base Health and Damage have been increased for most monsters found within level 65 endgame instances, including those from the Mirkwood and In Their Absence content clusters. These changes should help make those instances harder to complete without full groups when played on-level. In particular, the level 65 instance tiers have been updated so that the Tier 2 Enhancement buff has values more similar to Tier 2 mods found in later instance clusters. Tier 1 should likewise provide an easier stepping stone for any groups that struggled with level 60 instances after they were updated.
  
• Warg Pens
  
• Statistical changes only at this time.
  
• Sword-hall of Dol Guldur
  
• Statistical changes only at this time.
  
• Dungeons of Dol Guldur
  
• Statistical changes only at this time.
  
• Sammath Gul
  
• Statistical changes only at this time.
  
• Barad Guldur
  
• Knockbacks from Mace-wielding armours are now less likely and have longer cooldowns.
  
• Shadow Seed's damage has been renamed so that it is more clearly associated with its source skill.
  
• The corruption auras applied by the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur once again correctly debuff different damage types:
  
• Slowing Shadows reduces Ranged Damage.
  
• Draining Shadows reduces Melee Damage.
  
• Corrupting Shadows reduces Tactical Damage.
  
• Stoneheight
  
• All of the corruptions that bosses gain over time are now more potent.
  
• Backstbber goblins now have backstab and bleed skills.
  
• Gundul
  
• Gundul's Ally Buff skill now has an interruptable induction and heals allies.
  
• Bubhosh-grat
  
• Morale bubble potency has been dramatically increased.
  
• Pull skill now only targets players at range.
  
• Grinding Bones damage now has a small amount of resistance penetration.
  
• Bubhosh-grat will now wait 5 minutes before using Champion's Rage.
  
• Dale Truitt
  
• Flashing Knives is now a much smaller AoE that does some base damage to any player hit (and still deals bonus damage to his current target).
  
• Flashing Knives is no longer interruptable on Tier 2.
  
• Dale Truitt will now stun his target only if that target is at range.
  
• Dale Truitt can now periodically daze any player at range.
  
• Northcotton Farm
  
• Legbarthil
  
• Legbarthil's hatchling heal potency has been significantly impacted.
  
• Legbarthil's Egg will hatch after 5s, rather than 10s.
  
• Legbarthil can now lay more eggs on low health.
  
• Legbarthil now gains power each time she lays an egg.
  
• Thadur
  
• The Dark Thorn skill should once again work as intended.
  
• Umheryn
  
• On Tier 2, spiders and goblins will be summoned periodically throughout the fight.
  
• The time allowance before Thadur's brew is complete has been reduced by 2 minutes.
  
• Sari-surma
  
• Coldbear
  
• Removed a few inductions to speed up Coldbear's overall skill usage.
  
• Significantly altered both shout skills so that coldbear now gains power as intended until using roar of the damned.
  
• Coldbear's reflect now has an induction and the reflect only lasts 5s.
  
• Osan
  
• Fixed a couple key skills and renamed a couple effects so that it's clearer which skills are gained from which auras.
  
• Removed aura skills from shared cooldown.
  
• Set different cooldowns for key skills based on instance tier.
  
• Essence of Blood DoT now has a name which matches its skill.
  
• Essence of Frailty now has a unique debuff effect (named appropriately).
  
• Lesser wight reflects only return 5% of incoming damage to the player.
  
• Drugoth
  
• Fixed a few issues with Drugoth's class-specific skills. Specifically, the Brawler and Mariner skills now play only when the corresponding class is being locked down by spirits, and all class-based skills should be used more consistently. the spirits also gain short buff when they spawn to help improve their defenses and give a little more breathing room for Drugoth to use a stolen skill before the spirits are killed.
  
• Several Guardian and Drugoth skills were adjusted to reduce the number of knockbacks in this encounter significantly.
  
• Frozen Floor now deals damage and applies a permanent debuff to players hit.
  
• Lost Temple
  
• Virulent Plague happens 33% more frequently, and the time before Ferndur fills the room with poison has correspondingly been reduced from 11 minutes to 7 minutes 30 seconds.
  
• Ost Dunhoth
  
• Gortheron now reaches maximum power much more quickly, and his power effects are less potent and more clearly named.
  
• Gortheron should no longer benefit from player group buffs and heals.

• Rubble Piles in the Gundabad Mission "Clearing a Path" can no longer be forced to turn with the Burglar Diversion skill.
  
• Mission banners, catapults, and siege towers, destroyed in the missions in the Before the Shadow missions now have burning effects when they are being destroyed.

• The Long Umbari Marble Ramp decoration item can now only be used in enormous yard hooks, interior wall hooks, and interior furniture hooks.
  
• All Premium Neighborhood Brokers, and the Umbar/Ikorban Furnishers now exchange Housing Writs and Mithril Coins for Homesteading Coins.
  
• Umbar/Ikorban Furnishers now accept Homesteading Coins instead of Writs for their barter purchases.

• Barter costs have been adjusted for many pieces of generic uncommon and rare skirmish equipment bartered with marks and medallions.
  
• Many pieces of level 60 equipment were giving invisible stat benefits beyond what their tooltips suggested. This has been fixed, so your character stats should update in accordance with the values seen on your equipment.
  
• The Mariner's epic Helegrod armour set now correctly has a set bonus effect.
  
• Level 65 Rewards: Equipment for level 65 has been revised, and some items now have slightly different stats to better reflect current class designs.
  
• Completing instances from the Mirkwood cluster at level 65 will once again award you with Medallions of Dol Guldur.
  
• Completing instances from the In Their Absence cluster at level 65 will once again award you with Medallions of the North Men.
  
• Note: not all barter vendors are updated to give you more items on which to spend these medallions.
  
• Raid armour sets can no longer be acquired with marks and medallions - you will need to earn the corresponding raid barter tokens by completing the raids at level 65 in order to barter for these equipment sets.
  
• As with level 50 and 60 this past year, sets are in the process of being revised with current class designs in mind. In particular, heavy armour classes are likely missing raid set bonuses entirely in this build, so don't worry if you try to check those out and find them mysteriously blank at the moment.
  
• Level 60 set bonuses were erroneously capped at a max level of 69, and have been corrected to have max levels of 64.
  
• Mirkwood and In Their Absence instance chests have been reconfigured to drop their original loot for instances run at level 65, with a few changes:
  
• Items should now be fellowship tradeable for one hour if they were not previously.
  
• Raid chests can now only be opened once before you are locked, and locks reset 3x weekly (Monday, Thursday, and Saturday).
  
• Instance chests can now only be opened 10x daily before you are locked (with the exception of challenge chests, which are still 1x daily).
  
• A handful of chests are not finished being updated - this includes non-final-boss chests in Stoneheight, Northcotton Farm, Sari-surma, and Lost Temple.

• Monster Player damage and healing have been increased by ~7.5%.
  
• Monster Player traits and effects have been updated to item level 525 equivalent values.

• The mailbox and mustering horn will no longer appear in the "Sigileth in the Dark" instance.
  
• Various terrain texture issues in Eriador have been corrected.
  
• Various decorative and floating resource node issues in Khud Zagin have been fixed.
  
• Various pathing issues in Utug Bur have been resolved.
  
• Wildermore now displays as Wildermore when entering the region, and on the Stable-master panel.

• FRENCH:
  
• Secure the Landing of Kur Anzar - turn-in dialogue now displays properly.
  
• Translations for Light damage in French have been updated.

• The command in the tooltip on the Grant the Epic Coin Flip Emote item has been corrected to read /coinflip_epic.
  
• Fixed a bug with guards carrying lit torches to cause terrain lighting to flicker.

• The virtue cap has been increased to 96 for level 150 characters.
  
• NPCs inside the House of Craft, Minas Tirith [Midsummer] will no longer use incorrect pre-battle voice over audio.
  
• All Banker NPCs can now repair items.
  
• Lórien now displays properly in 'The Basics of Birding' guide.
  
• Gamma, Brightness, and Contrast adjustments are now available in Windowed mode.

• The French titles "Luck-Maker" and "Luck-Stealer" have the incorrect translations in game as : "Lame cachée" and "Lame voleuse".  They will be updated to "créateur/créatrice de fortune" and "voleur/voleuse de fortune" in a subsequent update.

Here are the Release Notes for Update 43.4, released on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.

• Pets summoned in encounters on the Orcrist server will once again be able to follow you when you leave the encounter.
  
• The Stable-master travel route to the Ettenmoors will no longer appear when the Ettenmoors has reached its Free Player population cap.
  
• There were a number of skills not splitting the damage correctly on area effect damage. They have been updated to share the damage with those in the radius of the attack/damage.
  
• Temple of Utug-bûr
  
• Wing 1 Dhórgruth
  
• Tamâkh and Bashâru no longer present as spirits.
  
• Ground effects in both the Kulkorth and Maluchon encounters will now dissipate when the fight is reset.
  
• Wing 3 Inner Sanctum
  
• Alterations to Boss Fight 2
  
• The explosive range on nodules was reduced by half.
  
• The explosive damage on nodules was increased by ~120%.
  
• The explosive daze effect is replaced with a shorter duration stun.
  
• The frequency of nodule summoning was reduced.

Here are the Release Notes for Update 43.3, released on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.

• The Task Collections Box at Rakhatâb, Cape of Umbar, can once again be used to turn in tasks bestowed by the Task Board next to it.
  
• French: Translations for Light damage in French have been updated.
  
• The Temple of Utug-bur
  
• Wing 2: Thur Hin
  
• Orkish Fury will now fall off out of combat so that it does not impact enemies in rooms outside of the first boss encounter.
  
• Wing 3: Inner Sanctum
  
• Fixed a tooltip error with Bound by Shadow top tier effects. These now reflect the chance to harm yourself on skill plays.
  
• During the first boss fight there was a chance, if the tank was slain, that Azagath would drop aggro and reset the fight. This has been addressed.
  
• Garash Skill Changes
  
• Garash no longer inducts when using weaken resolve
  
• Garash now uses weaken resolve every 2 seconds if his aggro target is not close to him, this is a raid-wide effect
  
• Garash's induction on Purge the Hopeless is reduced to 3s
  
• Garash’s Purge the Hopeless now checks to see if a player has Gandalf’s protection
  
• Nodules
  
• Nodules no longer create new blisters
  
• Nodules explode for high shadow damage in an area around them, dazin/rooting/fearing targets caught in the blast, and add a tier of True Despair
  
• Blister Hotspots deal more damage
  
• Vortexes should now change targets when attempting to damage players with their ranged damage skills
  
• Dancing Shadow Blades damage has been reduced considerably. Dancing Shadow Blades will only occur on T3.
  
• Azagath's Mettle, Will, and Malice target effects now clearly state which Azagath skill they make you susceptible to.

Here are the Release Notes for Update 43.2, released on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.

• Newly-acquired Adventurer's Steel-bound Lootbox gear for level 150 characters will now scale to item level 526 - 528.
  
• Sea-faring Adventurer's Vivid Essence Boxes are now available for barter with the Adventurer's Quartermaster and have a chance to drop from Adventurer's Steel-bound Lootboxes.
  
• Epic Hero emote graphics have been updated slightly to prevent a crash.
  
• Applying a new Daze to an already Dazed target will no longer cause the Daze visual effects to be removed.
  
• Temple of Utug-bur, Wing 2 Thur Hin
  
• The temporary skill Shield of Blood will no longer remove your Gifted Strength buff when used.
  
• A warning has been added to speak with Gorwen before exiting Luilloth's chamber in the narrative quest "The Doom of Sarch Vorn."
  
• An issue has been corrected in the narrative quest "The Doom of Sarch Vorn" where talking to Goldberry while in Duo could prevent the second player from being able to finish the quest.
  
• NOTE: "The Doom of Sarch Vorn" narrative quest will be versioned upon release.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused frill lighting to flicker with camera movement when Per-Pixel Attenuation is enabled.
  
• Descriptions for both the Fold-Warbler and the Methedras Nightingale have had their descriptions updated to correctly detail they can be found in both Dunland and the Westfold territories.
  
• Spiced Goat Shank and Forged Umbari Cutlass have had their descriptions changed to show they cannot be sold to vendors.
  
• The Tier 15 cooking recipe for Smoked Vegetable Stock has been renamed to Shagâni Vegetable Stock
  
• The Lothlorien quests Songs for the Saplings and Singing to Saplings will now sequentially direct players to one tree at a time with their locations appearing on the map. The trees will also no longer continue to sparkle after you have sung to them.
  
• Note that these two quests have been versioned and players that had either of them in progress will need to re-acquire them.
  
• In the Lothlorien quest Singing to Saplings, the drop rate of Malbrethil-seeds from defeated shrews has been increased to one hundred percent.
  
• The Dunland repeatable Instance: Glinting in Forgotten Pools has been re-worked so that each named monster has a chance to spawn before the player begins fishing, and will no longer be spawned while fishing is in progress.
  
• FRENCH
  
• Lore for High Elf-Origin Imaldris and Stout-Axe characters now display properly in French.
  
• Translations in "Book 3, Chapter 2: The Body and the Bush" and "Book 3, Chapter 10: Spectre of the Grey Fear" now display properly in French.
  
• Translations for "light damage" on tooltips has been updated.
  
• Known Issues:
  
• Translations relating to the "Sand Milestone Style" may be displayed in English.
  

Here are the Release Notes for Update 43.1: Secrets of Utug-bûr, Patch 1 released on Thursday, March 13, 2025.

• We have reinstated the original Deed Log while we work to correct a crashing issue.
  
• Doors in Thorin's Hall that were previously inaccessible now function again.
  
• Several key particle effects, including overhead eyes and line warnings, will now render even if your 'Dynamic Particle Rendering' setting is set to 'None.'
  
• Fixed animation issues for Elf female Lore-master sheathing.
  
• Reduced stiffness for Elf and High Elf male run animation.
  
• Fixed issues affecting female Elf, High Elf, and Race of Man instrument animations.
  
• Some of the decoration in the "Temple of Utug-bûr" raid has been adjusted to reduce visual artifacts and other unintended issues.
  
• Items
  
• Will-breaker was incorrectly set to legendary quality and has been updated to incomparable quality.
  
• Removed a 'DNT' from the Utug-bûr moonstone jewelry 2-set bonus tooltip.
  
• Corrected some minor issues with Utug-bûr chest soft locks. Soft locks now have a chance to drop signets from the first boss in each wing.
  
• Temple Hero's Spoils reward is now correctly bound to account rather than unbound.
  
• Most default frontal attacks made by monsters now have a 120 degree arc rather than a 180 degree arc.
  
• Classes
  
• Champion: Fury of Blades' (dual wield) second hit damage was erroneously reduced by 5% in a recent patch. This fix corrects that error and the intended +5% change is now added to the pre-patch value.
  
• Lore-master: the new skill to summon a Savannah Pride-keeper should now work correctly.
  
• Mariner: the skills Riposte, Step Back, Feint, and Dodge now generate more aft-ward pips.
  
• Minstrel: Legend of the Hammerhand bubbles once again heal allies correctly upon expiration. This is no longer a %-based heal.
  
• High Elf female: Lowered the hairline on hairstyles 2, 3, 4 and 7.
  
• The Well of Forgetting: Ordâkhai Sorcerers in the Well of Forgetting no longer attempt to use a shadow skill for which they do not have appropriate animations.
  
• Temple of Utug-bûr
  
• Temple of Utug-bûr Tier 2 will open at Noon Eastern on March 20th, and Tier 3 will open at Noon Eastern on March 27th. The Leading the Charge Deed for "Temple of Utug-bûr" is available to earn until 3:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on May 21st, 2025.
  
• Dhórgruth
  
• Kulkorth will now use his key abilities more reliably.
  
• Reworked reset during Maluchon encounter to make sure that it cleans up correctly if the group wipes during Breaking Bonds Channel
  
• Thûr Hin
  
• Fixed an issue preventing full reset on a raid wipe between Khablag being defeated and wounded Legolas climbing onto the altar.
  
• Fixed an issue preventing Utûgi from entering the battle in the Kormoltur fight after a reset.
  
• Rumók the Blood-spiller will now heal to full when respawning.
  
• Inner Sanctum
  
• Azagath's Poison Spike skill no longer incorrectly applies to the person who is the source of its spread.
  
• Added visual effects to the festering poison effect to better explain that poison swelling within you is about to explode outward to allies.
  
• Consume to Emptiness should now more efficiently and correctly consume blisters in all tiers.
  
• There was a rare chance for Azagath to become stuck in drama in the first stage of his fight. This has been addressed.
  
• There was an odd case where the reset for the final boss was breaking in an unexpected way. While this did not block the wing from being completed it did make things awkward. The reset now correctly sets the fight to the correct status post the defeat of the Aladi Sagush and Thahar.
  
• There was an issue where the display for Summon Aspects was not appearing correctly on Azagath in the first stage of his fight. This has been addressed.
  
• Legolas, despite being an amazing and masterful archer, cannot wield two bows.
  
• Updated tooltips for Azagath's Shade's effects which unlock bonus skill attacks from Azagath Sea-shadow.
  
• Updated the tooltip on the final tier of the Shred Hope effect to call out that movement is disabled.
  
• Fixed a typo in a skill used by the Alad Thahar.
  
• The skill effect Bound by Shadow from the Alad Sagush now correctly applies up to a 10% chance for your skills to consume Morale on use.
  
• The skill effect Shred Hope from Gârash, the Emptiness now correctly applies up to a 100% chance for your skills to consume Morale on use.
  
• FRENCH: The translation for "Chest of a Thardúth Lord" has been updated to "Coffre d'un seigneur Tharduth".
  
• GERMAN: Updated translation of the "Abandon" button on Common housing to Verlassen instead of Abrechen.

Here are the Release Notes for Update 43.0.1, released on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.

• A client crash related to Deed acceleration has been fixed.
  
• This year's Spring Festival begins March 13th and runs through April 1st! This year's new festival rewards include Budding Spring character cosmetics, a goat steed, housing decorations, and a cosmetic pet!
  
• The Hobby Master and the Birding Guide will now properly list the new regions to discover birds in.
  
• Birding will no longer produce any rewards in the Khud Zagin territory.

• Dhorguth
  
• Updated some visuals in the second boss encounter, and text warning time has been adjusted. 
  
• Thûr Hin
  
• An issue that could cause Legolas to be prematurely healed fully has been corrected.
  
• Legolas' second healing phase objective will now properly update and complete.
  
• NOTE: Temple of Utug-bûr: Thûr Hin quests will version upon release.
  
• Thresh the Chaff no longer applies an errant second damaging hit.
  
• Whisper of Blood protection applies to pets.
  
• Inner Sanctum
  
• Encounter 1, Azagath will now display the effect Reducing Incoming Damage.
  
• Encounter 1, Azagath's Aspects should more readily use their ranged skills without leaving their current target.
  
• The assault encounter now correctly allows sorcerers and sages to remain at range for many of their skills, rather than forcing them to run into the fray.
  
• Encounter 2 stage 1, Sagush and Thahar are now more reliably using their ranged skills without trying to move toward their targets before skill execution.
  
• Encounter 2 stage 1 and 2, Vortexes and Storms should now more accurately use their skills and deal their damage without the need to enter combat.
  
• Encounter 2 stage 1, Glorfindel's skill is now removed when the 'elf-stone shatters.'
  
• Encounter 2 stage 2, Gandalf's skill now applies to all players in the raid space when executed.
  
• Encounter 2 stage 2, Gandalf's skill is now removed correctly by Garash's skill purge hope.
  
• Encounter 2 stage 2, on resets, summoned nodules, blisters, vortices, and storms should more readily remove themselves from the battle.
  
• Encounter 2 stage 2, on resets there should be a longer period of time allowing players to retreat from the battle.
  
• Added a call at the beginning of Encounter one to let players know that Azagath Sea-shadow is becoming active.
  
• Added callout events for Garash to alert players when he us summoning in Storms.
  
• Added callouts to the storms to alert players that deadly (split-damage) hits are inbound from the Umbral and Plague Storms.
  
• Updated the instance to allow for players to retreat from combat over a longer period of time in the second encounter. There was an errant setting causing some issues with timing.
  
• Sagush and Thahar mitigation-reducing skills now apply more consistently (Plagued and Bound by Shadow).
  
• Both of the above debuffs no longer tier down. For Middle Earth! skill targets have been increased from 3 to 8. Glorfindel's Aid targets have been increased so it more reliably hits blisters (still has fewer targets on higher tiers).
  
• There was an issue with the reset on the fight in the final stage of Wing 3 causing an eternal teleport condition. This has been fixed.
  
• Adjusted the visual effects cue on Legolas' elf-stone shards in the final boss fight of Wing 3 to be more distinct from Glorfindel and Ganadalf's skills.
  
• The following 3 and 6 person instances will now reset skills following a wipe on a boss.
  
• Corsairs of Umbar
  
• "The Isle of Storms"
  
• "Depths of Mâkhda Khorbo"
  
• "The Streets of Râhal Bakh"
  
• "Dahâl Huliz, The Arena"
  
• "The Dragon and the Storm"
  
• Legacy of Morgoth
  
• "Ashunûg, the Fane of the Accursed"
  
• "Tûl Zakana, the Well of Forgetting"
  
• "Nirgambâr, the Restless Tomb"

• A reset of the Wing 3 second boss fight can sometimes cause the final boss to appear too early and immediately start the final part of the fight. The raid can still be completed.