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Author Topic: Release Notes - September 28, 2006  (Read 4563 times)
Arthur_Parker
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Posts: 5865

Internet Detective


on: September 28, 2006, 02:31:58 AM

http://beta.lotro.com/showthread.php?&postid=50680#post50680

Quote
Of Special Note
· “Dread” has been added! Some evil creatures now radiate an evil aura that affects everything around them, and some evil areas will also affect your character.
· Many new maps have been added!
· Banks are now functional!
· A new race video for Men has been added to character generation.

Gameplay
· Hunter Stances no longer slow movement speed.
· Added new Northdowns Exploration Accomplishments.
· Starting auto-attack while you have no target will now select the nearest foe instead to make it consistent with the other skill buttons.
· Right-clicking on a monster that is out of range will enable auto-attack and potentially start following that target (if the option is enabled) instead of giving an out-of-range error.
· Players can now see their parry, block, evade, and critical percentages.
· Adding players to your fellowship with the "add" button on the fellowship panel will now actually work. Error messages are reported when you don't have a player selected and when the player turns down your invitation.
· Weapon speed has been updated on maces, clubs, one-handed axes, one-handed hammers, and halberds.

Skills
· The Champion's Rallying Cry skill now heals pets.
· Fixed a bug that would prevent players from using helpful skills on one another periodically, e.g. the Minstrel "Raise The Spirit" skill.
· Fixed a bug with stealth that was treating both players and monsters as being lower level than they should have been for stealth detection at times.


User Interface
· Players get 2 new slash commands:
o /localtime returns the time on the player's machine
o /servertime returns the time on the server
· The Skills panel has been updated.
o Players can now sort their skills by name.
o Hovering the mouse over the list of skills will show a tooltip with more information.
· There is now a "Return to Game" button on the main menu.
· When the UI is hidden, ESC will unhide it.
· Quantities now display correctly for quest rewards.
· Fixed an issue with the tooltips that would cause them to not display correctly under certain circumstances.
· Alerts for new titles will bring up the title UI once again.
· The remappable keys for the title UI and skill UI should work once again.

Vendors & Trainers
· Bankers can now be found in the capitol cities of Michel Delving, Bree and Rivendell.
· The Burglar and Loremaster Trainers are now together with all the other Trainers in Michel Delving
· Vendors & Trainers now have different Iconics above their head depending on what they do.
o Bards: A Lute
o Weapon/Armor Vendors: An Anvil
o Crafting Vendors/Trainers: A Sign
o Bankers: A pile of gold coins
· Iconics specific to the Trainer type now appear over Trainers.
· The vendor sell tab has been revamped.
· You can now lock items so they are not sold on accident! This is done by toggling the lock icon inside of the sell tab.
· You can easily filter out your locked items from the sell tab by leaving the "Show locked" checkbox unchecked.
· There is now a vendor buyback system. If you have accidentally sold an item you wanted, you can immediately buy it back! This system keeps track of the last 16 items you sold until you log out. Get that item back while you still can, and for the same price you sold it for!

Chat
· Added the follow synonyms for /tell: /msg, /whisper, /w, /t
· Fixed a problem where chat windows would not always save their locations.
· Chat windows can now be moved by dragging the first tab in the window.
· You can now drag one chat window into another, moving all the tabs at once.
· The primary chat window (the only one you can type in) cannot be dragged into another window.
· Fixed an issue where newly created chat tabs wouldn't always work correctly.

Crafting
· Many tweaks made to the crafting system.
· Landmarks have been added for forges.
· New icons have been added for Crafting Tools
· Trestlebridge now has selectable craft facilities.
· Crafted thrown weapons are now created in a stack of 4.
· The first crafting quests for each Profession are now activated. When you have enough Craft XP in a given Profession, the Novices will send you to speak to a skilled practitioner of that Profession, who gives you some words of advice and unlocks the next level of crafting.
· Second crafting quests have now been added for Woodworkers, Cooks, Jewellers, Tailors, Metalsmiths, Weaponsmiths, and Scholars.
· Level requirements have been removed from the first three crafting quests for each Profession. If you have enough Craft XP, you will not be prevented from accepting the cap-breaking quest even if you are very low level.

Items
· Uncommon and rare item drops for non-elite monsters have been reduced.
· Items sold at vendor shops now cost more.
· Repairing items is now more costly.
· Bear traps and similar class items are now cheaper.
· Magic jewelry now has an upkeep cost to it. During combat and death any magic jewelry may become worn. The upkeep costs are quite steep.
· All armor should now appear correctly for all races/genders.
· Damage variances for all weapons except bows and swords have been adjusted to help differentiate between them (adding some additional flavor to weapons).
· Morale & Power potions are no longer instant and now have an action duration.
· Most rare items are no longer bind on acquire but will bind on equip. Some special items are still bind on acquire.
· We now auto-merge stackable items when bought from a vendor.
· Fixed a bug in clothing examination that was preventing the display of the applied dye color.

Graphics/Animations
· Fixed the bug where armor showed up as super-shiny!
· Added color variations to most of the armor sets (some still on the way)
· The animations and scripts for all avatar combat animations have been unified to ensure that all races/classes are on equal footing
· Avatars can no longer turn while they are using the rest skill.
· Weapons should no longer fly away when jumping with female avatars
· Hobbit male and female NPC's no longer invert their arms when emoting while using a broom.
· Sewing animations no longer use a table. The avatar holds the cloth and leather bundles in their lap.
· Human female, hobbit male and dwarf male running animations have been updated.
· Updated the hobbit female running, run jump, and jump from idle animations.
· Characteristics for players and many traits including "Virtues" now have icons.

World
· The Earthkin village of Rusfold has been moved slightly south. Beasts native to Nan Amlug East have moved into its previous location.
· Additional Stalking Spiders have been added to the Scary Quarry.
· Certain walls within the Esteldin valley should no longer be passable.
· Golfimbul’s Hole, the large goblin camp in the Greenfields, has had its spawns and layout reworked to bring it more in line with the difficulty of other Epic Prologue content.
· The waterfall leading into the gorge beneath the Trestlespan is now open for cliff diving.
· Physics issues preventing players from crossing the bridge leading east into Nan Wathren have been resolved.
· The buildings in Trestlebridge now look more burnt and run down.
· Barrow Ringor has been moved to a new location.
· Added hobbit mailboxes to villages in the Shire.
· Players should no longer get stuck among the planters in Tom Bombadil's house.
· Fixed weird shadows around boulders in Weather Hills
· Players should now be able to get into the back of Nan Wathren.
· All Bard, Trainer, Vendor and Travel NPCs now have Map Note icons.
· The interior of Estelia's house in the Shire has been assigned to be part of the Shire.
· Players killed near the Rushock Gate or dying in the river below Trestlebridge should no longer end up in Bree.
· A number of terrain texture seams were eliminated in the Shire.
· Players should no longer get stuck if they fall in the water between the ferry and dock at Bucklebury Ferry.
· Overhill should now be more of a woodworking town.

Character Creation
· New characters are given a title for their heritages.
· Double clicking in character select now enters the game with the current character.
· Double clicking in the race/sex select screen picks that combination and moves to the next stage.

Miscellaneous
· The mysterious Sweetclover and Roseleaf girls have been removed from the Old Forest and given pink slips. Their services are no longer required.
· If a member of a fellowship is defeated, the game now tells the remaining members, "Your fellow, *Name*, has been defeated!"
· Removed all references to "Mortal" wounds during combat.
· Increased the cost of traveling to destinations offered by stable masters.
· Corpses now fade to black as they fade out during cleanup and should now sort properly as they fade.
· The name of the Eagle Tribe in the Lone-lands has been changed to the Eglain (The Forsaken).
· Mailboxes no longer have a value associated with them.
· Trolls in the Trollshaws should no longer spawn in daylight.
· Players that become incapacitated while carrying an item (i.e. Shire pies, Shire mailbag) will drop the item.

Quests
General:
· Players will no longer receive the “New Quest” alert.
· After completing some quests, players will be given the chance to complete a survey about that quest.
· Fixed some NPCs who were not displaying the Gold Ring above their heads even though they had a quest for the player.

Specific Quests:
· The Ruins of Cardolan chest no longer disappears after being looted.
· The Hobbit starter instance has been updated to make it more interesting.
· Many North Downs quests have received minor text edits for dialogue, description, and events.
· The text in objectives for “Esteldin's Preparation,” “Spider Gems,” and “Off To Staddle” has been fixed.
· The Challenge Level for the quest “Staunching the Flow” has been increased to 35 to match the level of the foes.
· “Thornley's Rescue” is now an "auto-shareable' quest.
· The quest "Neeker-friend" is no longer set to be repeatable.
· Swords collected for the quest “Master of the Lash” should now drop from a variety of local orcs.
· “The Plague-bearer” now requires you to actually kill the plague-bearer to complete the quest, not some random nomad chieftain
· Two new North Downs quests have been added, “Search for Idalene,” and “Dream Voice.”
· The quest item ring in the Shield-brother quest arc should no longer be wearable or salable. The quest reward ring is still of course wearable.
· The Founder's Book is now found in a crate, not lying around exposed to the weather.
· The “Defending the Bridge” quest has been updated in story and structure.
· The “Black Fire” quest has been updated in story and structure.
· “Offering of Peace” quest objectives should now be correctly placed.
· “Rise of the Orcs” quest objectives were changed in an attempt to make the quest more doable, but unfortunately Orc-archers will still be hard to find until the next patch. There are some Orc-archers in the camps scattered around the Weather Hills, but in the next patch they will appear more frequently, and not just in their camps..
· The “Deal Gone Sour" quest has been put back into the Lonelands.
· The “End of the Matter” quest involves somewhat less running around. Fireworks are now given as a quest reward.
· The Earthkin NPC Oskari has been moved deeper within the Fashat Laug camp of Nan Amlug East.
· Players searching for Radagast at the Eagle Tribe camp in Agamaur can now find him residing in a tower in the corner of that camp. This tower should not be accessible until after the completion of Radagast’s quest line out of Ost Guruth.
· Changes have been made to the quest “Forging Anew.”
· The quest Man-slayer in the Lone-lands can now be completed.
· Edward Carver and his brother Roderick are trying to encourage adventurers to take up a craft, and Edward now has a quest directing would-be crafters to the Craft Hall in Combe.
· “Pie from Little Delving” has had its name changed to “Spoiled Pie from Little Delving,” to be consistent with the other Spoiled Pie quests
· “Bundle for Overhill” - Postman Boffin will no longer get stuck when a player turns in the mail.
· The quest “The Wayward Companion” will now advance after speaking with Lagorlam.
· The quest objective for “Traitor to Their People,” Jarrko now enters his monster state correctly.
· Directions for the quest 'Traitor to Their People' now correctly points players to the southeast, rather than southwest.
· The skull of the Great Aurochs, in the “Heritage Restored” quest has been moved to a more appropriate and interesting location.
· The duration allowed before the quest “Heritage Restored” fails has been increased.
· In the quest “Rescuing Vengeance,” Lagorlam will now properly advance the quest at the end of the escort.
· The Epic Prologue quest, “To A Ranger's Aid,” has been re-done and changed dramatically.
· Book 2, Chapter 5 no longer blocks Agamaur.
· Book 2, Chapter 5 quest is radically different, focusing on Radagast the Brown.
· Marked the “Unraveling the Thread” Instance quest as solo.
· Removed a “detector bucket” that was showing in the “Hobbit Rescue” quest.
· The Nazgûl in “Hobbit Rescue” will no longer respawn.
· The quest “A Daring Rescue,” found in the Lone-lands, now correctly displays as a fellowship quest and now propagates to all fellows.
· Another quest was added to the introduction storyline to provide more context for the goings-on in Archet.
· Calder Cob's role is more clearly explained through the introduction quests.
· Familiar faces have been moved to unfamiliar places to further emphasize the growing threat from the Blackwold Brigands in the Introduction Quests.
· Ned and Peg Pruner felt lonely, in that some players were missing their quests, Constable Thistlewool now has quests that direct players to the Pruners. If you already found the Pruners and started working for them, the Constable won't bore you with his details.
· Old Bloodtusk can now be found within the introduction experience and in the first iteration of the public world as well.
· Atli Spider-bane moved into the remains of Archet.
· The resolution to the Assault on Archet now features two endings, one for Hobbit players and the second for Human players. Elves and Dwarfs, you will currently receive the Human ending.
· After completing the raid on Archet, you will find that John Brackenbrook has some painful news about some of the colorful people you met along the way. The world is growing dark and grim.
· Quests in Combe now have a more rigid structure. You should find that the main area of questing for the Combe area focuses on the threats within the Norther Chetwood.
· The Blackwold recruiting effort appears to be drawing brigands with large packs. Each carries a letter they received or discovered that explained the recruitment model. Gone are thin pieces of parchment lying on the ground.
· Ellie Cutleaf has had a change of heart. She is trying to make amends for her errant ways and needs your assistance to see her redemption through.
· The Blackwold never reached the Midgewater Marsh in their flight. Their main encampment is within the Northern Chetwood; this is the last seat of their strength.
· Rurik Fennel's role in the thievery throughout Archet and Combe has seen a slight change.
· The flow and feel of the Epic quest in Combe should feel more fluid, or at least be less taxing on one's legs.
· Being that the Chetwood houses the main force of the Blackwold, it stands to reason that so many have been able to establish their names to better stand out against the rank and file.
· Filbert Burrows may be a Hobbit who acts foolish, but he certainly is not dumb. Filbert made his way to a much safer area of the Chetwood.
· A great Evil from the north stalks the less traveled areas of the North Chetwood. Its howls can be heard echoing through the trees. Be wary of his maw and cautious of your path lest it cross his! (Take some solace that the trip from the north has dulled his senses of sight and smell.)
· Leecher Cartwell no longer needs berries from the south Chetwood. The berries are much closer to the honey and protected by something that really likes honey!
· Gail Catchpole lost her father's fishing pole, but it's unlikely that it's in the Midgewater. Best to check the brigands resting by the pond beneath their ruins in the North Chetwood.
· Friendships with denizens of Combe and Staddle are sprouting again. There are even ways that you can help!
· Blackwold wolf-keepers have been seen in the vicinity of Archet, both before and after their raid on Archet. The keepers even stalk through areas of the Chetwood.
· The Icon for the Red Berries in the Greater Responsibility quest should now appear as berries.
· You need to collect more berries and blackwort, but don't worry; there are plenty to go around.
· Skunkwood's house is now in the Chetwood North. Unfortunately, the scoundrel now locks his door.
· There are now more diseased boars surrounding the hunting lodge after the raid on Archet.
· With his return to Archet proper, John Brackenbrook sealed the door to the Hunting Lodge.
· Lily Underhill, of Staddle, is a little more coy in helping to discover the blight affecting Falco Greenhand's farm.
· Guards outside of Archet now defend a sheep farm, one of the last farms in Archet.
· Barliman Butterbur is now a touchstone on the road to finding Strider.
· Archet guards finally received their shipment of tabards. Unfortunately, the tabards orders for female militia were delayed by a cart accident in Combe.
· Captain Brackenbrook now becomes visibly angry when he learns of the truth behind the goings-on in and around Archet.
· Players entering the Blackwold Hideout before advancing the quest containing the instance will now be able to properly advance the quest. It is still advised that all players entering the Hideout instance speak to Toradan, as the quest suggests, before entering.
· Aoric the Stone-speaker has made a triumphant return to the Shade Camp in the southern swamp in the Eastern Lone-lands.
· Due to a restructuring of the newbie introduction and prologue quests, the quest "Restoring Archet" has been removed from the game.
· The "Daring Rescue" and "Deal Gone Sour" escorts in the Lone-lands will now properly propagate to fellowships.
· The mobs for the "Blade for a Life" quest no longer respawn.
· The “Clear Water” quest will remove the water skins from your inventory when the quest is completed.

A lot of changes, again I'll just say it seems more natural to get less money from mobs and have lower repair costs.  It really seems arse about face to have low level characters running around with hundreds of silvers.
Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942

Muse.


Reply #1 on: September 28, 2006, 06:41:18 AM

Thanks, Arthur!   smiley  I read a bit about the patch yesterday.  I always become demotivated just before a big update and remotivated just after.  I am preparing for remotivation now.

My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
WayAbvPar
Moderator
Posts: 19268


Reply #2 on: September 28, 2006, 12:00:10 PM

Quote
· Added hobbit mailboxes to villages in the Shire.

I can't wait to mail a hobbit!

When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM

Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood

Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942

Muse.


Reply #3 on: September 28, 2006, 12:03:49 PM

It's not going to be so easy to mail a hobbit now... they seem to have opened their eyes.

My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
WayAbvPar
Moderator
Posts: 19268


Reply #4 on: September 28, 2006, 12:09:18 PM

That was among the strangest bugs I have ever encountered in a game- the closed eyes were CREEPY.

When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM

Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood

Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
Xanthippe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4779


Reply #5 on: September 29, 2006, 11:28:32 AM

Actually going to play today - downloading/installing patch now.

House is a mess.  Too bad!  Gonna stay that way!

WayAbvPar
Moderator
Posts: 19268


Reply #6 on: September 29, 2006, 12:10:41 PM

Leveled a couple of times last night. I like the new combat animations, and the accomplishments for each special attack. Old Forest sucks...creepy and confusing. Very true to the books! =)

Got to fight my first orcs too- first one drops some purple gloves, which was nice. I don't really like the orc avatars- they don't look enough like the loading screen. They need to be more malevolent looking.

Got my first look at the Shire too- looks great! What a pretty world overall. Kudos to the art folks for that.

When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM

Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood

Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
Xanthippe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4779


Reply #7 on: September 29, 2006, 12:33:11 PM

The new vendor interface for selling is very nice.

Went back into the Barrows, and actually completed some quests.  Dont' know if the mob concentration was cut or if I was just playing better today, but it worked nicely.
Strazos
Greetings from the Slave Coast
Posts: 15542

The World's Worst Game: Curry or Covid


Reply #8 on: October 01, 2006, 03:33:20 PM

I think I would like some of the new stuff they put in...

If I didn't keep getting hit with a movement bug. It usually occurs after I deal with a NPC. It's very annoying.

Fear the Backstab!
"Plato said the virtuous man is at all times ready for a grammar snake attack." - we are lesion
"Hell is other people." -Sartre
Arthur_Parker
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5865

Internet Detective


Reply #9 on: October 01, 2006, 04:08:40 PM

I fully expected to hate this game, in fact I'd have bet money on it.  Maybe it's because my expectations were so low, but at level 21, I haven't had this much fun since the WoW Beta.
WayAbvPar
Moderator
Posts: 19268


Reply #10 on: October 02, 2006, 09:42:44 AM

The new vendor interface for selling is very nice.

Went back into the Barrows, and actually completed some quests.  Dont' know if the mob concentration was cut or if I was just playing better today, but it worked nicely.

Yes, the vendor interface works much better now. I was trying to get to the Barrows and ended up walking through the Old Forest to Tom Bombadil's house and then to the Barrows. After I died and woke up in West Bree, I figured out that there is a much more direct route. I R N00bler.

Can't quite solo the Laila the lost hobbit/Lost Prince encounter yet at 17. I think one more level should make it doable. Looking forward to killing lots of orcs past Trestlebridge in a level or 2 as well.

When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM

Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood

Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
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