Update 42 Release Notes

Here are the release notes for Update 42: Legacy of Morgoth, released on Wednesday, November 6th, 2024. 

Of Special Note:

Legacy of Morgoth has arrived!

Unearth the Secrets of Shagâna!

Venture into the untamed wilds of Near Harad, where ancient secrets lurk beneath sun-scorched sands and treacherous marshlands! Feel the thrill of discovery as you race against time, deciphering cryptic maps and forging unlikely alliances. In this land of hidden perils and breathtaking vistas, your choices will shape the fate of Middle-earth.

With courage as your compass, pursue cunning traitors through scorching deserts, petrified forests, and wind-carved canyons. Stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the fierce and enigmatic peoples of this land to prevent against a coming darkness more terrifying than Mordor's shadow. For in these mysterious lands awaits something that few would have dreamed in their most terrible of nightmares: the Legacy of Morgoth.

• The Song of Waves and Wind continues! Speak to Jaith outside the Meeting-hall of Dar Laja in Umbar Baharbel to begin Chapter 10. This is a new on-ramp for the story; completion of the first nine chapters is recommended, but not required.
• Discover the striking lands of Near Harad! This is a challenge level 150 region, with 4 new zones packed with new quests, Deeds, Missions and Delvings for you to explore.​
• Experience more than 350 unique quests! Additionally, a new raid will debut at a later date that is associated with this content, and included with your purchase.

Ambarûl​

"Bordering Umbar along the ruins of Telperiën’s Wall, Ambarûl is one of the most fruitful lands in the region. Through it flows the Ikorbân River, bringing water and enriching the soil while also providing another rich food source, fish and shellfish from the rivers' brackish waters.​"

Because of this natural abundance, the people of Ambarûl have been crushed under the thumb of one Kingdom after another, as far back as they can remember. Until now. The Ambarûli have thrown off the shackles of the Great Southern Empire of Ordâkh, and continue the fight to regain control of their native lands."​

Khûd Zagin​

"Khûd Zagin, an arid and barren land south of Ambarûl, still fights for its freedom from the Ordâkhai. Though it is still technically within the realm of the Empire of Ordâkh, following the War of the Ring the Ordâkhai struggle to control the region, rife with ruffians, outlaws and rebels.​

Since the fall of Sauron, many Khûdi claim to have heard a mysterious voice in the desert winds. This spectral voice, chilling and filled with despair, that can be heard whispering indistinct words in the deep deserts late at night."​

Imhûlar​

"Imhûlar is a rugged, once beautiful land now struck by twin catastrophes of war and plague. Imhûlar is the site of the ruined citadel of Kûr Anzar, which long ago was the heart of the kingdom of Hamât. Kûr Anzar is under Barkhûshim control, but the would-be queen of Renewed Hamât, Mizâdi Shâra-ingari, has begun to threaten their rule. Elsewhere, Elves of the Oasis seek to turn back the Lâg Dávrit, the Pale Blight, which has ossified much of the Woods of Imhûlar, turning its trees bone-white, and killing or afflicting many of the plants and animals within."​

Urash Dâr​

"Across the Ikorbân River from the wooded hills of Imhûlar, the terrain grows more forbidding and wild: the interweaving web of rocky shelves, scree-skirted slopes, and twisting canyons of Urash Dâr. As empires have risen and fallen across Shagâna, the canyons have been home to all manner of desperate Men, from heretical cults and crazed recluses to thieving cutthroats and desperate insurgents."​

Instances: Ikorbân Valley​

• Ashunûg, the Fane of the Accursed (3 Player)​: In the northern lands of Ambarûl you will enter the salt mine of Ashunûg. It is now overrun by a cult of Usan-kûni worshippers who call themselves the Anâkhi. You will push back the cultists and clear the mines of the powerful scorpions who reside there."​
• Nirgambâr, the Restless Tomb (6 Player)​: "In a sheltered valley in the north of Khûd Zagin stand ancient, crumbling ziggurat-tombs of pale stone collectively known as Nirgambâr. Scouts have reported that one of the Zidemel's men, Andur, is said to have entered Nirgambâr drawn there by dark whispers. Locate and stop Andur before he can unleash what lurks in this cursed place."​
• Tûl Zakana, the Well of Forgetting (6 Player)​: "Deep in the war-torn lands of Imhûlar, locals warn you of an Ordâkhai encampment, a trading post of sorts. There is a special well here, that locals call Tûl Zakana, the Well of Forgetting, whose waters will make you forget your troubles, and, if you drink enough, even who you are. But unless you are trading for this water, it's best to stay well clear of the Well, for many have wandered near it and simply vanished, never to be seen again."​
• Instance tokens and rewards can be bartered at the fishing village in Bej Mâgha, outside the city of Umbar.

Elf Update​

Elves have received a cosmetic update! We have been able to hit many aspects of elf player characters in The Lord of the Rings Online, giving them similar expanded options and looks that can be seen with the work done previously with the Race of Man. This work does not include an update to High Elves, which will happen at a later date. All Elven characters will automatically utilize their new looks when they log in, and many players will find their new look very similar to their old look. However, players who wish to further adjust the look of their characters can visit a Barber, located in many major settlements including Bree, Thorin's Hall, The Dale-Lands, Erebor, Minas Tirith, and Rivendell.

Reputation Enhancement​

Three new reputations are now available; The Phetêkari of Umbar (Tale-wardens), The Ikorbani (People of Shagâna), and the Adúrhid. The main faction of the release is the Ikorbani, and most of the quests will help you gain your reputation with this group.​ The two secondary factions get a new "exploration" experience. Across the zones, you will find amphorae and other random scattered pots on the landscape. These act like special chests. Once you reach the correct faction tier with the Tale-wardens you can interact with the first of these amphorae. When you reach the next corresponding relationship tier, you can acquire a kit from Scholars or via barter to access the second style of ancient pottery to gain faction advancement and currency.​ For the Adúrhid, the focus is on the preservation of nature. Like the Tale-wardens, there are two types of items you can interact with on the landscape: seeds and seed clusters. There are keys allowing you to harvest the rewards from the seeds.​
​
VIP players who reach Friend level with a faction will be granted a +10% bonus to Reputation experience earned by all other characters on the server until they reach the Friend level.​ If a character on a server reaches the Kindred level with a faction, all other characters on the player's account/server earn a +25% bonus until they reach the Kindred threshold with the same factions. Only the three new factions in the expansion pack have this functionality.​ 

Baubles!​

Baubles are a mix of old and new curiosities that can be collected along your travels. These will be items that unlock a skill in a new tab within your collection panels, able to be used directly from there without needing to hold onto the item. Many older items such as costumes will be updated to work in this way to provide easier access to them at all times. Newer ones will be found from the new factions coming with Legacy of Morgoth.​

The next Legendary Items Reward Track launches November 14th!

Season 12 of the Legendary Items Reward Track will launch on November 14th at 10am Eastern Time.

Veil of the Nine

• The Ringwraith appearances on Angmar and Mordor have been updated to include a new way to battle the threat!

• Portals will spawn in the same way Ringwraiths appear in the game world, generally alternating between portal and Ringwraith spawns. Clicking on a portal will send you into an Instanced version of the Ringwraith fight.

• Anyone at the current server level cap can enter a portal and find themselves in a shadowy realm. Once enough players arrive, one of the Ringwraith will spawn in that space.

• As more players arrive beyond the instance size limit of 48 players, new joiners will be placed into a new arena that will have its own copy of the Ringwraith. If there are not enough players in the final arena to spawn, players may not reach the minimum necessary to summon a Ringwraith, which is 12 players. 

• The portals remain open for 15 minutes. The battle has the same 30 minute time limit as landscape Ringwraith appearances.

• Instanced battles are very similar to their landscape versions, except the Ringwraith's Absolute Terror defense (the one broken by a Ringbearer) is significantly weaker, and Pillars of Light will randomly appear around the edge of the arena and can be used to clear the buildup of Dread that occurs while fighting Ringwraiths.

News and Notes:

Classes and Skills

• The Threat modifier bonus granted by tank-oriented class specializations has been increased from 1.5x to 2x.

• Beorning

  • Sluggish Stings trait potency reduced by half.

• Brawler
  • Brawler 'Rush' trait tier 2 should now properly increase out of combat movement to 15%.

  • Ignore Pain's cooldown is now reduced by 7s when specializaed in The Fulcrum.

  • Brawler's specialized in The Fulcrum now generate additional threat from damaging skills.

• Captain

  • Increased Captain's 2-handed healing bonus from 20% > 30%

  • Words of Courage nows stacks 1x per caster, up to 6x total on a target.

  • Routing Cry now generates additional threat when specialized in The Leader of Men.

•  Champion
  • Punishing Strike's Bleed damage has been reduced by 10%.
  • The debuff from Devastating Strike can now be overwritten, and no longer requires you to wait for it to expire before it can be reapplied.
  • Unbreakable's tiered buff will now reapply at the highest tier if you are hit while at the highest tier of the buff.
  • Damaged increased 10% for Blade Skills which consume Fervour as well as Rend and the Rend bleed.
• Hunter
  • Hunter base Damage has been increased by 5%.
• Lore-master
  • If combat ends while consuming a lightning charge, you should no longer lose your remaining lightning charges.
  • Reduced Ring of Fire Damage by 10%.
  • Ring of Fire now has an innate 10% Resistance penetration in PvP and 30% in PvE since it does not benefit from players' finesse.
  • Damage over Time from Burning Embers has been reduced slightly:
    
    • Reduced Searing Embers Damage by 10%.
    • Reduced Burning Embers (second tier) Damage by 5%.
    • Smouldering Embers Damage is unchanged.
  • Pet command skills can now correctly be used on Monster Players.
  • Pets now have an innate threat modifier that matches non-tank player specializations.
  • Pet commands are now only usable when you have an active companion summoned. This is intended to prevent you from wasting these skills if your pet is not present.
  • Staff Strike's bonus damage applied when it consumes a flank now correctly benefits from Single Target, rather than area of effect Damage bonuses.
• Mariner
  
  • The 'Sail to' skill that returns you to the fishing village in Bej Mâgha should now correctly bring fellows along with you when used.
  • Mariner 'Fire Pot' now has an innate -30% Resistance penetration since it does not benefit from players' Finesse.
• Rune-keeper
  • Epic Conclusion's lightning VFX should once again appear as intended.

• Warden

  • Fixed Warden's Advanced Defence effect (when tanking, reduced incoming damage when you complete a gambit chain).

  • Conviction once again leeches threat from your allies while healing them.

Combat and Monsters

• Various Fell-beasts are no longer immune to Power of Knowledge, since this skill no longer drains enemy Power.
• Some stat crunch clean up erroneously caused many monster modifiers to incorrectly use negative values for mitigation bonuses, causing those buffs to turn into debuffs. This has been corrected, so monsters will once again receive the appropriate mitigation increases that they used to have. This mostly impacts monsters throughout the lower game levels, and especially boss monsters at those levels.
• Avanc Swamp Bite attack now properly displays its vitality reducing effect. This effect is no longer curable so that it doesn't block cures on the main damage over time.

Crafting

• Uncut gems are now less likely to drop from enemies throughout the world. Gems found in containers and prospecting nodes are unchanged.
• Umbar's Crafting Guild has loosened its restrictions on bartering for items to improve your Eriador Crafting Guild standing.
• Recipes for crafting Sea-farer's Lively Crafted Essence Boxes, allowing selection of a Lively Sea-farer's Essence, has been automatically granted to Umbar tier cooks, jewellers, metalsmiths, scholars, tailors, weaponsmiths, and woodworkers.

Quests, Deeds, and Adventure Areas

• In the Vales of Anduin quest Wood for the Walls, the Damaged Walls should now be easier to click on when floaty names are off.
• The corpse that bestows the Bree-land quest The Failed Delivery will no longer be selectable after the quest is completed.
• The Dol Guldur "hard mode" quests "Let Them Hunger" and "One Fell Swoop" will now only be bestowed to characters that can complete them.
• The Evendim quest 'A Friend to the Kings of Old' now states clearly that to advance the objective you must complete two other quests. It also shows the locations of the bestowers of these quests on the map.
• The Udûn quest The Lonely Look-out has been revised to correct several issues. There are now quest guides to help locate objectives and some text has been changed for clarity.
  • PLEASE NOTE: Players who logged out with The Lonely Lookout in progress will need to re-accept the quest and start it over due to versioning
• The North Downs quest A Request to the Earth-kin is now bestowed by Gondranc in Esteldín.
• The placement and appearance of the Tar Sand used in the Cape of Umbar quest The Black Sand has been adjusted.

Instances and Skirmishes

• The Rift of Nurz Ghashu
  • Thaurlach is now immune to crowd control effects.
• Sari-surma
  • Drugoth now has an appropriate Mariner-specific skill.

Missions and Delvings

• 28 new missions will be coming in Legacy of Morgoth! Visit mission givers in Iridír in Ambarûl, Urmâkh in Imhûlar and Ub Nishir in Urash Dâr for new missions. Most new missions are compatible with Delvings.
• In the Gundabad Mission "Sting Like a Grodbog" the mucous quest objects now behave correctly.
• The Elderslade mission "Into the Crystal Tunnels" now has a usable exit portal in the mission space.
• The following Cardolan and Swanfleet Missions have been updated due to a performance fix. These missions will be removed from your Quest Log if underway.
  • "Caranost Command Post"
  • "Caranost Courtyard"
  • "Haunting at Dol Ernil"
  • "The Hand, Out!"
  • "Signs and Sigils"
  • "Sifting Through Time"
  • "Secrets and Plans"
  • "Not as Many Heads"
  • "Before They Bond"
  • "Brigands in Nímbarth"
  • "The Ruins of Gaervarad"
  • "Jorthkyn and Hounds"
  • "The Tombs of Gond Orchal"
  • "Aberrations of Nature"
  • "Dangerous Deliveries".
• The Following locations are now a part of the Mission Stable-master Network:
  • Gerwyn's Convoy
  • Clegur
  • Herne
  • Iridír (available only on servers with a level cap of 150 or greater)
  • Urmâkh (available only on servers with a level cap of 150 or greater)
  • Ub Nishir (available only on servers with a level cap of 150 or greater)
  • Bloody Eagle (available only on servers with a level cap of 150 or greater)

Housing and Decorations

• A few housing rewards from the 'Dragon and the Storm' instance were smaller than intended, and are now slightly larger. This affects the Dragon and the Storm Painting, Tapestry, Chair, and Hearth items.

Items and Rewards

• The following items will now go into the Junk Item Carry-alls: Jade Gemstones, Mithril Dust, Old Arrowheads, and Ancient Spearheads.
• Ornamental PvMP appearances from the recent event reward track should now correctly take clothing dyes.
• Osgiliath instance cluster equipment should now have an appropriate minimum level requirement when it fails to scale correctly to your character's level.
• Newly acquired Adventurer's lootbox gear, for level 150 characters, will now scale to item level 521 - 523.

• The following skill/emote granting items received from the Treasure Hunt event will now disenchant into Buried Treasure Tokens for those who have already earned the skills/emotes: Cave-claw Steed, Rich!, Treasure Laden Goat, Treasure Laden Steed, Counterfeit, Gem Inspection, Coin Flip, Dowse, and Gold Panning.

PvMP/Ettenmoors

• Fixed a bug with the radar where Players and Monster Players would be labeled as a Warband instead of a Glory Seeker.
• The Armies of the Coldfells and Mount Gram have both called upon some of their allies to strengthen the area immediately outside their main bases.
• Effects which confer immunity to slows should now work more reliably.
• Monster Player ratings from items and traits have been increased from item level 515 to item level 520 equivalent values.
• Audacity Incoming Damage buff for both Free Peoples and Monster Players has been increased from x0.55 to x0.5 (this means you will take approximately 10% less damage than before).
• Monster Player DPS has been increased approximately 4.5%.
• Chests of Gramsfoot and Glan Vraig should now correctly reward you only with items relevant to your side of the war.
• Chests of the First Marshal and Second Marshal have been deprecated. If you happen to have any of these keys, they can be exchanged at Quartermaster Ash for a portion of their original Token of Valour cost.
• The quest 'Valourous' is now a daily quest. After completing the quest for the day, you may barter for more keys at an increased cost.
• Orc Reaver
  • Reduced Thrash Tier 3 Damage by 25%.
  • Increased Jagged Wound DoT Damage by 50%.
  • Increased Mutilation DoT Damage by 60%.
  • Blade Toss now Stuns rather than Knocks Down your target.
  • Blade Toss's positional angle has been reduced from 160 degrees to 120 degrees. This means you must be more directly behind your opponent when using Blade Toss in order for its positional effects to apply.
  • Reduced auto attack damage by 20%.
  • Increased most skill damage by 15% (excludes thrash, blade toss, gut punch, and impale).
  • Blinding Dust now multiplied Outgoing Melee and Ranged Damage by x0.1 (-10% from baseline) and Tactical Damage by x0.975 and has no impact on miss chance.
  • Disarm duration reduced from 5s > 3s.
  • Disarm is no longer an Immediate Skill.
  • Severing Strike is now an Immediate Skill.
• Defiler
  • Increasing Efflorescence Base range to 15m; enhanced range to 30m.
  • Efflorescence base cooldown increased 20s > 45s.
  • Efflorescence healing increased by 166%.
  • Fire Gourd and Explosive Gourd Damage reduced by 20%.
  • Plague Gourd Damage tripled (+200%).
  • Plague Gourd cooldown increased from 8s > 16s.
  • Tenderize's daze effect now has a 10s base duration and 100% chance to daze.
  • Tenderize cooldown increased from 5s > 15s.
  • Enhanced Blessing of Darkness trait now negates 50% of absorbed damage.
  • Blessing of Darkness can no longer be interrupted while channeling. It can still be broken by movement or crowd control.
  • Boon of Toxic Flesh cooldown increased from 20s > 45s.
  • Boon of the Blackened Heart duration reduced from 30s > 5s.
  • Boon of the Blackened Heart Damage buff increased from 7.5% > 25%.
  • Boon of the Blackened Heart cooldown increased from 20s > 45s.
  • Frugal cursing now reduces Boon and Curse cooldowns by 5s.
  • New trait: Ancient Boons causes your boons to apply a more potent buff for the first 5 second.
  • New skill: in Curse-shouter, Efflorescence becomes Miasma, a long-induction skill that deals damage to enemies within 10m of the defiler. Within 6m of the defiler, Stinging Spores explode on their targets, dealing potent instant damage and healing the defiler.
  • Fell Restoration Power cost increased 30%.
  • The Trait 'Enhanced Skill: Fell Sacrifice' now improves Fell Restoration instead. It reduces the cooldown of Fell Restoration by 10s and reduces its Power cost by 15%.
  • Fell Sacrifice cooldown reduced to 2s.
  • New skill: Acrid Salts, a single-target combat revive with a 3m cooldown.
• Warleader
  • New trait, Clinging Fear: causes your shouts to have a 30% chance to apply 'Clinging Fear' to your target. Your melee skills will transform this clinging fear into a potent damage over time effect.
  • Quitters Never Win cooldown reduced from 3m to 60s.
  • Quitters Never Win active CD reduction (from Quit Whining and Crack the Whip) reduced from -10s to -2s.
  • Get a Grip Healing increased.
  • Several area of effect heals now apply only to the war-band (6-player group) of the skill's target. This does reduce area of effect out-of-group healing considerably but will also give you much greater control of who is healed by these group-heal skills within groups.
  • On Your Feet now revives only 3 targets.
  • On Your Feet is now a targeted skill with 20m range. It will revive up to 3 targets in a 15m radius around your selection.
  • All Melee skills now cost no Power and restore some Power when used.
  • Power cost increased moderately for healing skills and some shouts.
  • New skill: Scold Slackers: out-of-combat revive. 30 meter range, 3 second cooldown.
  • New skill: White-hot Whip (Brawler version of 'Crack the Whip' is a 10 meter range melee skill).
  • New skill: Condemned (Brawler version of 'On Your Feet' is a targeted and potent debuff).
  • New skill: Cleave (Commander version of 'Cleave' heals the fellowship for each target hit).
  • New skill: Petty Criticism is a weak instant healing skill in Commander stance, and a weak, low-cooldown Shout in Brawler stance.
  • New skill: Scorn is a more potent Single-target heal with a short induction, and a moderately damaging shout in Brawler stance.
  • New skill: War-forged Uruk (sets incoming damage to 10% and tiers up another defensive buff if you continue to be targeted while active).
  • New skill: Marching Orders applies a tiered corruption, which is either defensive or offensive depending on your current stance.
  • New skill: Roaring/Crushing Shield (heals self and debuffs enemy in commander; buffs offense in brawler).
  • New Brawler skill: Mobilize > Ambush grants your war-band +20% speed and critical chance. this effect is removed upon being hit by an attacker.
  • Mobilize speed buff now gives +40% speed for 10s.
  • Imposing Presence now heals 7.5% of Maximum Morale of affected allies when cast.
  • Banners of Terror and Horror are now usable in combat by default.
  • Banners of Terror and Horror now last 30 second.
  • Banners of Terror and Horror now share a 2m cooldown.
  • Banners of Terror and Horror now apply a more potent effect lasting 10s to enemies around the Warleader.
  • Banner of Terror now deals 7.5% Power Damage to nearby enemies.
  • Banner of Horror now deals 5% Morale Damage to nearby players.
  • Command Post and Point Defence no longer have inductions.
  • Command Post and Point Defence now last 45s.
  • Command Post and Point Defence now share a 2m 30s cooldown.
  • Command Post and Point Defence now apply a more potent effect lasting 10s to group members around the Warleader.
  • Aura of Command buff now improves all Damage types by 20% (previously buffed Melee Damage by 25%).
  • The trait 'Lead the Charge' now reduces all Banner skill cooldowns by 30s. (known issue: this currently displays in-game as -30s inductions, rather than cooldowns).

Landscape

• Texture issues in Umbar Mokh have been resolved.
• Z-fighting issues in Umbar Mokh have been resolved.
• Floating asset issues in Umbar Mokh have been resolved.
• Misc decor placement issues have been resolved.
• Misc stuck spots have been resolved.

Localization

• GERMAN: Several VO lines from Blackroot Vale, Gondor Renewed and Umbar are now playing correctly in German.

• FRENCH:  The command "/jdr oui" will now properly indicate that the player is roleplaying. 

Miscellaneous

• Character Select Screen - Avatar Update Visible checkbox is only visible for avatar races that use it. These races are currently only Dwarves and Hobbits.
• Barber Shop panel is now larger.
• Barber Shop panel can now be dynamically scaled.
• Character panel can now be dynamically scaled.
• System Menu and Options panel can now be dynamically scaled.
• We plan on releasing more hair styles for the Elves in the future.

Known Issues:

• Known issue: Certain hats for Elves have a hair gap.
• The Minstrel and Mariner instruments available from instance cluster barter were set to item level 520. They should be item level 525. This will be fixed in a future patch.
• The legendary quality set item rings, bracelets, and earrings availble from instance cluster barter were accidentally set to have a disenchant value. This will be removed in a future patch.
• Some bows and a club dropping in the instance cluster were set to common damage type instead of Westernesse or Beleriand damage. This will be fixed in a future patch.
• Some bows dropping in the instance cluster are lacking the option to disenchant into Embers. This will be corrected in a future patch.
• The Reputation boost for VIPs is not properly applying a bonus through the Ally reputation tier. This will be corrected in the next game update.