Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion!

Here are the patch notes for the latest free content update for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar! Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion brings a wide array of changes to LOTRO, including the addition of Eregion, the continuation of the epic questline, and preparations for Moria! The team has also been hard at work adding even more player-requested features to the game!

Highlights:

• Eregion: Journey to where the One Ring was forged!
  
• Epic Quest: The epic quest continues with world events that open up the adventure to every player across all servers!
  
• Moria Prelude Quests: Aid the Fellowship of the Ring as they prepare to leave Rivendell and make their way toward Mordor.
  
• Dungeons: The loot dropped in all instances and raids is being upgraded, and bosses and mobs are being adjusted to make for even better play experiences! Now is the time to prepare for the dangers that dwell in Moria!
  
• Animation Improvements: LOTRO continues to polish the experience!
  
  • Animations and sounds for each Minstrel skill using their equipped instrument (no longer just the Lute!)
    
  • Monster play emote animations for Orc, Uruk, Spider and Warg
    
  • New animations for 12 emotes – plus three new animated emotes!

LOTRO has been nominated for Online Game of the Year at the 2008 Golden Joysticks!

Last year Lord of the Rings Online won the 2007 PC Game of the Year. This year LOTRO has been nominated for Online Game of the Year! Cast your vote at http://www.goldenjoystick.com and thanks for your support!

 
You can also vote for Codemasters in the UK Developer of the Year and Publisher of the Year awards.

 http://www.lotro-europe.com/news.php?id=6705&articletype=News

So go vote and make sure that LotrO wins the online game of the year :)

The Shades concert 15 June - well done!

I thought I'd post a quick note up to say well done to all involved in putting on the music concert in the Bree festival fields tonight (Lauralin RP server).

Its the first time I've been able to attend, but I know our member here achazia puts a lot of time and effort into them (writing the music, and obviously practicing with the rest of her band!).

Mugendo was a fine host, a minstrel of some skill, who introduced all the (original) music pieces by the telling of a tale.

European subscribers to The Lord of the Rings Online™ are now able to use their Player Account System (PAS) username and password to log into and edit the LOTRO Lorebook for the first time.

This is a fantastic opportunity for the European community to take part in the day to day updating of everything to do with The Lord of the Rings Online™ and help to support the global community with our wealth of knowledge.

The Lorebook is a wiki which contains hundreds of pages of information pulled directly from the game’s databases, including quests, items, recipes, creatures, NPCs, locations, and more. There’s even a Google map of Middle-earth on which the locations of many items are marked. These pages can be searched, linked to one another, and most are editable by LOTRO players to add their notes and tips for other players.

Please be aware there are a few ground rules for using the Lorebook.

• The Lorebook currently only supports English language. Pages which communicate in any other language including French and German will be removed until we have the systems and support in place to manage those languages at the level of quality we’d be happy with.
  
  
• Players are free to edit or add any information as long as it is accurate and relevant. Any irrelevant text will be removed without notice.
  
  
• Misuse of this feature will lead to your username being banned from the Lorebook. This means all login access will be removed.
  
  
• European players are free to create their own Kinship pages however at this time there are no European server listings.

Book 13 Patch 1 notes posted

The patch notes for Book 13 Patch 1 are now available. Please be aware these patch notes are subject to any changes...
Gameplay

• Toggle Skill Fixes: The following skills are no longer disabled by disarm.
  
  • Stance: Strength - no longer requires a ranged weapon
    
  • Stance: Precision - no longer requires a ranged weapon
    
  • Stance: Endurance - no longer requires a ranged weapon
    
  • Guardian's Defence - no longer requires a shield
  
  
• You can once again move items around in your inventory while crafting.
  
• “Disarm” will now only disarm the Main-hand weapon. This change opens a few known-issues, see below.
  
  • Graphics Issue: When a player is first disarmed their Secondary Weapon/Shield disappears briefly.
    
  • When a dual-wielding player is disarmed they are unable to auto-attack with their secondary weapon.
  
  
  • Lore-master: The Improved Sign of Righteousness's icon effect will now last the full 60 seconds.
    
  • Fixed hunter guide skills failing to guide you out of private encounters.
    
  • Fixed Minstrel "Tale of Heroism" and other group benefiting skills (i.e. Hunter's "Find the Path") within Raids.
    
  • Fixed an issue that was causing timing issues with ranged and channeling combat skills. These issues were primarily seen by Hunters (e.g. the skills “Quick Shot” and “Focus”) and Lore-masters (e.g. the skills “Burning Embers” and “Blinding Flash”).
    
  • Fixed a rare issue that could cause a rented mount to be player-controllable, but would also prevent dismounting.

2nd Game launched at UnlocktheminesofMoria.com

Turbine, Inc. and Codemasters Online today announced the launch of Swig and Toss, the second mini-game on www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com . Registered participants can challenge themselves and their friends to earn special deeds that unlock unique rewards including exclusive videos, images, and in-game items that will aid them on their journey when The Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria launches this fall.

Swig and Toss is an axe throwing competition with a bit of drinking and wagering to make things more interesting! In this 10-round game, players try to keep a steady aim while attempting to hit a target with their axe. Hit the mark and win! Miss and hear the Dwarves around you scoff at your lack of skill.

Between rounds, players can take a few swigs from their mug to help quench their thirst. This will help boost their confidence and loosen their pocket strings, increasing the amount they can wager.

Swig and Toss is available today at www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com . Registration is free!

Get Worms, Maggots! - (Official) Forum Competition

Latest reports from the most trustworthy sources are saying a Tyrant brimming with utmost evil has heard rumours of a new magical weapon of the meat: fishing poles. They state that with treacherous intent this mysterious Tyrant has ordered the Monsters of Middle-earth to seize such a weapon and investigate the true power it may wield.

Unsure of what to expect and unsure of what they’ll find; Monsters far and wide, from Angmar to Mordor, have begun what could be the greatest of hunts…

In celebration of Book 13 and the addition of the much anticipated Fishing hobby, we want to see your short stories or pictures of what you think a Monster would do with a Fishing Pole if one was allowed its putrid hands on one. You’re free to let your imagination go wild.

The contest rules are as follows:

• Your submission must be either picture based or text based (yes you can use paint if your artistic abilities are lacking)

• You can submit as many entries as you want. If you submit more than one entry, please name the files like: your_name1, your_name2,…

• You must send your submissions to competitions@codemasters.com
  -Full name
  -Date of birth
  -Post address
  -Submission attachment with the subject line “Get Worms, Maggots!” with the following details

• The competition will close on Thursday 22nd May. The winners will be announced shortly after.

The best text-based entry and the best picture entry will be awarded with a Codemasters Anniversary Package! (Codies' goodie bag, contents – a mystery!)

Welcome Back to LOTRO Weekend

Beginning this Thursday we’re hosting a Welcome Back Weekend for all LOTRO Players. All cancelled or expired accounts will be re-activated for a long weekend beginning 8^th May up until 12^th May (Thursday to Monday). This is a great opportunity for you to get friends, guild mates or family members who may have played LOTRO in the past back into the game to check out the new content!

“Beginning 8th May through till 12th May we’re inviting players to come back and play LOTRO. The doors will be open for former players to enter the world of Middle-earth and play all content up to the newly released Book 13: Doom of the Last-king.

If you’ve got a friend who used to play LOTRO and hasn’t logged in for a while then let them know about this great weekend!

All you have to do is download and patch up to the most recent version and log in on the 8th May. Your account will already have been re-activated for you.”

EN: http://www.lotro-europe.com/news.php?id=6193

DE: http://www.lotro-europe.com/news.php?id=6208

FR: http://www.lotro-europe.com/news.php?id=6209

To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™, Codemasters Online are excited to bring you some very special subscription offers.

• Try the game for 14 full days for free! To do so all you have to go is grab a key from www.trylotro.com , download the game client and start playing!
  
• Take advantage of our Lifetime Subscription offer for The Lord of the Rings Online and get 10% off the usual price of £149.99 / €219.99 and never pay a monthly fee again!
  
• Or choose a multi-month plan (three and six month subscriptions) and lock yourself into a monthly price of £6.99 / €8.86. Visit COG Accounts to get involved.

As well as this you can take part in our Anniversary In-game event by picking up tokens from monsters around the world of Middle-earth to receive great items!

For more details on this event please see the official announcement

The standalone patch is now available

You can now download the Book 13 stand alone patcher ready for the upcoming Book 13 update (this Thurs?).  So get yourself along to the link below, and choose your download option (torrents can be quick after a while if you have a bitTorrent client).


http://www.lotro-europe.com/newspage.php?id=1804

Special item drops in book 13

I hear there may well be special 'trade in' items ter be found on all monsters for a little while (until June?)..

Save Middle-earth and Win:  During the anniversary celebration, monsters throughout Middle-earth will drop rare items when defeated.  Players can exchange these rare items for a special gift box that will reward the player with one of a variety of in-game items to aid them on their adventures in Middle-earth.

I've heard those items might in include fine armours and weapons (crit versions), and beryl shards (start the mystical music at their mention).