Book 10 (Part 4) (2007-08-17)

Book 10 (Part 4) (2007-08-17)

Book 10: The City of Kings - Part 4

Graphics/Animation/FX

• Fixes 'stutter-step' issues when NPCs and monsters stop moving.
• "Find the Trail" effects will no longer disappear after teleporting.
• New visual effect for when you bind to a milestone.
• Sleeping monsters that are killed in one hit no longer continue to play the sleeping ZZZZZ particles.
• Weapons that are equipped while you are stealthed and out of combat now properly unstealth with you.
• Monsters now have weapon streaks on their attacks.
  • These streaks will be disabled when monster combat FX are disabled in options.
  • Disabling Avatar combat FX will now also disable streaks for avatars.
• The Slayer FX appear much more quickly now than they used to when a target creature type is nearby
• Fixed a race condition that was causing other players' weapons to show up unsheathed and in hand while out of combat.
• Some FX that included gore were not playing at all after the addition of the FX toggles, these will now toggle on/off correctly
• Certain FX were not playing even when the gameplay option to show them was enabled, this have been fixed.
• Fixed a number of animation glitches that occurred when playing a skill after an auto-attack
• The Blue (Tactics) Fellowship Maneuvers animation will no longer hitch between the pose hold and the actual attack
• In the quest "Knocking Heads," the stone throwing animation will now play correctly
• Certain FX were not playing even when the gameplay option to show them was enabled, this has been fixed.
• Avatars will now sync up properly with their mounts after teleporting while on a travel route.
• Fixed an issue with walk-strafing while carrying a bucket not animating properly.
• Fixed an issue that was causing Hobbit instruments to appear at the wrong scale.
• Fixed an issue with the Bear's combat FX that was letting them play even when toggled off.
• Certain walls in the Great Barrow Instance would appear whole again if they unloaded and then reloaded on the client. They will now remain in their broken state.
• Fixed issues with Female Bandit death animations
• The Giant Arifael will no longer slide when moving
• Fixed an issue with certain Hobbit Chairs disappearing when players attempt to sit in them.
• Fixed an issue that was causing death animations to occasionally show the monster as standing for a brief moment.
• Lore-master FX fixes
  • Fixed an issue with the Visual FX for "Test of Will" that was preventing them from playing properly.
  • Fixed some conditions that were allowing the FX of the Ent for the skill "March of the Ents" to occasionally remain.
  • Fixed an issue with "Wisdom of the Council" for Elf Lore-masters not delivering the effect until the end of the animation. They will now apply the effect when the staff hits the ground.
• Fixed an animation issue that was causing the Elf Female to drop her arms during archery attacks.
• Burglars and wargs will no longer swim faster when stealthed. They now swim at the intended speed.
• Players will no longer get a frame hitch when going to stealth while in motion.
• Players' weapons should now disappear when crafting, playing music, and when doing most emotes. Some emotes will still show the weapons when appropriate.
• The Firefly will now stop glowing when it dies.
• Hit FX will only play on hits and criticals and will no longer incorrectly play on misses.
• The obelisk for "Fire and Ice" quest can now be more easily selected
• The Champion's horn item will now play the right FX when used.
• Water will now splash when you jump into it! CAAANNONBAAALLL!
• Giants should now throw rocks without a hitch in the animation.
• Warcry now has a shorter animation.
• Toned down the hit FX on Tale of Heroism.
• Added New Darkwater Auras.
• Celondim guards will no longer be super shiny with specular lighting.
• Users will no longer clip through Gimli's door in the Silverdeep mine.
• Avatar animations now blend better while jumping in various directions

Audio

• You should no longer hear multiple Voiceover scripts when in an instance.
• Added ambient sound to Rivendell Valley.

Miscellaneous

• Darkwater Monsters are now lootable when killed while knocked down
• Fixes an occasional client crash that can occur in The Great Barrow.
• Fixed a few bugs that might leave players stuck at a loading screen (we're not saying it can't still happen, but it won't happen from these!).
• The stew pot in the Evendim giant camp will no longer disappear when used.
• /servertime now properly reports the localtime of the server
• If you have multiple quests that require you to carry an item (pie, mail, eggs) you will now pick up the correct item instead of a random item.

Quests

General

• Players can now use the quest NPC to join their fellowship in a private encounter once they accept all available quests from the NPC. For example, if someone in your fellowship has started the Weathertop Instance but you have not done any of the quests, once you accept the first quest from Candaith, you will get the option to enter the Weathertop Instance with your fellowship.
• We have reduced the retry timer on starting a quest you have cancelled from 20 minutes to 5 minutes.
• Many generic crate icons have been replaced with real icons for high-level Class Quests
• Added the number of the Epic Book to the first chapter of each, so when you start a new Book you can tell which one you're starting.
• Fixed Quest Tracker menu choice to find others on quest. It wasn't always opening the UI to the correct tab.
• Fixed an issue with NPCs that were showing the pending quest ring and displaying a list of pending quests that had an invalid retry time.
• Fixed the issue with carrying objects (mail, pie, buckets) and with riding a horse that would randomly cause you to drop the object or be removed from your horse for no apparent reason. This was most commonly seen when doing the Horse Quests.
• When repairing the breaches on Trestlebridge for Jeweller, Tailor and Woodworker quests, you will once again see the repaired breaches.
• The Summer Festival quests won't be cluttering up your quest logs anymore. Don't worry, they'll be back again next year!

Specific Quests:

• Players will no longer be knocked off their mount after the first hit in the "Fresh Steeds" quest arc
• The phial of water needed for the "Reclaim the Lost Maiden" quest is now collected by Dannasen at the end of the quest. This change has caused the quest to be versioned and it will be removed from your log if you had it underway.
• We've addressed a few issues with the "A Blade for a Life" escort quest so that it should work more reliably now.
• Book 9 Chapter 8 has a new purple ring as a selectable reward. This replaces the yellow leggings.
• Moved the quests "A Sister's Love" and "Vessel of Purity" into the Garth Agarwen quest category.
• Players can no longer light the braziers in Fornost without starting the boss fight.
• The Rangers in Amarthiel's Hope are no longer scared and will keep fighting instead of stopping.
• Sharkey's Lieutenant in Andrath just got some friends to help him.
• "A Guardian's Duty" - Updated quest description to reduce redundant redundancy
• "Inspire Postman Oddfoot" - Did you do the mail quests out of order, and now can't find the rest of them? Now Postman Oddfoot has some comments to get you back on track!
• New and improved directions to Merilos for "The Call of Precious Things, Part IV:" She's not just in Rivendell, she's at the Spire of Meeting, west of the House of Elrond. Whoops, spoiler!
• You want to know where Barad Tharsir is? It's on the far side of the Brandywine from where you get the relevant quests, and now they'll tell you so.
• People were really bummed in Rivendell, sometimes. Now they shouldn't be so depressing, even the Bowyer who was always going on with 'Oh, woe is me!' and 'It's terrible, just terrible!' -- brought to you by the 'Rivendell Is A Happy Place!(tm)' tourism bureau. Contact Lord Elrond for free tickets to an Elf Champions game.
• Dwalin has had his eyes checked, and will no longer call you a dwarf despite any evidence to the contrary, when you talk to him for "Dwalin's Bad Day."
• When you search the satchel for "A Path to Learning, Part Two," you'll now get a notification that you found something.
• "A True Friend to Holly Hornblower" has been versioned to help fix the problem with its recipe reward.
• Frodo now properly has the level of Dread he's supposed to in everyone's favourite "Supply Your Own Captions" quest.
• "The Bounty Hunter" is now available! If you've completed all of the Ost Forod bounties, speak with Basil Gummidge for the opportunity to pick up the missing piece of the Panthavron set.
• Placed the wanted posters in Ost Forod on noticeboards so they'll be easier to see.
• Remember the giant statue of Elendil that you carried in your back pocket while swimming across Lake Nenuial? It's now a little less ridiculously large.
• Frustrated by Humfrey Rumming's Amazing One-Use Cellar Key? Well, worry no more! Now the Cellar Key can be used an infinite number of times, or at least until he asks for it back.
• Removed duplicate billboards in "The Quarry in Scary" and "Articles of Harmony"
• Fixed stringtable error in "An Axe to Grind"
• No more deja vu! You should now only see Athal once. You should now only see Athal once. (ed. note. MadeOfLions, that was too easy! You should be ashamed. You should be ashamed. -Patience)
• Added a failsafe to the Tomb of Elendil -- if Crackskull glitches and dies before he wakes up Nornagol, wait for a minute or two and Nornagol should wake up on her own.
• You asked, and we listened -- Class Quest trophies from Carn Dum and Urugarth are now a 100% drop from the appropriate bosses.
• "The Scent of Mithril" has been updated in order to fix a problem where you could get into a state from which the quest could never be completed. To receive the quest again, you will need to return to Bothwar in Gabilshathur.
• "Banishing the Darkness" - if you summon the Spirit Deluches and fail to destroy it, it will re-spawn when you approach the place he was summoned again.
• Book 9, Chapter 1 is now bestowed by Gandalf since the players are at Rivendell (not Gath Forthnír) at the end of Book 8, and are sent to Golodir in Angmar.
• Book 1 Chapter 11 will no longer send defeated players to West Bree; instead they will revive outside of Tom Bombadil's house.
• Fixed a problem with some fellowship members unable to enter "The Hideout" and "Broken Alliance"
• The Mountain Basil for "A Taste of Skill, Part II" will glow once again.
• The quest "Treasures from the Fields" has had minor bug fixes
• Added fixed spawns of snapper turtles for the quest "Snapper Soup"
• Added color to monsters in "Formal Complaint" instance
• Fixed an issue with the quest arc "Brotherly Bonds." Some of the quests have been updated and will be removed from players' quest logs if they have not been fully completed. Players should talk to the quest bestower to obtain the quest again.
• Constable Bolger will now run home after his combat ends
• The "Fresh Steeds" quests will no longer fail on logout when not mounted.
• NPC Hithlim has had his title changed to more accurately reflect his goods.
• Fixed the walking animation for the innkeeper in the Golden Perch.
• Added a reset to the boss encounter in Epic Book 1 Chapter 11.
• Under certain circumstances Forvengwath could fail to reappear - this has been addressed.
• The Castellan's chest in Barad Gularan will no longer lock after it has been unlocked once.
• The castellan's chest in Barad Gúlaran no longer despawns on loot. You will now be able to obtain the key if the chest closes after being opened.

Carn Dûm

• We have slightly modified the Epic story:
  • You no longer have to progress through all of Carn Dûm to meet up with Golodir in Book 8 - Chapter 5. Instead, speaking with Golodir will send you into a brand new private instance where you and Golodir encounter Mordirith.
  • The quest rewards for Book 8 - Chapter 5 have not changed. Mordirith's unique loot rewards are not available from completing this instance. This new instance was introduced for players who want to complete Book 8 without going through all of Carn Dûm.
  • Players who have already completed the Book 8 - Chapter 5 quest will be able to help those who have not. Once they have completed it, they can replay the instance later through the Aughaire Reflecting Pool. The changes to this quest required us to version the quest, meaning if you have it underway, it will be removed from your journal. If you currently have Book 8 - Chapter 5 underway and have defeated Mordirth, you will want to turn it in before the update goes live on August 20.
  • Book 9 now depends on Book 8 being completed. (This was originally our intent, but since Book 8 was difficult to complete, we changed this requirement to having completed Book 7.)
• Mordirith has been practicing some new tricks and since he no longer has to waste time on that silly Ranger, Golodir, he has decided to practice the skills on you, the player!
• We've revised the Helchgam fight in Carn Dûm to address some of the issues reported with the fallen pillars not being solid and therefore useless. The only noticeable change will be that you can no longer walk in front of a pillar prior to it falling. After the pillar has fallen, you should be able to cross it as would be expected.
• If you still encounter a problem with the fallen pillar not being solid, move completely away from the fallen pillar and then try to step on it again.
• We've also tried to address some of the pet pathing issues in this room, but it is recommended you keep your pet in a non-aggressive stance while in this room. Otherwise they may still take a flying leap into the water surrounding Helchgam.

Helegrod

• This is a special note to all those who have claimed to kill Mr. Thorog. Thorog and Turbine have been talking and he doesn't like the fact that you all think that he is too easy. In fact he complained that he had been keeping his true power back for those that he deemed worthy. Rather than go up to his turret and heal like he was originally planning on doing, he had decided to mock and point. Now that the cries have been heard, he has decided otherwise. Let the pain begin. And for those who proudly wear the titles and claim victory, know that in his heart of hearts, Mr. Thorog has thrown down the gauntlet. No more Mr. Nice Dragon! Beware the wrath of the dragon in his original intended state.
• Helegrod Epic Sets are now equally shared amongst the Raid and Landscape. All pieces will drop on high level monsters at a very low rate. They will drop in the instance as well, at a much higher rate off of each of the four major bosses. Thanks, Thorog!
• All Epic Set pieces will only bind when equipped now.
• All Epic Set pieces have gotten a major stat pass.
• The Pedestals in Helegrod now simply can be used if the correct Stage has been passed. No longer do players need to do any quests or use any keys. (Ex. if the players kill Zaudru, they can use the Ring Pedestal, if not, they can't!) If you had one of these items in your inventory, it will be removed when you log into Book 10.