Update 12.1 - December 16, 2013

Update 12.1 Release Notes - Official

Of Special Note

Update 12.1 features more than 600 bug fixes, adjustments, changes and tweaks. These release notes reflect the major player facing changes that have been made. We didn’t think it would be terribly interesting reading a full and complete list of every typo, graphical adjustment, physics adjustment, localization change, and assorted effect tweaks made since Helm’s Deep launched.

Bounders Bounty Update

The Bounders Bounty statue is almost finished! As of Update 12.1 you can now see the statue and the names of the top ten contributing servers. Individual contributors will be added in Update 12.2.

It’s the Little Things

Based on player feedback and a very strong case made by the Players Council we reverted the Hobbit female animation back to its pre Helm’s Deep version.

Release Notes

Miscellaneous

• Localization in the German and French clients has been improved.
• Some graphical elements were refusing to abide by the laws of physics and nature. After much discussion, explanation and subtle… persuasion… many rocks, plants, doors, trees, walls, and critters have agreed that the laws of physics and nature should be followed for the good of all concerned.
• Some NPC’s enjoyed their roles in Helm’s Deep so much they apparently cloned themselves. We’ve explained the dangers of this type of behavior to them and they’ve agreed to knock it off.
• The war against typos has been joined! A great many typos have fallen in this build. May Eru have mercy upon them.
• Numerous icons have been updated to better reflect what they are trying to represent.
• Many duplicate icons have been updated to avoid confusion, especially with class skills and items.
• Containers on landscape in West Rohan, such as chests and packs, should now have items of the appropriate level.
• The In Defence of Erebor deed is no longer required to barter for Helm's Deep jewelry.

Classes

General

• Classes playing in tank specs should now generate additional threat through damage and healing. Force Taunt abilities have also had their threat catch-up mechanics enhanced to provide a larger gap in the threat that is generated. There will be further adjustments in the future as we continue to balance these mechanics alongside the class changes.
• All force attack skills have had their durations reduced to 5 seconds.
• Some Minstrels should no longer have two versions of Gift of the Hammerhand

Burglar

• Aim makes all attacks from coup de grâce critically hit now.
• All In properly prevents the Bust debuff when the All In Duration Legacy is present.
• The Footpad deed now increments when using Diversion with the Double Down trait.
• The damage of Hedge Your Bet, Cash Out and the Damaging Gamble have been increased slightly.

Champion

• Replaced the Item Set Bonus for Armour of the Deadly Storm with a mod to Great Cleave duration

Captain

• Rousing and Penetrating Cry now stack. The Penetrating Cry buff icon now matches the trait icon.
• Martial Prowess gives Attack Speed in addition to melee damage.
• Absorb Momentum gives Block Chance and no longer requires a two-handed weapon.
• Bolstered Resolve gives Healing Critical magnitude and no longer requires a shield.
• Skilled Hands increases your Tactical Damage by 2/4/6%, up from 1/2/3%
• Cry of Vengeance no longer requires a ""Fellowship Member Recently Defeated"" event to use. It now has a 30m radius.
• The To Arms skill now gives Increased Healing, Damage Dealt and Damage Reduction in all three forms. The form of the skill determines the potency of the buffs.
• The Light Damage Legacy should now be extractable when deconstructing a Legendary Item
• Inspire now references the correct heals for each form on the tooltip.
• The Standard of “x” skills should now have standards which actually match up with the tree's color scheme.
• Improved Halberd Training now gives a 5% damage bonus, up from 2, to match the amount from the Man Sword-Damage racial trait.
• Reform the Lines also applies a 15% Incoming Healing buff to its targets.
• Strength in Numbers and Reform the Lines now generate threat.
• Master of War causes skill plays (and not auto-attacks) to automatically Critically Hit.
• Grave Wound's bleed now does the same damage type as the Captain's weapon.

Guardian

-Traits-

• The Tooltip for Vicious Rebuttal should now appropriately describe the trait's functionality
• The following traits have been renamed:
• Block Increase - Defensive Expertise
• Parry Increase - Skilled Deflection
• Incoming Healing - High-spirited

• Several Guardian traits have had their icons adjusted to better suit trait functionality and location
• Tenderize should no longer cause a bleed effect to show in the tooltips of AoE skills
• The bleed from Tenderize (triggered by using Sting) should now reflect appropriate damage values. This should resolve the issue of underpowered bleeds overwriting stronger ones.
• Improved Shield Spikes should now increase critical chance on all shield spikes

-Skills-

• Sweeping Cut will appropriately display bleed chance in its tooltip while traiting Broad Strokes
• Challenge will now list the effects of Guardian's Ward in its tooltip while traiting Challenge the Darkness
• Catch a Breath will now restore power and morale and can be used after a block or parry response. Using this skill will remove both responses if present. (Known issue: This skill will appear as active at all times, even though you still need a response in order to fire it off. For the time being it has been pulled from the auto-skill bar) – This may be addressed before 12.1 launches.
• War-chant should no longer benefit from Thrill of Battle
• Shield Blow should no longer benefit from Thrill of Battle
• Hammer Down should no longer benefit from Thrill of Battle or Invigourating Parry
• War-chant, Fray the Edge, and Cataclysmic Shout should now properly affect creeps

-Legacies-

• The Warrior's Heart Morale legacy should once again increase the healing done by Warrior's Heart

-Items-

• Overpower Tactics no longer require the Guardian to be in Overpower stance

Hunter

• Fixed the Item Set Bonus for Hytbold Trapper
• Fixed a bug where the Legacy: Max AoE Skills Maximum Targets will now mod Cry of the Hunter as originally intended.
• Added additional information to the Armour Rend skill to make functionality clearer
• Fixed the Trait: Intensified Fire so that it progresses correctly
• Updated the flavor text for the Hunter Traits: Press Onward and Fast Draw
• Changed the Hunter Trait: Perseverance so it no longer uses ratings
• Changed the Hunter Trait: Draw Weight so that it improves the damage of the third attack on the skill Improved Swift Bow
• Updated the progression of the 5th rank of Archer’s Mark
• Updated the text for the Trait: Split Shot so that its clear it adds extra targets in higher ranks
• Lure Trap is now named Lure Trap to match skill name.
• Fixed a variety of typos in traits.
• Renamed some traits to have more lore appropriate names.
• Sturdy Trap should no longer give an additional focus when skills crit. This was not intended to be part of the bonus.

Lore-master

- Traits -

• Set Bonus "Buying Time" should now function properly.
• The Ancient Master Trait "Disable" will now affect the stun from skill "Ents go to War"
• Ancient Craft at max rank now properly specifies that only the first Lightning skill used against an afflicted enemy will result in bonus damage.
• Ancient Craft now properly increases damage from trait "Sword and Storm"
• Trait "Slow Burn" should now affect "Searing Embers" effects.

- Skills -

• Cross-fire and Improved Cross-fire should share the same duration as normal Burning Embers DoT effects.
• "Nature's Fury" induction time reduced from 3s-->2s.
• The induction for Burning Embers is being reduced from 1.5s--> 1.2s
• The induction for Water Lore is being reduced from 2s --> 1s.
• The induction for Back from the Brink is being reduced from 8s --> 5s.
• The induction for Test of Will is being reduced from 2s --> 1.5s.

- Stats -

• There was a bug which would cause the Lore-master to gain a significant amount of Will every several levels. This extra Will has been contributing to awkward jumps in difficulty and player strength. This extraneous Will has been removed, and combat should be more consistent.

- Deeds -

• Both Beacon of Hope and Light of Hope should now advance the deed "Light of Hope"

Minstrel

- Traits -

• Trait "Soothing Voice" is being balanced down to provide +2% Outgoing Healing / Rank
• Trait "Poignant Phrase" is being balanced down to provide +4% Critical Healing / Rank
• Set Bonus "Open Ears" now has a 50% chance to apply but also has a 30s cooldown.
• Set Bonus "Harmonious Anthems" should no longer break set Coda of Melody's fellowship heal.
• "Sharing a Story" should no longer reset Piercing Cry on normal hits.
• Several traits ceased displaying trait info when fully ranked. This should now be fixed.
• Warrior Skald Set Bonus 1 "Discordant Ballads" now grants "Fresh Voice", a short-term Tactical Damage buff gained when swapping into Dissonance stance

- Skills -

• Fellowship's Heart can no longer be used in Dissonance Stance
• Minstrel Stances will now be organized under a single heading in your skills page
• Cry of the Wizard's Cooldown is being reduced from 60s-->30s
• Skill "Perfect Ending" will no longer be placed in your quickslot bars automatically
• Echoes of Battle should now be associated with the Stance "Melody." Melody of Battle should now be associated with the stance "Resonance."
• Melody of Battle should properly dispel when swapping out of Resonance Stance.
• Changing Stances will no longer dispel your active Anthems.

Rune-keeper

• The skill "Flurry of Words" will now be modified by the "Chill of Winter Debuff Duration" Legendary Item legacy.
• While in Epic Battles, Attunement will now have a 9 second delay before it begins decaying after you leave combat.
• Max rank of Rune of Endurance should make Rune of Restoration Ground-targeted.
• Cleaned up Master of Connotation's tooltip to clearly state at max stack, your next Writ of Fire will have no induction and restore 3% of your max morale.
• Writ of Fire spread by Combustion should properly tier down upon expiring.
• Thunderous Words, Harsh Debate, and Closing Remarks should now have a visual overlay that appears above the Rune-keeper to notify them the proc has occured.
• Fixed an issue that was allowing Thunderous Words and Harsh Debate to proc while Closing Remarks was active.
• Fixed an Item Set Bonus for Hytbold Thunder that was not working as intended
• Fixed the Legacy: Fury of Storm Critical Multiplier so that it affects Writ of Lightning
• Fixed the Legacy: Vivid Imagery Targets so it progresses correctly

Warden

- Traits -

• The trait "Persevere" should properly increase damage of all Gambits in the Persevere Gambit line.

- Skills -

• Duration of Gambit Chain Finisher buffs increased from 10s-->16s
• Duration of Determination Self-buffs increased by 4s.
• The buff gained by completing a Determination Gambit Chain will now be consumed by the first appropriate finishing skill used.
• Defiant Challenge now has a radius of 10 and affects up to 10 targets
• CC Breakout skill "Steadfast" now has simple fx and no animation. This should speed up its use.
• Poison / Disease / Fear / Wound removal skill "First Aid" now has simple fx and no animation. This should speed up its use.
• Defiant Challenge should now work properly in Epic Battles

- Stats -

• Wardens should now gain more Agility from leveling than Might

- Legacies -

• The Light Damage Legacy should now be extractable when deconstructing a Legendary Item

- Armour Sets -

• "Defender of the West" Armour will now offer more Agility and less Might

Epic Battles

• Epic Battles in all group sizes will now properly advance their associated Epic quest.
• Defender NPCs in Epic Battles should more readily engage the forces of the Enemy.
• Certain activatable objects (which have no morale/power) that are related to Epic Battles secondary quests will now show icons indicating which secondary quest they're related to in their tooltips and nameplates.
• The last Officer Rank will now add 20 seconds to the Heal, Haste, Damage, and Armour buffs from the Commander Orders. It was previously incorrectly set to 10 seconds.
• There is now a red "locked on" version of the target reticule which is displayed after the siege weapon is fired, while the missile is on its way to the target.
• The medium catapult will no longer gain 90% of its health on the first build-cycle and now requires additional build time to complete.
• The platinum set-piece rewards from Big Battles now have respective class requirements
• Several Big Battle rewards have had their stats adjusted to fall back in line with other items of the same rarity and item level.
• The Champion set piece rewards from Big Battles have had block rating removed and replaced with more relevant stats.
• Some of the lower-level pieces of jewelry have had their stats adjusted to bring them in-line with other pieces of that level.
• Moved the vanguard Pip generation effect to be on everyone while you are in an epic battle, not just a specific subset of vanguard traits.
• All death strings have been updated to indicate objects have been destroyed instead of died.
• Commander UI no longer has a placeholder while the stances button is loading.
• Vandals in the Tower has been changed so that the loss of either winch will fail the quest immediately, but the invading vandals have been weakened.
• Building and Repairing barricades has a new animation.
• Vanguard skills will now always play their animation, sound, and visual FX (as long as your game settings allow it).
• A 3rd Rank Engineer can now dismantle barricades in order to move them to another location.
• Leeching Powder now lasts for a minute instead of forever.
• Gimli & his cadets now properly finish patrol.
• Laborers will no longer stop when attacked.

Glittering Caves

• Cave in will now collapse rocks properly.
• Bomb and bats sappers will now place bombs as they should.
• Cocoons now take a default of 3 seconds to disable.
• Added progress indicator for Goblin Sapper objective.
• Enemies should no longer attack the signaling flags.
• Stalactites Over the Bridge - Reworded failure condition for clarity.
• Civilian Defence now counts each barricades health separately and you will lose merit on health
• Now has banners.
• Final assault has a longer delay before spawning.
• Stalactites over the bridge quest information now includes a wave count.
• Cave In is now more difficult and you will lose merit on barricade health transitions.

- Solo -

• Preparing the Charge merit values have been adjusted to make it possible to attain higher than a bronze medal.
• Preparing the Charge now accurately reflects how many commanders you've killed

- Solo/Duo and 3-Man -

• Bombs and Bats - Enemy pathing improved, difficulty increased.
• Bombs and Bats - Enemies should no longer path to the ballista.
• Bombs and Bats - Merit points have been adjusted for supply containers and crystals being destroyed.

Spider Assault:

• 3 man now properly counts to 6
• Spiders guarding Skrimgrit will engage
• Cocoons are now listed as part of this quest not bombs and bats

Cave In:

• Defenders only appear when this quest is active

The Wall

General

• Totems now take considerably longer to disable than to reset.

12 Player

• Increased the number of enemy catapults by 2 per assault
• Spread out the enemy catapults a bit more
• Medium Catapults now need to be cranked to 3 before they can be fired.
• Banners will now be randomized in their appearance

Solo/Duo

• Vandals in the Keep correctly counts to 8.

Securing the Culvert

• Trolls now have attack animations.

The Hornburg

• Players can no longer jump out of the windows near the broken portcullis.
• Constructed Winches and Siege Ladders penalties increased and Uruks will now sometimes attack the Wounded Rohirrim and Healers. Vandals now have slightly higher health.
• Bringing Down the Siege-ladders -- When the quest is completed, enemies will no longer continue to spawn from any remaining siege ladders.
• Bringing Down the Siege-ladders -- Waves coming up the stairs following the first have been increased to 3 non-troll monsters, up from 2.
• Repair the Portcullis -- Supplies have been shifted slightly to aid in guiding the player to them and are now denoted by sparkles.
• The Final Blockade -- Uruks and Orcs attacking the ballistae should no longer run down to the main fight on the wall.
• Protecting the Gatehouse - The door to the lower gatehouse now sparkles and additional text has been added to the initial announcement.
• Extinguishing Fear-The water bucket can be picked up again if the player stops carrying it or the timer runs out

Deeping-coomb

• Minimap labels for Securing the Debris, A Pillage Denied, and Preparing the Retreat have been corrected to their proper colours.
• Players can no longer enter the Hornburg during this battle.
• The announcement of the second wave of attacks now occurs when the attack begins.
• Merit penalties for losing focus banners and constructed equipment have been increased substantially.
• Defilers in the Water -- Dark Waters can now reach the mill and Uruks will harry the Rohirrim commander.
• Searching the Debris -- Waves of enemies attacking the debris/wounded now spawn slightly faster.

Helm's Dike

- Solo/6 Man-

• Failure conditions of side quests are now red in the quest tracker
• Protect the Horses - Added text regarding the ability of freeing horses intentionally

- Solo -

• Tutorial ladders are now visible at the start of the instance
• Guarding the Watchtower - The tower will become unselectable after the quest completes

Instances, Raids, Skirmishes

• All level 95 challenge chests should now provide a guaranteed piece of incomparable gear. (Note: Dungeons of Dol Guldur will provide two, given its unique loot structure)
• Loot drops have been restructured for all scaling instances and raids. Look to the forums for a list of all potential drops from each space.
• Haudh Valandil and Sammath Gul challenge modes should no longer provide seals.
• In Wildermore, the sessionplay character for the instance ""Remembering Thrymm"" once again has the skills he was intended to have.

The Ettenmoors

General

• The effects of Audacity were not being calculated correctly resulting in their being doubled. We apologize, but you aren’t really that audacious. This has been resolved.

Creeps

• A new season of PVMP has begun! 6 new Audacity Ranks are now available.
• Monsterplayer's healing has been increased in response to the health pools being increased.

Freeps

• A new season of Audacity Armour Sets have been released at an updated Item Level. You may purchase a given armour piece at a 10% * Commendation discount if you trade-in last season's armour pierce with it. (Recycling is important!)
• A new season of PvMP Ring Sets have been released at an updated Item Level
• The previous tier of Audacity Armour Sets and Ring Sets have been discounted in price.
• Glory cloaks have had their item levels increased and their minimum level to equip raised to 85. If you currently own one, you will not need to re-purchase!

User Interface

• The regular pet vital bar now goes away when you are mounted.
• The Lore-master War Wolf vital bar will now be hidden when the Lore-master isn't mounted on a Warsteed.
• Examination for morale and power regen no longer shows values after the decimal point

Crafting

• Several crafting reputation quests in the Lonelands have been changed and will once again require items that can be made by the specified crafting profession.
• Apprentice, Journeyman and Expert Crafting Tool recipes no longer require a Superior Forge.
• The bulk recipe for Thin Rowan Boards is once again on the Crafting skirmish vendor.
• The recipes for Tier 5 vocational crafting tools now require the correct optional ingredient.
• The Auction Hall now lists Tier 9 crafting recipes.
• All level 90 and 95 crafted cloaks now have the correct appearances.

Town Services & NPCs

• Healers now sell the Westemnet Draughts and Salves.

Items

• A few items have had their icons adjusted to better represent their given names.
• Eowyn's Displeasure is now spelled properly.
• The platinum set-piece rewards from Big Battles now have respective class requirements.
• Several Big Battle rewards have had their stat values adjusted to fall back in line with other items of the same rarity and item level.
• The Champion set piece rewards from Big Battles have had block rating removed and replaced with more relevant stats.
• Weapons from Helm's Deep should now properly glow if they have a damage type.
• Riffler of Writs now reference Writ of Lightning instead of the old Writ of Cold skill.
• Most Barter Items no longer have a max stack size restriction.
• The Bracelet rewards from “Seeds of Treachery “no longer think they're rings.
• 'Fortified Leggings of the Stonedeans' and 'Fortified Leggings of the Broadacres' should now display and equip as medium armour.
• Several Big Battle jewelry pieces have had their stat values adjusted to fall in line with other items of the same level.
• Newly created weapons from lower-level Scaled Instances now have stats.
• The Universal Toolkit should now reduce Scholar gathering times appropriately.
• The 4-piece bonus of the Rune-keeper Mark of the West set will now reduce the recovery time of Essay of Fire by 3 seconds every time Fiery Ridicule is used.
• Big Battle jewlery should now only have class requirements associated with them.
• The stats found on the new PvMP Armour Sets, Rings, and Rank-based cloaks have been updated to reflect some of the new itemization standardizations.

Legendary Items

• Some Burglar and Captain Legacy and Legacy Replacement scrolls have been re-named to match the other

Steeds

• The Prized Eorlingas Horse/Pony and Prized Helmingas Horse/Pony have had their hair and hides updated with new appearances.

Quests

• The Broadacres quest Brigands in the Wild had a bug which prevented players from completing the quest. The quest can now be completed with any form of Frithild, or if you received the Customer Service bypass it can be completed with Torferth instead. Any Reeve of Stoke can complete the quest now.
• All of Frithild's phasing will no longer halt progress on Epic Book 12.
• Added the first half of the conclusion of the Riders Four arc. It begins in the marketplace in Edoras at lvl 85, upon completion of Epic Vol III, Book 11, Chapter 10.
• Entwade -- Stilling the Wade -- Mordor Orcs no longer award experience or drop loot.
• Breaking the Back of the Boar: Created an instance for the final boss encounter with Pakon to prevent other players from interrupting drama which caused to quest to not complete.
• Eastfold Warbands-All warband quests are now repeatable

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Source: Update 12.1 Release Notes - Official