Well I believe this is the second patch since LOTRO went into “open/founders” beta and I must say it’s a small but necessary one. Note that these patch notes are for tomorrow’s patch so they are not live yet and may be added to.
The farming changes were needed. Have you been to Staddle lately? Rows of farmers throwing seeds into the ground making bank profit is just slightly out of hand and was due for a change. Interestingly enough the change is being made because it was “always supposed to be that way” but … didn’t they patch farming back in closed beta reducing the profit margins? Seems it would have been a better time to make things the way they are supposed to be when they initially patched them. But oh well.
An interesting change this patch to repair costs. Levels 1-10 not having to repair is nice for the extremely new players to the genre but honestly how expensive was it to repair at that level anyhow? Sure if you twinked your hunter out in purples(all 3 or 4 of them in the game at that level?) you may have been hurting for a few extra silver but I can’t help but walk away from this with a feeling I can only sum up with one word. “HUH?” My level 15 Champion is geared up in several purps, a few being high end, and his repairs after a single death are under 25 silver. Die less guys. 😛 As for the change to some item’s repair costs well that’s a good thing.
More money is always a good thing from signatures and elites. 😀
The vista changes are something I can’t comment on because honestly I can’t see gaming on Vista doable yet.
Overall a good patch. I anticipate the first large patch to hit sometime shortly after retail release. It’s been said that the first major patch will contain music changes and other goodies for the players so until then keep up the minor patching Turbine!
To view the patch notes click ‘more’.
Patch Notes – April 18, 2007
The following changes have been made in the April 18 patch:Economy/Crafting:
- Item damage upon defeat will no longer occur until the player reaches level 10. Once you hit level 10 all bets are off, but you get a free ride til then! Keep in mind that item wear still occurs during combat.
- The repair cost has been lowered on some uncommon/rare jewelry, weapons, shields, and clothing.
- Signature, Elite, and Boss monsters drop more money.
- Pipeweed seed processing recipes now only give out 1 seed instead of 3, like they were always supposed to. (Farmers, please drop the pitchforks! There are changes coming to better your plight. More details to follow.)
Quests:
- Fixed a problem in the “A Road Through the Dark” instance that was causing the second door in the instance to sometimes not open.
- Fixed problems with NPCs that had a ring but would not interact with the player. Constable Bolger, Jolly Smallburrow, Isembard Took and The Lynx Mother should all be fixed by this.
Miscellaneous:
- For Windows Vista users, Texture Detail is now set to High when overall graphics settings are set to Very High or Ultra High. Previously (and still true for non-Vista machines), these graphics settings would set Texture Detail to very high. People will still be able to manually set their Texture Detail to Very High, but it wont ever default that high on Vista.