Standing Stone Games has released a brand new update for The Lord of the Rings Online. According to the developers, update 24 adds support for 64bit operating systems which can improve game performance.

As the developers noted, players by default will continue to run the 32-bit client unless they change the option in the launcher. Moreover, a separate set of client preferences (userpreferences.ini) for the 64bit client will be created to allow players to have different graphics settings for the different clients if desired.

Furthermore, this patch fixes a bug where quest font size changes would revert back to default when quest update events were triggered and an issue where zooming with the mouse scroll wheel would stop working when interacting with Lua plugins, adds Lua event triggering of EffectRemoved and EffectCleared for selected targets, and fixes the sky in the landscape during Character Selection.

As always, Steam will download patch 24 the next time you launch its client and you can find its complete changelog below.

The Lord of the Rings Online Update 24 Release Notes

Classes

• The healing percentage for Vigilant Roar Legendary Item bonuses have been corrected.
• Burglar:
  • Gamble Chance now provides a chance that any gamble applied will upgrade itself by a tier after application.
  • Even the Odds has had its buffs extended from 15 to 20 seconds, and had its progressions updated.
  • Clever Retort’s Self-Adulation bonus has been increased from 20 to 25%, and it no longer incorrectly states that it provides a pulse bonus to Mischievous Glee.
• Guardian’s T5 Tenderize bonus has been corrected so that it is larger than T4.
• Guardian’s Fighter of Shadow no longer incorrectly grants an area of effect flash of light with the base spec.
• The Minstrel’s Mastery bonuses from the Trait Strength of Helm Hammerhand has been improved.
• Melee range skills now have a base range of 3.5m up from 2.5m.

Items

• Most items in the Ironfold and Grey Mountains can now be used while mounted.
• Removed an unintended on-removal effect from the Hunter Essence of Freedom.
• Armour and Jewellery of the Traveller, when received by a character level 105 – 115, will have Light of Eärendil.

LOTRO Store

• Up to 200 Epic Battle Promotion points can be obtained via the Promotion Points +10 offer.

NPCs

• A confirmation dialog has been added to the Vendor’s Sell All button.

PvMP

• Monster play melee skill range has been increased to 3.5 meters.

Quests and Adventure Areas

• The old river woman in The Crone’s Ferry is now taller.
• A speed buff has been given to players during the quest Heritage Restored to make it more forgiving a run.
• Rhus Cornchuthur in Enedwaith is giving out quests again.
• Ivy Tunnelly is once again a barkeep in the Bird and Baby Inn after being fired as a Mote Craft Trader for failing to have any actual things to trade.
• Albra Lowbanks is no longer invisible.
• Unfriendly Eyes in Ost Forod now advances correctly for a Fellowship that carries the chest together.
• The Battle Under the Trees Session Play for the Court of Lothlórien Allegiance has been updated:
  • Additional directions have been added to the quest to improve the flow of the instance.
  • Monster spawns have been thinned and moved closer to cut down on travel time.
  • Galadriel’s animations have been adjusted.
  • Mirkwood Archers now lead the way up the hill during the second part of the instance.
• The pace of Frodo’s Burden has been greatly improved. Our Ringbearer still discusses the same subjects, but he doesn’t take so long to get to the point.
• If you have already completed all of his adventures, George at Sandson’s Farm might just have something new for those feeling a bit peckish.
• Bree, Michel Delving, Hobbiton, Duillond, Celondim, and Thorin’s Hall all now have slow and swift travel routes to their nearest housing neighbourhoods.
• Embers of Enchantment can be earned from the following:
  • Reclaiming the Grey Embers increased from 500 -> 750
  • Reclaiming the Grey (Advanced) no longer offers Embers
  • Reclaiming the Grey (Final) no longer offers Embers
  • Longbeard Marks for Embers rewards decreased from 1000 -> 500
  • New U24 quest, Protecting the Beornings, offers 750 Embers weekly
  • New U24 Quest, Protecting the Woodmen, offers 750 Embers Weekly
  • New U24 quest, Gúlmarks for Embers, offers 500 Embers weekly
  • Overall, there are 750 more Embers available on a weekly basis.

Virtues

• The Virtue system has been updated. The system now advances through Virtue Experience, allowing you to select the Virtue that will benefit from your Deed completions. Open the Traits Panel with (J) to navigate to the redesigned Virtues tab to examine your Virtues, select an earning Virtue, and slot any Virtues you would like active.
  • All deeds that currently grant a specific Virtue will instead grant Virtue XP that can be assigned by players to the earning Virtue of their choice.
  • A new Virtue, Wit, has been added to the game.
  • The stats given by actively slotted Virtues are in the vast majority of cases going to be better than they were previously.
  • All earned Virtues now grant a passive benefit that you will receive, even when the virtue is not actively slotted.
  • Players who earned Virtue ranks that could not be previously expressed will gain credit when Update 24 is released.
  • Virtue benefits will be capped based on character level, including the non-Slotted Virtues’ passive benefits.
  • There are numerous ways to gain Virtue XP, including deeds, end-game repeatable quests, festival quests, and Featured Challenges.
    • Virtue Tomes and Bundles have been unpublished from the LOTRO Store, and are no longer available to purchase. All currently-held Virtue Tomes will convert into items that grant Virtue XP.
    • For other sources of Virtue tomes prior to the release of Update 24:
      • Virtue Tomes found in lootboxes will be replaced with an item that grants 1,000 Virtue XP.
      • The Gift of the Valar (Level 50) will give five items that grant 20,000 Virtue XP, and 10 items that give 10,000 Virtue XP.
      • The Blessing of the Valar (Level 95) will give 20 items that grant 20,000 Virtue XP.
      • The Aria of the Valar (Level 105) will give five items that give 70,000 Virtue XP, and 15 items that give 20,000 Virtue XP.
      • Note that the Virtue XP items from the Valars are acquired via a quest after consuming the Valar levelup item.

UI

• Screenshots now save with a new timestamp format of “YYYY-mm-dd_HHMMSS”.
• Pressing the Escape Key cancels targeted item usage.
• The Allegiance Tracker is now scalable.
• The scroll bar on the Raid Lock panel has been fixed.
• Fellowship Tradeable gear no longer loses allowed trade target information on Logout.
• Fixed a bug where quest font size changes would revert back to default when quest update events were triggered.
• Fixed an issue where zooming with the mouse scroll wheel would stop working when interacting with Lua plugins.
• Added Lua event triggering of EffectRemoved and EffectCleared for selected targets.
• Added binding to Lua for various Action definitions.
• The Quest Grouping panel has been rearranged to have the Quest selection at the very top.
• The Instance Finder panel has been expanded with a new Instance grouping section. The new section works similarly to Social Panel Quest Grouping in that you can create or join up to 5 entries that are persisted on your character. The new instance grouping section replaces the functionality of the Simple and Advanced tabs of the Instance Finder panel, and those tabs have been removed. Clicking “Show All” will show up to 100 entries. Clicking “My Instances” will show only the instances that you have either joined or created. Members are automatically removed from an entry when entering the specific encounter space for the first time.
• Shift+F is no longer mapped to the Instance Finder.
• Updated the Instance Finder tutorial, and added a tutorial hint button to the Instance Finder panel.
• The player command /lfp has been changed to /lfq (Looking for Quest Grouping).
• The Item Socket Replacement confirmation dialog now displays in the correct order.

Miscellaneous

• The LOTRO game client can now be optionally run in 64-bit, which can improve game performance. By default, players will continue to run the 32-bit client unless they change the option in the launcher. This selection can be changed again if desired. A separate set of client preferences (userpreferences.ini) for the 64 bit client will be created to allow players to have different graphics settings for the different clients if desired.
• The sky in the landscape during Character Selection has been fixed.