We did not level cap the hope bonus from Rift or from Helegrod. However we have changed the bonus from +3 Hope to +10 Radiance. Also it will no longer expire on logout and will last the full three hours. Along with this change, we lowered the gloom in Vile Maw to 140 (from 150) and DN so that if you are geared you only have to fight in 30 Gloom. - Amlug

Watcher changes are not on Bullroarer yet. Stay tuned --Amlug

Meghan "Patience" Rodberg, Online Community Manager for Turbine was interviewed by Tamat,  ZAM Administrator, on LOGIN Conference in Seattle last week.

Volume II Book 8 is coming in June, and players will return to Moria. Book 8 will bring new raids, including a 12-man. We're also overhauling the crafting system - its two years old now so we're going back and making it a little more thematic and a little friendlier. Right now you might get a crit item in loot and it'll just say "this item can be used in crafting!" but you have no idea which profession it can be used by, and you have no idea at which tier it can be used. Now each profession is going to have one crit item for a tier and when you mouse-over it, it will say what that item is used for. We'll be adding some of the level 60 recipes everyone's been asking for, too.The summer festival will be back! Festivals are a lot of fun, I think everybody likes those. The Inn League quests are huge with the players.

Later this year we go into Southern Mirkwood, to the city of Dol Guldur and we'll be increasing the level cap, which is big news for our level 60 players! I've seen some of what they're doing with Mirkwood and it's going to be awesome - it's dark and gloomy and scary like it should be.

For example, Rohan in an expansion - that's a huge area. Or Minas Tirith! That also brings up new mechanics you know, you'd have to ask "are we going to have mounted combat?" Well, when we go to Rohan, it makes sense.

Check out Sushi, Turbine and LOGIN interview and find out more information about Lotro, Dungeons and Dragons and Asheron's Call.

The first round of Bullroarer notes got up. They are less then half of the updates in Book 8 for Burglars, so Zombie_Columbus has decided to add the rest. Check out  the complete list of Burglar Book 8 Changes.

Bullroarer is now Live! Download the Bullroarer client and enjoy a first look at the Book 8 epic story line, the new Summer Festival and the much anticipated new raid content! You can find the release notes here.

All LOTRO servers will be brought down for a restart Friday May 22, on the following schedule:

• 12pm-1pm Eastern (-4 GMT) : Arkenstone, Brandywine, Firefoot, Gladden, Nimrodel, and Silverlode.
• 1pm-2pm Eastern (-4 GMT): Elendilmir, Landroval, Meneldor, Vilya, and Windfola.

As we wrote earlier today Zombie_Columbus announced a big list of changes for Rune-Keepers. Modifications will be focused on spike damage and power usage:

1. Epic Conclusion critical damagewas reduced and the "Closing Remarks" buffs were reduced to +50%. Base damage was increased to preserve overall DPS.
2. Ceaseless Argument had its base damage reduced, but also its power cost. This skill was overpreforming as a DPS skill and will function more as a filler auto-attack now.
3. Fall to X has been changed so it does not increase the damage of the attack that triggered it, but to apply damage seperetly. This I will admit is 100% because of players complaining about various weak attacks doing too much damage, when in fact it was simply the Fall to X skill triggering. However, the change is completely cosmetic and does not change the effectiveness of the skills.
4. The IA critical damage from lightning legacy has been reduced in potency.

Continue reading Book 8 Rune Keeper Changes

Graalx2 has announced Book 8 champion changes and I must admit they are pretty heavy:

Controlled Burn
Duration- 2:30 min
ICPR= Same as Fervour
Damage bonus = 15% (retains fervor legacy bonuses)
Fervour Pips- 1/5 sec
Additional Effects: Applies Ardent Flurry and Glorious Exchange effects on activation.
Removed- 20% morale restriction. In combat only restriction.

Controlled Fury Trait
Extends Controlled Burn duration +1min to 3:30 min
Additional Effect: also adds Red Haze effect on activation of Controlled Burn.

With the change Controlled Burn lasts 2:30. Period. In combat or out of combat does not matter. Ardent Flurry and Glorious Exchange are applied when Controlled Burn is activated (you get their effects). Once Controlled Burn runs out they will go away unless you turn on the appropriate stance. The current incoming healing penalty for Fervour is -30%. This is still subject to change, but thats the number on Bullroarer at the moment.

Fervour will not have an incoming healing penalty in PvMP areas. Creeps are perfectly capable of providing sufficient penalty for Fervour champions.
A bug in the PvMP area code appeared recently in our Dev builds. Depending on the build Bullroarer has, the correct version of Fervour may or may not be present in PvMP areas.

Find out more about upcoming champion changes

Few days ago Zombie_Columbus has tickled our imagination when he announced a big post for Burglar changes in Book 8. He's also promised to Rune-Keepers, much as with the Burglars, he'll be posting a bigger list of upcoming changes next week.

So far the only information on the forum is that the Rune-Keeper will be receiving some modifications, focused on spike damage and power usage. According to Zombie_Columbus there will be "decreasing the critical multipliers and increasing the base dmg".

WHAT IS THE "ONE KINSHIP TO RULE THEM ALL" KINSHIP CONTEST?
The contest is a leveling race. The kinships that level up the most and the fastest will win! Starting at noon EDT on May 21 and running through noon EDT on June 15, every new character created is tracked in a special database.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
New characters earn points for their kinship by gaining levels, and you can follow your kinship's progress via a new leaderboard in the Lorebook. Only characters added to a kinship after the contest has begun can earn points. Players will need to create new characters or recruit friends to join their kinship's adventure in Middle-earth in order to earn points – existing characters do not count toward the point totals. Points will only be awarded to the first kinship a character joins during the promotion – choose wisely.

WHO CAN WIN?
The Kinship Contest runs on all servers, and each will have its own winners. There are multiple ways of winning:

• The kinship with the most points overall for each game world
• The kinship with the most points per member for each game world
• The kinship containing the single top character in each server world (based on total points gained by that member and how fast they are achieved in the event of a tie)
• The One Kinship to Rule Them All – The Kinship with the most points overall across all servers

WHAT IS THE PRIZE?
The winning kinships will receive pre-payment for its Kinship Hall for up to a year! Don’t have a kin hall yet? We’ll give your kin a hall and pay the upkeep for 6 months!

PLUS – The one kinship that earns the most points across all servers will receive a special badge for their my.lotro.com page to let everyone know that they are The One Kinship to Rule Them All.

RULES

• The rules are simple:
• You must have an active account to participate.
• Only new characters created during the contest count towards the earning of points
• Points cannot be transferred from one kinship to another
• Points cannot be transferred to another server
• One prize per winning kinship (ie. if a kinship wins more than one event it still only gets one prize)
• Prizes will be awarded only on the server where the winning kinship earned its points
• All standard game rules apply – characters that get banned will not count toward the kinship totals
• Point display on the leaderboard is for player tracking purposes only. Final winner selection will be made based on a review of the completed contest database by Turbine. Accounts which are inactive or ineligible at the end of the contest will be removed from the point total prior to winner selection.

Source

Here's a brief update on the Anti-Exploit problems.
The problem involving water affecting AE mode has been fixed. Players on the Isengard Private Preview server are reporting positive results. As one player put it:

 ... if people can actually kill things in Annuminas and Tyl Ruinen, that's HUGE news.

This fix will be in Book 8 and will be testable on the Bullroarer test server when Book 8 is opened there. There will still be cases where Anti-Exploit mode is triggered, but they should be predominantly legitimate cases where the monster cannot reach the player.

Dingorfin