Welcome Back Week from March 25th through March 29th. You do not need to reactivate your account to participate in the Welcome Back Weekend. Your account will automatically be enabled for the event. If your account does not seem to have been reactivated, please try again in a hour or two. It may take time for our servers to update your status.

Some of the new updates you may notice when you come back for the free LOTRO weekend include:

• Volume I Epic Story Revised – the Volume I epic story has been updated to be more solo friendly.
• New Skirmish System – Get action on demand with this innovative new system for 1 to 12 players.***
• Skirmish Duo Mode – Join up with a friend and check out the new two-person mode for most Skirmishes.
• Crafting Update – Enhanced functionality for Jewellers and Cooks, new recipes for Farmers, and new class items for Woodworkers and Weaponsmiths.
• New Stables Masters – Stablemasters have been added in The North Downs and The Misty Mountains to make questing in those areas more accessible.
• New Friends List Function – Players may now add notes to their friend and ignore lists!
• Spring Festival

Need a copy of the LOTRO game client? Click here to get started!

If you have problems with the plank jumps in the festival race you should read this great guide. Jilla has made several tips & tricks on winning the race by taking the "low road" - running though the mud as opposed to trying to make...Click here to read full

If you have problems with the plank jumps in the festival race you should read this great guide. Jilla has made several tips & tricks on winning the race by taking the "low road" - running though the mud as opposed to trying to make the jumps. This "low road" guide works for the Shire but not for the Bree. If you have any additional tips please let us know.

1. Even if you've done this a million times, run the track again on your regular mount. Go all low road (don't use the planks). Get a feel for the best place to make jumps and where you can go around obstacles but still stay in the course. It's good practice and I get the feeling it eliminates lag in the real race (not sure on that though--might just be co-incidence for me).
2. Do not hesitate out of the gate. Whatever key you use to move forward (mouse, "w", whatever) have it depressed so you take off right away. You should get as far forward as possible when first mounting the horse, and press the autorun key during that short time while you are mounting, just after you summon but before you can move. That way you don't miss a single beat.
3. In the Shire race, you don't need to jump all of the obstacles, For example, go around the fallen tree (on the right). I noticed on the stone fences, the shorter spots (easier jumps) are also tend to be on the right. Use high ground to give yourself some extra jumping room (finding these good jumping spots is a good thing to do on your normal horse, when testing the track). But make sure you go through the gate before you run to the right! If you miss the gate, you have to turn around and go back through it. Also, clear your quest tracker of ALL quests before getting the race quest. This way you can make sure the informational text that appears there is the only thing you see when you look at it. It WILL tell you if you miss a gate.
4. I just ran straight though the mud. I didn't try anything fancy like running on the planks and jumping off at the right time, etc. Keep it simple for yourself. 
5. Keep in mind that the time is a little tighter when running though the mud. But I made it with a just a few seconds to spare. So don't give up if you miss a jump. There is still hope and a chance you might make it.
6. At the Finish Line, continue riding through until it forces you to dismount. If you stop right after you cross the finish line, there is a good chance it actually doesn't finish the race and you lose
7. when doing the shire run....when you get to the wagons....stay to the right of them and jump over the "handles" of the wagons. That way you don't have to navigate around them.

run straight though the water

Go around this tree instead of trying to jump it

Go on a test run and find the short spots

If you log off while the quest,"An Invitation to the spring festival" is being bestowed, you will lose the quest. Players can still participate in the spring festival events by visting Maengamiel in Duillond's Garden. Maengamiel can be...Click here to read full

If you log off while the quest,"An Invitation to the spring festival" is being bestowed, you will lose the quest. Players can still participate in the spring festival events by visting Maengamiel in Duillond's Garden. Maengamiel can be found in the new spring garden of Duillond, the entrance of which is nestled in the base of a hill near the festival area.

Will Peartree, the festival horse barter NPC for the Spring Festival, has been temporarily removed due an unforeseen issue. Players will still be able to complete the quest, but they will not be able to collect the final reward until we have resolved the issue.

[Sapience]

New Spring Festival has started today and new Housing items screenshots are waiting for you. We would like to thank Jadzi for these great screenshots. Gardenboar...Click here to read full

New Spring Festival has started today and new Housing items screenshots are waiting for you. We would like to thank Jadzi for these great screenshots.

Gardenboar	Greenstool
Greentable	Shrewd sculpture

The Turbine Account Maintenance site at http://myaccount.turbine.com will be brought down for maintenance on Monday, March 22 from 6:00AM to 10:00Am Eastern (-4 GMT). During this time, players will be unable to log into the game or make changes to...Click here to read full

The Turbine Account Maintenance site at http://myaccount.turbine.com will be brought down for maintenance on Monday, March 22 from 6:00AM to 10:00Am Eastern (-4 GMT). During this time, players will be unable to log into the game or make changes to their accounts. Players already in the game when the site is brought down will be unaffected unless they log out or are disconnected.

The my.lotro.com Lottery system has returned! Turbine’ll be hosting lotteries on a predictable schedule everyone can follow! Now you’ll know when new lotteries are ready to enter and when to check in to my.lotro.com to see if...Click here to read full

The my.lotro.com Lottery system has returned! Turbine’ll be hosting lotteries on a predictable schedule everyone can follow! Now you’ll know when new lotteries are ready to enter and when to check in to my.lotro.com to see if you’ve won.

Monday Lottery (Level 26-65)
Starts Monday at 3:00PM Eastern. Ends Wednesday at 9:00AM Eastern.

Hevensday Lottery (Level 26-65)
Starts Wednesday at 3:00PM Eastern. Ends Friday at 9:00AM Eastern.

Highday Lottery (Level 26-65)
Starts Friday at 3:00PM Eastern. Ends Monday at 9:00AM Eastern.

Welcome Wagon Lottery (Level 1-25)
Three times per week! Starts Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 3:00PM Eastern and ends on Wednesday, Friday, and Monday (respectively) at 9:00AM Eastern.

What can I win?
We’re not going to ruin the fun -- you’ll have to check in to see what items are up for grabs! The Monday, Hevensday, and Highday lotteries will constantly change. You never know what we might slip in there! We can tell you the Welcome Wagon Lottery will always have items that are useful to players from level 1-25 to help them along their way.


LOTRO Lottery Known Issues

Session Characters
Currently, session play characters (those with a ~ in front of their names) can register for lotteries. Again...

Transferred Characters
This is a known issue in the my.lotro.com system where transferred characters are overly sentimental about their first home. You should not sign up characters for lotteries unless they are listed in the world they currently reside; we will be unable to deliver prizes to them. We are working on the underlying issue.

Monster Play Characters
Monster play characters are currently able to enter the lotteries and win. This is not working as intended. Creep characters should not be able to enter lotteries. We are unable to award any winnings in the event your creep character should win.

[source]

From 8th until 15th March, 2010 Codemasters Online invites all players to come back and play LOTRO for an amazing Welcome Back Week. The doors will be open for former players to re-enter the world of Middle-earth for a week of FREE game...Click here to read full

From 8th until 15th March, 2010 Codemasters Online invites all players to come back and play LOTRO for an amazing Welcome Back Week. The doors will be open for former players to re-enter the world of Middle-earth for a week of FREE game play.

All you have to do is download and patch up to the most recent version and log in starting 8th March. Your account will have been re-activated ready for you.

If you have noticed that  Monsters frequently resist your skills, these information might clear things up: Shortly after Mirkwood’s launch, we found an unexpected bug. Between the Moria and Mirkwood updates, monster resistance rates...Click here to read full

If you have noticed that  Monsters frequently resist your skills, these information might clear things up:

Shortly after Mirkwood’s launch, we found an unexpected bug. Between the Moria and Mirkwood updates, monster resistance rates had been accidentally altered in strange way. From level 1 to 42, the resistance ratings were correct. These ratings translated to around a 1% resistance rate at low levels that slowly rose to the expected rate, which is around 10%. However, at level 43 the ratings dropped down by exactly half, and stayed that way all the way to level cap. This means players leveling with a tactical character would see monster resistance rates raise slightly as they leveled, even out at 10%, and then suddenly drop away at level 43. This is contrasted by classes that fight against Block/Parry/Evade for damage, who saw their rates stay the same.

Monster resistance rates have been fixed in Book 1 to stay around 10% for all levels past 43. There are a number of trait, gear and legacy options that can be used to reduce this number. B/P/E classes are in the same boat, but have always been dealing with higher rating numbers to fight against. Reports of resistance rates 20% or higher are likely caused by small sample spaces, fighting up-level or against creatures with specific resistance buffs.

Unfortunately, this fix was not properly documented, which led to its omission from the release notes. It was never our intention to hide this from players or perform any kind of ‘stealth nerf’. We apologize for the communications breakdown and will make every effort to avoid similar issues in the future.

[Source]

The following are the Known Issues for Volume III: Allies of the King, Book 1: Oath of the Rangers Classes Burglar Mischievous Delight - There is a delay between the skill's use and the actual application of the associated...Click here to read full

The following are the Known Issues for Volume III: Allies of the King, Book 1: Oath of the Rangers

Classes

Burglar

• Mischievous Delight - There is a delay between the skill's use and the actual application of the associated buff.

Rune-keeper

• Armaments of Storm / Flame / Frost - Other players' melee weapons, when buffed with this skill, do not give proper tooltip feedback.

Captain

• Watchful Shield Brother incorrectly uses the icon for Courage when the buff is applied to a fellowship member.

Legendary Items

• Incoming Healing values on unidentified items may display higher than expected on that item's tooltip.

Skirmishes

Soldiers

• Any traits with a Damage over Time component list that damage as a negative number in its tooltip.
• Dwarf Bannerguards make no noise.
• The armour debuff applied by a Warrior's Whirling Wounds appears 10 points higher than stated in the tooltip.
• Warrior - "Quick Sweep" - This melee skill has arrows in its icon.
• Cosmetic - Not all outfit traits listed in the Attributes panel are obtainable at this time.

Barter

• The drop-down list for the Barter Profile says 'Dwarf-kind' instead of 'Dwarf.'

Rewards

• The shirt on the Medium Footman Armour of Adlan has the wrong default color.

Duo Skirmishes

• Some monsters may be more difficult than intended for 2 people.
• The Skirmish leaderboards do not yet display data for Duo Skirmishes. This will be addressed in an upcoming my.lotro.com update.

Rescue in Nûrz Ghâshu

• If your fellowship wipes during the boss fight, your escort will still ask you to perform Fellowship Maneuvers.
• More Caerogs than intended are summoned in the boss fight when on Fellowship setting.
• The target of your excursion may be inadvertently defeated during Fellowship Manoeuvres.

The Battle in the Tower

• The radar does not display Control Point direction icons.

Crafting

Cooking

• Expert Cook NPCs do not properly filter the new Campfire recipes by tier.
• Due to the treachery of The Enemy, some vendors are selling Tomato seeds. There is no Tomato recipe and no way to grow these poisonous items! Do not be fooled!

Quests

Volume 1

• Book 10, Chapter 14 - Instance: The Eye of Angmar - Lozudurkh will occasionally perform a stun move as his first attack, causing the player to drop the Palantír and fail the quest.
• Book 14, Chapter 1: The Heraldry of Lindon - The exit to Dolendath doesn't reopen once you collect Laerdan's breastplate. If stuck, player can wait for instance to shutdown to leave.
• Book 4, Chapter 6: The Knowledge of the Onodrim - An elite Curr-olog Heaver can path close enough to aggro solo players speaking to the Onodrim.

Volume 2

• Book 1, Chapter 8: Before the Doors of Durin - Dwarves may have trouble entering into their proper dramas, stalling the instance.

Volume 3

• Book 1 - Deed - Allies of the King - There is no description or information about the eventual completion of this deed.
• Book 1 - Instance: Lothrandir of the Frozen Wastes - Ice walls disappear on low settings.

Mirkwood

• Sign of the Malledhrim - The quest can fails if you leave the platform the flag is currently on.

Spring Festival

• Multiple raid members consuming Extra Deliciously Tasty Biscuits at the same time may cause them to not earn the associated deeds.
• Stomp-A-Shrew - Players may get stuck in combat until the session is finished.

Graphics/FX

• Annuminas - Barad Tironn & Glinghant - Instance areas will appear pitch black with Ambient Lighting slider set to Default.
• Player and monster combat weapon flash effects will occasionally get out of sync and display erratically.

The LOTRO Game Servers will be brought down on Monday, March 1,2010 from 6:00AM – 10:00AM Eastern (-5 GMT) to launch the latest free content update, Volume III: Allies of The King, Book 1: Oath of the Rangers. Click here for the release...Click here to read full

The LOTRO Game Servers will be brought down on Monday, March 1,2010 from 6:00AM – 10:00AM Eastern (-5 GMT) to launch the latest free content update, Volume III: Allies of The King, Book 1: Oath of the Rangers. Click here for the release notes.

The scheduled downtime for EU players has been moved from Thursday, March 4 to Tuesday, March 2, so we hope it means Book 1: Oath of the Rangers will be live on Tuesday on EU servers.