The second free content update for LotRO has hit the US servers. European players will have to wait for a bit of localization and the patch will be available on their servers on August 23rd. Meghan Rodberg aka Patience, the US community manager posted all the patch notes on the US forums. They are massive as always spanning over 9 forum threads. You can read them all at:
[Part 1 - Overview, Of Special Note]
[Part 2 - Gameplay (misc), Loot System, Skills/Classes, Traits/Titles/Deeds, Monster play, Crafting, Items]
[Part 3 - UI, Kinships, Chat/Social, Emotes, World, Town Services, Travel/Maps/Radar, Music System, Adoptions/Notary System/Bios, Auctions, Mail]
[Part 4 - Graphics/Animations/FX, Audio, Miscellaneous, Quests, Carn Dûm, Helegrod]
[Crafting Summary] [Month of the Captain] [Month of the Hunter] [Monster Play Dev Diary]
[Known Issues]
The most interesting stuff:
" New Area : Annuminas!
* The main theme in the area is one of battle over the ruins of the past. The Rangers are far out-numbered by Angmar and its troops. The players are coming to help turn the tides in this struggle.
* The area around Annúminas is full of rolling green hills and fields, leading the edge of Lake Evendim (Nenuial). Upon the banks of Nenuial lies the ruined city of Annúminas, long abandoned by the Men of Arnor in the days of Amlaith, who moved the seat of power from Annúminas to Fornost.
* The city of Annúminas was one of the greatest achievements of the Men of Westernesse, built during the reign of Elendil. Great works of architecture spanned the city across multiple levels, though nearly three-thousand years of weather and abandonment have left much of it in ruin. Where once were beautiful gardens and tall spires now are pools of filth and decay and jagged ruined towers.
Monster play enhancements and new quests
* Play as a Troll
* Play as a Ranger
* Play as a Chicken
* Gain powerful new keep defenses
* Gain allies in keep assaults
New Areas:
* 6 Instances, 2 Public Dungeons, Annúminas Ruins Landscape
Quests:
* ~24 new Ettenmoors landscape quests
* 8 new Session Play quests
o 2 types of Troll play quests
o 2 types of Ranger play quests
o 4 Chicken quests
* 30 new Annúminas landscape and dungeon quests
* 14 quest Epic Book 10 arc
* 16 new side quests
* 4 new Hunter Class quests
* 39 new reputation quests
* 7 new reputation vector quests
Classes
* Hunter Revamp
* Captain Revamp
Keep Siege Enhancements
* Monster Play Events (numerous events open and close based on keep/POI ownership)
* Players can gain access to new keep defenses such as murder holes, arrow traps, and area of effect buffs.
* Both attacking and defending players have more option to call on the aid of ‘allies' as reinforcements.
* Reputation System
* Barter System
* UI Scaling
* Expanded Vault Space
* Monster player Tribes
* Emotes: We've added 40 new emotes! /clap
* You can now disable the Dread/Hope FX! The option is "Enable Dread Effects" located in the "Special Effects Options" section of the "UI Settings" option tab.
* Dealt a telling blow to Sauron's auction pilfering operation! (AKA - Fixed a bug in the Auction System which would occasionally consume an item and send out "Sauron stole my l00t" letters.)
* Water will now splash when you jump into it! CAAANNONBAAALLL!
* If you currently have Book 8 - Chapter 5 underway and have defeated Mordirth, you will want to turn it in before the update goes live on August 20. "
