The Bullroarer public test server for Lord of the Rings Online has been updated with the latest build of Update 23, Where Dragons Dwell, and it includes an updated work-in-progress preview of the upcoming Hobbit avatar update, changes to the way that stat ratings are calculated, and the implementation of the new lootbox and endgame currency system, which we looked at last week. Impatient LOTRO players can roll up a character on Bullroarer and set out upon “a journey into the homelands and histories of the dwarves,” which will take them through “an expanded Erebor,” into the Iron Hills, and ultimately to the “lost dwarf kingdoms of the Grey Mountains.”
The biggest change in this build seems to be a large-scale reworking of the way stat ratings are calculated, which has been done, the patch notes state, in order “to provide a more even gameplay experience throughout leveling, and to make gearing at end game more compelling.” Some of these changes include decreasing the Mastery cap from 400% to 200% and making it subject to “some degree of reducing returns” as well as alterations that will allow non-DPS builds at higher levels to defeat monsters more quickly on average than before, though the patch notes note that “well-geared DPS build will see a relatively minor change to their average time to defeat a monster.”For all the details on this build’s changes, you can check out the update notes on the game’s official forums.
