LOTRO Update 25.4 Out Today, Brings New Raid

LOTRO will receive Update 25.4 today containing several tweaks for classes, crafting, a new raid, and more.

The new raid will be available for anyone owning the Minas Morgul expansion, and will be available on Tiers 1 and 2.

Classes notably received quite a few tweaks:

• Several classes have had their Stun removal skill cooldowns reduced to 60 seconds. Trait and item effects on these cooldowns for the affected skills have also been adjusted.
• The balance of defensive stats versus vitality has been tweaked to encourage more variety in itemization in defensive builds.
• Partial Avoidances are now less expensive to cap.
• The itemization budget for avoidances and incoming healing has been slightly increased.
• The itemization budget for tactical mitigation has been slightly reduced.
• The itemization budget for Vitality and health has been reduced by about 5%.
• A bug has been fixed that reduced certain ratings in the later game.
• Burglar
• Flashing Blades and Double Edged Strike have had their damage output reduced.
• Captain
• Noble Mark has been redesigned, and now allows the Captain to heal up to 3% every 3 seconds when they land a skill attack against any opponent. Noble Mark's range is now only 12 meters, requiring the Captain to remain in close proximity to their marked target to maintain the effect.
• Champion
• Blade and Strike skill damage has been increased.
• Hunter
• Area of Effect poison cure now has a longer cooldown, and the single target cure now has a cooldown.
• Hunter direct damage has been increased slightly across the board to compensate.
• Lore-master
• Friend of the Animals summoning skills will no longer noticeably delay the use of your next queued skill. This change does not apply to the Sic-em skill.
• Searing Embers refreshed by Set Gear bonuses should now do their appropriate damage.
• Runekeeper
• Writ of Lightning, Ceaseless Argument, and Static Surge have had their damage output reduced.
• Warden
• Never Surrender now grants its proper 5% mitigation bonus instead of 50%.

Additionally, crafting received some attention, specifically for recipes:

• Universal Optional Crafting Ingredients are now available starting at level 20 for completing Tasks each week. These ingredients can also be awarded for completing certain quests during the Spring, Anniversary, Summer, Harvestmath, and Yuletide festivals. Universal Optional Ingredients can be used in a crafting recipe to guarantee a critical success.
• More than one Optional Ingredient can now be used at a time. If multiple optional ingredients are checked, one of each ingredient checked will be consumed upon recipe execution.
• Malleable Moonlit Essences will no longer be able to go into your Crafting Carry-alls as the Crafting system is unable to recognize these essences properly. If you already have placed Malleable Moonlit Essences into a Carry-all, remove them in order to use them to craft new essences.
• Crafting recipe cooldowns can now be reset using Mithril.
• The Woodworker Recipe "Elite Vanguard's Hammer of Minas Ithil" now offers weapons with Agility as the main stat.
• The Woodworker Recipe "Elite Vanguard's Bow of Minas Ithil" now offers weapons with Agility as the main stat.
• The Woodworker Recipe "Elite Vanguard's Club of Minas Ithil" now offers weapons with Agility as the main stat.
• Standards of Hope from Crafting Tier 11 and onward now give Vitality and Tactical Mitigation instead of Maximum Morale.

You can check out the full patch notes here.