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This was the #1 game I was looking forward to last year and was going to be a Day1 buy (and I NEVER buy games on Day 1), but.... then the microtransactions market announcement were announced and I changed my mind completely.
I said I'd only buy the eventual 'Complete' version that includes ALL the Day1 DLC (tribes) and further DLC (side character campaigns).... IF.... they'd remove the microtransactions from the game.
So it looks like I'm going to be making a purchase at the end of the year, which I'm guessing the 'Complete' version will be out by then.
Jimquisition Video -
Steam page patchnotes -
Big patch notes from Feb 8th -
And I'm particularly looking forward to playing the Gravewalker Difficulty.
So, for those who haven't played it, would you say this convinced you to pick it up?
And for those who already own it, are you going to give it another shot?
I said I'd only buy the eventual 'Complete' version that includes ALL the Day1 DLC (tribes) and further DLC (side character campaigns).... IF.... they'd remove the microtransactions from the game.
So it looks like I'm going to be making a purchase at the end of the year, which I'm guessing the 'Complete' version will be out by then.
Jimquisition Video -
Steam page patchnotes -
Market Removed:
• The Market is removed from the game, replaced with an updated Garrison menu that allows access to your Garrison Orcs, Chests, Training Orders and Boosts.
• The Spoils of War Rewards and Community Challenge Reward Chests no longer contain Orcs. Instead, they now focus on Training Orders.
• You can now purchase Training Orders directly with Mirian.
• Captains recruited during Online Vendettas and Ranked Conquests can now be found in your Garrison when you return to your world.
• Captains killed during Online Vendettas and Ranked Conquests now drop gear, the same as Captains killed in your world. You still receive a Gear Chest at the end of the mission, in addition to any gear dropped by Orcs.
• With the removal of the Market, any unspent Gold currency has been converted into Gold Loot Chests.
Improvements to Epilogue (Shadow Wars):
• Reduced the number of stages and missions required for 100% completion of the Shadow Wars.
• Completing the Shadow Wars now earns you the pieces of gear listed below. Players who have already completed Shadow Wars will receive this gear when they begin playing.
o Servant’s Blackened Armor: Allied grunt Orcs have a chance to resurrect when they die. This includes allied Undead grunts.
o Mask of the General: Consume and Drain kills create a Curse explosion.
o Mask of the Undying: Waters of Lórien and Spectral Dash cost no Focus. Melee and Stealth damage increase for five seconds after use.
o Mask of the Fell Rider: Graug Call summons an Elemental Graug.
o Mask of the High King: Raise Dead summons Gondorian Wights.
o Mask of an Empress: Wraith Execution, Wraith Chain, and Chain of Shadows each deal more damage with each successive Wraith.
• Additional narrative elements:
o Additional dialogue from Orcs, Shelob, Dark Talion, and the Witch-king.
Progression Improvements:
• You can now reach level 80. Continuing to earn XP after reaching level 80 earns you additional skill points.
• Enemy Orcs can now reach level 85.
• New Prestige Skills, accessible after Act III, allow you to customize your character build. Each Prestige Skill can be purchased multiple times.
• You can now spend Mirian to raise the level of a piece of gear to match Talion’s current level. You must complete any upgrade challenges on the gear before you can raise its level.
• You can now spend perfect gems to re-roll secondary traits on gear. You must complete any upgrade challenges on the gear before you can re-roll.
New Player Skins:
• You can now choose to appear as Celebrimbor and Dark Eltariel.
Additional Fixes
General Stability:
• Fixed an issue where defeated Captains could leave an empty slot in the Army menu which could fail to refill with new enemies.
• Fixed an issue where deploying a Captain from the Garrison into any empty slot could result in lost Orcs.
• Fixed an issue where the Wages of War mission could become blocked if the player is killed while fighting the two Captains.
• Fixed an issue where Shadow Dominating in the Damaged mission could sometimes block progression.
• Fixed an issue where the The Conquest of Shindrâm mission could become blocked if the player entered the throne room after triggering the Adrenaline augment.
• Fixed an issue where unplugging the controller during Captain deployment could block progress until the game is rebooted.
• Fixed an issue where an Overlord’s Unfinished Business mission could disappear when trying to infiltrate him with a spy.
• Fixed an issue where deploying a Captain could replace an enemy who is holding a Follower as a hostage, which would result in the hostage disappearing from the Army menu.
• Fixed an issue where a Follower could sometimes appear dead in the Army menu after being rescued.
• Fixed an issue where new unknown Captains could take Warchief slots in Minas Morgul.
• Fixed an issue where the Rune of Vengeance challenge would sometimes fail to unlock.
• Fixed an issue where using the fire breath attack on a mounted drake would sometimes not inflict damage against opposing drakes.
• Fixed an issue where using Waters of Lorien or Spectral Dash would recover Focus instead of consuming it.
• Fixed an issue where the Cloak of Beasts would not be visible when equipped with the Baranor skin.
• Armor affixes Might Gain Per Kill and Wrath Gain Per Kill now accept any enemy kill.
• Fixed an issue where using Raise Dead could result in having infinite Might.
• Fixed an issue where Ologs without the Seismic Strike trait could still perform the attack.
• Fixed an issue where the Battle Weary trait would sometimes fail to trigger when it’s supposed to.
• Fixed an issue where Decoys who become Captains could sometimes render invisible.
• Fixed an issue where striking an enraged Olog Captain could cause the Olog’s elemental weapon effect to apply to the player.
• Fixed an issue where Shadow Mounting an enemy beast would fail to restore health.
• Fixed an issue where resurrecting dead War Banner carriers could result in them planting hostile banners.
• Fixed an issue where replaying the Best Defense mission could sometimes spawn the player at the incorrect location.
• Fixed an issue where the player’s Bodyguard could end up trapped and bleeding outside the throne room while the player went inside to confront the Overlord. Bodyguards will now exit bleed-out if left outside.
• Fixed an issue where Bodyguards of Assault Leaders could get duplicated when summoned inside the throne room.
• Fixed an issue where Captains could stop fighting appropriately and get stuck in a loop of taunting instead.
• Various movement and out-of-environment fixes.
• Fixed various memory crashes.
• Blade of Galadriel
o Fixed an issue where the first affix of the Fire Chaser’s Bow would not work against Talion.
o Fixed an issue where the first set bonus for the Light Bringer armor did not take effect against Talion.
o Fixed an issue where the game could become blocked during the Last Chance mini-game versus a mounted enemy.
o Fixed an issue where triggering the Beast Hunter’s Cloak second affix could instantly kill the targeted enemy, regardless of how much health was remaining.
o Fixed an issue where traps could disappear when Eltariel jumps near one.
o Fixed an issue where damage-over-time effects were not applying correctly to blinded enemies.
User Interface (UI):
• Enraged By banners will now display in the HUD when watching Pit Fights.
• Added mission start points in Minas Morgul (The Blade of Galadriel) and Lithlad (The Desolation of Mordor) that facilitate switching between Shadow of War campaigns.
• Dynamic Resolution Scaling is now turned off by default.
• Fixed an issue where Photo Mode would not properly pause the game animation if you were decapitating a drake.
• Fixed an issue where rewards were displayed as earned when failing a Pit Fight.
• Photo Mode: Fixed an issue where the Flat backdrop option would change the color of Orc blood to the selected hue.
• Fixed an issue where Ithildin Door Puzzle words would sometimes not change correctly when moving in the poem.
• Fixed an issue where quitting an Online Pit Fight could result in Online Vendetta information being inappropriately present in other mission resolution messaging.
• Fixed an edge case where the player would not be warned if deploying a Captain would result in a duel with another Follower.
• Desolation of Mordor: Fixed an issue where the number of turns remaining on an unprotected Outpost’s timer could be incorrect.
Nemesis System:
• You can now apply a Training Order to a Follower, even if they are currently on a mission. Prisoners are still ineligible.
• Necromancers may now occasionally raise themselves from the dead before your eyes.
• Added a toggle in the Options menu to disable Saviors.
• The Slaughter and Outlaw Invasion missions will now unlock sequentially, instead of all at once.
• Your Followers can now surprise you and deliver a gift Worm to interrogate.
Balance:
• Increased the overall spawn rates for Legendary Orcs.
• Rebalanced XP rewards and costs above level 30.
o Nemesis Missions and Captain kills now give much more XP.
o Online Fort Assault missions now award XP.
o Reduced XP reward on missions much higher level than the player, reducing the likelihood that a high-level fortress siege/defense will grant more than three levels of experience.
• Shortened the duration of rage if the Enrage Allies ability is used without Wrath.
• Slightly increased chance for Orcs to cheat death in late game.
• Improved gang-fighting behavior in Fight Pits. Gangs should now be more useful to their masters.
• Updated a variety of Orc attacks to charge through Defender shields. This helps balance Defenders better against Warriors, Savages, and Ologs.
• Added a tighter cooldown to the Berserker’s whirlwind attack.
• Added a brief delay at the beginning of an Orc’s Quick Shot attack, so the player has more time to react.
• Reduced the frequency of the Beast Slayer trait in late game.
• Slightly reduced the frequency of the Highly Adaptable trait.
• Greatly increased attack and defense values of Beasts (Caragors, Graugs, Drakes) against high-level Captains.
• Added Caragor stealth attacks as an acceptable unlock criteria for the Dagger of Vengeance.
• Increased attack and defense power of Caragors when mounted by Orc Captains.
• Reduced weakness of Orc traits Vulnerable to Fire and Vulnerable to Poison on Normal and Nemesis difficulties.
• Shaming an Orc once will not immediately reduce their traits. However, multiple shamings will still cause this to occur.
• Resurrecting dead Followers as Revenants will no longer cause them to lose any levels. They are still barred from ever leveling up again.
• Increased the chance that an Orc will ambush when his Blood Brother is under attack.
• Decreased the chance of a Blood Brother betrayal if the player accidentally hits their own Follower.
• Increased the time between an Orc’s death and his Blood Brother’s vengeful ambush.
• When playing siege/defense missions after completing Shadow Wars:
o Assault waves should now include bodyguards (two per Assault Leader).
o Legendary Orcs are now guaranteed to appear.
• Blade of Galadriel: Enraged Captains are Blinded for a shorter period.
• The Market is removed from the game, replaced with an updated Garrison menu that allows access to your Garrison Orcs, Chests, Training Orders and Boosts.
• The Spoils of War Rewards and Community Challenge Reward Chests no longer contain Orcs. Instead, they now focus on Training Orders.
• You can now purchase Training Orders directly with Mirian.
• Captains recruited during Online Vendettas and Ranked Conquests can now be found in your Garrison when you return to your world.
• Captains killed during Online Vendettas and Ranked Conquests now drop gear, the same as Captains killed in your world. You still receive a Gear Chest at the end of the mission, in addition to any gear dropped by Orcs.
• With the removal of the Market, any unspent Gold currency has been converted into Gold Loot Chests.
Improvements to Epilogue (Shadow Wars):
• Reduced the number of stages and missions required for 100% completion of the Shadow Wars.
• Completing the Shadow Wars now earns you the pieces of gear listed below. Players who have already completed Shadow Wars will receive this gear when they begin playing.
o Servant’s Blackened Armor: Allied grunt Orcs have a chance to resurrect when they die. This includes allied Undead grunts.
o Mask of the General: Consume and Drain kills create a Curse explosion.
o Mask of the Undying: Waters of Lórien and Spectral Dash cost no Focus. Melee and Stealth damage increase for five seconds after use.
o Mask of the Fell Rider: Graug Call summons an Elemental Graug.
o Mask of the High King: Raise Dead summons Gondorian Wights.
o Mask of an Empress: Wraith Execution, Wraith Chain, and Chain of Shadows each deal more damage with each successive Wraith.
• Additional narrative elements:
o Additional dialogue from Orcs, Shelob, Dark Talion, and the Witch-king.
Progression Improvements:
• You can now reach level 80. Continuing to earn XP after reaching level 80 earns you additional skill points.
• Enemy Orcs can now reach level 85.
• New Prestige Skills, accessible after Act III, allow you to customize your character build. Each Prestige Skill can be purchased multiple times.
• You can now spend Mirian to raise the level of a piece of gear to match Talion’s current level. You must complete any upgrade challenges on the gear before you can raise its level.
• You can now spend perfect gems to re-roll secondary traits on gear. You must complete any upgrade challenges on the gear before you can re-roll.
New Player Skins:
• You can now choose to appear as Celebrimbor and Dark Eltariel.
Additional Fixes
General Stability:
• Fixed an issue where defeated Captains could leave an empty slot in the Army menu which could fail to refill with new enemies.
• Fixed an issue where deploying a Captain from the Garrison into any empty slot could result in lost Orcs.
• Fixed an issue where the Wages of War mission could become blocked if the player is killed while fighting the two Captains.
• Fixed an issue where Shadow Dominating in the Damaged mission could sometimes block progression.
• Fixed an issue where the The Conquest of Shindrâm mission could become blocked if the player entered the throne room after triggering the Adrenaline augment.
• Fixed an issue where unplugging the controller during Captain deployment could block progress until the game is rebooted.
• Fixed an issue where an Overlord’s Unfinished Business mission could disappear when trying to infiltrate him with a spy.
• Fixed an issue where deploying a Captain could replace an enemy who is holding a Follower as a hostage, which would result in the hostage disappearing from the Army menu.
• Fixed an issue where a Follower could sometimes appear dead in the Army menu after being rescued.
• Fixed an issue where new unknown Captains could take Warchief slots in Minas Morgul.
• Fixed an issue where the Rune of Vengeance challenge would sometimes fail to unlock.
• Fixed an issue where using the fire breath attack on a mounted drake would sometimes not inflict damage against opposing drakes.
• Fixed an issue where using Waters of Lorien or Spectral Dash would recover Focus instead of consuming it.
• Fixed an issue where the Cloak of Beasts would not be visible when equipped with the Baranor skin.
• Armor affixes Might Gain Per Kill and Wrath Gain Per Kill now accept any enemy kill.
• Fixed an issue where using Raise Dead could result in having infinite Might.
• Fixed an issue where Ologs without the Seismic Strike trait could still perform the attack.
• Fixed an issue where the Battle Weary trait would sometimes fail to trigger when it’s supposed to.
• Fixed an issue where Decoys who become Captains could sometimes render invisible.
• Fixed an issue where striking an enraged Olog Captain could cause the Olog’s elemental weapon effect to apply to the player.
• Fixed an issue where Shadow Mounting an enemy beast would fail to restore health.
• Fixed an issue where resurrecting dead War Banner carriers could result in them planting hostile banners.
• Fixed an issue where replaying the Best Defense mission could sometimes spawn the player at the incorrect location.
• Fixed an issue where the player’s Bodyguard could end up trapped and bleeding outside the throne room while the player went inside to confront the Overlord. Bodyguards will now exit bleed-out if left outside.
• Fixed an issue where Bodyguards of Assault Leaders could get duplicated when summoned inside the throne room.
• Fixed an issue where Captains could stop fighting appropriately and get stuck in a loop of taunting instead.
• Various movement and out-of-environment fixes.
• Fixed various memory crashes.
• Blade of Galadriel
o Fixed an issue where the first affix of the Fire Chaser’s Bow would not work against Talion.
o Fixed an issue where the first set bonus for the Light Bringer armor did not take effect against Talion.
o Fixed an issue where the game could become blocked during the Last Chance mini-game versus a mounted enemy.
o Fixed an issue where triggering the Beast Hunter’s Cloak second affix could instantly kill the targeted enemy, regardless of how much health was remaining.
o Fixed an issue where traps could disappear when Eltariel jumps near one.
o Fixed an issue where damage-over-time effects were not applying correctly to blinded enemies.
User Interface (UI):
• Enraged By banners will now display in the HUD when watching Pit Fights.
• Added mission start points in Minas Morgul (The Blade of Galadriel) and Lithlad (The Desolation of Mordor) that facilitate switching between Shadow of War campaigns.
• Dynamic Resolution Scaling is now turned off by default.
• Fixed an issue where Photo Mode would not properly pause the game animation if you were decapitating a drake.
• Fixed an issue where rewards were displayed as earned when failing a Pit Fight.
• Photo Mode: Fixed an issue where the Flat backdrop option would change the color of Orc blood to the selected hue.
• Fixed an issue where Ithildin Door Puzzle words would sometimes not change correctly when moving in the poem.
• Fixed an issue where quitting an Online Pit Fight could result in Online Vendetta information being inappropriately present in other mission resolution messaging.
• Fixed an edge case where the player would not be warned if deploying a Captain would result in a duel with another Follower.
• Desolation of Mordor: Fixed an issue where the number of turns remaining on an unprotected Outpost’s timer could be incorrect.
Nemesis System:
• You can now apply a Training Order to a Follower, even if they are currently on a mission. Prisoners are still ineligible.
• Necromancers may now occasionally raise themselves from the dead before your eyes.
• Added a toggle in the Options menu to disable Saviors.
• The Slaughter and Outlaw Invasion missions will now unlock sequentially, instead of all at once.
• Your Followers can now surprise you and deliver a gift Worm to interrogate.
Balance:
• Increased the overall spawn rates for Legendary Orcs.
• Rebalanced XP rewards and costs above level 30.
o Nemesis Missions and Captain kills now give much more XP.
o Online Fort Assault missions now award XP.
o Reduced XP reward on missions much higher level than the player, reducing the likelihood that a high-level fortress siege/defense will grant more than three levels of experience.
• Shortened the duration of rage if the Enrage Allies ability is used without Wrath.
• Slightly increased chance for Orcs to cheat death in late game.
• Improved gang-fighting behavior in Fight Pits. Gangs should now be more useful to their masters.
• Updated a variety of Orc attacks to charge through Defender shields. This helps balance Defenders better against Warriors, Savages, and Ologs.
• Added a tighter cooldown to the Berserker’s whirlwind attack.
• Added a brief delay at the beginning of an Orc’s Quick Shot attack, so the player has more time to react.
• Reduced the frequency of the Beast Slayer trait in late game.
• Slightly reduced the frequency of the Highly Adaptable trait.
• Greatly increased attack and defense values of Beasts (Caragors, Graugs, Drakes) against high-level Captains.
• Added Caragor stealth attacks as an acceptable unlock criteria for the Dagger of Vengeance.
• Increased attack and defense power of Caragors when mounted by Orc Captains.
• Reduced weakness of Orc traits Vulnerable to Fire and Vulnerable to Poison on Normal and Nemesis difficulties.
• Shaming an Orc once will not immediately reduce their traits. However, multiple shamings will still cause this to occur.
• Resurrecting dead Followers as Revenants will no longer cause them to lose any levels. They are still barred from ever leveling up again.
• Increased the chance that an Orc will ambush when his Blood Brother is under attack.
• Decreased the chance of a Blood Brother betrayal if the player accidentally hits their own Follower.
• Increased the time between an Orc’s death and his Blood Brother’s vengeful ambush.
• When playing siege/defense missions after completing Shadow Wars:
o Assault waves should now include bodyguards (two per Assault Leader).
o Legendary Orcs are now guaranteed to appear.
• Blade of Galadriel: Enraged Captains are Blinded for a shorter period.
Big patch notes from Feb 8th -
- Nemesis System Enhancements – Orc Captains (whether friends or foes) can exhibit new traits and behaviors, adding further depth to combat encounters and player interactions, such as:
- Tunnel Rat – Orcs can burrow into the ground and summon Ghûls.
- Sniper Shot – Archers can fire from great distances with pinpoint accuracy.
- Tremor – Ologs can pound the earth with tremendous force, staggering nearby threats and heavily damaging structures.
- Gifts of Treasure – Followers can now bring players the gift of a Treasure Orc, providing even more ways to earn Gems and Mirian.
- Tunnel Rat – Orcs can burrow into the ground and summon Ghûls.
- Photo Mode Upgrades – New filters, frames and styles, along with adjustable expressions and added stickers, giving players more options for customizing in-game action shots.
- Player Skins – Choose to appear as Talion or Eltariel in the main story campaign.
- Training Orders Update – Players can now upgrade their Orc Followers with Training Orders while in the Garrison, saving time and offering more flexibility in deployment.
- Player Stats Page – New menu for players to track a variety of in-game statistics, including the number and type of enemy kills, dominations and betrayals; fortresses conquered and defended; gear pieces collected and upgraded; and many more.
- Field of View Options – More ways for players to customize the user interface and scale their field of view.
Gravewalker Difficulty: A new, higher difficulty level even more challenging than Nemesis, including:
- By default, the player gets no Last Chances.
- Enemies are more perceptive and able to spot a stealthy player from farther away. They are no longer surprised when they spot a player, and remember a vanished player for longer.
- Orcs gain more levels when they kill the player.
- Orcs gain more levels when a Death Threat is sent.
- Orcs gain more levels when they become Maniacs.
- More Orc Captains are present roaming the world.
- Nemesis Missions have shorter durations, necessitating decisions to rescue or get vengeance.
- Worms are less frequent, have much better senses, and can defend themselves as they flee.
- Enemies deal more damage, particularly grunts and monsters.
- Players deal less damage to Captains.
- Environmental hazards deal more damage to the player and slightly less to enemies. Expect some grunts to survive a barrel explosion.
- Enemies adapt slightly more quickly to player attacks.
- Enemies attack slightly more quickly, and are more likely to coordinate attacks.
- Enraged Orcs are harder to disrupt.
- Retreating enemies adapt to stealth attacks.
- Siege Beasts take less damage from their ammo packs exploding.
- Followers bleed out quicker.
- Shortened duration of ‘Dazed’ state triggered by fear and weaknesses.
- Poisoning a barrel from ranged or using distract costs Focus.
- Slightly increased drain time for critters, grunts, and Captains.
- Please note, Gravewalker Difficulty was previously known as Brutal Difficulty.
And for those who already own it, are you going to give it another shot?
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