Middle-earth: Shadow of War Patch Notes v1.15

Desolation of Mordor Story Expansion Now Available

• Open a new front in the war for Mordor as Baranor, Captain of the fallen city of Minas Ithil. Travel to the Eastern Deserts of Lithlad and raise a new army of human mercenaries.
• As a mortal man, and lacking a Ring of Power or a wraith, Baranor can neither cheat death nor dominate Orcs. Ally with the Dwarven hunter Torvin, master ancient technologies and command loyal allies to stay alive and conquer this new land.
• The following content and features will be added to your game upon purchase of the Desolation of Mordor Story Expansion. Please note, if you currently own the Expansion Pass, this content is included with your pass.

Desolation of Mordor Story Expansion includes the following content:

• Play as Baranor, the Captain of Minas Ithil and survivor of the cityís demise, in a new story expansion where players can command the forces of Man against a new Orc threat to the East.
• Unite with Torvin, the Dwarven Hunter, to craft powerful new combat gear, including the shield, gauntlet, grapple and kite.
• Fight to survive in Mordor as a human without the power of a Ring or a wraith to cheat death in a new rogue-like campaign mode.
• Fight alongside new friends and allies in the form of human Mercenaries with new Command options.
• Complete a host of new outpost missions and overthrow the imposing Marauder fortress of Shindr‚m.
• Face new enemies, including the mythical Were-wyrms.
• Play as Talion in the new region of Lithlad, expanding your main story campaign to experience all new Shadows of the Past missions as well as Conquests, Sieges, and Vendettas.
• Unlockable Baranor character skin for the main story campaign.

Free content updates available today for all Middle-earth: Shadow of War owners, including:

• Nemesis System Enhancements Overlords can now have Bodyguards, which function the same as Warchief Bodyguards, including the ability to deploy spies.
• Online Fight Pits & Online Conquests Update
• Added the ability to search by player name when engaging in Friendly Online Pit Fights and Friendly Online Conquests.
• Photo Mode Upgrades New stickers, styles and filters inspired by the Desolation of Mordor Story Expansion.
• New Player Skin You can now choose to appear as Baranor.
• Brutal Difficulty
• Added a new Brutal Difficulty setting, meant to be difficult but unique in its feel. Enemies are as fast and lethal as on Gravewalker difficulty, but your damage is increased greatly, and your Might and Wrath meters fill faster to allow you to use more special moves.
• Player Stats Page Updates
• Added additional entries to the Player Stats page.

Market Update:

The ability to purchase Gold within the Market will be permanently removed. Players will still be able to spend Gold and receive Gold via in-game challenges up until the Market closes permanently on July 17. For more information, please refer to our recent community update and FAQ.

Additional Fixes:

General Stability:

• Fixed various crashes
• Achievements:
  1. Fixed an issue where the Forged by War achievement would not unlock if you met the final requirement while replaying a mission.
  2. Fixed an issue where the Everything is Permitted achievement would not unlock if you deranged a Warchief assassin during his Confrontation Mission.
  3. Fixed an issue where The Operative achievement may not unlock when betrayal conditions are met.
• Skills/Player Actions:
  1. Fixed an issue that sometimes caused Talion's Ringwraith ability to be too stealthy.
  2. Fixed an issue where pairing the Chain of Souls and Domination upgrades could prevent you from dominating multiple enemies at once.
  3. Fixed an issue where the Chain of Souls skill would not contribute progress towards gear challenges.
  4. Fixed an issue where a mounted drake could become unresponsive after releasing prey from its claws.
  5. Fixed an issue where a dive attack from a drake could grab the wrong target.
  6. Fixed an issue where mounting a dying Siege Beast could cause the player to become trapped.
  7. Fixed various movement issues.
• Fixed an issue where the mission The Fall could go missing and block player progression.
• Fixed various issues with the Player Stats menu tracking events properly.
• Fixed an issue where an Overlord's first win in the Online Arena might not register in the win streak.
• Fixed an issue where a follower who wins three Online Pit Fights sometimes fails to receive an Epic Trait.
• Fixed an issue where winning a Friendly Online Fight Pit could incorrectly grant levels.
• Fixed an issue where Beasts in cages could become invisible after using Photo Mode.
• Fixed an issue where an enemy fortís poison mines could appear blue, as if they were allied traps.
• Fixed an issue where the vendetta cloak could not be earned by performing the requirements, which includes being mounted on a graug or drake.
• UWP: Fixed a soft lock that could occur when changing texture quality and disconnecting from the live service.
• Fixed an issue with one building in Nurnen where loot from slain Captains could become unreachable.
• Fixed an issue during the Invasion Nemesis Mission where it could fail to resolve if a trickster made a tricky escape.
• Fixed an issue where dropping Morgai Fly Nests could inflict poison.
• Fixed an issue where the wall explosion VFX could fail to appear when a spy Warchief is successful in a fort assault.
• Fixed an issue where an ambushing Captain would sometimes not give a presentation correctly, leaving the player stuck in place for a short while.
• Fixed an issue where an Outlaw Captainís bolas could be invisible during his showdown.
• Fixed an issue where retreating Followers would not present to the player if forced to betray.
• Fixed an issue where a gift giver Captain would not correctly face the player during his presentation.
• Fixed an issue where running towards the camera could cause ground textures to appear stretched.
• Fixed an issue where the fortress gate in Gorgoroth could end up permanently closed after playing a Shadows of the Past Mission.
• Fixed an issue where the game could become stuck on the skin selection screen if the game was only partially installed.
• Fixed an issue where gameplay progression could become blocked when reaching or completing the The Etten Mission.
• Blade of Galardiel Story Expansion:
  1. Fixed an issue where Followers from the Blade of Galadriel Story Expansion could be imported into the main campaign at the incorrect level. They will now always be at least level 15.
  2. Fixed an issue where some story dialog could fail to play in the Blade of Galadriel Story Expansion.
  3. Fixed an issue where Eltariel's Ranged mode would temporarily become stuck during the Poisoned Ground Mission, due to poison mist.
  4. Fixed an issue where the Light infused by the Blaze skill would disappear if any other Light-based attack was then used.
  5. Fixed an issue where Eltariel's hand could animate poorly after being hit.
  6. Corrected the color of Eltariel's Ground Blaze effect.
  7. Fixed an issue where killing a blinded enemy with a Light Bolt could cause a Glaive to inappropriately appear in Eltariel's hand.

User Interface (UI):

• Photo Mode:
  1. Fixed an issue with the Photo Mode tutorial that sometimes incorrectly showed pink boxes.
  2. Fixed an issue where the Photo Mode option depth of field didnít function properly at times.
  3. Fixed an issue where the Photo Mode style ìNouveauî could sometimes result in incorrect layering.
• The Last Chance PIPs beneath the mini-map now display on Easy Difficulty.
• Fixed a persistent error message that could occur if the controller was disconnected during the initial loading of a new game.
• Fixed an issue on UWP using GameDVR recording tool that caused the cursor to stay on screen.
• Fixed an issue for the "unpack next" feature not operating correctly when highlighting commerce boost items.
• Fixed an issue where the Experience Boost percentage indicator could become hidden after a store purchase.
• Fixed an issue after Online Fight Pits that sometimes incorrectly displayed a message Network Error, Unable to record results.
• Clarified the error message that is displayed when trying to assign a Training Order to a Follower who is currently on a mission.
• Fixed an issue with ranked Conquests where the Orc preview window would not display the correct character.
• Fixed an issue with Online Vendettas where the target Orc info could fail to load properly in the UI.
• Fixed an issue where completing a community challenge could sometimes result in incorrect information being displayed in the tracking UI.
• Fixed an issue where, if deploying a Follower to the Army menu would result in the Follower dueling another Follower, the player might not get a warning.
• Blade of Galadriel Story Expansion
  1. Fixed an issue where the Continue/Start New Game prompt would be briefly absent with no functionality in Start Menu when highlighting "Blade of Galadriel."
  2. Fixed an issue where the incorrect characterís abilities could be displayed when viewed in the Options menu.
  3. Fixed the ìBlazeî skill guide entry to not display until the ability has been unlocked.
  4. Fixed an issue where the Broken UI text could remain on screen after a Nazgul is banished by being blinded.
  5. Fixed an issue in the Blade of Galadriel Story Expansion where the screen prompt for Summon Bodyguard incorrectly shows after The Enchanted is killed.

Nemesis System:

• Adjusted the rules for camera presentations during Fortress Assaults and Fortress Defenses:
  1. Reduced presentation frequency of nearby Orc deaths.
  2. Fixed an issue where initial meetings do not trigger, except for Warchiefs and enemies the player has met in the past, and then they only triggered on a sword clash.
  3. Presentations do not trigger for Hate, Terror or Retreat.
  4. Walk-out presentations do not trigger for second-stage Warchiefs (at an inner courtyard).
• Followers can now set a trap to betray you during rescue missions.
• Orc Beastmaster can now sometimes earn the new Caragor Tamer trait, which enables them to convert opposing caragors to their side.
• Added white lines in the Army menu to visually indicate Orcs who are Blood Brothers.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented a retreating Trickster from leading the player to an ambush.
• Globally sped up the length of enemy death presentations.
• Fixed an issue which sometimes disallowed players from sending reinforcements to support Followers in a single-Captain nemesis mission.
• Fixed an issue where a Follower prisoner could be removed from the hierarchy if his captor was defeated by a deployed Captain from the garrison.
• Fixed an issue where a Follower could be assigned as a bodyguard to both Talion and a Warchief at the same time.
• Fixed an issue where Undead Followers could level-up when sent to-and-from the garrison.
• Increased the likelihood of Gift Givers in Minas Morgul and Cirith Ungol.

Balance:

• Increased the variability of levels of Orc Captains in late game. Now, more Captains could appear lower than the player's level, particularly on high difficulty settings.
• Significantly increased the damage grunt Orcs deal to Captains, making them a greater threat.
• Tuned Gravewalker difficulty
  1. Tuned player damage against Orcs of vastly higher level. They will go down faster.
  2. Reduced rate of Orc power growth in late game.
  3. Reduced animation speed of certain defender spear attacks.
  4. Reduced damage of multi-hit attacks on Gravewalker difficulty.
• Reduced life steal on certain Berserker special attacks.
• Reduced damage of certain Orc special attacks against other Captains.
• Moderately decreased damage of Orc Captains against other Orc Captains at high levels, giving the player more time to intervene.
• Corrected too-high Wrath recovery values on certain sword gear properties.
• The Frost explosion triggered by the Legendary Bright Lord ranged weapons no longer affects allies.
• Fixed an issue in Gravewalker difficulty where Orcs could sometimes allow stealth attacks after spotting the player.