Monolith Productions have rolled out a new update for Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, and it’s pretty meaty. They’ve made some notable changes, removed some significant stuff, and added some interesting new things. For starters, and most importantly, the Market has been removed entirely. This comes on the back of the game having removed its microtransactions quite recently, and the removal of the Market now brings about that change to a close.
Last year, upon release this particular aspect of Shadow of War was met with some criticism from fans and critics alike, with the main argument being that a full-priced single player game has no business having microtransactions in any capacity. Clearly, the developers have been listening, and even though it’s disappointing that they were even included to begin with, props should be given to them for removing those now.
Those aren’t the only changes that the new update makes, though. Obviously, microtransactions were a legitimate method of progression in the game, and having now removed those, it needs to balance that out by providing those options through other ways. As such, within the game, Mirian can now be used to train, upgrade, and customize your orc army.
Meanwhile, the Nemesis system has also been tweaked slightly. Encounters with Legendary Orcs will now happen more often in the game, while players will also have the option of turning off the Savior feature from the menus. On top of that, another major change is the increase of level caps, with the level cap of followers having been raised to 80, and that of enemy Captains having been raised to 85. Players will also receive more experience for finishing Nemesis Missions, Online Conquests, and for defeating Captains.
Shadow Wars, the game’s post-game epilogue, has also been overhauled quite significantly, and made a much meatier experience. For starters, players can continue to upgrade and defend their armies and fortresses in the post-game, while victory in the epilogue also grants players with the “Masks of the Nazgûl”, which will grant “powerful new abilities to raise the dead, curse enemies and summons more powerful monsters”. Meanwhile, more narration from Shelob has also been added to the epilogue.
Oh, and new player skins have also been added. So yeah, all in all a pretty meaty update. You can download it right now on PS4, Xbox One, or PC. You can check full details for the new update below, as provided by the developers.
Removal of the Market: The market and microtransactions have been completely removed from Shadow of War. Orcs recruited through Online Vendettas and Ranked Conquests will now be stored in the Garrison, and in-game Mirian can now be used to train, upgrade and customize your personal Orc army.
Changes to the Shadow Wars: Renamed the Epilogue, the post-campaign has been vastly streamlined to include new narration from Shelob, the Witch-king and Dark Talion. Victory in the Epilogue rewards players with the Masks of the Nazgûl, unlocks powerful new abilities to raise the dead, curse enemies and summons more powerful monsters. And players also have the option to continue upgrading and defending their fortresses and army in Mordor after the final credits conclude.
More Ways to Customize & Build Your Character: The follower level cap has now been increased to 80 and the enemy Captain level cap has been increased to 85. Plus, players can level up faster with greater XP rewards for Nemesis Missions, defeating Captains and Online Conquests. New Prestige Skills are available and offer incremental upgrades to skills. Players can also spend Mirian to upgrade gear to current levels by completing the upgrade challenge, and these gear upgrades now allow players to re-roll abilities for the perfect combo.
Nemesis Improvements: There are more Legendary Orcs to encounter, more ways to get Training Orders (incl. Legendary Training Orders) and followers can now surprise players with the occasional gift. And if any followers are too keen to help out and have been stealing kills, there is now the option to turn off the Savior feature in the menu.
New Player Skins: Players can now take the fight to Sauron as Celebrimbor, reliving the first War for Mordor, or battle as Dark Eltariel and Baranor.
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