We reported in April that Warner Bros and Monolith will be removing the highly controversial microtransactions and lootboxes from Uruk friendship builder, Middle Earth: Shadow of War.

Warner Bros today released a free update for Middle-earth: Shadow of War that removes the market entirely, as well as add a slew of improvements such as richer campaign experience, streamlined post-game Epilogue, new player skins and Legendary gear.

We reviewed SoW a while back and the presence of an end-game to enforce the use of microtransactions certainly added to our judgement. You can view the review here.

Here are the some of the changes brought forward by this update:

Market & Shadow Wars

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.

• Reduced the number of stages and missions required for 100% completion of the Shadow Wars.

• Additional narrative elements:

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.

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.

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.