Lotro is kinda odd in the industry as a lot of people don't just race to level cap asap. Don't get me wrong, there are those that do, but the vast majority don't. There is a ton of story-based content that is actually worth playing through in the game. Most people I know buy a pocket item from the store that stops them from gaining experience just because there is way more content in the game than levels to cover it all, so they stop their experience every 10 levels or so to play through everything. It's definitely a unique game in the MMO space.
Beornings in blue line are pretty much immortal. Brawlers are pretty strong too. I'm playing a brawler and loving it. I kill most mobs in 3 - 4 hits on difficulty 3.
There's a Hardened Traveller npc in all the starting areas that gives a quest to let you set the difficulty. It only affects overland (landscape) difficulty. You also get bonus exp.
Beornings are getting nerfed in today's patch. Apparently, their healing was WAY over powered, and they are finally bringing it back in line with the other classes.
I couldn't tell you specifics, but they got nerfed a bit over the last year, I guess. I think they're still a strong class, but not a mega-OP class anymore.
I started playing brawler with this new server launch and I'm loving it. I'm playing blue line, which has a couple self heals and mitigation buffs, so survivability is good. Damage is fine. On difficulty 3 I kill most landscape mobs in 3 - 4 hits (usually two builders and one or two finishers). I like the feel of the class. The animations and sounds for the attacks have a good...oomph? to them. It feels like you're beating the hell out of things.
