Lord of the Rings Online

I just fired this up, as I've never actually played through it, and P99 is packed and I'm tired of camping. I'm an Elf Minstrel named Ledrona on Brandywine. I have no idea what I'm doing, but the game does look good and it seems standard MMO fare.

Is there any real must have items that make ones life easier? I plan on playing through as much content as I can.

Maybe I've been playing too much P99 and Wildstar, but for an older game it looks really good, running the DX11 client.

Are you doing Free to Play or a sub? If you're doing Free to Play, it might be worthwhile to do a 1-month sub just to unlock a lot of the little quality of life things on your main character (which you retain even if you cancel your sub). A one-month sub should get you all the bag slots, remove the gold cap, and open up travel routes, among other things.

You'll also get access to some of the "pay" leveling zones past level 20 or so, but you don't get to keep that access if you cancel your sub.

One of those pay leveling zones is Evendim, which was one of my favorite areas so I highly recommend going there (I believe it's a low-30s zone, although you could probably go there a little earlier). It's got an awesome environment with lots of ruins of the old kingdoms of man, and there are some mini, epic-style quests there that deal with Aragorn and his background.

*Note* All of this information is about a year old.

Thanks for the info, Mccheese.

Right now I'm doing F2P. I played a few hours and I'm level 8, still learning the ropes. I had planned on subbing when I hit level 20 and doing the 20-50 content in a few weeks since that seems to be the general recommendation from the Forums.

I did spend 20 on Turbine points, so I have about 2500 now if there's any must have things. Right now it doesn't seem so, but I'm just getting started.

Again, this info is a bit old so double check it, but I believe you can buy the mount skill after level 5 for 95 Turbine Points in the Turbine Store. Once you have the mount skill you can go to the horse farm north of Bree and buy a mount (or get a mount from the Turbine Store with your other TP). If you don't buy the skill, you have to wait until level 20 to train it naturally in-game.

LOTRO's zones are impressively large once you get out of the starting areas, so having a mount makes a HUGE difference.

Evendim is 35 to 45.
One of the annoyances about LoTRO is the running about. Quests are spread all over and unless the zone has been revamped have a ridiculous amount of three tier Quests where you have to run back to the quest giver and then back to the same area three times. It can be a colossal pain in the nuts.
You want the fastest mount you can get as soon as you can get it.
Another issue can be that sometimes you need to level in two zones for a given level range and they are on opposite sides of the world map (Forochel I am looking at you).
Also Book 1 has a truly dreary amount of running about.
Finally, don't be shy about running a couple of skirmishes to finish off a level. Save all the points you get as you will need them to buy the components for your epic skills. Only upgrade the primary skill on the soldier you are using if you have to. It can be 2 or 3 tiers behind.
LoTRO has a pile of things to do so don't focus on levelling to the exclusion of all else.

I've been doing the winter festival stuff. The play entertains me so much, I must be simple.

Takes a long time to unlock some of the spendier stuff though.

Speakin of spendy, I've been raking in the money lately. They must have really jacked up coin drops. I'm almost considering having a house again.

DAOC EMU was a mess so....
Group of us rolled on Arkenstone server, core group is Captain(DPS/off heals), Guardian(Tank), Warden(DPS/off tank), Burglar(DPS), Rune-keeper(healer). We all hit 20-25 last night and plan to stay around the same level together to see everything we can as we level up. Could use another DPS Lore-Master/HUnter in the core, but really any class is welcome. We have Teamspeak or Mumble if TS doesn't work out. Right now you can get away with base(free) game+ a subscription to do all the instances etc, but most of us went ahead and purchased the quad pack and none of us have Helms Deep expansion(waiting until level 95 or whatever).

I subbed for 3 months(9.95 a month that way) so I plan to play at least that long almost nightly to see everything. PM me for details or ingame on Arkenstone server I am Riftlungr, or anyone else in the group to include Swico, Geirs, Kemuel, or Tugnut. All of us should be able to invite you to guild/group.

20 in one sessions Christ, with work I don't think id be able to catch up


always did wanna play this was a sucker for lotr.

TecKnoe_sl said:

20 in one sessions Christ, with work I don't think id be able to catch up

always did wanna play this was a sucker for lotr.

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Sorry to be clear we started Friday night and we only moving the core group along when all are available to play which comes out to at least 4 nights a week.

Oh and if you bought the WB humble Bundle you have some stuff for LOTRO in there as well.

I just started playing this on Brandywine, Waltoin a Runekeeper. I would be willing to play on any server I just don't know if I would catch up to you guys quickly enough. I guess that would depend on your levels at the end of next session probably. I am happy to play any class. I am looking to enjoy the game as much as possible, your group is probably the best bet of that happening.

We're still 20-25 since we've pretty different schedules but I'm thinking we'll be able to play together 3-4 nights a week. If you start up on Arkenstone I can set you up with leveling gear. I'll be on Swico, Skoz or Rasten if I'm online.

I made a character on Arkenstone. I will shoot you a tell and see if I can catch up.


Any quests I need to have done or just catch up in levels?

My character name is Malphaz currently level 14 Hunter, will be back on later tonight hopefully pump up to 20+. I will friend all the names you guys put in here tonight and get in touch with whoever might be on.

Rease_sl said:

My character name is Malphaz currently level 14 Hunter, will be back on later tonight hopefully pump up to 20+. I will friend all the names you guys put in here tonight and get in touch with whoever might be on.

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I would be careful hanging out with them in teamspeak they spent like 2 hours last night talking about Disney movies like it was cool.

Harfle_sl said:

I would be careful hanging out with them in teamspeak they spent like 2 hours last night talking about Disney movies like it was cool.

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Shit I missed that...When Regime starts drinking weird shit starts to happen.

Rease_sl said:

I made a character on Arkenstone. I will shoot you a tell and see if I can catch up.


Any quests I need to have done or just catch up in levels?

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We are still on book 2 like chapter 10 in the epic line, get as far as you can there and we can roll together to get you to us.

Sorry about Wednesday, silly hypochondriac broads and her just having to be rushed to the hospital. I got on last night and am on now though. I am up to 24 should hit 25 shortly. I got Weaponsmith and Scholar halfway through journeyman. The only real issue is I am behind on the quest but I am working on it. I friend requested the names I could find online(said no Riftlungr in game) and will shoot a tell when next I see any of you. I hope you still have room for me in the main group but if not I would still like to be guilded and such.

You are good, most of out main group plays weekends, think highest level is 27 or so.

Hatorade_sl said:

You are good, most of out main group plays weekends, think highest level is 27 or so.

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Great, glad to hear it for sure. I thought I might have fallen to far back by missing a couple nights but obviously not. Looking forward to it quite a bit, thanks for having me along.