Guide to the Revamped Misty Mountains (Part II)

Having last week looked at the first half of the Misty Mountain revamp in Update 13, I will now look to the three remaining quest hubs, some of which have received a much needed facelift with the latest LOTRO game technology.

Hrimbarg
The fourth quest hub in this region is a mixed bag update-wise. There is still only six quests across two quest chains in the area, but you can complete them all in one trip through the area. One of the quests is an auto-bestow on entering a cave, and the other is an auto-bestow for killing a snow lizard. Its good to see Turbine implementing this new technologies in this hub, yet a shame to see them not featured at the previous hub. The Garuadan camp in the south is still quite densely populated, and light armour classes should be carefully not to be overwhelmed. This area would have been ideal for some new quests, but sadly they didn’t make the mix.

Goblin Town
Prior to Update 13 Goblin Town was a level 50 grouping area, one of the ‘end game’ areas prior to Mines of Moria. Since that time however, the area has fallen into disuse due to its high mob density, uninspiring rewards and the difficulty of finding a group. Thankfully, the mobs has been thinned out considerably and the area is now solo friendly, meaning you can now take more than two steps without being jumped by a goblin pack.

While purist will complain that this area has been changed, players presently blast through this level range on solo content elsewhere and had no reason to come here. Thanks to the revamp, new life has been brought to this area, and on my server of Evernight there is always half a dozen folks running around to help if you get lost. A new quest hub has been established just outside the dungeon which significantly improves quest flow. Goblin Town does still contain small fellowship group content, but it has been limited to the Goblin Town Throne Room instance.

Having said that, there is still room for some work to be done on the area. The quest flow within Goblin Town hasn’t been changed, and while the mobs are easier to deal with you will still find yourself running back and forth between quests more than should be necessary. Converting the quests to auto-bestow would have gone a long way. There also isn’t a nearby resurrection circle, which makes for a painfully long hike back if you happen to get overrun in the deeper parts of the dungeon. Non-heavy classes should proceed with caution as its very easy to get overwhelmed if you pull one too many mobs in the deeper tunnels.

Helegrod
No changes with the revamp aside from some of Gloin’s preparation quest being moved to the new Goblin Town hub.

As with all regions following Update 13, the Misty Mountains has new meta-deeds which reward loot boxes and marks for completing all the deeds in the region(1). Misty Mountains content now finishes at level 45, setting you up perfectly to move south into Eregion. Alternatively, eastern Angmar or even Forochel, if you want more snow, could be where you turn to next.

Overall, I would call the update a success. It had been some time since I’d run a character through this part of Middle-earth and it felt refreshing and fun, two words that I haven’t heard being used to describe the Misty Mountains in some time. While there is always room for improve, Turbine has succeeded in bringing some much needed life back to this important yet often overlooked region of the game.

(1) http://mmoreporter.com/2014/04/11/lotro-reporter-episode-228-they-are-giving-us-trees/