Rohirrim Rambler: The Wold

Having wrapped up questing in the East Wall, your next port of call is The Wold. While the previous East Rohan zone was quite similar to other areas we’ve seen in Middle-earth, The Wold features wide open plains and sweeping vistas, allowing you to see for miles. Such long lines of sight are new to LOTRO, and perfectly suit the new Mounted Combat game mechanic, the introduction of which is the focus of The Wold.

Quests here occupy the 76-77 level range, and if you want to get your War Steed prior to reaching the East Wall, you can reach The Wold directly from the Great River by crossing through the south of the region.

Langhorn
Your first foray into East Rohan comes in the form of Langhorn, a small Rohirrim village not far from the region’s border with the Great River. You are directed here either through the Epic Quests from the East Wall, or from a letter that arrives in your inbox when you hit level 74. Either way, you will leave this village the proud owner of a new War-steed. One things to keep in mind is the high spawn rate in this area. When Riders of Rohan launched, hundreds of characters flooded through this area on launch day, requiring Turbine to jack up the respawn rates so there was enough enemies for everyone. What this means nowadays is enemies that pop up only a few moments after you kill them. Be sure to keep moving forward to avoid be overran.

Harwick
One of the two major hubs in area and home to all the vendors and services you’ll need while questing the northern end of The Wold. While there are a few nearby quests, the two most important features of Harwick are the Mounted Combat tutorial – necessary to help you master this new combat mechanic – and Cinder, a Warband based in the swamps west of the city. When taking on Cinder, make sure you are on your War-steed (being on foot won’t cut it), pick a clear path of attack to avoid picking up additional enemies, and take your time. Warbands are designed to be worn down, not trampled in the first few seconds.

Feldburg
Once you’ve finished with Harwick, it’s off to Feldburg to win the trust of the locals through two quest lines, one involving a nearby marsh, and one involving a warg den. Both quests lines can be challenging, so this is a great opportunity to give your new War-steed its first true test. While riding around you’ll likely run into two more Warbands, and as before, take your time, wear them down, and be careful not to pull any nearby mobs.

Wakenflood
A small camp based at a Rohirrim tower which serves as the first – and only – line of defence against the Easterlings. You actually visit there during the Langhorn quests to get your War-steed, and your second visit sees you face very much the same threats. A lot of the enemies you are tasked with defeated here have ranged attacks, and due to the nature of Mounted Combat, I found it a lot easier to face off with your foes on foot.

Harwick Refugee Camp
Your triumphant return to Harwick may not be what you expect, and first you’ll need to help the refugees from Langhold who are camping outside the village. Quests here include a very interesting game mechanic that hasn’t been seen since Evendim or The Shire: having to avoid unfriendly NPCs while completing quests. The hub also features the start of the Riders Four quest line, which includes a very short but fun Mounted Combat instance.

Twickenburg
A tiny quest hub with two quest lines and not many services. While the craban quests are very much what you’d expect, the Draug cave quests are visually impressive, have a great atmosphere, and feature an exciting capstone quest with a unique boss fight. As with all other dungeons in East Rohan, be aware that the enemies will respawn very quickly.

Floodwend
The second major hub of the area, which like Harwick, features all the vendors and services needed to support your questing. Here you will finally rejoin Book 8 of the Epic Quest, though only briefly. Your main role here is to help a young Horse Lord prove himself as a suitable ruler of his village. To do this you’ll find yourself in the nearby Howling wood fighting Wargs, and in an Orc camp driving back the might of Mordor. The cosmetic appearances of the Orcs are particularly impressive, and help to clearly differentiate them from the Orcs of Isengard, who have been the most common Orc threat to this point in the history of LOTRO.

North-torr
Quests here revolve around an Easterling camp only a short distance from Floodwend. When starting the quests, make sure to grab the two scrolls in in the hut near the siege weapons where an Easterling boss is found. If you miss these, like me you’ll run out of quests and spend a lot of time backtracking to find the quest chain again. The Easterling camp is impressively large, one of the biggest enemy camps in recent memory. Be sure to fully explore the camp to trigger all the available quests, pick up the Mounted Combat quests outside the camp, and enjoy the capstone quest which continues the story we started in Twickenburg. After wrapping up your quests you’ll return briefly to Floodwend to wrap up this areas quests.

Conclusion
The Riders of Rohan expansion contains a similar amount of content to the Mines of Moria and Rise of Isengard expansions. Those regions however were split into 9 or 10 smaller areas, each with 30-40 quests. Because Riders of Rohan is only split into six areas, you find yourself doing 60 or so quests in each area before moving on. I appreciate that for Mounted Combat you need to provide larger landmasses for questions, but for me, it results in the feeling that you are questing in the same area for too long and overstaying your welcome.

The Wold features some great quests and interesting cosmetics, especially those for your War-steed. It serves as a solid introduction to Mounted Combat, breaking it up with the need to also fight battles on foot. Something to keep in mind is that Tasks in the area do not reward faction Reputation, only XP, so I found myself giving them a miss.

Once you’ve completed all the quests the area has to offer you’ll be directed to the Norcrofts to continue your Rohirrim adventures.

See also
1. Rohirrim Rambler: The East Wall