Help – I’m a returning player

Welcome back to the world of Middle-earth! This guide will help you navigate the changes that have taken place since you were last here. We’ll show you how to find answers to common questions, like: What’s new since I’ve been away? How do I navigate all these new systems? Where am I and where can I go? Let’s get started!

*The guide has been made over the last few months. As an experiment i’ve use ChatGPT to improve text flow and spelling instead of redoing the whole article in a shorter timespan. To get it out of limbo and published and experiment a bit myself with the tools available.

*32 bit client and technical issues are work in progress. Havn’t had to do a reinstall lately and the upcoming deprecation has a lot of fixes itself or break possibilities.

Below is a timeline of major changes in LOTRO. You can skip any updates or expansions that were released before the last time you played the game. For example, if you remember leaving the game before the Trait tree and big battle features were introduced, you can skip the Codemaster closes and First legendary weapons updates. However, if you have already fought Shelob in Remorchant, you may be familiar with the Mote and Ember system, but opening your virtue panel might be new to you.

Year	Level cap	Expansion	Changes
2007	50	Launch Date
2008	60	Moria	First legendary weapons Radiance introduced
2009	65	Mirkwood Barad Guldur	Skirmishes
2010	65		Free to play
2011	75	Isengard Saruman	Codemaster closes EU Radiance removed
2012	85	Riders of Rohan	Mounted combat
2013	95	Helms deep	Trait tree Big battles
2014	100	Gondor	BeorningEssence(slots)
2015	100	Osgiliath and MT	Server closure and merge Bingo boffin Imbuement (2nd LI)
2016	105	After battle/pre-mordor Throne of the dread terror	SSG company
2017	115	Mordor Abyss of Mordath with Light of Erendil	10 year anniversary Motes, embers and lootbox Black book of Mordor
2018	120	EreborAnvil of winterstith raid	Legendary server Anor Other Lotro MMO (gone)
2019	130	Minas Morgul	Virtue system
2020	130	Remorchant raid War of 3 peaks	Legacy of Durin Midsummer Minas Tirith Missions
2021	140	Fate of Gundabad Hiddenhoard	Wildwood (new low level) Tracery (3rd LI) Reward track/battle pass
2022	140	Expanding Eriador (1-50) Before the shadow	Content before 2014 free Trait Points per level Many minor F2P updates

Where are my (old) characters?

There are two options based on when you last played LOTRO:

1. If you last played the game before 2010, when Turbine took over Codemasters/EU servers, and did not transfer your account manually in the following year, your account is no longer active and you will need to create a new one.
2. If you last played the game after 2010, you may still be able to access your account. However, in 2015, the following servers were closed: [list of closed servers].

Closed server	Current server
Elendilmir Riddermark Firefoot Nimrodel Windfola Imladris Darrowdelf Silverlode Vilya Meneldor	Previously US based servers Arkenstone Crickhollow Landroval Gladden Brandywine
Estel Gilrain Eldar Anduin Morthond Maiar Vanyar Withywindle Snowbourn	Previously EU based servers Belegaer (DE-RP) Gwaihir (DE) Sirannon (FR) Laurelin (RP) Evernight
Bombadil Anor Ithil	Character gone Transfer open till 31st dec 2022 Transfer open till 31st dec 2022

If you were on one of these servers and transferred your account in 2010. Your characters technically still exist, but those server transfers have been offline for years without a clear ETA by SSG.

2.2 If you did transfer your characters will exist on one of the currently existing servers. For ease of checking. Log into the servers on the right. Your characters will be on one of these servers.

In general if you have lost your character forever or they are stuck on their pre-2015 servers. It’s best advised to start a new character if you want to play now

FAQ

The most frequently asked questions that are on most returning players’ minds (that are not specific to a certain system) or that you might need to know before returning.

Should I continue or start a new character?

A general rule of thumb is that starting a new character can be beneficial, especially if your previous character is below level 50 or was created before 2013. This will allow you to become familiar with the game again and learn about new systems such as the trait trees in Helms Deep/2013 or the new LI/2021 systems. Resources for these systems can be found in their corresponding chapters, but it is best to learn about them naturally while leveling up. You can start learning about the trait trees at level 20 and LI when you enter Moria at level 45-50.

What server should I play on?

All of our servers are located in the Boston area. The “EU” server doesn’t offer any better ping or lag for players from the EU. This is mostly a holdover from the past. The peak times for online numbers will vary between servers.

There are also VIP-only or legendary servers. Shadowfax and Treebeard are subscription-only servers that each have their own rules for available areas and leveling speeds. For more information, see https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Legendary_Server.

Of the 10 servers, Arkenstone and Evernight are known for their large size and focus on player-versus-monster-player (PvMP) and raiding. Landroval and Laurelin are known for their role-playing (RP) events. I’m not familiar enough with the other US servers to comment on them.

How do I check what areas and expansions i’ve or get them?

Unfortunately, there is no single location or website where you can easily view all of the expansions and content that you have purchased or unlocked in Lotro. The best options for checking your expansions and content are:

1. Visit the Standing Stone Games website and log in to your account.  https://myaccount.standingstonegames.com/home.php This will show you some of your expansions and content, but it may not be comprehensive and may not include items that were purchased or unlocked before level 120.
2. Visit the official Lotro website and view the expansions page. This will show you all of the available expansions, but it may not accurately reflect which expansions you have already purchased or unlocked, and it may show errors or inconsistencies.
3. Check the in-game store, if you are not a VIP member. This will show you the expansions and content that you have available for purchase, and it may also show you any items that are currently on sale. However, this method may not accurately reflect which expansions and content you have already purchased or unlocked.
4. Try to access the content in-game. If you are able to access an expansion or content area, it means that you have already purchased or unlocked it. However, if you are unable to access it, it does not necessarily mean that you do not have it, as there may be other factors at play.

Overall, the easiest way to determine which expansions and content you have available in Lotro is to try to access them in-game and see if you are able to do so. If there are no sales or promotions currently active, you can typically assume that any expansions or content that you are able to access are ones that you have already purchased or unlocked.

Does lotro have plugins or mods?

Yes, but compared to more modern games, the interface and mechanics of the game can be a bit clunky. Plugins are often used to improve the user interface (UI) or track in-game effects. To avoid the hassle of manually installing plugins, you can use a program called Plugin Compendium. This program automatically installs and updates plugins for you. You can find Plugin Compendium at https://www.lotrointerface.com/downloads/info663-LOTROPluginCompendium.html. Not all plugins are available on this website, so you may need to search elsewhere for specific ones.

Technical issues

A lot of issues on crashing or options missing are due to missing (some older) files or drivers. Usually happens on a clean install. For a full overview of these you can look at Hurins Forum thread or Install guide (videoform)

Small UI, 4K and 1440P monitor

A lot of Lotro’s textures and texts were made when your resolutions were a lot lower then now. Eventually they redo nearly all of the elements to a point where you can run lotro comfortably on a 4k or even higher resolution. For now you can use 3 tactics to offset this issue.

Set lotro to run in (Fullscreen) windowed mode and run it a lower resolution making the size of the items or text larger. Some people run lotro on a tv, but that might come with other considerations.

Use UI scale sliders or text size to increase some of the sizes. This won’t help with all parts of the UI. Most notably items in bags. For a quick tutorial view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpJClZ1W8TM by Louey7.

Fake or simulate a larger resolution through your graphic card driver. For AMD you can use https://lotroplayers.com/2022/03/20/fixing-lotros-ui-with-amd-rsr/. Not aware of a nvidea guide.

Crashing upon start-up

*Reserved for future specific answers.
Usually solved by following step in Hurins link mentioned above

32 or 64-bit lotro

Currently the 32-bit client is set to be phased out in december 2022. Usually the issue preventing you to select the 64-bit client is a Directx file missing. A quick update to this has been released by SSG inside the lotrofolder. Run the below file on your PC

 run –
*/Program Files (x86)/StandingStoneGames/The Lord of the Rings Online/dxwebsetup.exe

Lotro on the Mac

Alas i don’t run a mac or IOS device. The 2 most often suggested solutions that give you access back to Lotro. Is to run a windows partition , Use WINE emulator or use Crossover (paid).

Crossover (paid, but easier to use) https://johnnymatthews.dev/blog/2022-05-10-install-lotro-on-m1-mac/

Wine (technical, but free) https://forums.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?691804-How-to-install-WINE-for-better-LOTRO-performance-on-your-Mojave-Mac-Revised-simpler-procedure

Windows on a mac https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201468

Can’t connect or patch

Occasionally the connection between your pc and the servers in the US (Boston area) get blocked along the way resulting in your being unable to connect. Without going in far too many details. You need to have to use a different path. This is usually done by switching from your Wifi, home network or mobile data or vice versa. Or by using a (temporary) DNS or VPN. 

First follow https://powerdmarc.com/how-to-flush-dns/, if this doesnt work try a wired connection if possible. The next step is to try and use a mobile hotspot (DATA PLAN!) for small updates. https://www.computerworld.com/article/2499772/how-to-use-a-smartphone-as-a-mobile-hotspot.html Other solutions are to use a VPN or public internet connections if you really have to.

Lotro is running very poorly

The most common issue is lotro running on the wrong graphics card. Usually an issue on laptops and sometimes on pc’s. Or its using the 32 bit client instead of 64 bit. Below are two ways to check and update these issues.

Do you have an integrated and dedicated grahpics card? This is often, but not only, the case for laptops. If that is the case, Lotro often runs on the integrated graphics card which can cause massive lags if the game even starts. If you have both (or you don’t know) open the UserPreferences.ini found in C:\Users\<User>\Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online with any text editor and look for the line DisplayAdapter=0. Change the value to 1, save and start the game. If the game doesn’t start or shows any errors, change it back to 0.

Do you use the 64bit client? Although it should be enabled by default it doesn’t hurt to check. Start the Lotro launcher, click on the little arrow on top (beside the language selection) and select Options. If 32bit is selected, change it to 64bit and restart the game.

Free to play changes

Between the previous Questpack codes and the expansion that offered 99% discounts, a lot of recent players were able to access nearly all of the game’s content for free. However, in April 2022, the new free or trial area was expanded to cover half of the game, allowing even more players to experience the content without having to pay.

Free content and (ingame)stores

All areas and expansions released between the game’s launch and the Helms Deep expansion are now free. Previously, only areas for levels 1 to 30 were free, but this has been expanded to include all levels from 1 to 95. However, any quest packs or expansions released after this time that fall within this level range are not free (for example, Yondershire).

Another change is that game codes and CD keys are no longer used. All expansions must now be purchased either in-game using lotro points (with a 6-month delay) or by logging in to https://www.lotro.com/expansions with your game account. Currently, there is no way to gift points or expansions to another player without sharing login information (it is not recommended to share login information with anyone other than family members).

One significant change worth mentioning is that VIP status now grants access to all content, except the latest expansion (currently Gundabad), instead of the previous mix of quest packs, region packs, mission packs, and mini-expansions. As long as you are a Lifetime or VIP player, you will have access to all of this content. For a full overview, see https://www.lotro.com/vip or https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Account_Type.

Previously paid perks

In the April update or later, several in-game purchases that were previously required to fully enjoy the game have been made free. These include the riding skill, barter wallet, gold limit, and questpack gated trait points. All races and classes (except for Brawler) are now also available for free.

However, inventory space, swift travel, and extra trait trees are still paid quality of life features that must be purchased.

Playstyle changes

Trait Points

Up until update 34, players could gain trait points from leveling up, completing quests in areas such as Central Gondor and Helms Deep, or spending a lot of time on epic quests or big battles. However, now trait points are only gained from leveling up, giving players more freedom to choose whether to do every quest in every area or skip certain ones. This change is especially significant on legendary servers or when players follow their own path.

Another change that has begun rolling out to Brawler and Minstrel classes is the change to their skill trees and trait point spending. Over time, other classes may also receive this treatment. Both Brawler and Minstrel classes have been reduced to two skill trees and a supporting secondary tree. The blue tree is focused on their class role (tank or healer), the red tree is focused on damage dealing, and the yellow tree offers general buffs, new skills, supporting traits for existing or new skills, and new major skills. Some examples of traits in the yellow tree include:

• General buffs that cost 1 trait point, such as +X% damage to cries or ballads, or +X% damage and outgoing healing.
• A new anthem called Song of Aid, which costs 2 trait points.
• Traits that reduce the cooldown on skills or remove additional fears when using Song of Restoration, which also cost 2 trait points.
• Traits such as Call to Greatness or Tale of Tales, which were previously considered bottom or flagstone traits and now cost 3 points.

Class roles

Can a warden tank? A question being asked since people tried to find the batcave outside of Gotham. But every different activity has its own Best and Worst list. So I’ll be sticking to a general guide for this.

Red or Dps

Every class’s red trait tree is focused on dealing high amounts of damage, often at the expense of mobility or versatility. While all classes have enough damage output to easily complete quests on the landscape, the Captain may be considered slower due to the use of chain skills, and the Loremaster may have difficulty due to its focus on area-of-effect damage and longer cooldowns.

Blue or Class focus such as tank or heal

The blue trait is an essential aspect of each class’s role in the game. Every class can fulfill their designated role in both outdoor environments and in lower-level instances or delves. However, there are differences in their specialties, and a class’s strength in one area often comes at the cost of their effectiveness in another. For example, a captain is one of the best single-target tanks, but may struggle with large groups of enemies. Similarly, a beorning can heal an entire raid, but must carefully manage their resources to do so.

As the difficulty level increases and players progress to higher-level raiding content, these strengths and weaknesses become more pronounced. For instance, wardens and champions may be able to tank effectively, but their downsides become more pronounced than those of guardians and captains (with beornings falling somewhere in between). Loremasters and small-group beornings face similar challenges when it comes to healing, while runekeepers and minstrels each have their own unique strengths

Yellow or 3rd trait tree

This is a mixed bag. And i’ll list these on a per class basis

• Brawler, support skills and traits in general or other trait trees
• Minstrel, support skills and traits in general or other trait trees
• Loremaster, Debuff and preferred raid tree
• Burglar, Debuff and preferred raid tree
• Captain, Yellow is their tank, and blue is their 3rd trait tree. Buff and heal, but generally considered a worse choice.
• Beorning, Healing and preferred raid tree
• Warden, Ranged DPS
• Runekeeper, DPS with shorter range, but higher crits and usable on the move
• Hunter, Blue is DPS on the move, with yellow being a crowd controller worse choice overall
• Champion, Yellow is their AoE DPS, very good

Overall advice

Sturdiest and tankiest classes are Beorning, Guardian and Captain. With warden and Champion following far behind unless played very well.

The best heals come from Minstrel or Beorning. With runekeeper played well or in a group closely following. Loremaster and captain only in specific combinations.

Consistent dps comes from Hunter, Runekeeper or Warden from range. With Burglar, Brawler and Champion in melee. Loremaster and Minstrel can burst from range and Burglar, Beorning or Warden less so from melee.

Legendary weapons and reward track

One of the most recent updates to the game involved replacing one of the two legendary weapon systems you may be familiar with. When you log in, you will still have a functional weapon that you have spent a lot of time on, but you will eventually want to replace it.

To do this, you will need to:

1. Acquire a new legendary item (LI) from the introduction or from Rivendell.
2. Visit a forge master to bring it up to your current level.
3. Acquire one or more “skill-gems” or traceries and slot them into available sockets.
4. Visit a forge master to upgrade your damage per second (DPS) or healing every five levels or so.

If you have not played the game before, it is recommended that you complete the introduction to Moria to learn about the legendary item system. If you are an experienced player and want to rebuild your LI, you can read the LI base guide on https://lotroplayers.com/2022/04/18/li-base-guide-u33/ or visit the general LI section of the wiki at https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Legendary_Item.

Once you are familiar with the system, you can use https://lotroplayers.com/2022/04/18/li-appendix-u33/ for up-to-date information on farming, grinding, and other technical aspects of the LI system.

Virtue system

Virtues are still in the game and provide a small bonus to your character. It won’t make or break your character, but you will want to give it a little attention while you’re levelling. Instead of doing specific deeds for specific virtues, you can do any deed and assign its rewards to a desired virtue. In the long run you’ll need a lot of time to max it all out though.

In general 

1. Choose 5 virtues with stats you prefer and slot them in the trait panel
2. Set 1 of those virtues to Earning all completed deed rewards go to this virtue
   1. Once it’s max level it will flow over to the next slotted one (until you set earning to another one

For a more detailed guide visit https://lotroplayers.com/2020/05/31/virtue-guide-u26/ or https://gamerreverie.blogspot.com/2020/05/learning-lotro-lesson-thirteen-virtues.html

Missions

Small and easy quests that help you level if you don’t want to venture into the landscape. Ranging from stationary new quests chain to separate quests you visit an NPC to start these and get xp, cosmetics and other items.They work a lot like skirmishes, but for solo or duo. 

For a good introduction to all the different facets of them visit https://fibrojedi.me.uk/lotro/lotro-missions/

Motes, embers and tracery (Flame of Ancalamír)

The introduction of disenchanting, ash-making, and other forms of breaking down unwanted loot into currency has added a new level of flexibility to Lotro. Players can now convert their unwanted items into a small amount of currency, which can then be used to barter for desired items. This currency comes in several forms, depending on the type of loot it was obtained from. For example, a cosmetic item can only be converted into another cosmetic item. This change allows players to more easily acquire the items they want, while also giving them a way to get rid of items they no longer need.

n general

1. Acquire a Flame of Ancalamir from a vendor (https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Item:Flame_of_Ancalam%C3%ADr)
2. Right click the flame and left click the item you want to disenchant
   1. Destroyed = destroyed
   2. Each currency has a cap
3. Visit the barter and barter stuff. Each later instance, area, mission NPC has too many things to list here.

Different currencies currently used with these

• Embers, Highest level range currency for gear (weeklies and items from the level cap activities)
• Motes, Same as embers, but for all other level ranges. Generic gear or gear higher than level 105.
• Figments, Cosmetic gear, pets, housing etc. Embers and motes can be “downgraded” to figments 
• Crafting materials, Newest instances or skirmish gear that’s too low to award embers or motes can be disenchanted into crafting materials
• Ancient script, From boxes or from traceries you can get ancient script. This allows you to barter LI materials as opposed to gear.
• Writs, New currency for the Delving barterers.

Essences

The easiest way to think of these are gems that you can put into special sockets in your gear. Normally starting around level 100 you can right click an essence and if you have a gear piece it can go into it will pop-up. These come in variations of all stats ingame and follow the normal gear quality (yellow, purple, teal, gold, class) and level ranges.

https://forums.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?574560-Essences-and-How-to-Make-the-Most-of-Them

In general, these allow flexibility on gearing but a higher level or better quality gear piece is better than messing around with earlier essences.

• Under level 100 they are available, but don’t focus on them
• While levelling slot any stat that looks good to you, but don’t spend time or resources on upgrading them.
• Once you stick to a specific level range or cap. Then look into them. These allow you to more easily upgrade or transfer stats around your characters. 

Previously important systems

For the past few years, the developers of Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) have been working to update and harmonize various systems within the game to make them relevant and work well together. While many systems have already been updated, there are still some that have not yet been updated or that may not receive updates in the future.

Despite this, these systems are still present in the game and can be important for some players. It is important for players to be aware of these systems and how they work in order to fully enjoy their experience in LOTRO.

Skirmish(camp)

The update to the skirmishes system has been long overdue, as the loot and other features have not been functioning properly since the Mordor expansion. Skirmishes are still available at all level ranges and offer moderate experience rewards, but most aspects such as loot and bartering have been capped at level 105. The only exception is the seals reward from max level raids, which can be used for essence removal scrolls.

Recently, the Before the Shadow update introduced some changes to the skirmish system, but it remains to be seen if these updates will be implemented in other skirmishes as well. There are promises of future updates, such as the Delving expansion, being brought to older skirmishes. However, it is likely that most features of the old system will be phased out in favor of these new updates.

Mounted Combat

The war steeds of Rohan have undergone a recent update that has improved their defenses, morale, and handling. This update has brought them into the year 2022, although they were originally introduced in Rohan and have not been significantly updated beyond that. The update also included improvements to the scaling and bridles of the steeds. While their damage output may not be exceptional, they are still suitable for riding and fighting on the battlefield.

Radiance/Light of Erendil

Light of Erendil is a stat that was added to armor pieces in the expansions Mordor and Moria. It is necessary for players to have a certain amount of this stat in order to be able to effectively participate in certain instances and on the landscape in Mordor. Radiance, a similar stat, has been removed from Moria. In Mordor, players can gain the passive trait “Light of Erendil” at level 116, which provides them with up to 80 points of the stat. This is generally sufficient for most gameplay, but certain quests and instances, such as the raid in Ironfold, may require more Light of Erendil. This can be obtained through various means, such as completing specific quests or purchasing it from vendors.

Big battles

The updates to the big battles in the game, such as the skirmish camp and mounted combat, have largely been focused on adding optional variations and content, rather than making significant changes to the core gameplay. For example, the Helms Deep big battle has added optional variations, but the core gameplay remains largely the same. The Pelargir and Minas Tirith big battles are still necessary for players to progress through the epic story. In terms of rewards, the jewelry obtained from these big battles is still among the best available up to level 105, but better options become available at higher levels and the set bonuses stop after that.

Roving threats, scourges and warbands

The rewards for Western Gondor and Mordor instances were originally tied to the older legendary weapons, but with the introduction of the new Legendary Items (LIs), these rewards have been shifted to focus on region-specific items such as cosmetics and deeds. These changes were introduced in Rohan and have continued to be a part of the game in Western Gondor and Mordor.