Even Middle-earth has it’s touristy places with nearly everyone been to the Shire at some point or visited Minas Tirith. With the lapse of the free questpacks for everyone some places will fall by the wayside again. Here is your reminder why you’d still want to visit these questpacks or larger questing areas.
Bree-land
May be a weird place to start off as we all come through this area. Most hobbits will miss the area around Staddle and humans will stick to the east side and forego Brandy hills. As all race will get to level 20 you’ll go towards the Lonelands for your epic quests and never see Far Chetwood and Nen Harn. All areas mentioned are out of the way on your normal questing.
Eventually all roads to Bree
Staddle – More cute hobbity quests
Brandy hills and – Simple kill quest instead of getting lost in the Old forest (and a giant problem)
Nen Harn – Views and a more evil encroaching feeling early on in the game
North Downs
An overlapping level range with Lone-lands and Evendim and the added bonus of not being free. Even people that have it usually forget some parts of it such as Field of Fornost or Dol dinen as the mobs lead into grouped content.
Why would you go there you’d say? It has a bit of everything. Each little quest hub has a different feeling with the west facing the evil of the undead or the east facing off with the forward forces of Angmar. Little towns with dwarfs and elfs. Farmers mixing it up with their own problems. Alternative quest zone if you get bored of the Lone lands and you want the complete Shadow of Angmar experience.
Angmar
Speaking of which, you’ve curbed the enthusiasm of the orcs in Nen Harn. Defended Thestlebridge and took care of the dread coming from Fornost and Dol Dinen. Now it’s time to route the forces of Angmar in it’s homebase.
Even the critters are deadly in Angmar
It’s large, dreary and filled to the brim with fellowship quests. However with time, classes have become better and you may find some challenge in these quests you might be missing in your leveling. Small fellowships can be done by most classes with some timing and persistence. Even 6-mans such as trolls of Maethad or Bloodwing. Elite bosses at the end of quests in Dun Coved or Imlad Balcorth can feel like epic fights as respawns give you a timer on your behind.
But most of all deeds, deeds and lotropoints. And a great finish line sprint towards the instances of Carn Dum and Urugarth. Finishing off the “expansion” Shadows of Angmar in its entirety.
It’s time go on an adventure. With questpacks, regionpacks and expansions there’s plenty of way to play lotro.
Often people will venture from Bree to the Lonelands and then into Evendim. Wander the level 40’s and then follow the epic into Eregion and beyond. With the legendary server you have to do each area for xp. And not so much on the normal servers. You have choices of where to go. What kind of questing (areas) do you prefer?
This sort of Quest, mission, thing
The most xp, rewards, story, least walking or even lots of hobbits. Whatever the quest is you’re on, mmo’s have had the same kinds for years. Over time the possibilities get larger or shrink and the areas could get a revamp. What quests are out there?
Hub to hub (Eregion, revamped moria)
You’ll venture into a new region as you’re guided by your questlog. Aragorn has send you to scout ahead or just an introduction quest. But you’ll go from east to west or from the north to south. Pick up all the quest in town and venture forth to slay every mob and pick up any quest item along the way. Once everything is done you venture forth. If it’s all done correctly you’ll complete every objective without going back and forth.
Easy to navigate, nice batches to hand in and no wasted effort. Often these regions are loved and suggested questpacks. On the other hand they are very methodical and may lack the feel of an adventure. Great for alts and xp, but may feel lacking in story.
Your quests are still grouped, but more driven by a story line. While you fight some minor enemies you’ll find info on a larger threat and venture off to vanquish these foes. The epic line will guide you across these camps, but besides some large story moments the area is made by the side-stories.
Dunland and Rohan will push you toward a climax, but most of the memorable story will come from the sidequests. The enemies have a face instead of a forgettable brigand.
Away missions (Evendim, Isendale)
The longer storylines or epics may be largely unrelatable, but most of the xp is hidden away in a variation of the hub-quests. With fewer towns you’ll be send from NPC to NPC. Less travel with a quest packed ruins or enemy camps. Extra quests are hidden away on bounty boards, items on the landscape or drops in bags.
Compact, less dead time and lots of xp. But storywise they often end up unfinished as you venture to the next area cause quests are turning grey.
Story rich with sidequests (Rohan, Dale/Laketown)
The opposite side of the away mission can be the quests found in Cliving or Laketown. You’re always near the main story which in both cases are a murder-mystery. As you uncover the threads you go from place to place and along the way you might kill 10 orcs or rats. Cliving, Harwick or Snowbourn have a lot of quests in a small area, but they all take place in a the town themselves.
Seems there is no lotr-cluedo (yet)
Great for a first time, but often not that well-liked for their following iterations cause you already know the ending. Great landscapes can counter some of these problems.
Flowing landscapes (Mordor, Northern Mirkwood)
The epic stories (Black book) flow nearly 1-on-1 with the quests. In Dor Amarth you will follow the dwarves from west to east as you will with the epic line. One of the best ways to design a storyline and experience except if the player needs to leave the area or go back to Bree to help a kinnie.
Complicated to pick up after awhile or to do in small batches. Once you start Barad dur you’d better have finished all 3 questlines that take you in there or you’l go back for another 30 mins. Then again, lovely if you do manage to have it all synced up or have some other players along with you.
Objective based (Udun, Central Gondor, Trollshaws)
The top of a lighthouse, the end of a cave with strange Orcs or down in the forges of Anglach you know where you need to go. Along the way you’ll kill smaller mobs or pick up quests from pop-ups.
Usually larger areas or areas that need a bit of filler. Their merit really falls on their rewards, xp or personal preference. On a large scale you could even consider entire questpacks or areas. Loved by some, hated by others or a nice alternative from the normal paths.
Disliked quest ways
What’s my objective?
Ofcourse there is the standard kill 10 boars or clean up 6 orc slobs. But with over 8000 quests in the game you can’t get around them. And what worked 12 years ago might not be up to everyone’s expectations. When the epic books in eriador came out there was always a hunter around with everyone focused on volume 13 or 14, but these days you will be pretty happy with the ports provided by the game. But some quests are universally disliked by most players.
Level seperated (Misty mountains, Trollshaws, North downs)
A large range of quest levels and enemies usually means you will need to relocate to a different area. Come back in a few days only to venture out again. The largest offenders are found in the level 40-45 range. The misty mountains start at level 40 and the Trollshaws have a few, but if you follow the epic story you’ll not be in the right range.
Revamps have often helped with these areas. The north downs now flows from 23-30 and Trollshaws as well. But the level 40-45 remain a back and forth for most players.
Often referred to as Hobbit quests. Carrying pies, herding sheep or picking flowers can be found across Middle-earth. But anywhere hobbits gather they up the ante. Evendim is considered one of the best level areas, but the North cotton farms is skipped by most. It’s back and forth for sheep, chickens, cows and every farming activity you can imagine. Fun for the first time, but gets old really quickly. Gimmicky and thankfully not necessary for alts.
On the other hand is the Isengard Epic story. That’s a good 2 hours you won’t get back and the cosmetics are only useful for the most dedicated roleplayer.
Too hard, can’t finish (Angmar, Wastes)
Once densely pack with players these old max level areas have group quests that are hard to fill up. Southwest angmar still has a few small fellowships . You’ll see the same quests in world and kin chat. Bloodwing, Agamaur, Nargonath or Leader of the foul wood take too long or you can’t do it on your own. These things remain in your questlog for awhile until you find a partner in crime or a helpful high level.
One of the largest offenders is The wastes. Can’t remember the last time someone even requested that group area in the southeast. The group instances are actually quite a good challenge for even a 120
Overleved (Bree-land, Gondor)
On the opposite side are quests areas that have become too easy. Usually you’ll venture into Bree-land after Ered luin or The shire. You’ll be level 15-20 and the quests start at level 12. Or you leave Rohan and make you’re way through Gondor (the land of level 100’s). By the time you reach pelagrir everything will be blue for you and you’ll plow through the mobs.
Too easy might be even worse then too hard. You can gear up a bit, be up for the challenge or find a friend on your journey. You can’t de-level and skipping content feels bad.
Lotro is a large game
Whatever way you choose to play Middle-Earth is a large place. There are plenty of places that some adore and some despise for any numerous reasons. Moria is too dark, Lothlorien is too elvish or you might enjoy hobbity quests. Explore the game at your own pace and say goodbye to Forlorn once you get rid of him and his questline.
Appendix – Minas Morgul
Where will we go?
Quests are the heart of a questpack and your journey to the next area or endgame. At the time of this writing that’s the biggest question about the upcoming expansion. It feels like most of the game will be mostly the same except the “Second age” region. How big a part of the expansion will it be? Will we go back and forth between both ages as hub to hub quests. Or will we go two flowing landscapes regions? It would be great to have some intel about it.
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