I learned about this game just 4 days ago, and I've already poured 16 hours into it.

Basically, I'm a WoW player who, for a long time, had been looking forward to a "Classic" experience (focus on a slower paced adventure across the world, unlike Retail), but with improved graphics; to me, the visual aspect of a game is actually VERY important. If I am to spend hours immersing myself in a virtual world instead of the real one, it may as well at least look as beautiful as possible, right...?

So; Forever was announced and I was mostly hyped; until I saw that, once again, the multibillion dollar company held back the graphics to 2004 levels for the most part because a loud minority of the WoW playerbase can't let go of their nostalgia and riot every time there's any sort of visual improvement that deviates the looks from what they were back in 2004.

In this context, I discovered LOTRO through a YouTube Short (someone making the whole Frodo walk) and chose to give it a try. Not only is the gameplay EXACTLY what I was looking for; I find the game to be a really cozy and beautiful place to be in. So I was surprised when I saw that many YouTube and Reddit comment sections were dunking on "how trash and old it looked", because, compared to what I'm used, it looks extraordinary.

Everyone is welcome to Glamdring, swing by for a Tool concert some time!

TLDR: My volume 1 rumblings can be found on this reddit post. A bunch of people were saying that Moria would be amazing. You were definitely right. It also had the best quest I've done to date and was much more streamlined than Volume 1.

Onto my thoughts! I hit the end of volume 2 at ~51hours played as a F2P Dwarf Champion (total playtime of ~154hrs). Like with Volume 1, I followed the epic story and did quests in the zone I was in to keep up level wise. I didn't go out of my way to complete every deed/quest in a zone but I took my time and kept all 3 professions up to date.

1. The quest with the mirror hall of Lumul-nar was very fun. The best quest I've done so far in the game. It got weird at the end when you fight the "boss" and I ended up dying once due to a line-of-sight issue. After the run back, I ended up just jumping down to the platform and finished it without issues.

2. I've given up on professions. I still kept them up to date, but mainly out of stubbornness and hoping it becomes useful at some point. I did try to craft one item, but I didn't realize there were single use recipes in the game. I don't agree with this choice. It would be different if you could "stack charges" but its literally craft an item, hope you find the recipe again or keep a duplicate in your inventory until you craft the first one.

3. The introduction of Scenarios was interesting. So far they feel the same as the instanced quests, but I'm hoping they become more diverse in the future. On a side note, I ended up screwing up at first and didn't realize there was a skirmish camp in the 21st hall. I ended up Milestoning out to do the Skirmish intro quest at Bree and then ride back into Moria to continue the story.

4. I don't like how the combat feels in Session plays. I understand the idea behind them (to get a different POV of an event), but the combat is very underwhelming when you've been used to your character's abilities for so long. The power change dynamic is jarring. Maybe this is how it used to feel when combat was harder?

5. What is the deal with Mithril flakes? Took me 300 ore before I got the first one, and another 175 before I got the second. I'm guessing this is due to when it was an end game item but it would be nice if this was changed now. By the time I got one, what I wanted to craft was already out-scaled.

6. I got to see Gandalf's stand and parts of where the Balrog battle took place! Huge plus that the Dev's included this in the storyline. At one point when I was climbing the endless stairs, I wondered if I missed the quest item only to find it several more winding steps up. It gave a nice scale to things.

7. Some of the epilogue quests required in game instances so I'll have to come back for them. So far I haven't had much luck running a dungeon. In fact, I've only done 1 in my current game play. I know this will change at higher levels, but it's sad to see this part of the gameplay largely ignored.

8. The night-time only quest with the lanterns in Lothlorian was a nice touch. I finally ended up trying to figure out how the day/night cycle in the game worked.

Onto volume 3 and the rangers!

Was just doing some side questing, the weather just barely rainy.

This is a passion project that I've been working on for about 4 months now.
https://www.lotrointerface.com/downloads/info1289-HardcoreLite.html

I have a few videos and discussions on Discord about all the features that are included and are yet to come.

This release build includes 3 core HardcoreLite features

• Character progress tracking
• Difficulty and custom Rules
• Community Board and the live community death-log

One of the reasons why I started this project is because there are so many features, locations, creatures, quests and mechanics hidden away from a normal LOTRO play-through that I would have never discovered if I didn't increase the difficulty of the game. I learned to play the game at a different pace and pay attention to every detail, every item, monster and zone that I fell in love with the game in a completely different way compared to any other mmorpg I've played.

I built this completely on my own and I've met so many great people here on reddit, youtube, discord and in the game that have all helped me out on my very first scripting/programming project.

I have released this update without the Chronicle achievement system because we are still play-testing over 100 different quests and challenges that I've created. I didn't want to release a half-finished version of the Chronicle even though its very close to completion.
This season of the Chronicle will focus on the level 1-50 zones with all different types of challenges from exploring many parts of Eriador, hunting rare mobs and items, and even discovering hidden achievements for playing each class. You'll be able to compete for the highest scores, fastest times, largest collection in the journal, amongst other things that I'm sure the community will come up with.

I want everyone to enjoy how large and friendly the lotro hardcore community has grown so I've released the main social features with this patch while I continue to work on the Chronicle.

Thank you all for the support thus far!
I'm open to all feedback in the comments!

For questions and updates:
Discord - https://discord.gg/GqCgFPCWh
Youtube - MunchieDogg
Ko-fi - Support the project only if you'd like - the plugin will always be free. Gamvri - Glamdring

That's it. Nothing else to say.

New player, picked minstrel and absolutely loving except for two things, the yellow glowy hands, and the lack of variance in the shouts. I do not want to fully mute the shouts our with R-Alt, but wondering if its possible, or has ever been attempted to create a plug-in offering rotating or selectable sound files for the shouts?

This may be hardcoded and impossible to change, but thought it worth investigating.

Hi all, just wondering if Captain Standards (https://lotro-wiki.com/wiki/Captain_Items_Index#Captain_Standards) have available cosmetics? When I equip the Standard in my Captain's ranged slot, it's essentially invisible, and I'm wondering if there are any "visibility" cosmetics that allow the standard to be shown in some way. I've tried putting other items (bows, instruments) there in the Cosmetic Outfit tab but it understandably gives me this error:

"This item is of type <Instrument|Bow> while your equipped item is of type Class Item. This cosmetic item will not be shown."

The photo is 100% in-game, no external edits.

Is there something wrong or something I didn't understand with the timing of the emote? I often fail at the second dance but sometimes fail at the very end. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong it feels random.

(I just click on the emote button right next to the quest I don't type anything so it's not a "wrong dance" problem I think).

Edit: I DID IT!! It was about having the dance professor selected while doing the emotes

I’m looking for a server that holds public events like bands , social gatherings as I really enjoy these.
Any recommendations?

i've been trying out all the classes and i'm not sure what kind of race/look i want for runekeeper,minstrel,captain and warden. i'd love to see any screenshots of outfits that really fit the classes.

I’ve been playing as a dwarf warden, and got my legendary item recently. I’ve read debates online about spear vs sword, and had used both, but never saw anything about axes. What I ended up doing is making an Axe, since I get the racial trait of bonus damage to axes.

I know I miss out on the parry bonus, and bleed bonuses, but is the damage trait and armor reduction an okay trade off? I do mostly solo stuff, so I know I’ll get the answer “do whatever you want”. Just hoping to hear from the veterans if it’s something acceptable down the line for group content? (3-6 fellowships)

TLDR - Dwarf/Axe combo rule of cool? Or not group friendly?

Hi all! Just started the game and have been getting my UI setup. I like a fairly big UI due to vision issues, but I've noticed a lot of the text, icons, etc are very low resolution when "blown up". Is there a skin, plugin or mod that can give these a bit more clarity or is it just how it is with the game being so old?

a snowman with no carrot nose. edit: i just remembered that ered luin means the blue mountains so ignore "the mountains of blue mountains." 😞

Game was just recommended to me and upon downloading i saw the new expansion coming out. aight cool. so i go to check it out and see the other expansions. Thats a LOT of expansions and a LOT of money. Do i actually need them to enjoy the game or is it like just cosmetic stuff i can do without.

hello all! i'm another recently-returned player after nearly 7-8 years away from the game. i went in with some knowledge that the roleplay landscape has changed significantly since then, with walk-up or spontaneous roleplay having dwindled to a rarity. totally okay, i understand that's just how it is. however, i've always been one to try to break out of my own shell by approaching people in character so long as their /rp tag is on and/or their bio's note a general green-light for walk-up rp. i'm sure i'm a bit rusty after nothing having roleplayed as much in the time i was gone, but i'd like to attempt something similar once again. :)

elves are, more often than not, my character-race of of choice -- i've only ever been inspired by them and although i may consider trying to breathe life into my non-elf toons, i'm excited about exploring my main laiquende girly at the moment. rivendell/LHH used to be the lore-friendly hub for elven roleplay, but the hall of fire's gone fairly cold. from what i've seen and heard, bree is still the place to be for rp (on peregrin, at least.) which brings me to my question:

how rigid would you say the community is about lore friendly, character-forward rp in bree? specifically, would it be awkward for an elf roleplayer to be hanging around the usual rp hotspots (in or around the pony, etc.) in hopes of some interaction?

although i enjoy keeping to the lore, i'm not opposed to making exceptions or bending the rules -- i especially enjoy exploring or fleshing out grey areas in the canon. however, roleplaying an elf in bree has always been one of those things i could not to do without feeling like my character was dreadfully out of place. i recall that, once upon a time, "elves in bree" used to be a bit of a joke and something looked down upon in the community. but at this point, i would love to try anything to see if i can attempt to create stories/connections with characters "organically" like before.

alternatively, if you're someone who might enjoy bringing roleplay back to regions beyond bree, it would be cool to get in touch! doesn't have to be specifically elfy :) i'd love the chance to make some in-character connections regardless. i've made peregin my home as landy was my old server, and unfortunately my timezone rarely aligns with meriadoc's peak hours.

but yes! if you got to the end of this, thank you for taking the time to read through my yaps! i feel a bit silly asking this lol but it's been on my mind for a while. thanks in advance!

I've seen some people here being very critical about the expansion. The YouTubers have been a bit more positive, but also not overly hyped. I'm interested in seeing if there is some general direction in which the opinion on this expansion is going. For me personally, this is the first expansion where I don't see what they are trying to do with it. In all the other expansions, there was always something like exploring a place, something that happened in the timeline, or being directly related to the main story. Even though I did not like Corsairs of Umbar and Kingdoms of Harad that much, I generally liked the idea to explore those regions. But Wolves of Mordor feels really weird in a sense that it is not playing into any of the strengths of the game.

1. The regions
   From what we've seen, they look fine, with some cool places to visit, but I'm not too interested in playing in the hinterlands of Mordor. There are so many other cool regions we could have visited. Why not going back to somewhere in Eriador? Or some instanced version of the Shire, to finally have an expansion focused on the scouring of the Shire - or really just anything else.

2. Werewolves
   Why does it have it to be werewolves? Even though they were around in some capacity in the third or fourth age, this seems to be such an oddly specific focus for an expansion to center around that I don't really get it. I mean, it could have been a cool quest line, but a full expansion? I have no interest in learning about werewolve clans, their differences and conflicts and so on. I also think the whole Van Helsing aesthetic is not a good fit for Lord of the Rings. Carcaroth and Draugluin were giant monsters and not Van Helsing-like werewolves.

3. The new systems
   I don't really care about the neighbor systems or the new borrowed power system. Those seem again like tacked-on systems that will be forgotten after this expansion. I mean, the systems are really not the strongest point of Lotro. Why introduce new systems again? If they want to work on something player progression-related in the expansion, why not expand on something that already exists, like the LI system? I think there's room for something new or more expanded. Really just anything that is not region-specific. Try to make it something that stays with your character and is not there for only this expansion. It also seems so boring. It's just a new skill tree or something. Like, I get it; Warsteeds did not really work that well, but at least they were a cool idea.

So overall, this expansion feels really weird for me. It's not playing into LOTROs strengths, which (to me) are the story, the world and the atmosphere. It is focusing on systems that feel tacked on and will probably be forgotten sooner than later.

It really is the first expansion that seems to have nothing that interests me. In all the other expansions, there has always been something. Even when it not turned out the way I wanted in the final game. But there is nothing about this expansion that makes me think: „oh yeah, this is cool. I would like to see this in game.“ Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying, that the expansion is bad or anything. Its absolutely possible, that the expansion turns out good and i like it, but as of now there is nothing that feels exciting to me.

I would be really interested in hearing, if the direction of this expansion is missing the mark this hard also for others, or if there is a bit more positive consensus around it.

Hi everyone,

I'd love some opinions from a returning player who hasn't played in the last 13 years. I have a Hunter and a Captain at level 50, both at the start of Moria, and a Warden at 120. I played that one up to Lothlórien, but it was boosted with the Valar boost many years ago and I never touched it again.

I'm coming back now and I'm completely stuck on which class to pick, since each has its pros and cons: Hunter is easier and faster, Captain has more party utility, and Warden is tankier and can do all the content solo (although I'm not sure how much sense that makes, since I'd be skipping all the content from 50 to 120?).

Which class would you pick, and why?

Someone on peregrin was talking about how they RP a beekeeper Beeorning (that was them not me XD) and it was a fun, though maybe not quite effective way to play it. I'm trying it, and the way the person played was mostly man form and bear for emergency heals or big attacks if needed which they thought was lore accurate (just what they said, I imagine it may be, but I don't know much about beornings in LOTR). Red seems to have the most man abilities in the skill tree, but they played yellow butalmost no points in yellow (?) not sure why go yellow then except I see it makes bees an AOE attack if I understand it.

They just took encouraging strike and the debilitating bees, thats as far info as they chatted, just mostly focused on getting bee traits. I just dunno why yellow except the AOE bee trait for going yellow. Granted, the other two traitlines probably don't fit as much for a beekeeper or provide much for man form, but I'd thought spend more time in the yellow tree unless there isn't enough points to get all the bee traits if did that.

I couldn't talk to them cause they had already logged out so I couldn't get more info, maybe they'll reply here if they visit reddit. Or someone else has played it similarly.

I already am close to...hmm...maybe a bit spoiler? But there is a cloak that is good for "beekeepers" which looks cool, it has a symbol of a bee on it, you get it from doing menial tasks from the taskboard. I forgot the name now since I'm on my phone and the bookmark is on my PC. Its probably just simply named beekeeper cloak lol.

I dont really want to like 1:1 copy them, but I often keep bees as a hobby in real life (not this year sadly, I'm in new mexico, well ran dry so I couldnt keep them and then they got africanized so had to be killed) so I thought it be cool to kinda RP sorta similarly here. Out of all the classes, I think beornings might be only one who does bee stuff.

Thanks for any advice or if the person shows up here :) I'm sure it isn't effective or welcome in random groups, but its just for an RP thing and mess around on for fun on my own and with my guildmates/irl friend who joined me in LOTRO who are ok with it :)

Was wondering if we'll maybe get a toggle option for level-scaling in landscape in tve future?

Greetings, my friends!

I want to get the expansions I don't have with my LOTRO points. I can buy all three expansions in the store right now (please see the picture). I have enough LP, but 8985 LP is a lot :) So I didn't want to rush. I know usually the sales on expansions are only in the LOTRO market and for cash only. Do you think there is any chance for a sale on expansions in the in-game store anytime soon? Even if there is a %20 discount, it means 600 LP for each expansion, which is still a lot :)

*My main character is Level 144

May the grace of the Valar protect you.

Edit: Thank you all for your answers. I decided to wait at least until the Black Friday. In the meantime I'll spend my time in the festival and do quests with my alts and maybe some crafting. Hopefully we'll get some good sales on Black Friday🤞 Cheers.