Wonderful Places in LOTRO's Middle Earth: september 2013

Here are some notes to quicklevel from level 1 to 65
Please note that the quests described below were completed with 2 XP buff-givers:
1) Gift of the Hammerhand (25% XP gain 25% XP gain on monster kills and crafting until lvl 85)
2) Greater Gift of the Helmingas (25% XP gain on monster kills and crafting until lvl 75)

You can boost your XP with an Outrider Token (25% XP gain on monster kills and crafting until lvl 75), which you can acquire by trading a bounder token in Michel Delving (at the wooden statue is a trader), or buying it in the LOTRO store.

Free to Play (f2p)
I am a VIP player with all the expansions and this quicklevel guide is based on this type of gaming. If you are a free to play player (f2p), the leveling will be probably considerably slower, although I must admit that I don't know how big the difference will be (measured in time per level).
As a f2p player you haven't a horse, so traveling will be slow at first. Furthermore, you cannot access quick-traveling at the stables, so if you have to travel big distances, it will cost more time for a f2p player to reach a certain destination. Moreover, as a f2p player you cannot access lots of quests in the regions. So, at a certain point, you have to buy them for Lotro Points (LP).

As a free to play player you can always level by killing monsters and animals, or doing skirmishes. I agree this is a bit dull and if you really want some more variation and excitement, it is best to become a paying subscriber or buy some quest packs for LP points.

What you really need as a F2P Player

Riding skill (95 LP): you can ride a horse at level 5, which is awesome. Once you have the skill, you need a mount. Go to Bree-land and buy one at Hengstacers farm (south of Trestlebridge, north of Bree), its really cheap!
Swift Travel: well that's a real problem for f2p players. You can buy travel locations for LP (e.g. by using Milestone Skills, Travel Maps and/or Travel Skills), but if you want to use the swift travel from the stables you need to be a VIP player. Otherwise it will cost you hours and hours to travel through all the areas and lands of the LOTRO game. One trick, is to buy a single month of VIP, which costs around $15. Log in all your characters, even for just a second, and they'll all have stable master swift travel unlocked. This is permanent, even after your account drops back down to your normal f2p (Premium) status.
4th, 5th and 6th inventory bags (495 LP): if you don't spent LP points, a f2p player has only 3 inventory bags. And that's really not enough...
Trait slots (95 LP per virtue, class or race slot, and 195 LP per legendary slot): without a full range of trait slots, you're seriously disabled in the game. If you have to choose, go for class traits first, then legendary, then virtues, then racial traits.
Buy quest packs. There are many quest packs in the game to purchase for a f2p player (or Premium player!). In the table below you see the questpacks per level range. prices of the questpacks varies from 595 LP; 695 LP, 795 LP to 1495 LP. The best questpacks are awarded with +++ or ++++ in the table below.

For a recent overview of all the available questpacks and expansions, go to the lotro wiki LOTRO Store page, by clicking here.

Questpack table: available questpacks per level

Regions

Levels

TP points

Value

North Downs

18-40

595

+++

Evendim

32-40

595

++++

Trollshaws

30-50

595

++++

Misty Mountains

39-50

695

Forochel

39-52

595

++++

Angmar

40-52

795

++++

Eregion

45-55

695

+++

Moria

51-60

1495

++++

Lothlórien

55-60

695

+++

Mirkwood

61-65

695

Enedwaith

60-75

695

Great River

72-75

795

Isengard

66-75

1495

++++

Rohan

75-85

1495

+++

Wildermore

83-85

795

Value = value for money (Lotro Points). The higher the score, the better the questpack (for gameplay, visual entertainment and leveling).

Level 1-65 zones in Lotro (Eriador and Moria)

Below is an overview of all map areas and their respective levels. The faction column show the main faction which resides in this area - to have an idea which people give you the quests. Levels and Map names in red are the areas where levelling goes rather quick. If you definitely don't like the dark and maze-like dungeons of Moria, you have stay longer in regions with quests of the same level, e.g. Angmar or Forochel, and later on in Eregion. You can also do Skirmishes to avoid the quests in Moria. But, if you get used to Moria, it is not a bad area at all. Just go there, when you are stron enough, from level 55 onwards. In that case: do all the quests in Eregion and head for Moria as soon as you reach level 55.

Quests for Hobbits

If you are a Hobbit and you really want to do all the Hobbit quests, start in The Shire, or - if you are a river hobbit - start in Swanfleet. You can also pick up a lot of hobbit quests in Staddle, in Bree-land. After you reach level 20, go to the Yondershire for an awesome lot of hobbitquests.

There are also level 25-30 Hobbit quests in Evendim, just go to the south part of Evendim and do all the quests at Northcotton Farm. During your travels you can also find hobbits in Rivendell, in the house of Elrond. They will give you some other fine hobbit quests. Furthermore, there are some secluded hobbits living in the most western part of Enedwaith. You can find them in the Gloomglens, where they live in a small hobbit-village, called Maur Tulhau (62.5S, 23.2W). The hobbits living there will give you some quests for the level 62-63.

Hobbitquests in the Yonderhire are discussed here (travelling), and here (quests and deeds). As a f2p player you need to buy the Yondershire Quest Pack for 995 LOTRO Points.

Hobbitquests at Northcotton Farm, and the route to this farm, are discussed here.

Remember: hobbits are not a very 'hasty' people, so you have to abandon the quick level mood if you surely want to do most of the hobbit quests in the Lotro game.

Level 1-65 Table

Level	Map & Area	Factions
1-15	Shire	Hobbits: The Mathom Society
1-15	Shire during Festivals	Hobbits: The Inn League
1-15	Ered Luin	Dwarves: Thorin's Hall
1-15	Ered Luin during Festivals	Dwarves: The Ale Association
1-15	Swanfleet	Starting area of the River Hobbits
1-25	Bree-land	Men of Bree & Hobbits (The Mathom Society)
20-23	Yondershire	Hobbits: The Yonder-watch
15-32	Cardolan	Men: Dúnedain of Cardolan
20-35	Lone-lands	Men: The Eglain
20-35	North Downs	Men: Rangers of Esteldín
30-40	Evendim	Men: The Wardens of Annúminas
35-40	Trollshaws	Elves: Elves of Rivendell
40-45	Angle of Mitheithel (Trollshaws)	Man: Defenders of the Angle
40-50	Misty Mountains	(Thorin's Hall, The Mathom Society, Elves of Rivendell)
40-50	Angmar	Men: Council of the North
40-50	Forochel	Men: Lossoth of Forochel
48-53	Eregion	Elves: Elves of Rivendell
45-50	Wildwood of Bree-land (Trader's Wharf)	Men: The League of the Axe
45-50	Wildwood of Bree-land (Western Trestlebridge)	Men: Woodcutter's Brotherhood
55	Ost Alagos: Weather Hills (Bree-land)	Men of Bree & Hobbits (The Mathom Society)
48-60	Moria (Whole Map)	Dwarves: Iron Garrison Guards & Miners
51+	Great Delving (Moria)	Dwarves: Iron Garrison
52+	Silvertine Lodes (Moria)	Dwarves: Iron Garrison
53+	Durin's Way (Moria)	Dwarves: Iron Garrison
53-54	Zirakzigil (Moria)	Dwarves: Iron Garrison
54+	Water-works (Moria)	Dwarves: Iron Garrison
55+	Zelem-Melek (Moria)	Dwarves: Iron Garrison
56+	Redhorn Lodes (Moria)	Dwarves: Iron Garrison
57+	Flaming Deeps (Moria)	Dwarves: Iron Garrison
58+	Nud-melek (Moria)	Dwarves: Iron Garrison
59+	Foundations of Stone (Moria)	Dwarves: Iron Garrison
60	Lothlórien	Elves: Galadhrim
60-65	Mirkwood	Elves: Malledhrim
60-65	Enedwaith	Men: Algraig, Men of Enedwaith & The Grey Company

Levels and Map names in red are the areas where levelling goes rather quick

Level 1-8 Introduction zone
Take some time to complete the introduction. It is possible to leave at level 8 and have a quickstart in the starter regions of Middle Earth. If you want to leave at level 8, don't pick up the last quest in the introduction area. Before you agree to do this last quest, you get a warning message in red from the quest giver in the Hunting Lodge. When you get that massage: don't accept this last quest if you are level 7 or lower. Instead, go to places where lots of animals are and kill them all. These animals are really easy to hunt, and you will accumulate rather fast the necessary XP points to reach level 8. The lower your level, the more experience you will get from each hunted animal.
After you have reached level 8, proceed to tthe Hunting Lodge and start the final quest of the Introduction. After completing the final quest, you will be send into the real world of Middle Earth.

Level 8 - 17 Ered Luin, Bree-land
I tried all the three starter regions and my conclusion is that Bree-land and Ered Luin are the fastest areas to quicklevel. Of course, the Shire is big fun, especially if you are a hobbit. It has in theory the same level-pace as the other regions, but every now and then you are tempted to do a "bring-this-from-here-to-there" quest, which are a bit time consuming and hard to resit.

In the past I always started in Bree-land, starting my quest-series in Staddle. You can level rather quick there, and after level 14 you can pick up quests in Combe and the Northern Chetwood. If you want to do it really quick, don't complete most of the green colored quests. Instead, choose the white, yellow or orange colored quests. They type of quests are harder, but will give you a higher amount XP. Blue quests are a bit below you level, but will still give you sufficient XP to quick level.
Please understand that the green quests are always good to pick up, and if you can complete them quickly, just finish them. The green quests in Northern Chetwood and Combe are all pretty easy and fast to do. But if it these green quests take a long time to finish, abandon them and choose a tougher guest. If the quests turn grey: be sure to abandon them if you only want to quicklevel. Only complete the grey quests if they give you a nice reward (e.g. reputation or a wanted title) or a follow up for a desired quest. (or you have to do them to get traits or traitpoint!).
For the quick leveler it is wise to remember that if the green and grey quests are starting to slow your pace, it may be time to let them go and abandon them. Of course, grey quests are not very interesting to complete if you only want the experience points for quick leveling.

If you want the Undying Title, its probably wise to let the epic quests wait until they turn green (or even grey). If you want the Undying title (don't die before you reach level 20), it's a wise strategy to pick up only green or blue quests, sicne they are the most easy ones to complete

The epic quest line series (the ones called Book or Chapter, and with a flaming ring) will always give you very nice quests rewards. This can be some very good armor, weapons or jewelry. Always watch carefully if the (epic) quest is a group or a solo quest.

Recently I started as an elf in Ered Luin, from level 8 onwards. I experienced that this region is not very dangerous. Leveling goes rather quick there, if you start in Celondim and pick up all the quests. After some time you can do quests in Duillond (lvel 9-10), Gondamon (10+), Noglond (10+) and Thrasi's Lodge (10+). They all will go pretty quick and you can pick up all the colored quests, even the green ones.

Level 17-20 Breeland
For level 17 to 20, it is best to go to Bree-land. Quests can be picked up in Bree-town, Adso's camp and places in the Northern Bree-field. The quests in the Barrow downs and in Buckland are also worthwhile to complete. After you reach level 20 its time to go to the Lonely Inn in the Lone-lands.

Level 19-30 Lone-lands & North Downs

Lonelands: as you have reached or passed level 19, go to the Lonely Inn in the Lonelands. To reach it, just go outside the eastgate of Bree-town and follow the road. After you pass the Bree-town homesteads, the landscape will change from a lush green grassy country to dull brown hills. On your left hand you will see a fallen inn with a broken roof (look careful!), on your right hand will appear the stable of the lonely inn. Hit the stable master and go inside the inn and pick your quests. You can also pick up quests from people outside the Lonely Inn, near the door.
Its wise to start the quests in Annunlos and wait a bit before you go into the goblin infested ruins of Minas Eriol. The warg infested ruins of Minas Eriol (the first ruin at the left side path into the mountains) are not so difficult, only if you know when to stay or when to run. There are some invisible wargs here and they can take you by surprise. Be prepared to eat some food for in-combat morale regeneration and take some extra morale potions with you in you quickslot. If there are 2 or 3 wargs attacking you, it is wise to run after your morale drops below 1/3 and you have no morale pots active anymore.

You can do all the quests in the Lone-lands until you reach level 30. Be warned that the quests in the red swamp area of Agamaur (behind the Red Pass) will slow you up enormously! They give nice rewards, and are interesting to do when you are in a group. Just watch the time and how many times you are killed. If it slows you up, abandon them; if you can do the Agamaur quests pretty quick: feel free to stay.

If the leveling pace from level 27 to 30 goes slow, its a good alternative to go to Trestlebridge in the North Downs. Pick up some quests in and north of Threstlebridge; if they are solo they are easy to complete now. The Nan Wathren area is also doable at these levels, but a bit more dangerous if all mobs are chasing you. Feel free to go to Esteldin too, where you can do quests until you even reach level 40.

Level 30-39 Evendim
At level 30 you are ready for the Evendim region. If you don't feel strong enough, start in the small hobbit settlement of Oatbarton and do the quests here. Oatbarton is directly north of the Shire, and you can reach it by travelling through the Shire.

After you have completed 1 to 3 levels, you can go to Bullroarer's Sward and pick up some nice quest there. The true quick levelers can go directly to the Giant Statua of the King and starts there quests there. Classes like Champion (take some morale potions with you), Runekeer (with enough in combat morale regain by eating food and enough morale potions) and Minstrel can do quests in Evendim at level 30 pretty easily. However, it is paramount to understand how to quick-heal yourself, how to stun and when to run when it is necessary. If you are a Loremaster, maybe its interesting to follow the beast-master skill-tree and let your pet do all the work for you. At the end you can raise the level of your pet 4 levels above your own! At level 95 your pet will be level 99 and will have some 35.000 morale, which is truly awesome!

Take some food with you which will give in combat morale regeneration, especially in areas with tough foes. Keep always all morale potion drops and put them in you quickslot bar.

After you reach level 32-34, you can also pick up the quest-line in Ost Forod. Don't forget to take the boat to the Eavespires, there is a series of nice quests to quicklevel there too!

Finally, if you reach level 39, it is time to leave Evendim (or stay longer if you like this region). Your next station will be Torenhad in Trollshaws, and later on (40-43) Tal Bruinen. Or, if you really want it, you can always go to the Ram Duath in the south of Angmar.

If you don't like Evendim - I cannot imagine it because the weather is always fine here, the grass emerald green, the ruins gorgeous and the water in the lake crystal clear - go to the North downs after level 30. Start in Trestlebridge and work your way up to the dwarvencity of Othrikar and the ranger camp in Esteldin.

Level 35-45 Angmar, Evendim, Forochel, Trollshaws
After level 35-30 there seems to be many options to quicklevel. There is no exact strategy for a specific region to level with a quick or desirable pace.
Evendim: from level 30 onward you can stay in Evendim until all quests are done. Probably you will be level 37-39 by then. I think, from level 30 onwards, Evendim is the best and quickest place to level.
Trollshaws: you can start levelling in the Trolshaws from level 35 until you become level 42-43. At that point, most quests will be finished.
Angmar: at level 39 you can head for Southwest Angmar, if you like. Its a bit of a bitter place, evil, dark and with a brooding atmosphere. Some players hate to go to this evil place, but I like it very much. It's definitely one of the most 'evil experience feeling' environments in the game. You do quests in Angmar from level 39 to 50, or even at higher levels (50-53).
Forochel: you do quests in Forochel from level (39) 42 to 50, or even at higher levels (50-53). If you are in a fellowship (3-6 players), you can actually start at level 39-40 in this region. If you like snow and ice, its defenitely the best region in the game. Forochel has the highest windchill feeling of the game and the fog bug is very notorious in this region. If you get this curse, when entering a foggy landscape, it can curse you for hours! If you are not cursed with the fog bug, the sky is always awesome in Forochel, especially at dusk when you will see beautiful pink to orange skies! At night the green streamers in the sky, the Aurora Borealis or northern lights, are a marvel to watch. If you don't have a questpack I can still advise you to travel to Forochel, solely to watch in awe the beautiful Aurora Borealis... For reputation grinders (Lossoth and Thorin's Hall), the Icereave Mines of the Dourhands - near Zigilgund - are defenitely worth a visit.

Level 35-45 Trollshaws
You can start in west Trollshaws, with level 34-36 animals and enemies. In Thorenhad most enemies will be level 36-38, so tats a bit better for quick XP if you are at the same level or 1-2 levels lower as the monsters there.
Tal Bruinen is great to start your quickleveling from level 40 to 45. So look there if you want to take these quests. The monsters are level 39-44, so if you are level 40-43 you can manage them more or less. There are many quests in Tal Bruinen and you can pick them up near the elven ruin of Echad Candelleth, near stablemaster Loborelen.
Dont forget the fisher's cabin downstreams. Just follow the river to Eregion and you will sea the cabin on the westbank. The fisherman will give you a nice series of quests which led you to meet the 3 stoned trolls who attacked Bilbo on his voyage through the Trollshaws. There is even a quest for a strange fish-eating creature, who frequently utters the word 'gollum' when he is walking alone.

Level 39-54 Angmar
You can start in Angmar from level 39 and higher.

Start your first quests in this region in Ram Duath, which is the lower southwest in Angmar. Pick up your quests in the first camp along the road between Esteldin and Aughair (with the slender and kind earthkin giants). At level 41 you can do also quests north of Aughair. All quests are a bit tough around level 39-40. If you don't do enough damage or you don't feel comfortable, go to Esteldin in the North-downs and pick up some solo quests. Most of them will be grey or group quests, but there are some easy visit-that-person quests to places which are quick to reach by horse. Just look for the appropriate quest-giver. At level 38-40 Its even better to go to Trollshaws, and pick up quest in the far west, at Barachen's camp. Please read the description at that zone.

You can return to Angmar at level 43-45; the quests in Angmar are then rather easy to accomplish. Remember, that in a group of 3-6, Angmar is relatively easy from lvl 39 onwards, although its wise to bring a tank (guardian) and/or a healer with you (minstrel, runekeeper or captain).

The road to Angmar: it's wise to go to the ranger settlement in Esteldin, then head to the east until you leave the Esteldin Mountain range. As soon as you enter the grassy plains, travel to the far north until you reach the southern mountain ridge of Angmar. Follow this mountain ridge to the west, until you see a small gorge heading northwards, to Aughair.
There are actually more entrances to Angmar and the one - more of less - directly above Esteldin is the safest route. Don't take the 'left', more western) gorge above Esteldin to Angmar, since that will lead you to a very dangerous mountain trail with lots of worms and dragons. Actually you can also travel to the far east of Angmar, beyond the camps of the Angmarin. This very dangerous route (at level 39) is crowded with Angmarin and will eventually leads you towards Aughair. So, in conclusion: (1) if you enter a mountain path solo to Angmar and you encounter lots of worms, head back and search for the eastern entrance (which is the safest); (2) if you travel solo and you encounter a lot of Angmarin , go back and find the more safer entrance in the west; (4) create a fellowship of at least 3 adventurers to travel along the roads mentioned in (2) and (3).

Level 41-54 Forochel
If you reach level 39 you can actually start with picking up quests in Forochel, at the first small trading place Kauppa-kotha in the far south.These quests are all red and hard to do solo. Only in a group with some lvl 40-42 characters it will give the right pace. Otherwise, the red quests will only slow you down since most attacks are reflected or neglected. level 39 is just very hard to start with in Forochel. Probably it is wiser to come back at level 42-44, although I managed to accomplish some quests at level 40. Remember, that in a group of 3-6, Forochel is doable from lvl 39 onwards, although at lvl 39 its wise to bring a tank (guardian) and/or a healer with you (minstrel, runekeeper or captain), preferable of level 40-42.
If you like Forochel, you can enter the leveling quests in this Region between the levels 42 (40) to 55. At level 55 the quests in the far north are still green (easy) or blue (moderately easy). If you start at level 42 in this region, you will be finished almost all the quests at level 50 or higher.

Level 45-54 Eregion
If you reach level 45 you can actually start doing quests in Eregion.
Head to the small elven camp in Gwingris, which is locate south of the ford of Bruinen (Trollshaws). Eregion is a very nice place to level until you become level 54. Beyond level 52 leveling in Eregion can be a bit slow. For players who want to level very quick, its advisable to go to Moria (alas this is the only region to level very quickly from 50-55).
Its advisable, from level 45-50 onwards, to do your first legendary item and weapon quest. At levels 45-48 it can be a bit dangerous to complete, although if you are an experienced player, it will give no big problems even at level 45. See also my guide for getting your first legendary weapon how to do this quests and to enter Eregion.

Level 50-60 Moria
If you have done and finished the questline for your legendary weapon (see my blog about this!), you can enter - finally - Moria. Moria is one of the regions in Lotro's Middle Earth world, that you will like, or dislike. Remember that the starter areas are much more maze like that the areas for higher levels. The starter areas will give you the impression that whole Moria is a big maze, where you are always lost. Actually, this isn't true, since many zones in Moria are cavelike, and easy to travel. So, no crevices to fall to year death in the higher level zones.
In the map below you see all the Moria zones
If you don't like dark mazes and dungeons, i can advise you to go to Lothlorien at level 55!

Travel routes in Moria

Level 55-65 Lothlorien
At level 55 you can run straight to the First Hall in Moria (see Map above), then go outside and start all the available quests in the west part of Lothlorien. The first quests can be picked up in an elf camp, just east of the stairs to Moria. Actually this subregion is called Moria: Dimrill Dale. Later on, you can also pick up quests at Echad Andestel, an elf camp at the western border of the Golden Forest

Reputation Level	Reputation Points Needed	Total Rep Points Needed
Guild Initiate	0	0
Apprentice of the Guild	10,000	10,000
Journeyman of the Guild	20,000	30,000
Expert of the Guild	25,000	55,000
Artisan of the Guild	30,000	85,000
Master of the Guild	45,000	130,000
Grand Master of the Guild	60,000	190,000

Wonderful Places in LOTRO's Middle Earth

maandag 30 september 2013

The Jewellers Guild

Quick-Level Guide Level 1-65