LOTRO to relaunch as free to play?

It is the main reason why the last two classes I played were both Warden and Hunter.

The town teleports to fight the against the thief of time!

Had some time to sort through some of the stuff I received as part of the 15th Anniversary and general giveaway goodness. I was ecstatic to find both a small carry-all and a large carry-all included as part of the goodies. Given that a large carry-all is a 1995 LOTRO point purchase ($20!) that’s pretty amazing and generous all by itself. I chose the large crafting carry-all and instantly freed up 40+ inventory and bank vault slots (and still have 6 or 8 to spare in the carry all). Both my main and my crafting/auction alt had maxed out on coin purchasable bank space, so I gave the small crafting carry all to my alt and freed up more space there as well.

All of which leaves me ample space to start unpacking all of these anniversary (1-15) and expansion gift boxes and rooting through whatever is inside. I’m going to need a few nights of sitting on the floor of the bank in Bree sorting stuff out (while looking it up in the LOTRO Wiki in another window) before I’m ready to adventure again!

That reminds me. I also have about 20 ____-Bound Lootboxes (ranging from level 20-60) and Steel Keys to open them with hanging around in my bank. Is it true that keys no longer drop in game or from deeds, they must now be purchased with LOTRO points only? Is it even worth opening the lower-level boxes at this point, or am I better off saving my keys for future box drops?

The treasures boxes are useless then and now. Open up what you have, then filter them from your loot.

So I’m back after a small break, and my god Moria is confusing. It doesn’t help that the map is VERY 2D while Moria itself is VERY 3D.

But my god, you guys, on the Wiki, they were kind enough to type up DIRECTIONS:

https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Moria_Directions

Thank GAWD. I can’t wait to dive back in using these. It’ll make things hopefully much smoother.

Aww, man, that kills the fun of exploration. I had a blast combing through Moria with guildies back in the day.

It was getting a little bit frustrating.

What part of Moria? It is a big place. Durin’s Way was the many hallways, all alike.

I started in Dolven-view today.

I don’t recall the early areas being too confusing but if I remember correctly that area is kind of a nexus point with multiple pathways to other areas with some verticality.

If you ever get to Gundabad, which is very much like Moria 2.0, there is even more vertically with one map having like 5 different levels with a pillar in the center. And there is even an elevator.

Wowwwwwww

I feel like picture time for no reason.


The Grey Company


Cirith Ungol


Rohan comes to Gondor’s aid


The Black Gate


Lake Town 2.0


The lonely mountain (Erebor + Dale)


Minas Morgul.


Minas Morgul again.


Meeting of the minds


Hi

Given its age, I still feel LOTRO is a gorgeous game.

Yeah, I don’t remember it looking quite that good last time I spun it up. Must be my laptop. Those are gorgeous shots.

So it would appear that you are simply walking into Mordor?

;-)

Also, nice screenshots!

Weird that this didn’t get posted:

I always think the same when I see screenshots like this. Then I realize, it environment shots vs. character shots. If they could just update the character models…

I joined a overpowered group and was carried through the level 130 Shelob raid. It took over 2 hours and we cleared everything with only one party wipe. Not sure how useful I was and the 3 main required bosses all have unique mechanics. Shelob herself seemed very straightforward in comparison. We also destroyed the 3 optional bosses. Nothing in that place lived after we finished. I only took screenshots at the end.

Man, that sounds fun. I haven’t raided in LOTRO in probably over 10 years. I think the dragon they added in Dunland was the last time?

Ohhh, I like Draigoch though. The dragon in Dunland.

I actually have done the challenge for it as the Burglar. You have to do a series of Conjunction fellowship maneuvers in the correct order and the Burglar is the best class to trigger them on demand in high frequency making them all but required to complete the challenge.

Oh, that’s right. That raid was rather tricky with the tunnels. I loved the part where everyone jumps down and goes from leg to leg on the drake. Good stuff.

My weekend nights back around 08 or 09 consisted of the wife and kids going to bed and me staying up until 3-4am with a few former co-workers I’d talked into playing the game, our guild raiding the baby balrog until we had it down like a science. My kids were young so they were in bed by 9 or so and I’d sit there for hours and hours playing that game.