One final fishing update: This morning I landed my first, and quite possibly only ever, 50lb salmon!
“The Salmon King” deed completed and I’m now officially: the Complete Angler.
I will however, be making absolutely no attempt to live up to that title when I’m fishing down my local river IRL!
For anyone wanting to try their luck, after hours of fishing, I caught this beauty beneath the waterfall at the northern end of the Dourstocks in Mirkwood.
Keith the pheasant witnessed the whole thing, so there’s no exaggerating the size of this one; although judging by what’s now hanging in my Rohirrim hall, I’m going to need a bigger wall.
What a lovely, ridiculous week in Middle-earth. Two years getting to level cap and now I’m standing underneath a massive fish feeling equally pleased.
Thanks to everyone who’s followed along and shared such lovely comments. I hadn’t planned on a trilogy, but a fish like this deserves its own post! 🐟
I was just passing by Erebor and stumbled with this lovely sunset for Durin's day, wasn't aware of the event but i was pleasently surprised by the beauty of it. Took some pics of the people there for the event
Featuring my Burglar from Dale, Wrenhilde as she arrived in Rivendell!
Discussing the story below, so don’t look if you don’t want spoilers (I know the expansion has been out for a while, but I don’t know how many people have played through it completely, so spoiler warning just in case)!
-
I really enjoyed the story of Before the Shadow, it was a nice difference from the usual intro and I loved seeing some of the events from the books in person (such as the Nazgûl crossing into the Shire at Sarn Ford, or Boromir’s journey to Rivendell). I found the NPCs really charming, and I also loved seeing more of Antheron in flashback instances.
I think my favourite instance was the one where you’re all in an inn together. It really felt like I was making bonds with these characters. Finding evidence of Boromir’s death later on will be even more tragic with the prior experience my character has with him. He’s one of my favourite characters as well, and I loved seeing his perspective on the journey to Rivendell. Meneldir’s fate really hit me at the end as well; he was flawed, but by god did he make up for his mistakes throughout the journeys in Swanfleet and Cardolan.
The environment as well was phenomenal! I found the areas really pretty to run through and found that they did a great job of emulating the original starter areas of the game!
All in all, I really enjoyed my time with the expansion, and would love to see more like it from the team :)
The Durin's Day event is ongoing from the 16th of October to the 21st of OCtober. You can gain very cool titles if you do the pilgrimage every year (up to 3 titles)
Here is the old guide from Fibrojedi about the Durin's Day event:
My lowest level character who did it is level 38. But I'm certain a character as low as level 20 can easily do it.
Fibrojedi is a well know content creator who did a lot of guides about festivals and events. He's now retired but his old guides are still available on the LOTRO wiki (https://fibrojedi.lotro-wiki.com)
(Both performance and graphics wise of course.)
I don’t have a high end pc, so I probably can’t every option at the same time, will probably just pick those, that have the best balance between both
A few days ago I posted about finally reaching level cap after two years adventuring through Middle-earth. Thank you for all the lovely comments!
This morning, something altogether more prestigious. Fishing lvl 200 - “Lord of Streams” and I’m delighted!
I’ve loved the fishing hobby in this game. When I’m not manically running around Middle-earth sorting out everyone else’s problems, there’s something wonderful about finding a quiet bit of water and staying put for a while.
So much so that I’ve actually taken up fishing in real life. What started as a little hobby for my character has somehow ended up with me owning a fishing rod and fishing down at my local river.
Quite pleased with his fishing outfit too! Properly dressed for the occasion, with my trusty pheasant supervising proceedings.
Anyway, the saving-the-world business can wait for a while… I’ve got a very important afternoon of standing in a pond ahead of me. 🐟
I'm currently playing SWTOR as my first MMO and absolutely love the immersion, world and storytelling, so I've been thinking about giving LOTRO a try.
I'm curious how it holds up for a new player today. I know the playerbase is relatively small compared to other MMOs, but is it still easy to find people to play with, join a kinship and experience group content?
I'm also wondering about the game's future. Do you see LOTRO staying active and receiving updates for the next few years, or is the smaller population something to be concerned about if I'm planning to invest a lot of time into it?
Lastly, with the Halloween event going on, is now a good time to jump in, or would I be better off playing a different MMO like ESO?
I'm mainly interested in the world, exploration, lore and immersion rather than rushing to endgame. Would you recommend LOTRO in 2026, and is it worth getting invested in long-term? I'd love to hear honest opinions from current players. Thanks!
I'm not a raider, so mostly do questing and solo and t1 instances.
I have mostly embers gear. When I look at my stats with empty (basic) essence slots. mastery seems much higher than critical rating. So it seems like I should make all 14 essences be critical rating. Does that seem right? Even with that, critical rating lags mastery by a substantial amount (in rating points. Traits and traceries add % so both are respectable.) This is true for both my hunter and my minstrel.
At previous level-caps, I was able to max mastery and critical rating with the right mix of essences, and have a few slots left for vitality or tactical mitigation. It seems like the current stat arithmetic makes that unlikely.
Is that just how it is with the current stats and essences? Or am I missing some reason to use other essences. (I know that raids and high tier content might cause me to trade DPS for survivability, but it seems I would have to give up a lot.)
Hello. I'm returning after a long absence. I've found my lvl 100 legendary weapon is now a stat stick with 1.1 dps. What do I do with it? Where do I go to get a new sword? Can you point me to a resource? Thank You.
Evening all!
I come to you with a general plea - I played this game as a teenager and absolutely loved it.
I've been an avid MMO player over the years, but I find them such a rat race these days to play the most "exciting" content.
I have fond memories of LOTRO, and I read good things in regards to players being able to immerse themselves in solo play, while offering the option for group content.
Anyway - I am currently waiting for the client to update and I would love to find out some things, especially the most "necessary" purchases to make, expansions, inventory stuff, etc.
If it helps, I have access to my old account which, from what I can see, has the premium label to it, though I will subscribe to the monthly subscription...
Hello everybody, need a bit of help with the Haunted Burrow. For some reason I cannot enter or exit a section in the Burrow unless another player just used it, so I just wait for someone and then follow them. Is that something that has happened to anyone else? Thanks!
Coming back after ~2 year break. Use to play red hunter/yellow bear t2-t4 in 12 man raids, but it seems a lot has changed (red LM????, new classes, etc...) What do raid comps look like now-a-days? I have heard red bear is more useful than yellow now and red LM is apparently a glass cannon? Hunters are using blue line for dps due to no inductions? Only things that seem the same, as far as I know, is that guardians still dominate raid tanking and server lag makes wardens iffy. What are some solid options? Thinking about buying a couple valar boosts once the wolves of mordor expansion goes live at the end of the month. Thank you!
I'd like to ask for your advice once again. A while back, as a newcomer to the game, I was having huge problems: New player, Difficulty 3—I couldn't beat some enemies. Thanks to your help and advice, things got much better.
So I chose two classes: Champion and Hunter. I love them both. And I NEVER would have thought that, because up until now, I’ve never really loved ranged classes in any game (though I don’t play much—GW2, ESO).
Okay, I played both classes up to level 20, deleted both, and started over from scratch on Difficulty 3. Taking my time, read all texts, enjoy the Landscape. Both noew ones are now past Bree, level 23, ready to head to the next area.
So, time to decide: I’ve been watching a bit of Twitch lately. And surprise:
Two streamers clearly advised me against both classes!
As a new player, I wouldn’t really be able to get good gear for the Champion through quests and Loot. I’d fall behind at higher levels and run into massive gameplay issues.
And the Ranger? Good at first—mobile, fast travel—but later on, mobs with adds would appear or stand in groups, and the Ranger would be (currently) pretty useless. Much Damage bus enemies should take only one hit. As a hunter in my situation, the gameplay is just tough...
Some people in the chats confirmed this: As a long-time player with gear and crafting_ Everything would be easy. But as a new player, only Questrewars: i run into problems.
By the way, I’m not interested in groups, being carried, or raids—I just want to be able to play and explore...
So, both the chat and the streamers advised against both classes. (wtf?)=
But how am I—or any new player—supposed to even get started? And according to Reddit, YouTube, and the internet, these two classes are supposedly ideal.
That is, until the point where in-game rewards, items earned, and gameplay later on seem to diverge massively.
Even though I feel more like a melee fighter—the fantasy of “that could be me!” and role-playing in my head—I ended up playing the Hunter. Simply because I hoped to make up for my lack of gear with ranged combat.
And then I hear: That only works for a while, and not really later on.
PLEASE ADVISE: You’re the experienced players. Can I still make the Hunter work as a new player without any gear? Or should I choose the more forgiving Champion, but then deal with a lack of gear?
Thanks for your time; I’m hoping for your invaluable advice,
I'm sure the game is easy and easier over time, but I was never into MMOs and the controls on the deck are a bit hard to get comfortable for someone whos not big into PC gaming, and the small screen of the deck makes it a bit much to deal with the UI.
Any suggestions on what can I remove from the UI for it to be less crowded and enjoy more of an immersive experience rather than a MMO numbers game? Also any control schemes from my fellow deck users would be nice, right now I'm using "[notINSANE] The Lord of the rings online"
Hello! Today, I bring you a little bit of landscape-p*rn. And just so you know, yes, I too love the game's original art style, but sometimes we can dream a little and enjoy just a bit more realism on top of what the game already provides.
