Don't Worry! I have found the Mount After the Introduction Questline!

Not sure if someone else has mentioned this, but you can also do a quest in Bree at level 15 to get the riding skill without needing to spend Lotro points. I believe it’s at the Hengstacer Farms.

As a fellow caffeinated dad, I have been playing lotro for years and still not reached the level cap nor am I even close. However, playing one of a few hours at a time when everyone else is asleep has provided me with a fantastic MMORPG experience. Mainly because PvE and story driven quests are the main focus and because solo players can play almost the entire game, including instances. It helps that I am a huge lotr fan, reading the books almost every year. And the game is consistent with the lore. I can recommend this game to anyone. The only downside is that it has a pretty steep learning curve because of all the systems that you have to keep track off. Once you get the hang of it, it is totally worth it and also makes it that the game as considerable depth.

I tried this MMO like a decade ago and I had a group of people bring me to the inn to watch them play stuff on their instruments to welcome me. Seems like a very cool community.

I also started my LOTRO journey for the first time over the weekend. I hope you continue playing! This was a great video that mirrored my initial impressions.

Oh no, you missed the free riding skill and starter mount in the intro. D: Look up the A Little Extra Never Hurts quests. ;) Part 1 gives you free LOTRO points and then Part 2 gives you the riding skill and the starter mount. Great video! And welcome to LOTRO! The difficulty options are a favorite of mine~ They were just added to the free servers earlier this year.

I also started playing recently and what a journey it has been. The world is immersive like no others, and I have played my good share of mmos. One small tip that made a BIG impact on how the world looks was the following. On the graphics options, if you scroll down where it says COLOUR, reduce the BRIGHTNESS to 0.94 and increase the CONTRAST to 1.15. This simple trick added such a beautiful contrast with the colors almost like a reshade. Also for new players that also start in Archet, on the same house where you had the quest to go take a nap, at the end of the hallway there is another quest giver that will give you a horse and the riding skill for free. Hope this helps and welcome to Middle Earth!

started 2 month ago. Still playing and it becomes better and better. The early game is typical mmorpg stuff but its getting soo good + all the storys

if you have even only a little bit of attachment to the source material, be it books or movies, the game is a treasure trove of iconic locations. While they don't always look like you would expect them to, they always feel legit. It's a flawed but enjoyable game, and if graphics are an issue there's still the option to improve them with ReShade. It has excellent world design, and simply wandering around asking yourself "what's over there ?" can be satisfying. It takes the "it's about the journey" concept, and runs with it.

I've seen the "Charge of the Rohirrim" scene about 32,168,731 times and I still cry at it. Every. Single. Time.

Incredible MMO, the Epic Book quest chain/Chapters, takes you through the entirety of the game and the LOTR story, in your own shoes. And it usually has a very strong endgame for Raiding and higher tier raids for those who seek the challenge. Classes matter a lot in this game, and each brings something important for grouping, definitively an MMO that went under the radar, but is so in depth and a truly epic journey. It only gets better and better the more you play. Moria, the second expansion for this game is truly insane, you'll spend 2 weeks in the darkness of Moria, until you one day see daylight again, such a magical experience.

"Spears really get to the point." Ah yes, you truly are a dad. xD Gave me a chuckle.

I've just recently came back and really "started" the game last week, and I'm having a blast! I am enjoying it now because I am playing it slow and steady. Trying to complete all side quests first in one area before doing the main/story quests may be boring for some, but I'm having so much fun! The massive open world in this game just amazes me, and the details and intricacies of the map and everything, chef's kiss.

You can get the riding skill for free - it's set up as a "here's how to use the shop" tutorial, if I remember correctly, but you can at least get your first mount without spending real money.

As somebody who knows you from your GW2 content, it's cool to see you dipping into Lotro to see what my "home" MMO is like. It's definitely janky and has things that haven't aged well, and just straight up tech limitations from coding and engine choices made a decade or more back that the current devs struggle against. But, the good far outweighs the bad in my opinion, so hopefully you stick with it and vacation in Middle Earth now and then when Tyria gets tedious. One thing I'll say, if you do stick around: your Virtues are way more important than it seems early on. Even after the recent stat-squish, they are absolute make or break by the mid-levels or so. The different Deeds you are finding, things like Slayer and Exploration achievements, those generally will have a second tier once you complete the initial one, that will give you XP towards whichever Virtue you have selected to level. It's a secondary progression system, but it will be a large part of your filling-out of stats over time.

Dude I bounce between LOTRO and GW2 and love your content! Glad to hear that you enjoyed yourself and hope you play it again from time to time!;)

I love this game. You can even play the game while having the real middle earth map to see the locations. Every river, every mountain, every path is reallisticaly recreated in the game. You can even spend hours to go from one point to the other in the world, if you want.

Sees channel name, instantly relates, subscribes. Not to mention fantastic vid. Going to download this game and give it a try

every time i see that scene in lotr i get shivers, so freaking good

I played this for 3 years between GW1 and GW2 and loved the game. I still occasionally bop into the game to see what is happening, but when you get to the really high levels if you don't keep up with it is highly complicated.

so you may have been told this but just in case of not you have a "filter" option where you can filter out items, and sounds, very good for screaming classes like warden so you dont have to listen to the 5 or so scream sounds and just keep the "enyalië valeriandë" that still dont play more often. in the item menu so can you click the cog and combine all bags into 1 bag, or make a bag smaller, or so on. lotro devs (SSG) is very progressives of them and let you use a whole lot of pluggins that you can use to altert the looks/feels + add information, for warden i have come to find that having a "buff duration" list is pretty nice in order to keep track on what you need to refresh you can auto loot everything, option in the option, easy found by using the search function, profanity filter if that is your jam or not. all in all this has been a very comfortable video, i raise my cup of coffee for you and hope you have a continued good stay (and yes despite me getting riding for free both from account bound perk + store bought "a little extra" quest i find the added "buy riding skill" option in the shop to be a big irritation, sours the experience the redeeming quality is that all "premium" currency is earnable, and you can technically play everything, buy everything, and experience everything, for free. it is just going to cost you time.)

áh im glad you mentioned the music! i especially love the guitar type music that plays in a lot of human cities - it adds so much to the experience

the map is only tough to understand if you have no sense of direction whatsoever and its actually surprising how many people are in that category

Tbh i thought that it was an old schoool outdated game but seeing how it still stood its ground i might try this tomorrow

You should have received the riding skill for free at the beginning in the intro from the guy in the lodge, john brackenbrook. It used to be behind a pay wall but not anymore. He even gives you a free mount.

Heyyy this actually looks pretty good. I inexplicably never heard about it back in the day, even though I used to try out pretty much every major MMO that came out.

I love playing LOTRO and i have been playing it since 2018, sometimes I leave and come back. The new updates have been great, which includes the landscape difficulty but also just being able to choose 3 crafting jobs (instead of one profession with 3 set jobs) was a gamechanger for me. I haven't reached the end game yet (I have two level-boosted characters though from their 15th anniversary event where they gave out a bunch of stuff for free) and I am an altoholic. Right now I am playing the landscape difficulty, fearless, on my Beorning, and having a great time!

There's a series of quests where it turns you into a chicken and you have to run across different parts of the map. There's a part called "There and Bawk Again" and it makes me laugh every time

thanks for making this video caff! i didnt even know there's a lord of the rings mmo out there

Thanks, I really enjoyed this video, after plating WOW for 15 years or so yo have convinced me to give this game a try, it is downloading now!

Been playing since 2007 and I'm still enjoying it 🙃

Veteran player here. Started in 2008. There is a tonne of content, and a beautiful world to explore if you like exploring. If you like Tolkien's books/movie, this game is great as a recreation of Middle Earth, with all the landmarks, landscapes, and attention to detaIl. It's really a great moment when you are a little lost in the Trollshaws (west of Rivendell) and you bump into the trolls that were turned into stone in the Hobbit. Moria (released as the first expansion in late 2008) is still great. The game is very solo friendly as you level (although its a pity that a lot of the group content at each of the previous level caps is now hard to experience because most of the player base is at higher levels), but once you get to level cap there will be a lot of group stuff happening, and the community is, in general, helpful and friendly. I really recommend joining a kinship (equivalent of a guild), early on. A nice active and social guild. It makes a big difference to have a kinship chat to get advice, and help when stuck on something. Finally, buying the riding skill is just a shortcut. You can get it without paying, it just takes a bit longer. But at risk of sounding like a grandfather....it was worse back in the day. On release, when the level cap was 50, you only got a horse at level 35, and that was after doing a few specific riding quests to earn the horse, and then you have to buy it. At the time it cost 4 gold and 200 silver (traditional in-game currency that drops off mobs, there was no store or microtransactions at the time)....only, you were unlikely to have 4 gold at level 35 in those days, you had to go and kill a bunch of mobs or sell stuff or get a donation from higher level friends to buy the damn horse.

LOTRO is absolutely the most in-depth and complete game I know about. So many systems and sub-systems fom crafting, the player music system to Legendary weapons, skirmishes, crafting and ancillary aspects that truly round the game out. The small criticisms you make eg riding were unfair. There is a quest for riding skill around lvl 10 iirc. Everything has an answer if you look to find it. LOTRO is DEEP and there is a lot ahead of you. I hope you stick it out and perhaps learn i little before you criticize things unwarrantedly. I have played every class to max level and tbh The Warden is not one of my favorites, I find the class awkward and clunky. The Loremaster is my main but i love my Hunter, Runeekeeper, and Burglar too. so many different classes and each one gives its own unique flavor to the LOTRO. GL for your travels through Middle Earth.

This was a pleasant surprise. Hope this one does well for you!

I recently started playing it.. And oh man, I've missed so much.. I was searching for a good MMO to spent my free time, and none of the other ones like WoW or Final Fantasy gave me that fun I was searching for

3:20 - FF14 puts new interface widgets in the middle of the screen, too. I think it's deliberate so they can be sure you'll see it. Then move it as you see fit.

Interesting..might give it a try when I need a break from GW2

Such an awesome game. Best map screens ever. Smashed my hand up years ago so I struggle to use mouse and keyboard for long periods of time now so can't play it anymore. I so wish it had a mod like WOW that let me use a controller.

Lotro captain from the arkenstone server here. Welcome aboard and i hope you have a good time and day😊

Oh this was a fun recap! I came back after two years off (WoW player) and also rediscovered fun stuff. VIP aid a HUGE help with three months/10 month. You get 500 LOTRO coins monthly and daily hobbit gifts. Glad they changed the ability to pick and choose professions. Playing with housing is a blast. I’m just having trouble focusing on epic quests vs crafting. And what’s with dailies? Slow and steady is my pace now. 😉

It looks like a decent game, I might give it a try when I have more free time. Reminds me a lot of when I played Pirates of the Caribbean Online, which as I found out a few days ago, was entirely remade by fans after it was initially shut down by Disney 10ish years ago.

Also you can earn the Lotro points by completing the deeds.

Also recently started LOTRO for the first time in years. Also...."Aragon"? C'mon man lol. Loved the vid.

Riding skill for RMT is optional early unlock, you eventually unlock riding through playing

LOTRO is cozy and has a lot of proper LotR vibe in it.

I only just came back to this game after having been away since 2010 : ) I started a few weeks back and I swear I might have seen you running around in Archet as I was just starting out with my character. Were you playing in Gladden server by any chance? Oh, and INSTASUBBED!

This has been my main Game for 15 Years. Next to GW2. Cool to see you trying! :) If you enjoy you should check out Echoes of Angmar, which is a Vanilla Version of the Game.

you can get a free riding skill + mount from a quest in the starter area by the way

I'll die on this hill, but imo if they invested the time to modernize the map and quest objective tracker, the game would be infinitely more noob friendly.

There is like a hc mode too! So every 5 or 10 levels since lvl 1 without dying u get a tittles. And enhancing the dificulty also rewards you with some tittles and stuff too. So its amazing combo. Plus doing quests and exploring the world while learing your class. This mmo is one of the best when it comes to having best leveling experience..🎉

16 years I'm still playing, and strictly the Warden class since 2008

Use control+\ to move the UI parts wherever you want.

I love so much this game since day 1, that i have created and played almost every class with each of them having a crafting profession so i don't need to buy anything from auction house and or also love crafting really a lot! Sadly for me doing so i got so overwhelmed with all those awesome quests 😍on all of my characters having this awesome and simple crafting mechanics 😍that i can't play anymore. I guess my solution will simply to erase them all and i just choose one class🤩, but there i know I'll get stock again🤨...what class may i choose🤤... /sight😮‍💨 only by sharing this I'm already tire 🙄. Thanks for sharing Mr!

1:00 RIP "Undying"

I liked LOTRO very much. Played it since its release. When it became difficult for me to invest time when with the Mines of Moria expansion and the introduction of weapon leveling etc. I just did not had the time for this approach. It is though my favorite and I had a great time with it.

As a casual myself, if you find an mmo similar or "better" than gw2 I'm all for it! Maybe even a fps kind lf mmorpd, I don't know if one exists. The only mmorpgs ive play is Dofus and only an hour or 2 of WoW. Wouldn't mind watching a video of your first time playing ESO or FFXIV if you haven't already

I love the game and in particular the landscapes. It feels real. The one thing that kills me is I always feel alone. It always bothers me after a few hours. There are not many other people running around leveling like me. Also the lag. It can be bad.

Did you play more? I want to see more videos of u on lotro 😮

You can actually disable the scream from the warden. There is a tool to disable sound effects.

FYI the riding skill is free there is a starter quest that introduces the cash shop by giving you the points to buy the riding skill and also reward you with a basic horse

i recently got into lotro and guild wars 2 after quitting wow and ff14 but to be honest i like lotro more. i think guild wars2 reminds me too much of the modern wow. while lotro reminds me more of the old wow that i fell in love with back in the 2000s. this game is more casual than vanilla wow but not a simple as modern wow or guild wars 2 guild wars 2 feels too easy right now but i have not done a lot of content yet. the big downside of lotro is that the game is so old the community is quite small it appears like i am late to the party while guild wars feels more vibrant and popular. but with lotros old school design there is more interaction with the players. while in guildwars 2 nobody every tries to talk to me in game but there are plenty of players. so i would play lotro if you want a more oldschool mmo without going full y2k everquest or runescape style .while guildwars 2 is more for fans of more fast paced games

Pro tip: If you press Cntrl + R, you can block the shouting audio. Very useful for captain and wardens with all the shouting.

I love tanking in MMOs. LOTRO Warden is still my favorite tank I have ever played in a game. I need to revisit the game.

Arkenstone server has a massive pvmp community, yet the newest update did not update the monster player side only Free people side. Don't rush into end game, there is tons of content, and ways to earn store items. The stories and quests are worth read, but you also have the ability to skip. Have fun

"Oh wait, that one has a spear, there you go" But in FFXIV you passed over Lancer for Marauder?

For added challenge try getting to level 20 on Fearless 3 without dying once to recieve the Undying title.

I'd love to play it, yet somehow neither the launcher or steam version work on my pc. They both stop the installation / download process at some point without any fix

back in the day you didn't have the skill tree and you had access to every skill. that game was my WOW

You do not have to pay for riding skill, you can do tasks to get coins for the store or you can get to level 20.

I started following you because of GW2, but I couldn't find you on twitch. Whats your twitch channel name?

I've played with the thought of starting out in this game with my gf, but it seemed the game is rather dead with a hundred people playing. Is that true or is it expected to get more lively, maybe with the NPCs in the game?

Lotro is the best MMO ever made in the 3d space. Ultima Online is the GOAT. Lotro does stuffer from dated models , and many weird currency/collectibles but recent updates have begun to address that. But it's easily the best in terms of immersion, lore, replay, and the best world Middle Earth done as lore accurate as possible in most cases.

gonna jump straight in after watching this

LIKE A quirky josh strife hayes but a dad. subbed

Turn on auto loot! They added that after I started and it was a great QOL improvement

Every young boy, myself included, grew facial hair simultaneously during the Ride of the Rohirrim. On topic, LotRO is a wonderful MMO. Always has been.

Lotro is a great option for casual gaming in Middle Earth, just keep in mind that the game pushes Store all the time to your face and while this game can be played without paying anything, you should buy the month pass as this boosts your gaming experience.

GW2 and FFXIV are my go-tos, but I do have a soft spot for this one too. Decently made for the time period it came out.

Just dont go into it thinking World Of Warcraft, rush to max level and the game begins.. you will find epic adventures at every level in lotro. The main story line is very entertaining. Liked and Subscribed, hope to see more Lotro!

ty!

How did you fix the windowed screen issue?

I love Tolkien but I tried playing I can’t get past the controls it’s like point and click style I thought it was gonna be like eso in terms of mmo movement.

What did you think of the lag? I am a veteran player of this game and that is my main gripe about this game. Also sidenote, you play on the same server as me :)

Riding skill can be earned for free at a certain level. You don't have to buy, that's just for people that can't wait to become level 20

You dont have to buy the riding skill, you can get it the regular way around lvl 30-35 by having to beat a track on a horse within the time given to be given the riding skill.

Any LOTRO vet will tell you this MMO is 100% about the journey, not the end game. There are people who have played since release who still haven't reach max level.

I love Lotr and I just returned to the game yesterday though I am not a OG player I must say I have never seen a more empty world is this normal?

If I had time I would consider LOTRO but GW2 and other single player games occupy what little free time I have.

***TIP SAVING UI & RELOADING for other characters. Type the following without quotes once you have your UI set up to your liking... /UI LAYOUT SAVE "name" ...You change Save to Load for other characters. For "Name" I use the characters Class.*** 👍👍🤴⭐

The thing about new player experience is the store, wich makes you think basic things like riding skills and paid, i even bought the riding skill to realize like a month ago it could be earned. Everything can be earned if you follow a good rythm in the free content as far as i know, but yes, the game is great, if only ssg put a bit aside the store the first 10 or 20 levels because i felt like those levels where, strangely, where the focus of the propaganda for the store was wich isn't where you draw a line of interest in a player, such should around lvl 30 and foward.

It would be amazing still, if they just spent a bit of time updating and modernizing it. Love the game, but I hate that the UI doesn't scale past 1080p very well.

I really want to play this game but theres a problem. Idk why but when i try to create account its says sorry and then some error code. so i really dont know what to do and it would be nice if someone helped me❤. btw im from Georgia the country and idk it exactly but some people say that some countries are blacklisted so pls help me out❤

They also had MOBA called LOTR Conquest. but they scraped it. it has insane potential. total war arena was also removed. msot MOBA studios are totally otudated and only care about conqeust dota players. such a huge niche on the market

I've been playing this game since 2007. What a journey it has been. Regarding the mount skill, the conception of the original developers was that nobody could get a mount until they hit a certain level. I don't recall if it was level 20 or level 35, but it meant that every player had to walk or run everywhere. This was by design as they wanted to push the aspect of exploration the game had to offer. When the game went F2P, that is when the riding skill was placed behind a pay wall, although if you are VIP, you can still do the original quest that unlocked the riding skill for free by going to the Hengstacer Farm in Bree-land. I'm glad to see that players now have the ability to ramp up the game difficulty. In the early years of the game, it was notoriously difficult, and after a barrage of complaints from players that kept getting killed by bears and boars, the difficulty was dumbed down to the point where landscape combat was brainless. That is when I started to lose interest in the game. I have not yet tried adjusting the difficulty as I have been away from the game this year, and I believe this is a relatively recent development.

Lotro is a great game, it's gotten old of course. The worst, to me, is defintely the UI and the map. Those things really need an overhaul!

Are you planning to play ESO in your Journey to find the best mmo ?

"Note never to sleep in this game again" It won't happen for a long while, but Volume III Book 6 is waiting for you

New Lord of the Rings MMO in the making , enough said .... this game here is aged and no plans to upgrade to newer graphics engine to attract more people .. .

I got 6 characters riding skills by running around until the free skill.... suck it up. 😁 You didn't even check the crafting.. one of the best in an mmo

Wait til you get to Moria. You can spend a year in there.