An Introduction

A guide to Questing in Middle Earth

This is a guide to Questing in Middle-Earth. I hope that you find it useful - whilst levelling characters through LOTRO I have found that I often wish that there was a guide which would stop me turning in quests just to find out that the follow up of Quest A is actually right where I just went for Quest B.  This guide suggests a sensible order to do quests in and groups up quests in the same location to minimise the amount of time you spend running around from Point A to Point B.

This guide will take you through the same zones as the Epic quests where it is practical to do so.  Where it is not (usually because the zone through which the Epic passes is not the most efficient place to level) I will include a short guide to the Epic only.

Some General Hints for Free/Premium Players

• You get a free 24 hour (real time) horse in your welcome gift pack - keep this until you get to Bree and then use it to help you quest in your teens.  
• Get a horse as soon as you can.  To get a horse you need 95TP (to purchase the riding skill from the store) and 500 silver pieces (to get the actual horse).  As soon as you have both these things head to Bree-land and visit the Hengstacer Farm and buy a horse.
• You automatically get a bank vault, use this to store stuff!  More importantly - you can make it bigger than the 15 slots you start with; for 45 silver you can get 15 more slots - just click the button at the bottom of the bank screen (you can add further space for progressively more coins)
• Get a house as soon as you can - houses come with chests and chests give you shared storage for all your characters (on the same server) without having to spend TP. You can only have one house per-server and it is shared by all your characters.
• Hoard your TP until you have bought Evendim - buy your riding skill but then nothing else until you have the quest pack - the store offers lots of shiny things to buy but most of these are aimed at VIP subscribers who get 500 TP every month to spend. You have to earn yours through deeds and you can't progress beyond level 30 without buying quest packs so save your points for those.

The Road to Rivendell

Rivendell is in the east of the Trollshaws, if you don't quest in the Trollshaws you might find it difficult to get to so here is a guide on how to get to Rivendell!

Start in Bree.  Hopefully you know how to get to Bree as it is one of the first places you will quest. You can fast-travel (for free) to Bree from Thorin's Gate, Celondim and Michel Delving and if you have a personal house you can use "Travel to Personal House" to get back to one of these cities very quickly.

If you have already explored some of the eastern lands then the stable route from Bree to Rivendell is:

East Bree -> The Forsaken Inn -> Ost Guruth -> Rivendell

If you have no stable-routes yet then:

Make sure you have the East Bree stable route

Exit Bree through South Gate and follow the main road east into the Lone Lands

Take the Stable Route at The Forsaken Inn

Then follow the Great Eastern Road east until you see the ruined city of Ost Guruth to your north

Take the Stable Route at Ost Guruth

Return to the Great Eastern Road and continue east, across The Last Bridge and into The Trollshaws

Ride east through The Trollshaws until you see a rough path to the north (33.4,15.6) turn off the main route

Follow the track through the woods to the ruins of Thorenhad and talk to the stable-master Breglobor (31.7,15.0) to get the stable route.

Return to the path and continue east to the Ford of Bruinen

Climb up the bank on the far side

And turn left at the top

About half way along the ledge look for a path to your right with doubles-back on your route and heads up hill and take it

Take the upper-left path as you reach the top of the hill

And follow the path around to the left

When you come out onto open ground continue straight ahead and bear right around the rock formation

As you pass a Mustering Horn you will see the remains of an old flagstone path

Stay on the path and follow it through the hills

Until you reach  The Gates of Imladris

Head through the pass and down into Rivendell - you've made it!

Returning to Rivendell

Once you have discovered Rivendell there are a number of ways you can return quickly:

• Set your milestone to Rivendell!
• Purchase 'Return to Rivendell' from the LOTRO Store (295 TP, unlimited uses, lvl 10+)
• Purchase 'Map to Trollshaws - Rivendell' from the LOTRO Store (10 TP, one use, lvl 20+)
• Obtain 'Return to Ost Guruth' by achieving Kindred with the Eglain then take direct stable-route to Rivendell
• Hunters - Guide to Rivendell (lvl 46)
• Wardens - Muster in Rivendell (lvl 44) or Muster in Ost Guruth (lvl 26) and then take direct stable-route
• Elves - Return to Rivendell (Racial trait, lvl 29+ & Enmity of the Orcs 2)