Choosing which quests to skip

[lab-rat]

I just thought that I would ask if anyone has any suggestions for which quests to skip so that your level does not get ahead of the content. Things like not going out of your way for one quest unless the reward is really good. Also, in regions where some of the quests also give rep, I tend to avoid trying to complete quests that don't have some rep unless I happen to complete them as doing others.

So what are your suggestions for choosing which quest to do and which to skip.

[Lothic]

If I were you I'd do everything I can because there's more than a few level bumps where you'll find yourself either needing to find missing quest hubs or grinding out the remainder of a level so you can unlock quests in a different area.

I've been on my 75 a while, but if I recall the bumps I encountered were around: lvl 37, lvl 44, lvl 56 (I swear Moria only has 5 levels of content (without grouping)), and lvl 74

If in doubt just google the quest and see if the quest chain and rewards are worth your effort.

[Schijnn]

With my current character, a runekeeper, I haven't skipped any quests. In fact, I did the starting areas of all four races. By the time she hits 75, I plan to be able to say that she's completed every quest in the game.

So, which quests should you skip? Particularly if this is your only character, the answer is simple: None.

[Myrdyrwar]

I generally try to not skip any quests, but it depends on what you are wanting out of the game. On my main, I have quests that aren't completed yet and entire zones that I haven't started yet, but I didn't skip them, just haven't gotten to them yet. I want to experience all the content I possibly can, so I'll do them eventually In general though, you should do the quests that fit your playstyle, if you like soloing, then run through the more solo friendly areas such as Forochel, if you like group content then hit up Angmar. I also found that when starting with Moria, if you follow the epic story and grab all the quests in the hub that the storyline sends you to, then you can decide which ones you want to do, while you do the epics, then cancel the rest as you leave to another part of Moria. That in mind, I also will go back and do quests in the starter areas and bree and the shire and such cause even though I won't get any XP from them, some give rep and others at least help point you in the right direction to get deeds done and since on my Main I want as many deeds, quests, and titles completed as possible (sometimes OCD is fun ) I'll go and do the quests simply because it makes me happy to have as close ot 100% of everything done as possible on my main at least. And what I can't get on my main, I'll get on at least one of my alts.

[Hrefntor]

If the quests go green and I have plenty more to choose from, I drop the green ones. The reward from them is rarely worth it by that stage and I can save them for an alt to do later.

[Lohi]

I keep the green ones, and grey! The point is to get less XP and not more, thus the whole point of skipping quests. Generally it helps to do the lower level quests first and save the ones that give more XP until later. If you do it the other way around you will out level them faster.

Overall, always skip the crafting quests you get at very low level. Not really worth it and you'll get a full level by doing them. If you want the easy crafting materials then create an alt to do the quests for you. Next, skip the "vector" quests. The ones that just send you to a new zone. Accept the quests but don't turn them in; this way they're in your log as a reminder of the next zone to go to. And skip any quest that is marked as repeatable, or is a bounty quest.

It's easier second time around since you know which quests are in chains and which are single on-offs.

[RJFerret]

Quests that are part of chains have the chain name underneath the quest name in your quest log.

I tend to skip the grindy quests, that are just 'kill x number of x' unless I also need drops from it, or to kill other things in the same area.

If you don't skip about a third of the quests, you'll quickly out-level an area and there will be no point/fun in doing the remaining ones, as they will no longer be challenging, and not give you much of any XP, so just a waste of time if they aren't story driven.

The other option, skip by level. That's what I'm doing now, I do the quests that are a level above me, which gives me a couple levels, so I then skip a level and do the quests that are above again.

The game gives SO much experience (even without rest XP), I really wish there was a way to pause earning it a bit so you could fully enjoy an area before you were totally over-powered for it, and it becomes a mindless time sink.



"Sometimes survival comes down to not being hit. Actually, most times." -the chicken skill, Bob and Weave

[SuaronTehMighty]

Doesn't the game have a "halt experience gain" option now for this purpose? Never tried it myself, just heard it's there.

[Zombielord]

Usually I'll pick quests in the following order: Reputation, rewards and exp.

If it's just a measly +300 and requires me to kill elites or run around for hours collecting things off elites, I'll skip. If the item reward has a nice cosmetic look, I might be tempted to give it a shot, despite the lower level.

As Lothic said already, there are situations where you feel you're too weak to move to a new zone, but run out of quests.

On my toons, it was usually once I got Lone Lands done (surprisingly ND can be great for a level or two in this situation), the time once you can grab your LI (which is 45) and starting Moria at 51/52ish. Moria can be fun till lvl 60 ... if give it a chance

[Yege]

Go there, I will be there

[Yula_the_Mighty]

Doesn't the game have a "halt experience gain" option now for this purpose? Never tried it myself, just heard it's there.

Not yet. Turbine started to roll it out back in 2011 maybe 9 months ago. It did not survive the attempt to put on a shelf in the Lotro Store. Apparently it was a timed item. It appeared to only halt your advancement for an hour of game play.

The bunny was expecting some sort of toggle. Either a character option or a necklace like the one we got with the Rise of Isengard expansion preorder. Either free or a one time payment for unlimited use.

I have not seen any official statement what if any are the current plans.

[Taitumhaze]

I tend to get every quest that I'm able to, but then again I'm just starting out. If I were to skip quests I would take a look at the deeds and try to figure from there whether or not to accept them.

It could just be me but I like having all of those little seals filled up.

[Myrdyrwar]

I agree. I like to do the quests that give rep first since it can ge to be a real pain to grind out rep items off of mobs to get Kindred to purchase/recieve X item (I'm looking at you Sarnur). Like I said before, I'm a completionist and since I'm still leveling my main and not even at 65 yet, I try to grab ll the quests in a hub and then decide which ones to drop when I am ready to move on as I follow the Epic storyline. It's kinda difficult to do in Vol.1 what with all the travelling around and the fact that the last half is pretty much 50 all the way through it and all over Eriador but with Vol 2 if you follow the epics and quest in the hubs that you have to go to, then Moria is good fun, I spent almost 12 whole levels on my toon in Moria and had a blast, still not done either since I've only just gotten out of the eastern gate. But I also am looking to get all deeds done, and I see lots of quests that if you plan a little in advance will help accomplish a good portion of your deeds.

[Nymphonic]

I always go for the "fun" factor. For example, I'm sick and tired of Lonelands.

[richsabre]

I always go for the "fun" factor. For example, I'm sick and tired of Lonelands.

lonelands is my least favourite area- both in adaption from the books and playability

id have 100 more shire quests over that any day

[djheydt]

Doesn't the game have a "halt experience gain" option now for this purpose? Never tried it myself, just heard it's there.

People have asked for it from time to time, but I don't think it ever got put in.

[Myrdyrwar]

I agree with you about the fun factor. IMHO though I have yet to encounter anything that hasn't been fun, sure some of the zones are a little tedious, mainly the beginner areas, but I had a blast once i reached the areas that aren't quite so travelled by most players at least not regularly. I loved the less civilized areas like the Lonelands, Angmar, Eregion, and Forochel. Hell I'm even having a good time now that Moria is opened up completely to me and I have access to all the Instances and Skirmishes and Raids that unlock between levels 50 and 60, although it's kind of a drag that during the time I play (usually weekdays during the daytime) there is less player traffic and the players that are there are usually only interested in runnign Isengard stuff or the Grand Stairs, Turtle, and Watcher. There isn't anything wrong with any of that, but since I'm starting to like instances and raids (I"m much more of a loner than a multiplayer), I enjoy finding groups even if they are PUG to run multiplayer content. Unfortunately my kinnies and other friends I've made are not realy all that online when I am or are busy doing end-game stuff (Speed-runs in the Foundry being a big one) which is kind of a downer since turbine worked hard to make all kinds of instances and raids and being a long-time gamer I'm having fun, and I'm discoverign how much fun raiding and instances are with the right people doing it, yet so mush content is ignored by way of not being end-game stuff. Makes it hard as hell to run any instance or raid above level 50 or so because mostly you can't solo them and you also can't find enough people to run them with you because a lot of experienced players that I meet are jaded and won't run them either because they aren't Isengard material or they aren't scaled to 75, which sucks cause I"m not 75 and even when I get to 75 I won't be able to run all the instances or raids I want solo, which I have had to do with some of the lower level content since the only people on Nimrodel I could find who wanted to run some stuff was my brother(a lifer) who would duo some things with me because he knows how hard it is to find people to run a full instance or raid. I don't mind much because there is plenty of fun content that I do enjoy soloing, but how are you suppossed to enjoy ND or the Deep Delvings or HoM or WW or 16th Hall or any other mid to high level content without a group when you can't solo them at 75 usually and you can't find a group to run them with you? Sorry, just a little off topic, but food for thought. I love Nimrodel and playing there and always keep my fingers crossed that one day I'll log in and decide I want to run X or Y or The Rift in particular and will have enough people to actually go through and enjoy it LOL.

[Lohi]

lonelands is my least favourite area- both in adaption from the books and playability

I liked the original Lone Lands. But the revamp has made it too smooth and slick. No decisions to make, no group quests (optional or not), illogical quest hubs tossed in just to make sure the player never has to run more than a few feet, etc.

[Myrdyrwar]

I loved the Lone-lands, not as much as the Misty Mountains or Angmar or Forochel, but I did like them especially since that's the first zone you can get to that makes you really feel what the rest of Middle-Earth is all about. I mean The Shire and Bree-Land are pretty and all, but in all reality they are pretty much the only "heavily populated" areas in the entire North acording to the lore. Everywhere else is desolated or populated with the hordes of the enemy and it makes questing and wandering through all those areas fantastic and fun. Hell, the game reminds me of back in the day when you could take an old rpg and pop it into your NES and play and you'd have to grind the #### outta the enemies just so you could barely scrape by the next big boss battle, then rinse and repeat through the rest of the game. It's good fun in my book.

[richsabre]

i think its because it couldnt be further away from my reckoning of the lone lands from the book- just a personal thing i guess. yeah it has the wilderness and bleakness, its just too yellow , i mean far too yellow. it hurts my eyes- maybe my monitors out ;D also the red swamp areas are a bit far fetched, even for a game that was built around an active angmar. i just think they could have made it interesting and still run with the rest of middle earth
but im going off topic now

[Myrdyrwar]

I agree Rich, it's very, very yellow and Agamaur and Garth Agarwen are really, really hard to see because of how red they are, but hell Western Angmar is really grey, eastern angmar is mostly orangish, the Misty Mountains and Forochel are so white that without turning the brightness down they give me a headache after being there for a long period of time (Same with ered Luin even though it's mostly grey) and The Shire and Bree-Lands are too nauseatingly green for my tastes
And I know I'm off topic, but I'll pretty much gab about anything as long as it provides me a break from writing this paper LMAO

[phaiLbuS]

If you are VIP, then you will NOT run out of areas to level. There are no more humps in leveling, since the Evendim update, 30-40 is a breeze. The so called moria hump at 56 is only if you skip forochel or most of eregion. There are also almost 5 areas to quest at level 40. Misty Mountains, Trollshaws, Angmar Earth Kin Camp and the other angmar camp in the south west.

[Myrdyrwar]

If you are VIP, then you will NOT run out of areas to level. There are no more humps in leveling, since the Evendim update, 30-40 is a breeze. The so called moria hump at 56 is only if you skip forochel or most of eregion. There are also almost 5 areas to quest at level 40. Misty Mountains, Trollshaws, Angmar Earth Kin Camp and the other angmar camp in the south west.

^^This.^^

Pretty much through the entire game there are at least two zones for each level bracket until you hit the cap at 75 in Dunland. Even the starter zones are interchangable as far as leveling goes once you get out of the starter instances, useful for alts as you can go quest whereever you are comfortable questing at until you get to the high 60's then you pretty much have to go to Enedwaith and Dunland from what I understand. But everywhere else in the game you get a choice to level as you like, as long as you don't mind the fact that for a few levels in the mid-fifties you pretty much have to go into Moria, but you cna grind out enough levels before Moria to make a trip into moria as short or as logn as you want, because the quests on the East side of Moria aren't that many levels higher than the quests on the west side.

Come to think of it though, with Eregion, Moria, Lothlorien, Mirkwood, Enedwaith, and some extent Dunland, you still ahve two zones to level in, but unlike lower level zones where you can level simultaneously (i.e. Evendim or North Downs as the quest ranges are the same) the later zones ^ are more overlapping the further east and south you travel.

[Lothic]

If you are VIP, then you will NOT run out of areas to level. There are no more humps in leveling, since the Evendim update, 30-40 is a breeze. The so called moria hump at 56 is only if you skip forochel or most of eregion. There are also almost 5 areas to quest at level 40. Misty Mountains, Trollshaws, Angmar Earth Kin Camp and the other angmar camp in the south west.

I completed both those zones in my 40s (including Angmar) and encountered the Moria hump at 56 on two characters. In fact I encountered it at almost every level in Moria until I left the place...I can't recall where I saw it but somebody did the math and found that there was only enough XP to get somebody to level 57 without doing instances.

PS. I've found the people that claim that there are no level humps are running the occasional instance...not a bad thing, but you gotta take that into account and the fact that there are loads of people that like to solo.

PPS. I actually loved Moria...I just wish there was a little more solo content

[Myrdyrwar]

I completed both those zones in my 40s (including Angmar) and encountered the Moria hump at 56 on two characters. In fact I encountered it at almost every level in Moria until I left the place...I can't recall where I saw it but somebody did the math and found that there was only enough XP to get somebody to level 57 without doing instances.

PS. I've found the people that claim that there are no level humps are running the occasional instance...not a bad thing, but you gotta take that into account and the fact that there are loads of people that like to solo.

PPS. I actually loved Moria...I just wish there was a little more solo content

And I had the complete opposite result, I didn't hit any level humps at all and I"m still going strong at 62. I like to solo almost exclusively, but I do admit to doing some skirms with my bro's toon and duoing some things here and there with him and doing a handful of instances in Moria, but hell the only real instance that mattered to me leveling in Moria was when I got all 16 or 17 of the Umbrella quests to do a full run on the Grand Stairs which was good fun, turning in those quests actually put me at 60 from 59, so I pretty much solo'ed (or duo'ed) most of Moria and it was not hard at all. I entered Moria at 52 or maybe 53 because I was finally getting a bit worn-out on Eriador, and only recently exited from the East Side at 61 and nabbed 62 at the first hub. But all in all unless I"m duoing with my bro, I love soloing and in Moria if you go to as many quest hubs as you can stand and do all the solo quests in each one, you won't hit a hump, but like I said I also entered moria for the first time at 52 or 53 from Eregion, cause Eregion is awesome and you can easily get three to five levels by doing a majority of the quests there...