This was a well-written diary, but I have to question the decision to revamp starting areas for Book 7. As was pointed out above, the MoM launch was probably the best chance looking a year back and a year forward to do this and actually have an impact on a large number of new players. I suppose this is an attempt to lock in the people that started with Moria and are wondering whether to roll some alts?

As far as the changes, most of them sound good, but apart from not being quite as interesting as Archet I didn't have many complaints after running the EL starter several times. Were people really quitting the game because they had to run from Breghold to Frerin's? The Gear quests are a pain, but the fact that they are spread all over Ered Luin is appropriate for the quest line story.

I do look forward to someday getting an 8th character slot so that I can roll an Elf Hunter and see what has changed. I just wonder what other improvements (brand new content, bug fixes, balancing, etc.) could have been made with these resources instead.


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