Is there a way to bypass Moria?

[Hiney1]

Gandalf tried it. I don't recommend his method.

If he didn't "abuse his power" and break the bridge, it would make for a much quicker trek to the first hall and out into Lorien.

[delphinius81]

You should be able to hit ~53 just from doing Forochel, MM, and Angmar. Then move to Eregion and should be able to get to 55. If you have only been leveling while you have full rest xp, this gets much easier. The hard part is going from 55-57. If you have someone you can group with, then just go straight to Lothlorien. If not, you'll have to grind out skirmishes and deeds for a bit. Again, make sure you have rest xp! Once you hit 57, head to lothlorien and do the quests in the Dale. Be sure to grab the repeatable quests every chance you can for extra xp and needed rep. You can easily get to 62/63 from the various repeatable quests in the Dale and within the Wood.

My minstrel is 64 right now, and has only done gray quests in Moria, nothing in Mirkwood, and very minimal skirmishing. It is entirely possible.

[Nymphonic]

To the OP, I totally understand how you feel. I love Moria but man, I hate Angmar because that place depresses me. I do book 6 and then I get the heck out.

[DathKahRek]

Having been down this road with my main, I will tell you this, the effort lost not going into Moria is only exacerbated later on.

Perhaps my issue was that I tried to the do "minimum" of quests needed to do in an area in my attempt to reach level cap (which a friend of mine was at). In the end I realized the error of my ways in Mirkwood; at level 62 I had neither the needed legendary traits, nor the gear to really survive there.

I quickly realized that this problem went as far back as level 55, which I painstakingly tried to solo the Lorien repeatables because I hated Moria; it was depressing and confusing and I spent more time trying to get around than doing anything of value. The repeatables which I had been told were "Soloable" were FAR from it when considering my traits and gear.

The legendary trait issue is one that Moria wouldn't have solved by any means; I had to farm the mobs in Eregion, Angmar, Forochel or Goblin Town to get these "quickly". But that problem relates to Moria in the sense of how I have leveled through out much of the game; as quickly as I could, glancing through areas I hated.

In that respect, Pre-MoM LoTRO had options for me. Even after Moria there was some degree of choice in the matter; stick it out for 5 levels and head into Lorien instead. But anything even touched by MoM's hands and ESPECIALLY SO for SoM required due diligence in every area before it.

But my experience was greatly affected by my choices earlier on. And I would advocate not even entering Moria without at least a number legendary traits at one's disposal, let alone leaving.

And at the same time I would simply advocate dealing with it. Had I dealt with Moria and all its rewards, I may have spared myself at least a shred of heartache later on.

Added:

Or at least realized my need for legendary traits and virtues and grinded those out earlier...

[KitsuneGirl]

Actually you can leave Moria at 55, as long as you have someone to group with.

[Beldacar]

I'm at level 57 with one character has has done nothing in Moria except the start of Vol II to gain access and get his LI. (I prefer Pre-Moria LOTRO to Moria LOTRO, so am staying out of the Mines as long as possible)

Yes, you can bypass Moria if you like. No, you will not run out of things to do. No, you do not have to skirmish until your eyes bleed to keep leveling.

^^^THIS^^^

Though you will miss out on some class traits (as mentioned previously be someone else) and the quests that allow you to change the title on your "legendary" weapons.

My plan is to completely skip Moria except for the above.

[Lohi]

There's more than enough to keep you going up to level 52 ish if you do group content. You can head out to The dale at 57 ish. That leaves 52-57.

You could head to the dale at 45 if you really wanted to :-) Of course, combat will be tough, but 56 would be doable I would think for some characters.

Also you don't have to enter Moria either at 52. I've got a level 56 character who has never entered it and who hasn't done any Eregion quests. I suspect I can hit 57 easily just from remaining quests (I did run through enough to get stable routes).

[FyreBrand]

I think you're selling yourself short if you skip Moria. I'm not sure how many times the OP has been through, but my second and third times were much smoother and more enjoyable.

There are some key conveniences in Moria that you don't get until you hit Loth such as crafting and decent swift travel. Later on having the 21st swift travel from Loth is very nice. When you have to go back through to do epics it's very nice to have the other swift travel routes.

You don't have to spend a ton of time leveling there, but make sure you spend enough time there to get the goodies.

[BellusDuFenna]

When I first went through Moria (on an RK), by the time I left at 57 I was so sick of that pit that I swore I'd never level through there again, if I could at all avoid it. But now that I'm working on two Alts (a Mini and a WArden) that are approaching Moria, I'm actually looking forward to taking them through. So much so that I've pretty much stopped doing regular zone quests (other than those that I just happen to complete in my travels), in favor of Epic quests, daily Skirmishes, and killing appropriate mobs for Legendary pages.

Yes, this will be a little "grindy", but my hope is to complete all of Vol. 1 before entering Moria. I'll do enough of Vol. 2 to get my Legendary, but otherwise I'll be staying away from Vol. 2 quests and Moria itself. I'm interested to see how far I'll level doing it this way, and just how much of the Moria content I'll turn green or grey before getting to it. If it gets to be too much being missed, I'll probably adjust my strategy, but I hope not.

[Dunferth]

To the OP, I dunno if yer asking cuz you've already been through on a different character, but if not, MAN did I know how you feel. I was dreading Moria. HATED IT for the first few days, but as I kept plugging away, I was actually amazed at how HUGE it is. There are a variety of environments and the artwork is amazing. I soloed pretty much my entire way through it, and even though the place irked me MANY times, it was worth it for the views and rewards. I still have lots to do in there but I figure I can clean it up later when I'm done with Mirkwood. Figure it'll be a while before the next expansion anyway ;-)

[Westernesse]

My most recent char was a burglar. I entered Moria at 54, like 1 bar from 55. I didn't quite finish Mirobel otherwise I would of been 55. Ran DV/SL quests, hit 56. Then I went straight through 21st, then to the 1st hall and outside into the sunlight. I did loth to like 59.5, then started on mirkwood. I'm now 62 and doing fine.

So you can skip a lot of Moria. If I had of skirmished for like 1-1.5 levels I could of skipped all of it. I just wasn't really that motivated to skip it since moria is ok in my book. Loth offers much faster leveling though.

[Meijha]

Entered Moria at half way through 57 on my burg. Ran through the quests I knew, did the daily IXP instance at DV, skipped any quest that even began to irritate me, did NO group quests, did get Orc, Worm, Goblin and Spider Slayer and was out just into 59. I do not blame anyone who wants to skip Moria, and I think you can in fact ignore a lot of it.

Rest XP is great.

[Southpa]

Funny, those different strokes...

I'm taking an RK through Moria right now and have really been appreciating it after putting 3 toons through Mirkwood. Moria was awesome, really. The spaces are amazing IMO, but it's a maze in places and the mob density is pretty thick. You need patience to level through it.

Rather than taking my other 2 60's through Mirkwood, I decided I'd rather go back and start from 1 than do Mirkwood again - and I'm still not looking forward to it.

[Ceejay90]

I delay going to Moria untill forced to, then get to The Orc Watch and just grind there. Very lucrative area actually with a lot of LI drops, plus a good variety of other stuff including more "dwarf tools" for yet more LI's. I admit I do not mind a grind, but I do find that a profitable and quick area to level untill I can manage Lothlorien.
Do not bypass Moria totally but certainly pass through without too much of a problem, I do not quest in Moria
I have the advantage or a partner who will escort me to the major bind points and stables. Getting to the First Hall to enter Lothlorien is not a problem for me, with an escort.

[Comstrike]

I entered Eregion at lvl 51, made it to 56 before entering Moria, walked directly to the pre-Lorien zone where I leveled to 60. Just using the repeatables and some one-time quests, I've made it to 65 within Lorien.

All of this while doing little in Moria at all. I'm going back and working the Epics solo now. I'll likely, finally, begin to do the Shire as well. Truly you don't have to tow the line to level in this game.

[ursinuspip73]

You should be able to get to 54-55 before moria, then leave moria at 55.

Also, they increased the rep on the 4 elves quest, last time I did it I did not even have to wait the 2 hours

[Saxzon]

Farm the level 55 signatures in breeland...

Yea, that'd get old... but it'd be something to do.

I think there are like 4 to 6 daily quests associated with them.

[hucklebarry]

Several of my characters were 54 when they finally entered Moria. Two left by the east exit at 55. You can start doing quests in the Lothlorien area at 55.

This is sort of what I did on my Guard, but I like Moria so I went back. I hit Eregion and Forchel until 45 when I did the LI bit, and then went straight to Loth at 55. The Loth grind has been drastically reduced so I only had to do each quest once to gain entrance to Loth proper which grants immediate access to mirkwood. I finished the mirk intro at 58. I barely touched Forchel and have 2 quest camps plus about 12 group quests unfinished in Angmar. All this to say, I think there is plenty of on-level content and a possible path to skip parts of the game you don't enjoy.

[Ualtar]

Has anybody ever totally skipped Moria and not even gotten a Legendary?

[redwoodtreesprite]

Has anybody ever totally skipped Moria and not even gotten a Legendary?

LOL, you have to get your first Legendary to enter Moria. And you can't get through Moria to Lothlorien unless you actually go through Moria.

[Ualtar]

LOL, you have to get your first Legendary to enter Moria. And you can't get through Moria to Lothlorien unless you actually go through Moria.

Was thinking a Captain stands on the other side of Moria and summons me, thus allowing me to never step foot in that dark festering hole.

[KitsuneGirl]

Im not sure, but I think you have to actually be able to go into Moria before you can leave it (go to Nimrodel)...

Would be nice if you could bypass Moria if you did it already. I did it once as a Warden and by 54 I couldnt wait to get out of the place for good... I still go back in for this and that, and because of some quests I want to finish.

[Herohtar]

Was thinking a Captain stands on the other side of Moria and summons me, thus allowing me to never step foot in that dark festering hole.

It will say you don't meet the requirements or something along those lines. You also can't summon people into Lothlorien or Mirkwood this way.

[JeanCarlo]

LOL, you have to get your first Legendary to enter Moria.

Correct.

And you can't get through Moria to Lothlorien unless you actually go through Moria.

Unless this is a new thing... Incorrect. As long as you can Access Moria (i.e. finish V2B1) which includes getting your 1st LI, you can get to Lothlorien without "physically" going through Moria.

[Netherous]

My character is currently 57 and I haven't touched Moria except to get the LI for completing the epic quest in volume 1. I still have a ton more content that I could do.

I haven't even been inside CD or Uru yet. I still haven't finished Volume 1. I haven't even run a skirmish since 35. I rarely have any rested xp. It looks to me like there's enough content to skip as much of Moria as you want.