GUIDE: New to LOTRO - hints and tips

[beatusille]

Thank you very much for your answers, now I understand.

See you in game (maybe).

[Tralfazz]

Hi, Thornelas! When you have some time, I hope you'll update the Legendary Items section of your excellent beginner's guide. An entry for Brawlers would be good to add, too. There are a few very minor things but I'll save those notes for another time once I'm sure you're still around.

This guide really needs to be stickied so that new players can find it more easily!

[Thornelas]

Guide updated 02Dec2021. Change log below:

• Table of contents: updated subtitles section 8 after reworking LI section
• Section 1: added definition for deconstructing items with the Flame of Ancalamír
• Section 3.2: added brawler class
• Section 4.3: clarified jump from virtue xp to traits
• Section 4.3, virtues in list: added quests as source for virtue xp
• Section 4.3, racial traits in list: added Caras Galadhon and Grimbeorn's Lodge as racial trait travel destinations
• Section 5.2: clarified what to do in case of stuck bug where character is not standing still
• Section 5.4: added selling of crafting materials on auction as a source of gold
• Section 6.1: added many corrections with more info about premium housing, and clarifications on the difference between classic - premium housing
• Section 6.2: added VIP buffs to the list with VIP benefits
• Section 6.3, Do's list: added new bullet to encourage purchasing character slots
• Section 6.3, Don'ts list: corrected level targets of valar packages
• Section 6.4: added PrimePlugin
• Section 7.2: clarified that not all professions are used at level cap any more
• Section 7.3: made list of crafting tiers numbered for easier tracking, added Gundabad tier
• Section 7.3: added paragraph explaining multi-outcome recipes
• Section 7.4: corrected that players can now join more than 1 guild
• Section 7.4: added Ithil tier to guild reputation levels
• Section 7.4: added guild NPC location in Estolad Lan
• Section 7.4: removed LI benefits of crafting guilds
• Section 8: complete re-write of 8.2 - 8.4 with new LI system
• Section 9.4: removed LI rewards from reasons to run skirms
• Section 10.2: clarified that EB specializations work similarly to trait trees
• Section 10.2: clarified that repairing equipment is vital to finish with high merit
• Section 10.4: removed LI rewards from reasons to run EBs
• Throughout the guide: small changes to improve clarity, correctness and flow of the document

As always, feel free to suggest more corrections/clarifications/additions

Hi, Thornelas! When you have some time, I hope you'll update the Legendary Items section of your excellent beginner's guide. An entry for Brawlers would be good to add, too. There are a few very minor things but I'll save those notes for another time once I'm sure you're still around.

This guide really needs to be stickied so that new players can find it more easily!

Well, I had been thinking of updating for some time but never made the time to actually do it - feel free to poke me if you think an update is due

As for the sticky... Same as above, it's not me who can do that

[Ereglam]

I just read through your guide which is really awsome...

6. Other stuff
...
6.4 Plugins

Plugins are additional software you can download from the internet to improve your gaming experience in LOTRO. There are hundreds of them and I will not describe them all, just a few of the ones that I use.

You can find plugins on this webpage, with description, rating, file size and more. To start with, you might want to download the LOTRO plugin compendium. It’s not a plugin, but a piece of software to manage the plugins you have installed and to install new ones, or updates to your installed plugins. You can find the compendium here.

After you installed the plugin compendium, open it and go to the “Add new plugins” tab. There you can find a whole bunch of plugins for LOTRO. To install one, check the box next to its name and click the “add” button. After the selected plugins have been installed, it’s good to go to the “installed plugins” tab and perform an update in case there are newer versions available. You will need to load those plugins in the game, which can be done through the plugins manager (type “/plugins manager” in the chatbox) or by typing “plugin load <plugin name>”.

A short description of some plugins that I use:

Buffbars

Buffbars is a really useful tool, there’s a lot to explain so this video might show you what this plugin is capable of. Please don’t try to copy the settings you see in this video because the options menu has completely changed. It’s not hard to use though, you’ll be able to use everything easily enough (I think… Otherwise, feel free to ask me for help!).

Combat Analysis

Ever since I started teaming up with a hunter on my champ, I felt the need to become better and compare my stats to others (mainly because I didn’t know back then that DPS should not be compared so strongly between classes). Combat Analysis is THE plugin you need when you have this need as well. When enabled, it allows you to track an awful lot of details during a fight (amount of damage dealt, dps, number of crit hits, % of total damage you dealt in your fellowship etc… and that’s only the outgoing damage tab, there is also a tab for incoming damage, outgoing healing and power). It’s really easy to use so I’m not gonna spend more time describing it here .

Songbook

This might be a lame plugin for a lot of you, and it is not used very much outside of the roleplaying servers. Basically, it allows you to play songs on your musical instruments (lute, drums, flute, harp etc, you can buy these at a bard) without having to type the commands in the chatbox each time. It also supports synchronized playing and swapping instruments easily. To play a song, you need to have it saved in the My Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online/Music folder (.abc files), and you need to build a library for Songbook so it knows where to look for the .abc files. To do so, look for the Songbook.hta file under (My Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online/Plugins/Chiran), and run it. Don’t forget to repeat this each time you add a new .abc file to your collection! Players who perform in a band together with other players often use the Lyrical plugin, but I have no experience with that one. Also note that non-minstrel characters will need to be taught how to use most instruments, either by a minstrel or by an item which grants you the passive skill.

TonicBars

TonicBars is a nice plugin that allows you to add extra quickslots to the UI, and even edit settings so your custom quickslots won’t show until you trigger them with a certain action. It might be a bit complicated to set up, so this video will explain it for you. It may not be very useful yet at lower levels, but once you reach level 30ish, it will surely come in handy. For instance, I have 2 extra quickslot bars on my LM: one just for my numerous pet skills, and one for various other skills like mounts, travel skills, crafting resource tracking and so forth. When I hover over the bear in my pet quickslot bar, a new bar will slide out and show me all the different bear forms I can summon, similar for my other pets species, my ports etc.

PrimePlugin

Often referred to as “Prime”, this plugin is intended for the more advanced players who want to dive deeper into higher difficulty raids. It will keep track of skill timers, cooldowns, buffs, debuffs and more. All that not only for you, but for your fellowship/raid and even enemies! For instance, Prime may shout at you during the middle of a fight to remove a critical poison from one of your fellow players, or warn you that the boss you’re fighting is about to spawn a new wave of adds. Very useful, but not so much for a newer player who is not yet doing any group content.

...

With BuffBar and TonicBars I wonder if they are still useful (in 2021) as they are both listed in the "outdated" category?
The others I didn't check as they didn't sound interesting to me...

[Thornelas]

With BuffBar and TonicBars I wonder if they are still useful (in 2021) as they are both listed in the "outdated" category?
The others I didn't check as they didn't sound interesting to me...

Thanks for the compliment!

As for the plugins, perhaps these 2 did not receive any updates recently but I still use them all the time and they work fine for me. Of course, nobody can guarantee that they will continue to work as the devs keep updating the game.

Eventually there may be some change to a part of code that breaks the plugins. I do not look forward to that day but that could happen to any plugin of which the maker no longer keeps it updated.

[Tralfazz]

With BuffBar and TonicBars I wonder if they are still useful (in 2021) as they are both listed in the "outdated" category?
The others I didn't check as they didn't sound interesting to me...

As for the plugins, perhaps these 2 did not receive any updates recently but I still use them all the time and they work fine for me. Of course, nobody can guarantee that they will continue to work as the devs keep updating the game.

Eventually there may be some change to a part of code that breaks the plugins. I do not look forward to that day but that could happen to any plugin of which the maker no longer keeps it updated.

BuffBars has two update patches from different authors which have kept it working well to this day. I was using it just a few minutes ago!

First, install BuffBars:
https://www.lotrointerface.com/downl...nfo.php?id=361

Then, install this update over that:
https://www.lotrointerface.com/downl...fo.php?id=1000

Finally, install this update over that:
https://www.lotrointerface.com/downl...fo.php?id=1155

I do not use TonicBars so I can't provide any information about that one.

[Ereglam]

Thanks for the compliment!

As for the plugins, perhaps these 2 did not receive any updates recently but I still use them all the time and they work fine for me. Of course, nobody can guarantee that they will continue to work as the devs keep updating the game.

Eventually there may be some change to a part of code that breaks the plugins. I do not look forward to that day but that could happen to any plugin of which the maker no longer keeps it updated.

I got BuffBar to load and display buffs allright, but TonicBar ends loading attempt with a "...of the Rings Online\Plugins\Tonic\TonicBars \Main.lua:7: Unable to resolve package "Tonic.Utils.Type"" error... :-(

[Ereglam]

I got BuffBar to load and display buffs allright, but TonicBar ends loading attempt with a "...of the Rings Online\Plugins\Tonic\TonicBars \Main.lua:7: Unable to resolve package "Tonic.Utils.Type"" error... :-(

Solution:
version 9.1 of TonicBar wasn't installed properly via the PlugIn compendium. After having copied the files from the archive to the plugin folder manually I now can load and use the TonicBar...

[Tralfazz]

It's a sticky! Terrific, finally an actual contemporary starter guide for new players that will always be at the top.

[Mirdham]

Hello, I have read whole description and one thing is missing for me. How to identify new LI with Forge Master. When I look on old YouTube viedos, when you pick ForgeMaster you have two options Identigy or Reforge. Problem is that when I try to use Forge Master I have only Refore Option. Therefore I have two LI that I earned during game which I canno't use as they require identification. How can I do it then?

[Tralfazz]

Hello, I have read whole description and one thing is missing for me. How to identify new LI with Forge Master. When I look on old YouTube viedos, when you pick ForgeMaster you have two options Identigy or Reforge. Problem is that when I try to use Forge Master I have only Refore Option. Therefore I have two LI that I earned during game which I canno't use as they require identification. How can I do it then?

You need to go to The Last Homely House in Rivendell. On the second floor you will find Gobeth Teithian, the Archive of Traceries. If you are a VIP subscriber you can invoke the reforge UI using the 48-hour subscriber Town Services device. But you should probably go to the traceries room anyway because that is where you can barter for traceries and enhancement runes.

[Gandolf_TheOld]

Hello, I have read whole description and one thing is missing for me. How to identify new LI with Forge Master. When I look on old YouTube viedos, when you pick ForgeMaster you have two options Identigy or Reforge. Problem is that when I try to use Forge Master I have only Refore Option. Therefore I have two LI that I earned during game which I canno't use as they require identification. How can I do it then?

It sounds like you are watching videos about the old LI system. Just recently, the LI system was completely changed, making all the old information and videos obsolete.


Information on the new LI System released with update U30.3 is below

LOTRO Online - Your New Legendary Items Explained

DADI'S LOTRO GUIDES - New Legendary System (30.3)

LOTRO Guides for the Casually Hardcore - New Legendary Item System (30.3)

Lotro-Wiki - Tracery

[egarthur]

You need to go to The Last Homely House in Rivendell. On the second floor you will find Gobeth Teithian, the Archive of Traceries.

It should be noted that any forge-master will work, other than a couple (in Forges of Rivendell and the crafting area of Thorin's Hall) that are disabled along a particular sequence in the Walls of Moria questline.

But, the question wasn't so much "where is a forge-master I can use?" as it was "why can't I identify an LI?", and the answer -- as others have provided -- is that new LIs don't need "identification". That, along with "slotting", is an obsolete, old-LI thing. With the new system, one goes directly from acquisition to reforge.

Also, "first floor" and "second floor" have different meanings to different people in different parts of the world. For the vertical location of the Archive, I prefer saying either

• one floor (or level) up
• middle floor (or level), or
• directly above the Hall of Fire

in order to prevent ambiguity/confusion.

[egarthur]

A few quick suggestions about the LI guide:

1. In the first paragraph, you mention that one can get LIs from the Walls of Moria questline, but then the second paragraph immediately starts talking about bartering for new LIs in Archive of Traceries. Why would someone ever barter for LIs in the Archive, if they got "free" LIs from the Walls of Moria questline? A few reasons come to mind:
   
   • Character did the Walls of Moria questline under the old LI system. But you've designated anything to do with the old system as obsolete, and not to be talked about
   • Player wants more than one set of LIs. Bit of a niche case, especially for new players, but perhaps this possibility should be spelled out?
   • Player is not satisfied with the weapon choices offered by the quest. Again, a bit of a niche case, but should probably be spelled out
2. For the love of <whomever, whatever>, please recommend the shift-doubleclick method of opening the LI tracery panel. I know this is partly a matter of personal preference, but as far as I'm concerned, dragging LIs around to "flame icons" is for the birds. Every single person that I've seen confused by "drag to the flame icon", I've recommended shift-doubleclick, and they instantly "get it". So, from my sampling, it seems more intuitive. It wouldn't hurt to mention that shift-doubleclick works for socketed items and essences, too.
3. Rather than just saying to reforge "every few levels", I'd spell it out. After the initial reforge, the other opportunities are: the 1s and 6s (e.g. 71, 96), 56 through 136, plus some of the old level caps, 100, 105, and 120.
4. As I've pointed out in another post to this thread, "second floor" (to identify the vertical location of the Archive of Traceries) means different things to different people in different parts of the world. Alternatives: one floor up, middle floor, directly above Hall of Fire.

[Thornelas]

First off - thanks to the people who were replying to this thread in the past few weeks - for some reason I was not getting any notifications about replies in my mailbox, and I don't check the forum regularly so I was completely unaware.

A few quick suggestions about the LI guide:

1. In the first paragraph, you mention that one can get LIs from the Walls of Moria questline, but then the second paragraph immediately starts talking about bartering for new LIs in Archive of Traceries. Why would someone ever barter for LIs in the Archive, if they got "free" LIs from the Walls of Moria questline? A few reasons come to mind:
   
   • Character did the Walls of Moria questline under the old LI system. But you've designated anything to do with the old system as obsolete, and not to be talked about
   • Player wants more than one set of LIs. Bit of a niche case, especially for new players, but perhaps this possibility should be spelled out?
   • Player is not satisfied with the weapon choices offered by the quest. Again, a bit of a niche case, but should probably be spelled out
   
   
2. For the love of <whomever, whatever>, please recommend the shift-doubleclick method of opening the LI tracery panel. I know this is partly a matter of personal preference, but as far as I'm concerned, dragging LIs around to "flame icons" is for the birds. Every single person that I've seen confused by "drag to the flame icon", I've recommended shift-doubleclick, and they instantly "get it". So, from my sampling, it seems more intuitive. It wouldn't hurt to mention that shift-doubleclick works for socketed items and essences, too.
3. Rather than just saying to reforge "every few levels", I'd spell it out. After the initial reforge, the other opportunities are: the 1s and 6s (e.g. 71, 96), 56 through 136, plus some of the old level caps, 100, 105, and 120.
4. As I've pointed out in another post to this thread, "second floor" (to identify the vertical location of the Archive of Traceries) means different things to different people in different parts of the world. Alternatives: one floor up, middle floor, directly above Hall of Fire.

Thank you for the suggestions. I currently don't have much time to edit the guide but you definitely have some good points. When my schedule frees up again, I will see about making a new revision.

As for the shift double click method... I was completely unaware that this was even possible, so THANK YOU! As I said, I don't have much free time at the moment so a lot of what I wrote about the new LI system in the guide was based on initial impressions and feedback from my kinship. I will definitely start recommending this method instead of the dragging to the flame icon.

[Thornelas]

Minor update 26Jan2022

Change log:

- Reworked last paragraph of section 8.1
- Reworked first paragraph of section 8.4

A few quick suggestions about the LI guide:

1. In the first paragraph, you mention that one can get LIs from the Walls of Moria questline, but then the second paragraph immediately starts talking about bartering for new LIs in Archive of Traceries. Why would someone ever barter for LIs in the Archive, if they got "free" LIs from the Walls of Moria questline? A few reasons come to mind:
   
   • Character did the Walls of Moria questline under the old LI system. But you've designated anything to do with the old system as obsolete, and not to be talked about
   • Player wants more than one set of LIs. Bit of a niche case, especially for new players, but perhaps this possibility should be spelled out?
   • Player is not satisfied with the weapon choices offered by the quest. Again, a bit of a niche case, but should probably be spelled out
   
   
2. For the love of <whomever, whatever>, please recommend the shift-doubleclick method of opening the LI tracery panel. I know this is partly a matter of personal preference, but as far as I'm concerned, dragging LIs around to "flame icons" is for the birds. Every single person that I've seen confused by "drag to the flame icon", I've recommended shift-doubleclick, and they instantly "get it". So, from my sampling, it seems more intuitive. It wouldn't hurt to mention that shift-doubleclick works for socketed items and essences, too.
3. Rather than just saying to reforge "every few levels", I'd spell it out. After the initial reforge, the other opportunities are: the 1s and 6s (e.g. 71, 96), 56 through 136, plus some of the old level caps, 100, 105, and 120.
4. As I've pointed out in another post to this thread, "second floor" (to identify the vertical location of the Archive of Traceries) means different things to different people in different parts of the world. Alternatives: one floor up, middle floor, directly above Hall of Fire.

Just incorporated your suggestions in a minor update - thanks again for pointing them out.

@all readers: feel free to poke me again if I missed something (send a private message if I don't post a reply within 2 days or so, I may not have received a reply notification). I don't always have much time to update the guide but I will make a note and get to it eventually!

[padawanbeck]

Minor update 26Jan2022


@all readers: feel free to poke me again if I missed something (send a private message if I don't post a reply within 2 days or so, I may not have received a reply notification). I don't always have much time to update the guide but I will make a note and get to it eventually!

Hello.

I'm fairly new here, only started playing during the Anniversary event (and this is my first post on this forum!). I'm an LM Elf, Historian vocation and while the Farming and Scholar parts of that vocation are going well, Weaponsmith is lagging behind due to not being able to find Bronze Ingots. So far, I've only been given it from a couple of early quests, but am not sure where to find it on a regular basis.

Some people suggest trying the Auction Houses, but I'm also thinking of creating a second character who would have Prospector as part of their vocation. I know it's fairly common for people to have more than one character/toon - but how would I connect those characters in terms of one being able to send or store materials for the other to access? Would it be to do with the storage Vaults? Or through the mailbox? Or some other way?

Advice would be greatly appreciated, then I can get on with more crafting.

[TesalionLortus]

Hello.

I'm fairly new here, only started playing during the Anniversary event (and this is my first post on this forum!). I'm an LM Elf, Historian vocation and while the Farming and Scholar parts of that vocation are going well, Weaponsmith is lagging behind due to not being able to find Bronze Ingots. So far, I've only been given it from a couple of early quests, but am not sure where to find it on a regular basis.

Some people suggest trying the Auction Houses, but I'm also thinking of creating a second character who would have Prospector as part of their vocation. I know it's fairly common for people to have more than one character/toon - but how would I connect those characters in terms of one being able to send or store materials for the other to access? Would it be to do with the storage Vaults? Or through the mailbox? Or some other way?

Advice would be greatly appreciated, then I can get on with more crafting.

Storage vendors -> account shared storage. Or yeah, mail should work too

Once you have a house that's also a possibility to store in account shared house

Tbh, unless you have lots of time and are REALLY into playing a second character that early/taking care of both crafting trees - you can also ignore the third vocation and come back to it later (or never), no harm done.

[padawanbeck]

Storage vendors -> account shared storage. Or yeah, mail should work too

Once you have a house that's also a possibility to store in account shared house

That was a quick reply! Thank you.

So I can create a second character, get the shared storage option, and stuff is only shared between those characters. Got it.

I shall do that once the game is back up And I had been thinking about a house. There's so much to learn with this game, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

[TesalionLortus]

That was a quick reply! Thank you.

So I can create a second character, get the shared storage option, and stuff is only shared between those characters. Got it.

I shall do that once the game is back up And I had been thinking about a house. There's so much to learn with this game, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

Enjoy the game

[Tralfazz]

That was a quick reply! Thank you.

So I can create a second character, get the shared storage option, and stuff is only shared between those characters. Got it.

I shall do that once the game is back up And I had been thinking about a house. There's so much to learn with this game, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

Welcome to LOTRO!

Shared Storage costs LOTRO points but can be accessed from anywhere if you are a VIP or from any vault-keeper NPC.

Housing Storage is included with the purchase of any house and houses in standard housing areas cost only game gold. Housing Storage can only be accessed when your character is inside one of your houses but it otherwise behaves the same as Shared Storage.

Mail will cost a little game gold, the price goes up based on the value of items you send. It's instantaneous but in most cases less convenient to use than Shared Storage or Housing Storage.

If you haven't joined a kinship yet, you might find there are some friendly long-time players who will share materials with you. Some kins even allow members to withdraw from and deposit to the kinship house's Housing Storage. More commonly, kin members will put up kinship-only auctions in the Auction House, you can find those by checking the KINSHIP ONLY box. These auctions are usually for helpful things for lower-level characters and most kin members put them up for sale for only a couple of copper – basically free, and that way they don't have to worry about storage limits in the kinship house's Housing Storage.

But certainly, an extra couple of crafting alts can be worth while if you want to be completely self-sufficient. Just remember this is a multiplayer, mostly non-competitive game so you will find helpful and generous people.

[Thornelas]

Hello.

I'm fairly new here, only started playing during the Anniversary event (and this is my first post on this forum!). I'm an LM Elf, Historian vocation and while the Farming and Scholar parts of that vocation are going well, Weaponsmith is lagging behind due to not being able to find Bronze Ingots. So far, I've only been given it from a couple of early quests, but am not sure where to find it on a regular basis.

Some people suggest trying the Auction Houses, but I'm also thinking of creating a second character who would have Prospector as part of their vocation. I know it's fairly common for people to have more than one character/toon - but how would I connect those characters in terms of one being able to send or store materials for the other to access? Would it be to do with the storage Vaults? Or through the mailbox? Or some other way?

Advice would be greatly appreciated, then I can get on with more crafting.

I would recommend creating a second character with the Explorer vocation (Prospector - Forester - Tailor). Whether or not you actively play this character besides the resource harvesting is up to you, but Explorers are always useful.

As the others here have mentioned, there are a few options. Shared Storage is by far the easiest, but also the most expensive because you need to unlock it through the LOTRO store in batches of 10 slots.

You could mail items from one character to the other as well, which is limited to 10 stacks of items in each mail. If you've got a free-to-play account you can send items but not money - so if your alt is only there for gathering, you may want to buy some bags of coins from a vault-keeper and send them to your Explorer so the wallet on that one doesn't dry up.

Finally, you could use housing storage. This is also a less convenient one because you need to travel to your house each time you want to collect or drop off items, which can be quite tedious with the default 1h cooldown on the travel skill. The benefit over mail is that you can store more than 10 items there, but that shouldn't usually be an issue unless you're harvesting for hours on different tiers before doing the transfer to your main character.

I hope this helps - if you have further questions, feel free to reach out! As you've already noticed, the LOTRO community is very helpful. Enjoy the game!

[padawanbeck]

I would recommend creating a second character with the Explorer vocation (Prospector - Forester - Tailor). Whether or not you actively play this character besides the resource harvesting is up to you, but Explorers are always useful.

As the others here have mentioned, there are a few options. Shared Storage is by far the easiest, but also the most expensive because you need to unlock it through the LOTRO store in batches of 10 slots.

You could mail items from one character to the other as well, which is limited to 10 stacks of items in each mail. If you've got a free-to-play account you can send items but not money - so if your alt is only there for gathering, you may want to buy some bags of coins from a vault-keeper and send them to your Explorer so the wallet on that one doesn't dry up.

Finally, you could use housing storage. This is also a less convenient one because you need to travel to your house each time you want to collect or drop off items, which can be quite tedious with the default 1h cooldown on the travel skill. The benefit over mail is that you can store more than 10 items there, but that shouldn't usually be an issue unless you're harvesting for hours on different tiers before doing the transfer to your main character.

I hope this helps - if you have further questions, feel free to reach out! As you've already noticed, the LOTRO community is very helpful. Enjoy the game!

This is helpful, both from you and Tralfazz. I've been thinking it's about time my main character got a house I haven't got enough Points to use the Vault Shared Storage option, but will also see how much the postage costs, as my Elf has some Tailor recipe scrolls stored away that she may well want to send to my Hobbit Explorer.

[OldTomBigBootsOn]

Great summary, this would have been really useful when I started out!

[Thornelas]

Great summary, this would have been really useful when I started out!

Thanks! I have to admit that the guide is a bit outdated at this point, and I'm mostly inactive so I don't really have the most up-to-date info either to know which elements need to be changed either. I still leave it up because there's (as far as I know at least) still a lot of good info in there so as long as there's no negative comments I'll just leave it here for people to learn from.