Recommended Quests in-game or Quest Packs for purchase?

[Alan_Quinn]

I've returned to LOTRO after some time away and am currently building a Human Champion (yellow so far) from the ground up. I also have a High Elf Hunter and a Dwarven Guardian in my other character slots, though I haven't done anything with them...yet. In another thread I was asking how to maximize my efforts as a VIP player with limited time to play. I am not interested in spending time crafting, mining, hobbying, or buying houses. I'm only interested in adventuring, exploring, and completing quests (and quick skirmishes, where appropriate). I am a SOLO player, though I may be close to convincing a friend to get into LOTRO.

So, please bear with me as I ask some questions that will sound like those asked by a newbie. In many ways I AM a newbie, even though I have dabbled in the game off and on for several years. My gameplay was always spur of the moment, by the bootstraps, without doing any research into the best or most min/max way of doing things. But now I am interested in at least maximizing my return on invested time while still having fun. I am also a major roleplayer of the TOR 1ST AND 2ND edition rpg's (also online--via play-by-post sites). Now, I am of course skimming the forums for answers to my questions, but I'm not spending lots of time delving into the ancient threads where there may be drums...drums in the dark...

So my main question for this post is: how do I find quests? I checked the LOTRO store and it appears that you cannot buy any quest packs right now. There is one expansion for Gundabad that is available. Being a VIP member, do I automatically get quests once I reach a certain level based on what region I happen to be in? I currently have my Human Champion at lvl 12 in the Bree-land and would like to work on any available Eriador quests for a while.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.
Argyle(Alan Quinn)

[Chirrup]

Free! Free! Free!

Content up to and including Helm's Deep is now free to all players.

Details are in the Producer's Letter here: https://www.lotro.com/news/lotro-pro...-march-2022-en

[Alan_Quinn]

Free! Free! Free!

Content up to and including Helm's Deep is now free to all players.

Details are in the Producer's Letter here: https://www.lotro.com/news/lotro-pro...-march-2022-en

Thanks for the link!

So what do they mean by "Standard Edition" expansions? Is there another edition of each expansion that is better or only accessible by certain players?

[Chirrup]

The standard edition is the base version. You'll get the content: quests, deeds, and instances/raids (if any are included in a particular xpac). There might be a few other items, depending on the xpac. The collector's and ultimate versions have a lot of goodies in addition to the content, like cosmetic armour sets, items that boost xp, sometimes a level skip, horses, pets, and so on.

This page shows and compares different versions of expansions -- https://www.lotro.com/expansions#PreviousExpansions. There's also a page that does the same for the latest expansion (Gundabad).

SSG has also added a feature where you can upgrade your version after buying it. So if you buy the standard version, but later decide you want the additional items in the Collector's version, you can pay the difference and get the additional items. Not sure if this feature is available for past xpacs, or just for Gundabad.

Read the fine print so you know what you're getting with each version!

And welcome back to the game - it's a great journey!

[Vilan]

VIPs have access to all quest packs for free at all times. For example, the latest quest pack, Yondershire, is a level 20-23 quest pack but you could take your character there right now if you chose and have access to all the quests. (Well, actually you won't see any quests since you have to be within 5 levels of a quest to get it, but that's the case for any character, VIP or not.) If you let your VIP expire, then you would need to buy the quest pack in the store to access those quests again.

VIPs *do* have to pay for "expansions", which are particularly large quest packs at the level cap. But right now, you have access to the entire game, other than Gundabad which is level 130+.