The New Player Adventure in Lord of the Rings Online Is Stunning!

[@Caerulean]

Ah yes, everyone's favorite, Sara Oakheart. 😆 I'm not sure if you're doing more but I'm happy to see more of this journey~

[@CaffeinatedDad]

I want to do at least one more, aiming to hit level 20-25 and do a final review!

[@martonlerant5672]

@CaffeinatedDad Well you won't experience the conclusion of her story.

[@Stands-In-The-Fire]

Ahhhh, you've met Sara :D Also, a thing to note, is that you have the "starter" horse. Mounts you can buy/earn both ingame (like from the Horse Fields north of Bree Town) or from the shop/with an XPack will have 62 or 68% speed. There's also 78% that's tied to an account unlock.

[@Joker-rv4td]

You can also earn mounts from festivals, like the upcoming Yule festival.

[@Stands-In-The-Fire]

@@Joker-rv4td Indeed, one of my favourite mounts I got from Yule years back.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

I got the one from hengsteser farm! 62% run speed! Pretty nice!

[@Stands-In-The-Fire]

@@CaffeinatedDad Yeah, it's a big bump up. With more classes (and races) having movement speed buffs now, the starter 32% mounts are pretty rough. Like Joker said above, the Yule festival is about to start, and there's usually at least one pretty cool mount per year from those. I don't know if they do any of the 68% speed mounts from those anymore.

[@Emacspirate]

One of the coolest mmo experiences I had was the first time I made it to the Barrow Downs which isn't too far from the start of the game back at launch. The sound and feel of the area was epic. I could feel the difference in dread and hope. It was soo cool.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

I didn't know you played Lotro! I've been really enjoying the game thus far!

[@Emacspirate]

yeah it's a good time, I played it a bit on launch and again when they released the Warden class.. I just never stuck with it due to a couple of reasons. (friends pulling me to other games etc)@@CaffeinatedDad

[@travisC5]

My wife and I still play LOTRO. She really likes the atmosphere as do I. The thing that gets tiresome for us is the "Go kill these things", we see the boss doing this. Then we get the "Go back and destroy these things". Okay, we will do that. THEN it has us go BACK to kill the boss. It's a lot of running...like old school Everquest. Otherwise it's a fun game. The sounds and environment are fun.

[@MauWF48]

I started a couple of days ago as a Loremaster. First time playing. As a lifetime World of Warcraft fanatic i can honestly say this game gives a fresh sense of adventure and magic in its zones like no other. Loving it.

[@drzooland8902]

The level cap is really a non issue. Ive been playing for 10 years and still lvl 70. Most of the time i just explore and do deeds. As a Tolkien fan i just love to see the world he created come to life, go visit iconic places from the books, heck i hardly fast travel because just moving from one part of the world to another is absolutely amazing. This is really not your average MMO where you want to grind and hit the level cap fast in order to reach the end game content and raids. YOu are supposed to enjoy every aspect of the world and story before going to the end game

[@CaffeinatedDad]

It very much seems that way. Take your time, enjoy the features and the landscape as well as the story!

[@Emacspirate]

This is a fun series! I played LotR OL for a brief period and I played a Warden as well! Go figure. But in the end I just didn't catch on to it. It did have some things that I loved and I look back on it fondly thou. I hope you continue have fun with it!

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Buddy you and I tend to play the same classes in lots of games lol

[@sidian4257]

The color of the names depend on the level difference to you and thus difficulty, XP rewards and aggro range of the mobs. The order is grey (9 or more levels below you), green, turquoise, blue, white (same level as you), yellow, orange, red and purple (9 or more levels above you), with grey and purple yielding no XP.

[@brewaytheboss8558]

Red Healthbar Mobs are hostile and attack you (also marked with a red dot on the minimap) Green Bars are Friendly and Yellow Bars are Idle as long as you do not attack them. The red portrait frame on the Marsh Queen for example is a Signature Mob (like a Veteran in GW2) Then there are Elites (Eye of Sauron on Top of the portrait) Elite-Masters (4 Spikes around the red glowing Portrait) then there are Nemesis and Arch-Nemesis (mostly in Raids) So with the extra Difficulty you turned on it is okay to die to a Signature :P You missed out on the "The Undying"-Title which you receive for reaching lvl 20 without dying

[@CaffeinatedDad]

This is excellent advice!

[@RomainDelmaire]

I just finished the character prologue...spent about 15 hours doing that and loved every minute of it. I decided to create a fresh character to play together with my partner who is a fan of LOTR. It might be one of my favorite MMORPG yet. This game offers a sense of adventure that I haven't seen in any other game.

[@boxonothing4087]

If no one has mentioned it yet, you have access to a complete map of all existing stables, with connections for each of them listed. You access it by hitting the horse head shaped icon at 3 O'clock on your radar. Planning your travels and checking which stables you are still missing in regions you have visited or are still visiting get all simpler. Smart use of stable routes will save you a lot of manual riding, at a reasonable coin cost.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

That's a fantastic tip! Thank you!

[@rynoxicron8697]

I’ve played the game off and on since it’s beginning. I was actually a “Lifetime member” if anyone still remembers when they had that offer. I sold it to a good friend of mine but I digress. My most favorite memory of the game is when they came out with the “Mines of Moria” expansion. I spent sooo many hours in that area lol 😂

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Lots of people have said how good moria is! I'm excited to see it

[@OdeeOz]

Lifetimers were great... and a lot of us from the Start, have our character names enshrined in monuments of Micheldelving too 👍👍🤴⭐

[@ChiTomlinson]

Im glad there's more lotor content that i can watch. I appreciate this bro💯

[@CaffeinatedDad]

More to come! Thanks!

[@Tawarth13191]

Pretty soon the yule festival will start, a seasonal event based on the holidays that will allow you to do quests and such and you can get seasonal mounts, I'd imagine at least one of the mounts from that would be 68% mount speed

[@djnorth2020]

Glad to hear a new player is finding good things in this old wonderful game. I have played it for 16 years but have had several long breaks of a year or more. But I have thousands of hours invested. I won't sugar coat it. It is an old style MMO for good or worse. It has mechanics you need to know, ask and research. Even if starting off you really don't need to know most of them. Store has a meta, where you gather Lotro points by paying, save them up for a sale of the particular item. VIP has huge quality of life features but some of them carry on after the VIP ends (this is also a recommend tactic). Even for completely free to play player, the number of quests, deeds and activities is overwhelming, but you have a choice of doing what you like most. Overall you will find some aspects needing a big overhaul. End game is not the thing in this game. That is to say, there is a lot of end game content. But in many peoples opinion, mine absolutely, Lotro is about the journey, not the goal. It's refreshingly wholesome and dark. Mostly honest to the source material, the books. Community is the heart of MMO. Guild Wars and other games I've played have good people. But counting all the games I've enjoyed, few come close to the friendly players who teach, advice and help with free gear even if you're struggling. Have fun, make friends, stay for ale and pipe weed.

[@flipsutter1]

Keep at the game!!!! Keep the hype up!! I’m just level 32 and loving it!!!

[@anastasiolabropoulos]

Ah, Sara. I still remember meeting her for the first time back in 2007. Please, keep going with the story. Just so I can see your reactions whenever you find Sara.

[@Belemrys]

I bought a lifetime membership on the release of this game and have experienced so little of it...every couple of years i reinstall and go on an adventure in middle earth!

[@CaffeinatedDad]

I have a feeling it's incredible good for that reason. Go and have a little adventure see what you can get into but don't take yourself so seriously!

[@TheUnwise]

Welcome to this beautiful game!

[@gatorbait9385]

I did the same thing during the tutorial for the mount. And not until seeing your videos did I know I could still get one for free. I'm a simple man. I see a cashshop pop up, I quickly close it.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

That's what I'm saying!!! I shut that crap down so fast because I thought it was a money grab! But I'm glad I could help!

[@Digikuma]

"Caffeinated Dad, Man Warden from the land of Bree" lol

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Me Caff dad, man warden from bree. Lol

[@BouncyKnight69]

I’m very been playing this too, on Gladden, as a hunter. It’s super fun, but Gladden is super bad connection. I’m always rubber banding and sticking. The game itself is just awesome.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Hey Nick! The game is pretty good even as a free to play account but yeah I've seen more and more lag spikes toss me to and from lol

[@ziusthefirst5387]

You've not even scratched the surface of what's in store for you. If you like it so far then you are going to love it as you go on. This game is outstanding. Great game. Enjoy! BTW great video.

[@jamesExiledLegends]

Hahaha you've been introduced to Sarah Oakheart. Quests get better after Volume 1 of the Epic Quests Enemy colours are related to how much they vary compared to you either above or under. Grey enemies mean they are too weak and you won't gain exp from them

[@radik1016]

Will you play SWTOR in the future ? I've been looking forward for you to try it out.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

I do plan on giving it the time and effort it deserves! I think I may do ffxiv next however!

[@radik1016]

@@CaffeinatedDad Glad to hear it! I just found your channel recently and your channel's been very helpful on my GW2 Necromancer build and guides so far. Love your content man!

[@SheonEver]

@@CaffeinatedDad Have you tried ffxiv before? It's in a really good place right now, but you have to go through A LOT of story and levels before you can access it's best feature: a wide variety of content.

[@grayden4138]

They must have changed the free mount quest, because I just started playing again a few weeks ago and I just received the quests, completed both, and received the horse and riding skills without needing to go to the Store. While crafting does feel like something you should come back and do once youre in endgame, it is something, that i've found, is actually beneficial to keep up with as you level. Outside of purple gear from harder quests or "dungeon" run gear, crafted gear tends to be better than virtually all quest rewards at, or slightly above, the level of the crafted gear. This game isn't like WoW where the Devs want you to get to endgame ASAP. This is truly a journey for you charcter so being in a rush to level up or max out your crafting isn't really the goal. Especially if its your first character. If you want that experience then this probably isnt the game you want to play for it. Better to go with WoW, FF XIV, or ESO, I think.

[@morrowoblivion13]

There is something like wow's mythic+ in lotro but it is called delving. The m+keys in lotro is like m+ keystones. the keystonee do not vanish when you fail your m+ run. You just get a cracked version of the keystone to trade for a new m+keystone to try again.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

That's pretty cool! Is that only max level?

[@morrowoblivion13]

@@CaffeinatedDad it can be on any lv from what I saw on the patch notes that Introduced the delving system at the time. But I do know the epic battles(like helms deep instances) can be started on lv 10.

[@synthetic240]

For crafting, I recommend looking at the Processing action. It lets you break down raw materials and process them back together at ~50% loss with each pass. Raising your crafting critical rate with Scholar profession scrolls improves the efficiency of processing. This way, you craft the items you want, then process the rest of your material back and forth. You'll get far more progress than spamming swords. Is it a pointless timesink if you're not a paid sub? Absolutely. There are rumors that an upcoming crafting revamp is going to make every crafting level available from the start, so long as your character has the materials to craft whatever it is they want to make. I reckon this will mean you don't need to level crafting at all, just the crafting Guilds, and making crafting alts a viable way of "maintaining engagement" aka MMO addiction.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

That would be an excellent add in! I do see your point though and in most mmos crafting looses value quickly when most gear is brought back from loot or endgame collections. I'd be interested in seeing what changes they would make

[@synthetic240]

@@CaffeinatedDad The higher tiers of crafting can create some pretty powerful gear for their level, but you need a rare crafting material to make them. If you're the sort to collect cosmetics, crafting can make a lot of items with the same look as some dungeon loot.

[@guypaquette7549]

Which server are you on? I'm on Arkenstone, my main is a burg Marichelle, although atm I'm levelling my bear, Beartha... hehehe

[@guypaquette7549]

Also, you will learn to hate Sarah Oakheart... hehehe

[@MrSweterek]

I am also a new player but as far as i know in according to professions weaponsmith is useless because at lvl 50 you get a legendary weapon and it stays with you till the end so just a quick tip if you will continue playing also many guides talks about that. i hope you will stay in the game ! :D

[@erichess4279]

anyone else spend the first few minutes if the video yelling at the monitor " Dad your gear is breaking, repair your gear"? no? just me then 😜

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Lmao I saw it! I was seeing if you all did

[@trentntb]

More! If you are on Arkenstone hit me up. Running a level 25 warden

[@harrr53]

It's a pretty social MMO, but it's been out for so long, you'll find most of the veteran and most social players are 1. At the higher level areas. 2. Socialising mostly within established kinships. Basically, join a nice social guild. Also, I enjoyed your comments on Sara Oakheart (the old lady). Let's just say she'll give you a lot of reasons to hate her, and would have given you even more back in 2007/2008.

[@Meredith1301]

I can’t wait for you to find out more about that…”little old lady”….😆.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Everyone keeps warning me about her lol

[@nickbalko9050]

You can have it automatically loot everything right when you kill it. So you don’t have to click anything.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Is that a setting?

[@diligentcircle]

@@CaffeinatedDad "Always loot all", under the UI tab. I always make a point of turning that on whenever I make a new character, makes gathering nodes a lot smoother in particular.

[@SusanPerrine]

Ah, yes... Sara Oakheart. -.- I'm a returning player and found myself just sort of "stuck" around level 80-85 because I want to play another class.

[@Wibtlol]

It's amazing but the player count gets to me when I play. It can feel very empty sometimes. I wish all servers in all regions were combined and the lag would be fixed but no chance for that probably.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Probably not, but honestly there is so much about the game that is en joyable! It's a casual players dream

[@blahlbinoa]

Sara Oakheart is a meme of the community. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if SSG make her faster, people will riot

[@Domaister420]

Sara is somehow a "running gag" over the course of the story

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Oh OK, so it wsnt just me lol

[@varyar77]

Sara Oakheart is the best!

[@jensbalslev4693]

I just started playing this game, and I really think Lotro could be my new MMO-love - if I can sort out two things: 1. Is there a way to make combat feel less sluggish? There seems to be a disconnect between when I press a button and when the ability happens. Another example is when I suddenly stop moving with my ranger and then press a ranged ability (after releasing the move-button) I get an error message saying I can´t use that ability while moving. So I have to wait for a bit of time after stopping moving before I press an ability - that feels terrible to me and is the reason I can´t play one of the ranged characters (which I want to). 2. I just bought a Legion Pro i7 with a RTX 4080-card, but if I go any higher than "High Quality" graphics (and actually High as well) I get choppy gameplay when in more open areas. I feel like I should be able to play this game from 2007 on highest graphics - especially because I can do that in f.x. New World, GW2, ESO, WoW and many other games with no problem. Is there an option I should uncheck or something like that?

[@diligentcircle]

1. That's probably mostly lag you're experiencing. It's a well-known problem in LOTRO. Severity depends on the server and time you're playing (more players leads to more lag). 2. Dunno about that one, I'm on Kaby Lake Intel integrated graphics and I'm able to play the game under the Very High preset no problem. Did you try the Detect Optimal Settings button? If that doesn't work for you, you'll probably have to kind of experiment with the advanced graphics settings. Also, if you downloaded those high-resolution textures with the launcher, you might consider disabling those and seeing if it runs better. By the way, LOTRO's current graphics aren't 2007 graphics, it's had graphics upgrades over the years and in fact had an upgrade that added a new highest graphics setting just in the last month. That's why I have to run the game in the "Very High" preset; what is now the "Very High" preset was previously "Ultra High", and the new "Ultra High" is too much for my system now.

[@godofm3tal1]

Defining a game as pay to win doesn't leave any room for interpretation. It doesn't matter if the product is available for free in the game or if someone could debate how impactful the upgrade is. If you can break out a credit card and gain any kind of advantage in your gameplay over someone else, including quality of life upgrades, it's pay to win. You can pay to gain faster progression or to have better accessibility to in game resources like stash tabs or bag space or whatever, that allows you to farm longer between trips to town. The only cash shop upgrades that aren't p2w are cosmetics and even then, if the game has PVP cosmetics may give you an advantage.

[@roksoulja84]

Uh no… pay2win aspects are different from early 2000s monetization is far more broad now…. Like in wow i really dun give a shit out exp potions….NOT paytowin in my books… im not trying to get world first on leveling… that shit aint for me i level up in my own pace and raid and do whatevers when i get to level cap… when i get there i get there… the ONLY p2w aspect for me is gear with stats that is stronger than the items in game… thats p2w for me… quality of life stuff i can care less about… meaning p2w is purely subjective… dont speak as if ur view of p2w is facts cuz it aint

[@teemumiettinen7250]

@@roksoulja84 p2w is simply paying for advantage over other players. WoW is pay2win, because you can buy instant level 70 boost, then buy wow tokens and buy literally the best gear from auction house with the gold from selling wow tokens. WoW is blatantly Pay2Win.

[@goldenshen9715]

hmmmmmmm which one You think iit's better i played GW2 i am bored of it what do you advice me to try Lord of the Rings World of War Craft (i am rly bored of just playing GW2 )

[@SheonEver]

First, tell us what you're looking for in an mmo. :) In my opinion, if GW2's not doing it for you, FFXIV and WoW are still the best offerings on the market; FF if you want a large variety of content, a good community and not too much pressure, and WoW if you want robust progression, involved raiding and competitive pvp.

[@goldenshen9715]

@@SheonEver The Main Point here is FFXIV i did like it But u need to pay for everything GW2 u can exchange Gold for Diamond so u can Buy what ever u want from Market so in My opinion it's not P2W Game WOW i never tried it

[@Shredderzzz1840]

I downloaded the game and it wouldnt launch. Deleted it. But i want to play it so bad 😂

[@CaffeinatedDad]

I've heard of players having issues launching! I wish I could help I haven't really seen any of that

[@bm7689]

LOTRO occasionally do a free code which gives free to play a lot of hte expansions for free I think the last one they did gave everyone all expansions up to level 100 or maybe even higher.

[@jwbullfrog9583]

I've been playing for over a decade and still enjoy the experience. One of the things I have discovered (heretic's opinion here) You Don't NEED to Craft. For most of the game, the drops you get from quest completion are equal to if not better than what you can craft at a comparable level. It's an enjoyable enough and simple enough system, but if you don't want to worry about it, you can give it a pass.

[@SheonEver]

It kind've seems like a better Everquest 2.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Hmm honestly I can't compare because I never played ever quest 2! Lol

[@SheonEver]

@@CaffeinatedDad I honestly liked it more than classic wow, but come burning crusade wow left it in the dust. Was a lot more chill community, though.

[@juansebastianaguirrepatino2197]

There are a few mechanics you are not understanding je

[@OdeeOz]

Why do you not mention the Server you are on, and the Quest Names you show, for other New Players? You started in Mossward, the Expansion before Umbar Mariners. I been playing since LOTRO started, and find that you seem to be picking up okay as a "New" player. But the Quests are Easy to find in all zones. Ring Halos everywhere. 👍👍🤴⭐

[@acamparargentina]

never played this game, but seeing the video the first thing that comes to my attention is that the scale is off scale... grass and trees are way too big! not to talk about that door... Poor game immersion right there.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

True, there is dated graphics, wonky A.I and more but I will say I have enjoyed the time playing this game!

[@LightS_bRight]

U.s.a servers biggest population is Arkenstone(+monster play), Gladden. Don't use Steam to play Lord Of The Rings Online.

[@nicknicholas4770]

the stat tombs are shiz, they needed an update since level 100 came out, the max is like 150? 250 ? total to stat, ya thats fkn low man, so not pay to win at all, same with traits , for zeal for exampple has a boost to mabye 5k mastery at level , that is so poor even at level 100 let alone 150 its almost not worth the bother of doing deeds, .... still do them but ... just a huge gripe.... as for the game, its a story based mmo, you must not forget to read every quest, its not like other mmos where the quest log does not matter, trust me when I say this, I have 9 out of 12 classes capped and been playing since mirkwood came out (65 cap) in 2010, I have seen some level 100 quests that hint at older lower cap quests or npcs, theres just so much cool subtle shitz you can find, I have read the quests on every character I have ever maxed, I cap a new character now about every 2 years and go through everything like its new, because the new class and rereading things i may have forgot (rare) make it new experance.

[@lp.shakur]

Lord of the Rings - The Return Of The Whales on a serious note, never seen a more predatory mmo and never seen such cope in the comments, but it's expected when you wasted your best years on this game

[@kokorochin01]

The original vanilla game was absolutely amazing; the current retail version is absolute garbage, and pay to win. Fuck that

[@teemumiettinen7250]

Thats why we are waiting for Echoes of Angmar. Original lotro vanilla private server.

[@SeemzLegit454]

Played this game for 10+ years. Left cause it's pretty dead. Only 2000 playing now. With the new Lord Of The Rings MMO coming and the cancelation of the remaster of this game, it's time to move on. Had some great memories. I'll miss this game.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

It is a great game I just hope for the sake of the lotro community they do this game justice

[@TapTwoCounterspell]

The insane COST of the game, and astronomical microtransactions etc are just way too much to stomach. Yes its "f2p" a bit but you're playing it while crippled if you don't pay.

[@juansebastianaguirrepatino2197]

The games is massive and completely worth it.

[@captainnero8632]

love it when noobs with zero knowledge in gaming make gaming reviews... what a cringe show

[@Domvrasir]

It's the perfect game for 40-60 year old lovers of Tolkin. If you don't look on the storytelling, the game is awful for these days :) clunky and old.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Pfft clunky and old maybe but a great time if you had any interest in the Tolkien universe

[@Turican76]

animations and gfx are outdated from day 1