I’ve been playing lotro since around 2010, levelled many alts, played through all the content, raided for a good while… So it seems a bit strange that I’m doing it all again with another set of alts on Treebeard and enjoying it! I’ve now been playing on Treebeard since launch and it has become my main server, though I do pop back regularly to Laurelin. Why? There are a few reasons:
Pace & Content
I’m really enjoying the pace. I love knowing that I have 5-6 months to get my character through, it’s about the right sort of time for me to level up, quest through, finish deeds and get to see the expansion’s instance/raid content. Its also enough time to be able to do most of the same with alts and still have time for festivals / other content (e.g. housing). I can have breaks and not feel as though I have to race to catch up.
I’m really enjoying going through the content again, on level. Although I could do this on a live server, it just doesn’t feel the same as having the lower level cap and having a server wide population completing the same or similar content alongside or with you. We are starting to get to expansions that I have seen a couple of times (Rohan onwards) but don’t have even nearly the same level of knowledge (or boredom!) as Shadows of Angmar / Moria / Mirkwood. It’s also been nice having the opportunity to run new alts through the newer zones (Before the Shadow, Yondershire, The Angle, The Wildwood) and be much closer to level cap by the end than on the live servers.
For alts as well, you can use your xp jewellery / boosts etc, so you can get them through quicker if you need to
Kin and Community
The Kin I’m in also makes a big difference. I’m an Officer in Onodrimmoot, we are a small, friendly kin and I’ve made some good friends. We are most active during European times but we do have kinnies from all over and have good representation from US/Canada timezones. Our Saturday night instance runs have been running every single week since August 2021! There are other active Kins on the server of course, ranging from social and casual to raiding kins and everything in between. There is a server wide Discord with recruitment / general chat https://discord.gg/ZdbnxhmwyR
The community, on the whole, is helpful and pleasant. Most of the kins are in contact with each other and the Treebeard discord helps with maintaining a community. It does get quiet at times and obviously we don’t have the population of the live servers, but there is always someone on and if you are in a kin, there is always company.
Deadly System & Rewards
The deadly system also adds some challenge and uniqueness to the content. I joined mostly for the slower pace rather than the deadly system. However, I do have a character on deadly0 and I enjoy it as a change of pace.
We also have the usual legendary server rewards (many available across account), Laurelinarien has a nice writeup with pictures.
Finally…
the lag is negligible… 🤪 🫣
Join us?
The level cap is currently 75 and we are up to the expansions for Isengard and the Great River – it’s not too late to join in! If you have any questions, happy to answer.
StarShadow 