Yes I still play LoTRO, just don’t have too much to say about it. It’s a very solid MMO that is well worth playing. It does not break a whole lot of new ground, or do any one thing particularly well (aside from perhaps using the LoTR license effectively), but its just solid.
Aria and I are currently level 32 and climbing, and looking forward to 35+, the spot we quit last time. I’m hoping I will be able to see most of LoTRO before WAR is out and grabs what I expect to be most of my MMO time. We will see…
Hardcore Casual 
If you haven’t been there yet it’s time to head to Evindim. If you wanted to do all the group stuff in Evindim, it will last you quite some time. Trollshaws will also work if you hate the zone (some do). Rivendel has some nose-ring quests that will take you through the first half of the misty mountains, I think 38-40 is a good level to try them. The back half of MM is more mid to high 40s. The Bruenin gorges (extreme SE TS) have some nice two person quests for around 40. They yield some very nice gear, it’s well worth doing them as soon as you can possibly handle them.
Angmar will also be worth checking out soon. High 30s for the southwestern part as I recall, and very nice low to mid 40s quested armor set can be earned there now. On par with a full set of rare critted 42 crafted armor. And of course the at 43-44 there is Foreschel. I went there at 44 and am halfway through the zone at 47. The Bruenin gorges hub has the nosering quest for the first camp there.
Oh yeah, and don’t forget to get a summer horse. It’s a bit ugly, but my understanding is that it’s just as hard to get knocked off as a 6 gold faction horse. It’s not a huge difference, but at least you can’t be one shot critted off when your horse is at full health.
Happy travels :-)
Hope you guys are having fun, and doing a lot of diverse things with others helps that a lot :) Forochel is very pretty but I have yet to do a single quest there.. even book 13 which I just haven’t made time to do. I want to play WARhammer a while after it comes out but I am also worried cuz I only play any games like once or twice a week right now. :P
Yeebo beat me to it, but definitely check out Evendim. Absolutely gorgeous area with great quests, and some good group stuff too. I believe there’s either an armor set or a jewelry set from Evendim (or both?) that is nice, then when you get to the Trollshaws there’s another which my 46 Lore-master is still wearing.
Near is I can tell, a horse is a horse, of course, of course. I’ve been one-shot dismounted from my Lithe Festival mount a few times already. They’re just new skins, not new hidden stats or abilities.
The rep horses are a bit tougher than regular horses. I have confirmed this by testing with a guildy. At level 50 it took at least 2 crits for him to get beat him off of a 5.6 gold rep horse, while I was often being 1 shotted off by the same guys on my 3.5 gold regular horse. We tested it by taking turns parking in from of level 47 wargs (we were both 50) and tallying up the hits it took us to get knocked off. The difference in number of regular hits is subtle, if there is any. It took us both about 4-5 non crit hits.
I have not tested the Lithe Festival horse on the same mobs, since I’ve gotten one. It seems tougher, but then I assumed it would be (observer bias) and the difference between a faction horse and a “regular” horse is quite subtle to begin with. I would like to know if there is a point to sticking with my 7up themed saddle, maybe I’ll test it tonight.
Doh!
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Horse
Apparently the festival horses are indeed not sturdy. Well at least I don’t have to use a sprite themed horse unless I feel like it :-)
Ah, I didn’t realize faction horses were in fact sturdier. Deciding if I want to grind out to Rank 9 with my Lore-master when she’s 50 or not. Having a blast with my Defiler, though…
I still think the Harvestmath horse is the best-looking of the bunch…