My favorite is Mines of Moria. It released right before I got to level cap and was the first expansion I really played. I loved the feeling being in the Mines had and found there was endless corridors and passages to explore. It felt so immersive.
Man you missed Moria. That is when lotro was at its golden age. "WoW killer" at the time. So many people playing, server pop was at cap at least in Elendilmere.
Totally agree, I played Wow since release and MoM made me quit for the whole duration of that expansion, all the content, class fantasy, pvmp and everything just felt so right!
Thanks for your content Louey! I've been watching this channel for a few years now at least, even when I wasn't playing LOTRO much. One of my favorite smaller channels, I try to catch streams whenever I have time too.
1. War of Three Peaks 2. Rise of Isengard 3. Minas Morgul 4. Mines of Moria 5. Mordor 6. Fate of Gundabad 7. Siege of Mirkwood 8. Before the Shadow 9. Riders of Rohan 10. Helm's Deep
I enjoyed your video, but for me The Mines Of Moria is not only the best LOTRO expansion, it is the best expansion to any MMORPG I have ever played. Playing MoM when it was new was - without doubt - a groundbreaking experience. The first time you get an LI is truly memorable (yes they have become a little jaded over the years, but that is IMO because of the ever greater demands on monetising the LI system). The first time I went out from the 21st Hall down the stairs to Nud-Melek and saw the great carved stone trees there is still one of my favourite LOTRO memories; in fact I still go back there occasionally to re-live it. Morder and Southern Mirkwood were just awful - designed from the get-go to make an already overly long grind even longer and grindier. Rohan would have been stellar as well had there been any attempt to get Mounted Combat right, but there really wasn't and no real attempt has been made to make it as good as it should have been. I agree with you that "Epic Battles" were significantly less than epic, and completely undermined the whole class system; there should have been some attempt to maintain some element of "class identity".
Heyo! Just started playing with a friend and I love the game. I appreciate having these videos about the game to watch until I can log in again. Thanks for the content!
I love Moria! It is my favorite expansion, though my highest char is level 100, and I've been afk from the game for some years, so I might change my mind later. As opposed to you, I loved that it was hard to get around, it took me ages to find my way, I too fell down, but it made it such an adventure. All those majestic halls with diverse themes, especially love the Water Works, it is absolutely gorgeous. I tend to turn music off as it stresses me, so I cram up the ambient sounds, and they too are great, you hear the stone creaking, goblins cackling in far away halls, adding to the sense of being lost underground. It was also the first expansion with the legendary weapons, and I love the sense of progression and working on something to make it more powerful. My only beef with Moria is the forced personal torch, I wish I could turn it of and really get lost in the darkness
My favorite expansion has to be Moria, just so many good memories when receiving my first LI so many years ago, just packed with content. My least favorite for sure is rider of Rohan. To keep it simple , mounted combat, just never was a fan of it. Great video as always Louey!
I started lotro in beta, it was my all time favorite mmo.When Moria came out it was amazing especially if you had a large guild.I can see where you found it a hassle to level,I can remember dreading bringing my 9th or tenth alt there.But all in all great expansion despite the early raid instance bugs.Mirkwood was good also although a lot smaller,and again major raid bugs.There where i believe 2 small maps added after Moria I cant remember there names probably because they were forgettable.Then came Rohan ,for me and a lot of people this was the death of Lotro, this thing was a hot mess.Biggest mistake they made was getting rid of the large raids.I went back a couple times after Rohan but it was just an empty game and never got my interest again.
Moria has always been my favourite. Entering the mines for the first time gave me goose bumps. Although I think the epic quests require a heap of back and forth I did like going through all the zones within + Lothlorien, seeing the sky again and I enjoyed the orc camps. My least favourite is Helms Deep. I found it to be so repetitive with the rinse and repeat town quests. By the time you get to Helms Deep you're exhausted lol.
Excellent video Louey. Like so many Moria was my favorite, I had a blast during Minas Morgul as well. For me an honorable mention is Mordor, I thought it was done really well and had the grim, and gloomy questing slogs I would expect for that region.
Love these types of videos, fun to look back and feel the nostalgia. :) Mine would have to be Mirkwood. It was released around when I joined - I love the small zone and how it's packed with drastically different landscapes. Plus you get more interactions between elves & dwarves, and the instances still stand up nowadays. Love to revisit it.
I think part of Riders/Helm's Deep's issue is that Moria/Mirkwood had very unique settings with long histories to explore. Rohan had to follow that and they had figure out how to make an entire story out of a giant field location with a battle at the end. Was always gonna be a challenge.
I don't think thar was the issue with rohan or helms deep, the issue with them is the mounted combat bs that was badly implemented and never even had attempts to fix it and that they moved away from traditional end game content such as instances and raids and replaced it with the boring and lame epic battles
@Ben Fuller the mounted combat is a direct result of needing to make a big open country side interesting. I'm not saying they succeeded, but I still think they struggled because there isn't much in rohan outside of set pieces like isengiard and helms deep, that most would find interesting.
Favourite: MoM hands down, DN is still mechanically my favourite raid and helped me really learn my guard, and Watcher/Filikul were 2 great additional raids you could run in so many different ways. Beautiful scenery, great questing all round, excellent end game content coverage :) Least favourite: HD, mostly because of Epic Battles being introduced in place of traditional raids. Still think they're dull and buggy (MT ones in particular). And they continued with the worst system they ever introduced, mounted combat... the two expansions together were enough to stop me playing for 5 years!
Moria, Isengard, Mirkwood ---- Other expansions, and last Rohan. Loved having to walk/ride out to instances or summon people using traveling rations. The 6 mans were amazing. DN was amazing. The Watcher was amazing. Turtle was fun.
I'm a relatively new player to Lotro (Level 75 Burg) so I'd say my favorite expansion so far was defitenely Mirkwood. Pulling up to the Haunted Inn for the first time and seeing how spooky everything is was so great lol. The group stuff in Moria was also really fun though so it's tough :) I can't really pick a least favorite but if I had to guess what it will be, it'll probably be Riders of Rohan cause I've seen those War Steeds skate across Bree XD. Take care, and love the vids Louey.
Hey, thanks for the video and the giveaway! I just reached lvl100, so can't comment on the last expansions, but Moria is my favourite. I played it at launch and again now while levelling, and I just really like how they managed to turn a big cave into so many different unique zones. Least favourite has to be Helm's Deep, I only run a few EBs with kinmates to work towards my promotion point deed, otherwise I avoid them like the plague.
My favorite expansion is Minas Morgul, i really liked questing there and progression was fairly easy even with quest gear. I think it is one of the most played expansion on all of my chars.
Least favourite expansion for me was Riders of Rohan, I feel like I was questing there for the longest time with no sense of direction. Favourite expansion was Mirkwood, loved the questing and I have a really fond memory of that time.
Least favorite expansion is Helms Deep after the rubberbanding in mounted combat in Riders of Rohan it kinda removed the fun to even play Helms Deep. Most favorite is Moria. It gave me chills going in there for the first time and then doing all the quests there with danger lurking around every corner, then doing all the instances and raids, just loved it :D
my Favorite Expansion is Rise of Isengard. an Expansion i never got to play when it was current. but i absolutely love the questing experience. which is what i mainly do.
Little late to the party! But I think Mines of Moria was literally the best that Lord of the Rings Online has offered to it’s players. From the new Legendary Weapons, to the Radiance gear progression that was needed in order to do higher end raids! The raid progression and difficulty was really something that built up and was very enjoyable! Even though I never got past the watcher i never really felt like i couldn’t enjoy the game! The gameplay, class fantasy and class balance felt at an all time high, even PvMP was booming (on my server, Evernight). So many fond memories of that xpac.
Favourite is Riders of Rohan, but only when leveling. Music is a masterpiece and the landscape, themes and house decorations are amazing. Epics also seem closer to the LOTR story (especially Amon Hen and Roots of Fangorn). One very sad quest with the Ent and his bird friend, but beside that I always had fun :) Mounted combat is annoying, I agree, but just riding a warhorse across the landscape feels so good!
Correction. I'm fairly sure this style of questing didn't start in Helms Deep. It started in Rise of Isengard (Dunland). That's where you notice the shift, the deeds require you to do pretty much every quest and they are very linear too. My least favorite expansion to go through currently is Mordor, it's just too long and boring to do, going through all those big open world dungeons. My favorite expansions is also Rise of Isengard, I love the questing and story to this day and the endgame was awesome
That is a good point. I think something I didn't clarify was the "annoyance" factor (of course to me) didn't start until Helm's Deep! I also don't think I mentioned this, but that is another reason I am actually unsure how fun ROI would be for frequently replays with alts (which I hope to eventually get around to on my LM again)! Yet I still enjoy the questing a ton even in that style that I don't like as much, so maybe I wouldn't be too bored with it if I repeated it without long breaks
What about your favorite/ least favorite instances, quests you remember, titles, festivals, class skills, steeds or cosmetic pets?! I really enjoy these rankings :)
Worst expansion for me was Mordor. The lack of stables and the endless running around the somber landscape makes it difficult. Riders of Rohan/helms deep are close behind Mordor cause the mounted combat was a fail, but wasn’t as depressing as Mordor. Favorite is Minas Morgul! It was just fantastic to play there, it’s a bitter sweet landscape and an enjoyable experience. Close behind is Moria. So expansive and epic great raids and questing zones. Can feel a little claustrophobic after a while running around in the caves.
I just starting playing LOTRO for the first time and decided to do it on the Treebeard server so unfortunately, I have no least favorite expansion, as I have not experienced them yet. But if I have to base it off a name, Siege of Mirkwood lol. If I have to choose my favorite one to look forward too it will be Minas Morgul.
I love ranking vidoes and I also learned a few things about the expansions, which was cool. Now I'm quite behind in acutally playing the expansions, so out of the (sadly) two I have played. My least favourite would be Mines of Moria and that is because I have terrible memories of fall to my death many many times; I did however love how it added Goat mounts. My most favourable would have to be Siege of Mirkwood, I loved the story and my best momories of solo questing were made in Enedwaith; also I loved all the reputation steeds add it this expansion. I look forward to catching up and playing all the other expansions too.
It’s Moria for me so far. Delving deep into the mountains with my first legendary item, exploring the mines and halls while doing fun quests was just an absolute blast. I just didn’t like some of the southern regions as much, but by no means hated them.
Also Riders of Rohan/Helms Deep. Mounted Combat always felt sluggish and I just ignored it.... Zones were massive but not very lively. My favourite expansion was probably Mirkwood. Have to say I haven't got to Mordor/Minas Morgul yet but around the time of Mirkwood when the game went f2p I started playing with 3 friends and we levelled everything together. Mirkwood was quite fun though sadly it was also when everyone else quit after getting to max level.
My favorite expansion is Moria, even after the release of Mirkwood people still played the instances, it's not perfect but I really enjoyed the content at the moment. The worst is Helms Deep or Riders of Rohan, because of mounted combat and people just didn't want to play old content, even if it was scaled. Nice video I liked it!
Least favorite expansion is Riders of Rohan. Mounted combat for me feel flat on its face on execution and all the quests dragged on. Most favorite is Moria. It gave a sense of danger of going through the whole area which is what I wanted out of it plus growing a legendary item to grow with me was awesome.
I’ve only recently come back to LotRO but played from beta until Mirkwood. So my view is limited but while I really liked both xpacs, I’d say Moria is my favorite. Reason: loved the atmosphere. They did a great job making such a big zone feel like it had different “biomes”, if you will.
My favorite expansion is Moria. I reached level cap during this time and fell in love with the game. I just remember the awesomeness of finally getting through the gates of Moria, exploring all the areas, and just relaxing in the 21st Hall. A close 2nd to Moria is Isengard bc I remember how I enjoyed the Great River area and dailies. My least favorite is Helms Deep and Epic Battles. This was such a dud and made it easy for me to walk away, when I finally stopped rubberbanding, from the game that I had I had been playing since the Moria release.
Worst for me was Siege of Mirkwood, that's where I quit in earnest. Since then I have been coming back every now and then and leveling causally. I am currently in Mordor, but I own the latest content and plan to go through it as well.
My favorite expansion would have to be Riders of Rohan. Basically, it's due to nostalgia as that is when I started playing the game, but I had friends who already played, and they helped me level up so that I could due to the expac's content. I had played other mmos beforehand and even though I don't interact with the system at all anymore, I loved the mounted combat as I had never seen anything like it before. It was also the first raiding experience for me in the game, of which the expac had a great cluster in my opinion. It was also the end of the original trait system, which I enjoyed a lot more compared to the current trait tree system. My least favorite expansion would have to be Helms Deep. Like I already mentioned, I wasn't that happy to see the old trait system go away (though I don't mind it nowadays), but the main issue I had with the expansion was the lack of an endgame instance cluster. Epic Battles were cool, but they aren't the same as normal raids and dungeons. PVMP also started to go downhill in my opinion around here too. I thoroughly enjoyed it up until Helms Deep when the new trait system and scaling issues caused a significant imbalance between freeps and creeps.
A very interesting video, thank you Louey. It is always nice seeing other peoples' preferences! The expansion I enjoy the least is Siege of Mirkwood. It is because to this day, 'Dungeons of Dul Guldur' is my most disliked instance, Skirmishes were something I couldn't immerse myself into and even prefer the Epic Battles in regards to making me feel part of the LOTR world. Dol Guldur itself as an area felt a bit underwhelming. Visually stunning, yet huge and empty. In comparison, Carn Dum actually feels like an evil city, populated, alive, scheming, threatening. Dol Guldur, despite what the story implied, felt and looked abandoned and forgotten and uncared for even by the enemy. For how big it is, I only saw a bunch of orcs, couple of living armors and bats. Mirkwood itself felt more alive and populated than the actual enemy base. The expansion I enjoy the most is Mines of Moria (was a close call and hard choice to make). It has some of my favorite instances to this day, the Dar Narbugud raid, the zones are a masterpiece in terms of visuals, ambience, colors and lighting. The mines look believable, huge and just as I've imagined it. The questing, even before the revamp, felt fun for me. The areas had a perfect balance between feeling safe and carefree with the dwarfs and scared and lonely amidst the dark depths. I also loved how we got a bit of lore about the Nameless Things, something which was missing from the movies and barely touched upon in the main LOTR books. I also love the soundtrack, and back then Legendary Weapons were actually a cool novelty for me. Just speaking about it makes me want to go and play through it again. It truly felt like a rich, proper expansion, packed with content and attention to detail.
this was really hard to decide but here it is: my least favorite would have to be riders of rohan, not bad at all imo, just my least favorite because it took me the longest to get through because there are some parts of it that are just boring to me my favorite would have to be siege of mirkwood almost entirely because of the group content in both Mirkwood and Enedwaith, lost temple, dungeons of dol guldur, ost dunhoth, and barad guldur are some of my favorite instances in the game edit: I haven't gotten to minas morgul yet but I have a suspicion that it'll be my new favorite
My favorite was Moria, but that was because it was the time when my kin was most active. We just had a lot of fun and laughs playing the raid instances in Moria. I can understand though why playing it solo could get tiresome.
Had to delete my past comment since I've been thinking a lot about how the game is currently and how much I'm not enjoying Umbar at all other than the Crafting update which they finally got it right compared to past expansions..Crafting is meaningful again. I started in Rise of Isengard on Firefoot loved the game and was really trying to figure out how everything worked once I got to Mines of Moria. Today I look back and know that Mines of Moria is the best expansion in Lotro and probably one of the best expansions in all of gaming period after playing most AAA games since then. My two least are Riders of Rohan and Helms Deep for all the obvious reasons and I will add I remember how divided the community was on helm's deep and I remember the anger of people in game about the expansions. The Kinship I was in, once Firefoot shut down, was on Crickhollow and it had been around since Angmar and was once one of "the kins" to be in people were quitting all the time and it slowly dwindled down to a handful of people that logged in occasionally. Things have improved lately but Umbar is just a mistake in my honest opinion and is probably right there with Helms deep.
I have not played further than Mordor yet but so far my least favorite expansion is riders of rohan. Mounted combat instantly killed it for me. Moria is probably my favorite so far just because of the locations. :)
Favorite expansion is Moria (so far--I have a long way to go). I love the look and feel of the place. You are absolutely right that the book quests were...not great (also the Mazog quest line needs to die in a fire). But there was humor (Well Traveled, Orcs high on 'shrooms) as well as sad things and frustration. Lots of different areas all with a different vibe. I liked Mirkwood, but it didn't click for me, and I'm not sure why. It may be the lack of small jokes and humor that lighten up dark content. Both are better than dealing with mounted combat.
The fact that you rank Mirkwood higher then Moria shows that you definitely have not been there for Moria and probably also not caped for Mirkwood. Moria truly was the golden age of LOTRO, packed serves, raids and instances everywhere. Tons and tons of fun. Mirkwood after that felt to everyone i know like a huge huge disappointment and player numbers dropped immensely as a result. The worst world-building we saw in lotro until now,, small map, skirmishes, no instances with release. ect, ect.
MoM. I am questing with my friend in Moria at the moment. Such an atmosphere... I lost my way about 5 6 times. No excuse but huge place for a hobbit!!!
My least favorite expansion would be Helm's Deep, running alts through it for the trait points gets old really fast. My favorite expansion, probably Moria or Minas Morgul. I was hyped for entering Moria as it is easily one of the best parts of all LoTR video game adaptations (and there's so much to do there) and Minas Morgul is the most fun I've had in the game for years, was really surprised at how good it was
Rise of Isengard all the way. Best instances, best looking gear and best questpack. The ToO Saruman fight may be the best instance in the game + pvp was at a very good balance at the time.
My favorite to this day has to be Mines of Moria. In fact, Moria is still my favorite region in the game. It’s somehow so nostalgic while still very fun. The music, the Blue/Purple crystals that lighten the long hallways and caverns, it’s just perfect. Tbh I didn’t mind the book quests either. Worst for me is Helms Deep. West Rohan doesn’t feel as alive as east Rohan for some reason, and epic battles are just a snooze fest.
Kinda bums me out that mounted combat isnt good(unless that has changed). I stopped playing when Rohan released. Not becuase of it though, as i never made it out of mirkwood back then. I recently picked the game back up and was looking forward to Rohan cause the mount combat looked fun.
Hi cats, hi Louey! Lotro Points Giveaway: 1) My least favorite expansion is Riders of Rohan, I dont like mounted combat. 2) My fovorite one is Moria, two new classes, btw my favorite classes, I love Dwarven lore too, so Moria for me was like a dream.
Yeah not many mmos have ever done mounted combat and none of done them well that I know of. Would have been cool if they had just revamped the mounted animation, making them more robust and smoother.
Worst expansion probably > Mordor, it's just alot of the same and I also found the light system to be very gate keep'y. I also remember my first boosted character starting in Mordor and being so overwhelmed and weak ( dying all the time) that I just have a sour taste after that. My favorite expansion Is still Mines of Moria > I just love everything about it and found it to be extremely fun and exciting the first time going trough it.I also think there is enough variety in the zones wich makes it easy to play through :)
My least favorite had to be Helms Deep, which was from both not liking the Epic Battle system and having too high expectations going in (I loved the battle in the LOTR books and movies). My FAVE was Moria. I thought there were so many cool zones with giant crystals or terrifying monsters in the deeps!
My least favorite expansion was Helms deep, admittedly I wasn't at level cap, but questing through there was rough. My favorite expansion was either Mordor or Rise of Isengard. I liked the darker feel or Mordor. And Isengard had some fun instances and a cool area to explore.
Even though I hated mounted combat, I think I find Moria as my most disliked area. It just always felt too dark, too grindy and repetitive. I think Mirkwood was my favorite. Loved the forest zones.
I was only around for ROI, RoR, and Helms Deep, followed by a big break and returned for Minas Morgul. I totally agree with how good Minas Morgul is as an expansion! The rest of them I have to judge based on my experience progressing through them as a player. Which means my favorite is Rise of Isengard, least is Mirkwood. I just love the story and content so much with RoI, Mirkwood (with the Exception of Enedwaith) I can't wait to get out of.when I'm progressing. But I don't have that same experience that you do of having been there for it; maybe I would have liked it more then 🙂 it may be rose tinted glasses but I like RoR a lot. I actually like mounted combat, and I feel so immersed when I'm in Rohan. The heresy!! 😉
rise of isengard for me...dats wen i got rly adicted to the game not becize of the expansion but the time got relese was wen i had the most time end i love it
My least favorite expansion is Riders of Rohan because I despise mounted combat. It wouldn't have been so bad if you could have chosen to engage in it or not. The fact some quests required it made it really bad. My favorite expansion is Mines of Moria. I think that's one of the best expansions ever created in any MMO I've ever played. While it's not perfect by any stretch, the designers made it actually FEEL like you were deep inside the mines. The expansion just exuded everything I had imagined about Moria from reading the books and watching the movies.
we may have started around same time then, I got a 7 day free trial got hooked and subbed ever since still to this day, before Free to play came out, 2010 I believe or mabye 2009, got level cap pretty early in mirkwood 2 or 3 months stuck in moria 😅, ya the mob density was fkn nuts back then, I loved Moria and mirkwood, moria instances where still all valid and played a ton, Our Darkest Hour on Gladden WOO. the kinship made it untill Isenguard came out then they all stoped playing sadly and I became the Guild leader still to this day lol. my fav is 1, moria and mirkwood, 2, Isenguard and rohan are great and equal, rohan was a 2nd golden era in lotro the golden items everyone hunted for, you can enter groups non stop it was a beautiful time, 3, helms deep was ok, the changes did not bother me it is mediocre, most the rest are tied at 4, except mordor .. it was shiz, they made the landscape difficulty way to fkn hard, you cannot solo it on most classes, I hated every second of it, slogged through it on my main champ and 2 other toons then said fk you mordor, they lowered the difficulty latter but to me the point of landscap is to be about the story and instances are ment to be the difficult part with groups, Im still so mad about mordor sigh... oh and radiance was not a problem, you just had to spend 3 hours or so on other instances to unlocked enough to play the other instances, it did not take long and never understood why people where mad about it, really you cant play stairs as soon as you hit 53 or w/e level was the min for it, you have to do 3 or 4 instances before it ... thats not that difficult ..... especaly at the time when it was the first golden age in lotro , so many people doing instances non stop!
I'm a newish player (just started a year ago) and, so far, Rohan (where I am now) is my least favorite. The linear quests don't bother me, but mounted combat is horrible. I also hate the LI system, but hopefully the fix will be here soon. Thank you for this video and your guides, they are super helpful!
Moria definiteIy is my favorite, it's so atmospheric, and I totaIIy Iove the art and the concept, it reaIIy feeIs Iike an adventurous journey to middIe earth, it feeIs so remote and fascinating; Second and third I wouId say Mirkwood and Isengard, stiII haven't pIayed morguI though
My least favorite is Helm's Deep, for the same reason, a lot of going around, quests took super long and don't have many good stories. The loooooooong rides just to fetch some items, speak to some guy, is not worth the story I get. If it is a good story, then I wouldn't mind at all. My favorite gonna be Rider of Rohan, for the personaly reason, which is that I simply like horses lol. The warsteed is nice, even if I don't particularly enjoy the mounted combat. Special mention; Moria. I just have to mention Moria, I don't know whether to put it in favorite or least favorite, I love-hate it. Moria was one of the most fun MMO experience, but the main quest is boring and more importantly, I have claustrophobia, and while a cave/den/dungeon doesn't bother me because it's mostly in and then back out, I have to spend several weeks in Moria. I ejoyed it, but the feeling of getting out and seeing Dimrill Dale is my best LOTRO experience.
Moria is a lot of people's favorite mainly because it was released at a time the developers still loved the game and you could feel it. The new mechanics were well introduced and it didn't feel like a slap in the face (I'm looking at you Epic Battles and Mounted Combat systems!), the design of the mines and sheer size of them were incredible, the content was phenomenal and all of it was just great fun. Even the grind for endgame gear was a lot of fun (except for the Watcher in the Water). It really felt like a labor of love. No expansion that followed felt like that. It either was disappointing, boring or down right infuriating (I'm looking at you Epic Battles! Again!). The game is now far beyond its prime and the magic of Moria will probably never return. 💔
RoR was orders better than HD. I've played LOTRO since 2007 and my list based on my own experiences .. Xpac Launch Experience 1. SOM 2. MOM 3. ROI (even tho the music was terrible) 4. MMG 5. ROR 6. Mordor (Loved its harder content at launch) 7. A FAR DISTANT HD- will always be last. Favorites After Launch/Changes 1. SOM 2. MMG 3. ROI 4. Mordor 5. MOM (The revamp made the places to connect the dots and easy) 6. ROR 7. HD, the trait system was utter crud.
Given that i am a new player playing on Treebeard and haven't played any of them (yet), i think that riders of Rohan will be the one that annoys me the most. I do not think i will enjoy mounted combat and i love my scenery and detailed terrain, which from the footage, do not seem to exist :) From the footage and what ive heard i am sure i will absolutely love the mines of moria :D
My favourite expansion is moria, because the landscape is amazing and the story and the quests are interesting and good written. My least favourite is helms deep, it was so horrible, that i abandoned lotro for 5 years. The landscape is nice there too, but except that everything is wrong with that expansion (mounted combat, quest lines, epic battles etc.)
dont have favorite expacs, but i got favorite zones. my 2 favorite zones are wildermore and vales of anduin. just loved the quests,story and zone. least favorite is moria. the map is terrible and its just extremely annoying to navigate, and the epic quest took me on fetch quests to every single part of moria, and then had me instantly going back to turn that in, and then it gives me yet another fetch quest.
my least favorite is ROR, but to be fair, Im still leveling and soon will start Helm, My favorite is Mirkwood not sure why tho.., and the second close Moria. overall started Lotro a month ago, love the game so far.
The new trait system hacked apart classes bigtime. I hate how they separated Champion AoE and ST- pulled basic abilities and spread them out over each "trait" tree.
If some smarter than SSG took over lotro and make game good again that would be amazing,and re-do real legendary classic lotro with old system of traits and everything i would play that all day long
I'd have to say my least favorite is currently Mordor, the reason is I tend to be a completionist and it is a slow slog with way too many fetch quests riding accost Mordor AGAIN. Also, The music is so oppresive, I actually turn it all the way down, which is not my usual MO in LOTRO. Also, I enjoy some sunlight, so the first 2/3rds of Mordor is kind of painful. I actually got happier when I got to the swamp of blood... and that's disturbing. Second worst expansion was Rohan and the mounted combat / Hybolt stuff. Favorite is Moria, but it's a bit tricky. I first played Moria when Mirkwood first released, and I had a initial amazing time there, but the overall size of Moria was too big, with all the confusing area deeds. Also it was all underground, which was a bit challenging for me. And the map... 'nough said. Also I have not gotten my main to Minas Morgal (I'm a slow play everything completionist… and I have about 12 alts), I have a feeling that will be my favorite... Until Gundabad. I like my Dwarf main, so that will be fun content.
Wheb rohan came out that was the expansion that caused me to quit, it was rubbish. While some of the story wasn't bad the practically forced mounted combat and the lack of proper end game just killed the love of the game for me. I tried to come back in helms deep but it had the same stuff that made me fall out of love with the game. I have tried coming back periodically but found it frustrating. I recently came back to game after years of not playing and was leveling my beoring through minas morgul and I really enjoyed it. Until I learnt hobbit cam be loremasters now so I created a hobbit lm after couple hours in the shire I ended up deciding to use the lotro points I had from being a lifetime subscriber to boost it upto 130. Played through the entire war of the three peaks mini expansion and loved it. Soon I'll start playing gundabad but it seems like the game has gone back to what made me love lotro. The only annoying factor is I'll have to go back and discover all the instances and raids that are locked beyond finding them but ill only do that if I decide I want to try get back into instances and raiding
I have two favourite expansions: Mines of Moria had the best content and with Riders of Rohan I found the best kinship ever, even though I did not like Hytbold, Mounted Combat and the instance cluster is too far removed from Rohan. But the memory of my friends in Avaris is just one of the best I have. The worst expansion is Helm's Deep: I dislike the zone, trait trees, epic battles and more or less everything that came with this 'expansion'. For me it is rather a reduction.
I guess both my most and least favorite expansions have to be Moria - after playing the game on and off for a decade, I've never actually completed it 😅
My least favourite Expansion is Helms Deep; no Instances... My favourite Expansion would be Minas Morgul and Mordor because of their music and Athomsphere.
As a new player my least favorite expansion would me Moria, I got lost a million times and died a lot falling down the edges hahahah. And my favorite expansion so far would be Riders of Rohan because from a lore perspective Rohan is my favorite place in all Middle Earth, and surprisingly I found the mounted combat fun because I felt like a Rohirrim, although it may be junky and laggy sometimes.
@@Louey7 Hey Louey! Thank you very much! I've been trying to reply to this comment with my email and Discord username but the comment won't appear lol. You can contact me via Discord, I'm in your server and I have the same name and profile picture
@@Louey7 I think the issue is that I can't use any symbols in youtube comments. Also I just changed the privacy setting so you can message me on Discord, totally forgot about that, sorry!
Since i've never played further than lvl 100, because its getting sooo boring for solo questing, my top expansion might be moria. everything after is kinda meh and i didnt played that much in Isengard, because there were SO many quests that i did, that i skipped it somehow, even tho i was in the prison xD i really would like to see the end endgame but i never reached it after the level cap of 105 because as i said, it was kinda boring for me all alone. a worst expansion i might not have because every area has his up and downs
Even though I started playing LOTRO in 2010, the vast majority of my experience until Minas Morgul was solo questing and leveling, so that's how I view most of the expansions. And that said, Rohan 100% deserves the two bottom spots on your list. Least favorite is RoR. It's is the absolute pits for me, with HD being slightly higher solely because the landscape is less monotonous. With RoR, your character stopped feeling like the hero of a story that was happening at the same time as the events of Lord of the Rings, and started feeling like the designated errand boy/girl for all of Middle Earth. The side quests in RoR turned into these long chains that you MUST play IN ORDER and TO FULL COMPLETION but all they involve is going from town to town doing the bidding of the jarl in each area. Talk about boring. And the insult to injury? There are trait points at the end of many of these quest chains. You shall suffer, gamer. SUFFER. My favorite is probably Mirkwood, with Minas Morgul being a VERY close runner-up. I give SoM the edge because I don't really like the Mordor Besieged part of MM, but I have the same main reason for loving both expansions: atmosphere. Like in Angmar, they both nail the experience of plunging headlong into a stronghold of evil, and that's what I'm here for. The questing in both places is SO immersive and creepy, just a blast to play through, and both expansions also have great instances/raids.
I really dislike Riders of Rohan. Obvious reason: mounted combat, so annoying. Formy favorite one probably Moria, very iconic area that really give you the feeling of being in Moria.
Call me a Lotro boomer I don't care but I thought Angmar through Mirkwood was the best time and everything after that was either terrible or sub-par. I'd say Moria was my favourite expansion because the dungeons and raids were so cool but Mirkwood is a close second with Dol Guldur being so freaking awesome. As for most hated expansion I guess Rise of Isengard because it killed my Lotro Journey. The Story and setting just became way to fan service-y. I liked what they had going before with doing kind of their own thing just revisiting places after the fact and encountering new threats and stuff. But with Isengard we were either completely treading after or even with the fellowship it seems and fight bosses that made zero sense IMO. Like Saruman or Durin's Bane. I'll take something more original like Gorothul or Thaurlach over that any time. Mirkwood was already kind of pushing it with us fighting a Nazgul. I assume we fight the Witchking and Shelob nowadays or Sauron himself? Just seems ridiculous and silly to me. Not a fan of such obvious fan service.
My favorite is Mines of Moria. It released right before I got to level cap and was the first expansion I really played. I loved the feeling being in the Mines had and found there was endless corridors and passages to explore. It felt so immersive.
Snap… I almost just bought that the other day. I ended up getting “Escape from Khazad- Dum”
Same here! I making a Beorn now and having a blast in Moria.
Man you missed Moria. That is when lotro was at its golden age. "WoW killer" at the time. So many people playing, server pop was at cap at least in Elendilmere.
Totally agree, I played Wow since release and MoM made me quit for the whole duration of that expansion, all the content, class fantasy, pvmp and everything just felt so right!
Moria was definitely Lotro at it's finest.
Thanks for your content Louey!
I've been watching this channel for a few years now at least, even when I wasn't playing LOTRO much.
One of my favorite smaller channels, I try to catch streams whenever I have time too.
1. War of Three Peaks
2. Rise of Isengard
3. Minas Morgul
4. Mines of Moria
5. Mordor
6. Fate of Gundabad
7. Siege of Mirkwood
8. Before the Shadow
9. Riders of Rohan
10. Helm's Deep
I enjoyed your video, but for me The Mines Of Moria is not only the best LOTRO expansion, it is the best expansion to any MMORPG I have ever played. Playing MoM when it was new was - without doubt - a groundbreaking experience. The first time you get an LI is truly memorable (yes they have become a little jaded over the years, but that is IMO because of the ever greater demands on monetising the LI system). The first time I went out from the 21st Hall down the stairs to Nud-Melek and saw the great carved stone trees there is still one of my favourite LOTRO memories; in fact I still go back there occasionally to re-live it. Morder and Southern Mirkwood were just awful - designed from the get-go to make an already overly long grind even longer and grindier.
Rohan would have been stellar as well had there been any attempt to get Mounted Combat right, but there really wasn't and no real attempt has been made to make it as good as it should have been. I agree with you that "Epic Battles" were significantly less than epic, and completely undermined the whole class system; there should have been some attempt to maintain some element of "class identity".
Heyo! Just started playing with a friend and I love the game. I appreciate having these videos about the game to watch until I can log in again. Thanks for the content!
I love Moria! It is my favorite expansion, though my highest char is level 100, and I've been afk from the game for some years, so I might change my mind later.
As opposed to you, I loved that it was hard to get around, it took me ages to find my way, I too fell down, but it made it such an adventure. All those majestic halls with diverse themes, especially love the Water Works, it is absolutely gorgeous. I tend to turn music off as it stresses me, so I cram up the ambient sounds, and they too are great, you hear the stone creaking, goblins cackling in far away halls, adding to the sense of being lost underground. It was also the first expansion with the legendary weapons, and I love the sense of progression and working on something to make it more powerful. My only beef with Moria is the forced personal torch, I wish I could turn it of and really get lost in the darkness
I have a soft spot for Moria. It had the biggest budget and I think it shows.
My favorite expansion has to be Moria, just so many good memories when receiving my first LI so many years ago, just packed with content.
My least favorite for sure is rider of Rohan. To keep it simple , mounted combat, just never was a fan of it.
Great video as always Louey!
Fun, we have the exact same favs and least fav. You, good Sir, have taste! I mean this totally unbiased of couse ;)
I started lotro in beta, it was my all time favorite mmo.When Moria came out it was amazing especially if you had a large guild.I can see where you found it a hassle to level,I can remember dreading bringing my 9th or tenth alt there.But all in all great expansion despite the early raid instance bugs.Mirkwood was good also although a lot smaller,and again major raid bugs.There where i believe 2 small maps added after Moria I cant remember there names probably because they were forgettable.Then came Rohan ,for me and a lot of people this was the death of Lotro, this thing was a hot mess.Biggest mistake they made was getting rid of the large raids.I went back a couple times after Rohan but it was just an empty game and never got my interest again.
Moria has always been my favourite. Entering the mines for the first time gave me goose bumps. Although I think the epic quests require a heap of back and forth I did like going through all the zones within + Lothlorien, seeing the sky again and I enjoyed the orc camps.
My least favourite is Helms Deep. I found it to be so repetitive with the rinse and repeat town quests. By the time you get to Helms Deep you're exhausted lol.
That's a good way to put Helm's Deep!
Excellent video Louey. Like so many Moria was my favorite, I had a blast during Minas Morgul as well. For me an honorable mention is Mordor, I thought it was done really well and had the grim, and gloomy questing slogs I would expect for that region.
Love these types of videos, fun to look back and feel the nostalgia. :)
Mine would have to be Mirkwood. It was released around when I joined - I love the small zone and how it's packed with drastically different landscapes. Plus you get more interactions between elves & dwarves, and the instances still stand up nowadays. Love to revisit it.
I think part of Riders/Helm's Deep's issue is that Moria/Mirkwood had very unique settings with long histories to explore. Rohan had to follow that and they had figure out how to make an entire story out of a giant field location with a battle at the end. Was always gonna be a challenge.
I don't think thar was the issue with rohan or helms deep, the issue with them is the mounted combat bs that was badly implemented and never even had attempts to fix it and that they moved away from traditional end game content such as instances and raids and replaced it with the boring and lame epic battles
@Ben Fuller the mounted combat is a direct result of needing to make a big open country side interesting.
I'm not saying they succeeded, but I still think they struggled because there isn't much in rohan outside of set pieces like isengiard and helms deep, that most would find interesting.
Favourite: MoM hands down, DN is still mechanically my favourite raid and helped me really learn my guard, and Watcher/Filikul were 2 great additional raids you could run in so many different ways. Beautiful scenery, great questing all round, excellent end game content coverage :)
Least favourite: HD, mostly because of Epic Battles being introduced in place of traditional raids. Still think they're dull and buggy (MT ones in particular). And they continued with the worst system they ever introduced, mounted combat... the two expansions together were enough to stop me playing for 5 years!
Mounted combat and epic battles made me quit too
Moria, Isengard, Mirkwood ---- Other expansions, and last Rohan. Loved having to walk/ride out to instances or summon people using traveling rations. The 6 mans were amazing. DN was amazing. The Watcher was amazing. Turtle was fun.
Moria is my favorite, because it still held onto the more difficult, slow-paced SoA vibe. I enjoy Morgul and Mordor for those reasons also.
I loved the Fingolfin Easter egg in Mirkwood.
I'm a relatively new player to Lotro (Level 75 Burg) so I'd say my favorite expansion so far was defitenely Mirkwood. Pulling up to the Haunted Inn for the first time and seeing how spooky everything is was so great lol. The group stuff in Moria was also really fun though so it's tough :) I can't really pick a least favorite but if I had to guess what it will be, it'll probably be Riders of Rohan cause I've seen those War Steeds skate across Bree XD. Take care, and love the vids Louey.
My favorite expansion is Moria, the epicness of that place is unrivalled to this day.
Hey, thanks for the video and the giveaway! I just reached lvl100, so can't comment on the last expansions, but Moria is my favourite. I played it at launch and again now while levelling, and I just really like how they managed to turn a big cave into so many different unique zones. Least favourite has to be Helm's Deep, I only run a few EBs with kinmates to work towards my promotion point deed, otherwise I avoid them like the plague.
Ooh, would you do a Book quests tier list video? 🙂
My favorite expansion is Minas Morgul, i really liked questing there and progression was fairly easy even with quest gear. I think it is one of the most played expansion on all of my chars.
Least favourite expansion for me was Riders of Rohan, I feel like I was questing there for the longest time with no sense of direction.
Favourite expansion was Mirkwood, loved the questing and I have a really fond memory of that time.
Least favorite expansion is Helms Deep after the rubberbanding in mounted combat in Riders of Rohan it kinda removed the fun to even play Helms Deep. Most favorite is Moria. It gave me chills going in there for the first time and then doing all the quests there with danger lurking around every corner, then doing all the instances and raids, just loved it :D
my Favorite Expansion is Rise of Isengard. an Expansion i never got to play when it was current. but i absolutely love the questing experience. which is what i mainly do.
Little late to the party! But I think Mines of Moria was literally the best that Lord of the Rings Online has offered to it’s players. From the new Legendary Weapons, to the Radiance gear progression that was needed in order to do higher end raids! The raid progression and difficulty was really something that built up and was very enjoyable! Even though I never got past the watcher i never really felt like i couldn’t enjoy the game! The gameplay, class fantasy and class balance felt at an all time high, even PvMP was booming (on my server, Evernight). So many fond memories of that xpac.
My fav expansion is Moria for its unique areas as well as baruk khazad ai menu!
Favourite is Riders of Rohan, but only when leveling. Music is a masterpiece and the landscape, themes and house decorations are amazing. Epics also seem closer to the LOTR story (especially Amon Hen and Roots of Fangorn). One very sad quest with the Ent and his bird friend, but beside that I always had fun :) Mounted combat is annoying, I agree, but just riding a warhorse across the landscape feels so good!
Correction. I'm fairly sure this style of questing didn't start in Helms Deep. It started in Rise of Isengard (Dunland). That's where you notice the shift, the deeds require you to do pretty much every quest and they are very linear too.
My least favorite expansion to go through currently is Mordor, it's just too long and boring to do, going through all those big open world dungeons.
My favorite expansions is also Rise of Isengard, I love the questing and story to this day and the endgame was awesome
That is a good point. I think something I didn't clarify was the "annoyance" factor (of course to me) didn't start until Helm's Deep! I also don't think I mentioned this, but that is another reason I am actually unsure how fun ROI would be for frequently replays with alts (which I hope to eventually get around to on my LM again)! Yet I still enjoy the questing a ton even in that style that I don't like as much, so maybe I wouldn't be too bored with it if I repeated it without long breaks
What about your favorite/ least favorite instances, quests you remember, titles, festivals, class skills, steeds or cosmetic pets?!
I really enjoy these rankings :)
Worst expansion for me was Mordor. The lack of stables and the endless running around the somber landscape makes it difficult. Riders of Rohan/helms deep are close behind Mordor cause the mounted combat was a fail, but wasn’t as depressing as Mordor. Favorite is Minas Morgul! It was just fantastic to play there, it’s a bitter sweet landscape and an enjoyable experience. Close behind is Moria. So expansive and epic great raids and questing zones. Can feel a little claustrophobic after a while running around in the caves.
I just starting playing LOTRO for the first time and decided to do it on the Treebeard server so unfortunately, I have no least favorite expansion, as I have not experienced them yet. But if I have to base it off a name, Siege of Mirkwood lol. If I have to choose my favorite one to look forward too it will be Minas Morgul.
Is there a way to monthly auto sub to the game using Steam?
Not sure, I don't use Steam - maybe someone else can help with that?
I love ranking vidoes and I also learned a few things about the expansions, which was cool. Now I'm quite behind in acutally playing the expansions, so out of the (sadly) two I have played. My least favourite would be Mines of Moria and that is because I have terrible memories of fall to my death many many times; I did however love how it added Goat mounts. My most favourable would have to be Siege of Mirkwood, I loved the story and my best momories of solo questing were made in Enedwaith; also I loved all the reputation steeds add it this expansion. I look forward to catching up and playing all the other expansions too.
It’s Moria for me so far. Delving deep into the mountains with my first legendary item, exploring the mines and halls while doing fun quests was just an absolute blast. I just didn’t like some of the southern regions as much, but by no means hated them.
My fav. would be moria. Its just so pretty and the lore based around it is awesome. that and just the danger you feel.
Also Riders of Rohan/Helms Deep. Mounted Combat always felt sluggish and I just ignored it.... Zones were massive but not very lively.
My favourite expansion was probably Mirkwood. Have to say I haven't got to Mordor/Minas Morgul yet but around the time of Mirkwood when the game went f2p I started playing with 3 friends and we levelled everything together. Mirkwood was quite fun though sadly it was also when everyone else quit after getting to max level.
My favorite expansion is Moria, even after the release of Mirkwood people still played the instances, it's not perfect but I really enjoyed the content at the moment.
The worst is Helms Deep or Riders of Rohan, because of mounted combat and people just didn't want to play old content, even if it was scaled.
Nice video I liked it!
Moria all the way
2 new classes
new item system
huge map with different zones
Least favorite expansion is Riders of Rohan. Mounted combat for me feel flat on its face on execution and all the quests dragged on. Most favorite is Moria. It gave a sense of danger of going through the whole area which is what I wanted out of it plus growing a legendary item to grow with me was awesome.
I’ve only recently come back to LotRO but played from beta until Mirkwood. So my view is limited but while I really liked both xpacs, I’d say Moria is my favorite. Reason: loved the atmosphere. They did a great job making such a big zone feel like it had different “biomes”, if you will.
My favorite expansion is Moria. I reached level cap during this time and fell in love with the game. I just remember the awesomeness of finally getting through the gates of Moria, exploring all the areas, and just relaxing in the 21st Hall. A close 2nd to Moria is Isengard bc I remember how I enjoyed the Great River area and dailies. My least favorite is Helms Deep and Epic Battles. This was such a dud and made it easy for me to walk away, when I finally stopped rubberbanding, from the game that I had I had been playing since the Moria release.
Worst for me was Siege of Mirkwood, that's where I quit in earnest. Since then I have been coming back every now and then and leveling causally. I am currently in Mordor, but I own the latest content and plan to go through it as well.
You are the first I have heard that about Mirkwood, interesting!
My favorite expansion would have to be Riders of Rohan. Basically, it's due to nostalgia as that is when I started playing the game, but I had friends who already played, and they helped me level up so that I could due to the expac's content. I had played other mmos beforehand and even though I don't interact with the system at all anymore, I loved the mounted combat as I had never seen anything like it before. It was also the first raiding experience for me in the game, of which the expac had a great cluster in my opinion. It was also the end of the original trait system, which I enjoyed a lot more compared to the current trait tree system.
My least favorite expansion would have to be Helms Deep. Like I already mentioned, I wasn't that happy to see the old trait system go away (though I don't mind it nowadays), but the main issue I had with the expansion was the lack of an endgame instance cluster. Epic Battles were cool, but they aren't the same as normal raids and dungeons. PVMP also started to go downhill in my opinion around here too. I thoroughly enjoyed it up until Helms Deep when the new trait system and scaling issues caused a significant imbalance between freeps and creeps.
A very interesting video, thank you Louey. It is always nice seeing other peoples' preferences!
The expansion I enjoy the least is Siege of Mirkwood. It is because to this day, 'Dungeons of Dul Guldur' is my most disliked instance, Skirmishes were something I couldn't immerse myself into and even prefer the Epic Battles in regards to making me feel part of the LOTR world. Dol Guldur itself as an area felt a bit underwhelming. Visually stunning, yet huge and empty. In comparison, Carn Dum actually feels like an evil city, populated, alive, scheming, threatening. Dol Guldur, despite what the story implied, felt and looked abandoned and forgotten and uncared for even by the enemy. For how big it is, I only saw a bunch of orcs, couple of living armors and bats. Mirkwood itself felt more alive and populated than the actual enemy base.
The expansion I enjoy the most is Mines of Moria (was a close call and hard choice to make). It has some of my favorite instances to this day, the Dar Narbugud raid, the zones are a masterpiece in terms of visuals, ambience, colors and lighting. The mines look believable, huge and just as I've imagined it. The questing, even before the revamp, felt fun for me. The areas had a perfect balance between feeling safe and carefree with the dwarfs and scared and lonely amidst the dark depths. I also loved how we got a bit of lore about the Nameless Things, something which was missing from the movies and barely touched upon in the main LOTR books. I also love the soundtrack, and back then Legendary Weapons were actually a cool novelty for me. Just speaking about it makes me want to go and play through it again. It truly felt like a rich, proper expansion, packed with content and attention to detail.
this was really hard to decide but here it is:
my least favorite would have to be riders of rohan, not bad at all imo, just my least favorite because it took me the longest to get through because there are some parts of it that are just boring to me
my favorite would have to be siege of mirkwood almost entirely because of the group content in both Mirkwood and Enedwaith, lost temple, dungeons of dol guldur, ost dunhoth, and barad guldur are some of my favorite instances in the game
edit: I haven't gotten to minas morgul yet but I have a suspicion that it'll be my new favorite
You should have done this with a tier list.
I plan to do something similar after Gundabad but for all level caps (included quest pack caps such as Gondor, Ered Mithrin)
My favorite was Moria, but that was because it was the time when my kin was most active. We just had a lot of fun and laughs playing the raid instances in Moria. I can understand though why playing it solo could get tiresome.
Had to delete my past comment since I've been thinking a lot about how the game is currently and how much I'm not enjoying Umbar at all other than the Crafting update which they finally got it right compared to past expansions..Crafting is meaningful again. I started in Rise of Isengard on Firefoot loved the game and was really trying to figure out how everything worked once I got to Mines of Moria. Today I look back and know that Mines of Moria is the best expansion in Lotro and probably one of the best expansions in all of gaming period after playing most AAA games since then. My two least are Riders of Rohan and Helms Deep for all the obvious reasons and I will add I remember how divided the community was on helm's deep and I remember the anger of people in game about the expansions. The Kinship I was in, once Firefoot shut down, was on Crickhollow and it had been around since Angmar and was once one of "the kins" to be in people were quitting all the time and it slowly dwindled down to a handful of people that logged in occasionally. Things have improved lately but Umbar is just a mistake in my honest opinion and is probably right there with Helms deep.
I have not played further than Mordor yet but so far my least favorite expansion is riders of rohan. Mounted combat instantly killed it for me.
Moria is probably my favorite so far just because of the locations. :)
Fav was Moria, it added new classes and RK is my Fav. Least favorite is Helms deep, dont like big battes
Favorite expansion is Moria (so far--I have a long way to go). I love the look and feel of the place. You are absolutely right that the book quests were...not great (also the Mazog quest line needs to die in a fire). But there was humor (Well Traveled, Orcs high on 'shrooms) as well as sad things and frustration. Lots of different areas all with a different vibe. I liked Mirkwood, but it didn't click for me, and I'm not sure why. It may be the lack of small jokes and humor that lighten up dark content. Both are better than dealing with mounted combat.
I’m a new player and want to try them all out :)
The fact that you rank Mirkwood higher then Moria shows that you definitely have not been there for Moria and probably also not caped for Mirkwood. Moria truly was the golden age of LOTRO, packed serves, raids and instances everywhere. Tons and tons of fun. Mirkwood after that felt to everyone i know like a huge huge disappointment and player numbers dropped immensely as a result. The worst world-building we saw in lotro until now,, small map, skirmishes, no instances with release. ect, ect.
MoM. I am questing with my friend in Moria at the moment. Such an atmosphere... I lost my way about 5 6 times. No excuse but huge place for a hobbit!!!
My least favorite expansion would be Helm's Deep, running alts through it for the trait points gets old really fast. My favorite expansion, probably Moria or Minas Morgul. I was hyped for entering Moria as it is easily one of the best parts of all LoTR video game adaptations (and there's so much to do there) and Minas Morgul is the most fun I've had in the game for years, was really surprised at how good it was
Rise of Isengard all the way. Best instances, best looking gear and best questpack. The ToO Saruman fight may be the best instance in the game + pvp was at a very good balance at the time.
My favorite to this day has to be Mines of Moria. In fact, Moria is still my favorite region in the game. It’s somehow so nostalgic while still very fun. The music, the Blue/Purple crystals that lighten the long hallways and caverns, it’s just perfect. Tbh I didn’t mind the book quests either. Worst for me is Helms Deep. West Rohan doesn’t feel as alive as east Rohan for some reason, and epic battles are just a snooze fest.
Kinda bums me out that mounted combat isnt good(unless that has changed).
I stopped playing when Rohan released. Not becuase of it though, as i never made it out of mirkwood back then.
I recently picked the game back up and was looking forward to Rohan cause the mount combat looked fun.
Moria because it gave birth to the most enjoyable class in the game: the warden
Hi cats, hi Louey!
Lotro Points Giveaway:
1) My least favorite expansion is Riders of Rohan, I dont like mounted combat.
2) My fovorite one is Moria, two new classes, btw my favorite classes, I love Dwarven lore too, so Moria for me was like a dream.
Yeah not many mmos have ever done mounted combat and none of done them well that I know of. Would have been cool if they had just revamped the mounted animation, making them more robust and smoother.
Worst expansion probably > Mordor, it's just alot of the same and I also found the light system to be very gate keep'y. I also remember my first boosted character starting in Mordor and being so overwhelmed and weak ( dying all the time) that I just have a sour taste after that.
My favorite expansion Is still Mines of Moria > I just love everything about it and found it to be extremely fun and exciting the first time going trough it.I also think there is enough variety in the zones wich makes it easy to play through :)
My least favorite had to be Helms Deep, which was from both not liking the Epic Battle system and having too high expectations going in (I loved the battle in the LOTR books and movies).
My FAVE was Moria. I thought there were so many cool zones with giant crystals or terrifying monsters in the deeps!
My least favorite expansion was Helms deep, admittedly I wasn't at level cap, but questing through there was rough. My favorite expansion was either Mordor or Rise of Isengard. I liked the darker feel or Mordor. And Isengard had some fun instances and a cool area to explore.
Even though I hated mounted combat, I think I find Moria as my most disliked area. It just always felt too dark, too grindy and repetitive. I think Mirkwood was my favorite. Loved the forest zones.
I was only around for ROI, RoR, and Helms Deep, followed by a big break and returned for Minas Morgul. I totally agree with how good Minas Morgul is as an expansion! The rest of them I have to judge based on my experience progressing through them as a player. Which means my favorite is Rise of Isengard, least is Mirkwood. I just love the story and content so much with RoI, Mirkwood (with the Exception of Enedwaith) I can't wait to get out of.when I'm progressing. But I don't have that same experience that you do of having been there for it; maybe I would have liked it more then 🙂 it may be rose tinted glasses but I like RoR a lot. I actually like mounted combat, and I feel so immersed when I'm in Rohan. The heresy!! 😉
rise of isengard for me...dats wen i got rly adicted to the game not becize of the expansion but the time got relese was wen i had the most time end i love it
My least favorite expansion is Riders of Rohan because I despise mounted combat. It wouldn't have been so bad if you could have chosen to engage in it or not. The fact some quests required it made it really bad. My favorite expansion is Mines of Moria. I think that's one of the best expansions ever created in any MMO I've ever played. While it's not perfect by any stretch, the designers made it actually FEEL like you were deep inside the mines. The expansion just exuded everything I had imagined about Moria from reading the books and watching the movies.
we may have started around same time then, I got a 7 day free trial got hooked and subbed ever since still to this day, before Free to play came out, 2010 I believe or mabye 2009, got level cap pretty early in mirkwood 2 or 3 months stuck in moria 😅, ya the mob density was fkn nuts back then, I loved Moria and mirkwood, moria instances where still all valid and played a ton, Our Darkest Hour on Gladden WOO. the kinship made it untill Isenguard came out then they all stoped playing sadly and I became the Guild leader still to this day lol. my fav is 1, moria and mirkwood, 2, Isenguard and rohan are great and equal, rohan was a 2nd golden era in lotro the golden items everyone hunted for, you can enter groups non stop it was a beautiful time, 3, helms deep was ok, the changes did not bother me it is mediocre, most the rest are tied at 4, except mordor .. it was shiz, they made the landscape difficulty way to fkn hard, you cannot solo it on most classes, I hated every second of it, slogged through it on my main champ and 2 other toons then said fk you mordor, they lowered the difficulty latter but to me the point of landscap is to be about the story and instances are ment to be the difficult part with groups, Im still so mad about mordor sigh... oh and radiance was not a problem, you just had to spend 3 hours or so on other instances to unlocked enough to play the other instances, it did not take long and never understood why people where mad about it, really you cant play stairs as soon as you hit 53 or w/e level was the min for it, you have to do 3 or 4 instances before it ... thats not that difficult ..... especaly at the time when it was the first golden age in lotro , so many people doing instances non stop!
Moria and Mirkwood
I'm a newish player (just started a year ago) and, so far, Rohan (where I am now) is my least favorite. The linear quests don't bother me, but mounted combat is horrible. I also hate the LI system, but hopefully the fix will be here soon. Thank you for this video and your guides, they are super helpful!
Moria definiteIy is my favorite, it's so atmospheric, and I totaIIy Iove the art and the concept, it reaIIy feeIs Iike an adventurous journey to middIe earth, it feeIs so remote and fascinating;
Second and third I wouId say Mirkwood and Isengard, stiII haven't pIayed morguI though
My least favorite is Helm's Deep, for the same reason, a lot of going around, quests took super long and don't have many good stories. The loooooooong rides just to fetch some items, speak to some guy, is not worth the story I get. If it is a good story, then I wouldn't mind at all.
My favorite gonna be Rider of Rohan, for the personaly reason, which is that I simply like horses lol. The warsteed is nice, even if I don't particularly enjoy the mounted combat.
Special mention; Moria. I just have to mention Moria, I don't know whether to put it in favorite or least favorite, I love-hate it. Moria was one of the most fun MMO experience, but the main quest is boring and more importantly, I have claustrophobia, and while a cave/den/dungeon doesn't bother me because it's mostly in and then back out, I have to spend several weeks in Moria. I ejoyed it, but the feeling of getting out and seeing Dimrill Dale is my best LOTRO experience.
Moria is a lot of people's favorite mainly because it was released at a time the developers still loved the game and you could feel it. The new mechanics were well introduced and it didn't feel like a slap in the face (I'm looking at you Epic Battles and Mounted Combat systems!), the design of the mines and sheer size of them were incredible, the content was phenomenal and all of it was just great fun. Even the grind for endgame gear was a lot of fun (except for the Watcher in the Water). It really felt like a labor of love. No expansion that followed felt like that. It either was disappointing, boring or down right infuriating (I'm looking at you Epic Battles! Again!). The game is now far beyond its prime and the magic of Moria will probably never return. 💔
RoR was orders better than HD. I've played LOTRO since 2007 and my list based on my own experiences ..
Xpac Launch Experience
1. SOM
2. MOM
3. ROI (even tho the music was terrible)
4. MMG
5. ROR
6. Mordor (Loved its harder content at launch)
7. A FAR DISTANT HD- will always be last.
Favorites After Launch/Changes
1. SOM
2. MMG
3. ROI
4. Mordor
5. MOM (The revamp made the places to connect the dots and easy)
6. ROR
7. HD, the trait system was utter crud.
Great video, really enjoyed it. My least favourite is Riders of Rohan. Mounted combat is just horrible!
Given that i am a new player playing on Treebeard and haven't played any of them (yet), i think that riders of Rohan will be the one that annoys me the most. I do not think i will enjoy mounted combat and i love my scenery and detailed terrain, which from the footage, do not seem to exist :) From the footage and what ive heard i am sure i will absolutely love the mines of moria :D
Rohan is actually beautiful in game, but it can be annoying to quest through.
@@justinmiller187 i really enjoyed evendim and trollshaw looks amazing so far, but I am looking forward to seeing and experiencing all the zones :)
My favourite expansion is moria, because the landscape is amazing and the story and the quests are interesting and good written. My least favourite is helms deep, it was so horrible, that i abandoned lotro for 5 years. The landscape is nice there too, but except that everything is wrong with that expansion (mounted combat, quest lines, epic battles etc.)
dont have favorite expacs, but i got favorite zones.
my 2 favorite zones are wildermore and vales of anduin. just loved the quests,story and zone.
least favorite is moria. the map is terrible and its just extremely annoying to navigate, and the epic quest took me on fetch quests to every single part of moria, and then had me instantly going back to turn that in, and then it gives me yet another fetch quest.
my least favorite is ROR, but to be fair, Im still leveling and soon will start Helm,
My favorite is Mirkwood not sure why tho.., and the second close Moria.
overall started Lotro a month ago, love the game so far.
My least favorite expansion out my limited, two expansion experience, is Mirkwood and the only reason for that is because I liked Moria so much!
The new trait system hacked apart classes bigtime. I hate how they separated Champion AoE and ST- pulled basic abilities and spread them out over each "trait" tree.
If some smarter than SSG took over lotro and make game good again that would be amazing,and re-do real legendary classic lotro with old system of traits and everything i would play that all day long
Thanks for this! I dislike Riders of Rohan. It felt like hitting a wall in my lotro experience. My favorite was Mirkwood, by a mile.
I'd have to say my least favorite is currently Mordor, the reason is I tend to be a completionist and it is a slow slog with way too many fetch quests riding accost Mordor AGAIN. Also, The music is so oppresive, I actually turn it all the way down, which is not my usual MO in LOTRO. Also, I enjoy some sunlight, so the first 2/3rds of Mordor is kind of painful. I actually got happier when I got to the swamp of blood... and that's disturbing. Second worst expansion was Rohan and the mounted combat / Hybolt stuff.
Favorite is Moria, but it's a bit tricky. I first played Moria when Mirkwood first released, and I had a initial amazing time there, but the overall size of Moria was too big, with all the confusing area deeds. Also it was all underground, which was a bit challenging for me. And the map... 'nough said. Also I have not gotten my main to Minas Morgal (I'm a slow play everything completionist… and I have about 12 alts), I have a feeling that will be my favorite... Until Gundabad. I like my Dwarf main, so that will be fun content.
Wheb rohan came out that was the expansion that caused me to quit, it was rubbish. While some of the story wasn't bad the practically forced mounted combat and the lack of proper end game just killed the love of the game for me.
I tried to come back in helms deep but it had the same stuff that made me fall out of love with the game.
I have tried coming back periodically but found it frustrating. I recently came back to game after years of not playing and was leveling my beoring through minas morgul and I really enjoyed it. Until I learnt hobbit cam be loremasters now so I created a hobbit lm after couple hours in the shire I ended up deciding to use the lotro points I had from being a lifetime subscriber to boost it upto 130. Played through the entire war of the three peaks mini expansion and loved it. Soon I'll start playing gundabad but it seems like the game has gone back to what made me love lotro. The only annoying factor is I'll have to go back and discover all the instances and raids that are locked beyond finding them but ill only do that if I decide I want to try get back into instances and raiding
I absolutely hated Moria when it first came out and I actually think it was one of the reasons I stopped playing LOTRO first time around
I have two favourite expansions: Mines of Moria had the best content and with Riders of Rohan I found the best kinship ever, even though I did not like Hytbold, Mounted Combat and the instance cluster is too far removed from Rohan. But the memory of my friends in Avaris is just one of the best I have.
The worst expansion is Helm's Deep: I dislike the zone, trait trees, epic battles and more or less everything that came with this 'expansion'. For me it is rather a reduction.
I guess both my most and least favorite expansions have to be Moria - after playing the game on and off for a decade, I've never actually completed it 😅
My least favourite Expansion is Helms Deep; no Instances... My favourite Expansion would be Minas Morgul and Mordor because of their music and Athomsphere.
As a new player my least favorite expansion would me Moria, I got lost a million times and died a lot falling down the edges hahahah. And my favorite expansion so far would be Riders of Rohan because from a lore perspective Rohan is my favorite place in all Middle Earth, and surprisingly I found the mounted combat fun because I felt like a Rohirrim, although it may be junky and laggy sometimes.
Hey, I wanted to let you know that your comment was the random one that won the LOTRO points giveaway! Can you reply with a way for me to contact you?
@@Louey7 Hey Louey! Thank you very much! I've been trying to reply to this comment with my email and Discord username but the comment won't appear lol. You can contact me via Discord, I'm in your server and I have the same name and profile picture
Hmm not sure the issue, might be a RUclips spam filter as I don't see it either. I'll message you!
@@Louey7 I think the issue is that I can't use any symbols in youtube comments. Also I just changed the privacy setting so you can message me on Discord, totally forgot about that, sorry!
Since i've never played further than lvl 100, because its getting sooo boring for solo questing, my top expansion might be moria. everything after is kinda meh and i didnt played that much in Isengard, because there were SO many quests that i did, that i skipped it somehow, even tho i was in the prison xD i really would like to see the end endgame but i never reached it after the level cap of 105 because as i said, it was kinda boring for me all alone. a worst expansion i might not have because every area has his up and downs
least favorite: riders of rohan- because i hate mounted combat
favorite: MoM - introduction of LI
Even though I started playing LOTRO in 2010, the vast majority of my experience until Minas Morgul was solo questing and leveling, so that's how I view most of the expansions. And that said, Rohan 100% deserves the two bottom spots on your list.
Least favorite is RoR. It's is the absolute pits for me, with HD being slightly higher solely because the landscape is less monotonous. With RoR, your character stopped feeling like the hero of a story that was happening at the same time as the events of Lord of the Rings, and started feeling like the designated errand boy/girl for all of Middle Earth. The side quests in RoR turned into these long chains that you MUST play IN ORDER and TO FULL COMPLETION but all they involve is going from town to town doing the bidding of the jarl in each area. Talk about boring. And the insult to injury? There are trait points at the end of many of these quest chains. You shall suffer, gamer. SUFFER.
My favorite is probably Mirkwood, with Minas Morgul being a VERY close runner-up. I give SoM the edge because I don't really like the Mordor Besieged part of MM, but I have the same main reason for loving both expansions: atmosphere. Like in Angmar, they both nail the experience of plunging headlong into a stronghold of evil, and that's what I'm here for. The questing in both places is SO immersive and creepy, just a blast to play through, and both expansions also have great instances/raids.
I really dislike Riders of Rohan. Obvious reason: mounted combat, so annoying. Formy favorite one probably Moria, very iconic area that really give you the feeling of being in Moria.
Call me a Lotro boomer I don't care but I thought Angmar through Mirkwood was the best time and everything after that was either terrible or sub-par. I'd say Moria was my favourite expansion because the dungeons and raids were so cool but Mirkwood is a close second with Dol Guldur being so freaking awesome. As for most hated expansion I guess Rise of Isengard because it killed my Lotro Journey. The Story and setting just became way to fan service-y. I liked what they had going before with doing kind of their own thing just revisiting places after the fact and encountering new threats and stuff. But with Isengard we were either completely treading after or even with the fellowship it seems and fight bosses that made zero sense IMO. Like Saruman or Durin's Bane. I'll take something more original like Gorothul or Thaurlach over that any time. Mirkwood was already kind of pushing it with us fighting a Nazgul. I assume we fight the Witchking and Shelob nowadays or Sauron himself? Just seems ridiculous and silly to me. Not a fan of such obvious fan service.
:D if only this game did get a good graphic overhaul causee like w ein 2022 and my pc is MONSTER...
it's shame caus LOTR is vry good fantasy
Rohan, mounted combat is terrible. Moria is awesome. It's so huge, very diverse. Falling does suck. Haha.