Here I am 5 months after my start in LOTRO and I've now reached level 60, the current Endgame level cap. I took my time as planned and smelled many flowers along the way.

Summing up my experience:

• For the first 20 levels or so I was enamored by everything, especially the 'fluff' content like fishing and the music system. The game is also pure eyecandy and I spent much of the early time just gawking at rainbows and daisies.
• I thoroughly enjoyed the Old Forest and the rest of Bree-land, including all of the related quests. North Downs is also great, I'd recommend it for most players after Bree-land. The Lone-Lands are just okay and skippable really.

  Evendim is the only map that felt artificial and poorly made to me, especially with the predictable and excessive placement of rubber-stamped mobs (the ratio of Tomb Robbers to Tombs is absurd). Every other zone gave me a sense of wonder as I entered it, highlights including Trollshaws and Forochel. I'm just starting Lothlorien now and I like it so far.

• Between 24-44 I took a vacation from questing. I abandoned almost all quests and just explored, crafted and farmed mobs as much as I felt like it at the time. It was refreshing to treat questing as optional, even though the game isn't really designed as a sandbox. I returned to questing at 44 in Angmar and Forochel but if I had to do it over again I would have just started Eregion @ 45.
• I've had no troubles with accumulating gold / coin. I'd rate LOTRO as "easy" in the grind for gold, especially compared to most other MMOs.

  By the time I was lvl 32 I had purchased two Deluxe Houses (for myself and my gf), several other houses for others in my Kinship and had no trouble getting my mount at 35. I should note I avoid the Auction House and tend to just vendor things I don't need for myself or my Kinship.

• There's a thrill in playing within Middle-Earth, but just like most Diku-based MMORPGs it's more like I'm visiting a Tolkien theme park. That's probably a good thing, because otherwise having a ton of men, elves, dwarves and hobbits tromping over the landscape would feel like stomping all over the lore. =P

I'm getting a wee bit sick of elves again, there's so damn many of them for a world they're supposed to be leaving. I grit my teeth and put up with them since I expect to be in Middle-Earth for awhile yet.

• The mob animations and abilities are better than any other MMO I've played. That alone has a lot to do with my enjoyment of the game, because I feel the basics of PvE combat are too often below par in MMORPGs.
• I tried the Ettenmoors a bit as a Monster / Creep, but I'd say it's more of a PvP distraction within a PvE game. I'm happy for that, because it mean (mostly) PvE balancing is paramount.
• I've worn crafted gear most of the way, until the rewards in Eregion or Moria began trumping what we could make within our Kinship.

  I like the crafting system better than WoW's but not by a huge margin. I wish it was a little more in depth and extended further into the Endgame. As it is, I felt like I'd peaked in crafting prior to the level cap.

• The small team content pleases me. Much of the 6man content is doable with 3-5 players. I've heard others complain the game is too easy, but many of those players won't even venture into instances until they have a full and select group of the 'right classes'.
• While most of the players on our server seem nice, I've had just plain awful PUG experiences.

  Outside of my own group of friends, I can't seem to find the right balance between patience and just-do-it approaches to content. I've stopped PUG'ing since I'm tired of either standing around, or people who expect to rush through quests just to get them done and over with. Random people suck.

  I feel blessed with our small friends-and-family Kinship, even though that means waiting for others to level up (I'm the first among us to 60).

• Moria blows me away, I love it so much.
• The legendary weapon system isn't perfect, but I find it satisfying as something to progress after reaching the end level cap.

Overall I'm thrilled with the game. I've got a lot of quests and content left to do.

Harhm is looking confused. Specifically, he's /mood_confused.

Nelgdorf, Nazrin and I stumbled upon this special set of facial emotes in LOTRO last night and we were hella impressed. The animators at Turbine must have worked overtime on these and I thank them from the bottom of my heart, this is exactly the sort of thing that amuses me to no end.

All of the mood_ emotes are held once set, so you can run around with your character looking surprised, mischievous, happy or sad (plus a whole lot of other distinctive options).

If you watch the video for a few seconds, you may spot the nature of Harhm's distress. ;)

After reading Zubon's, Suzina's and Sweet Cherrie's posts about Legendary Items, I'm reminded that one person's idea of joyful progression can be another's grind.

'Grind' is probably the biggest and most common complaint about MMORPGs. That must drive designers a bit nuts, because progression (real and illusory) are an important aspect of any RPG. An MMO without progression is likely to be criticized as a bore, but you cannot escape that someone will inevitably call your game's progression a grind.

The Legendary grind is an illusion:

That's been my subjective opinion, mostly because Turbine has dropped in a bunch of shortcuts to item leveling that almost trivializes the progress of any given weapon.

I'm not right per se, because ultimately nothing is inherently a grind, it comes down to each individual's perception. So whether the grind is as deep not as deep as people say, it's a bit moot. If it seems like a grind to them, then it is a grind for them.

I wanted serious progression in the Legendary system and I'm almost disappointed that it's too easy, too quick to almost max out the potential in the system. Part of that is due to the curve, because at some point the differences become small, making not much difference between a 'good' to 'great' Legendary.

It's also true (as noted by Zubon) that getting a great Legendary weapon is more about sorting through the trash caused by the random nature of stat generation. This part of the system disappointed anyone who was hoping to get 'One Sword to Rule Them All'. Instead of keeping a weapon as you progress, you're likely to disassemble dozens as you slowly upgrade.

Turbine is also being rather conservative on how powerful these weapons can become. Obviously they don't want Legendary Items to trump their content balancing, but at the same time, that reduces just how... Legendary these items can be.

I find myself at odds with some of the complaints though, because overall I love the Legendary system. Oh I can imagine ways it could have been better, for sure, especially with the toss-your-old upgrade paths, but this is what's in the game and rating it as-is: I'd say it's pretty good.

Just the aspect of having something to level once my character is at Endgame, that alone is a boon to me.

This sort of thing must drive MMORPG devs a bit nuts, because progression (both real and illusory) is an important aspect of any RPG.

Update (April 23rd): Today! We'll be holding a purchase & decorating party around 5pm Pacific.

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Just a friendly reminder to my Guildmates (er Kinship-mates, I'm still stuck on calling it a Guild) that we'll be reaching Kinship Lifespan Rank 7 tomorrow, which means we can finally purchase our Kinship Hall and complete our little Dovon Meglis neighbourhood of bliss.

In the 4 days since my Legendary Leveling post-of-glee, I've leveled my starter staff to 17. I've looted numerous legendary items, including one Second Age Rune-Satchel which stands out in its blueness. I've collected and mostly disassembled legendary items for every class except my own. The inevitable luck of numbers dictates some sort of justification for bitching about drops. In particular I seem to be the magnet for Rune-Keeper legendaries. Hopefully Nelgdorf will be as lucky for me as I have been for him.

My legendary staff is so ugly that I couldn't bear to name it on reforging, as if doing so would invoke some unmentionable evil. Nazrin suggested "Swab", "Canal Cleaner" and a few other names appropriate to its appearance, so I may resign myself to giving it a mocking moniker.

I'm enjoying the Legendary system immensely, which isn't a surprise, it's been less than a week. Still, I think I'll be immune to the dread of grind that others have warned me about. I've been asking for this sort of thing for awhile now: rewards granted via persistence regardless of solo or group play. I'm so tired of the XX players formula for loot rewards, where small teams get shafted and large raids have epics rained upon them.

It's unlikely you'll catch me complaining about leveling these weapons, I'm quite careful of what I wish for and this is pretty close to the mark.

After taking a break from questing and doing my best not to level for over 20 levels (obviously my task wasn't a complete success), I've dinged 50.

Nazrin passed me along the way, but now that I've basically reset my questing experience into the expansion content, I'm pretty sure I'll be at Endgame very soon. Nelgdorf is lagging a bit behind, taking some moments to catch a deep breath and smell the flowers of the pre-expansion content, but we're pushing the reluctant dwarf into Moria anyway.

I've got my first two Legendary items, thanks to the Vol 2 Book 1 quests. I'm very pleased with them.

The presence of Moria, just over the hill and across the pond, is almost overwhelming, in a good way. It's like a mountain to climb, although crawling under is probably more apt. I'm almost mentally preparing myself for the shift on the other side, where as our faces hit daylight we'll also be migrating from leveling-up mode to Endgame mode. I like both modes, but they're distinctly dissimilar. For now though, the mines... Khazad-dûm awaits!

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. Legendary items rock.

Hearing about it, reading about it, I was just like "hey that's pretty cool" but getting my first Legendary staff (via Volume 2 Book 1) and killing my first mob with it-- and having the item itself gain a level and then train that level-- This had an immediate and pronounced effect on me. There's a great big sheepish grin on my face, like I've just eaten a great key-lime pie and there's no way I should have enjoyed it so much.

It's perfect for me, really. I don't play alts that much and I'm happy to grind gear, rep, whatever at Endgame. More than happy to grind honestly. I just hadn't put much thought to it, but leveling up weapons with my one main character: That's incredibly satisfying.

And hell, now I can ding a whole lot. Ding, ding, ding.