LotRO – Level 59 and Khazad-dûm

My Hunter reached level 59 and the famous Bridge of Khazad-dûm yesterday-what’s left of the bridge, at least. I was following the side quest of a dwarf Svanr who was on some kind of pilgrimage to see all of the Mines of Moria, and we got to the Bridge. Then my character took his first steps back outside in seemingly forever. It’s surely been over a year of real time since before my Hunter entered Moria.

Everywhere in Moria seems like a great archaeological discovery. “Oh! That’s where this happened! Oh! That’s where that happened!” I’m a bit of a history buff and even though it’s an entirely fictional history it still sort of presses those buttons.

Again I have to say they did a fantastic job of making Moria look super cool. LotRO is one of the best games for walking around exploring and looking at stuff. This is a game that you simply can’t play in a rush. At least I can’t. I find that I enjoy the game much more when I accept the fact that sprinting to the endgame isn’t going to happen, which gives me permission to wander around and enjoy the ride.

Using ManicTime, I calculated that it took 3 hours and 50 minutes of game time to level from 58 to 59. (A large percentage of that time was spent searching for piles of old weapons.) In an era when it usually doesn’t take more than an hour of game time to level in a modern MMORPG, it’s quite a throwback.