I've just started playing LotRO, with my character starting in Bree-land.
I've just noticed that, on leaving Frostbluff from the Yule festival, the stable guy letts me return to any of the four starting areas for free – areas I would've expected to have to run to, or pay, in order to unlock.
Will I be missing anything if I take this opportunity to get easy access? Are there any quests I'm supposed to follow to take me to the other starter areas, say? Anything particularly dramatic about making the runs on foot? Any chance of ending up stuck far from home once Yule finishes?
Best Answer
People normally take the swift travel between starting areas - Travelling from thorin's hall to celondim to hobbitton to bree would take a long long time. Each starting area has a cheap stable to the other starting areas, so getting stranded isn't an issue. Also note that there are usually some other festival events in each starting area.
Each of the starting areas (including bree-land) and the lone-lands are free to play. You wonk't run out of free content until about level 30. I'd return later when you have a horse to complete all of the discovery deeds for the starting areas - that's easy turbine points and virtues there and some of the scenery is awesome.
Generally, you aren't directed to the other starting areas, although it can be a good idea to go there and do the quests / get deeds done to earn virtues and turbine points. The expected progression is: starting area -> bree -> lone lands (then I suggest evendim, but there are many options at this point).
Enjoy!