Even though MMOs are a social game by nature, sometimes you just want to venture out on your own without any distractions. The Lord of the Rings Online team has created a guide to help solo players on their journey to level 20.

This guide seems to be targeted toward new players, which makes sense since the release of Mines of Moria coupled with the holiday season brought some new faces to the game.

Future articles will focus on soloing up to level 60. If you're a seasoned expert, this series of articles may not be required reading, but they could offer some handy tips. You can read the first one here or after the jump.

While MMOs are home to thousands of players, there are times when you want to take on the challenge of the Dark Lord Sauron all by yourself. While not every quest is soloable, you’ll find a huge number of quests suitable for a lone hero from the Shire and through the dark heart of the Misty Mountains. This article focuses on levels 1-20, with future articles covering solo play up through 60th level.

Get familiar with the user interface and quick keys, since they become increasingly important as your character advances in level. The more comfortable you become with the various commands and icons representing the skills available for your class, the faster you can play. Speed can help you stay alive when you don’t have a Fellowship backing you up.

When making the decision to adventure alone, it’s most efficient to choose quests from the same area. This allows you complete a large number of quests at once, return to the quest hub, and then move along to the next area as your hero advances in level. You’ll find that many quests hubs tend to lead you toward higher-level areas, and that’s true of both fellowship and solo quests.

There is plenty to tackle if you have an hour or less to work with. You can craft a few items from the things you recovered on your last trek through Middle-earth. Or maybe you want to dash off on a brief foray into the wild because you need a couple more hunks of boar meat to net the reward from one of your active quests. You might have to mine for copper, tin, silver, or barrow-iron—and will likely have to slay many monsters in the process. This latter task can help you advance your rank as a prospector, all the while earning experience toward your next level.

Tricks of the Solo Trade

The radar map is a great tool for finding quests and resource nodes, especially those that might be hidden behind rocks or camouflaged by tall grass. All professions have a passive tracking skill that causes resource nodes to appear on the radar.

While questing on your own, don’t forget to spend Destiny Points to give yourself that extra bit of power, healing, or defense when you need it. You spend Destiny Points by clicking on the half-moon symbol on the radar. If you find yourself running low, you’ll earn more each time you level, or by participating in PvMP combat in the Ettenmoors.  

Monsters and More

While some games’ core questing mechanic is killing monsters on an open landscape for experience, that’s not the most effective way to earn experience in The Lord of the Rings Online™. While your hero will earn some experience like this, you’ll earn a lot more by undertaking quests (many of which will require you to kill those same monsters you’d be defeating on your own).

Some adventures direct you to recover things from monsters, such as lynx skins, bear pelts, boar meat, claws, beaks, and the like. Others expect you to kill a specific type of creature—Orcs, Goblins, the bears near widow Asphodel Froghorn’s Farm, and wights in the Barrow-downs.  Others might ask you to craft, pick up items at a location, or find an NPC and talk to them. Choose those that interest you and skip the others.

When to Adventure Alone

Read the text of the quest a person is offering you carefully; the quest-giver will tell you to bring friends if it is a fellowship quest. You can also quickly identify fellowship quests by looking for the fellowship icon below the quest name.

It’s difficult, but not always impossible, to complete small fellowship and full fellowship quests by yourself. You won’t always get experience for completing these quests (since you’ll sometimes be far above their level), but it will allow you to advance the quest line to content that is more close to your level. Your best bet is to briefly leave the solo life behind and join a quick fellowship for quests where strength in numbers is a requirement.

If a quest is greyed out, it is nine or more levels below your character’s level and you will not gain experience for it. Light blue and blue signify quests only a few levels below your character. Yellow quests are a little above your level—and you want to take heed while trying to complete them. Be prepared to run away if you’re soloing . . . or maybe avoid them altogether. White represents those at your level, and they could pose a risk if you attract all of the monsters in the area at the same time. Orange and red quests are three to seven levels higher than your character, with purple quests being eight or more levels greater.

These colors also correspond to the text on a monster’s name, which in effect tells you just how powerful a foe you’re facing. Be careful when playing solo not to stay in any one location too long, and use extra care when attacking monsters in close proximity to each other. Choose your battles carefully.

Epic Quests

While you probably know the epic story of The Lord of the Rings , you’ll have the opportunity to aid the Fellowship of the Ring as they seek to destroy the One Ring and bring peace to Middle-earth. As you begin your journey, you’ll follow the Fellowship as they march eastward, aiding them in their task. As you grow in power, these Epic Quests allow you to confront the direct servants of the Dark Lord Sauron and aid the Fellowship even more!

You’ll start the Epic Quests the moment you enter Middle-earth, and additional chapters open to your hero as your level increases. Book I of the Epic Quests can be finished while soloing before reaching 20th level.

Where do you start?

Dwarves and Elves start in Ered Luin near Thorin’s Hall. Hobbits and Men begin in the town of Archet within Bree-land. There are many areas to explore in the game, but consider only four when you are below 20th level: Ered Luin, The Shire, Bree-land, and Lone-lands. When traveling in these environs, your hero should explore and talk to as many NPCs as possible. They might not have a Quest when you first encounter them, but several will offer one during a later visit.

Bree is the central point of these regions, and as you progress toward 20th level, this city will be a hub for many of your adventures. In short, all roads lead to Bree. The stable-master will allow you to quickly travel around these areas, so make sure to visit every stable-master you find to unlock new travel routes.

A Crafter’s Life

Crafting allows you to create items for your own use and sell needed commodities to other players. Pursuing a crafting vocation gives you even more opportunities for adventure, both by pursuing quests and discovering resource nodes in your travels through Middle-earth. There are seven different Vocations, with each having three professions. Having your character craft items also has its own rewards. If you’re not sure where to begin, check out the crafting section of the LOTRO Lorebook.

Dress for Success

You’ll find that completing quests will keep your hero in fairly decent gear, though there will be some areas of improvement available to you through purchases at the auction hall. As your hero’s abilities are highly improved by wearing better armour and other essentials, you’ll want to check out the auction halls at every opportunity. You’ll find them in most of the major settlements, and even within the dark heart of Moria at the 21st Hall.

Each time you visit a merchant, make sure that you repair your gear. This will make sure that you’re prepared to face the minions of the Dark Lord the next time you venture forth.

Strategies

As quests become more difficult, you’ll need to find strategies that work for the solo player. Here are a few tips and tricks.

Consumables: Scholars can craft potions that can restore Morale (Essence of Athelas ) and Power (Celebrant Salve ), as well as scrolls that can temporarily increase your crafting abilities. They also create items like refined fire-oil, which can increase your damage, and other utilities. These consumables are available at all levels, but each has a minimum required level. Keep enough of these consumables on-hand to help you survive surprise encounters or the arrival of enemy reinforcements.

Clearing a Path: As you fight, watch for fellowships to make a quick charge through an enemy encampment. Fellowships can make quick work of many monster camps, and you can use their conquests to reach the heart of the camp yourself with minimal effort. This strategy works best for location quests whose routes are heavily guarded.

Know When To Run: No matter how carefully you prepare yourself to fight select monsters, there will come a time when something unexpected will occur. If you’re squeaking by killing creatures one-on-one, don’t wait to see how things will turn out if a second or third monster joins the fight against you. In most cases, you can run far enough for the monsters to stop chasing you. Once everything has reset, you can find a new place to fight and continue questing.

Stick to the Roads: When traveling, stick to the roads until you get to the area you’ll be questing in. You’re much less likely to run across random monsters while on the roads.

For more tricks on soloing, make sure to check out the Class Forums on the LOTRO website. There, you can find masters of your selected class that can give you additional insight into the most effective ways for you to solo.

Pursuing Deeds & Traits

Another focus for your solo play can be obtaining Traits by completing Deeds. Deeds are broken down by geographic area, and many of the Deeds you’ll first find will be based around killing certain monsters. As you complete these Deeds, they will give you Traits that you can equip at a Bard to further customize your character. For more information on Traits, read the Trait Sets article.

For example, an industrious Hobbit in the Shire can get the Trait Determination by doing away with 60 slugs at around 5th level. To gain a second Rank in Determination, the Hobbit can then go to Ered Luin and slay 60 wolves. Around 15th level, he can travel to the Bree-lands to kill 60 barghest and gain a third Rank.

Soloing by Level

The first 10 levels of soloing are some of the easiest. The quests are plentiful and you don’t need to plan much to quickly advance in level. No matter what race of hero you choose, you’ll find that all roads lead to Bree-town.

• Elf: Cellondim--Duillond--Gondoman--Bree-land--Bree-town
• Dwarf: Thorin's Gate--Nogland--Gondoman--Bree-land--Bree-town
• Hobbit: Michel Delving--Hobbiton--Overhill--Brokenborings--Bree-land--Bree-town
• Man: Archet--Combe--Staddle--Bree-town

Around 15th level, you should be in Bree-land and the Old Forest completing quests. You can also head south from Bree-town and tackle some of the quests in the Lone-lands, but you’ll find a number of quests there well above your level. Your best bet is to stick to Bree-land until you get to 20th level or just run out of quests to complete. You’re almost certain to reach 20th level first. You can grab several groups of Quests within Bree at Adso’s Camp, Buckland, and Falco’s Folly.

After conquering the Lone-lands and the Old Forest, you’ll be prepared for new challenges in the Lone-lands.