As I'd posted before, I've been playing LOTRO lately. It's been fun. I don't get a ton of time to play, but LOTRO works well for odd blocks of time, at least at the early levels. My Lore-master is just up to level 20 as of last night.

As he's of the Race of Men, I've been doing my questing in the Bree-lands. The quest tracks for this area have been completely and totally re-done since I last played. They were always a bit disjointed, with some huge travel times between quest-givers, and they've tightened this up and made it flow a ton better. They've also added some quests, as well as changed who gives some, and basically improved the Bree-lands leveling experience in every way.

I've enjoyed the re-do of the Bree-lands immensely. Except for one thing - a kind of big one, though, for me (and probably for any Tolkien fan). The Old Forest is supposed to be a confusing, scary, frustrating, and outright dangerous place. And from Beta onwards in LOTRO, it was. There was no map for the area, and there were many aggressive mobs, and in some places, they were Elites a few levels above level-appropriate for the quests in the area. This was perfect, IMO, as it fit what the Old Forest was supposed to be. Additionally, they used art tricks and such to make it very difficult to learn your way around - and they also changed the area with a few patches, just to keep you confused. ;)

Well, now, when you enter the Old Forest, you have a map, just like any other area. There are no confusing art tricks; it's just a normal, walled/funneled area. The mobs are normal, on-level for the quests, and there are no Elites, just Signatures. All the confusion, fright, danger, and such are gone. I was very let down.

It's not that I don't get it. Plenty of players hated the Old Forest and skipped all quests there and basically never went, so Turbine decided to nerf it to please them. And in the process probably annoyed most, if not all, of the players that are Tolkien fans - which, IMO, are the players that would stick with LOTRO through thick and thin.

IMO, the original LOTRO Old Forest was as it should be! Only the bravest dared enter the Old Forest! It wasn't necessary to go there in order to level; there was plenty of content elsewhere. So why not leave this one relatively small area for the adventurous players? :(