I've been playing LOTRO for about a year now. I had reached that point in my main char where I was pretty familiar with most of the pre-Moria regions. And I was just grinding along the seemingly endless side quests that stayed on the periphery of the Fellowship storyline. To change things up, I spent a lot of time switching between my alts, just to experience the gameplay from different class/race perspectives. All of that changed when my main reached level 50, and I began the level 50 epic quests. The pace of the quests quickened, and I really enjoyed playing through the "climax" of Volume 1/Shadows of Angmar.

I will always remember the first time I entered certain places: The first time I entered the Chetwood forest in search of the Blackwolds. The first time I found Bree was on the free 24 hour starter horse. I promptly got lost because Bree was much larger than I expected. The first time I encountered Tom Bombadil and Old Man Willow in the Old Forest. The first time I entered the Barrow Downs. The first time I scaled Weather Top. The first time I travelled to Rivendell. The first time I saw the colossus in Evendim. The first time I saw the northern lights in Forochel.

But now, the first time I entered Moria with my legendary items... the game changed. I am hooked again. It is literally like a whole new game. I've heard some people don't like Moria because it's dark and different from the rest of the game. But, I'm loving it so far, because it IS different. I'm following in the footsteps of the Fellowship. I'm enjoying learning about legendary items. Leveling up LI's gives you something that shows progress and accomplishment between character levels. I just finished questing in the Silvertine Lodes and have started the crossroads quests in Durin's Way. I'm looking forward to the the session play with Durin's Bane.

I don't know, maybe I'm having so much fun right now because of the revamp of the first half of Moria. I first entered Moria literally the day after update 7 hit. Maybe I won't be so enthusiastic about Moria when I get further in. If that happens, I can start playing my alts again. But until then, I'm loving it!