Learning LOTRO: Lesson Eleven - Hunter Class Quests

In this series, I talk about various aspects of The Lord of the Rings Online. This series is meant for newcomers, but may also help veteran players find more to love about the game.

It's time for us to check back in with our first character, the elven hunter Glasbren. Our girl has grown up a bit and has had to face Hunter-specific Class Quests. These quests rely on the unique talents of the Hunter Class and put every Hunter to the test!

Since writing about Glasbren seven weeks ago, she's been leveled up to 50 so that I can cover a variety of other basics in this series. In this entry, we're going to talk about the first two Hunter Class Quests that are auto-bestowed at level 15 and at level 30. There are others, but they're a bit more advanced and complicated -- and thus will end up in a future entry.

Class Trainer

The first thing I'll ask you to remember is that I specifically said that the Trainers are NOT obsolete even though we no longer have to visit them to learn our class skills. When you reach level 15, you're going to get some mail called "Pressing Matters." This mail is going to send you to one of the Hunter Trainers in Bree, because they want to send you to help someone and learn a lesson.

Level 15: The Hunter's Path

Okay, so this is great, right? We're off to see someone who can make us into a better hunter! I don't know what they were thinking with the bear-head-helmet reward, though -- I've yet to see someone pull off that look with any amount of success.

In any case, you're going to head to Adso's Camp -- it's due west of Bree on the road that heads back to the Shire. But don't worry, you won't even have to go very far before reaching it and getting a look at Gytha.

Gytha Lainey

Wait, what? This woman thinks she can insult us this way? Clearly word hasn't traveled about the impressive job we did handling the Introduction Epic Quests. We're just going to have to show her we mean business and go with her into the Old Forest. (Yes, THAT Old Forest. But this is just an Instance, and it's not so bad.)

Hunting Yellowfang

This Instance is quite easy. You're only going to run into wolves, and you're limited to a specific area of the Old Forest. You can do what I did on my first hunter and walk past Gytha and kill all the wolves you find... or you can use the red dots on your mini map to your advantage to find out which one has a name... or you can even use the skill Passage of Nature to find Yellowfang and save yourself a ton of time by finding out she's on the path behind you from the start (at least every time I've done this Instance -- feel free to correct me if it's just random!). She runs in a circle, so feel free to take your time and aim with Penetrating Shot first.

I just... I never understood this. Couldn't you just show the hide or something to Gytha so she REALLY has no reason to doubt you did the deed? In any case, nice to see she's open to the idea that she could be wrong about you as a Hunter. You'd think that would have been taken care of outside of the Old Forest where people can potentially get lost and/or die if they don't know what they're doing.

But you did it! You defeated Yellowfang and proved your worth to Gytha. Boy, what a relief -- now you can go on to murder the evil in Middle-earth and feel sanctioned by... this random woman who stands around Adso's Camp all day.
[Insert side-eye here.]

Level 30: A Hunter's Charge

So you're off in the North Downs or having a blast in Agamaur, and you get another summons through the Trainer to -- you guessed it -- go see Gytha again. If she's such a great hunter, why is she always outsourcing? Whatever... you'd best get back to her (easiest way being your Guide to Bree skill that will drop you right outside the west gate of Bree).

Gytha wastes no time (just a lot of words), and it would seem you've been upgraded from wolf dispatcher to warg dispatcher as she ushers you along with her to the Shire in order to protect the hobbits from a party of wargs.  

Overhill

If anything, this quest is even easier than the one at level 15. Gytha tasks you with warning the residents of Overhill to take shelter. Once you've done that, she says she'll stand guard in the town and sends you to head off the incoming pack of wargs. (Yeah, she's SUCH a great hunter.)

Hunting Wargs

But in reality, there's very little to worry about here with one exception. I've made notes on the below screenshot to help you out if you want to know exactly what you're facing. I had already dispatched the Named leader warg when I took the screenshot, so expect a tougher warg up front, then the three in the picture, and then that last one way to the left that can easily be missed.

And that's it! Pretty simple class quest compared to some that other classes have to face. (But we'll get to those in due time.) Or maybe they go easy now so that the challenges ahead hit you like a Mack truck? I'm not sure. 

Other Class Quests

There is a class-specific set of quests that will send you back to your Trainer at level 39, and all of the classes have the same format, so I'll be talking about that set all at the same time in a future entry.

There is also a bigger set of quests at level 50 (available at level 45) that all of the classes get, but they are wildly different and more complicated. You can expect those quests to be in a much further entry in the future after we cover more of the basics. And there are a LOT of basics left to cover!

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