I started up a new character in Lord of the Rings Online just days before the new Leaves of Lorien content was added.  Since part of the expansion includes a “new player experience,” I thought I would go back and see what the differences are.  So, I rolled up another Guardian with the same race and starting area and logged in.  I didn’t see much of a difference.

The introductory instance is exactly the same as before. I did not notice any changes to it whatsoever.  It is still a good way to get started with the game, but where are the changes?

Once out of the starter instance, I arrived in the town of Arhet again. The first few quests are exactly the same as before.  The first difference I noted was when I went to train at the Guardian trainer. I was given a new combat skill and I was told to go over to a training dummy nearby and try it out. This short quest wanted me to take a swipe at the training dummy and then return to my trainer with news of my success.  It was easy enough to accomplish. The training dummies are lined up against a nearby wall, so I ran over, targeted one, and used my new skill on it.

Something else I noticed that I did not remember being there are the marsh flies located around the small lake near the hunter’s cabin. I also found a quest NPC behind the cabin that hired me to go out and slay a few of them.  The reward was some colored dye.  I also found an elite Marsh Fly Queen, and I was surprised that no quests had me run over and take her out. I took her down anyway but it dropped useless loot.

The experience points I gained were maybe a  little higher than before, but not by a huge margin. Everything else seemed to be unchanged.  We’ll see how it goes once I leave the starter instance.