Scenic Tour: East Rohan

To get to East Rohan from Dunland, Myndariel had to travel back to Lothlórien, then follow the main road through The Great River, stop and gawk in amazement at the ruins of Ost Celebrant, then turn and cross the bridge into East Rohan proper and head for the little settlement of Langhold on the hill.

It was a pleasant journey. I have yet to quest in Great River but I've heard it has some nice-looking quest rewards, plus some crafting recipes I'd like. Sometimes I think it's a shame to not do all the zones on the way to max level, but then again, it leaves things to look forward to do later or to experience on an alt first. One way or another, I'll see more of Great River!

But, back to East Rohan. The story line in Langhold was great. I felt very sheepish when the guards came and found Myndariel playing games with the village children and asked if she wanted to go fight some real bandits instead of pretend ones. The Thane's wife was also an impressive figure; strong of character, brave, noble, kind. It was good to help settle the refugees in Harwick, even if the Thane there did make Myndi jump through hoops to earn his trust.

Harwick

Getting the war-steed was awesome and confusing. A lot to take in: different types of horses, different trait trees, different legendary bridles, different abilities. And the movement was so different from riding normal steeds. Someone described it as "floating" and that seems rather apt. It also kind of reminds me of rally-car driving and steering by the seat of your pants, drifting around corners in the road rather than making turns which might slow you down. Basically, I hated the tutorial training course in its confined space, but once Myndariel got the war-steed out on the plains it was great and there was that "ahhh!" moment where it all suddenly feels right.

Having a pet wolf makes her feel like a Lore-master even in mounted combat

Running rings or figure eights around mounted orcs and goblins was fun - except when you caroomed into other mobs and they came and joined the chase. Defeating warbands was fun too but the rewards were disappointing. Seeing some warbands that were too powerful to take on alone was good - mounted combat and warbands added a lot more danger to the world and you couldn't just go riding wherever you please and not expect to be attacked. Being able to harvest ore and wood while mounted was a great change under the circumstances, and it still makes me laugh watching my thundering war-steed go skidding to a halt in front of some rich skarn.

Warband: Haglob

One of the most frustrating things I found in East Rohan was how the story was sequenced and you had to go through the Wold and the Norcrofts and the Entwash Vale before getting to the Sutcrofts who had the crafting recipes and rep rewards. It seemed pointless earning rep with these other factions who had no meaningful rewards to offer.

Snowbourn was very pretty and I was delighted to find that there were crafting guilds there so Myndariel didn't have to go back to Esteldín to get more guild recipes and barter her crafted relics.

Snowbourn

There were some great places to visit in East Rohan and I was pleased it wasn't all endless grass plains. I love the Entwash River and enjoyed the cave systems scattered around. The Eaves of Fangorn was amazing ... but I'll talk about that another day.

glow-in-the-dark Zúrsnaga's Hideout

Looking towards the Argonath

The Wódfen