Special Event: Treasure Hunt, December 2015

I love the treasure hunting event in LOTRO. It's fun running around with lots of other people all looking for the mother lode - the huge dig site, hoping to find something good before the round ends or your meager supply of pickaxes runs out.

You see a range of strategies too - people who always dig at the same spot; people who dig at random sites - maybe they like the way the gold sparkles against the snow, or a rabbit ran past the dig site so it must be lucky (who knows?); people who deliberately look for the most out-of-way dig sites; people who do a circuit of the entire area, stopping at a few spots along the way; or people who use their trained cave-claw to find the best dig site in an area then dig at every dig site nearby except that one (???). It's a great place for people watching. Some really nice cosmetic outfits and mounts to admire too.

Last year my hobbit hunter found the treasure-laden pony and has been using it ever since as her favourite mount in-game. This year I took three of my new characters through, alternating them when I ran out of pickaxes instead of waiting for the quests to become available again. I found a couple of gem-inspection emotes, a treasure-hunter's backpack, a treasure chest housing decoration, and, just when I was about to give up and go back to questing, my new lore-master found a huge dig site and the treasure-laden goat. Hooray!

Treasure Laden Goat

So now I can retire happily from the treasure hunting field until next year and hope for another special mount for some lucky character. Maybe the horse next time? Fingers crossed.