I managed to get to 21 in the Lone Lands between the Foresaken Inn and Ost Guruth on Saturday afternoon, running down most of the remaining quests that were at or below my level. I still have to find that orc messenger on the quest chain that leads to Retaking Weathertop, but otherwise I am at the point where the quests suddenly jump up a few levels.
That meant it was time to move to the North Downs, to travel to Trestlebridge.
I hate those first few quests out of Trestlebridge. This will be my fourth time through them and, though they are marked as solo quests, they can be tough to crack by yourself at level. Several of them require picking up items that are located in Orc camps with three or four orcs about, plus the usual crows around the periphery and a patrolling orc or two.
With care, patience, and a bit of luck, you can keep the fights down to battling two level 20-22 enemies. But don’t loiter between battles. The respawn rate is quick enough that taking a long breather can send your plans down the drain.
Still, it was better to face those quests than to try to go after some of the level 23-25 quests that awaited around Ost Guruth. Plus, at 21 I got to upgrade some of my armor. Gaff had gotten a critical event when making a chest piece for me, so I had something extra nice to put on.
It is nice to get something that good from crafting in a game.
I took advantage of the quest from Ost Guruth that sends you straight to Trestlebridge, and headed out.
Luck seemed to be with me. Or, rather, my timing was correct. Rather than running around at off-peak hours I was playing on Saturday night. And even LOTRO gets pretty active on a Saturday night.
There seemed to be quite a few people working on the same set of quests, including one full group from the guild Sons of Durin who was cutting a swathe through the orc camps that let all us solo players follow behind and collect the needed pieces.
That was enough to get Tistann over the hump in the North Downs. After that the quests tend to become more manageable for a while.
Before the night was over Tistann hit 22 and even got a new cloak from one of the quests.
Who is that cloaked stranger?
It isn’t the best cloak in the game, but at least it hides my goofy helmet.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
I’m not a fan of nearly all the helms in the game. There’s one I saw on someone that looked like they had mushrooms growing out of their noggin. It’s only upon getting to look at one of the level 60 captain sets that I’ve found a helm I’d actually wear visually.
The cloaks aren’t much better looking in my opinion. I’ve never been happy with the two-tone lower level cloaks and the upper level cloaks, while more intricate in design, are hard to dye to the color scheme you’re going for. Some can’t be dyed at all, so you’re stuck with what you got. I’m actually cosmetically wearing one of the bonus cloaks gotten for being a Founder. One of the better looking ones surprisingly enough.
Grats on 22 and happy adventuring!
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Congrats on 22! Like the poster above, there are a lot of pieces I’ll equip and hide because I don’t care for them. At least your character is a heavy armor wearer, most of the mid-level medium armor looks awful. I make full use of the appearance tabs to create a look for my toon and just leave it there. I’ll check new stuff to see what it looks like, but usually just stick to what I have. I also don’t often wear a cloak or have a backpack on. (My main is a hobbit – it’s where he keeps his pies.)
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There are actually some great hats and helms out there. I just haven’t gotten my hands on a really nice hat yet. When I do, the appearance tab will be my friend.
Somebody needs to do a study on the headgear of LOTRO. The game has quite a selection.
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