f13.net

http://lotrovault.ign.com/wiki/index.php/Yule_Festival

I love this rare stuff, last year I was playing in Europe and got totally side tracked from playing the game just collecting the snow globes.  Now I'm playing in the US so I get to do it all over again.

New stuff on the liink above, quoting Mrbloodworth's excellent post on this last year as I believe most of the old rewards are still available.

The multiple Dwarven Yule-Fest walls were fixed -- they're now properly labeled by race. I personally endorse the Hobbit for seasonal content, and I've used the Man as the standard in my house for the last year.

I did insane grinding last year to get a wreath. This year I'm going to relax. Maybe do the races to get a horse, since we can have more than one mount now. And finish alt-ing my way to a yard full of snowy trees.

UNless, of course, there are new decorations. Then I might have to grind again, because I'm a sad, sad little man.

I think there are new decorations. Also, the dwarfs are hosting a beer brawl this year.

coal?  if so, pass

That list is old.

Developer Diary: Yule Festival of 2009  (http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/569-developer-diary-yule-festival-of-2009)

The coal and taters were removed.  It was specifically mentioned in the patch notes.

my wife reports just now that of the 5 generic boxes she got, she received 5 coal, so yeah that seems specifically wrong

Read this:

http://forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2

I'm not going to poke fun at your wife, but you can.

Yep, she got took.

Or she was just being cheap and saw it as a better deal and wasn't really expecting anything out of those boxes!   :P

Oddly enough, I'm probably the only one that wasn't disappointed by coal last year.  That crap adds up when you're smelting a lot of steel.  Taters, on the other hand, filled me with incalculable rage.  This is one festival where I won't be having extraneous tokens lying around unused!

well, there's also the fun of people griefing the Beer Fight. 

I was farmed 4 runs in a row by a trio (along with 2 or 3 others).  They clearly had target macros for us.  Out of 12-15 people, we were always followed by the same 3 assholes table to table.  Knocked out while 1 of the buddies would grab a mug.  And/or farmed for the title. 

Awesome design.  Just like the Chicken Run spawn camping again. 

F9 :)

yes, the same people targeting me and maybe 2-3 other people out of 12-15.  Easier to macro it.

I noticed last night that there's a new door outside Thorin's Hall that takes you directly to the beer hall.

I'll try to get a screenshot over lunch.

What level do you have to be to participate in the good stuff and where is it?  All I know at this point is the area around Bree. 

Any level

Initial Quest by email gives you 3 tokens if you go to the quest area in Thorin's gate.  If you made a new alt log out and in after entering the real world (lvl 7 or so) to get the email.

Hobbiton Party Tree, 2 quests, collect apples, boxes & plants, reward total 4 tokens.
North of Bree festival grounds, 2 quests, collect meat and a barrel, reward total 4 tokens.
Thorin's gate, inside past statue, turn left and down a level, 2 quests, collect snowpiles, ice and plants, reward total 4 tokens
Duillond, Elf area, 2 quests, collect trees and ferns, reward total 4 tokens.

Bar brawl, Thorin's gate, same area reward dunno, haven't managed it yet.

Level 35? +
Horse race, reward, horse token for two different kinds of horse or 3 tokens.
Michael Devling, bottom right
North of Bree festival grounds

6 Tokens gets you a gift box, there's other rewards too but I'm doing the gift boxes at the minute.

So far I've received :-
Fancy Woodcutter's Pack
2 Travel Packs
Bree-land Yule-Fest wall
2 Dwarf Yule-Fest walls
Hobbit Yule-Fest wall
Festival table
Bree-Land Snow globe
3 Short Fancy robes
2 red gift boxes
Forester's Hauberk
Scaled Hauberk
Festive Candle

Edit to add.  If you are near one of these areas it's well worth getting at least one box and trying your luck, check the auction house to see insane prices on some of this stuff.  Maybe nobody is going to buy a snow globe at 10g, but I bet they would pay 3 gold.

That would explain how I wandered out the wrong door once.

I don't know what this "email" is that you're referring to.  None of my characters have any mail in their in-game box and I haven't received any email about the event.  I've logged in a number of times since the event started and nothing...

It takes a bit for it to show up after you've logged in.  Might have to zone, I can't remember the specifics.

Like zone into a building?  I'm not sure that I know of any other zones.  Maybe I can find a dungeon somewhere. 

You don't have to do the initial quest to start, you can just visit the normal quest givers in each location for the Yule quests.

I just created a new alt to test this, I didn't know you could skip the tutorial and the introduction and go straight into the normal world at level 4, but you can (might need to have done them before though).

Anyway some screenshots of what happens with a new alt incase it helps, I logged out /in after the 2nd screenshot, did a single walk 10 feet to another npc quest and got an email notification for the quest as you can see below. Take item from mail, get quest icon in bottom right of screen.

http://img14.imageshack.us/g/screenshot00061p.jpg/

The only reason I said zone is I seem to remember the mail always showing up magically when I'm horsing to one of the festival areas shortly after logging in.  I'm not sure if it's timed, or if it's due to passing a certain npc, or what.

I got it... finally!  Thanks for your help.

Just sold one of my Dwarf Yule-Fest Walls' for 1.5 gold on the auction house  :drillf:

Didn't get a chance to take a picture of the beer hall exterior entrance over lunch, so here it is now. It's just to the left of the main doors.

Thorin's Hall is still the best city ever.

I think I'm going to call the Beer-Fight the best event ever, but I never got a chance to play chicken ball, so I can't comment on that.

Thank you for posting the exterior entrance.  Makes life SO much easier.

I managed to obtain 1 of everything from the gift boxes, plus grabbed the 3 cloaks and all the snow dusted gear.  Made over 4.5 gold just selling the spare items so far.  The bar fight is pretty easy if you just whack 3 people then stand well to one side watching one table for the mug to appear.

that only works when there are fewer people around.  Otherwise you make yourself an easy target.

Stealth :)