I rerolled last night on Brandywine. My toon is a level 9 minstrel explorer named Corinthe.

Seeing as how I have done the elf/dwarf noob zone several times, and the elven city after that just the day before everything was very fresh in my mind. So I made my way around everywhere pretty quickly yet I still managed to discover some new areas, gain some new insights and do a bit more than before.

I have no farking clue how to communicate with people that aren't in the immediate vicinity, but I friended the two names I remembered. Pipkin and Semunia. I saw them both online, and checked on them frequently, and saw what appeared to be a reroll for the both of them. HOWEVER, I couldn't ever get any communication with them. The closest I ever got was when Pipkin declined my request to join my fellowship(meanie). Sending tells either rewarded me with a message that both people had to friend one another to be able to send tells(that one came from pip) or a message that told me that that player didn't exist(Semunia).

Maybe it's because I have a trial account. I suppose I'll be pressed to pay soon.

Some noteable events.

I died at level 8. I made the mistake of grouping with some hunter asking for helpthat was less than cautious. He charged up some stairs and discovered that at the apex were 5 goblins. His health dropped quickly, I dutifully supplied healing, or more accurately, one heal.

At this point all 5 goblins stopped what they were doing, looked at me, and decided I looked far tastier(and the more tactically sound target). Heal, heal, die.

Lessons learned?

Hunters can't tank.
Minstrels can't tank.
Huntards do not dwell exclusively in WoW.

I came back a level later and soloed the quest he was trying to complete. It's miraculous how much more you can accomplish in little bites rather than trying to swallow things whole, alive, and still kicking.

I've learned how to use traits. I picked up 3 I think, 2 from killing goblins and wolves, and another from a quest line or something. I also think I have a good idea of what stats I want to consider if the situation arises where I must make a decision.

I found a instrument vendor, but things didn't go as I expected. I was expecting to be able to pick up a clarinet for example, and have that now be used for my class attacks. Sadly, I still use the same old lute. On a positive note, I noticed at some later point that some of the musical instruments will impart some stat increase or another. This pleases me. I've got all my instrument skills, and my assumption that this was more or less additional weapon skills is obviously wrong... but I do have a powerful need to learn a song or two. This was brought on by a wandering player who was playing a wonderful tune on his lute. I don't know if it was a macro, or some sort of skill, or if he was just a wizard. If it was the latter, or even the former(macro had to come from someones imagination) I'd be impressed. It was incredibly complex, he had me absolutely enthralled. I may wander off into the wild, away from the disapproving crowd and see if any inspiration strikes me. I think some Nirvana needs to be played in LOTRO, but maybe that's just the ghastly beanie I've been proudly wearing since I crafted it.

Crafting again - I went for explorer again. I've never really been much of a fan of crafting in any game, and I'm generally a pretty huge fan of money. Explorer seems like the right path to go, excess of mats, with not much to do with it. The only way my professions have complimented eachother is that forrester processes leather for tailoring. My only real nagging complaint is that it really doesn't fit the class. I was hard pressed to choose money over roleplay - and was leaning heavily towards yeoman or historian for a vocation that was more fitting.

Anyways, leveling is probably going to slow back down now. I'm back into unfamiliar areas, got stuff to explore and I've got music to play.