My typical leveling path in LoTRO is to go from Bree to the Lone Lands. I know that there are some high-teens levels quests in north Bree, and those lead right into the early quests in Trestlebridge, but by the time I’m done with the Barrow-Downs area I’m also ready to start Vol 1 Book 2, the Red Maid, and that is all in the Lone Lands.
As a result, I’ve played through the Lone Lands many times and was ready to move along from Ost Guruth and wrap up Vol 1 Book 2.
I also wanted to work on virtues, including slayer deeds, so I used one of my daily hobbit gifts – a 90 min accelerator – and went into Nan Dhelu looking to kill as many undead as possible. Which was easy because it is filled with them and Radagast sends you in twice for various quests.
Along the way I ran into a rare Elite I hadn’t seen before – Klakki. He caught me a bit by surprise because I thought he was the Master of Nan Dhelu, a different quest I was trying to finish. But it was fine, my yellow line Beorning (The Roar) feels pretty strong.
As for virtues, I’m revamping a bit after finding a guide for healing Boernings, what I plan to do for group content later on. It turns out that I’m a huge fan of mitigation and resistance virtues, so much so I was essentially slotting tank virtues, where healers would find outgoing healing and critical rating more valuable.
I could probably try both (i.e. level up both sets of virtues) in case I want to try tanking, but for now I’ll work on getting healing virtues up, one at a time, and slowly replace my current loadout.
I did finish up Vol 1 Book 2, and right as I was leaving the Lone Lands, I dinged level 30. Which let me start my level 30 class quest… out of Ost Guruth. So I turned around and did that too.
Off to Esteldin, to talk to Halbarad and start Vol 1 Book 3.
*put on geezer hat and sits in rocking chair*
I remember in the “old” days when you had to RUN to Esteldin the first time. No mounts until level 40. Young ‘uns got it easy with mounts at level 20 and even lower.
*old timer mode off*
In fact it’s easier still! I talked to Candaith at his campfire just NW of Weathertop and it turns out his horse will fast travel you to Esteldin. No more long run from Trestlebridge!
I remember the first time I ran out to Esteldin on my then main character, a hunter in the low 30’s. No mount yet, I asked in kinship how rough the run was. Everybody said: no problem at all, very easy. And it was quite safe, sticking to the road I didn’t even aggro anything. It just took a few minutes to cruise through the countryside.
MMO Juggler 
I’ve been checking out LotRO for the past few weeks myself. I didn’t have any characters above level 12 or so, so I just picked a new server and started completely over. IMO, in the low levels it doesn’t matter what class you’re playing, it’s all “Generic MMO #217” for how it feels. Seems like in the late teens to early 20’s is where it finally takes on some “flavor.”
As a result, I’ve given myself the “goal” of getting all the classes to level 23 (to unlock the 5th virtue slot) and to hopefully give myself enough of a feel for how the classes will play to pick one as a main. Several I didn’t like in the lower levels but have grown on me as they unlock things in the late teens. And others I really liked in the low levels but then didn’t like so much later. Go figure.
And due to how the game plays out, it means I’ve been doing the Forsaken Inn quests in Lone-Lands rather a lot lately. But hopefully I’ll be able to settle on a class and just work on that after I get the last 3 classes to 23. Champ’s at 20 now, Guardian’s at 17, and I still haven’t started Burglar yet…
That’s a good goal – I had a similar one, back when I played a ton more. To reach 30 on every class in order to do their level 15 and 30 class quest. I fell short for the captain and champion, but to be fair it’s been so long on most (everything besides guardian, lore-master, and beorning) I don’t really remember doing them.
And it is true that many classes aren’t well differentiated in the early levels, and start getting their flavor skills in the 30’s and higher!