Featured Instance

Featured Instance Mechanics

Featured Instances were added with Update 18 and are available to players with characters of level 100 and above.

Every week, changing at Monday 10:00 am /servertime (Eastern time zone), a specific scaling instance (or raid) from LOTRO's old favorites is featured in the Instance Join panel. Characters level 100 and higher can launch it through the Instance Join panel Specific Tab.

Each instance can be run daily at level 100-104 and at level 150.
In addition to the regular loot from the instance chests (such as a chance for remembrance crystals, star-lit crystals, relics and fixed-stat scaled gear), each of the two runs has a specific featured quest associated with the instance, one for level 100-104, and another for level 150.
Completing the quest will award extra rewards for completing the listed instance, resetting daily at 03:00 am /servertime. (The quests can additionally be reset with Mithril Coin, as well.)

The quest reward from a level 100-104 run is a Item:Grey Box of Ancient Spoils. For a 105 run the quest reward is a <Colour> Box of Ancient Spoils with the colour depending on the instance. These boxes contain similar loot as the grey box and additionally have a chance to drop specific two-slot essence armour or jewellery.

Initially the challenge chests for any of the instances regardless of the current featured one, had a chance to also drop one or a few pieces of equipment from the featured instance set or jewellery. They were completely randomly rewarded out of the entire sets and not restricted to the classes that were actually in the group. This dropchance was removed in U18.2.

A complete description of the Featured Instance mechanic is contained in an April 2016 Dev Diary by "EdgeCase."

https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/featured-instances

Featured Instance Rotation

The Featured Instance rotation follows a six-week roster. The weekly instance changes on Monday at 10:00 a.m. server time, and the quests reset daily at 3:00 a.m. server time. On Monday it is possible to do the daily quests twice without using Mithril Coin to reset them: once after the daily reset time but before weekly rotation time, and again after the instance changes.

The list of instances in the rotation have changed several times after the introduction of featured instances, with U18.2, U19, U19.1.1, U20, U21, U22, U22.2, U23.0, U32.0, 34.3 and U38.

Featured Instance U38	Box Reward - Level 100-149	Box Reward - Level 150
Haudh Valandil	Grey Box of Ancient Spoils	Crimson Box of Ancient Treasures
Woe of the Willow	Grey Box of Ancient Spoils	Malachite Box of Ancient Treasures
Agoroth, the Narrowdelve	Grey Box of Ancient Spoils	Marigold Box of Ancient Treasures
Stoneheight	Grey Box of Ancient Spoils	Amethyst Box of Ancient Treasures
Ost Dunhoth - Gortheron Wing	Grey Box of Ancient Spoils	Obsidian Box of Ancient Treasures
Glinghant	Grey Box of Ancient Spoils	Azure Box of Ancient Treasures

Featured Quest Reward Summary

All boxes of ancient spoils (grey and coloured ones) always contain:

5 Long-lost Coins, which can be traded to the Quartermaster (Featured Instance Rewards Vendor)s around the world.

They almost always contain:

1-3 Anfalas Scrolls of Empowerment

They frequently contain:

1 random major tier 8 essence

They rarely contain:

In addition, the level 105 coloured boxes also rarely contain:

North Ithilien Essence Box (added in U19)
A class-appropriate equipment piece from the featured instance sets or a two-slot essence jewellery piece:

Crimson Box of Ancient Spoils: chestpiece, gloves or earring rewards
Malachite Box of Ancient Spoils: legs or hands reward
Marigold Box of Ancient Spoils: head or shoulders reward
Amethyst Box of Ancient Spoils: feet or shoulders reward
Obsidian Box of Ancient Spoils: headpiece, leggings or earring reward
Azure Box of Ancient Spoils: chest or boots rewards

You are also able to swap a Class-appropriate featured instance armour piece if you already have it with the Quartermaster - Featured Instance Rewards Vendor who can be found in the following locations in Middle-earth:

At the Great Gate of Minas Tirith ^{[65.7S, 16.7W]}
At the Boar Fountain of Bree ^{[30.2S, 51.2W]}
Near the stable-master in Dol Amroth ^{[75.4S, 72.4W]}
Beyond the entrance of Thorin's Hall ^{[13.8S, 103.2W]}
At Minas Tirith, After the Battle ^{[Unknown map: Minas Tirith (After Battle)]}

Featured Loot Barter

Long-lost Coins can be traded to the Quartermaster (Featured Instance Rewards Vendor)s around the world for the same kind of essence equipment as can drop from the level 105 reward boxes, as wel as tier 8 essence recipes.