Talk:Bree

Town / Area / Naming Information

In-game and at Lorebook we notice the two names "Bree" and "Bree-town" where Bree is used for the area and Bree-town for the town as such. It should be noticed that Tolkien never ever used Bree-town in his works, that anomaly seems to be a Turbine product and perhaps a workaround to resolve the technical same-name issue that otherwise would have existed between the town contained within the same-name area. Furthermore, the notion of region/area/landmark/etc. is 100% a technical thing within Lotro which has no bearing to the fictional realm whatsoever; maybe an important technical thing for the programmers but meaningless as such for players at large.

In-game we find a few locations per region where settlement equals its area; Celondim, Bree, Combe, Hengstacer Farm are a few examples. (In the latter case it is arguable why Turbine decided to create an individual area in the first place and not let the tiny farm be part of The Horsefields.) (Another more odd example is Staddle; there is a small, small village named Staddle but the same-name area covers quite a chunk and includes several named landmarks.)

When it comes to our location pages, usually it is possible to "ignore" the area part and focus on the settlement. Of course we briefly mention the technicality. However, we do not create two pages, one for the settlement and one for the area, because that would be way more confusing than mentioning the technicality. That said, sometimes it is a balance on slack line, mind one's p's and q's; trying to keep to the in-game format while keeping things straight, crisp and clear. In the end of the day, our wiki's purpose is to provide concise and correct information, not to mimic technical workarounds that we find in the game; we want to help people to play and have fun.

Bree versus Bree-town

Establishing some facts:

• Bree is the name used by Tolkien
• Bree-town is an invention by Turbine
• In Lotro, technically Bree is used for the area
• In Lotro, technically Bree-town is used for the town
• We ignore the area when it equals the settlement but mention the technicality

In this particular case Turbine has given the area the proper name of the town that should be named Bree.
At this wiki we will rather use Bree for the name of this location and so honouring Tolkien's name, we will ignore Bree-town and redirect it to Bree, and we will use the Settlement template for this location but add it to the area-of-Bree-land category.
Zimoon (talk) 08:11, 6 January 2012 (EST)

Interior Locations

It is not clear completely -- but so far in my experience, the following three locations are accessible ONLY by quest.

• Artie's Root House
• Infiltrator's Headquarters
• Sig Mandrake's Shop.

I entered Sid's Shop as the result of a lvl 14 quest string about turtle soup. I don't know if I could have entered without having read the poster. (Of which there appear to be many near the house.)

I definitely could not enter the Infiltrator's Headquarters without having completed some quest. And I believe that was the same with Artie Root's house as well. (I recall trying to get in, but being unable.)

However, I was busy at the time and did not take notes. And have not been back since.

Someone needs to verify if they can be accessed without a quest (as I see all 3 have quests associated with them). This makes them different from the other interiors which can be accessed by anyone at any time.

And BTW... the Mess Hall is used by various groups on different servers as anin-game meeting hall. I believe both the LOTRO Bloggers (or whatever their name is) meets there monthly on "rotating servers" and a "band" gives concerts there. (I probably ran across reference to these in-game social gatherings over at A Casual Stroll to Mordor, probably on their pod-cast, but maybe their website.
--Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC (talk) 15:34, 19 May 2012 (EDT)

A late response. Yes, those three interiors are accessible from having those quests from the relevant quest from the The Infiltrators' Surprise Quests chain, and on-wards. I have not tried to enter all three after finishing the quests but Artie Root's House is open thereafter, one of the larger apartments of Bree I'd say. Though I have not been invited to many nobilities there ;)

Quests and interior pages are added and updated long ago. The rewards are OK also for higher level players.

-- Zimoon 10:00, 5 June 2012 (EDT)

Update 9

Just for the record: Bree was object for a major overhaul in Update 9, Against the Shadow - December 17, 2012. The immediate impression is the beefed up graphics which went from dull to vibrant, but also more of houses and structures all about the place. The Combe Gate as well as the road towards Staddle are now richly populated with houses, more like what is expected around bustling town gates in the medieval era. Furthermore, some structures are relocated, others are refurbished inside, other interiors are added. Some NPC are gone and others are new. There is, for example, a new Training Hall (Bree) with all class trainers in one place. Three-farrow Crafting Hall now has Expert crafting vendors of all sorts, auctioner, vault-keeper, and mailbox (perhaps there will also be superior facilities, right now there is only an oven). I guess there is even more changes but this is what was found while slowly editing my way through. -- Zimoon 05:36, 24 December 2012 (EST)

Several places in Bree, the superior workbench and superior forge are present, but the label is not displayed. You have to notice that you have both the workbench and superior workbench or forge and superior forge effects in effect. The tool tips on the map signal that various location have superior crafting facilities.

For instance, if you open the Bree map, filter to show only crafting facilities, and hover over the icon at the Three-farthings Crafting Hall, both the workbench and superior workbench are listed. Likewise, near the south gate, while the workbench only has the "Workbench" floating name, it is actually both a workbench and a superior workbench.

RingTailCat (talk) 06:21, 24 December 2012 (EST)

The other day the only effects inside the craft hall were the standard, except near the oven which gave two icons. I will check if this is changed by now. -- Zimoon 10:20, 24 December 2012 (EST)

While the cosemetic (Graphics) changes are dramatic, other changes to the AH and Vault include multiple entrances and, quotes gleened from Sacarycrow (the Developer):

(See the Bree-Revamp-Feedback thread in the Bullroarer forum - 12 pages!)

• Yes. All the regular crafting facilities now also grant superior usage as well (for both).
• Also I have added more facilities throughout the city.

• 1.) Complete set of facilities by the south gate
• 2.) Bree-town crafting hall (still at it's same location)
• 3.) Complete set of facilities by the west gate
• 4.) I've also added farmland and superior farmland to the hobbit farms found in the North 'hobbit' section of Bree.

• The Crafting Hall now has - 1 mailbox , 1 Auctioneer
• The AH building now has - 1 mailbox , 1 banker
• The Bank now has - 2 mailboxes, 1 Auctioneer
• unfortunately time did not allow for craft guild's to be introduced into Bree.
• Chairs: The majority of spaces had /sit chairs added to them throughout the space and even a bunch more added on landscape for RPers. The best place for lots of chairs is the Mess Hall or the newly designed Town Hall.
• I made the dummies level one so lower level people can test out their skills and traits without higher miss chances.
• This also allows higher level players to test their hard numbers with stripped stats. Making them level 1 also prevents people from just standing in their and farming up traits! (you need to learn by killing orcs silly!) It actually is possible to walk up that mountain behind the Prancing Pony
• relic and forge master by the Auction hall of south bree
• You can take the path beyond the hobbit farm (where the fireworks have been held) to the Farms at the top of the hill overlooking the Pony.
• Pulled the seats back a bit more by the stage outside the PP so people can 'dance'

Scarycrow also made the comment:

"Yeah I'm going to ask around about the campfire vs. oven thing. IMO everything that can be cooked in a campfire should be cooked in an oven but not the other way around (rectangle/square thing)"

"Update: Spoke to Ayvan (Crafting God) and she agreed to start looking into allowing Oven's to grant the ability to cook recipes that require a campfire. I'll keep you updated on the implementation (this will be for U10). If all works out your Oven's will now also act a campfires!"

Plus an intersting comment on the Lag problem in Galtrev:

"New spaces can be strategically placed throughout the city to allow for convenience but help spread out the population (so you don't have a Galtrev lag issue) where ALL players live in one single landblock."

Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC (talk) 14:40, 24 December 2012 (EST)

OK, the effects are there. This implies yet another change; I believe that before update 9 all effects applied on the character, also superior X though the character could not make use of them. That is no longer true, but only the effect that the effects character should have are applied. That explains why my cook did not see the superior forge and workbench in the crafting hall but only the superior oven. Yet again I have learned something => I am alive ;-)
-- Zimoon 06:19, 25 December 2012 (EST)

Hidden areas

I'm watching a hilarious video in which some people have fun trying to get into a "hidden area" of Bree by launching themselves off an awning and over a roof. They mention another hidden area which you can apparently see through a gate but nobody knows yet how to get into it. Is there an article listing such hidden areas here, and if not should there be? TIA HAND —NotACat (talk) 15:15, 11 September 2015 (UTC)