- Stable-Master Quick Travel
- Milestone Sills
- Travel To Personal House/Kinship House
- Return To Skills
- Class Ports
- Summoning Horns
- Store Items
For most of these porting systems, you'll need traveling rations. These rations can be purchased from any Provisioner or Grocer for 2 silver each.
Stable-Master Quick Travel
The most basic way of getting around the world is to rent a mount from a Stable-Masters. These NPCs are available at every major settlement (and sometimes at "temporary" camps). When you enter a settlement for the first time, the first thing you should always do is talk to the Stable-Master to learn that destination. Once you "learn" a destination, it will unlock the route from Stable-Masters in other settlements to the newly-learned settlement. Not every Stable-Master offers a route to every settlement.
You can rent a regular stable mount and a "quick travel" stable mount. The difference is that regular stable mounts actually follow the path from one settlement to another. The quick-travel mount "jumps" after it leaves the Stable-Master NPC and reappears at the destination to complete the run.
Most of the time, the Quick Travel routes are not available immediately. They are most often unlocked after you reach a certain level, obtain a certain amount of reputation with the local faction, or complete a specific deed.
Traveling in this manner costs in-game silver. Typically, the cost is reduced as you gain reputation with the local faction. A Writ of Passage can be purchased in the store, and it gives a permanent 20% discount from all Stable-Masters. There are also Writs of Special Passage, which unlocks all routes and makes travel free for one hour.
Milestone Skills
Milestones are pyramid-shaped stone lanterns that are scattered throughout Middle Earth. The player must bind himself/herself to the milestone, which will then serve as the destination of a special skill. The player can change the milestone binding at any time.
One of the first non-combat skills you'll be given is a "Map Home". It is a scroll rewarded after you complete the introduction. Right-click on the scroll to learn the first milestone skill (the skill is then listed in Milestone Destinations group on the Active Skills tab in the Skills panel).
Up to 5 additional milestone skills can be purchased from the store, allowing you to bind to up to 6 different milestones. I purchased all additional destinations on my main character, and I have not regretted it. My skills are currently bound to Esteldin (North Downs), Ost Galadh (Mirkwood), Hobbiton (The Shire), Lhanuch (Enedwaith), Telain Galadhrim (Caras Galadhon, Lothlorien), and the Twenty-First Hall (Moria). I just obtained a 'return to' skill that allows me to port to Lhanuch, so I'll probably rebind one of the destinations (perhaps to somewhere in Angmar). I reserve one skill for use with festivals/special events. During Spring Festival, it was bound to a milestone in Duillond, because that's where the primary festival activities occurred. I moved it to Hobbiton for Summer Festival.
All milestone skills share a cooldown; thus, if you jump to one place, you cannot jump again for a specific amount of time. By the default, the cooldown is 1 hour, but (of course) a skill can be purchased in the store to reduce this cooldown to 30 minutes.
Using milestones requires traveling rations.
Travel to Personal House/Kinship
Travel to Personal House
This skill is automatically granted when you purchase a house. It ports you to the gate into your yard.
Travel to Kinship House
This skill is automatically granted when you join a kinship. It ports you to the gate into the yard of your kin's house.
There are four housing settlements:
- In The Shire south of Waymeet.
- In Bree-Land, about half way between Bree and The Forsaken Inn.
- Thorin's Gate: Just outside the North West gate of Frerin's Court.
- Falathlorn: About half way between Duillond and the gate to Needlehole.
Return To Skills
Besides the mounts, one of the primary reasons to work on reputation with the various factions throughout middle earth is for a Return-To Skill. These skills give you an instant port to the settlement where the faction is headquartered.
Using these skills requires traveling rations.
All skills - including race-specific ones that required traiting - can be purchased in the store. The store version does not require a trait slot as the usual race-specific one does, and can be used by the class to which it is available in game.
Currently, the Return To Skills include:
Return to Bree
Men unlock the ability to use this skill after completing the racial deed "Enmity of the Wargs II". The deed grants a trait, which in turn enables the skill.
For other races, this skill can also be purchased when you obtain kindred with the Men of Bree.
It ports you to the rez circle outside the West Gate of Bree.
Return to Michel Delving
Hobbits unlock the ability to use this skill after completing the racial deed "Enmity of the Spiders II". The deed grants a trait, which in turn enables the skill. No other race can obtain the skill in game.
This is the only Return to Skill I probably won't buy on my main toon; my house is in The Shire, so I already have a port close enough to Michel Delving.
Return to Lhanuch
This skill can be purchased when you obtain kindred with the Algraig in Enedwaith. It costs 20 Gold Tokens of the Wild, which are fairly easy to obtain.
It ports you to the milestone in front of the Hall of Making in the village.
Return to Mirkwood
This skill can be purchased when you obtain kindred with the Malladhrim. It costs 20 Gold Emblems, and emblems are difficult to obtain (and there are two reputation mounts available from the faction, so I have not yet obtained it).
Return to Ost Garuth
This skill is automatically granted when you obtain Kindred with the Eglain in the Lone-Lands. I rarely use it, but it can be useful while you work on Ale Association/Inn League reputation. I also found it used when I was working on a quest in the Epilogue to Volume II. This quest required me to revisit every zone throughout ME and defeat a single Goblin, Orc, or Uruk; having the jump skills made this much easier.
It ports you to the milestone near the Stable-Master just outside the city walls.
Return to Rivendell
Elves unlock the ability to use this skill after completing the racial deed "Enmity of the Orcs II". The deed grants a trait, which in turn enables the skill. No other race can obtain the skill in game.
My main is an elf, and I purchased the store version of this skill so that I could free up a trait slot for something more useful.
The skill ports you to a location near the guest house, near the paths up to the Gates of Imladris.
Return to Thorin's Gate
Dwarves unlock the ability to use this skill after completing the racial deed "Enmity of the Goblins II". The deed grants a trait, which in turn enables the skill.
For other races, this skill can be purchased when you obtain kindred with Thorin's Gate.
It ports you to the Stable-Master in Frerin's Court.
Class Ports
Hunters, Captains, Wardens, and Guardians all have some kind of porting ability.
Hunters
Members of this class can port people near them to specific locations, including most of the main settlements in each zone. They can also bind themselves to certain campfires and port people back to that camp. The group - including the hunter - must be in a fellowship, and they must be within a certain distance of each other.
The skill has a short cooldown, and everyone in the group - including the hunter - must have traveling rations. Everyone is ported at the same time.
Captains
Members of this class can summon people to them from other locations. They just need a personal summoning horn, which a woodworker can craft. The group - including the captain - must be in a fellowship. The horn itself typically has a short cooldown, and anyone being summoned needs travelling rations (the Captain does not). Each fellow must be summoned separately.
Guardians
Members of this class have a special skill that gives them the ability to port anywhere in Middle Earth. They can craft an acorn and give it to another player, who can then use it to summon the guardian to that player's location. There is no fellowship required, and the Guardian cannot port others with him/her. This skill does not require traveling rations.
Wardens
Members of this class can port themselves to specific locations. Most of the Mustering Skills are earned through reputation. This skill does not require traveling rations.
Summoning Horns
In the days before the Instance Join panel, players had to physically travel to the entrance of an instance. The easiest way to do this was for one toon to travel to the entrance, and then summon his fellows to his side. As a result, there are Summoning Horns spread throughout Middle Earth.
The horns are still useful for summoning fellows to landscape locations (such as Dol Dinen in the North Downs or Nar's Peak in Enedwaith) or to the entrance of an instance (such as Ost Dunhoth) that a player cannot enter unless they have physically visited the location.
Anyone being summoned needs traveling rations (the person summoning his fellows does not).
Store Items
Typically, items - especially skills - purchased from the store are toon-specific (they are not given to every toon associated with your account).
The following items can be purchased from the store:
Simple Rally Horn
This horn can be used by any class at any time to summon a fellow to their side. Each horn is consumed upon use. Anyone being summoned needs traveling rations (the person summoning his fellows does not). I've used these items a couple of times, usually as a last-ditch effort to bring a group together for a specific quest, deed, or instance.
Maps
Each map can port you to a specific location in Middle Earth; there are maps to just about everywhere. These items can also be rare world-drops. I've never purchased a map, but I have had a couple drop in-game. I usually put them in a chest in the kinhouse, since I rarely need to travel to the specific location (or already have a destination near that location).
This is a great guide! You might add in the 30min cooldown map for the Ettenmoors that you can buy with rank 4. Other than that, great guide!
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