After being delayed a week, the brand new festival, the Farmer’s Faire, is live as promised today on all servers! The festival will run from July 26th – August 13th (I believe – the calendar hasn’t been updated on the LOTRO site.).
After speaking to some players I think there is some confusion that this is the new summer festival. Not so. This is a brand new additional festival. Summer festival is still on and is scheduled to run next month. Not sure if the dates will change since the Farmer’s Faire is going to last an extra week due to it’s delay.
We will be compiling a complete guide for this new festival but since this is a brand new festival, it’s going to take us some time to collect all the data and type up the post. We will work hard to get it out to you as soon as possible but don’t let that stop you from heading out to Bywater to join in the festivities!
Update 7/27/12: The guide is now available!
We have some new official screenshots released today from Turbine to share as well!
July 26, 2012 at 10:38 am
Yay glad it’s finally here! Bywater is packed on Landroval. LOL
July 26, 2012 at 10:44 am
Yeah Landy is lag heaven. Though.. I’m not too thrilled with a lot of the quests. Too many ways to fail them. Oh well I might wait until the guide is up.
July 26, 2012 at 10:54 am
Okay so very dull festival so far, The Fishy, Very Fishy quest is based on luck!? RNG FTW! you know how that usually goes! The 1st time i did it, i caught 9 simple fish, on the 10th one my count reset, and i didnt catch the bad fish, it just reset….2nd time i caught the bad fish.. come on Turbine RNG is not fun…The quest that Goldie Tunnley gives you seems to have a minor bug thats more annoying than anything, I kept getting the error “You cant take that” when i fished something up, what “That” is i have no clue, so i canceled that one.. Big Fish, Little Fish seemed to work ok, i completed this one.. but still RNG again.. This was only my 1st character run through of the festival, and the rewards are a little…lack luster…but on the bright side, you can work on your dances and your favorite Ale drinking club during this festival…
July 26, 2012 at 12:03 pm
“You cant take that” because its one of the quest items required that you already have fished up. Pity it doesnt elaborate but using my powers of deduction im sure this is the answer
July 26, 2012 at 2:41 pm
Im sorry, i guess you cannot do Ale assoc. or Dances during this fest!
July 27, 2012 at 6:28 am
Heya, you can do both the dances and the Ale Association quests … and I guess the Inn League ones as well, but who’d do that?
July 26, 2012 at 4:07 pm
I ran into the same thing with the Pond or Thief quest. The message is confusing but if you keep fishing, you eventually get all the items. I got the “Can’t take that” message about a dozen times before completing the quest.
July 26, 2012 at 11:16 am
Ye agree with others – boring quests with boring rewards
July 26, 2012 at 11:48 pm
Sadly, I must agree. I was hoping that this would somehow tie in with the Farmer’s Market in Oatbarton (or at least have similiar tones). It doesn’t. It’s frusterating and confusing at times. Everything feels like it is rush, rush, rush with no time to really enjoy any aspect of the festival. Also, since this is a Hobbit farmer’s faire – why are there no Hobbit clothes?? The apron is just a plain hauberk, the clothes are just reskinned dresses and tunics from previous festivals. I did like the circlet (reminds me of Rosie’s during the film) and the lantern (elves leaving Rivendell/movie) but other than that I’m really meh about the whole thing. Turbine you could have done SOOOO much better. *thumbs down*
July 26, 2012 at 11:17 am
Oooooh, is that… is that… a new flower wreath for your hair I see? My fabulous rune-keeper will be ecstatic! <3
Only 3 more hours of work until I can take a look….
July 26, 2012 at 11:26 am
There is a new horse at Hengstacer’s, but it’s -really- expensive. Two race tokens and 120 farmer’s tokens. I’m personally not thrilled with it, so that’s a relief — don’t have to run through the quests on all my alts to get it
There are tons of cute clothes available though.
July 26, 2012 at 11:29 am
Oh thanks for the heads up, all i saw on the barter vendor that caught my eye was a Lantern… forgot about the horses…
July 26, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Yeah, the lantern was the first thing I got, I really like that!
July 26, 2012 at 12:06 pm
Ha! and they only give you 3 farmers fair tokens for completing the horse race… the horse isnt worth that much work… /pass
July 26, 2012 at 12:14 pm
I can’t wait to get out of work and start the festival! So far, I love most of the cosmetics and the mount!
This will be a busy festival for the alts (they want the horse
) but I guess the cosmetics can be shared with the wardrobe right?
July 26, 2012 at 1:26 pm
I’m very glad you’re enjoying this Faire and its prizes — I know I’m finding it at a low level of interest for both the mount and the prizes, and I’m usually a cosmetic fiend. I’ll chalk it up to personal burnout at the moment, however; perhaps I’ll feel different on the morrow.
Mind you, now that I think about it, my interest usually sparks AFTER CSTM publishes their guides, so I’ll wait on Goldenstar et al with profound gratitude.
July 26, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Oh I am shrieking over the housing items. Chickens!? Yes please.
July 27, 2012 at 8:24 am
A chicken coup but no horse stable? *raises her fist at the sky*
“TURBINE!!!”
*echoes like “Khan!” into the distance*
July 26, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Ok, gone there, Laurelin was packed to the limits, even with the layering in effect. Rewards are pricey, but then lots of quests to do, and many give 4 tokens as reward, so its quite possible to do the stuff, but when the initial rush is over.
The ones i didn’t like were speedy delivery ones, that instead of token gave just 90 copper reward. I mean, for me to go all over Shire and deliver items, i get not a single token? (Ok maybe in end i get a lot of tokens, but still, i would prefered even a single token for a delivery).
Cosmetics seems noce enough, and weapop usables are a-must for every RolePlayer to get. Ehh, the storage voes ahead!
No new map deeds visible, though.
July 26, 2012 at 3:20 pm
I had the same reaction to the supplier quest: 4 tokens, and I need to run 9 places? Time investment =/= adequate return.
July 26, 2012 at 3:25 pm
After looking at the screenshots, right side 6th one down… did i miss something? i didnt see this mob anywhere!?
July 26, 2012 at 3:33 pm
I guess either Thadur or Ivar like mushrooms too…
July 26, 2012 at 3:37 pm
I was “Hoping” maybe a boss fight, like world of warcraft did for the high levels, that usually drops festival related stuff, and some mediocre gear.. but i may be getting my hopes up
July 26, 2012 at 5:42 pm
the scarecrows turn into these npcs, i saw a giant king form. made me jump as i was standing right by one when it happened. they dont do anything that i could tell
July 26, 2012 at 11:45 pm
awe.. darn…
July 26, 2012 at 3:33 pm
I love all the new housing stuff, we have been clamoring for that for age. yey! the cosmetics are decent fun too, the horse will have to be just for the main or two, cant afford it on all but the tokens are generous, you just have to do all the quests everyday and by the end of festival should have all the items.
there is a glitch with the drunken party-goers, so will have to wait till they fix it. the fishing stuff gets a bit boring unless you have friends to chat with and play
all in all, a great festival.
July 26, 2012 at 7:12 pm
That’s not a glitch with the party-goers actually… it’s just that people don’t know what they’re doing and are way too click happy.
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?470974-Farmers-faire-Bounders-rounds
July 26, 2012 at 8:07 pm
I have to think that it is not what they intended, for the dialogue to reset each time a new person clicks, it would never be completed unless you are alone with the npcs.
July 26, 2012 at 8:30 pm
I don’t think that a lot of this stuff is tested with so many people around who have no idea how to read quest dialog. If there weren’t a ton of people running around clicking randomly, and actually doing as it says and looking for the npcs that sound drunk, there wouldn’t be this big of an issue. I’m sure it’s working as intended, they just didn’t realize that everyone would be so click happy and impatient and not follow the quest dialog.
July 26, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Two words.
Not fun…
July 26, 2012 at 4:39 pm
is there a way to switch instances? its super crowded here on Brandy…
July 26, 2012 at 5:54 pm
Is there anyway to turn in the fish we catch for tokens or anything?
July 26, 2012 at 6:08 pm
Yes there is a barter by the fish quests
July 26, 2012 at 6:09 pm
I like the rewards, but not much else. I noticed my Cloak of the Cluck doesn’t do the animation anymore. Not sure if that has anything to do with the fest.
July 26, 2012 at 11:14 pm
No, it doesn’t have anything to do with the festival. I got my Cloak of the Cluck about a month ago, and it didn’t work then.
July 26, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Not terribly enthused with the cosmetics, other than the flower head wreath thinger. Here’s a post with a few of the yard items, since I had to rush out and snag these asap.
http://sapphiria.tumblr.com/day/2012/07/26
July 26, 2012 at 7:39 pm
Thanks for posting those pics
I wonder what the chicken statue looks like. LOL
July 26, 2012 at 8:34 pm
haha That is one I am not interested in getting. I’m sure pics of all the items will be released very soon though.
July 26, 2012 at 7:23 pm
I read in the eggs description you can barter thm for tokens. But where is that barterer?
July 26, 2012 at 7:27 pm
Ah, nevermind, you just need to do double click on it…
July 26, 2012 at 8:41 pm
I have found this festival lacking in fun.
The only things I may bother getting is the Flower Head Wreath and the Chicken Coop but I will do it with 3 of the fishing quests and MAYBE the Egg Scramble late at night.
The rest of them are awful things that don’t give enough information or are timed and I dislike those intensely and I find I cannot see in the mushroom hunt and I absolutely hate that.
July 26, 2012 at 8:54 pm
I dont like the quests for this festival. I am only doing the fishing & racing each day to gain tokens. I think Turbine should have planned this a bit better then what they did. The location is just awful. It is too small of an area. I cant imagine doing these quests & being in the festival area on Brandywine. Let alone doing the egg scramble on that server has to be a nightmare!
July 26, 2012 at 10:41 pm
To help your guide along. The white eggs you get doing the egg scramble are worth 1 Farmer’s Faire Token (just click on it like rep items), I got a green egg worth 2 tokens and a green and yellow spotted on worth 5 tokens. Note: these are the tokens you buy stuff with, not the Festival Tickets you use to start the quest.
Can’t wait for the guide
July 26, 2012 at 11:03 pm
They really seem to be pushing things with low reward for effort and taking the horse price all the way to 120. How many multiples is that of what it was two years ago?
July 27, 2012 at 1:07 am
The Festival Tickets are not bound and fit in your Shared Storage, allowing you to gather extras on your “mule” characters for use on your main. They may be sellable (like the postman badges), but they are definitely able to be passed around your own account.
I know there will be QUITE a lot of help from others, but at least I’m sure of these on the Fat Mayor quest:
Will Whitfoot says, ”Dear me. It burns, it burns!!” NOT WATER
Will Whitfoot says, ”It just needs a dab of something….” BUTTER
Will Whitfoot says, ”Crisp flavour, hearty, and a clean aftertaste!” NOT WINE
Will Whitfoot says, ”Did Opal forget to season this?” SALT
Will Whitfoot says, ”Hmm. Not quite rich enough, if you ask me.” BUTTER
July 27, 2012 at 1:39 am
They have too many quests that seem to have factors that end up with you failing. It kind of feels cruddy seeing “quest failed” on almost every quest you do. :/
July 27, 2012 at 2:27 am
The mushroom hunt is actually fairly fun, and requires more skill than most of the other festival quests here.
Stopped quickly to take a quick shot with my new friend, Gortheron – http://i48.tinypic.com/33zbrwi.jpg
So far, my best in the mushroom hunt in a single run is 27 tokens. Since you can keep hunting after you get your requires 8 mushrooms (which gives 10 tokens upon completion), you can rack up a decent amount of tokens (and can keep doing it again, if you have the festival tickets). Some of the funky colored mushrooms will affect your size/speed, but even the ones that make you bigger should be giving you 2 farmer faire tokens a piece, so I’d basically say pick up whatever you can.
Even if you don’t collect all 8, you immediately receive tokens for each mushroom you do collect. I’d say zoom out your screen (during the event, it normally stays pretty zoomed in, though at times shifting the screen can sometimes make it so you can see the playing field better, and definitely keep floaty names on to see the dogs/wolves.
July 27, 2012 at 2:35 am
Sorry for the reply, but another possible tactic to quickly find mushrooms might be to have the directional selection indicator on (under Combat Options), and hotkey the buttons to “Select Nearest Item” and “Use Selection.”
After the game starts, use your select key to select a mushroom, use the directional indicator (red dots by your feet that point to the selection), and, while scouting the field for the dogs, make your way to the mushroom and quickly tap the Use key. Rinse and repeat (much like finding flower fields from Spring festival, with a Metal Gear “stealth” element tied to it).
July 27, 2012 at 3:44 am
Two things. Even after you fail the fishing quests you can end up fishing up Easy fish and Bad fish. Those can be bartered, so that’s good. Also, in the Mushroom hunt, you can see the dogs on the mini map as rings. It’s a little tough to both hunt for ‘shrooms and look out for the pups, but as long as they’re nowhere near you, you can manage to glance at the screen from time to time. It’s only worthwhile if there is NO ONE around while you’re doing it. The more people there are (as with the egg hunt), the worse your chances of even getting the amount you need.
July 27, 2012 at 8:44 am
just shortly after the farmers faire started yesterday (Morthond GER – 4pm – european summer time), i had my counter on 6/7 drunken hobbits…
(i knew what to do here, because i have played the drunken-elfs-quest in lorien a few years ago)
actually, it was not a big deal do find the mistakes and bad behaviors…
so – different from that what is written and mentioned above – the dialog-chain does not reset, when you talk to one drunken guest.
if so, i wound not be able to find 6/7 drunken hobbits in about 15 min…
but, just from now to then, they stoped and did not make any more mistakes
if i remember right, that was about the time the morning/sunrise started (in the game-world)
and after that, i was not able to find any more drunken hobbits…
i waited and searched for more than 3 hours (!!!) – 2 more nights and days in the gameworld, but no drunken hobbit could be found…
finally i talked to two non-drunken hobbits and reseted the quest by doing so to get all the rings away from the mini-map/radar…
until now, i was unable to find ANY other drunken hobbit!
this quest sure is buggy!!!
July 27, 2012 at 8:52 am
I like the idea of the fair and the quests are sweet natured.
But everything is so close together and everyone is packed into one little area, the lag is horrendous! And I’m not even on a full server.
It’s something else to watch 50 to over a 100 players start rezzing in the area, all standing on top of one another fighting for the Mayor’s relief quest items.
July 27, 2012 at 9:20 am
and add to that pandemonium the forced emotes being spammed, (which someone posted that those reset the sober party-goers making it impossible to complete) makes this festival a necessity of loggin in at off peak hours..
other than that and the failure rate / length of time invested prior to failure, I like the festival
July 27, 2012 at 9:57 am
Unfortunately, my server although not full, is quite popular with other countries in Europe and other parts. So there is never really an off time. Just a quick lull until prime-time hits in the next country.
I think I will have to deal with the crowds and only do this fair on my main. Since making a run with all my alts will drive me batty.
July 27, 2012 at 10:15 am
hang in there, like all festivals towards the end become deserted. will be a good time to finish the deeds then.
anyone know what the golden egg gives? i have some eggs that give 10 tokens each, but so far no golden egg.
July 27, 2012 at 10:44 am
a golden egg gives you 50 tokens
July 27, 2012 at 10:50 am
Does it give anything else?Is it part of a deed?
July 27, 2012 at 11:23 am
i was hoping for a steed lol