December 20 saw the kick-off of the
Lord of the Rings Online's 2011 Yule Festival.
In addition to the smattering of local holiday events in the Shire, Ered
Luin and Bree-land, players can travel to the festival-themed mini-area
of Frostbluff to partake in a town-wide celebration of
all things Yule.

The old standard events are, of course, still present:

• The Shire - Two scavenger hunts, dancing and Inn League/Ale
  Association quests at the Party Tree, ousting Lobelia
  Sackville-Baggins from the party-planning committee at Hobbiton,
  horse-racing at the track near the Shire Homesteads
• Ered Luin - Scavenger hunts and dancing at Thorin's Hall and
  Duillond, Inn League and Ale Association at Thorin's Hall
• Bree-land - Scavenger hunts, dancing, Inn League/Ale Association and
  horse racing at Bree-land Festival Grounds south of Hengstacer Farm

The town of Winterhome in Frostbluff is
little-changed since last year's event (see our 2010
Yule Festival Guide). The repeatable quests are pretty much the
same:

• Eating Contest - A timed event where you must eat too much food and
  waddle on to the next station with speed debuffs. Stick to the light
  foods (mushrooms, berries) and avoid the heavier foods (pies, bread)
  whenever possible. The first table is not timed, so you can wait until
  all the other contestants have moved on before starting.
• Frostbluff Theatre - Watch a play and throw things at the actors
  (rotten fruit if they screw up, flower petals if they do well) or take
  to the stage as an actor. There are three roles you can be assigned
  to: Bilbo Baggins, who is expected to act in an affable, heroic
  manner; Party-goer, who is expected to be enthusiastic and fun-loving;
  or Gandalf, who is perceived by the Hobbits as a villainous monster.
• Clean-up and preparation quests - clean up after the hogs have
  barreled through the eating contest stations, prepare food for the
  next round, deliver a keg without being spotted by the watchmen.
• Help out the beggars by stealing from the rich or donating
  Frostbluff Coins to the poor, or drive the beggars out of town for the
  watchmen.
• Engage other players in a snowball fight. Pro-tip: gather up all the
  snowballs you need (10 for Easy, 15 for Hard) before you start
  flinging them. There is no longer any need to slot the snowballs in a
  quick-slot - an icon has been added to the quest tracker, and you can
  click that to let the snowballs fly. The debuffs from snowballs have
  been amped up this year, so be prepared.

There are, however, a smattering of new repeatable quests available to
festival-goers:

alt="LotRO Yule Fest 2011 - Virgil and classy snowman" style="float: right; margin-left: 15px;" />

• Help Virgil Greenfield build snowmen - he has a statuary of frozen
  friends located between the town and the snowball field in the north.
  Talk to him, pick a snowman to duplicate from the ones standing near
  him, gather the items needed to make it and assemble it. The items
  (coal, acorns, carrots, top hats, sticks, etc.) are located around the
  snowman statuary or in the town of Winterhome. The scarf is on a ledge
  near the last table of the eating contest, the top hat is on a
  lamppost near the town crier, the mittens are in the Frostbluff
  Theatre. There is a deed for building all the different types of
  snowman.
• Spread "cheer" to a group of Abominable Snow-beasts who have
  migrated to the area. They are located in the trees in the southeast
  corner - approach them while they are sleeping and /cheer at them to
  wake them up and drive them off.
• They say that everyone complains about the weather but no-one ever
  does anything about it. You can change that by defeating a few Wintry
  Weather grims hanging around the frozen pond east of Winterhome. These
  grims have a disorienting visual effect when you get near them.

After completing many quests in Frostbluff, you receive a quest to help
either the poor beggars or the rich people of Winterhome. Completing
this quest chain gives you either a Shabby outfit or an Extravagant one.
Last year, helping the poor had an extra, secret reward - shortly after
the festival ended, the charitable person was mailed a very nice robe,
with thanks from the poor folks of Winterhome. The people who sided with
the rich folks did not get any additional rewards. Charity is its own
reward, but it's nice to be recognized for your efforts.

The rewards for this year's Yule Festival are mostly the same as last
year's, with the addition of 4 new maps for the Eriador Cartographer
deed (Frostbluff, Thorin's Gate, Forochel, Southern Barrow-downs) and 2
new cosmetic cloaks, the Fancy Winter Cloak (left) and the Warm Winter
Cloak (right):

alt="LotRO Yule Fest 2011 - Fancy Winter Cloak" />

alt="LotRO Yule Fest 2011 - Warm Winter Cloak" />

There's also a new horse, which can be gained by winning a race and
amassing tokens, and trading these in at Hengstacer Farm. The new Frosty
Steed is a handsome beast of medium grey, with dark grey, blue and white
dressings marked with a holly leaf/half-snowflake pattern that matches
the Fancy Winter Cloak:

Conspicuously absent from this year's Yule Festival is the Treasure
Hunt, which many players were expecting after the 2-hour sneak preview
on December 12. Whether the Treasure Hunt will be added to the festival
at a later date is not known.