OverviewThere are some significant enhancements in store for the crafting system in The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Book 8, and wed like to take time to provide the details for those who love to make stuff in the lands of Middle-earth!
Continuing right along with the goal of creating a better LOTRO experience for players both old and new, in Book 8 we are updating the levels of crafted armour, jewellery, shields, and weapons to improve the frequency at which equipment upgrades are available to users of crafted equipment. To provide a smoother transition for all, we are making special arrangements for all currently-equipped crafted gear. This change will affect most crafted equipment with level requirements up to 50, so we've included some fancy tables below to provide all the information you need.
The second crafting-related update comes directly from feedback we've received from many crafters with regards to optional ingredients. We are happy to announce that optional ingredients for all crafting professions have been completely redesigned! Special new ingredients for every tier and profession will arrive in Book 8, with more ways to find them through farming, gathering, and artifacting (that's antiquing in Scholar-jargon). Crafting trophy brokers located in Michel Delving and Esteldin will accept all existing optional ingredients in exchange for the new ingredients.
Improvements for Crafted Equipment, Levels 1-50
BackgroundFor all crafted armour, shields, weapons, and jewelery, there are generally four groups of recipes per crafting tier (the Apprentice tier usually has just two). These are:
1. The auto-granted group of recipes. These are given to you automatically upon gaining access to a new tier of your profession.
2. The vendor group of recipes. These can be purchased from novice and expert profession trainers.
3. The normal treasure group of recipes. These are found as loot on various sentient creatures.
4. The one-shot treasure group of recipes. These are found as loot on various sentient creatures and can only be used once per recipe scroll.
Traditionally, items produced by the auto-granted and normal treasure recipe groups have had identical level requirements. The vendor and one-shot treasure recipe groups also produced items with identical levels. Players utilizing crafted gear could only reasonably expect to upgrade their equipment twice per crafting tier, and would typically have a prolonged gap in levels before they could look to wield an item produced by the next group of recipes. With Book 8, we are shifting some of these recipe groups a bit.
What's NewWe are adjusting the level requirements of the items produced by these recipe groups to smooth them throughout levels 1 50, and for some 50+ shields. The level requirements on some crafted items will increase, some will decrease, and some will remain the same. The stat bonuses on these crafted items will also be adjusted relative to the new level requirements.
As a crafter, you will have more opportunities to craft desirable equipment for yourself and for others!
Special NoteWe are making special arrangements to ensure that the crafted equipment you are using right now does not become unusable!
In Book 8, equipped crafted armour, jewellery, shields, and weapons that will have a higher level requirement than your current level will be given a new minimum level equal to your current level when you initially log on, so you can continue to use your equipped items. Equipped crafted items that will have a lower level requirement than your current level will be given the correct new minimum level.
All newly-crafted gear made during and beyond Book 8 will have the new minimum level requirements.
At the end of this article, youll find tables containing the items that will change, their old levels, and their new levels.
New Optional Ingredients
Background
I just found a Great Claw! Wait, what is that used for? The description says,
this item can be used in crafting.'
That's not very helpful.
What kind of eyes do you need? Where do we have to go and what do we have to kill to get these eyes?
In those two snippets of chat we are given a clear view into some of the issues with current optional ingredients: The items do not display information on which crafting professions can use them, and the items for some professions may only be retrieved from a relatively small group of creatures.
We are very pleased to say that in Book 8, a totally redesigned optional ingredients system awaits the entire crafting community!
What's NewThe rare creature trophies that were used as optional ingredients in many recipes to increase the chance of critical success will no longer be found in Book 8. The professions which have traditionally used these ingredients Jeweller, Metalsmith, Scholar, Tailor, Weaponsmith, and Woodworker will have brand new optional ingredients to add to their recipes!
Each new optional ingredient is unique to one specific crafting profession and tier of recipes. The tooltip description on each of these items will allow you to quickly identify the profession and tier it is used with.
All sentient creatures orcs, goblins, trolls, and the like will have a chance to drop optional ingredients as treasure. The level of a sentient creature determines which tier of optional ingredient has a chance to be produced. The following table may satisfy your thirst for knowledge.
Optional ingredient tier & sentient creature levels
Ingredient Tier Creature Level
Apprentice 1-12
Journeyman 13-23
Expert 24-34
Artisan 35-43
Master 44-50
Supreme 51-60
In addition to sentient treasure, resource nodes will also be a source of optional ingredients! Ore deposits and wood branches will produce optional ingredients for multiple professions, while artifacts and crop fields will produce optional ingredients for just one profession each. Generally speaking, you can expect to find optional ingredients for any profession from the same types of resource nodes that you would find required ingredients for that same profession. This table might clear things up a bit.
Sources for new optional ingredients
Profession Ingredient Source Ingredient Source
Jeweller Ore deposits (Prospecting) Sentient Treasure
Metalsmith Ore deposits (Prospecting) Sentient Treasure
Scholar Artifacts (Scholar) Sentient Treasure
Tailor Wood branches (Forestry) Sentient Treasure
Weaponsmith Ore deposits (Prospecting) Sentient Treasure
Woodworking Wood branches (Forestry) Sentient Treasure
Cooking Crop Fields (Farming) Sentient Treasure
Superior Cooking Love: Order Up!
In Book 8, optional ingredients for Cooking will arrive to allow cooks of all mastery levels to show off their superior culinary skills! Cooks will have the option to use rare ingredients in all Trail Food, Fortifying Food, and Cooked Food recipes as well as many intermediary recipes like Pie Crusts and Berry Pie Filling.
Special NoteAll existing optional ingredients the rare tails, eyes, claws, and so on will no longer be found as rare trophy treasure items in Book 8. Any optional ingredients you currently possess will become barter items, which can be traded to special Crafting Trophy Brokers located in Michel Delving and Esteldin. The brokers will accept all existing optional ingredients in exchange for new ingredients.
ConclusionWe hope you enjoy the new optional ingredients and the changes to crafted equipment level requirements that are coming in Book 8. As with all changes we make, our aim is to improve the overall LOTRO experience for you, the player. Your feedback is always welcome.
Author
. - schild
