Crafting in the Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) is more than just a side-game. In many respects, it is one of the more important high level activities to many players; some of the best items in-game come from crafters. Yet even before the high level game takes place, it is a viable alternative to fulfilling your characters needs. For instance, if your characters reaches level fifteen and is still equipped with level ten leggings, then you may want to consider an upgrade. The NPC armour shop isn’t supplying what is needed nor are drops being kind; you will want to seek out a Metalsmith then: the crafters of armour in Middle-earth. Yet there are many other uses of crafting, such as the primary source of food and drink. This guide will grant you an understanding of this complex system and ready any potential players for a crafting career.

What is crafting and why should I do it?

This is the most fundamental question that players have; in some online games crafting has little use, while in others it has tremendous benefit. To address that point in particular, LOTRO has reached a middle ground: if players craft themselves, it is of benefit to themselves and the community at large but far from mandatory; alternatively, if one does not craft – and simply seeks other crafters for their needs – that is a worthwhile endeavour as well. Yet this guide will encourage players to craft: it can be a fun, stress free activity that can wield significant rewards later on (aside from the monetary benefits that can naturally occur). For example, if a Guardian chooses to take up the Metalsmith profession, then he or she can update his or her armour as they progress through the game.

But what is crafting? In laymans terms, crafting is the combining of several different materials to make a single useful item; creations include armour, weapons, bows and food, to name a few. Certainly these items are useful for any adventurer, regardless of their view on the dynamic itself.

Choosing a vocation

Before any player can craft an item they must choose a vocation (for a full list of vocations please see this page). Vocations, put simply, are a combination of crafting professions. They are designed in this way: gathering, primary manufacturing and unsupported. The gathering is obvious: this profession gathers necessary materials for the manufacturing profession; and the second profession – primary manufacturing – is rather obvious: it creates items for use or sale. The latter, unsupported, is a little more vague: this profession is not supported by the primary gathering – so you cannot gather materials for it – but is related to the primary manufacturing profession; often it is used to expand the crafters repertoire, but must rely on another vocation to supply the necessary materials, thus making it interdependent to the other crafting professions.

In order to train a vocation (which is free of cost) one must visit a Master of Apprentices NPC: they are available in every starting area - Michel Delving, Thorin’s Hall, Combe and Celondim (see our geography section for more details on what NPCs are in which towns). In addition, they are also available in indoor crafting areas in the major cities of Eriador (Bree-town and Rivendell for example).

Crafting preparation: what is needed to begin a crafting career

Currently, the vocational options are Armsman, Armorer, Explorer, Historian, Tinkerer, Woodsman and Yeoman. Each vocation has 3 different professions within it. For example, the Armsman vocation includes Weaponnsmithing, Prospecting and Woodworking. When a vocation is chosen, inferior tools are then provided by the Master of Apprentices to start the trades. Tools are provided based on the specific professions within that vocation. Local suppliers also sell standard crafting tools but better quality items (ancient steel, bronze, dwarf-steel etc) are player manufactured and typically found for sale in any Auction House. Below is a list of what each crafting profession (not vocation) needs to either acquire materials or craft items:

• Woodworker: Woodworking Tools
• Tailor: Tailors Tools
• Metalsmith: Smithing Hammer
• Weaponsmith: Smithing Hammer
• Scholar: Scholar’s Glass
• Jeweler: Jeweler’s Tools
• Cook: Cooking Supplies
• Farmer: Farming Tools
• Forester: Forester’s Axe
• Prospector: Mining Pick

Once you have purchased the requisite tool, right click the icon in your inventory and it will be equipped to your crafting slot.

Acquiring crafting materials

Once you have trained a crafting vocation, you will earn a resource tracking skill for your requisite gathering profession: prospector, forester or farmer. Drag that skill to one of your hotbars and click the skill once to activate it. You will then be able to track resource nodes throughout the world – the means for which you acquire your materials. In order to use those materials or perform other crafting functions (such as gathering or harvesting), the correct tool must be equipped at this point.


As illustrated by the screenshot above, when you are tracking resources and you come near a node, a blue arrow will appear on your mini-map: run in the direction of the arrow. Once you have reached the location you will see the resource node before you; assuming you have the requisite tool equipped, double click on the node and your character will begin to gather it. Once the process is completed, a window will open up with the material you have gathered; right click it to put the materials in your inventory and the node will disappear.

Inter-dependency materials

There are some materials that a given vocation cannot gather on its own; for example, an Armourer cannot treat leather hides to produce the leather bindings required to craft bronze armour. The Armourer must enlist the services of a forester for the boiled leather required to make leather bindings. The easiest way to do this is to either contact someone who has the forester profession or roll an alt with it trained. If neither option suits you, simply head to the Auction Hall and search for the treated leather.

Recipes

Recipes are the formulas used to create particular items: armour, weapons, food etc. When a player first chooses their vocation, they are given a number of starting recipes to work with. As you become more proficient with crafting and gain mastery, you can master a tier; once you do so and complete the subsequent quest, more powerful recipes will be granted to you. In addition, there are two other ways to obtain recipes: they can be purchased from novices and experts, other players, or loot drops from opponents in Eriador. If you obtain a recipe in this manner – and you have the necessary requirements to learn it – just right-click the recipe in your inventory to learn it.

Crafting locales / stations

Once a player has acquired a vocation, obtained the necessary materials and has a recipe to work with, they need to locate a crafting station in order to begin the [crafting] process. These differ based on the profession – forges for metalsmith and ovens for cooks – and they are located all over Eriador. Below is a listing of where to find each station for your crafting needs.

• Forges: Combe, Bree, Celondim, Gondomon, Duilond, Trestlebridge, Michel Delving, Rivendell and Thorin’s Halls.
• Ovens: Combe, Gondomon, Duilond, Thorin’s Gates, Brockenborings, Overhill, Rivendell and Michel Delving.
• Study: Combe, Celondim, Gondomon, Duillond, Estilden, Trestlebridge, Brockenborings, Hobbiton, Michel Delving and Rivendell.
• Workbench: Combe, Staddle, Gondomon, Duillond, Trestlebridge, Bywater, Michel Delving, Esteldin, Rivendell and Hobbiton.
• Farmland: Michel Delving, Combe and north of Hobbiton.

In addition, if you need to know which profession uses what station, please consult the list below:

• Forges / Superior Forge: Metalsmith, Weaponsmith and Prospector.
• Workbench / Superior Workbench: Farmer (utilizes farmland as well), Forester, Tailor and Woodworker.
• Study / Superior Study: Jeweler and Scholar.
• Oven / Superior Oven: Cook.

The Crafting Process

To craft items, you must first equip the appropriate crafting tool, then target the specified crafting station. Once you have done that, either hit the ‘F’ key or click the crafting icon on the bottom left hand side of the UI. A window will be open with your three crafting professions; we'll use the Armourer as an example.



As seen in the above screenshot, the three professions are Prospector, Metalsmith and Tailor. For this example, let’s assume we will be creating bronze armour and the recipe for it can be found below.


The four components necessary for the construction of the armor are: one bronze plate, one bronze mail links, two bronze ingots and 1 leather binding. The bronze ingot is the easiest to produce; simply switch to the prospector profession and select the bronze ingot recipe and click the ‘make’ button on the bottom right hand side. You will then have created your first bronze ingot! The recipe calls for two, however, so create another one the same way you created the first one. Do the same for the rest of the components before you move on to the armour itself; once it’s all prepared, simply click on the make button again (with the bronze armour selected) to craft it.

There are two other things that should be made mention of in the crafting process: critical success and previous age items. If you click on the mastery tab (shown below) a sub-window will open that displays a percentage – that is your chance of obtaining a critical success. In addition, if you look beside the percentage, the icon will normally tell you what the possibility is – in this case it is increased bronze ingots.


The other item mentioned is previous age items; these are rare items that, if obtained, will give considerable bonuses and boons to the crafting process. So be on the lookout for such items as you adventure around Eriador, and stayed tuned to an advanced crafting guide later that will detail that very dynamic!

Storing unused materials and creations

Through the course of your experience as a crafter and an adventurer, there will be plenty of unused items and resources that you'll want to save. In this case players will want to utilize the storage vaults located in many towns and villages all over Eriador. It is advisable to utilize this resource so your packs don’t get overflown with important, yet not immediately usable crafting materials and creations. The towns that have storage vaults are Michel Delving, Thorin’s Hall, Celondim, Bree-town and Rivendell. For more locations, please consult our geography section. And, for an additional fee, there are now 4 additional chests that can be unlocked to provide additional storage. This is especially useful if you find that the initial 30 slots in your vault become overfull. You are able to unlock one vault chest before level 35 then the other three at varying levels and successively higher prices after that level.

Selling your creations

Once a player has successfully created an item – and it’s not immediately usable to oneself or friends – the best idea is to sell it and gain some much needed coin. There are three ways of doing this: selloing directly to an NPC vendor (not always the best suggestion), secure trade with other players or the Auction Hall. Most players utilize the Auction House as opposed to the other two options – especially in regards to armour and weapons – as they can get the most return for their efforts. Auction Halls are located in Bree-town, Michel Delving, Thorin’s Halls and Rivendell. In addition, if you would like more information on how the Auction Halls work, please consult this guide.

That is the conclusion of the Understanding Crafting guide! You should now have a thorough understanding of how crafting works to start your own trade. Best of luck with your labours in Middle-earth!