Thread: Updated Cooking Price Guide (Book 14)

I'm so sorry about the delay--I was hoping to have this up last week, but ended up a bit busier than expected over the weekend. I also wanted to make sure that I had all of the recipes on the live server before revising the file, but though I am still a couple short I will go forward based on information on the Lotro wiki as the Lorebook has lagged behind.

I hope to have it ready today. Again, I do apologise for the delay.

*hug* No need to appologize! Golly, we really appreciate all the work you put into this. And no, we don't say Thanks often enough!!!!

It took me more hours than I'd like to admit, but the online Google docs version is finally updated for Westfold crafting and the other changes that have come to cooking since Volume 3. I will look over it again to make sure everything is correct tomorrow, but today my eyes just won't let me. If you find any corrections, please send me a PM.

The downloadable versions are not yet updated (because of formatting issues I have to update them separately from the online version). I do not yet have an ETA for those versions, but I will update the initial post in this thread when I've updated them. I may also add some of the features that various people have requested over the last year, but I don't want to make any promises quite yet.

Hope you all find this helpful. Good luck with your cooking and bon appétit!

Great Guide! Thank you for all the effort.

Just a small nit, however. Since Westfold Farming currently has a 1:1 final product yield vs. 1:4 final product yield for the lower tiers, shouldn't the cost of Westfold farmed materials be 4 times as expensive in the spreadsheet?

I know you are just using estimates as opposed to actual farming costs, but this is one adjustment that is probably warranted.

Thank you very much!

Originally Posted by b-morgan

Great Guide! Thank you for all the effort.

Just a small nit, however. Since Westfold Farming currently has a 1:1 final product yield vs. 1:4 final product yield for the lower tiers, shouldn't the cost of Westfold farmed materials be 4 times as expensive in the spreadsheet?

I know you are just using estimates as opposed to actual farming costs, but this is one adjustment that is probably warranted.

I initially decided to keep it as is after some careful consideration as it was a somewhat arbitrary number in the first place. There is just no way to properly express the cost of farmed items as some purchase the items from the AH, some purchase the raw materials on a home discount, some may use the new peat crit item for producing the items, and the yield from each field varies wildly.

But with a cost of 2.40 per seed from a non-home vendor it does seem 40 copper per item is a reasonable figure, assuming a yield of 6 crops per field. Naturally, mileage will vary based on some of the factors mentioned above. So I have now adjusted the document to 40 copper for Westfold crops.

I just started back playing from a year ago and the cookbook i was using was outdated. I was excited to see this one was updated and wanted to thank you SO much for the work that was put into this. I can now start feeding Imladris as I did a year ago and try to make some coin xD That's the whole reason I came back..to farm and cook haha.. and wait..there's a new level cap now I can get my 65 mini up xD

I just started looking through this pricing guide, and I have to say that I think the pricing for Bilberry Pies is way off. My own estimates, based on farming everything required myself (including pie crust ingredients) puts them at closer to 18 silver each (800-900 silver per stack). I can't imagine how it would be possible for them to only cost around 59 silver per stack (unless I am reading the spreadsheet wrong). Just looking at the pricing of other items in the Westfold tier, this sticks out as a HUGE error.

Of course, this would explain why I've got people on my server selling stacks of 50 for 750 silver.

Originally Posted by kmcferrin

I just started looking through this pricing guide, and I have to say that I think the pricing for Bilberry Pies is way off. My own estimates, based on farming everything required myself (including pie crust ingredients) puts them at closer to 18 silver each (800-900 silver per stack). I can't imagine how it would be possible for them to only cost around 59 silver per stack (unless I am reading the spreadsheet wrong). Just looking at the pricing of other items in the Westfold tier, this sticks out as a HUGE error.

Based on my own farming, I do stand behind that price. I will explain this in full, so bear with me here.

The farming cost for 1 bunch of bilberries was set to 40 copper, based on the price adjustment for tier 7 farming. Lower tier farmed items are set to 10 copper. The person who put together the original guide that I based this on many years ago assumed a yield of 6-7 items, and I kept this in my original spreadsheet. This does initially seem high, but it also assumed that some crits will occur while processing items either on the farming or cooking side.

There is no way to properly price the clump of peat, so I simply cannot put this as part of the equation. Some must purchase from the AH, some do not use them at all, and many others have an almost limitless supply of the necessary piles of rich soil. This will certainly effect the yield both in the initial stage and in the processing of the raw crop into the cook-ready item. I also do not factor in the cost of tool repair, as the mileage will vary. The main thing that throws the cost off is the use of a Westfold crop seed versus a hearty Westfold crop seed. The yield from the hearty Westfold seed can vary widely, generally with a crop yield of 6-12 (though I did get one 3, lower than any regular seed). The regular seed came in at 4-6 almost every time.

I planted a series of 6 fields, the first one split between regular and hearty and using no peat (and using items purchased from a field vendor rather than a discounted home vendor). This led to a yield of 38 raw crops and 104 bilberries total. The cost for each bilberry would be 43 copper, just over the 40 copper set as the per item price. For the next series of 6, I used just regular with no peat. This led to 33 crops and a yield of only 66 bilberries, as I had no crits. Even then, my cost was just 24 copper per bilberry. Finally, a field of 6 hearty resulted in a pitiful 37 crops with a minimum yield of 74, which would be just under 1 silver per bilberry. Using a single clump peat for processing one yield of 5 raw crops from a regular Westfold field resulted in 24 bunches of bilberries, or just 9 copper per bilberry. Similar success with a hearty yield of 10 using 2 peat clumps would come to 48 bilberries at a cost of just over 25 copper per bilberry. This is a small sample size, but it follows the pattern I have observed in my past farming.

Based on this and my observations over the past year since Westfold farming was introduced, it seems clear that hearty seeds are not cost effective. Stick with regular, use clumps of peat in processing and purchase items at a discount home vendor and your costs per farmed item will be very low. And yes, you will get pinches of Westfold herbs from the regular seeds.

Because the bilberry pie recipe uses mostly farmed items with only 2 cheap chicken eggs, I am comfortable with an estimated cost of 1 silver 18 copper per pie. Even if the initial cost of the ingredients is 18 silver (and if you use regular seeds, peat, and home housing vendors it will not be close), because you are using farmed items the cost of each subsequent pie will be significantly lower. All of the other Westfold cooked items use expensive vendor items, and thus their price will be markedly higher.

With all of this being said, I will be adding in the tier 8 items prior to the update this time around. I also missed a few recipes from the last update (the Second Breakfast coffee being one), so those will also be added at that time.

Originally Posted by yossalu

Because the bilberry pie recipe uses mostly farmed items with only 2 cheap chicken eggs, I am comfortable with an estimated cost of 1 silver 18 copper per pie.

OK, I didn't believe this, so I did some testing by planting 20 crops of each of the three ingredients to get an average cost per unit. These are the average costs that I came up with (rounded up):

1 bunch of bilberries - 35 copper
1 Shire Apple - 7 copper
1 pie crust - 52 copper (1 chicken egg @ 24 copper and 4 bundles of barley @ 7 copper each)
1 chicken egg - 24 copper

Grand Total: 1 silver 18 copper per pie.

That is, of course, EXACTLY what you got. I wonder where my earlier math when wrong when I came up with 18 silver?