Thread: Just returned after 2 years. What should I keep and sell?

I was away on a two year deployment and now that I'm back, have reactivated my account.

I'm Grand Master in Prospecting, Tailoring, and Metalsmithing. When I left, I had every recipe in game for both tailor and metalsmith. With that said, I have a ton of materials in my bank. But, I don't know what is outdated and I should sell and what can still be used.

I have quite a bit of the special rare loot drops such as Colnor's Scales, various creatures' teeths, etc.... Are these items still used? Is there a good guide I can use to make sure I don't sell something I need to keep? Thanks for any help.

Originally Posted by coastiemike

I have quite a bit of the special rare loot drops such as Colnor's Scales, various creatures' teeths, etc.... Are these items still used? Is there a good guide I can use to make sure I don't sell something I need to keep? Thanks for any help.

Welcome back!

First of all they have changed the rare items used in crafting 3 times

1st time - they changed some of the rare ingredients and put a barter guy in the Bree crafting hall to exchange them.

2nd time - they changed the ingredients again, so if you have the really old stuff you will have to trade them to the Bree guy then go to the guy in the Michel Delving craft area (also one just outside the Estedin craft area door) and trade them again for the newest items.

3rd time(SoM expansion) - they changed all the "old" one shot recipes to match the new ones at which time many of the rare items became vendor trash

Check the description and if it says "Barter Item" under the name then you can trade them for the new ingredients.

They mainstreamed it so each craft uses only one type of crit item, for example:
Tailors use Flax
Jewellers use Rock-salt
Scholars use candles/lamps
etc....


There is a link in my signature for the Crit Item barter list which shows the last round of barter items.

Hint: Many items trade for more than one thing for different professions. The NPC lists them by profession so you may want to scroll through the list.

Also Scholar candles/lamps and Tailor Flax are the most in demand - all other professions crit items are easy to get so if you have a choice you may want to stock up on those 2 types specifically.

When it first changed over alot of people traded all their eyes for Jewellers rock-salt because it came before the Scholar option and then ended up with nothing left to trade for the Scholar items. There were a lot of unhappy people.

I know it's confusing - turbine did it - not me I hope the list helps

Thanks for the info. Do the NPCs have barter under their name or do I need to look for someone specific?

I believe it says something like "Crafting Trophy Trader" under their name.

The first trader is inside the Bree crafting hall standing next to the center isle on the side with the workbench. Edit: This one is "Taddyn" "Trophy Broker"

The one in MD is just west of the Superior Oven - his name is Bill Brockhouse

Unique, not sure if you covered it but aren't special items (colnor's scale was mentioned) absolutely useless now?

Originally Posted by JeanCarlo

Unique, not sure if you covered it but aren't special items (colnor's scale was mentioned) absolutely useless now?

Only as far as crafting goes The trophies like Colnor's Scale which were used in the "old" one-shot recipes are now just vendor trash. The "old" recipes have been converted to use the appropriate shard. I have a few duplicate recipes in my crafting panel now because of it.

Originally Posted by Penter-Kar

Only as far as crafting goes The trophies like Colnor's Scale which were used in the "old" one-shot recipes are now just vendor trash. The "old" recipes have been converted to use the appropriate shard. I have a few duplicate recipes in my crafting panel now because of it.

Yea, that's what I meant

(I'm assuming you mean "only as far as crafting" meaning they can still be sold for money )

Originally Posted by JeanCarlo

Yea, that's what I meant

(I'm assuming you mean "only as far as crafting" meaning they can still be sold for money )

Yep. They're useless as far as crafting goes, but still worth coins as vendor food.

Plus now each character should join a crafting guild. one for each profession. If you're an armorer you can join either the tailor or metalworking guild. You hand in crafted barter items to recieve rep towards the guild, or you can use the items in special autocrit recipes. Most of the recipes have a cooldown of one sort or another. Crafting guild recipes are essentially autocrits of all one-shot recipes from expert to supreme. It also allows you to craft Legendary items (runekeeper and burg items iirc), as well as craftable relics for said weapons.

Here is the single most useful website for LOTRO crafting I know about. It has almost every craftable item in the game on it, the stats for each item, what materials are required, where to get the recipies for them and lots of pictures of crafted armor and weapons.
http://www.northshield.co.uk/LOTRO/

As others have mentioned, recipies have changed and the special ingredients have changed. There are barter NPC's available where you can trade in your old special ingredients.

Each craft now only uses one type of special ingredient, but each tier of the craft has a different variety of that item. As an example, metalsmiths need brimstone as a special ingredient, but there are 6 different types of brimstone, one type for each tier of the metalsmith craft. You'll pick up some brimstone as mob loot, you'll get some as quest rewards, but you'll get the most by mining metal ore nodes (and it's a random chance that an ore node will drop brimstone, it may drop a whetstone used by weaponsmsiths or rocksalt used by jewelers).

Metalsmith - brimstone (from ore nodes)
Tailor - flax (from wood nodes)
Weaponsmith - whetstone (from ore nodes)
Woodworker - resin (from wood nodes)
Jeweler - rocksalt (from ore nodes)
Scholar - candles (from scholar nodes)
Cook - herbs (from farmed crops)

The recipies have been streamlined recently too. As an example, metalsmith recipies used to need leather componants made by a tailor (and some of those componants needed polished gems from a jeweler), they don't any more. You should be able to make every componant for a piece of heavy armor using your metalsmith. There might be a small number of recipies that still need something from a different craft, but most recipies have been converted to the new format where you can make every componant you need in the same craft.

Guilds. Every "maker" craft (see list above) has it's own guild. You can only be in one guild at a time. You cannot join a guild until you reach expert level in the craft for that guild. You earn reputation in a guild by making tokens that have a cooldown before you can make them again. You give the tokens to a guild NPC to earn the reputation. Making the guild tokens counts for earning crafting xp. Small tokens = 1 day cooldown, medium tokens = 3 day cooldown, large tokens = 7 day cooldown. As you build up your reputation with a guild, you can buy special recipies from the guild which have a guaranteed critical success. These recipies also use the guild tokens you make as an extra componant. You cannot give/sell/trade your guild tokens to other players, they are bound to you when you make them. You cannot use guild tokens made by other players, you can only use guild tokens you have made yourself.

You have to talk to a special NPC to join a guild, the only one I can remember right now is in the crafting area of Michel Delving in The Shire, next to the tree in the centre of the crafting area.

The guilds themselves are in the following areas.
Cooks guild. Michael Delving crafting area.
Metalsmiths guild, Thorin's hall, in the room next to the forge hall.
Weaponsmiths guild, same area as metalsmiths guild.
Woodworkers guild, Esteldin
Tailors guild, Esteldin
Jewelers guild, Esteldin
Scholars guild, inside Elrond's house in Rivendell.
Farmer, Forester and Prospector do NOT have guilds.

Originally Posted by GarethB

The recipies have been streamlined recently too. As an example, metalsmith recipies used to need leather componants made by a tailor (and some of those componants needed polished gems from a jeweler), they don't any more. You should be able to make every componant for a piece of heavy armor using your metalsmith. There might be a small number of recipies that still need something from a different craft, but most recipies have been converted to the new format where you can make every componant you need in the same craft.

Steel-Braces still require Leather Guards from tailoring. Ran into this last night.

Originally Posted by Torrenta

Steel-Braces still require Leather Guards from tailoring. Ran into this last night.

This thread's a bit dusty, but... Yep, I'm not sure if it's only one use recipes, but this is correct. My metalsmith alt ran into it making a one use master recipe for a kinmate's Guardian just the other day, I believe. Had to log onto my primary tailor to make an exceptional leather binding for one of the components. Supreme isn't unlocked for me, but artisan, expert and journeyman metalsmith all have a special component that seems to require one of the autogiven components from a tailor's on the matching tier.

Originally Posted by Unique

I believe it says something like "Crafting Trophy Trader" under their name.

I just checked the one in Esteldin, and the database is all messed up. The trophies have duplicate names so you cannot be sure which one you are bartering for. Some have only five of the six types listed, even though they may have nine barter options.

I am not sure how so many errors slipped in. I /bugged it for the first one I saw, assuming that was the only one. Then I /bugged it again with a general "it's all messed up."