Thread: Sapphire Shard: Where can find them???

Hey Guys, I'm a newby to Metalsmithing (And this game altogether) and I play on Crickhollow at the moment. I been spending a lot of time trying to find Sapphire Shards by mining Iron and Silver vein's, is that how they drop? Or do I need to hunt creatures? Quests? I need help. I checked also the Auction house and found that the cheapest Shard I could buy was 1g 599s. That seems outrageous, but are they that uncommon they need to be so high priced?

Thanks for any replies!

-Valterian/Brunnbjorn.

There are bounties in the very north eastern section of Breeland (up near the lake/Nen Harn) or in in the ruins back near Harloeg in the LL that grant shards and recipe scoll cases.

Edit to add: They are repeatable bounties too... so stock up on them. If there is a void on the AH for them at reasonable prices on your server, you could make some easy money doing it.

Thanks for the swift reply! I will go looking for those quests in Bree then.

I forget the price but you can barter them for skirmish marks at the crafting vendor there as well. Some rare mobs drop them too but that's not a reliable source.

Edit: More info here

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Item:Sapphire_Shard

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Skirmish-Crafting

or go here for a broader overview on skirmish rewards

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Skirmish_Camp

You're right, that's an outrageous price. But that doesn't stop some players from thinking they can get that. Like all MMOs you have to be careful when using the AH.

Besides what Grumpy listed, there are also repeatable quests in the Barrow Downs for a Sapphire Shard. The ones in Harloeg that were mentioned are for a Ruby Shard, though. You can also get them from the Crafting vendor at a Skirmish Camp (24 SM for sapphire and 74 SM for ruby). They also have the scroll cases for one-shot recipes for Journeyman and higher. You can do Skirmishes once you reach level 20.

Shards also drop from some rare mobs. But those are not as easy to come by. Easier to do the repeatables and skirmishes to get what you need (IMHO).

The repeatable quest in the barrow can only be done 3 times till it is locked out for you - rare elites or "shard droppers" as they are called that roam around Bree-land used to be the only source for shards but it seems that they drop them less and less now days - the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to get shards is to barter for them from the crafting skirmish vendor - sap shards are pretty cheap less then a 100 skirm marks a piece - i see people selling them on the trade channel all the time for around 90sp - so im glad you didnt fall for the AH rip off.

Good luck
D

Hmm, at least on Meneldor they are usually only a few hundred silver on AH. If you keep an eye on the AH you'll probably find a cheaper one.

Assuming this (http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Skirmish_Compendium) is up to date, you can get one for 24 skirmish marks. Seems like that is the most efficient way?

I'm a bit dubious about the virtues of using the shards to make armor, however. The shards are used to make the level 20 armor seen here:
http://www.northshield.co.uk/LOTRO/H...d/FCrafted.htm
But it is only good for a few levels, the level 22 heavy armor might not be better, but the level 25 armor is much better. And it doesn't take long to level through those. Just a thought, I made some of the high end armor my first time leveling, and felt lame when I had to vendor trash it a few days later.

Thanks for the replies guys!

Mostly I want the shards so I can make a set of gloves for myself and a friend, then begin making pieces for some of my Kinship. That is mostly why, and it happens to also raise my level towards my next rank in metalsmithing. Once I hit that, I am going to probably be happy as a bug in a rug once I reach level 25. Already have a lot of ideas on what kind of stuff I plan on making.

Gonna try doing Skirmishes more with my Kin's and Solo so I can earn up a good chunk of points to get those shards. And yeah, I have been watching the AH when I am online. It usually seems a lot of people overprice stuff. So I am planning on selling all the excess gear and materials on the AH for a lot less. Probably around 5%-10% or lesser of the listed price for most of the stuff. Since I know there has to be a lot of new players like me, unable to further their craft/get good gear because of the money game in AH.

Originally Posted by Valterian

Thanks for the replies guys!

Mostly I want the shards so I can make a set of gloves for myself and a friend, then begin making pieces for some of my Kinship. That is mostly why, and it happens to also raise my level towards my next rank in metalsmithing. Once I hit that, I am going to probably be happy as a bug in a rug once I reach level 25. Already have a lot of ideas on what kind of stuff I plan on making.

Gonna try doing Skirmishes more with my Kin's and Solo so I can earn up a good chunk of points to get those shards. And yeah, I have been watching the AH when I am online. It usually seems a lot of people overprice stuff. So I am planning on selling all the excess gear and materials on the AH for a lot less. Probably around 5%-10% or lesser of the listed price for most of the stuff. Since I know there has to be a lot of new players like me, unable to further their craft/get good gear because of the money game in AH.

Check the skirmish rewards for your armour, jewellery, weapon, shield etc - there are some slots that are not worth crafting. Do the rep quests for Bree - hand in the trinkets and some of the barrow treasures (make sure you have enough for the rewards) - a few things to have at 30 (plus you get rep items for the hobbits - mathoms, that starts at 35 I think). Lone Lands - Ost Guruth, nice set of ring and bracelet for different classes (but rep is a bit harder, do all quests even lower one's for rep).

Edit: just trying to give some different ideas, nothing more, definitely not necessary to do any of this.

Originally Posted by Rouven

Check the skirmish rewards for your armour, jewellery, weapon, shield etc - there are some slots that are not worth crafting. Do the rep quests for Bree - hand in the trinkets and some of the barrow treasures (make sure you have enough for the rewards) - a few things to have at 30 (plus you get rep items for the hobbits - mathoms, that starts at 35 I think). Lone Lands - Ost Guruth, nice set of ring and bracelet for different classes (but rep is a bit harder, do all quests even lower one's for rep).

Edit: just trying to give some different ideas, nothing more, definitely not necessary to do any of this.

I will take a look into that, and pass this info down to my Kin. May save me a few trips to go hunting Barrow iron down. XD

Is the character in your signature level 16? I didn't think players could skirmish until level 20. Thanks for the corrections on the bounties (though I was just referring to shards in general). At level 16 the mobs in Nen Harn are your level too!

I'm level 21 at the moment, my signature for some reason hasn't updated. Neither has my Champion who is level 9 now. Its strange.

Thank you everyone for your input!

Originally Posted by Valterian

I will take a look into that, and pass this info down to my Kin. May save me a few trips to go hunting Barrow iron down. XD

It all depends a bit on your playstyle. Pick up all ore during your questing, I think there is nothing worse than coming to the next tier of nodes and not being able to gather them. I haven't really checked the rewards for guild-metalsmith recipes but as soon as you can (if you are willing to unlock the guild-rep, I believe in a previous post you said you are F2P) start making those rep items, they have a cooldown of 1 and 3 days for a smaller and larger rep item. Maybe check the recipes on the wiki first, but you might get some good items in your mid 30's.

If you still need some bronze-ingots let me know in-game, I should have some 80 lying around that you can have.

Originally Posted by Rouven

It all depends a bit on your playstyle. Pick up all ore during your questing, I think there is nothing worse than coming to the next tier of nodes and not being able to gather them. I haven't really checked the rewards for guild-metalsmith recipes but as soon as you can (if you are willing to unlock the guild-rep, I believe in a previous post you said you are F2P) start making those rep items, they have a cooldown of 1 and 3 days for a smaller and larger rep item. Maybe check the recipes on the wiki first, but you might get some good items in your mid 30's.

If you still need some bronze-ingots let me know in-game, I should have some 80 lying around that you can have.

Our Kin leader suggested I do that, or just pay for the monthly fee to have it all unlocked. Are the guild-rep items that good really?

Thank you for offering the bronze Rouven, I might take you up on that later. Thank you very much! If I can help in anyway in return, just let me know.

Originally Posted by Valterian

Our Kin leader suggested I do that, or just pay for the monthly fee to have it all unlocked. Are the guild-rep items that good really?

Afaik the sub only unlocks the level you are working on at the moment, you can finish that one but not work on the next tier if your sub has run out. There are lot's of benefits that you get to keep for subbing a month. One thing I did "wrong" is buying TP first, going premium and then I subbed anyways... but that was $6.50 I believe, so not that bad.

The items are pretty good, the main benefit will be to be able to craft relics at the end for your LI's. Since I'm not there myself I can't speak out of experience.

Ouch, thats not too bad, but still. I really think Subscribing may be in my future. Save me a lot of hassle with things.

Hmmm. Cool. I will look into it a bit more with the Legendary items.

Originally Posted by PF-Grumpy

Is the character in your signature level 16? I didn't think players could skirmish until level 20. Thanks for the corrections on the bounties (though I was just referring to shards in general). At level 16 the mobs in Nen Harn are your level too!

The update daemon for MyLotro has been dead for a week. We are still for someone at Turbine to kick start it. Get it working exporting information from the database server to the web site.

Dag nab it. I used the wrong lotro account again. Sigh. In case any one did not know. This is Yula_the_Mighty other account.

Hey I learned a lot from this thread... Thanks guys...
I have a question of my own... where can I get I think it was a "polished opal"? Is it something that I have to trade with a jeweler for or what?
Thanks...

Make friends with a jeweller.