Thema: Alternate characers for crafting?

I'm sure there is probably like a 12 page guide somewhere on the internet that explains in full detail everything I need to know, but I haven't found it so I'm asking here.

I am pretty new at this but so far I really like the way crafting is done, but not so much the vocations. There is a lot of interdependence between the various vocations, it's almost like the system was designed for some sort of group play. But as I am new I would like to solo for a while before trying to heavily interact with others. So I was thinking of creating a few alts (which I was thinking of doing anyway to tryout different races/classes) and giving them each a different vocation and then using the ingame mechanics to share inventory between them all. I've seen references to people who have done this, but nothing stating how to do it. I'm not even entirely sure how to share inventory, I just know it's possible. So if y'all don't mind helping out a noob I have a few questions.

What ways do you share inventory between alts? Are some better than others?

When creating alts does it matter if they are all on the same server or could I spread them out across several servers? Is one way preferred over the other for any significant reason?

Is there any compelling reason not to make too many alts?

Thanks.

Is there anyone who has created alts for this purpose that would like to share their thoughts on what to/not to do?

Zitat von Stevedog13

What ways do you share inventory between alts? Are some better than others?

When creating alts does it matter if they are all on the same server or could I spread them out across several servers? Is one way preferred over the other for any significant reason?

Is there any compelling reason not to make too many alts?

Thanks.

Is there anyone who has created alts for this purpose that would like to share their thoughts on what to/not to do?

1 - Shared Storage, house with chests, mailing mats to alts

2 - Yes. You can not move things between servers so all toons must be on the same server.

3 - Nope. You can have up to 15 toons per server as F2P or Premium. If you are VIP you get 2 more slots free that get you to 17 total per server. Alts make a good storage location and are cheap to use that way if you have shared storage to allow you to move stuff at no cost.

Zitat von Stevedog13

I'm sure there is probably like a 12 page guide somewhere on the internet that explains in full detail everything I need to know, but I haven't found it so I'm asking here.

I am pretty new at this but so far I really like the way crafting is done, but not so much the vocations. There is a lot of interdependence between the various vocations, it's almost like the system was designed for some sort of group play. But as I am new I would like to solo for a while before trying to heavily interact with others. So I was thinking of creating a few alts (which I was thinking of doing anyway to tryout different races/classes) and giving them each a different vocation and then using the ingame mechanics to share inventory between them all. I've seen references to people who have done this, but nothing stating how to do it. I'm not even entirely sure how to share inventory, I just know it's possible. So if y'all don't mind helping out a noob I have a few questions.

What ways do you share inventory between alts? Are some better than others?

When creating alts does it matter if they are all on the same server or could I spread them out across several servers? Is one way preferred over the other for any significant reason?

Is there any compelling reason not to make too many alts?

Thanks.

Is there anyone who has created alts for this purpose that would like to share their thoughts on what to/not to do?

If you want to share items between your characters, they all have to be on the same server. If you are not a VIP player the easiest method of sharing things is sending them via in-game mail. You could also buy some shared inventory space with turbine points, but there are so many better things to spend them on...

I am running with one main and two alts on vanyar right now and since I can only play after work, I have problems keeping up with leveling my alts. Since you have to get your crafting resources for different crafting levels out of different areas in the game (e. g. superior ores you can only get from Eregion on which you should be lvl 45 to enter - and the ores are only available towards the end of the zone), you must level your chars to be able to level their crafting. So if you have too many you should take care not to neglect them.

You can cover all crafting professions with 5 chars though:
1. Main char: Armsman (Prospector, Weaponsmith, Woodworker)
2. Alt #1: Tinker (Cook, Jeweller, Prospector)
3. Alt #2: Historian (Farmer, Weaponsmith, Scholar)
4. Alt #3: Armourer (Metalsmith, Prospector, Tailor)
5. Alt #4: Explorer (Forester, Prospector, Tailor)

Obviously, Tinker and Historian have to be vocations you choose, because only they give you a jeweller and a scholar (for hope tokens and buffing scrolls). You need a Forester to get Logs of Wood and turn them into Planks for the Woodworker. A prospector is needed to get metal ores for weaponsmith, jeweller and metalsmith. You could also switch some professions around. There is a nice table in the Lorebook on this site:
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Category:Professions

Hope this helps

Zitat von Stevedog13

I'm sure there is probably like a 12 page guide somewhere on the internet that explains in full detail everything I need to know, but I haven't found it so I'm asking here.

I am pretty new at this but so far I really like the way crafting is done, but not so much the vocations. There is a lot of interdependence between the various vocations, it's almost like the system was designed for some sort of group play. But as I am new I would like to solo for a while before trying to heavily interact with others. So I was thinking of creating a few alts (which I was thinking of doing anyway to tryout different races/classes) and giving them each a different vocation and then using the ingame mechanics to share inventory between them all. I've seen references to people who have done this, but nothing stating how to do it. I'm not even entirely sure how to share inventory, I just know it's possible. So if y'all don't mind helping out a noob I have a few questions.

What ways do you share inventory between alts? Are some better than others?

When creating alts does it matter if they are all on the same server or could I spread them out across several servers? Is one way preferred over the other for any significant reason?

Is there any compelling reason not to make too many alts?

Thanks.

Is there anyone who has created alts for this purpose that would like to share their thoughts on what to/not to do?

This is what I have done. I have 9 characters (VIP + a few more slots purchased), so I have at least one character of every vocation. My main character is an explorer (prospector, forester, tailor) so he can collect the two best resources (wood and ore) and craft light and medium armour for the other alts as they progress. I have a tinker (prospector, jeweler, cook); two historians (primarily for the scholar ability, but also farmer and weaponsmith); a woodsman (forester, farmer, woodworker); yeoman (farmer, cook, tailor); armourer (metalsmith, tailor, prospector); and a few more explorers just for the ability to collect stuff.

If you really want to be independent (and have enough character slots), have one each of the following: Explorer (for tailor), Armourer (for metalsmith), Yeoman (for cook), Tinker (for jeweler), Woodsman (for woodworker), Historian (for scholar), and Armsman (for weaponsmith). That will allow you to have one character in each crafting guild to take advantage of the services they provide such as crafting automatic critical success recipes or legendary items at higher levels. You will have some overlapping professions shared by several vocations (both woodsman and armsman have woodworker, for instance), but you can just work on one of the "producing" professions per character. Membership in the cook's guild isn't as important as the others, so you could do without a Yeoman and just use the cook profession that the Tinker shares and either the Woodsman or Historian for farming if you want to, but I really like having both cook and farmer on one character (for role-play purposes, this is a great vocation for a hobbit).

As Jadowyn posted, shared storage is GREAT for a crafter, as is having a player-house (deluxe houses offer two chests, while standard offers one). I've even taken the extra step of creating a bunch of Free-to-play alts under the banner of a kinship started by one of my VIP alts so I could purchase a kinship solely for storage purposes (and a place to put more decorations ).

The best way to share supplies, and crafting materials is the shared vault space which you purchase with TP and access at a vault.

I suspect many people creates alts for purposes of covering all or most vocations and there is certainly nothing wrong with this and it will give you a chance to experience different classes as well. You can probably cover a large majority of the vocations with 3 alts. Is there any reason not to make alts -- that is up to player preference. I have 4 characters -- 2 I play with regularly; 1 I play with in a group of other friends, and one is just for crafting jewelry.

Sharing goods: You can share goods between alts easiest by purchasing shared storage and/or buying a house (the deluxe house will have 2 chests). If you have enough alts you might even make a kinship house. The other way of sending goods between each other and one that I use often is to mail things between each other.

You cannot share things between characters on different worlds. There is no way to communicate between each other.

Some things to consider: Do you want to have an alt rise to the top level in each crafting guild? (can make things that can't be made by non-guilded crafters). If so you need one alt for each guild. Also, consider the travel. A crafting alt, other than farmer, can have mats brought to them, but it may be useful to make your crafting alts hunters because they have the best travel skills and can go where the mats can be gathered. One last thing, some things you may want to craft rquire that you achieve a certain reputation level with a particular faction. If so, your crafting alt will need to gain that level of reputation. I use seven hunters as crafting alts, each of which is at the top level of their respective guilds. If you decide to do this then your choice of race might want to take into account where the guilds are for the various crafts. The scholar's guild is in Rivendell, the metalsmith and weaponsmit guilds are in Thorin's Hall, the leatherworking, woodworking, and jewelry guilds are in Esteldin, and the cooking guild is in Michel Delving. The location of superior crafting facilities are also a consideration.

If you don't need all guild master status you can cover all crafting with four characters.

Historian- Scholar, Weaponsmith, Farmer
Tinker- Jeweler, Prospector, Cook
Armourer- Metalsmith, Tailor, Prospector
Woodsman- Woodworker, Forester, Farmer

With this set up you can be in four guilds, so missing two but you can craft everything and share materials freely among all of the alts.

Zitat von Gildoriel

You can cover all crafting professions with 5 chars though:
1. Main char: Armsman (Prospector, Weaponsmith, Woodworker)
2. Alt #1: Tinker (Cook, Jeweller, Prospector)
3. Alt #2: Historian (Farmer, Weaponsmith, Scholar)
4. Alt #3: Armourer (Metalsmith, Prospector, Tailor)
5. Alt #4: Explorer (Forester, Prospector, Tailor)

This is my setup exactly. I've decided that I don't mind missing out on a guilded Cook and Woodworker, so this covers everything nicely.

The most important reason I have found to level my alts is so that they can equip better tools. Having only a 50% crit rate (without scrolls) can be constly in terms of time and materials. This is especially true for the metalsmith and tailor as making full sets of crit armor can be downright painful at lower levels.

Zitat von Stevedog13

I'm sure there is probably like a 12 page guide somewhere on the internet that explains in full detail everything I need to know, but I haven't found it so I'm asking here.

I am pretty new at this but so far I really like the way crafting is done, but not so much the vocations. There is a lot of interdependence between the various vocations, it's almost like the system was designed for some sort of group play. But as I am new I would like to solo for a while before trying to heavily interact with others. So I was thinking of creating a few alts (which I was thinking of doing anyway to tryout different races/classes) and giving them each a different vocation and then using the ingame mechanics to share inventory between them all. I've seen references to people who have done this, but nothing stating how to do it. I'm not even entirely sure how to share inventory, I just know it's possible. So if y'all don't mind helping out a noob I have a few questions.

What ways do you share inventory between alts? Are some better than others?

When creating alts does it matter if they are all on the same server or could I spread them out across several servers? Is one way preferred over the other for any significant reason?

Is there any compelling reason not to make too many alts?

Thanks.

Is there anyone who has created alts for this purpose that would like to share their thoughts on what to/not to do?

The others have already explained the server issue and the sharing options so I won't rehash them except to add this... Shared storage is an absolute must if you are going to go heavy into crafting with multiple alts, and since shared storage is an account purchase, if you do decide to play on other servers for whatever reason, you will automatically have your shared storage on those server too (but again, the items are not shared across servers, just the space itself).

There really is no good reason not to make alts. Of course, if your playing time is limited, you may find it rather tedious trying to level all of them in a timely fashion and at times it can get rather confusing trying to remember who is at what crafting tier and what mats are needed by whom, but that's part of the fun I suppose. Just keep in mind that it's not absolutely necessary to level your alts to get them to the top of their crafting professions. Mats can be procured from your higher level alts, from the AH, from trades with other players, and even by using a combination of daring, skill, stealth, and patience to harvest in areas far above your level. As for the needed rep in some cases, rep items can be exchanged between your characters for most factions or purchased on the AH, and any Guild Hall is accessible with purchased maps, and after the first trip, by the Stables.

Personally, I have no less than 10 characters on the three main servers that I play on (I expect to eventually have 12 on all 5 servers). Seven of those each specializes in one profession and then the other three are a second Explorer, a second Historian, and a second Tinker or Armorer. The Explorer is obvious, those mats are essential for crafting and the Explorer gets them both. The Scholar (Historian), Jeweler (Tinker), and Metalsmith (Armorer) each are only included in one vocation so I decide which I'd like to have a backup in depending on the economy of the server. I just purchased my 11th character slot though so I will have a backup for every profession, and I'll be getting the 12th slot soon to use as an AH mule.

Here is the breakdown I've found to work best which still gives me a nice variety of class/race combos:

1. Explorer - Elf Hunter - This is always my main and since this character will be leveled faster than the others, he can gather the higher tier mats for the alts (with the exception of the Scholar, but even here he can gather the dye mats).
2. 2nd Explorer - Hobbit Burglar or Hunter (or another Elf Hunter) - With the innate stealth ability and a little practice, he can very often harvest nodes in regions far above his level.
3. Woodsman - <Any Race> Warden or Hunter - Woodworking for their bows, javelins, & spears
4. Armourer - <Any Race> Guardian or Champion (even Captain) - Their heavy armor, shields and the superior crafting tools (and to a lesser degree because they can make any and all armor - light, medium, & heavy)
5. 2nd Armourer - Dwarf Guardian or same as the first - Easy access to Superior Forges
6. Historian - <Any Allowed Race> Lore-Master or Rune-Keeper - No reason other than it just seems to fit them.
7. 2nd Historian - Elf or Hobbit Hunter or Hobbit Burglar - Strictly for accessing ruins for the Scholar mats with the added bonus of making their own melee weapons.
8. Armsman - <Any Race> Captain, Champion, Guardian, Burglar (even Warden & Hunter) - Obviously because this vocation can make any and all weapons except Rune Stones.
9. Tinker - <Any Race> <Any Class> but I prefer Hobbit Burglar or Dwarf Rune-Keeper - Again, they just seem to fit the vocation plus the RK can make his Rune Stones.
10. 2nd Tinker - <Any Race> Minstrel or same as the first - Mini's Lute Strings
11. Yeoman - Hobbit Minstrel, or <Any Class> - Hobbit Mini just seems to be the perfect Yeoman plus easy access to Superior Farms & Superior Ovens, but again, just personal preference.
12. AH Mule - Used to buy/sell items for all of the other characters and for extra storage. Any combo will do but an Explorer, a Scholar, or a Burglar work especially well... Explorer can gather resources for use or sale as needed, Scholar can craft many items without needing a crafting station so can stay parked in the AH almost permanently, and the Burglar, well, just fits (and can pick-pocket if high enough level ).

Of course, you can figure your own preferences and options but that should give you an idea of what you can do with a whole server full of crafting alts. Good luck and have fun!

I have 7 characters crafting.

Blog post: The Magnificent Seven of LOTRO Crafting

There are 14 in my zoo. 4 tinkers, two of whom are guilded jewellers and two of whom are guilded cooks - one jeweller is also an unguilded Westfold level cook, and the other one can cook up to artisan (when you hit Ost Guruth, you will understand).

Two historians, again, one guilded scholar, one guilded weaponsmith, the weaponsmith is also a Westfold scholar, the guilded scholar can do weapons up to artisan. Both farm and both hate it with a fiery passion. You can't have everything...

Captain and one of the champs are armourers, as is the guard, though he's mostly bank-alting these days. Warden and hunter as explorers, one mini is also an explorer, the other is one of the tinker-cooks.

And weirdly, my burg ended up being the woodworker - just because that spot needed to be filled!

They range in level from 29 to 75 - it does help a lot to level them up as time permits, for better tools and of course rep recipes - and lots of Turbine points!

all the posters above have made very valid points, covering crafting independency, crafting-guild access and the easiest way of distributing your mats to the various alts.

however, I want to warn you: it can get a bit out of hands

especially, if you are a kind of completionist-type and want all your toons guilded with max reputation (which, of course is a good thing as you can get around the tiresome "oh no, again no crit"-experience by just being diligent and logging each character to have him make the guild-reputation items to progress in the guild firstly, and then secondly log them furthermore to have them make your cache of the required items so you actually can use the "improved guild recipes").

the more toons you have, the more time you have to invest, because eventually you will be starting to level your alts so they can get the recipes which are reputation-based, be it it make money or support your main (or favourite alts).

and what I found to be very annoying as well (only because l have a hard time of giving away something, which might be useful^^) : you level your alt(s), they find more ingredients and you'll find yourself putting these in your shared storage first and then into the toons' vault and find yourself running out of space sooner rather than later, so there your tp will go

heartfelt advice: either get a logistics-course or just keep it simple

Wow! Thank you everyone for the feedback. It looks like this is not only possible but both popular and scalable. I can get as simple or as complex as I want. My only limiting factor is how many TP I can get my hands on, but with the huge open world plus Quest/Expansion packs being released I'm not too worried about that either.

Zitat von ahasver

all the posters above have made very valid points, covering crafting independency, crafting-guild access and the easiest way of distributing your mats to the various alts.

however, I want to warn you: it can get a bit out of hands

especially, if you are a kind of completionist-type and want all your toons guilded with max reputation (which, of course is a good thing as you can get around the tiresome "oh no, again no crit"-experience by just being diligent and logging each character to have him make the guild-reputation items to progress in the guild firstly, and then secondly log them furthermore to have them make your cache of the required items so you actually can use the "improved guild recipes").

the more toons you have, the more time you have to invest, because eventually you will be starting to level your alts so they can get the recipes which are reputation-based, be it it make money or support your main (or favourite alts).

and what I found to be very annoying as well (only because l have a hard time of giving away something, which might be useful^^) : you level your alt(s), they find more ingredients and you'll find yourself putting these in your shared storage first and then into the toons' vault and find yourself running out of space sooner rather than later, so there your tp will go

heartfelt advice: either get a logistics-course or just keep it simple

Very very true. At some point you're also going to HAVE to part with all that medium leather and the Bree flax fibres you've been coveting.

Farmers, and cooks can be notorious space hogs, especially when you've got alts in three or four different tiers to cook for.

On the bright side, when it comes to end game you'll never want for shards

The only thing I would add to what I've read here, is that everyone should have a character in the 65 - 75 range who has the prospecting ability. It just makes things much easier for gathering ore. All the other crafting abilities can be performed pretty easily by a low level or through farming mobs for drops.

Zitat von Gildoriel

You can cover all crafting professions with 5 chars though:
1. Main char: Armsman (Prospector, Weaponsmith, Woodworker)
2. Alt #1: Tinker (Cook, Jeweller, Prospector)
3. Alt #2: Historian (Farmer, Weaponsmith, Scholar)
4. Alt #3: Armourer (Metalsmith, Prospector, Tailor)
5. Alt #4: Explorer (Forester, Prospector, Tailor)
Hope this helps

You can cover them all with just 4 characters...

Tinker, Historian, Armourer, and Woodsman

Zitat von Imirak

You can cover them all with just 4 characters...

Tinker, Historian, Armourer, and Woodsman

Yes, I just noticed that from reading one of the posts above
I guess I came to this setup because my Main was already a tier 5 armsman
before I made my alts. So I had to look for a solution to getting
all the other professions, since I didn't want to retrain her.

Zitat von Jadowyn

3 - Nope. You can have up to 15 toons per server as F2P or Premium. If you are VIP you get 2 more slots free that get you to 17 total per server. Alts make a good storage location and are cheap to use that way if you have shared storage to allow you to move stuff at no cost.

Is this correct? If so, is this poster referencing paid character slots? Just checking because I'm a premium and when I log in to Windfola, my character screen says "5 of 5 slots."

Yeah, paid slots + bonus slots from buying MoM.

re: shards. If you haven't hit endgame, generating lots of shards can get you Scrolls of Greater Delving for around 6.6k shards IIRC. That's a decent chunk of change saved, but it specifically require lots of high-tier GUILDED crafters, because those are guild recipes. The cook is a nice spare guilded toon because you create the mats with farming. Downside is, leveling a cook to T7Master requires lots of farming (dull) and money (lotsa money.) A good choice for lowbie alts who never leave the shire ;-)

Zitat von warreni72

Is this correct? If so, is this poster referencing paid character slots? Just checking because I'm a premium and when I log in to Windfola, my character screen says "5 of 5 slots."

On a premium account you have 3 char slots for free and can buy additional ones with Turbine Points.
This is the reason I recommended a solution with as few chars as possible to the original poster's question.
If I remember correctly, an additional char slot is 595 Turbine Points which is as much as an entire quest pack.

Btw, Free Players have 2 slots only, so investing some real life cash for going premium is very recommended
if you want your chars to interact with crafting.

I'm halfway to setting up the 4 character slot setup in which I will choose one character from each race so that I can try them all. Which I wanted to do anyway. But in planning for a 7+ Character setup I'm thinking that these guidelines apply:

Explorer should be my favorite race and class because I'll play them a lot.

Farmer/Cook should be a Hobbit as the highest Cooking equipment is in the Shire.

Scholar should be an Elf for easy access to Rivendell

Weaponsmith and Metalsmith should be Dwarves to use Dwarvish forges.



Obviously these aren't mandatory but I think it makes the most sense based on what I have read here.

You've had a lot of good tips and advice in this thread, just a few footnotes I'd like to add.

Early on, you do have to think about access to Thorin's, Esteldin, Rivendell and the Shire for your crafters. As you get to higher levels, there are facilities and even Craft Guild reps in higher level areas. There are no Craft Guild Reps in Moria, but there are superior crafting facilities for everyone but farmers in the 21st Hall, which you can access from about level 45+. After Moria, there are superior facilities in every major area. And at 65+ there are Craft Guild reps in Galtrev.

There are still a number of the highest level guild recipes which are rep gated, so you will have to level characters to the appropriate level and reputation if you want to make and use those products.

Turbine has always tried to discourage low level crafting alts who never leave the Shire or Esteldin. They've been inconsistent about how they discourage it, but they keep coming up with ways to block making the best items with low level characters. You can do reasonably well with low level alts, but keep in mind that they likely won't be able to make you the best crafted items possible.

Also think about what classes you want to play. If you don't want to play a Captain, Champion or Guardian, you don't need a metalsmith to make heavy armour. They make the best crafting tools, but you can buy those on the AH or from some other metalsmith more easily and cheaply than levelling up a metalsmith of your own. All other classes wear light or medium armour, both of which are made by tailors.

Zitat von Stevedog13

Farmer/Cook should be a Hobbit as the highest Cooking equipment is in the Shire.
Scholar should be an Elf for easy access to Rivendell
Weaponsmith and Metalsmith should be Dwarves to use Dwarvish forges.

Being an Elf doesn't give you an easier access to Rivendell since you start out
in Duillond and Celondim in the Ered Luin.
You can travel to the shire via Swift Travel from West Bree with any char
in order to use the Superior Fields and Ovens (have to be expert though).
The Superior Forges can be used by any expert smith, doesn't have to
be a dwarf.
The Free Peoples of Middle-Earth are quite friendly to guests from other races

another thing worth mentioning is that you do not necessarily need to be in rivendell to have access to a superior study. once you have acquaintance standing with the mathom-society you can use the superior study in the mathom house.

edit: forgot to mention that the mathom-society house can be found in Michael Delving (quite obviously^^)