Thread: A few questions from a new player...

I know i've posted a previous thread, but I have yet more questions, and it seems that I can get quick and accurate answers here

1.) What are "skirmishes", and where can I train my character so that I can participate in them? How do they work?

2.) What is the process of "Bartering"? Upon interacting with some NPCs, I see that i need some strange items, i'm not sure what they're called, in exchange for items such as swords and bows.

3.) I was reading about legendary items and saw something mentioned about gems. Are you able to insert gems into some weapons for weapon bonuses? Does this come with the jewlcrafting skill?

4.) What are these "Cryptic Texts" that I pick up from some monster kills? Is this something like a treasure map?

Any answers are extremely appreciated. Thanks very much!

1) At lvl 20 skirmishes are opened up to you.a private battle for you and in some cases up to 24 people
2)you earn skirmish marks and medallions.that you trade in at skirmish camps that are just outside major hubs.not just weapons but armor potions jewelry crafting items class items for lvl 45 quest(legendary trait)
3)upon reaching the gates of moria you will do a quest that introduces you to legendary weapons.there are 4 slots you can place a setting,gem,rune,crafted relic.
4)those are for scholar crafting.(just opened up a whole new can of worms there)

Originally Posted by Alvinicus

I know i've posted a previous thread, but I have yet more questions, and it seems that I can get quick and accurate answers here

1.) What are "skirmishes", and where can I train my character so that I can participate in them? How do they work?

Skirmishes are instanced small-scale battles that you can play whenver you want to, with either 1, 2, 3, 6 or 12 player variants where players also get an NPC 'helper' in the form of a skirmish soldier. They are battles outside of the quest storylines (other than ones that form part of the epic quests) in areas you have been to in Middle Earth - eg Gondamon, Tuckborough etc. You earn marks/medallions/seals from these and this currency can be exchanged for equipment at higher levels or to enable you to train your skirmish soldier.

2.) What is the process of "Bartering"? Upon interacting with some NPCs, I see that i need some strange items, i'm not sure what they're called, in exchange for items such as swords and bows.

There are different types of barter trader in various in-game areas. If you're talking about in Bree town for example, the barter traders halfway up the hill from the west gate to the Prancing Pony sell Legendary Items (weapons) that you can't use until Moria. Bartering is exchanging items you get from questing for rewards that you can't buy from suppliers/healers/craft traders etc.

3.) I was reading about legendary items and saw something mentioned about gems. Are you able to insert gems into some weapons for weapon bonuses? Does this come with the jewlcrafting skill?

Star-lit crystals are upgrade items for LIs. These are not crafted but are random drops from instances.

4.) What are these "Cryptic Texts" that I pick up from some monster kills? Is this something like a treasure map?

Any answers are extremely appreciated. Thanks very much!

Cryptic texts are raw materials for Scholars to use. There are other such items drop from NPCs throughout the game.

Red

1- Skirmishes are a game system added in a few years back that are essentially scalable, replayable instances. They start at level 20 and you'd first go to a skirmish camp. When you hit level 20 you should get a mail message that gives you a quest to start this. There are a lot of resources on skirmishes available around the web, and even on these forums. Take a look around.

2- Think more like a normal store. When you click on a vendor there will be multiple tabs on the top. Notably "buy" & "sell". There are also "buyback" & "repair". Sell things you don't need. For the most part you won't need too much from vendors at early levels... most of what you will want to use will come from quests, or even the auction hall. Hit "b" to bring up your wallet and see how much money you have. Also don't waste money repairing until at least level 20 as you will switch out of items before you would ever need to repair them.

3- Don't worry about legendary items for a long long time... the earliest you can get one is level 45. Try getting used to the rest of the game first and leave that for when you get that far in

4- Specifically, "Cryptic Texts" are used in Scholar crafting. If you hover over an item in your inventory a tooltip will come up. Hover over just about anything and a tooltip will appear. Read them. No seriously, read them. Read them for everything. Especially for items and skills. You can learn just about everything you need from reading tooltips. Or at the very least be directed towards where to look.

Originally Posted by Alvinicus

I know i've posted a previous thread, but I have yet more questions, and it seems that I can get quick and accurate answers here

1.) What are "skirmishes", and where can I train my character so that I can participate in them? How do they work?

2.) What is the process of "Bartering"? Upon interacting with some NPCs, I see that i need some strange items, i'm not sure what they're called, in exchange for items such as swords and bows.

3.) I was reading about legendary items and saw something mentioned about gems. Are you able to insert gems into some weapons for weapon bonuses? Does this come with the jewlcrafting skill?

4.) What are these "Cryptic Texts" that I pick up from some monster kills? Is this something like a treasure map?

Any answers are extremely appreciated. Thanks very much!

ok, lets start by answering the easy one:

4) "Cryptic Texts" are crafting materials for the scholar profession - keep them or sell them to other players because they are very sought after

3) The "gems" you hear about for legendary items have nothing to do with jewelry. Don't worry about Legendary Items until you are level 45 or close. It's too much confusion to bother with so soon.

2) Bartering is trading of goods (not money) in the NPC cases, you trade some "goods" you get by running specific content with the appropriate NPC for loot related to that content (Skirmish Marks, Medallions and Seals are examples of "goods" you get while running skirmishes that can be traded or bartered at skirmish camps and other special NPCs).

Now for the "difficult" question:
What are Skirmishes, how do they work and how do you get better at them.
When you reach level 20, you will get mail from an NPC, directing you to the Bree Skirmish camp (near the south exit of Bree).
After that, the local Skirmish Captain will explain the details of skirmishing to you in a couple of simple introductory skirmishes.

So, what exactly ARE skirmishes?
Skirmishes are instances where your character goes to fight specific battles. They can be started wherever you are in the map, and people grouped with you will also join the skirmish (even if they are on the opposite corner of Middle Earth). The skirmish is then created with the number of players in mind (solo, duo, small fellowship, fellowship, raid, 24-raid or 1, 2, 3, 6, 12 or 24 persons if you prefer).
Each player gets the help of an NPC soldier to help him with the skirmish (there are several different soldiers with different expertise - some heal, some deal damage, some protect you...) they are meant to complement and help you when you fight and they level with you.

How do you get better at it?
Each time you do a skirmish, you win Skirmish Marks. These can be used to evolve traits for you and your soldier (at the Skirmish Trainers), to get a different soldier or to barter with the other NPCs in the Skirmish Camps for equipment or cosmetics (among other things).
Somethings also need Medallions. You also get these running skirmishes (there are special encounters during a skirmish that you can skip or find and finish - blue text that shows - these always give you some medallions).
Seals are only needed near end-game, so there is no point on talking about these - anyway, you get these when running with a larger group of players in skirmishes (12 or more).

Anyway, don't worry too much about it. The system is simple:

- You fight skirmishes (alone or in a group)
- You get skirmish Marks
- You buy (or evolve) traits for you and your soldier in Skirmish Trainers
- You "equip" these traits in Skirmish Captains

All the rest comes with time.

Originally Posted by Redamber

Cryptic texts are raw materials for Scholars to use. There are other such items drop from NPCs throughout the game.

Originally Posted by Rawlor

4- Specifically, "Cryptic Texts" are used in Scholar crafting. If you hover over an item in your inventory a tooltip will come up. Hover over just about anything and a tooltip will appear. Read them. No seriously, read them. Read them for everything. Especially for items and skills. You can learn just about everything you need from reading tooltips. Or at the very least be directed towards where to look.

Do you have to be a specific class to use "Scholar Crafting"? Can i do this as an elf hunter? If so, how do i level this skill up?

You do not have to be a specific class, and class can be any crafting profession. You level up your craft by collecting required materials. If you open the Crafting Panel (Press T) and review the Scholar tab, you can see what you are able to make (on the left), what materials you need (on the right), and how many points you will receive for making each item. Collect Scholar materials by finding "nodes" in the wild (usually in ruins), or by collecting the items from defeated humanoid enemies (for low tiers, these come from brigands and goblins usually).

Originally Posted by Alvinicus

Do you have to be a specific class to use "Scholar Crafting"? Can i do this as an elf hunter? If so, how do i level this skill up?

Originally Posted by kerda2007

You do not have to be a specific class, and class can be any crafting profession. You level up your craft by collecting required materials. If you open the Crafting Panel (Press T) and review the Scholar tab, you can see what you are able to make (on the left), what materials you need (on the right), and how many points you will receive for making each item. Collect Scholar materials by finding "nodes" in the wild (usually in ruins), or by collecting the items from defeated humanoid enemies (for low tiers, these come from brigands and goblins usually).

And i'm guessing in order to level this skill up, I simply craft items and receive experience for each item I make? Is this the only way, or are there quicker ways?

Also, what is the advantage of "scholar crafting" as opposed to regular crafting? Are "Tattered Runes", or something of that sort, also used for scholar crafting? I seem to find those sometimes too.

Originally Posted by Alvinicus

And i'm guessing in order to level this skill up, I simply craft items and receive experience for each item I make? Is this the only way, or are there quicker ways?

Also, what is the advantage of "scholar crafting" as opposed to regular crafting? Are "Tattered Runes", or something of that sort, also used for scholar crafting? I seem to find those sometimes too.

You craft - you get experience crafting - that's the way it is with all crafting professions.


Scholars craft potions and scrolls mostly. They are useful to all classes so there is no point to discuss their utility.
As for the relative advantage of Scholar (or cooking) to the other more "conventional" professions, all I can say is that consumables (be they potions, scrolls or food) are always useful, but you can easily be without them.
Weapons and armor you only need one set for each level range, so you will be selling/trading the rest that you craft.

It's actually a trade-off. The best equipment comes from crafted weapons/armor/jewelry (until level 60 or something), however, scrolls/food/potions make your life much easier so you will probably do as well with quest rewards and drops...

It's a matter of personal preference.

PS: Tattered Runes are also scholar materials, yes.

Originally Posted by Alvinicus

And i'm guessing in order to level this skill up, I simply craft items and receive experience for each item I make?

Yep.

Originally Posted by Alvinicus

Also, what is the advantage of "scholar crafting" as opposed to regular crafting?

Scholar crafting is regular crafting. It's one of the ten available crafting professions in the game.

Shortly after finishing the intro area and reaching the main game world, there's a quest that sends you to talk to a master/mistress of apprentices and select a crafting vocation. (Actually, you don't have to get the quest. You can just go talk to her. The quest is just there to point people in that direction so they don't pass by without noticing.) You can select any of seven vocations, each of which has a combination of three different crafting professions. For example, if you select the Historian vocation, then you'll have the Scholar, Farmer, and Weaponsmith crafting professions available, as opposed to, for example, a Tinker, who has the Prospector, Cook, and Jeweler professions. (There's a chart here of what professions you get based on what vocation you choose.)

With this crafting, can you make potions that heal you? Because i can't seem to heal myself in battle, which causes me to die quite often. Or is there another way for me to heal myself? Am i doing it wrong? :P

Originally Posted by Alvinicus

With this crafting, can you make potions that heal you? Because i can't seem to heal myself in battle, which causes me to die quite often. Or is there another way for me to heal myself? Am i doing it wrong? :P

Scholars can make athelas potions (in varying strengths for different level ranges) that provide an immediate healing effect. Or cooks can make foods that improve your in-combat morale regen (i.e. they increase the rate at which you heal naturally over time).

Whether you have other ways of healing yourself depends on your class, but the potions and foods that scholars and cooks make are usable by anyone.

Other ways to improve your chances of surviving a fight include getting better armour and jewelry, so you don't take as much damage in the first place. In particular, any items that give a bonus to your vitality should help you to survive longer.

Originally Posted by Alvinicus

Also, what is the advantage of "scholar crafting" as opposed to regular crafting? Are "Tattered Runes", or something of that sort, also used for scholar crafting? I seem to find those sometimes too.

Scholar crafting is regular crafting. Scholar is one of the 3 professions in the Historian vocation. The other two are Farming and Weaponcrafting.

"Tattered Runes" (whatever the real name is) are probably also scholar materials. If you hover your mouse over the icon in your bag, a tooltip will come up and tell you what the item is used for. If it is a scholar crafting item, it will say so.

Originally Posted by Shukar

If you hover your mouse over the icon in your bag, a tooltip will come up and tell you what the item is used for. If it is a scholar crafting item, it will say so.

While for most items that's true, it's not true for scholar mats, at least not for most of them. The materials used to make dye will say in their tooltip that they're used by scholars to make dye and even specify what color dye they're for. The regular scholar mats for everything else besides dye, however, just have vague descriptions that don't say what they're for. Generally, whenever you come across something that doesn't say what it's for in its tooltip, it's likely to be a scholar mat. Some example items with their descriptions:

Aged Scrap of Text: "An undeciphered scrap of text. Its purpose is not immediately clear."
Early Third Age Relic: "A strange old trinket, the study of which could prove fruitful."
Worn Tablet Fragment: "A stone tablet fragment with some undeciphered runes upon it."
Cryptic Text: "This volume's meaning was deliberately obscured by the author by use of codes and arcane metaphors."
Ruined Second Age Trinket: "It is difficult to determine what this object was, but its great age is apparent."
Faded Sindarin Passage: "These pages have faded considerably with their great age and are not immediately readable."
Torn Craftsman's Diary: "This rare find appears to be the notes of a craftsman of an earlier age."
Cracked Dwarf-carving: "This very old dwarf-carving depicts a scene from an earlier age."
Fragment of Dúnedain Script: "This scrap of paper seems to be written by the ancient race of Men."
Relic of Lothlórien: "A rare and ancient relic of the great and secretive tree-city of the Elves."
Long-lost Second Age Text: "This ancient volume is in excellent condition. Its study may prove most valuable."
Undeciphered Moon-letter: "Moon letters were used to conceal some of the most important secrets of Middle-earth. These deserve careful and reverent study."
Worn Elf-carving: "Time has faded the depiction of a battle on this ancient carving."

Those are all scholar mats, but none of them say so. It's not until late-game areas where you start collecting Supreme and Westfold tier materials that you'll find any that actually say they're for scholars:

Relic of Khazad-dûm: "A rare and ancient relic of the dwarves that once inhabited Moria. This item can be used by Scholars."
Rune-carved Tablet: "An ancient tablet with some undeciphered dwarf-runes upon it. This item can be used by Scholars."
Etching of Moria: "A stone carving depicting the great mansions of Durin. This item can be used by Scholars."
Broken Dwarf-statue: "A piece of a dwarf-statue that appears to have been of great importance. This item can be used by Scholars."
Book of Knowledge: "A well-written book of knowledge, used by Westfold Scholars."
Tome of Wisdom: "A great tome of wisdom, used by experienced Westfold Scholars."

Scholars create "healing" potions, but Cooks create foods that give regeneration (in- and out-of-combat).


Crafting is a loooong discussion, and what is "best" is often quite subjective. See the Wiki for most of the info you need: http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Crafting

Note that Crafting consists of 2 parts: Gathering the materials you need, and then Producing the desired item(s). Any one Crafting Profession (you choose 1 "profession" & get 3 "vocations") will only have one supporting Gather/Production pair of Crafts (with a third one slop, unsupported). This means that any one Character, alone, can only be self-supporting in any one of the 7 Production Crafts - to make the 3rd useful, you need to either buy or sell on the Auction House or /Trade Channel, or find a reciprocal partner (perhaps in your Kin).

However, if you make a 2nd Character (even one who will "never" adventure and only be a "Crafting Mule"), and you choose carefully, you can cover 3 (or even 4) Production Crafts with 2 Characters. For specifics, see http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Crafter_interdependence .