Lord of The Rings Online Crafting - Levelling Up

A Guide to Improving A LOTRO Player's Crafting Skills

Sep 29, 2008 Anna Ellis

Levelling up in Lord of the Rings Online Crafting allows a player to gather and create increasingly valuable items which can be used, traded or sold to other players.

The main goal of players who choose to pursue a LOTRO crafting vocation is to level up until they achieve Grand Master status. As each crafting skill tier is mastered, the player gains experience points and can create items that are sought after by other players.

This is extremely important on the role-playing servers, where players attempt to emulate a Middle-Earth lifestyle. It can provide an enhanced interactive experience for the individual player, as well as the opportunity to earn ‘money’ within the game.

LOTRO Crafting Levelling Up TerminologyNPC: Non-player character. An in-game character that gives quests, or buys and sells items.

Recipe: A list of ingredients that need to be gathered, harvested or purchased from other players or NPCs before the crafted item can be created.

Critical Success: Measured as a percentage, the likelihood of creating an enhanced version of a crafted item once the crafting tier has been mastered.

Profession: A field of crafting specialization, for example, Cook, Scholar.

Vocation: A group of 3 professions. Each LOTRO player can only have one vocation.

MMO RPG: Massively multi-player online role-playing game, such as Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) or World of Warcraft (WoW).

Tier: The ranking system for all resources and recipes. Each tier requires a certain number of points to be gained before you can advance to the next tier.

Node: Gathering professions such as Prospectors or Forestors harvest crafting components from nodes. A prospector would mine ore from an ore node, whilst a forestor would collect wood from a tree branch node. Farmers can harvest fruit from bushes, honey from hives, etc.

Tracking Skill: An equippable skill which assists the player in locating nodes. Players receive the appropriate tracking skill(s) when they choose their vocation. See Lord of The Rings Online Crafting for more information on vocations.

Levelling up in Lord of the Rings Online Crafting.

Whatever vocation is chosen, a player needs to advance their crafting skills through the same tier structure. The proficiency levels and points needed to advance are shown below. A player cannot master a higher level without completing mastery of the previous level.

Apprentice: 200 points. Opens the Journeyman tier.

Master Apprentice: 400 points. Allows critical success in crafting apprentice tier items.

Journeyman: 280 points. Opens the Expert tier.

Master Journeyman: 560 points. Allows critical success in crafting journeyman tier items.

Expert: 360 points. Opens the Artisan tier. Can require Superior crafting facilities, found only in specific locations.

Master Expert: 720 points. Allows critical success in crafting expert tier items.

Master: 520 points.

Grand Master: 1040 points. Allows critical success in crafting master tier items.

Critical success can be enhanced by a combination of:

Lore scrolls obtained from scholars, which provide temporary advantage.

Superior crafting implements, which can be 'bought' from other players or NPCs.

Bonus recipe items, usually gained by killing unique enemies or animals within the Lord of The Rings Online MMO RPG.

With the exception of the Farmer, Prospector and Forester professions, advancement from the mastery of one tier to the basic level of another is done via quests issued by NPCs. Each quest will have an associated recipe and a set of instructions on where to find certain necessary items. This encourages the player to travel through the MMO RPG world of Middle-Earth.

Nodes for the Prospector, Forester and Scholar professions are linked to the expected character level for each tier of crafting proficiency. It can be extremely challenging to attempt to harvest nodes in areas where the basic survival level is higher than that of the player's character.

Levelling up a crafting profession takes time, but is an enjoyable and profitable way of interacting with other players within the Lord of The Rings Online MMO.

The copyright of the article Lord of The Rings Online Crafting - Levelling Up in Video & Online Games is owned by Anna Ellis. Permission to republish Lord of The Rings Online Crafting - Levelling Up in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Critical success item