Lord of the Rings Online

[Quillan]

I like the crafting system, however I think it needs a little balancing still. Weapons and armor at the low end aren't really worth crafting; by the time you get to the level you can use the item you made you'll have something better just from questing rewards. The prices for some of the supplies you can only purchase are a little crazy; I've heard that it costs more for a farmer to grow vegetables than it costs a cook to buy them from a grocer NPC.

One of my characters is an Armsman, which includes the weaponsmith and prospecting tradeskills. I made myself a steel sword a few days back, right after I got the ability to make those, but I had to wait until I hit level 16 to be able to use it. Well, last night I made level 16 with that character, and I already had 2 different weapons that were better than the steel sword. I just finished training my weaponsmith skill to the point where I can make the expert level recipes, and you can't use the Bright Steel weapons until level 21 and Gondorian weapons until level 27. I wonder what I'll have by the time I can make use of them.

[Asher]

Yeah, wax is also way overpriced. 24s for 50 wax to treat Rowan wood? Pricey.

[Asmodean]

The farmer issue, at least, they have promised to deal with in the june game update that is coming. Turbine have promised a huge reduction in ingredient prices for farmers. Farming was the only profession listed though

Asmodean

[Harovan]

Crafting is a joke and, at least at the lower levels, pretty unrewarding. Additionally, there are absolutely craploads of quests in this game, which abundantly reward you with better items than you ever can craft. At least that's what I think at mid-levels (33 atm). My tailoring is up to date, but if I compare what I can make and what I'm wearing, tradeskills don't look too good. I sincerely hope it's getting better at higher levels.

[Quillan]

Price differences, part 2.

I head over to the Lone Lands, and head east down the road from the Forsaken Inn. About the point you get east of Weathertop the resource distribution changes, instead of seeing barrow iron and silver you start seeing rich iron and gold deposits. I mine gold, gold ore sells for something like 1.5 silver to a vendor. I cannot mine coal to make steel. I have to buy it for 2.6 silver from a vendor. WTF? Coal more valuable than gold? True, vendors sell items for 4x what the listed worth is, but still.

[Asmodean]

Normally in these games, I easily spend as much time crafting/levelling crafting, as I do adventuring.

Not so for LOTRO. I think I'll just drop it until Turbine get their act together.

Shame really, 'cause otherwise it's a great game

Asmodean

[Asher]

I don't mind the crafting system, really. I actually quite like how everyone is forced to be interdependent.

[Harovan]

I'm an explorer (miner, forester, tailor) and depend on nobody. I have excess metals and wood, which I don't need myself. Sometimes I sell it to players, but for the most part just to the vendor. Nice additional source of cash.

[Quillan]

I like that part of it, too, but it's still out of balance. The farmer should be able to grow foodstuffs and sell it to a player who only had the cooking skill while still making a profit. The player who chooses to make wooden weapons, metal weapons, or armor should have a player market both capable and willing to purchase the goods they make. As it stands, neither of these is true. The cook can more easily purchase the raw materials to prepare foods from a grocer than a player character, and spend less money along the way. Nobody wants to buy weapons or armor because they get better gear from questing, so why spend money on buying something?

Now, I'm not going broke raising my tradeskills, even with my hunter who is a woodsman. I farm wood, treat it with the wax, turn it into bows and then sell the bows to a vendor. I make a profit that way. The trouble is that it doesn't benefit anyone. I can't sell any bow I make, even a stout ash bow (my current limit), because it's far too easy to get a much better bow from a quest reward. None of my friends use the weapons either one of my characters makes for that exact reason.

I use some crafted armor (my guardian switched to heavy armor at level 15 and I don't have enough dropped/quested stuff to make a full set) and we all make use of crafted jewelry and food, but that's it.

Of course, the money some players are asking for things really doesn't help matters either.

[Harovan]

I seriously doubt the crafting system is going to be substantially improved. It feels that it's not the main focus of this game.

[Asmodean]

Agreed, and as things stand, I would rather they improved the stability of the login servers anyway

[Jon Miller]

I have had no issues with login servers.

JM

[Asmodean]

No, you don't on your side of the pond. However, in Europe, Codemasters handle everything, and they are doing rather a poor job of it. This is the third time in 9 days that it has been impossible to log in for several hours.

Asmodean

[Harovan]

Originally posted by Asmodean
No, you don't on your side of the pond. However, in Europe, Codemasters handle everything, and they are doing rather a poor job of it. This is the third time in 9 days that it has been impossible to log in for several hours.

Asmodean

I think the total number of at least 1 hour long interruptions since preorder launch approaches ten, if it's not already way above it for those who play 24/7. Codemasters is one of the worst server hosts I have ever seen.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
I'm an explorer (miner, forester, tailor) and depend on nobody. I have excess metals and wood, which I don't need myself. Sometimes I sell it to players, but for the most part just to the vendor. Nice additional source of cash.

Vendor? Auction that ****.

Explorer is the best crafting class for your alts.