I. What Are Conjunctions?
II. The Color Wheel
III. How to Initiate Conjunctions

I. What Are Conjunctions?
Conjunctions are a special mechanic in LOTRO that arise when in a group of two or more players. They can do anything from massively damage a single enemy to restoring both your morale and power to full. Conjunctions can turn the tide of battle are are especially important against powerful foes. Knowing how to set up conjunctions and organize fellowship members into coordinating on conjunctions will enable you to best troublesome bosses and save your group from a certain death.

Burglars are the primary inductors of conjunctions, and conjunctions may only be used once every minute on a monster.

II. The Color Wheel
The Color Wheel forms the foundation of conjunctions and knowing how it works will allow you to formulate the type of conjunction best suited to your situation.

When a player initiates a conjunction a four color wheel will appear in the lower right hand portion of the screen for each member in the fellowship. Every player gets to contribute a color of their choice to the conjunction. Both the color and order of selection affect the resulting conjunction.

Here are the four conjunction colors:
Red: Ent’s Strength. This color represents direct damage.
Yellow: Spider’s Guile. This color represents damage over time.
Blue: Stallion’s Spirit. This color represent power restoration.
Green: Eagle’s Cry. This color represents morale restoration.

Organizing your fellowship members around performing a certain conjunction will help maximize the effect and achieve signature conjunctions. The types of conjunctions you can perform are based on group size. One notable change is with fellowships of five and six you can begin to do AoE conjunctions.

2 Members: You are rather limited in options here. Your best choice is to match a pair such as Red-Red (called Clash of Arms) for a damage burst or Green-Green (Rallying Cry) to regenerate much morale over time. Matching is usually best here as the whole tends to be greater than the sum of its parts.

3 Members: There are more directions to go in now. You can pick three of the same color to get a powerful single effect conjunction such as Red-Red-Red doing massive damage, or Blue-Blue-Blue to regenerate a lot of power. You can also do three color conjunctions like Red-Blue-Yellow (Sinister Plan) giving a DoT, direct damage, and a power buff. Performing two of the same color follower by another color will just give you the two person conjunction plus that other effect. For example Red-Red-Yellow will give you Clash of Arms (Red-Red) and a DoT. If you choose to do a conjunction involving multiple colors I would strongly suggest that you assign people a color and order so you pull off the correct conjunction. Teamwork is key.

4 Members: Once again you can do all of the same color for a devastating effect, such as Green-Green-Green-Green (Call to Arms) for a huge morale boost and buff. Two pairs can also be matched to get something that would be stronger than just two of the two member conjunctions. Yellow-Yellow-Blue-Blue results in Deadly Whispers (DoT and Power boost) which is better than just a Yellow-Yellow and Blue-Blue combined. The third option is one of each color in which it is especially important that everyone know their specific color and turn. Red-Green-Yellow-Blue (Ents Stand) does it all.

5 Members: Conjunctions get more devastating at this point as AoE effects are available. You can perform a full house (three of a kind and then a pair), four of a kind with an extra, or even stranger assortments of multiple colors such as Red-Green-Yellow-Blue-Red: Entish Justice.

6 Members: The maximum number of people that can be in a fellowship and the most possible combinations.
3 Pairs
2 Three of a Kinds
1 Four of a Kind, 1 Pair.
1 Five of a Kind, 1 Add.
6 of Kind.
Or just circle the wheel.

III. How to Initiate Conjunctions
One of the primary roles of the Burglar class in LOTRO is to set initiate conjunctions. Groups without burglars may perform conjunctions as well, but theirs will be less frequent.

Burglars can set up conjunctions as early as level 12 with the skill “Exploit Opening” which is on a 5 minute cooldown. At level 28 they gain an additional conjunction starter called “Trip” which must be used from stealth and is also on a separate 5 minute cooldown. Burglars may also use items called marbles to set up a conjunction, they are on a 10 minute cooldown. Finally the legendary trait “Exposed Throat” will open up a conjunction. “Exposed Throat” is gained after acquiring the “Legendary Book: The Experts Guide To Dirty Fighting” and then 8 pages scattered around the world, Angmar, Misty Mountains, and the Trollshaws.

Some skills do not guarantee a conjunction, but support the induction of one meaning there is a chance for a conjunction to occur. Some of these skills are:

Counter Defense: Negates block/parry/evade on mob.
Riddle: While a mob is in the ‘Riddled’ state they are still open to a induction.
Startling Twist: Again while in the stunned state the mobs block/parry/evade is disabled.
Stun Dust: Stuns the mob opening it up for a conjunction.

The probability of beginning a conjunction is affected by your fellowship’s level relative to the monster’s level.

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The Stats:
Every song, ballad, anthem, ect. requires power to sing and how much power you have is based upon your Will. Vitality will give you a higher morale, which will help keep you up longer if things get out of hand. Fate can be good to have at later levels when power regen in combat becomes more important because of longer and harder fights. Your melee damage and chance to evade and parry attacks are based upon your might skill. If you plan on soloing the majority of the time I would suggest a good balance between Will and Might. If fellowships are your thing you’ll want to go more will heavy.

The Races:
All races can be a Minstrel, and no race is really better than the other. Look over each for its strengths and weaknesses and pick your race based on your play style. I have been playing as a Man Minstrel which seems to be sort of middle of the road (ie. Solos well, and groups well).

The Weapons:
Minstrels can use the following Single-Handed weapons:

• Daggers
• Swords
• Maces
• Clubs

The Armour:
Light armour is your only choice until level 15, you’ll then be able to earn a trait for completing a quest from your trainer that will allow you to equip medium armour. At level 20 Minstrels finally gain the ability to equip shields.

The Early Levels:
When you log on to your brand new Minstrel you’ll notice that you have three abilities. Herald’s Strike - You make a melee attack that does extra damage.
Ballad of Vigour - Tier 1 ballad: A short song that gives you vitality and harms your foes.
Raise the Spirits - Words of encouragement that renew the morale of a companion or yourself.

The best approach to play at this point goes like this:
Pull the mob with your Ballad of Vigour. This is Ranged damage, so nows a good time to learn what range you have to work with.
If you get a chance hit it with Ballad of Vigour again otherwise use Herald’s Strike.
Continue with the auto-attacks and using Ballad of Vigour and Herald’s Strike as they become available. Don’t forget about Raise the Spirits if your morale starts to get too low.

At level two you gain the Piercing Cry ability.
Piercing Cry - Your shout does light damage to your enemies.
This ability is rather powerful, but it has a cooldown of 30 seconds. I generally reserve this ability, it can come in handy if things get ugly.

Level four brings two Ballads to the table.
Ballad of Steel - Tier 1 Ballad: A short song that gives you an armour bonus and harms your foes.
Ballad of Swiftness - Tier 2 Ballad: A short song that gives a bonus to your attack speed and harms your foe. This requires a tier one ballad effect to activate.

With the addition of these two new Ballads things change a little bit.
Pull with your Ballad of Steel, followed up with a Ballad of Vigour. Smack the mob with Herald’s Strike, and followup with more Ballads of Steel and Vigour as they become available.

So which instrument do you want to play? At level 5 you can train the passive skills required for /music.

Your first tier three ballad is granted at level 6.
Ballad of War - Tier 3 Ballad: A short song that gives your fellowship a bonus to their melee damage. This requires tier 2 ballad effects to activate.
You won’t be using this one much at first, as you can generally take down your mobs pretty quickly.

Soon you’ll be out of the newbie instance and into the open world. As you continue to level up the combat only gets more interesting, I’ll leave this for you to discover.

The Class Quest:

After defeating the lot head back to Piper, who hands you a copy of the song you have written. Jump up on the nearest table and use the song to perform for the Prancing Ponys patrons.

Your rewards:

• 1 silver and 80 copper
• Medium Armor class trait
• a couple celebrant salves
• and a really nice purple club called “Minstrel’s Friend”

Guardian Fundamentals: Equipment

The weapons and armour at the Guardians disposal are perhaps the most important factor in defining its role. After all, if the Guardian are to be a front line fighter, it would be ideal to have a large array of weapons and armour available to them. This is what Turbine has done, and below is a listing of what is available to the class at the opening level:

Armor

•    Light
•    Medium
•    Shields

Weapons

•    Daggers
•    One-Handed Axes
•    One-Handed Clubs
•    One-Handed Hammers
•    One-Handed Maces
•    One-Handed Swords
•    Thrown Weapons

Accordingly, this is not the complete list of armor and weapons available to the Guardian through the entire game. As the class gains levels, more and more armors and weapons becomes available that further define the class succinctly, and they are as follows:

Armor

•    Heavy (Lv 15)
•    Heavy Shields (Lv 15)

Weapons

•    Two-Handed Swords (Lv 10)
•    Two-Handed Axes (Lv 10)
•    Two-Handed Hammers (Lv 10)
•    Two-Handed Clubs (Lv 10)
•    Spears (Lv 10)
•    Cross-Bows (Lv 30)
•    Bows (Lv 30)

Upon consulting the new list above, one can see the Guardian truly fulfilling the typical tank role. The addition of heavier armor and shields and long range weapons tell us that much. Yet within weapons there is an interesting pattern: Guardians can wield two-handed weapons. Most players who have played tanks in previous titles will tell you two-handed weapons are utterly useless. The necessity of a shield to decrease damage done is pivotal, and that is the reason why. While that remains true in the Lord of the Rings Online, it is not so in all situations: one of the defining differences of the Guardian to other tank classes. Yet that will be detailed later in this guide. Suffice to say, Guardians can equip any kind of armor and certainly have a large array of weapons to decide from.

Guardian Fundamentals: Skills

In the Lord of the Rings Online, the single component that largely defines what a chosen class can do in any situation is skills. They define not only damage (be it offensive or healing) but grant many of the defensive dynamics and utility proponents. So in order to understand how the Guardian class is played out and defined, a look at the many types of skills is necessary.

Taunting Skills

There are many different kinds of taunting skills that are made available to the Guardian, and, as the name implies, they, amongst other things, force the enemy to attack him. Yet what is most interesting about the taunting skills that are available is they come in many different forms. That is to say, some taunting skills are embedded in regular damage actions or what is known as reactionary offense. While the latter item will be detailed in full later, a simple explanation is thus: skills made available when the Guardian blocks or parries an incoming attack. In addition, such taunts also come from class traits that the Guardian acquires. Indeed, taunting and maintaining aggro for high level Guardians are embedded in almost every attack, instead of a small handful, like in other titles.

Attack Skills

These skills are rather simplistic and require no detailed explanation: they just do damage. The Guardian simply approaches an enemy, engages the skill and does damage. Occasionally there will be accompanying bleed effects, or it will damage multiple enemies it once. In effect, these are rudimentary skills that are replaced by more powerful reactionary [skills] in the mid to high levels.

Reactionary Skills

It is these skills that truly differentiate the Guardian class in the Lord of the Rings Online, to similar tanks in other titles. As detailed earlier, a simplified way to look at these skills is thus: when the Guardian successfully blocks or parries an attack, these skills become available for use. But there is much more to that: there are skills called secondary reaction skills, which require the use of a reactionary [skill] to be used. Think of it this way: when you block an attack, Shield Swipe opens up (a reaction skill) then when that is used, the secondary reaction skill Bash can be utilized (which is a high DPS attack). The same is applied to reactionary skills that rely on parries, but in that case there is more variety.

The benefit to this setup is noteworthy: it forces players to pay close attention to the action at hand. For if they are not attentive, the time limit to use such skills will ultimately expire and their DPS and utility will suffer tremendously. Indeed, the difference between a good and bad Guardian will ultimately be who can react quickly and [who] will not. Lastly, an ample supply of taunting effects and high-end DPS will be found in these reaction skills, so there is significant reward for maximizing potency with these [skills].

Buff Skills

These skills are very important to the Guardian’s repertoire, yet are similar to tanks in other titles, with a few notable exceptions. The Guardian is similar in the respect that some buffs add to defensive and offense statistics, while others protect an ally from damage. The difference, however, is direct statistical improvements to block and parry – critical attributes to reactionary skills.

Healing Skills

There are two minor healing skills that are available to the Guardian: one replenishes morale and the other power. In the case of the former, it only becomes available upon a successful block, while the latter can be used at any time. These kinds of skills are new and unique to the proverbial tank class, but at the same time permit the Guardian increased survivability and new challenges to group play.

Guardian Fundamentals: Traits

Traits are the primary means of class (and character) differentiation in the Lord of the Rings Online. As such, even in the Guardian class, some very intriguing yet significant choices need to be made. For instance, one could focus on improvements to the might statistic, which increases damage with a melee weapon. Alternatively, one could improve on vitality (increases morale), increases resistances and decrease vulnerability – clearly advantageous to the primary tank. There are a myriad of other possibilities as well, and while it is near impossible to list all of them, I will provide an explanation for the more important traits and suggestions for where aspiring Guardians should focus on.

Statistical Traits

These traits concern increases to your base statistics – such as mighty, vitality, fate etc. Each of these correspond to an important attribute to your character; might increases damage with weapons and vitality overall morale. As such, if one wishes for increased damage for their Guardian, then increments to might would be beneficial; the same logic can be applied for boons to health. Generally speaking, however, each of these traits – by themselves – do not wield much, but combined together can make a formidable difference.

Class Traits

These traits are among the most important (save legendary) one can acquire, and as such wield some very significant benefits to your character. These include, but are not limited to, improvements to existing skills and increased chances to block and parry. The latter items are of particular importance: the Guardian relies heavily – both on offense and defense – on being able to parry or block attacks. It would be advisable then to take such skills. Alternatively, however, if one wants more offense and move out of the stereotypical tank role, you could seek skill improvements that deal heavy damage. So while these traits are among the most important, there is room for diversity, depending on ones ultimate preference.

Damage Reducing Traits

These are the traits that Guardians will seek out if they embrace the tank role. In this category I include decreases to vulnerabilities (long and short range) and increased resistances. Like the statistical traits, they are not very significant on their own, but bundled together they could be very significant, but, unlike them, very situational. For instance, if your fellowship is actively fighting spiders, then traits that increase poison resistance would be ideal. Regardless of circumstance, however, these traits are important in fulfilling the tank role.

Which traits should I include, then?

As mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, that entirely depends on what sort of role you want your Guardian to be. Do you want your character to be the penultimate tank? If so, you may want to focus on traits that increase blocking and parrying, taunting skill effectiveness and reductions to melee and long range vulnerabilities. If, on the other hand, you want more offense, focusing on might and skills that improve damage would be critical. Or, you could arm yourself with a mix of the two. The bottom line is this: the system allows for an incredible amount of diversity and there is no set guideline to follow; you can do what you want. In addition, there are many other combinations then what was listed here; this is just a basic guideline for trait allocation.

Guardian Strategy: Solo Play

Like all classes in the Lord of the Rings Online, the Guardian can solo very effectively. Yet, unlike other classes in the title, the Guardian has arguably the most room for diversity; that is to say, they can solo under many different situations. This relates primarily to weapon choice, be it a one or two handed weapon; in other titles, most proverbial tank characters cannot have such a choice feasibly, but indeed a Guardian does! There has been many times where I have soloed with my Guardian character wielding both kinds of weapons and noticed no real difference in my effectiveness or survivability: certainly a boon for aesthetically inclined individuals.

Though in order to aid in the above – or any situation really – is your traits combination during solo play. Since you won’t be defending anyone else, typical traits that add to either defensive bonuses or utility skill alteration are no longer necessary; indeed, one should focus on statistical increments and damage skill boons. Yet this is not necessary either: you could maintain those defensive trait benefits and still do just as well; you won’t be as speedy in your killing as the former, but it certainly is a viable option.

If there is only one requirement to success in solo play it would be thus: a powerful weapon, be it one or two handed. Due in large part to the Guardian’s parry and blocking abilities, one can deflect a good chunk of incoming damage; thereby making your total armour level less important: this does defeat mini-maxing, essentially. Yet when I say powerful weapon, I do not meant rare or epic weapons that can be found off many humanoid opponents; no, simply an uncommon drop would do just fine (or even one purchased from a crafter). Yet if you do find a rare or epic weapon off a humanoid, your ability to solo increases ten-fold! Though it is hardly necessary.

The bottom line is this: one does not need the most powerful equipment or rare weapons in order to solo effectively; it can be done with nearly any setup. In the case of traits, any combination will work – whether you want to focus on offense, defense, utility or a mix of the three – it will simply be effective. Then with equipment, anything goes; barring gross extremes.

Guardian Strategy: Grouping

Unlike the options for solo play, the Guardian is much more stringent and cookie-cutter in groups; for if one does otherwise, it would be very difficult to play the role effectively. That role, obviously, is absorbing attacks, protecting allies and maintaining aggro. As such, the use of a shield is absolutely necessary and for more then one reason; a good amount of aggro control, damage and self healing abilities can be found in reactionary block offense and defense. Without the use of these ever so important abilities, the Guardian would have a very difficult time performing their task effectively.

When traits are considered it is not much better: offensive based [traits] are not as wanted as defensive boosting ones and those that alter self healing and defensive skills. It is not the task of the Guardian to deal damage – that is demanded of Hunters, Lore-masters, Champions and others – so the Guardian must focus on being as defensively sound as possible. In addition, it would be very wise to include increases to resistances and decreases to vulnerabilities; these will aid all Guardians considerably in performing their proverbial tank role best.

Closing Thoughts

The Guardian, while very similar to tanks in other titles, does have a number of unique additions that makes the class more fun to play: reactionary skills and self healing namely. The need for mini-maxing – at least in solo play – is demolished as well; it is simply not necessary for an enjoyable game experience. At the same time, however, there are considerable rewards for players who max out their characters: they solo that much more effectively! Yet no matter how much or little equipment one possesses, the chance to solo is evident and varied. The only downside to the class, however, is the cookie-cutter role in grouping; yet it could not be any other way, due to the nature of the grouping beast.

What is crafting and why should I do it?

This is the most fundamental question that players have; for in some online games crafting has little use, while in others it has tremendous benefit. To address that point in particular, LOTRO has reached a middle ground: if players craft themselves, it is of benefit but far from mandatory; alternatively, if one does not craft – and simply seeks other crafters for their needs – that is a worthwhile endeavour as well. Yet this guide will encourage players to craft: it is a fun, stress free activity that can wield significant rewards later on; aside from the monetary benefits that naturally occur, if a Guardian takes up the Metalsmith profession, then he (or she) can update his (or her) armour as they progress through the game.

But what is crafting, though? In lamens terms, it is combining several materials to make a single useful item; creations include armour, weapons, bows, food and more. Certainly these items are useful for any adventurer, regardless of their view on the dynamic itself.

Choosing a vocation

Before any player can craft an item they must choose a vocation.Vocations, put simply, are a combination of crafting professions. They are designed in this way: gathering, primary manufacturing and unsupported. The gathering is obvious: this profession gathers necessary materials for the manufacturing [profession]; and the second profession – primary manufacturing – is rather obvious: it creates items for use or sale. The latter, unsupported, is a little more vague: this profession is not supported by the primary gathering – so you cannot gather materials for it – but is related to the primary manufacturing profession; often it is used to expand the crafters repertoire, but must rely on another vocation to supply the necessary materials: part of the interdependency of crafting (but this will be explored in more depth later).

In order to train a vocation (which has no cost) one must visit a Master of Apprentices NPC: they are available in every starting area (Little Delving, Thorin’s Halls, Combe and Celobin. In addition, they are also available in indoor crafting areas in the major cities of Eriador (Bree-town, Rivendell)

Crafting preparation: what is needed to begin a crafting career

Once a player has chosen a vocation, they must make a couple of purchases before they can consider acquiring the necessary materials, nevermind crafting. They are crafting tools, and can be bought from either novices or the local provisioner: all of which can be found in crafting shops or centres throughout the world. Below is a list of what each crafting profession (not vocation) needs to either acquire materials or craft items:

•    Woodworker: Bronze Woodworking Tools
•    Tailor: Bronze Tailors Tools
•    Metalsmith: Bronze Smithing Hammer
•    Weaponsmith: Bronze Smithing Hammer
•    Scholar: Bronze Scholar’s Glass
•    Jeweler: Bronze Jeweler’s Tools
•    Cook: Bronze Cooking Supplies
•    Farmer: Bronze Farming Tools
•    Forester: Bronze Forester’s Axe
•    Prospector: Bronze Mining Pick

Once you have purchased the requisite tool, right click the icon in your inventory and it will be equipped to your crafting slot. In order to perform any crafting exercise – be it gathering or manufacturing – the tool must be equipped.

Acquiring crafting materials

Once you have trained a crafting vocation, you will earn a resource tracking skill for your requisite gathering profession: prospector, forester or farmer. Drag that skill to one of your hotbars and click the skill once to activate it. You will then be able to track resource nodes throughout the world – the means for which you acquire your materials.

As illustrated by the screenshot above, when you are tracking resources and you come near a node, a blue arrow will appear on your mini-map: run in the direction of the [arrow]. Once you have reached the location you will see the resource node before you; assuming you have the requisite tool equipped, double click on the node and your character will begin to gather it. Once the process is completed, a window will open up with the material you have gathered; right click it to put the materials in your inventory and the node will disappear: you may only use it once.

Inter-dependency materials

There are some materials that a given vocation cannot gather on its own; for example, an Armourer cannot treat leather hides to produce the leather bindings required to craft bronze armour. The Armourer must enlist the services of a forester for the boiled leather required to make leather bindings. The easiest way to do this is to either contact someone who has the forester profession or roll an alt with it trained. If neither option suits you, simply head to the Auction Hall and search for the treated leather.

Recipes

Recipes are the formulas used to create particular items: armour, weapons, food etc. When a player first chooses their vocation, they are given a number of starting recipes to work with. As you become more proficient with crafting and gain mastery, you can master a tier; once you do so and complete the subsequent quest, more powerful recipes will be granted to you. In addition, there are two other ways to obtain recipes: they can be purchased from novices and experts, other players, or loot drops from opponents in Eriador. If you obtain a recipe in this manner – and you have the necessary requirements to learn it – just right-click the [recipe] in your inventory to learn it.

Crafting locales / stations

Once a player has acquired a vocation, obtained the necessary materials and has a recipe to work with, they need to locate a crafting station in order to begin the [crafting] process. These differ based on the profession – forges for metalsmith and ovens for cooks – and they are located all over Eriador. Below is a listing of where to find each station for your crafting needs.

•    Forges: Combe, Bree, Celondim, Gondomon, Duilond, Trestlebridge, Michel Delving and Thorin’s Halls.
•    Ovens: Combe, Gondomon, Duilond, Thorin’s Gates, Brockenborings, Overhill and Michel Delving.
•    Study: Combe, Celondim, Gondomon, Duillond, Estilden, Trestlebridge, Brockenborings, Hobbiton, Michel Delving and Rivendell.
•    Workbench: Combe, Staddle, Gondomon, Duillond, Trestlebridge, Bywater, Michel Delving, Esteldin and Hobbiton.
•    Farmland: Michel Delving, Combe and north of Hobbiton

In addition, if you need to know which profession uses what station, please consult the list below:

•    Forges: Metalsmith, Weaponsmith and Prospector.
•    Workbench: Farmer (utilizes farmland as well), Forester, Tailor and Woodworker.
•    Study: Jeweler and Scholar.
•    Ovens: Cook.

The Crafting Process

To engage in the crafting process, first equip the appropriate crafting tool, then target the specified crafting station. Once you have done that, either hit the ‘F’ key or click the crafting icon on the bottom left hand side of the UI. A window will be open with your three crafting professions; let us use Armourer as an example.

As seen in the above screenshot, the three professions are Prospector, Metalsmith and Tailor. In the effort of this example, let’s assume we will be creating bronze armour and the recipe for it can be found below.

The four components necessary for the construction of the armor is thus: one bronze plate, one bronze mail links, two bronze ingots and 1 leather binding. The bronze ingot is the easiest to produce; simply switch to the prospector profession and select the bronze ingot recipe and click the ‘make’ button on the bottom right hand side. You will then have created your first bronze ingot! The recipe calls for two, however, so create another one. Do the same for the rest of the components before you move on to the armour itself; once it’s all prepared, simply click on the make button again (with the bronze armour selected) to craft it.

There are two other things that should be made mention of in the crafting process: critical success and previous age items. If you click on the mastery tab (shown below) a sub-window will open that displays a percentage – that is your chance of obtaining a critical success. In addition, if you look beside the percentage, the icon will normally tell you what the possibility is – in this case it is increased bronze ingots.

The other item mentioned is previous age items; these are rare items that, if obtained, will give considerable bonuses and boons to the crafting process. So be on the lookout for such items as you adventure around Eriador, and stayed tuned to an advanced crafting guide later that will detail that very dynamic!

Storing unused materials and creations

Through the course of your experience as a crafter and an adventurer, there will be plenty of unused items that one wishes to save; and you may not want to throw them away either. In this case players will want to utilize vault storage located in many towns and villages all over Eriador. It is advisable to utilize this resource so your packs don’t get overflown with important, yet not immediately usable crafting materials and creations. The towns that have storage vaults are Michel Delving, Thorin’s Halls, Celondim, Combe, Bree-town, Estilden and Rivendell.

Selling your creations

Once a player has successfully created an item – and it’s not immediately usable to oneself or friends – the best idea is to sell it and gain some much valuable coin. There are two ways of doing this: secure trade with other players or the Auction Hall. Most players utilize the former – especially in regards to armour and weapons – as they can get the most return for their efforts. Auction Halls are located in Bree-town, Michel Delving, Thorin’s Halls and Rivendell.

That is the conclusion of the Understanding Crafting guide! You should now have a thorough understanding of how crafting works to start your own trade. Best of luck with your labours in Middle-earth!

For example, the character above has zero gold, 40 silver, and 49 copper. There is also a currency called “destiny points” that we’ll discuss later and deals with monster play. As far as the denominations go, 100 copper is equal to 1 silver, but 1000 silver is required for 1 gold. Kind of odd we think, but that’s the way it is none the less.

Getting Gold

There are a wide variety of ways to aquire money in the game, the most obvious is to complete quests and sell off what you have looted from various creatures. To sell your items to a vendor (npc - non playing character) you simply talk to them and go to “sell” as seen below.

Various vendors have items for sale but will also buy yours from you. As you can see in the diagram above, the character can sell a wide variety of items and get more money from them. They can in turn spend that money on items from a vendor or auction house.

Other ways to build wealth include crafting various items and selling them to vendors or on the auction house to other players.

• Traveling in LOTRO
  
  
  
  • By Foot
    
  • Horse (normal)
    
  • Horse (swift)
    
  • Exceptions
    
    
    
    • Mapping
      
    • Hunter Fun
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

By Foot

Time to put your foot to the gravel and run, son. Running is the primary and often annoying and time consuming major way of travel, as you might expect. With such an epic sized map, this can get old, but it’s not too bad as you’re journey is consistantly enlivened by beautiful scenery and various wildlife to shoot. You might even get lucky enough to grab a few prospecting nodes or tree branches.

Horse (normal)

The second way you can travel within the game is by horse. However, there are some limitations to your horse travel. First, you need to PAY the stable master. This can be pricey, especially for lower level individuals, who have little to no cash. The stable master looks like this:

Additionally, you’ll only be able to travel to destinations that you’ve been to - in other words, you’re trucking it by foot before you get to ride old Black Beauty. Some destinations are quite the jog, so bring your adidas.

Horse (swift travel)

There is hope in sight however, with the Swift travel option at the stable master. Yes, the people at Turbine decided to give us a break occasionally and allow us to relax for but moments as the horse magically appears in it’s new location. Swift travel is available to major cities, or, for example - from west to south Bree. The cost is minimal for swift travel in early areas but gets larger in proportion to game economics.

As you can see, the cost to the different places varies in proportion to how far they are and what “level” the area is. I think I’ll pass on the Ettenmoors!

Mapping

When a player completes the introduction quests, he or she is given a “map home” that will reside in their bags. The map home allows you to set a “home” location and magically “portal” back to that location once an hour. This is SUPER convenient when you’re out far away and need to come home. You can set your “home” location at nearby milestones in the various cities.

Hunters

The hunter has a couple sneaky travel tricks up their sleave. First, at level 14, they get a run buff that increases their own and party speed by 15%. What a wonderful thing this is when you pass people on the roads. Also, later in the game hunters recieve “guiding” abilities that will let them portal their

• Grouping:
  
  
  
  • Friends
    
  • Fellowing (Fellowships)
    
  • Kinships
    
  • Raids
  
  
  
  

Friends

Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar allows you to create a friends list within the game, in which you can put the names of your different in game friends. This will allow you to see when they are online. This is helpful to use whenever you meet someone new that’s been a help. A large network of in game LOTRO friends can allow you to accomplish tasks quickly and learn more about the game then if you were alone.

You can also add people to an ignore list, which will dissallow them from talking to you. This is useful if you’re getting spammed by someone or simply want to ignore them.

Fellowing (Fellowships)

A fellowship is a group of up to 6 people that can fight and quest as one group. Forming a fellowship is a great way to accomplish difficult tasks, as many tasks require a group to find success. Fellowships are key in many aspects of questing and exploring Middle-Earth.

Kinships

A Kinship is what might otherwise be known as a guild. Kinships are the heart of any good MMORPG as they allow massive collaberation, the ease of forming quality fellowships and raid parties, and overall give identity and fun to the game. To make a Kinship, you must visit one of the “Clerk of Kinships” throughout the world and purchase a Kinship Charter. Kinships are granted additional features such as officer chat, kinship-only auctions, and kinship-wide mail based on their Kinship Rank, which is determined by the lifespan of the kinship.

• Minimum Level 5
  
• Price 5s 10c
  
• Charters to create a Kinship: The type of Kinship determines the origin of the Titles given to members, but all races can join any Kinship.
  
  
  
  • Dwarf Kinship Charter
    
  • Elf Kinship Charter
    
  • Hobbit Kinship Charter
    
  • Man Kinship Charter
    
  • Mixed Kinship Charter
  
  
  
  

Raids

A raid party is the largest group you can have in the game. A raid can be made up of up to 4 different fellowships, so a raid can have up to 24 people in them. Raids are used for large instances and primarily end-game activities.

16-20 Northern Bree-Land above Adso’s Camp/ Hengstacer Horse Farm / Thornley’s Farm / Saeradan / Old Forest Quests / Barrow Downs Quests(Guide Available)

16-22 Lone Lands (Forsaken Inn/Candaith’s Camp) / If you finish the western Lone Lands quests I highly recommend you head East to Ost Guruth at level 21-22.

22-26 North Downs (TrestleBridge quests) -or/And- start on the Ost Guruth questing.

24-32 Ost Guruth-Agamaur/Haragmar area -or- finish up TrestleBridge before moving to Estelding around 26.

26-30 Esteldin (West side)/Othrikar/Meluinen quests

30-35 Esteldin (East side) and Earthkin quests

30-40 Fornost 32-40 Trollshaws (you’ll have to do these in several different runs since they are spread out across level ranges)

38-45 Misty Mountains

38-42 Angmar (Earthkin quests)

40-45 Angmar (Aughaire and Malenhad quests)

There are a couple “firsts” you’ll need to accomplish before playing monster play. You must be a level 10 before your character becomes eligible for monster play. Once you’re a level 10, you need to find a Fell Scrying Pool, which is pictured below. The Fell Scrying Pool allows you to “enter” the Monster play enviroment and choose a character. Keep in mind Fell Scyring Pools are located in East Bree, Michel Delving, and Thorin’s Gate.

Next, you’ll click on the fell scrying pool and it will allow you to select from several character options. There are several different monster choices, a Reaver, Weaver, Blackarrow, Warleader, and Stalker. You must select your favorite to enter the Ettenmoors and the dark battle that is taking place. Here are some pictures of the different monsters you choose from:

Stalker	Reaver	Weaver

Blackarrow	Warleader

There’s plenty to do in the Ettenmoors, and your actions will often earn you Destiny Points and Infamy or Renown (see below). Take on solo quests or head out with a group of friends, looking for (and finding!) trouble. Besides the smaller-scale battles you’ll find yourself fighting in while exploring the Ettenmoors, you can also engage in pitched battles for the control of various points of conflict within the Ettenmoors. A dynamic mapnote displays a flag - red for monster players and blue for Free Peoples - at these locations to show which faction currently controls them. Fearsome enemies or allies may await you within contested strongholds (depending on which side currently holds them), and you would be well advised to attack one of these locations only with a large force - but be on your guard! PvMP players might be defending their location, or attacking yours while you’re gone!

You can then advance through the monster play ranks and devlop more and more, as it tracks your kills, deaths, killing blows, etc. It’s pretty neat, almost a whole new character.