lotro stat checker

Found a neat little tool on the lotro forums (the lotro stat checker), it basically compares your stats against others with the same class and level.   The more people that use it, the more accurate it gets.  All you need to do is select your server and type in your character name.  Oh, and its anonymous 🙂

updated ~ lotro cooking spreadsheet

LATEST VERSION (EASTEMNET – RIDERS OF ROHAN)

I’ve updated the lotro cooking sheet to include the Westfold cook’s guild repasts and the colour key, hope its useful 🙂

click above for a larger image or download the excel (2007) file:  lotro cook westfold.  Feel free to download and adapt as you see fit.  If you re-publish on a forum, blog or website credit/linkback would be nice 🙂

legendary items: relics

continuing on from legendary items: general tips and legacies.

Relics:

• There are 4 types of relics: setting, rune, gem and a crafted relic.  The first 3 are obtained via deconstructing legendary items or from fused relics (quest rewards, skirmish barter, instance drops plus see comment below).  The crafted relic is made by a guilded crafter (all craft types make the same relics see comment below re crafted relics), which is then bartered for the relic.
• The higher the level the item when you deconstruct, generally the more relics you receive.  However, if you are going through and just deconstructing for relics, it is worth raising the item’s level to 2 if you can (level 1 you receive 1 relic, level 2 you receive 3 to 5 – see comment below also).
• under the relic forging tab, auto combine up to the tier you wish (I’m as sure as I can be that the results are random however you do it, however manually combine if there are relics at a certain tier you want to keep).  I would guess Tier 4 for around level 55 and Tier 6 for level 75.  (Yes Tier 7 is level 75 BUT I found the Tier 6 extraordinary relics to be more useful than the Tier 7 remarkable… worth checking before you merrily combine up to Tier 7 :))
• relic melding tab.  here you can forge existing relics into a specific relics.  Also check out the unique (lvl 55), singular (lvl 60), extraordinary (lvl 65) and remarkable (lvl 75).
• shards… you get these via the refining tab by blowing up existing relics.  You can also occasionally get these when deconstructing legendary items.  If you have a guilded crafter, you can make the lowest level crafted relic (once a day) and blow this up for a decent amount of shards (there will be a crafted relic choice on the drop down tab).
• the infused garnets, adamants and sapphires that drop in the Mines of Moria are used for instances which give a fused relic as one of its rewards (quest givers in The Dolven-View).  I found these almost impossible to do at level so you may want to wait until you are higher level or it may have been me being a bit rubbish 😉
• At level 75, there are daily repeatable quests from Galtrev which reward you with fused relics.

legendary items: legacies

Carrying on from the general legendary item guide:

• If you level legendary items up to level 30 and then deconstruct, you can choose a legacy to extract.  Start gathering the legacies you wish for your main items.
• Third Age weapons are quite common so it would be entirely feasible to have more than one to suit different purposes (e.g. solo, group, healing, dps).  As they are quite common, they are good to practice on and get your head around the legendary system 🙂
• I would advise deconstructing any extra weapons you get to get a good store of relics for  your main legendary items.  Remember, the legacies you extract will revert to Tier 2 when extracted.
• Legacies come in tiers… Tier 1 being the lowest and Tier 7 being the highest.  Tier 4 is around level 55 and Tier 7 is around level 75.
• You also have Major and Minor legacies.  The only difference being that a major legacy can only replace a major legacy whereas a minor legacy can replace either a major or a minor legacy.  As far as I can see there are useful legacies in both major and minor categories (I originally thought minor legacies were the rubbish ones…)
• You start with 3 legacies on your legendary item, at level 10, 20 and 30 you get a new legacy to add.  At levels 40, 50, and 60 the tier of the legacies on your item can be upgraded.  Make sure you have the legacies you want on your legendary before it reaches level 40.
• The higher the tier of your legacy, the cheaper it is to level that legacy which means overall you can put points into more legacies the higher they are.

→ relics post

legendary items: general tips

This is my take on how to level a legendary weapon, as when I first came across them they were pretty terrifying and the system is pretty complex.  I’m not going to explain all the ins and outs of the system (see lotro wiki relics, items, and casual stroll to mordor guides) or give class specific advice (see your class forums).  This is a series of tips rather than a complete guide.  I’ve split into three posts as it was a massive wall of text.

General tips:

• You need to complete Volume 2, Book1 (14 chapters) in order to have full access to the legendary item system (this also gives you your main hand legendary item, a class item and access to Moria).  You can start this at level 45, although you might want to duo at that level.
• So firstly, decide which level weapon/class item you want to make your main items.  I imagine either a third age or second age at level 75 or if you are not on the levelling treadmill you might want to look at level 55, 60 etc (also at lower levels check out the cost of a symbol of celebrimbor for a second age weapon – you might find its affordable now).
• Note: if you are working towards a level 75 remember that legacies from items under level 65 cannot be put on level 65+ weapons.  You will probably also find yourself switching and using the higher level weapons you gain as you level.
• you get a choice to name your weapon when you re-forge.  Its good to do this for your main weapons/items as it lessens the likelihood of accidentally blowing them up!
• You’re basically customising an item with legacies and relics.
• you can use a scroll of lesser empowerment (up to lvl 60), scroll of empowerment (up to lvl 65) or greater empowerment (up to lvl 85) to increase your legacy tier by 1 for each scroll.
• you can use a scroll of lesser delving (up to lvl 60), scroll of delving (up to lvl 75) or greater delving (up to lvl 85) to increase your legendary level to 70.
• scroll of lesser renewal resets your points on items up to lvl 65 and a scroll of renewal does the same for items up to lvl 75 (also available during re-forging)
• how to many to level at once?  well its up to you but basically the more items you slot, the more xp you get but that extra xp is obviously divided between all… not easy to explain so, see the table on the lotro wiki
• I would only slot relics / spend points on the legendary items I’m going to use or on items I would use situationally.

General levelling guide:

1. read relic and legacy guides first 😛
2. identify and either equip to level your item or level to 30 to extract a legacy or deconstruct for relics
3. whilst levelling continue to gather legendary items for legacies or relics
4. auto combine your relics to the relevant tier
5. run daily instances if you can for legendary item drops and fused relic rewards
6. craft lesser sealed symbols to refine for shards (if you have a crafter)
7. on your main legendary item, make sure you have the legacies you want between level 30 and 39, use a delving scroll if you want to increase the level.  Spend your points as you level – use the scrolls of renewal to reset and re-spend your points as you need to.
8. slot the relics you want (use the relic forging tab if the standard ones aren’t suitable) and your crafted relic.
9. Add a damage scroll (available from Greater Delving repeatable quests, barterers Moria onwards, Galtrev repeatables).
10. grind skirmish marks/medallions for empowerment scrolls to increase your legacies.

useful? makes sense? have I left anything which is particularly confusing out?  (please check the relic and legacy tips first).  hope it helps someone anyway 🙂

edit: ps. am not an expert by any means, so thanks to people who have posted to point out mistakes / clarify information.  If there is anything else wrong or not clear – please let me know also 🙂

my ui and plugin setup

I thought I’d share my ui and plugin setup in case anyone finds it useful or interesting 🙂

I’m using Narajana UI as I like the uncluttered, minimalistic approach.  I group my skills into sets (e.g. short term buffs, ranged, melee, fears/stuns, pots etc) and I don’t use keybinds for skill use.  My favourite plugins are:

• Travel Window:  Useful for all characters, not just hunters 🙂
• Lotropad: The beauty of this plugin is that it can be used on all characters, i.e. all of your alts can see and edit the information you input.  Great for keeping track of crafting levels, resource needs, general useful info.
• Alt Inventory:  if you’ve stashed *something* in one of your alts bags *somewhere* or if you just simply want to check the amount of something an alt is carrying, this app is great 🙂
• Paged slots:  These are an additional 24 slots, which are setup with 6 slots per page.  I love these for things that I like to access often but I don’t necessarily need on a hotbar (e.g. buffs, horses, food, traps, tracking) I think I may use this for travel skills and pets (lore-master) on alts.
• Palantir:  I find this most useful for click to cure pots (self) rather than the health/power bars.

Palantir options: you can adjust opacity, visibility, size etc

Palantir in action (Bars can be adjusted and appear smaller once scrolled out)

Plugins loaded with spiffy labels added 😛

plugin manager, those ticked will be loaded

My UI with plugins loaded (Group members are on left hand side, target and implied target up top, quest tracker top right)

Quick install guide (full instructions are on lotro interface)

To install UI:  Download and extract files to Libraries>Documents>The Lord of the Rings Online>UI>skins

To install plugins: Download and extract files to Libraries>Documents>The Lord of the Rings Online>plugins

If you haven’t installed plugins before I recommend reading CSTM’s excellent guide.

Hope you found it useful 🙂