Crafting – Luck of the draw

I wasn’t 100% sure on what to title this.  Basically I’m wanting to address some of the bizarre functions in LOTRO’s crafting.  Overall I enjoy the crafting, albeit somewhat time consuming.  However, the way their crafting works when attempting to crit on a single use recipe is frustrating.

They provide a rough percentage for your chance to crit.  This value is determined by the following :

  • Base crit chance of 5%
  • Crafting Tool (up to 20%)
  • Crafting Lore (up to 12.5% from Supreme Scholars)
  • Crafting Journal (this is the “crit item”, 35%)
  • Crafting Resource (45%; in the case of Metalworking, brimstone)

So, in total there is a 82.5% chance to crit on a single use recipe, or 92.5% chance on normal recipes.  Seems like the odds are in the crafter’s favor, but they really aren’t (at least for the single use recipes).  For some strange reason this percentage doesn’t convey assurance that you will crit on an item.  It’s still 50/50 (which is logical in a sense, I either will or will not crit). The fact that the materials/effort needed to get these conditions can be costly or time consuming should be reason enough to bolster the crafter’s confidence in this crit value.  I’ve had some instances where I’ve failed to crit on all but one piece of a single use recipe set (that’s six recipes).  This is unacceptable. :(

My proposal is to simply switch the critical values of the Crafting Resource and the Crafting Journal.

I know that the other aspect of the crit chance is to help out the game’s economy by making certain crafting gear less abundant.  I also know that much of the gear is easily replaced later on through instances and rep gear.  The main point I’m attempting to hit is the frustration caused by failing to crit with such a high chance at doing so.

- Thrangis

LotRO – November update right on schedule

The new patch, which focuses a great deal of attention on Rune-keeper and Lore-master (woo!), is now live.  It’s a relatively quick patch (took me about 10 minutes).

Be sure to give the patch notes a quick glance.  There’s some updates to the whole F2P content as well, such as max level cap access.

update: I just got a look at the “meta-deed” mounts that came with the update.  I really like the goats. :)

[side note]: be sure to check those online shopping spots for the Cyber Monday sales! Newegg, TigerDirect, Amazon, Overstock…  just to throw a few of my hot spots out there. :)

- Thrangis

Rift Beta and Other Updates

Rift

Just finished updating my account with a Beta Key…  nothing is “for sure” but my chances of getting into closed beta are improved.  Overall the game has some interesting features I’ll hopefully get the chance to look into.  As always, this is the place where I’ll be putting my thoughts!

Vindictus

I’ve been keeping myself busy in Vindictus, to the best of my abilities, and am just now getting into the content of Ainle.  With the next update around the corner I hope I can get my Evie high enough to jump on in with the rest of the other players.  x]

LotRO

There’s no real rush to progress any of my higher level characters beyond where they’re at, at least not yet.  With discussion of Turbine planning to remove the unjust “Radiance” mechanic from the game, I’m going to hold back from attempting to gear myself out with the latest in radiance pieces.  However, I did manage to progress through most of the book quests that I had previously been unable to do (hard to find fellowships).  There were some changes made to allow for solo-style players (or players having difficulty finding a fellowship) to do some of the harder chapters in the book quests.

Journal of Grudgery

Now, I’m well aware that any journal entries for Thrangis are going to be way overdo and I’m sorry for the huge delay (especially to those who enjoy the entries).  I’ve been working on something extra for the next post.  Just need to wait a little longer. :)

- Thrangis

Rise of Isengard

This is a bit early to get overly excited for it, but I’m happy to say that Turbine is taking LOTRO to Isengard!  I’m looking forward to getting into some of the more pivotal areas from the books.  Also, the closer I get to Rohan the better!

The expansion is set to be released in Fall of 2011.  Here are the major highlights:

  • Level cap raised to 70 (an extra five levels)
  • New traits/abilities/virtues
  • Revamped monster player (PVMP – Player vs. Monster Play)
    • LOTRO ‘s current PVP scene is rather lacking and difficult to pick up.  The new update is bringing a new zone with it and a “change” to advancement. (I’m curious to see how the changes are going to set the pace for PVMP)

Crafting wasn’t talked about, but I’m assuming there is going to be another tier added.  As it stands Supreme is the highest tier with Master being the next tier down.  So, I’m wondering how, or what rather, they’re going to name this next tier.

On top of this, my Rune-keeper is bursting at the quickslot bars with abilities.  I hope they don’t add any more abilities.  As much as I’d love to see some great new abilities, I have no feasible place to put them.  My suggestion would be to revamp current abilities to either be more powerful or do something extra.  Something that Turbine has already done during the release of Lothlorien and Mirkwood.

- Thrangis

Farmwork To Be Done

Beautifully sunny day in The Shire

Here’s a snap of what I’m up to today.  I have some stuff to take care of around the house so I’ve put my Rune-keeper to work growing vegetables.  I’m not the most enthusiastic player when it comes to crafting.  Sometimes it really intrigues me and other times it’s the last thing on my mind.  Thankfully my brother loves to craft in most games we play and is always willing to teach me when I’m ready to get my feet wet. :)

- Thrangis