Rohan begins: Crafting, and Virtues at 16

OMG! I was excited to start the journey toward Rohan and it did not disappoint on the first day.

The activities on the agenda went sort of according to prep plan (prep-for-riders-of-rohan). It actually started off much like the journey-toward-dunland.

A new Horse!

Priorites! The first thing I did was that I went to Stangard and bartered for a new horse!

He is called the Prized Easterling Horse.  Obtaining it requires Kindred standing with the Heroes of Limlight Gorge and barters for 20 golden tokens of Anduin. He is similar to the other Limlight Gorge  horse (called the Wayward Easterling Horse), except his coat is much whiter and the saddle and tack are different. Both horses can be seen at reputation-steeds.

So many new things… The Skills/Mount tab changed. The horses are much more organized now and there is a search feature. They are organized into categories called Standard Mounts, Festival & Event Mounts, Reputation Mounts, Deed Mounts, Exclusive Mounts, and Promotional Mounts.

Hmm, Now that the game has some sense of organization, I may have to organize my Steed Gallery (All the Steeds) a bit differently… though it is similar, I do like how I divided mine a bit better.

Crafting for the Guilds!

Next, I and the team of lildana crafters turned in items for Guild Rep, then bought all the Guild recipes. I think the Weaponsmith or Woodworker won the award for having the most recipes. I will talk more about that soon I am sure. Like the previous tier, there are special crafted items that can be made only once per day.

There are lots of subtle differences now, that I really like (I think). The addition of a gold arrow above the target is new (see it in the next picture). I am not sure if it can be turned off or not. I will let you know if I find out.

All crafters can make Bridle Relic symbols. They are class specific. There are 3 types per class. Relics will have a separate post soon I am sure.

However, only Tailors make Bridles. There are 3rd Age level 85 and 2nd Age level 85 crafted bridles for Light, Medium, and Heavy warsteeds. The first thing to see is that the bridle crafting is on a Cooldown (1 day for 3rd Age; 3 days for 2nd Age). I will defer that to a later discussion as well.

Danaszar points out that the Guild Halls moved. The ones that were in Esteldin have moved to the back of the craft hall. In this picture, she is looking at what used to be the back of the Esteldin craft hall, which has been remodeled to include the jeweler and woodworker halls. The Guild Halls for Metalsmith and Weaponsmith are now next to the forges in Thorin’s Hall.

Danadalyn notices that a new Vault-keeper has set up shop in the Thorin's Hall forge area, right next to the Weaponsmith Hall (you can see the door for it in the background of this shot).

Similarly, the Scholar Guild set up a vault-keeper AND a superior study right in the Scholar Hall room in Elrond's house. Danaclaus the scholar will never get any exercise now, unless it is to check the Mail. He petitioned Elrond for the addition of a mailbox inside the house… no answer yet.

Getting closer to heading out…

I re-spent my LI legacy points since they were all reset with the update. Fortunately, I had pictures of the LIs so I didn’t have to remember all that while thinking about new stuff.

Virtues are updated to rank 16!

I didn’t bother to change any of my virtues at this time. I figured that if it was good enough yesterday, it is fine today. They clearly got a bit better though. Before Rohan deeds, every virtue has at least 16 available ranks (ranging from 16-22, average 17.75, total 355 deeds).

Here is a look at Virtue stats at rank 16. I will refer back to this table in later posts. For comparison, this exact table was produced at rank 14 and rank 12 at the post update-6-relics-and-virtues. (Click on the table to zoom in.)

Time to Ride!

Finally, it is time to ride toward Rohan! The momentous occasion required a grand steed, the Reveller’s Gilded Horse fit the job nicely. That is all for now boys and girls. I will pick up again on Friday with more stories and data and horses, oh my... /spoiler* a War-horse may enter the picture. hehe. Enjoy your adventure!

Welcome to my Tailor shoppe!

(archived from October 26, 2011)


At week 4 since RoI release, my favorite craft areas are still absorbing the overwhelming amount of new crafting and gear content of the Westfold, the Tier 7 level. I am sure my hero and namesake Darzil has been inundated with information; such is the weight of running a site dedicated to crafting and being really good at it (check out Darzil’s guide at http://northshield.co.uk/LOTRO/).  So, I want to try to do my part by showing you around my tailor shoppe.

Ok, let’s break it down. I will show you everything in the Westfold catalog. This post is a bit long, but it should tell you everything you want to know about what is available and what it costs.

As a tailor, I make (1) Light armor, (2) Medium armor, (3) Cloaks, (4) Burglar signals, (5) Captain Armaments, and (6) Legendary items (Burglar tool-bags and Rune-keeper rune-bags).

The only things you will find in my shoppe are critically made items; if it isn’t the best of its kind, it does not bear my name and is trashed. Now on to the details!

There are 6 pieces in the Light and Medium armor families: Shoes, Gloves, Shoulders, Chest, Helm, and Legs. I will list the variations in that order.

Materials: There are only a few key materials required for each piece…

• Large Hides (kill some animals or get friendly with the AH),
• Drops of Birch-tar (gather some wood, visit the AH, or barter me for spare birch-tar as I often have some laying around),
• Lumps of Rich Wax (the friendly supplier here in the Craft hall has plenty of wax for sale),
• Cracked Rhi Helvarch Sigils for level 75 items (they have a low drop rate from any resource node and can be found on the AH for a price), and
• Draigoch scales for the level 75 Dragon cloaks.

Header Summary of sections below:

• Level 66 Shoes
• Level 68 Gloves
• Level 68 Shoulders
• Level 70 Chest Armor
• Level 72 Hats
• Level 72 Legs
• Level 70 Cloaks
• Level 75 Shoes
• Level 75 Gloves
• Level 75 Shoulders
• Level 75 Chest Armor
• Level 75 Hats
• Level 75 Legs
• Level 75 Cloaks
• Level 75 Dragon Cloaks
• Level 75 Burglar Signals
• Level 70 Captain standards and armaments
• Level 75 Captain standards
• Level 75 Legendary bags for Burglars and Rune-keepers

Level 66 Shoes! The Shoes come in Light and Medium armor styles. Be sure you know your size.

The level 66 shoes and boots are sewn with 4 Large Hides and rubbed with 1 Drop of Birch-tar. The success rate to make a great pair of shoes is 60%. If you have the materials, I guarantee I will not fail twice.

Level 68 Gloves are stitched with 8 Large Hides and rubbed with 1 Drop of Birch-tar and 2 Lumps of Rich Wax. Choose from Light or Medium armor types. Same 60% success rate; same guarantee.

Level 68 Shoulders require the same care as the 68 Gloves. 8 Large Hides, 1 Drop of Birch-tar, 2 Lumps of Rich Wax. Light or Medium choices. 60% success rate.

Level 70 Armor of the Dunland... What nice pieces those are. It takes a special tailor with renown with the folks of Dunland to be able to make the finished leather for chest pieces. The materials are getting a bit pricier, but we want a nice chest piece when fighting those stabby uruk-hai. 16 Large Hides, 1 Drop of Birch-tar, 5 Lumps of Rich Wax. Light or Medium choices. 60% success rate.

Level 72 Hats… Of course, like the chest pieces, the hats and leggings require finished leather known only to the Dunlands and their appointed tailors. 16 Large Hides, 1 Drop of Birch-tar, 6 Lumps of Rich Wax. Light or Medium choices. 60% success rate.

Level 72 Leggings are similar themed to the hats mentioned above… 16 Large Hides, 1 Drop of Birch-tar, 6 Lumps of Rich Wax. Light or Medium choices. 60% success rate.

Level 70 Cloaks, like the level 70 armor of Dunland, require 16 Large Hides, 1 Drop of Birch-tar, 5 Lumps of Rich Wax. One size fits all. 60% success rate.

Level 75 pieces: And now for some special items only made well by Guild tailors…


All of the level 75 pieces are made with Guild tailor patterns, a collection of Hides, and 1 Cracked Rhi Helvarch Sigil. If the piece was made with just the Large Guild pattern that has a 1 week cooldown, it would require 52 Large Hides and 13 Lumps of Rich Wax. Under pressing times, tailors can make these level 75 pieces with Small and Medium Guild patterns as well  to output more high quality armor. Of course, splicing patterns comes with a price. 


The success rate for level 75 Guild-made armors is 100% and there is little better than these crafted armors. Many of the crafted armors are the best in class… other competition includes Moors armor, “barter mark” armor, some Skirmish drop armor… did you read my post “Best laid plans of elves and rune-keepers “?


The down side is the 1 week cooldown... So Patience is a virtue. I will accelerate as fast as I can fill orders splicing together the smaller patterns until demand drops.


Let’s see the selection!

Level 75 Shoes:

Level 75 Gloves:

Level 75 Shoulders:

Level 75 Armor:

Level 75 Hats:

Level 75 Leggings:

Level 75 Cloaks of Theodred:

Level 75 Dragon Cloaks: Alrighty now for something really special. Only the tailors with renown in the Guild and with Theodred can make the best cloaks… Here is a selection of 4 special cloaks. Each requires 3 Draigoch scales, 32 Large Hides, and 12 Lumps of Rich Wax.

My first draft of this tailor catalog yesterday was written with no expectation of having a Dragon cloak any time soon. With some super-great leadership, awesome healing, timely FMs, and good teamwork last night, 12 Riders went into the Dragon's lair and had Draigoch BBQ. I am still in a little shock this morning, but that is a story for another time. For now, I give you a picture of the Wyrmscale Wizard's Cloak. It is even sharper and more vibrant and glowy than this picture does it justice.

For the Burglars: Not being the stealthy sort, I couldn’t tell you how or why Burglars do what they do. I do know that some of my dear friends are Burglars and they make groups magical. I offer 4 different level 75 Burglar Signals. Each requires 12 Large Hides and 4 Lumps of Rich Wax. 100% success rate. Easy peasey; might as well get all four signals.

For level 70 Captains: Similarly, everyone loves captains. For level 70, I can sew either Dunland Banner Standards or Herald Armaments. The Standards come in a variety of colors to bolster and inspire your group. The Herald Armaments are all the same, but you get to choose for whom you would like them sewn… Man, Woman, Dwarf… then subdivided into Shield-maidens, Swordwomen, Maid-at-arms type armaments. Just ask to see a selection of patterns. 8 Large Hides, 1 Drop of Birch-tar, 2 Lumps of Rich Wax. 60% success rate.

For level 75 Captains, I can sew Westfold Banner Standards. Captains make everything better. We want you to be as uber as possible so the materials for this standard will be the cheapest thing you own at level 75. 12 Large Hides, 1 Drop of Birch-tar, and 4 Lumps of Rich Wax. 60% success rate.

Legendary Items, for Rune-keepers and Burglars: I sew level 75 Legendary rune-bags for Rune-keepers and tool-bags for Burglars.


The 3rd Age Crafted bags require 3 Legendary Fragments, 24 Large Hides, 3 Lumps of Rich Wax, and 1 Cracked Rhi Helvarch Sigil. As far as I can tell, these bags are fairly standard and are identical to any other bag you would take off the enemy. I won't make it unless you give me a good reason why you want one.


The 2nd Age Reforged bags are the best I can make currently. Each requires 5 Legendary Fragments, 32 Large Hides, 12 Lumps of Rich Wax, 1 Cracked Rhi Helvarch Sigil, and 1 Worn Symbol of Celebrimbor. These are the ones you want. It takes me a 3 day cooldown to make one and I would be proud to sign any you have commissioned.


Hopefully, this newly commissioned one will serve Dainger well in his future adventures.

Danania Darzil ~ Supergirl of Lorien, and Tailor 

(To my great delight, Crafter fans tuned in to give comments @ final-comments)

Journey toward Dunland

(archived from October 19, 2011)


Exciting times in Middle Earth! A few weeks ago, the free people were on a dash to 75 while helping the “Men of Dunland” and “Theodred's Riders”. Some people were really helpful to those factions, reaching level 75 in lightning speed. Me? Not so much. I plug along at my pace, skipping absolutely nothing, and probably taking at least twice as long to actually accomplish anything, while taking thousands of pictures. However, with persistence, I made it to 75 after about 18 days. My friend Lynrial? She wears rocket-shoes. I believe she hit the cap by the 4th day.

Here is a picture of 75 Lynrial greeting people to Galtrev the first week.

In typical mosey-fashion, I started off toward Dunland by saying goodbye to friends. Here is the story of my start toward Dunland.


The Letter…
Winds have been whispering of the push into the Dunland for some time now. Recently, that moment arrived.

The evening started like any other; and not surprisingly for a Monday, I received a letter from Elrond. Why he sends mail every Monday... well that is not part of this story (what happens in Rivendell between two elves is none of your business ).

But this Monday was different. He wanted me to go to Dunland. The new journey had begun.

Hambrennil...
It may be a while before I venture north again, likely not til fall festival...

So, I need to stop in to see some friends.

My first love as a tailor means that I could not leave without visiting Hambrennil, the tailor's guild leader. We reminisced of an earlier time, back in lorien, studying under the guidance of Galadriel. I took the teachings to heart and learned Galadriel's art; Hambrennil became the leading tailor in this land. To each, her own path be true.

After our meeting and her encouragement, I leave for Dunland as a Master of the Guild; I will represent well that which I have learned. I carry her stamp of approval, which bodes well in dealing in rohirrim lands.

Toby...
Those who serve under Hambrennil had a few parting words as well.

Toby Eatwell, Bob Rosethorn, and the dwarf Jamarr taught me a few new things they had learned recently in the craft of sewing to protect the Free People.

Though they remain behind, I carry their knowledge forward. May it be used to fight Sauron with whatever means we can devise. The enemy will be formidable; we must be better.

Garchadron...
A few more stops before my journey south...

Many bards are in the land, but it has been long since I visited with Garchadron.

"Hast thee any words for me, sage one?"

After meditating with me,
Garchadron says, "As you journey forth, keep your spirit of Idealism, your Zeal for adventure, have Confidence, be Wise in your dealings, and be Loyal to who you are. After you get settled, meet with the bard in Dunland to refocus."

Good words dear bard. Good words.

Danaish…
Of the lil danas, where I go, you cannot follow.

Those of you who can, craft relics. I will need your talent in the weeks and months ahead.

Those who can't, keep spirits high by continuing to greet people to Thorin's Hall. I will send mail once I arrive in the south.

Farethewell lil danas. We shall meet again at festival.

Some Dude...
Interestingly enough, once I got to Dunland, down in Galtrev, there is another Tailor Guld Leader in the craft hall.


Authorized by Hambrennil, you say? Fair enough. You don't even really need a name do you. I feel sad for you, people just call you "some dude!" Well you have a point; most people who come to Galtrev don't even realize you are down here in the basement of the crafting hall. It is a nice place to be, although it could use some better lighting. I would hate to poke myself with a sewing needle. Touche, I did just get my leg chewed on by a warg... but that doesn't mean I want to stab myself with a needle also. See you soon Some Dude.

This one originally had comments also. :) (final-comments)