Hint-a-Week: Choosing a Crafting Profession

I'm hoping to make this a regular feature...

Broadly, choosing a crafting vocation depends upon whether or not you plan on leveling up multiple toons. Most of the time, you'll find that the tier you're working on is too high in relation to your toon, and you won't be able to gather the necessary materials.

First, some terminology: A vocation is a group of three professions. There are seven vocations: Armourer, Armsman, Explorer, Historian, Tinker, Woodsman, and Yeoman.

These vocations are built from guilded professions and supporting professions. The guilded professions are Cook, Jeweler, Metalsmith, Scholar, Tailor, Weaponsmith, and Woodworker. The supporting professions include Farmer, Forester, and Prospector. For example, the Forester can gather and treat wood, which can then be passed on to a Woodworker, or turn hides into leather, which can be passed on to a Tailor.

For a good overview of the vocations and professions, refer to the Lotro-Wiki Vocations page.

Most people (me included) tend to choose the vocation that best supports their class. In fact, this is not a very good strategy. You'll often be waiting to get the necessary material and waiting to be able to tier up and "crit" on the recipes (critted items are much better than the non-critted version). Also, you'll still be reliant upon other vocations, either for weapons or amour.

If you plan to level only one toon: Choose either the Historian (Scholar), Tinker (Jeweler), or Yeoman (Cook) vocation. These professions - especially Scholar and Cook - can be extremely lucrative at all levels, including end game.

Unfortunately, by end game, Metalsmiths and Tailors are supplanted by Raid/Instance loot. And, although all guilded professions can craft some kind of Legendary Item (LI), at end-game, these items are pretty much the only worthwhile things that Weaponsmiths and Metalsmiths can craft, a situation that pretty much limits those two professions. While Third Age LIs are pretty easy to gather materials for, they (or the Khadzul tablets, which can be bartered for Third-Agers) drop so often that crafting them is not really viable. Second and First Age LIs require special symbols, which drop from specific instance or (in the case of Second Agers) can be purchased using Skirmish Marks and Superior Third Marks (in the next release, the cost of the Symbol of Celebrimbor is being reduced, making it easier to get a Second Age LI).

All crafting profession can also create crafted relics, which can be slotted on the legendary item in order to boost a specific basic stat.

If you plan on leveling more than one toon: Choose the Explorer vocation (Forester/Prospector/Tailor) for your first toon, and any vocation with the Farmer profession (Historian, Woodsman, or Yeoman) for the next toon. Without ever leaving Hobbiton, a Farmer can be at Supreme Master in just a few nights.

In general, a single toon can gather enough materials to level all professions, with a couple of exceptions. Even a Scholar can be leveled to Supreme Master just off loot drops. However, almost every other vocation will offer either the Prospector or Forester profession; thus, choosing any other profession will handicap any alts that rely on the items processed by these professions.

For F2P'ers, things aren't quite as simple, since these players only have 2 character slots. The minimum number of characters required to cover all crafting vocations is 4: Armourer, Historian, Tinker, and Woodsman (though you will not be able to have all the guilds covered). You'll need all 7 vocations to cover all the guilds.