LotRO Guide to Frugal Scholarship

By Anna “Morvelaira” Dotson



    In the previous scholar guide, we here at Ten Ton
Hammer showed you the href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=690">fastest
way to reach grand master. But what if you're not made of gold?
What if you have to rub copper together to make that next repair cost
or level training? Well fear not!  Ten Ton Hammer now brings you
the guide to leveling a scholar inexpensively!



    Since the world of Middle Earth is so varied, and
there are so many variables to consider, I've had to make some
assumptions while looking at the data. Here are my assumptions:

1. Vendors will buy items for ¼ what they sell them for.
2. Foraged items are worth five times what vendors will pay for them
   (for the expense and effort of finding them!)
3. Rule #2 does not hold true for recipe prices.  For this
   guide, a recipe's value is the amount of money you'll save making that
   item instead of another.
4. No criticals are made.
5. All items made are sold back to the vendor.
6. We're ignoring repair cost for your tools.
7. You've never heard of the href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=605">auction
   hall.

    href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=album18&id=Thorin_s_Hall_Auctioneer&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="Auction House"
src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album18/Thorin_s_Hall_Auctioneer.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px; height: 139px;" align="left">
That last one is probably the most important of them all. If you want
to level your crafting inexpensively, then you can't go around buying
things on the auction hall all the time.  Since some people don't
have the time or patience to find everything on their own though, I've
included the prices of foraged ingredients in my formulas – just to
give you an idea of what prices to be looking for in the auction hall.



Speaking of formulas, this is how I've calculated each recipe:



Entire tier cost = (total tier points / points per combine) x net cost

Net cost = value of all ingredients – vendor sell price



Without further ado – here goes!

Tier 1: Apprentice

    It's only the first tier, and I'm already giving
away the secret of the guide. Dye, that's it, dye.  In all tiers,
dye of various colors is the most inexpensive item to make, assuming
your follow rule number 5 and sell to the vendor
afterwards.   Here's the formula that applies to both gold
and sienna dye:



(600 pts / 6 pts per combine) x .64 silver net cost = 71.04 silver



    Just over 70 silver will get your apprentice tier
mastered.  If you're only interested in proficiency, divide that
number by 3 (mastery is always twice as long as proficiency). 
That's 21.76 silver.   The one wrench in this plan is that
you have to buy the recipes for the dyes.   If you're looking
for a recipe that you don't have to buy, minor crafting lore is a good
alternative.  It's only 135 silver for mastery (45 for
proficiency) as long as you get your ingredients for 2 silver or
less.  On the other hand, if you can consistently sell them for at
least 5.05 silver, they're a good deal that way too.

Tier 2: Journeyman

    The second tier will obviously cost you more money
than the first, but we continue with the dye theme.  What's
different this time is that there is a slight price difference between
different colors of dye.  Grey dye (a relatively new recipe with
Book 14) has a main ingredient that comes from the farming profession
(which comes bundled with historian) which can be produced cheaper than
a fair price for umber or copper salts.  Here's the formula:



(840 pts / 6 pts per combine) x 1.68 silver net cost = 236.88 silver



    We have some new assumptions for this.  I've
assumed that you can produce the main ingredient for grey dye 25% of
the time you critical the iris farming recipe. Many farming recipes
that produce a critical item like this will actually do so more often
when using the crit items (soil of rivendell/soil of lorien). 
Because I haven't been able to collect more data to determine the true
crit rate, I've staid on the conservative side of things.  Your
results will be better.

    The split between grey dye and the other colors of
dye is actually pretty small.  If you don't have the grey dye
recipe, but you have umber or olive - or you just plain don't want to
level farming, it will only cost you 54.99 silver more.  Or, if
recipes you need no recipe for is more your taste, then lesser crafting
lore is your choice.  It will cost you more than double though, so
watch out.

Tier 3: Expert

    It's in this tier that the advantages of dye really
begin to stand out.  Using the navy dye recipe, it will actually
cost you less than half the money to level tier 3 than tier 2. 
Two of the dyes here have main ingredients from farming, but navy dye
comes from the woad plant – a ground spawn that anyone can gather.



(1080 pts / 6 pts per combine) x .64 silver net cost = 115.20 silver



    If you'd rather sit and farm than roam wide and far
looking for woad, turquoise dye is also a good option.  Turquoise
is another new color from Book 14.  It will cost 302.40 silver,
unless you can sell your dye for at least 6 silver instead of the 5 the
vendor will pay.  Then you'll beat the efficiency of the navy dye.



    If you're looking for a running total at this point
so far, we've mastered three tiers of scholar (often considered the
most expensive profession) and we've only have an out of pocket cost of
423.12.

Tier 4: Artisan

    The trend continues here, with indigo dye (and it's
foraged ingredient) winning out.  Dark green dye is also a viable
option, if you prefer farming onion skins to foraging. Here's the
formulas for both:



(1320 pts / 6 pts per combine) x .94 silver net cost = 207.74 silver
(Indigo)

(1320 pts / 6 pts per combine) x 1.68 silver net cost = 371.28 silver
(Dark Green)



    Whatever you do, don't consider anything else! All
other recipes for the artisan tier will cost you at least a gold, and
some much more.  For example, the most expensive recipe of the
tier is refined fire-oil, partly to its low points per combine. 
Using that, it would take 5 gold, 916.28 silver to master the tier.
Nearly 6 gold!



The running total so far is four tiers mastered, 630.86 silver spent.
Still under a gold! href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=album36&id=Scholar_1&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="Scholar Crafting"
src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album36/Scholar_1.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px; height: 139px;" align="right">

Tier 5: Master

    No one ever said getting to grand master would be
easy, and it's the master tier where the pocketbook starts to hurt –
badly.  Because of the long haul of points to earn, and the much
more expensive ingredients, we'll wind up spending nearly twice what
we've spent on all of our leveling so far.

    Our best bet is red or orange dye.  It will
cost us more than a gold less than anything else in this tier and it's
also where keeping your farming leveled up will also save us a ton! The
main ingredients are juicy strawberries and bloodwort root
(respectively), both master farming recipes. Here's the formula
(conveniently the same for both):



 (1560 pts / 6 pts per combine) x 4.24 = 1 gold, 106.64 silver



    One thing to keep in mind is that rust dye isn't a
bad option either.  It will cost much more – 2 gold, 346.39 silver
in fact – but it does have the possibility of producing the coveted
black dye. Get lucky and make enough of those, and it will pay for
itself  in short order.

Conclusion

    So what's the final damage? Two gold in your pocket
will be more than good enough to take you to grand master if you know
what to look for. Or 1 gold, 737.50 silver, more specifically. I know
like it seems like a lot of money, especially to someone just starting
out in Middle Earth, but trust me – you'll spend more in level training
very quickly enough.  And, once grand master'ed the scholar's
ability to make multiples of href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=669">their
items on criticals will make you a money machine.  You'll make
it up soon enough.



    We've shown you the quickest way to level, and now
the cheapest.  Is either way really the best though?  I don't
think so.  Keep your eyes peeled for the best way to level; the
perfect combination of speed and frugality!



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