Original content created by community member: Davlin

A Tinkers Vocation Guide

by Tavlin Woodbury of the Shire

A Tinkers job is never done. One of the most useful Vocations in Middle Earth, the Tinker is an easy vocation to tackle and level out. Sit back and read this comprehensive guides to this critical vocation. There are a few times throughout your Lord of the Rings Online experience where you decide what profession to pour your attention into. It could be your first character or your 5th alternate. If this is your first character your choices may seem overwhelming but I can tell you that the Tinkers vocation is one of the most rewarding. It can provide a good source of income as well as create some of the most useful trinkets and food for your journeys.

Section 1: What is a Tinker?

The Tinkers usefulness is attributed to the Professions that make it up; Prospector, Jeweler, and Cook. The Prospector gives you the ability to track and mine ore throughout Middle Earth. This field is one of the most useful as many vocations require ore to make their items. This gives you the ability to make some silver on the side; tier 4 and tier 6 ore can make some nice coin on the auction house. The field of Prospector compliments its partner, the Jeweler. The Jeweler profession gives you the ability to refine precious stones into gems and create jewelery and tokens that can boost your characters statistics. Throughout the game, the need for these items is constant and everyone has demand for these little creations. You can find yourself very useful to kin when it comes to making critical items and Hope tokens. Lastly is the Cook profession; it may seem unrelated to the previous two fields but you would be mistaken. The Cook field adds an additional support role for you and your kinsmen. This part of the Tinkers vocation gives you the ability to create food and snacks that can give temporary statistical bonuses to your character and kinsmen.

Keep in mind that although the Jeweler and Prospector fields greatly benefit each other, you'll find the Cooking field takes more effort to level as you need to purchase or collect most of your ingredients. This cost can be offset by utilizing the Prospector and Jewelers professions to create sellable items on the Auction House.

Section 2: When do I start?

The best time to pick the Tinkers profession is as soon as possible. You'll quickly be exposed to materials and components as soon as you step out into the world. What better time to start collecting those materials then the immediate present?

There are benefits to starting this vocation as a secondary or an alternate character. The only time I would recommend this as a secondary Profession is if you have completed the Explorer or Historian vocation on your main character. The ability to take a higher rank character and farm the required components for your Jeweler (Explorer) or Cook (Historian) would be beneficial. If your primary character has the Explorer vocation, you'll find you have two prospectors, which could mean double the work if you are a completionist like myself. The only direct vocation that complements Tinker would be Historian; your Ore and Gems would benefit the Historian's Weaponsmith profession, and the Farmer profession would easily compliment your Cook Profession. Ultimately I would suggest both Tinker and Historian if you had to select two.

Section 3: Crafting and Selecting a Crafting Guild

Now that you have selected the Vocation, you have to be aware of the materials you require. You'll find your Prospector abilities are needed to advance your Jeweler. The ore you mine can have a chance of providing you with precious stones to refine to gems. Humanoid mobs through every level drop these stones as well. You'll find your bags fill up quickly with these useful components as soon as the adventuring begins. You'll quickly find yourself crafting in no time. Rations from your Cook, and fancy Jewelry and Tokens from your Jeweler will certainly make your travels a little more easy.

All items crafted will go towards increasing your profession's abilities. Eventually you will get to the point where you can choose to specialize your vocation by selecting a crafting guild to join. This guild will define what you will specialize in your vocation. As a Tinker your guild choices are Jeweler and Cook. The Jewelers guild is located in Esteldin. The entrance is located above the crafting hall entrance in the upper left hand corner. The Cooking Guild is located in Michel Delving in the crafting area. Both locations are clearly marked with the profession's sign.

Once you join the guild of your choice, you will have the ability to make Faction items. The items are available in your crafting guild's building. These faction items are broken down by Reputation value as well as by Crafting Tier. Each tier from Expert on up has the ability to make Faction Items. Expert and Artisan can make Small and Medium Faction items. Master and Supreme tiers can make Small, Medium, and Large items. Each type of Faction item has a cool-down timer associated with it, so you can't make 100 of them in one sitting. The cool-down timers are:

• Small Item - 1 Day
• Medium Item - 3 Days
• Large Item - 1 Week

These Faction items have multiple uses. Not only can they improve your Faction standing, but they also help you create complex items. The Faction items also have incredible high crafting reward points for tier progression. To summarize; make these items as often as you can, which brings up the next addition to this section:

Materials: if you have some down time you should try and store as much as you can. This is really important for materials you tend to use a lot. Refer to your crafting panel often to see which recipe materials you'll need most frequently.

Section 4: Material, Tier Progression, and Time Tables - The Cheat Sheet

Some players in Middle Earth like to complete their chosen profession as quickly as possible. I have compiled lists from other users to assist players in achieving complete mastery as soon as possible. Like all short cuts this may cost some hefty coin and require you to buy materials on the Auction House. Certain tiered materials may cost more than others.

Experience needed per Tier - This is a breakdown of how much crafting points are required to bring each Profession to Supreme Master:

Prospector Materials Breakdown

- The simplest way to become Supreme Master Prospector is to smelt ore. It rewards you 8 points for combining 2 of the same ore into 1 ingot. You'll need to remember that you can farm one type of ore if you want, or mix and match. Following the table above this is how much ore you will need:

Tier		Ore Name	# of Ingots Needed	Ore Required
Apprentice		Copper	75	150
Apprentice		Tin
Journeyman		Barrow-Iron	105	210
Journeyman		Silver
Expert		Gold	135	270
Expert		Rich Iron
Artisan		Platnium	165	330
Artisan		Dwarf Iron
Master		Ancient Iron	195	390
Master		Ancient Nickel
Master		Ancient Silver
Supreme		Khazard Tin	225	450
Supreme		Khazâd Copper
Supreme		Khazâd Iron
Supreme		Khazâd Gold

Jeweler Materials Breakdown

Refining precious stones into gems is the quickest way to level your Jeweler. One of the great things about the Jeweler is that the refining process is a perfect 1:1 ratio. 1 Precious stone equals 4 pts. Following the Tier requirement table above these will be the materials you will need:

Tier		Precious Stone	# of Stones Needed
Apprentice		Agate	150
Apprentice		Amethyst
Journeyman		Bloodstone	210
Journeyman		Opal
Expert		Ruby	270
Expert		Sapphire
Artisan		Adamant	330
Master		Beryl	390
Master		Moonstone
Supreme		Aquamarine	450
Supreme		Dawn Rose

*Table does not include component requirements needed for crafting quests

Cooking Materials Breakdown

The Cook profession is the most complicated profession in the Tinker vocation for materials. There are many components required to complete a recipe. First you have to make an ingredient, then you need to process the recipe. This two step process is time consuming and expensive. A majority of the recipes require goods from a Farmer. If you know a Farmer or have an alt with the profession, it will make acquiring these ingredients a lot easier. If you don't know anyone or don't have an alt in the farming profession, be prepared to spend some coin at the auction house. The table below is a list or recipes that only require one farming component each to make it as easy as possible. AH = Auction House Price; Vendor Prices are from Expert Cook in Michel Delving (Discounts can come from housing).

Tier	Recipe		Item	# Needed	Cost Total
Apprentice	Carrot Sticks		Fresh Carrot	75	AH**
			Lump of Butter	75	18s
Journeyman	Bowl of Oatmeal		Bunches of Oats	210	AH
			Drop of Honey	105	58s 80c
			Bottle of Water	105	25s 20c
Expert	Pork Chops		Heads of Cauliflower	360	AH
			Bag of Salt	180	201s 60c
			Uncooked Pork Chop	180	201s 60c
Artisan	Salted Beef Delights		Green Onions	440	AH
			Bag of Salt	220	246s 40c
			Flank of Beef	220	686s 40c
Master	Masterful Mash		Golden Shire Taters	520	AH
			Sharp Cheese Wheel	260	551s 20c
			Bottle of Savory Seasoning	260	811s 20c
Supreme	Red Tea		Bundles of Tea Leaves	600	AH
			Bottle of Water	300	72s
			Pinch of Mixed Herbs	300	1g 260s
Total Cash for Vendor			4g 132s 40c

*Table does not include component requirements needed for crafting quests

** AH (Auction House) prices fluctuate and are not factored into the Total Cash Price

Crafting Faction Time Tables

- Leveling your character to Supreme Master in each of your profession will seem like a quick accomplishment given the required time needed for Crafting Faction advancement. With the Faction item recipes having a cool-down timer you have to wait anywhere from 15 - 19 days to gain Kindred Standing. The tables below represent the total Faction Item worth as well as strategies for the 15 day and 19 day progression.

Faction Item Worth

Faction Progression 19 Day Model

Faction Progression 15 Day Model

* There is no need to trade in a third Large Faction Item

Section 5: The Tinkers End Game

Congratulations, you are now a Supreme Master Tinker in a crafting guild of your choice. There are many opportunities open to you with your acquired abilities. It is up to you to determine what role you want to play in this vocational path. There are plenty of things you can do, like:

• Play the market at the Auction house - What better way to line your pockets then create high demand items from Lothlorian Faction Jewelery to Red Tea and Shepard's Pie. There is plenty of silver and gold to be had if played correctly. If you do your research, you could be the next Bill Gates.
• Benevolent Pro-Bono work - some residents of Middle Earth like to assist their fellow adventurer and charge the cost of materials. What better way to assist your Kinship by providing items and food to give them the edge they need. If a Kin plans correctly, it could have multiple Supreme Master Professionals covering all vocations.
• Assist your Alts - Give your secondary characters an easier journey. Let your main provide them with a world that's a little bit easier with complete Jewelery sets or an endless supply of food.

Section 6: Thanks and Reference Material

Id like to thank you for reading my player created Guide. I will add updated information and more sections as I elaborate more on the topic. If you'd like anything added or something discussed, PM me on the forums. My forum name is Davlin.

Listed below are references pages that can further assist you outside a Tinkers Vocation:

How to make Money in LOTRO

Thaingrim's Guide to Money in LOTRO

Mithril Flake Dropers

www.eventide.antarat.com/forum/viewtopic.php

Shard Dropers

www.lotro-rares.com/

Cookbook and Price Guide Volume 3

spreadsheets.google.com/ccc

I'd also like to thank Unique for the useful information provided through his/her Tailors Guide.