Hi everybody. In an effort to better organize crafting for our kin, I've been doing a lot of research to the new craft tire. I have all craft professions completely leveled, except tailor (there are just so many of you explorers out there, so what's one more?) I've been really quite impressed by the spirit of teamwork I've seen in the kin.
Today I'm going to focus on universal consumables--those items which all classes use. In future guys, I plan on looking at each class individually, starting with the classes which are most represented in our kin. Before I go any further, let me just point out that you do not need guild rep to help out. Some items, such as hope tokens or resistance soups have no guild recipe, so any jeweler or cook will do. I do not have a guild jeweler but I still managed to makes stacks of tokens the other day, most of which I donated for prizes at our Kin X-mas Party.
Alright, let's move on and discuss the items. Only 3 craft professions make consumable items which are not class-specific: cooks, jewelers and scholars. I'll address each in turn.
Cooks - Everybody needs to eat!
Cooks prepare food which buffs all classes. The food comes in 3 types: Cooked Food, Trail Food and Fortifying Food. Cooks also make coffee which increases run speed and makes me pee.
Cooked food increases morale/power regen for a rather short duration. Cooked food lasts for 5 minutes, 10 minutes if it superior. Cooked food also removes a wound/poison effect on consumption, which is rather useless because you can only eat out of combat, whereas you can pot wounds at any time. When deciding between types of cooked food to make, I favor the ones which have higher in-combat morale/power regen. I suppose out-of-combat is ok when soloing, but when fooding up before a boss-fight out-of-combat regens really aren't so helpful. I recommend Superior Pear Glazed Roast Venison. Guild cooks can produce a stack of 25 once a week, but you can also make these by critting the regular recipe.
Trail Food is the stat food. These are not class specific, though some classes may prefer a certain stat over another. That said, everybody can benefit from an increase in any stat. Vitality food is probably the most universal, but no stat is completely useless to any class, and use of each kind of trail food is open to all. Trail food typically boosts just one stat, but guild cooks can make trail food which buffs vitality and one additional stat. These recipes are tier 8 only at the moment. In my opinion the tier 8 vitality plus _____ trail food is still the best available. Superior t9 food gives 83 of one stat, while the t8 guild food gives 69 vitality and 69 of another stat.
Fortifying Food are those resistance soups that grandma used to make. The tier 9 soup grats 1800 resistance rating plus a bonus 2% resist to wound, disease, fear or poison. Honestly I don't think it matters much which soup you use. The 1800 resistance rating is why you are eating this soup. I don't think it's worth sacrificing bags space to carry all four soups. That said, the soup is a huge help. Just carry/make whichever you can. This is the most indispensable food, in my opinion. Always bring soup with you.
Coffee increases your run-speed. This bonus does not stack with those run-speed boosts you get from hobbit presents. It also cannot be used at the same time as trail food. I'm told it's quite useful in the moors. Coffee is also good for those Suri-Sarma runs where you have to keep walking through the whole level after the guardians punts you off the summit. Trust me, Ringo has a lot of experience with that.
Jewelers
Next up, Hope Tokens, crafted by jewelers. Those tier 8 tokens are still pretty good. They provide a bonus to hope. Hope increases your morale, damage dealt, buffs against damage received and incoming healing. Your hope counteracts dread which gives you a penalty to the above. The new tier 9 tokens provide 6 hope and a bonus to your resistance rating. These effects are good for the whole fellowship, but do not cross fellowships in raids. They also have a long cool down. For this reason, everybody should carry them. If you are on cool down, but need to use one, don't hesitate to share with a fellowship member. Whether they use it or you do, your bonus is the same.
Scholars
Scholars produce potions and scrolls which any can use.
First, the scrolls. There are 2 types. Scrolls of battle lore increase everybody's damage by increasing physical and tactical mastery rating. Scrolls of Warding Lore increases everybody's mitigations, both physical and tactical. These scrolls effect the entire fellowship. Lower level scrolls are better than nothing.
Scholars also make several potions which help everybody. They can morale and power potions. If everybody uses potions wisely, you will really help your healers out. Everybody collects scholars mats, though it's certainly faster for scholars to collect them from nodes. When you are looking to get rid of the scholar mats you picked up while grinding your orc-slayer deed, consider asking a scholar to make you some potions. I don't believe you can purchase these, but you may be able to barter them. Still, there are better ways to spend your Westemnet Iron Coins.
Scholars also make draughts which remove wounds, fear, disease or poison. Today's update is supposed to make it possible to purchase these from healers. If so, there really isn't much point to crafting them. You do need have the highest tier of these, because tier 8 pots will fail to remove the wounds you receive from level 95 mobs. Purchasing from a healer is just far easier than crafting.
In Summary - how can you help?
Ok, so here is the best way for you crafters out there to help the kin.
Cooks, everything you do is a benefit to everybody. And you can do most of your work afk, so that's a bonus.
Jewelers, those tokens are always in need.
Scholars - the pots are useful, but can be acquired in other ways. The scrolls help, but aren't necessary. I think some of the class-specific items scholars make are probably actually a little more necessary. More on that in future episodes.
Consider putting the items in the auction house as a kin-only auction at a price you feel is fair, but less than what you would charge the general public. If you let me know you've done this, I will email the kin and tell them that it's there. Or you can put stacks in kin storage. Sometimes I just throw the stuff up in kin chat just mail to whoever wants it.
Please share your thoughts below.
