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LOTRO Gold Basics

LOTRO Gold Basics

When it comes to in-game money, LOTRO is a fairly balanced MMO. The money you make doing quests and selling dropped loot will usually cover your costs: repairs, travel and supplies. However, on occasion, you'll want more gold than you have - mmorsel's Guide to LOTRO Gold will help you with that. But before you actually go out and farm gold you must master good habits that will both lessen your need to farm gold and .
help you hold onto the gold you earn.

Know the Math

In LOTRO, money is counted in gold, silver and copper. 100 copper = 1 silver, 1000 silver = 1 gold. An item listed on the Auction House for 1g 100s 0c is selling for 1.1 gold.

Become a Prospector

For the most part, crafting is a money sink and is not really needed until you need consumables (like food or scrolls) and end game gear around level 60 or so. Until then, you'll make a lot more money on a character you are leveling if you take a vocation that includes the Prospector profession. Your best choices are Explorer or Tinker.

As an Explorer, your professions are prospector (mining), forester (cutting wood and tanning hides) and tailor. Just by mining as you level, you will get lots of ore, gems and dye materials to sell on the AH. Tan the hides you get while leveling and sell those as well. In general, cutting wood is not as profitable as mining, and it may strain your bag space to collect both.

As a Tinker, your professions are prospector (mining), jeweler and cook. As with Explorer, you get the money making potential of mining. You also get access to Cooking, which is one of the less expensive professions to master and cooked food can be helpful when leveling. Jeweler is also a useful craft, as every character you have will have 7 gear slots a Jeweler can fill. Still, you are better off waiting until level 60 or so before mastering jewelry.

Loot Your Defeated Foes

Free and Premium players start with 3 bags, VIPs players start with 5 bags. Honestly, 3 bags is enough if you sell at every opportunity. Look for travelling vendors in the field and put anything you don't need immediately in the bank. When your bags start to get full, go sell! If you need to toss a few things before heading to town, ditch the least desirable, non-stackable loot first.

Selling Your Good Loots

Some mob-drop and gathered items generally sell well. Price check these in the AH or Trade channel before selling to an NPC vendor. These are:
  • Scholar components (including dye components)
  • Reputation barter items usually
  • Ore/ingots, hides/leather, logs/lumber, unpolished gems and "crit" components.
  • Single-use recipes (though this can be spotty

The Auction House

Since VIPs start with 25 Auction House (AH) posting slots, they can save a lot of time by selling on the AH. Premium players start with 5 posting slots, Free players start with none. Consider buying the 5 slot upgrade from the LOTRO Store - it will apply to all the character on your account. See Making Gold in the Auction House.

The Trade Channel

If you are short on AH posting slots, save them for the highest demand items, like stacks of ore or scholar components. Offer gear drops and other goods to the /Trade channel. Since Free players can't trade items for money (unless the buyer is VIP), you may have to barter these items for ore or other commodities. Be creative!

Managing the Gold Cap

Free players can only carry 2 gold, Premium players are capped at 5 gold. Any extra gold you earn goes into escrow until you purchase the unlock from the LOTRO Store (applies to all the characters on your account). This means you should plan your in-game purchases carefully to stay under the cap as long as possible. Some suggestions:
  • Buy a horse (500 silver)
  • Buy bank storage ungrades (45 silver up to 5 gold)
  • Buy a small house (1.7+ gold). This gives you an extra port, which can be very handy.
  • Buy a storage chest for your house (250 silver)
Another tactic is to store full stacks of vendor loot in your bank or house until you need the cash or to use as barter. But eventually, you're going to want to remove the gold cap.

Beware the Money Pits

All the money making tricks in the world won't change your bank balance unless you are careful how you spend. LOTRO is designed to have a balanced economy. This means there are as many ways to spend gold as there are to make gold.

Limit Purchases from the Auction House

There are lots of pretty shiny things to buy on the Auction House. Be cautious! Before level 50, there are only a few things you should consider buying from the AH:
  • Class items, like minstrel instruments, champion runes and lore-master books at levels 20, 30 and 40. These are crafted, so you'll need to get them from kin crafter, the /Trade channel or from the AH.
  • Class supplies, like hunter oils and traps, guardian shield spikes and lore-master rezz weed. You'll need some of these supplies for grouping, but use them sparingly (like for boss fights).
  • Morale and power potions, if you run out. You'll get a fair number of these as loot, so avoid buying these if possible.
You shouldn't need to buy armor, jewelry and weapon upgrades from AH while leveling. Quest or skirmish rewards should be enough. Ask the crafters in your kin what they can make you (be sure to supply all the materials!) Limit gear purchase from the AH to upgrading slots that are at least 10 levels behind.