Guide to the Hard Tack Crafting Event

The great cooks of Thorin’s Hall have called for the forges of Ukhbab-gairu to be fired to bake a precious meal, and they are awarding anyone assisting in their efforts!

The Hard Tack Crafting Event is a cooperative activity near Thorin’s Hall in The Lord of the Rings Online! This event is on a regular rotation with the Forester Crafting Event and is active for ten days before it goes away for the next fourteen days. This community effort is open to everyone, even non-Crafters, and takes place every hour with an access point in Thorin’s Gates outside of Thorin’s Hall. There is also a broadcast in Ered Luin five minutes before the event begins, and each event lasts twenty minutes.

Taking part in the event awards ribbons used to barter for rewards with the vendor Heori Firefeed outside of the event space (13.9S, 103.4W). The entrance to the event space called Ukhbab-gairu, Vault of the Great Forge is next to Heori. Once inside, speak with Ogmund Bellowbreath to learn about the event and the roles available to you. If you are a cook, it is advised that you speak with Ingul Ovestoke before the event begins to acquire the three special cooking recipes for the event.

Once the event begins, three NPCs provide quests for Prospectors, Cook, and anyone who wants to help! Prospectors speak to Skuld Scentlode to pick up the Prospector-only quest, Cooks speak to Ingul Ovestoke to pick up the Cook-only quest, and those wishing to assist as neither cook nor prospector speak to Velgerd Kilnwarden, Ingul, or Skuld. Once you’ve accepted a main quest, speak with Skuld to pick up the supplementary prospecting quests, speak to Ingul to pick up the supplementary cooking quests, and if you are assisting speak with Velgerd, Ingul, or Skuld to see how you can help. Characters must have reached Novice before they can take part in the event.

For Prospectors:

Prospectors are among the most necessary workers for the event for without their help, the forge’s fires will fail, and the hard tack will not bake. Ever-burning ore must be mined with great care due to its volatility. Prospectors enter the mine and gather this ore while avoiding lazy prospectors who have become a nuisance.

Prospectors earn Ribbons for mining these laden nodes and delivering them to carts. You’ll find nodes that correlate to your active quest list, then interact with the Ore Node to mine. Once mined, the node will burst and create several bits of ore of various sizes. If you have the corresponding delivery quest you can collect an ore and deliver it to nearby ore cart! There are several kinds of nodes available. Complete as many mining quests as you can in the time available to earn the maximum number of Ribbons!

Prospectors should also keep an eye on the food and drink tables available in the main hall of the event, as consuming these items will give you boosts that will greatly help you complete your tasks. These food and drink items are provided by Cooks.

For Cooks:

Cooks gather various ingredients, including Spice, Fish, Mushrooms, and Thorin’s Hall Ale, then prepare one of three items using their crafting panel before finishing their Brew, Snack, or Meal using one of the ovens in the event space. Once the brew, meal, or snack is cooked these items need to be delivered to food and drink tables in the main event space while avoiding Sneaky Hobbits who want to consume your hard work for themself!

Brew, Snacks, and Meals consumed by event participants provide important buffs to get the most rewards from the event! The Brew reduces induction times while inside of the space, the Snack increases movement speed inside of the space, and the full Meal increases the speed of Prospectors and assistants when carrying Ore.

For Assistants:

Assistants deliver items from a larder, collect mushrooms from nearby tunnels, or catch fish to assist Cooks. Assistants haul ore from mined nodes to ore carts to assist prospectors, and Assistants deliver food and drink to Sneaky Hobbits and Lazy Prospectors to remove these nuisances from the event space for up to a full 2 minutes. Assistants can be crafters or non-crafters alike! Completing the various tasks available awards you Ribbons.

Rewards:

Each Main Event Quest provides multiple tiers of awards, the better you perform the better your rewards. Everyone will get Participation Ribbons for taking part in the event. Assistants will always get Participation Ribbons. Cooks and Prospectors will earn Participation Ribbons, Runner-up Ribbons and Winner Ribbons.

The barter rewards, available from Heori Firefeed, include Luck-stones, cosmetic Pickaxes, cosmetic appearances for your characters, Titles, Emotes and more!

There are also recipes that allow Crafters to combine their Prospecting and Forester axes into one tool. Additionally, players can trade lower tiers of Ribbons for higher tiers of Ribbons and vice versa.

Notes:

  • Cooks and Prospectors must equip their crafting tools to cook and mine.
  • The crafting panel can be accessed by pressing T.
  • Players who wish to become Prospectors and Cooks can find Crafting Trainers in Thorin’s Hall nearby, among other locations throughout Middle-earth.
  • Ribbons are Bound to Account.
  • Ribbons are shared with the other crafting events (Forester) and can be used to purchase from any crafting event barterer.
  • This event can be completed even if no one else is participating, although working together as a group will make it easier to get the most rewards from the event.