User blog comment:LOTRMod/NPC Health/@comment-26322120-20160513042335/@comment-26172435-20160515061517

@Ithilion: I agree with the 'one draught for one unit' starting point, but not with just making the Huorn Leaves rarer. The drawback of doing the latter is that this will create an even more unfair balance between players that entered early and players that enter late in a world where the Fangorn flower beds have been stripped.

The notion of adding a valuable metal to the draught is not based on the assumption that Huorns value these metals, but on a notion that these are required to 'activate' the active substances in Huorn Leaves as to make them effective in earning the trust of a Huorn. If we adopt this explanation for use of precious metals in Huorn hiring, Huorn hiring can be more easily made 'in tune' with hiring of other powerful units.