What!? A New Dye Color?

Whenever there's new content for LOTRO, I like to take some time and test it on Bullroarer. As U13 has public patch notes on the forums, I can share some pictures and information. There is one thing I'm notorious for when it comes to testing--I usually get bored after a while and start making outfits with an inexhaustible supply of marks, medallions, seals, and mithril coins. I was starting to do just that when I saw in the dressing room...

...A NEW DYE!!! *squeals*

This dye is called steel blue. I've decided to take some pictures for the community, illustrating our new color. Don't mind these outfits and if they look kinda funky...I just took clothing already in my mini's outfit slots and dyed them. You've got a variety of pieces here to capture the range of tones. Some with pure white bases, other with muted bases, and then one that reveals the gradation of the new color. More often than not, you'll be seeing more steel than you will blue. Just wanted to warn you! : )

The photos on the left are dyed grey, the photos in the center are dyed steel blue, and the photos on the right are dyed navy. This is done in order to help everybody distinguish between these similar colors. I've chosen not to include black for comparison because all the gear featured below dyes a true black. Beta details for the recipe itself are at the bottom of the post.

Example of a piece that has a greyish base color

The Orthanc pieces have an odd, muted slate base color.

Here's an example of clothing with a pure white base.

And, the perfect example that reveals the gradations of steel blue. This dress has a pure white base.

This T9 westemnet scholar recipe, based upon the guilded one, requires 1 bluebell bulb, 1 pile of dye salts, 1 bottle of water, and 1 westemnet glass phial. The bluebell bulbs are a new item and are obtained from the equivalent farmer's recipe. And I fear that this dye is gated behind the new Fangorn Coin currency and reputation...and I've yet to encounter the vendor. I've opened 100 of each T9 scholar scrolls and haven't seen one drop yet.

I'll keep everybody posted as I find new information! Keep in mind, these details are taken from the current beta build and are subject to change.

UPDATE AS OF 3/17 @ 11:30 AM EST: The steel blue dye recipe is, in fact, gated behind 100 Fangorn Coins and requires ally standing with the Ents of Fangorn Forest. This does not make me happy. Never in the history or LOTRO has a dye been gated behind a reputation grind. In addition to this, thanks to @BrandywineFred onTwitter, I've learned the bluebell field recipe that produces the bulbs is also gated in the same fashion as the dye--100 coins and ally standing.

UPDATE AS OF 3/18 @ 5:00 PM EST: At the request of a commenter, I've included pics using the navy dye for further comparison. Hopefully, this should alleviate any concerns that steel blue comes too close to navy or grey.