With very few chances to play LOTRO between January and September, I missed out entirely on two festivals. Luckily, I was able to procure the new Nárië cosmetics from this year's Summer Festival from the auction house. I've yet to get my hands on the New Bloom cosmetics from the Spring Festival. I've been keeping an eye out for those, hoping I can grab them without having to wait for the next one. It pleased me greatly to see more surcoats and tunics making their appearance in the game. Even the Fall Festival had a new dress! I've even wondered what the Yule Festival has in store this year!
It still pains me that I missed the Summer Festival. I don't know why I couldn't find the ten minutes to sit down and dig into my stockpiled Badges of Taste, convert them to the appropriate tokens, and buy these beautiful new skins. Honestly, I was astonished by the natural colors of the Nárië cosmetics, especially the dyeable dark olive greens. I knew I had to use them. I didn't want to alter the chest or cloak either, so I challenged myself to find pieces that either shared a similar shade or matched the other colors present. I found a piece or two with that same olive green, but the styles were too dissimilar and wouldn't pair well. I ended up falling back on one of my overused shoulder skins and a new favorite pair of shoes. Both had enough a close enough brown to match those in the belt and clasps. The same for the olive when dyed.
I've determined, based on the outfits I've made for my Beorning to this date, that greens are her color. Earthy greens, in particular. It seems that all of my character have their own individual colors that define them. My Captain has always been dressed in some shade of purple. Just like my Lore-master has with blue and black. Sometimes, styles have become character specific. My Rune-keeper's worn robes and dresses since creation. Only once has my Minstrel donned heavy armor.
I've often wondered if anyone who visits this blog finds themselves in a similar position. Even though actual role-play isn't involved, some elements do carry over. That can be said, especially for those of us who've had our characters around for a very long time. Sometimes brief thoughts have passed through my mind, like "what would my character actually do?" even though quests don't offer multiple paths. Sometimes I've even devised entire background stories for my characters. It's just the combination of these unconscious thoughts and seemingly insignificant details that have given me such a specific image of my characters that I can look at any given cosmetic piece and say "yes, that suits him/her" or "no, I can't see him/her wearing that." It's an amusing process, even if it's just me.
Head: Tactical Eastemnet Campaign Circlet (Umber, T8 Tailor recipe)
Shoulders: Disused Mantle of the Dunland Soothsayer (Olive, Dunland quest reward)
Back: Cloak of Nárië (Default, 2015 Summer Festival barter reward)
Chest: Surcoat of Nárië (Default, 2015 Summer Festival barter reward)
Feet: Westemnet Campaign Shoes of Fate (Olive, T9 Tailor recipe)
earthy tones and muted greens go very well with the beorning theme :) not for all my characters, but for the few I play regularly, I do the same thing, my loremaster has all robes, my main huntress has all red and gold clothes, my warden a mix of armour and leather and my rune keeper blues and white. I find it easier to make outfits for them than my lesser played characters, who don't have a "personality" yet and go around with a mix of clothes and colours XD
ReplyDeleteI certainly know that feeling with my low level characters. You'll find them with all sorts of racial and clothing styles at all times. As for my others, it's rare to see them out of character. For those, it's depended on that last time I used them on this blog.
DeleteHaving a blog also influences what colors and pieces I use. I try as hard as I can to make an outfit that fits several race and gender combinations. Even though this looks like an outfit for Beornings, I can see Elves wearing it too.
For me, I always have (and try to be be lore-true) some unique personal style for all my characters in any game. For example my Loremaster (elf lady) uses red and golden colours (due to her Rivendell origin) and my Rune-keeper uses Purple in both her outfits and her horse cosmetics. My gondorian guardian is mostly black and silver though.
ReplyDeleteKeeping lore-true sounds like an interesting approach to outfitting. I may have to try it sometime. I've known about emblems, but I hadn't realized that there would be specific colors associated with specific origins outside of Gondor (Dol Amroth and Minas Tirith, for example). Sounds like a fun concept!
DeleteI absolutely adore this Beorning outfit! I couldn't get myself to do the summer and harvest festivals because I've done them so many times already, but it looks like I've missed out on a few really cool cosmetics. It looks like they're really making work of new designs; I'll certainly have to check in the next couple of festivals and correct my errors. ^^
ReplyDeleteThank you! I, too, can't bring myself to do each festival in its entirety every year after already completing them multiple times. The 2014 "cosmetic curse" (robes and blanket steeds) killed my love for festivals for a full year and I was convinced there would never be another new dress, hauberk, or tunic. However, 2015 brought some gorgeous cosmetics and renewed my interest in festivals. Even then, I run only enough quests to snag the new goodies!
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