Twilight Sentinel - Aldebaraan of Gladden

I've been enjoying my experimenting with heavy armor. In fact, that's what I seem to be doing lately in my cosmetic journey. It's fun seeing some of the more elaborately decorated chest pieces and leggings. Once you get to the metalsmith artisan tier, crafted items, for the most part, start moving away from chain mail. I understand the functionality of chain mail, but it can look rather bland after a while. Plate mail is more aesthetically pleasing with its layered and often decorated surfaces, at least in my opinion. I even began to turn towards the old school raid armor from the Rift, Helegrod, and Dâr Narbugud for ideas. Shortly afterwards, this armored set was born.

I originally started with a earthy coloration, using the Leg-guards of the Killing Blow as my core piece. I had found a few interesting pieces here and there in the skim camps and AH that I inteded to try pairing with those leggings...but then I found that Cloak of the Sunset Wood in the auction house. Despite that fact it cost me 8g, it was a perfect match for the plated skirt! The name itself made me want to change the colors of the outfit to something fall themed, but when I took a chance with indigo tones, I became enamored. Soon, I found myself developing an outfit that made me think of twilight--particularly the sky from LoZ: Twilight Princess just after sunset, but before the stars appeared. I could recall the shades of purple mingling against a golden wall that stretched across the horizon.

It was a struggle trying to strike a balance between the coloration and design of this creation. I didn't want either color overall dominating the other. Since the cloak was heavy on the golden-orange hue, I was determined to find pieces with golden accents that could be dyed primarily indigo. I ended up breaking into more pieces that I had owned, but never used...namely the Champion armor from DN. The helmet, shoulders, and boots that are cosmetically similar can be obtained from the Mirkwood Champion vendor. I almost forgot to note that the leggings can also be obtained from the Guardian class vendor in Moria!

It took three complete day rotations just to keep the same lighting levels! The window for good light at twilight was very short. I hope you enjoy this :)

TIP: I took these screenshots just before night fell. Originally, the screen was just too dark for clear pics despite post-sunset lighting. If you're having this kind of trouble too, try what I did. Jack up your ambient light settings to maximum under the graphics tab of the options panel. Also, you can slightly increase your gamma. Too much gamma and your screen may become whitewashed!

Head: Helm of the Lady's Power (Indigo, Caras Galadhon Champion class vendor)
Shoulders: Berserker's Shoulders (Indigo, Mirkwood Champion class vendor)
Back: Cloak of the Sunset Wood (Indigo, LOTRO Store or Lottery)
Chest: Ceremonial Dragon-scale Breastplate (Indigo, skirm camp cosmetic vendor)
Legs: Leg-guards of the Killing Blow (Indigo, Draigoch random reward)
Hands: Ceremonial Dragon-scale Gloves (Indigo, skirm camp cosmetic vendor)
Feet: Berserker's Boots (Indigo, Mirkwood Champion class vendor)