Winter Series - Snowborn Soldier

I've slowly been reviving last year's Winter Series--outfits revolving around cold weather or the Yule/holiday season. I had taken an unexpected break from LOTRO between January and April of 2013, which put many of my plans for this series on hold. Cosmetic gear went back in the vault and the drawing boards were wiped clean...and I hadn't documented any of my work. But, it gives me a chance this season to begin again and find innovative combinations to suit travelers in the cold regions of Middle-earth.

Winter Series - Steel-clad Santa

It began with a simple shout-out in GLFF meant to relieve a bit of boredom waiting for this year's festivities to start. I jokingly dared someone to cosmetically challenge me for the holiday season. I seriously wasn't expecting to hear anything. Then BAM! A single tell rolled in from an anonymous player--"Make a Santa that rides to war in Rohan!" My initial reaction? Forehead met palm with a loud smack. Good grief. I kinda dug myself a hole and I had to find a way to climb out of it. It took about three days, but here we are...a chainmail-wearing, pauldron-toting, backpack-slinging interpretation of St. Nick that can still deliver gifts to children scattered across the open plains of Rohan. Isengard and Mordor beware!

Curious Scholar - Faewynn of Gladden

Back in early 2011 I had assembled this outfit. It was noble, elegant, refined, intelligent...and the Robe of Leisure was 30% off due to a store coupon. Oh how I miss sales like that! There are still a few pieces that I haven't purchased from the store and I haven't seen any sales lately in the cosmetic department. The robe was, at one point, my most used item because of how dye friendly it was--and still is. I don't know how many outfits I used it in or how many times I changed the color, but nothing seemed to work very well. But, I finally settled on something that eventually was shelved and collected dust for about two years.

Yule Festival 2013 Cosmetics

This must be indeed the "Year of the Robes" for LOTRO. We haven't seen a new dress since this year's Spring Festival. Once again, we're seeing a reskinned robe model from the early days of LOTRO. It's a simple winter-themed set this year. Nothing extravagant, at least not in comparison to the stunning job done last year for the Yule Festival.

Unfortunately, I do not have time to catalogue three years of items for my blog, especially for our new players. Perhaps I will be able to that after Christmas, when the holiday chaos has settled down. For now, I can only post the 2013 additions. However, Cosmetic LOTRO has pictures of the cosmetics available from previous years. Please stop by and say thank you to Hymne for providing these screenshots:

Yule Festival Cosmetics 2012
Yule Festival Cosmetics 2011
Yule Festival Cosmetics 2011 (Mid-festival additions)

These new robes are simple and unassuming with a pretty snowflake motif. They are, by default, dyed an interestingly muted shade of teal...at least that's how it looks to me. The images on the far right of each set show how the pieces dye, and I've used purple because the undyeable portions are so dark.

Wintertide Robe (35 Festival Tokens)

Winter Series - A Long Expected Yuletide

Why not kick off the Yule Season with a very simple and easily obtainable outfit? Well, mostly obtainable. The Fine Elven Circlet can only be earned from the Anniversary Festival gift boxes. If you don't have it, there's no need to worry! This cosmetic set still looks wonderful without it. With a little work for the upcoming Yule Festival, you can earn most of these easily without having to worry about instance grinding, leveling or endgame. Versus seeing these festival exclusives on stationary models found on the LOTRO forums and blogs, I wanted to give you an idea of how these look combined and in motion. And if you're a first timer to this season in LOTRO, you've got a wonderful idea of what to expect!

This year, the Yule Festival will run from December 18th, 2013 to January 14th, 2014.

Thane for a Day - Morghann of Gladden

It wasn't until the release of the Wildermore on Bullroarer that I was able to find an appearance worthy of a Thane. After all, my captain had recently completed building Hytbold and the closing quest chain to go with it. It's not often I'm in a role-playing mood, but walking around with the title "Thane of Hytbold" without the proper accompaniment felt wrong. Lo, and behold! Here came the medium Wildermore Armour recipes, providing me with an elegant, gold-trimmed tunic dyeable in the most heavenly ways! Even the Wildermore Pauldrons are lovely!