Saturday, October 18, 2014

Harvestmath Series - Gularan Caretaker



Halloween is around the corner, which means the time for costumes and disguises is here! To kick of the season, I thought I'd introduce something along the lines of an Angmarim. Specifically, this costume would be something between what an Angmarim High Priestess and an Angmarim Commander would wear. The robes, the spiked garments, the typical blacks, reds, and whites...all of the trimmings that would make the wearer look like one of the corrupted Men under the dominion of Sauron.

It might not be the most innovative outfit for the season, but it at least attempts to reclaim a class of enemy NPCs not seen after progressing past Mirkwood, at least storywise. As far as I know, the last Angmarim-like creature to be included in LOTRO is the roaming Priestess Bethan, a high level warband found to the west of Marton. I don't miss the punting, fearing, and blood pacts, that's for sure...but I've gotten tired of Orcs and Uruk-hai!




For the first time, I've given a serious attempt at manipulating lighting in this photoshoot. Light hitting the face at certain angles, shadows making a character or object appear larger and more intimidating...just to create the illusion of "evil". Sometimes that's needed to drive home the concept behind an outfit, this one in particular. I wish I had thought of this sooner for previous Harvestmath costumes!

Speaking of the upcoming Harvestmath Festival, which is slated to run from October 21st to November 2nd this year, I had the chance to ask Frelorn during his Thursday Fun livestream on TwitchTV about the robes and tablecloth steeds. More specifically, I asked if we'll see robes and tunics as future rewards instead of robes. He couldn't answer the question in the way I hoped, as he has no access to developer work or the art department, but he will be passing along the information to the appropriate people to get an answer. It's certainly a step in the right direction!


I also have some news to spread to the community.

First, the Hytbold furniture has been corrected rather covertly and gone unmentioned in any patch notes. As this was once a blog that included housing, I may surprise you with screenies of my houses in the upcoming weeks. I can finally put those credenzas, bookshelves, cupboards, and dressers in large wall spaces, where they should have gone since day one! Let the house decorating begin!

Second, Time Warner (WB) has also hit Turbine with another round of layoffs, supposedly. You'll find news of this on LOTRO Players and Massively, and even vaguely confirmed by Rick "Sapience" Heaton on his Twitter account. This leaves me feeling more concerned regarding LOTRO than ever before. Frelorn stated in his livestream that this will, in no shape or form, affect the upcoming content release for 2014-2015, but it still doesn't relieve my apprehensions. Either way, my thoughts are with Turbine's current and former staff.


Shoulders: Ceremonial Shoulders of the Brazen Call (Crimson, skirmish camp cosmetics vendor, Moria heavy armor)
Back: Gifted Cloak of the Wold (Crimson, T8 Tailor recipe)
Chest: Tattered Robe of the Dunland Sage (Crimson, Dunland quest reward)**
Hands: Dunland Caretaker's Patched Bracers (Sienna, Dunland quest reward)
Feet: Stout Padded Shoes (White, T1 Tailor recipe)

**The Robe of Countless Stars, which shares the same skin, can be purchased from the Dunlending Quartermaster in Galtrev.

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