In my previous post, I mentioned I had an abundance of new outfits but no time to screenshot them. While leveling my first character to 115, I was able to get all of them blog-ready. I've decided to give the Mordor expansion a proper send-off this month with a black and red outfit that I felt embodied the dark and dangerous lands beyond the Morannon. The Orthanc skins have definitely paired well with the Black Ash ones, creating a sharp, deadly, and well-protected appearance.
Somehow, I feel as if this is only a hint as to what can be done with the Mordor skins--not just the ones from the tiered bundles. I've seen most of the new gear, either from drops, quest rewards, and vendors. Many of the non-allegiance skins had a jagged design. They even could be characterized as brooding and, I daresay, occult-like. The allegiance skins had a softer, brighter, and smoother qualities, adopting a less war-forged appearance. Even though I've collected a handful of the new pieces, I look forward to experimenting with them in the future.
Along with clothing appearances came new physical appearances. My only gripe with U21 was the Race of Man and Elf avatar model revamp. I didn't particularly care for it. I found females faces to be bloated and the skin, particularly in the cheek areas, to be pinched. Human males looked okay. Male elves lost much of their beloved soft facial features and now look overly masculine. Hair, in general, has lost much of its vibrancy (i.e. highlights, contours, spikes from certain styles) despite a slightly more natural, rugged appearance and clips far more often with headgear. As a result, I'll be using the old avatar appearances on this blog. The exception being my new High Elf, which only had the revamp options available. But that shouldn't matter too much, as this blog has always been geared towards cosmetics!
Head: Urdhol-helm (Black, Isengard 3-man instance cluster reward)
Shoulders: Shoulder Pads of Thelin (Default, Ox-clan Camp Minstrel class vendor)
Back: Woven Heavy Cloak of the Ash Plains (Burgundy, Mordor Ultimate Fan bundle)
Chest: Reinforced Chestplate of the Ash Plains (Red, Mordor Ultimate Fan bundle)
Hands: Gauntlets of the Laingarth (Default, Ox-clan Camp Guardian class vendor)
Feet: Sabatons of the Laingarth (Default, Ox-clan Camp Guardian class vendor)
Weapon: Sword of the Steady Mind (Stangard reptuation barter item)
Shield: Warden's Shield of the Wold (T8 Metalsmith recipe)
that's very nice! The Orthanc armour never loses its charm, and it complements with the Mordor chest piece so well that it could be part of the same set. I was hoping to see more looks in the shields department because the couple new ones don't particularly stand out imo, but as for armour, definitely a plus. Black white and burgundy is a great combo :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm glad that the Orthanc sets still have some use years after being introduced. Some part of me still wishes the bartered gear would dye, but they definitely server their purpose in outfits using black and white. As for the shields, I have to agree with you. I was hoping for more variety outside the dark metallic or wooden textures.
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