Saturday, April 28, 2018

Sword Skins Collection, Pt. 2

Of all the weapons in LOTRO, swords are, by far, the most common. It's why posting my collection of various blades has taken two posts. After all, eight of the ten classes can wield them, the Lore-master having some exceptions (can't overlay LI swords). Here's the next twenty and, as usual, let me know if there's another way of obtaining these skins!

Enjoy!

And I don't know what I'm going to do when I get to bows and javelins...they're not exactly hand-held in the dressing room window like the other weapons. Taking screenshots of them slung on a character's back will make for some awkward pictures, but I'll figure it out!

 Pitted Wold Sword - Bartered from an Eastemnet Shields, Weapons and Jewellery Quartermaster in Rohan

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Recollections of the Last Alliance & Happy Anniversary



It's difficult to believe that I tried retiring from cosmetic blogging for LOTRO three years ago. And it's even more difficult to believe, after all that work I'd put into what were supposed to be the final days of my blog, that I would miraculously return seven months later. I haven't regretted coming back. Even though the golden age of the outfitting community has long passed, I've done my best to keep Material Middle-earth running strong and continue creating fresh content. If it weren't for CosmeticLOTRO, The Starry Mantle, and LOTRO Fashion, the original pioneers of this niche community, my blog may have never existed. Speaking of which...

Happy Sixth Anniversary to Material Middle-earth! The official date is today, April 21st. If you asked me back in 2012 how long I expected to maintain this blog, I wouldn't have been able to guess. But it's been six years. Six years! "Retirement" and a multitude of PC hardware failures hasn't stopped me yet. Here's to another six...hopefully!

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Sword Skins Collection Pt. 1

I sorely miss Darzil's Crafting Guide. Most players at the time went there to see armor skins, usually in full sets, but some went there for weapons. (Using weapons cosmetically back then was strictly for RP purposes.) You could find anything crafted or bartered there up to level 65. By the time Isengard had been released, somewhere around 2012, the person running Darzil's had decided to step down. He had informed the community of his decision and offered to keep the site running, so long as someone else was willing to come forward and actively work on the site. Darzil's remained active for another three years, closing in 2015 because the people who expressed a desire to take over performed no work whatsoever.

It was a significant loss suffered by the cosmetic and crafting community. At the time, the loss of armor visuals were felt far more keenly than the weapons. Several months later, in late 2015/early 2016, cosmetic weapon overlays were introduced, adding salt to the proverbial wound. Myndariel, bless her soul, has been gradually working on a visual crafting guide over the past couple of years. It's still far from finished, but it's the closest the community has gotten to Darzil's.

I will try to do my best. Just like with the staves I recently shared, I'll show you my collection of swords and where I found them, along with other places they appear. Here's the first part!

And as usual, if you know of another weapon shares the same skin and isn't listed below, let me know!

 Amdillang - Unobtainable. Dropped from the Warden in Dungeons of Dol Guldur before the scaling update.
Wyrm Fang - Unobtainable. Grisgart in the Helegrod Drake Wing dropped this only when the caps were 65 and 75.
Blade of Unity -- Reward from the Epic quest 2.7.3

Saturday, April 7, 2018

Anórien Honor-guard



Running my High Elf Captain through Gondor Epic quests for trait points has allowed me to collect some exclusive cosmetic rewards I've foregone on previous alts. Volume 4 Book 4 offers some skins you can't get anywhere else for light, medium, and heavy armor classes. Originally, I thought the Epic rewards would share the same armor skins offered by the reputation vendors on the main level of Minas Tirith. It turned out that their appearances were quite different. Part of me wishes I could endure the reputation grind. The rest of me tells me not to bother. Why? Whenever I've been in that city, I've crashed to the desktop every ten or so minutes. I've only completed the main story on my alts and nothing else.

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