Brief Blog Update

 Greetings everybody!

I apologize for the lack of posts here lately. I haven't stopped blogging. In fact, I've had little time for LOTRO. I've been working multiple jobs, a sign of financially supporting a family in this precarious US economy. Keeping a roof over our heads comes first and foremost, which I hope you understand.

As such, I generally have two specific times that I don't work. Sunday afternoons and Wednesdays. Not the most convenient windows for gaming, I assure you. Sundays have gone towards leveling for my kinship's upcoming progression raid, The Anvil of Winterstith. Wednesdays are LOTRO's weekly maintenance day. And, as of late, those maintenance days have become extended maintenance days (ugh), where either all servers or specific servers are down into the late afternoon or early evening. When that happens, I can't play. That being said, I've neither had time to craft new outfits nor have I had time to screenshot ones I have yet to share here. Sadly, a blog entry isn't a fifteen minute project. Often, a single entry requires two to three hours minimum.

I'll be back eventually. Hopefully, sooner than later.

~Nath

A Temporary Return to Middle-earth

It's been three years since I made my last entry. Three and a half since I last made a new outfit. I never expected to return to LOTRO or to reopen Material Middle-earth. If it weren't for some stubborn, but well-intentioned friends, I would have been content to let this blog exist as both a wonderful memory and—though sometimes trying—labor of love. Yet, here I am.

I've had the pleasure of joining the Ainuthala kinship, and their progression raiding subcommunity, on Evernight. We've been stopping at each previous level cap, through the use of the Stone of the Tortoise, to experience older LOTRO content as originally intended. Ainuthala has already completed The Rift, Dar Narbugud, Barad Guldur, and Tower of Orthanc and is currently on a leisurely track for the Erebor raiding cluster. Although I'm primarily here to enjoy experiencing LOTRO's classic content, it doesn't mean I haven't been bringing my fashionable best. Between reaching the next scheduled level cap and waiting for the next community event, I've been spending some free time outfitting.

A Fond Farewell

(Blog comments and the Contact Me page have been disabled as of 10/31/21 to prevent bot, spam, and phishing abuse.)

It's with a heavy heart that, tonight, I've decided to announce the closing of Material Middle-earth. It's been a wonderful nine and a half years creating content for the LOTRO community, at least in the form of outfits. The journey, despite all of the ups and downs, has been remarkable. I wish I could find the proper words to express my regret for leaving and my gratitude for the near decade of kindness and motivation. As the saying goes, "All good things must come to an end." I was hoping it wouldn't be so after six months away from LOTRO, but that wasn't the case. Given the choice to go back in time knowing how and when it would end, I would do it all over again.

Although I don't need to, I would like to tell you why. 

My feelings, largely, haven't changed since my previous blog entry. The drive to remain cosmetically creative has disappeared entirely. I completely skipped collecting the Anniversary Festival, Summer Festival, and Farmers Faire rewards and feel neither shame nor remorse. Those were major signs that my time blogging and outfitting were likely coming to an end. Just last week, I started bartering for and crafting as many old legendary items as I possibly could, since U30.3 was essentially removing them from the game. I figured they'd come in handy for future outfits, on the chance that I'd continue here. However, I would find myself staring at the screen unmotivated while shuffling through several dozen of them. That was the moment I realized it was time to hang up those outfitter's robes.

That being said, I've been playing LOTRO lately. I just finished prepping my new Legendary Items. I also used the very generous LOTROQUESTS2021, which is still good through November 30, 2021, a few weeks ago to collect my missing quest packs for The Mists of Wilderland, The Wildwood, and The Blood of Azog. To be honest, I've also had great difficulty enjoying the new Dwarven storyline. It feels  very much a stretch of the lore that SSG can legally access. I also felt that LOTRO's story, having played since the game's open beta in 2007, came full circle with Minas Morgul's conclusion. Loose ends with Mordor, Isildur and the One Ring, and Mordirith were tied up after all these years. I felt satisfied. It's for these reasons that I'm hesitant to purchase Fate of Gundabad, the upcoming expansion.

It may also be time to leave LOTRO as well, to set foot, like many of the elves, on one  ships departing Mithlond for Valinor. The thoughts have weighed heavy upon me. As much as I've loved my time in Middle-earth and as much as I'd love to stay, that voice beckoning me away grows stronger by the day. I've told myself to wait until December, when there's a much better look into Gundabad's story and content, but it's unlikely I'll even need that much time to decide.

Whatever happens, my time here has been well spent. I wish the cosmetic community a fond farewell. And, as a heads up, I'll be giving everyone a two week grace period to make their final comments or send their last messages before I disable those as well.

If you're still looking for fresh cosmetic inspiration, please turn your gaze towards the last remaining bastions of Cosmetic LOTRO, Wandering Around Arda, Laurel's LOTRO Den, Valkyrique's LOTRO à la Mode and the cosmetics thread on the old LOTRO forums. And if you're a Twitter user, follow the #LOTROCosmetics hashtag too!

With all my heart,

Nath

Blog Update

Greetings everybody! It's been a few months since my last upload. It's also been several months since I've put any serious work into my content. There are two reasons. 

The first being, where I live, most COVID-19 restrictions and *most* people have been vaccinated. Life has almost returned to normal and my precious free time is in incredibly short supply. My job demands my presence roughly 60 hours a week, at least until more employees are hired. Throw in my non-work and non-gaming daily tasks and I'm exhausted, opting to sleep versus game.

Second, I'm also burnt out regarding LOTRO. Frustrated. Annoyed. Angry. A mixed bag of feelings, really. It's not just about the endless dailies and weeklies. I'm tired of a game that's so focused on endgame grind (virtues, LI scrolls, level cap gear, essences). It's too much work to maintain more than two alts, unlike the pre-Mordor years. I haven't felt joy in recent months. My creative drive for outfits has crashed entirely and I feel like I'm endlessly reusing the same gear combinations or rehashing blog content several years old. Even the latest cosmetics don't reignite that drive. What I loved has now become a job or an endless list of chores. For far too long have I kept these feelings/concerns bottled up...and I can't any longer.

I haven't felt this way since Helm's Deep, the expansion that nearly killed my love for this game. I actually left LOTRO for nearly a full year. Often I find myself enamored, by far, with the simpler LOTRO of old than I do with the modern one. Suffice it to say, my list of grievances has grown longer than the list of things I love and I've come to face the realization that I may be approaching my final days with LOTRO.

Much of my future here is highly dependent on Gundabad and what it brings. I'm not so much concerned about the story, the Brawler or endgame as I am with LIs. The LI system needs to be revamped entirely and turned into a much simpler, alt-friendly system. For two years the community's been told it's coming. It's already been scrapped once, according to Severlin. It's promised to come with Gundabad. If the new system isn't to my liking, I'll be leaving LOTRO. If it gets delayed again, I'll be leaving LOTRO. This will be the sole factor that determines whether I stay or leave. One of my main classes was severely nerfed this past year and the other isn't wanted in non-raid endgame groups. The system, as it currently is, prevents me from leveling other classes without dumping excessive funds into the store (another major grievance).

It's an uncertain time for me. As such, this blog will be on hiatus until Gunabad's release. And at that time, I'll closely monitoring the forums, Bullroarer, and global channels for a few weeks before making my decision.

~Nathrien

Quick Update

Hello everybody!

I miss LOTRO. I miss the community. I miss sharing new outfits. With how busy I've been and will continue to be, I'll be on break from blogging until September. Now that the once hectic nature of my summer has resumed some semblance of normalcy, I have a good idea of when I can return. That's the good news. Now for the bad news.

During my absence, there will be a temporary change. I've had to disable comments. Given Blogspot's inefficient system, disabling comments also meant hiding ALL previous comments. I've had no choice. On Wednesday evening, I had to remove nearly four hundred bot posts, most of which contained malicious or pornographic links. This afternoon, I removed another seventy-three. I simply don't have the time to monitor Material Middle-earth every day. If all goes well, come September, the bots will have moved on and comments will be enabled once again.

Thank you for being a supportive and wonderful community. And, most of all, thank you for your understanding and patience.

~Nath

Blog Update

Greetings everybody!

I apologize for my absence. I've been very busy this summer juggling a ton of RL events and 50-60 hour work weeks, leaving me little free time. Although I currently have no upcoming outfits, I still pop my head into LOTRO every now and let everyone know I'm still alive and well. I don't exactly know when I'll be able to create more outfits, but I'd assume that my life will resume some normalcy come September. *fingers crossed* I barely had time for LOTRO's Summer Festival this year, but it was enough to burn my Badges of Taste for most of the new cosmetics.

I know some of you have also asked me questions through the contact form. I also apologize for the lack of replies. I've seen your messages and I have a post-it note stickied to my PC monitor to respond ASAP. That'll happen over the next week or so. (And please check your junk folder every now and then after messaging me...I've had reports of my replies going directly there.)

I have some good news, though! I've slowly been working on the upcoming shields section for my Cosmetic Weapons Project. Having taken well over 100 screenshots before this grueling summer started, I've been able to at least format the pictures for upload. I still have to type all of the text and code the HTML pages for them. I also don't know when I'll have those entries up, but they are definitely on the way!

Thank you so much for your patience!

~Nath

And in the meantime, please enjoy this small selection of outfits, each worn by a different model over the years. Simply click on the picture and follow it to the appropriate outfit!

Blog Status

Hi everybody!

Once again, I apologize for the lack of outfits again. I've actually had a few completed and ready for some screenshot sessions. However, I don't see those making an appearance here anytime soon. You see, back in December, parts of my PC started letting go. My hard drive is a major component on that list. Enough systems are failing that I'm going to let my PC live out what little life is left and then purchase a new one. That being said, I've been lucky to get it to start once every couple of weeks. I've managed to backup all of my important files (especially those several years of screenshots), however I am unable to play any of my games. I don't know when I'll be back. Possibly after my tax return checks arrive...when I can afford one.

Until then, enjoy your adventuring in Middle-earth!

~Nathrien

December Update

Good afternoon everybody!

With the holidays being so frantic, and they usually are for me, I have had little time for outfitting, let alone any gaming. The last time I had a chance to get online for more than five minutes, other than dropping by friend's TS servers to say hello, was before Thanksgiving. Odds are I won't be back until New Year's has come and gone. That being said, I'd like to take this moment and wish everyone, no matter what you celebrate...

~Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!~

May you be surrounded by family and friends this season! 

With love,

Nathrien

An Unexpected, Yet Temporary Return

Good morning everybody!

I bet you're surprised to see a post appearing here (assuming I'm still in your RSS feeds). This certainly makes that gigantic farewell post feel anticlimactic.

After careful thought and certain circumstances, I've decided to return to cosmetic blogging, though it is most likely a short-term, temporary thing. Unfortunately, there is much more to this decision than I'd like to admit, most of it personal. I'll tell you a few of things that led to this unexpected return.

First of all, I suffered a significant reduction in hours at work, leaving me with some financial strain and much more free time. That's something I hope to have fixed soon by looking elsewhere for full-time employment. Second, I just had my car's transmission rebuilt. Good grief, those are expensive. Third, within the past few months, I had a rather sizable amount of money stolen from me, some of which I have recouped. I had to cancel all my game subscriptions (FFXIV especially) and seriously curtail my spending. This has led me back to F2P games, LOTRO in particular. Lastly, a small part of me never stopped outfitting my characters. I've slowly been leveling my Beorning since January (she's somewhere around level 40), dressing her up from time to time. You'll get to see those outfits soon. That's as much as I'm willing to say here. The rest cuts too close to home.

Blogging, for me, is very time consuming. Just collecting screenshots could take two or three hours. That's why I retired in February. I can't promise I'll be posting on a schedule and neither can I tell you how long I'll be hanging around. However, let it be said writing and creating content for Material Middle-earth brought me joy in the past and I hope it will continue to do just that. And I need a little of that happy in my life again!

See everybody around!

~Nathrien

Here's a vintage picture from 2010 of Nathrien!

Melody of the West

My grey ship has arrived and it's time I sail into the west, away from LOTRO's shore and towards Valinor.

Four years ago, I started dabbling in cosmetics. Three and a half years ago, I began to share outfits with some close friends, embarrassed to admit I played "virtual dress-up," as I had once put it. Three years ago, I began sharing them with all of you...and it's been a glorious three years.

It's with a heavy heart I make my final cosmetic entry here at Material Middle-earth. I thought it appropriate to end on an outfit using the same location and similar colors as my very first--sea blue and the elven homesteads in Falathlorn--which can be viewed here.  Even though this blog opened with a cosmetic contest I held for Forgottten Darkness in April 2012, it wasn't until June that I mustered the courage to post my own creation.

There have been 150+ posts here, ninety percent of which have been outfits. The other ten has been about beta previews and updates regarding cosmetic additions to the skirmish camps. I honestly never expected to reach that number. From June to December of 2012, I was an outfitting machine. I had a new outfit every two to four days (some of which I think are absolutely ugly...and it's not because I was new to this) and I quickly burned myself out after making fifty-something outfits. I returned in April 2013, just in time for a server fashion contest and the release of the Wildermore zone...and then a computer hardware failure left this blog suspended until September. I returned again and managed to ahdere to a weekly posting regiment on Saturdays, which has worked very well. I've never felt any pressure to make an outfit or haphazardly throw one together under that system.

My Cosmetic Adventures Away From LOTRO Pt. 2

For those of you that had been following Material Middle-earth last year in September, you may recall a similarly titled post. In that particular entry, I explored other games and their cosmetic systems while taking a break from LOTRO. Whereas I talked about RIFT, Neverwinter, and World of Warcraft last year, I'll be taking you through Guild Wars 2, The Elder Scrolls Online, and Star Trek Online this year. If you've never played any of these games or are merely curious how cosmetics and/or character customization are handled elsewhere, I encourage you to read this.

Please keep in mind this entry is image heavy, with pictures taken on maximum settings for each game. If you have a slower running computer, I'd suggest clicking on the post title that way this entry loads by itself. Especially while this is the featured content.

Don't worry...I'll be back to LOTRO outfits on Saturday. This is a once a year post.

Guild Wars 2

I started playing this when Update 13 was released for LOTRO. I turned my attention to Guild Wars 2, taking in the bright colors and diverse landscapes, immersing myself fully in a strange new world to avoid LOTRO's agonizing grind. It didn't take long to discover the cosmetic opportunities this game offered. (Is it sad I initially judge games on that criteria?) Guild Wars 2 offers a total of 403 dyes for customizing your outfits! And you know what's even better? Once you unlock a dye, it becomes account bound and has an UNLIMITED number of uses. Having this sheer number of colors allows you to have bold and bright, neutral, earthy, and even completely pastel outfits. If you direct your gaze to the picture below, you'll get see the range of colors offered.

The color customization panel found in the Hero (character) Menu.

Even though that on the left panel is showing the nearly completed set of common colors, there are still divisions for starter colors, uncommon colors, and rare colors. Looking at the equipment panel in the center, you'll also notice that anywhere from 1 to 4 areas can be dyed on each piece. As far as I know, very few skins have undyeable areas. By the way, you can change colors anytime, anywhere.

How do you collect dyes? It's actually simple. You can spend laurels, an in-game currency earned by completing your account-wide dailies, at vendors for unidentified dyes. You can purchase them from the Black Lion Trading Post (auction house, essentially) for copper, silver, and gold. You can earn them from level up rewards. You can also buy unidentified dyes from the Gem Store, which periodically appear there. Anything you have will automatically be added to your Hero Menu.

Student Creates a LOTRO Fashion Based Study

Greetings everybody!

It's bright and early on a lovely Monday morning and I have a bit of news for the cosmetic community. During my internet rounds late Saturday evening (prior to me crawling into a warm bed) I stumbled upon an article from Casually Strolling Through MMOs. Aralath of the Imladris server, a PhD student from Iowa State, is studying dress, fashion, and characters both created and played by female gamers in LOTRO. If you're interested in participating, please direct your attention to the Studying Dress in LOTRO article at CSTM. You'll find all the information you need there.

I, unfortunately, will not be able to participate in this wonderful project. My life is too hectic between work and my responsibilities as a non-profit volunteer. This is why my blog posts are automated and written weeks in advance...I never know if I'll get to the computer on a specific day or time to make an entry. I'm usually working when the weekly outfit is posted on Saturdays!

Spread the word to your cosmetic-loving female friends and make this study a success!

~Nathrien <3

Dyeable Erebor Armor Sets...And It's About Time!

Much to my surprise this morning, I discovered accidentally that the Erebor armor sets are one hundred percent dyeable with the release of Update 14. I was in the middle of making outfits, testing out orange on some chest pieces, when I mistakenly clicked on an Erebor chest piece. A million red flags rose in my head and I dropped what I was doing to fly to the nearest skirmish camp. Every piece on every set dyes the selected color. I'm praying that this is no mistake and that these sets will permanently stay like this. However, the "In Defense of Erebor" deeds still gate them. (Honestly, I would have preferred ceremonial sets to avoid this requirement. I've only done the deed on one character.)

For those of you unable to log into LOTRO today, I'll provide some fabulous screenshots. Keep in mind that I'm dyeing these sets in the most contrasting way possible to show which areas will change color in relation to the original. To the left is the original color of any given set and to the right is the newly dyed version. The matching class will be listed beneath the appropriate picture.

*THIS POST IS IMAGE HEAVY. PLEASE CLICK THE "READ MORE" LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST TO SEE EVERYTHING*

Heavy Armor Sets

Captain

MME Updates Continued

Good morning everybody!

I'd like to apologize for the condition of this blog over the next several days. I'm starting to implement some of the changes I mentioned about a month ago. I'll be starting with a complete tag overhaul, which will involve modifying two years worth of outfit posts and streamlining the system I've been using. Some tags may stop working after updating enough of them. After all, in my early blogging days, tags were picked at random but weren't very consistent. Second, you may notice new pages or layout errors...I am starting to teach myself HTML because of Blogspot's limited resources. Since I don't speak any of the programming/coding languages yet, I thought this would be a good place to start. Third, I might be changing over some of the graphics found here, most likely moving towards a more Gondorian theme to match the direction that LOTRO is heading.

Thanks for your patience!

~Nathrien

UPDATE 5/27/14 @ 6 PM EST: All tags have been reorganized and 80% of posts have been retagged. Please refer yourself to the header above to the "Finding and Outfit" page if any of the tags confuse you. I've got brief explanations beneath each category. Also, a brand new contact form has been uploaded and added to the header as well!

UPDATE 5/28/14 @ 8 PM EST: I've started playing around with template designs (manual HTML editing involved) and I may have found one that suits my needs. Changed the size of the content window to accomodate monitors 1600 pixels wide, which was an issue on the old format. Pages in the header bar below the blog logo are still a work in progress...the new template kinda messed up the text arrangement. That'll be next on my list, along with updating the "Taking a Screenshot" guide. I have also decided to use a general Middle-earth theme versus a Gondorian one. I thought it would be more prudent to have something that won't change with every expansion.

UPDATE 5/29/14 @ 5 PM EST: Added a new blog banner, as the old one was outdated and no longer matched the new layout and theme. Also, I've temporarily removed the "Taking a Screenshot" page and begun to rewrite it.

UPDATE 5/31/14 @ 1 PM EST: After four days of work, I've posted the new screenshot guide. I hope it lives up to everybody's expectations! And this should conclude the renovation of Material Middle-earth. *wipes sweat from brows*

Update 13 & MME Plans

Today's a big day for LOTRO. The patching for Update 13 is well under way and I wanted to take a few moments to discuss my plans for Material Middle-earth for the next several months. As some of you may know, Aaron "Rowan" Campbell, the new Executive Producer for LOTRO, released his latest letter addressing the community and upcoming changes to LOTRO. I'll mention a couple of points from it, as they are relevant to this blog and all things cosmetic. If you're looking for other information, you'll find it in the letter.

Rowan's April 2014 Letter:
New Class, Housing, and Upcoming Locations:

First of all, it excites me to hear about Beornings being our new class. All I can think about are the new skill animations for blog pictures...is that bad thing? I've been blogging for LOTRO for so long now, that I tend to see many things from a cosmetic viewpoint. (Minimal details have been released regarding the class, but as it stands, the Lore-master has some competition.) I sit here wondering how the bear forms will appear, even though the transformation has been explicitly mentioned as a possibility. Will we be able to choose the color of our fur or will our hair color at creation dictate it? Although this might sound like too much, will the bear forms look substantially different from Lore-master pets? I'm trying to not get my hopes up and make a proverbial mountain out of this mole hill sized but of information, but I can't help it!

Secondly, hearing that there will be no major housing updates makes me sad. This isn't to say there won't be any changes to the system, but who knows what they will be. As some of you have noticed, the full title for this blog is "Material Middle-earth: A LOTRO Outfitter's & Housing Blog" and I had hoped to feature player houses again, something I haven't done in well over a year. Originally hearing about the major updates former EP Kate Paiz mentioned in her letter I decided to put houses aside and wait. Nearly a year went by and only the storage and upkeep systems changed. I had been hoping for a free-hook system, allowing players to place their decorations wherever they'd like. I was even hoping for updates that would revitalize the housing community, making neighborhoods places where you'd frequently encounter other players. I've even been eagerly awaiting the day where the Hytbold furniture is properly categorized by hook type. I might not display homes any longer, as too many are left abandoned or have foreclosed as it stands...and that would lead to a slight alteration in the blog's name.

Lastly, I'm glad to hear mentioning of the Blackroot Vale, Osgiliath, Dol Amroth, the Dead Marshes, Minas Tirith as future locales. As someone who chooses specific places to take screenshots of outfits, these places will create many more opportunities not only for myself, but for the lore fanatics. Maybe this means we'll get some Gondorian fashion to compliment the zones! I'll admit, I'm having second thoughts about the Dead Marshes, if it's only to check on the status of Sam and Frodo. It sounds to me that'll be more of an instanced space for the Epic questline. Honestly, I wonder if that means we'll get a glimpse at Emyn Muil, the craggy, rocky labyrinth on the far side of Nen Hithoel. I hope so! I'd also jump at the chance to see the Swan Knights!


Upcoming Plans for MME:
Blog Format, New Outift Series, Potential Contests, Retirement:

Lately, I've been thinking this blog could use a graphical facelift and possibly some reorganizing. I'm not entirely sure how flexible Blogspot is in terms of customization or if I'll need to go learn a specific web-based language. My roots are so deep at Blogspot, that moving would be detrimental. I remember the the very first layout of this blog, filled with blues, purples, blacks, and golds...all done with MS Paint. Some three months down the road, with the announcement of Rohan, I changed the theme slightly, using PSP 7, to fit the upcoming expansion area and that's what I still have running here. Now that we're on the path to Gondor, I find myself wondering if I should make my blog more Gondor-friendly or something a bit more universal and pleasant. Something is certainly in the works. I'm also going to be looking at a more efficient tag categorizing system to make the sidebar more user friendly, and updating the screenshot guide.

Speaking of something new in the works, I've been tinkering with a once-used posting style. I don't know how many of you were around when I posted outfits for the Harvestmath season in 2012, but I'm planning on reviving entries featuring three outfits. Please note that these special posts will be themed on a specific type of gear (i.e. robes, dresses, or tunics) and will contain simplistic outfits using two to three pieces each. These are for those ensembles that don't deserve six screenshots each or a full-length entry. You'll know it when you see it. Those posts will be titled "Simple Fashion -- [insert style here] Ideas" and will appear every one to two months. I'm hoping this will revive some interest and transform seasonal/festival rewards into year-round attire.

The very first post for MME was a cosmetic contest for Forgotten Darkness. Unfortunately, it was one of a kind. I've gotten lazy in that regard and there have been no other contest outfits featured here. Time willing, I might display some server-based contest winners here. I've been invited to judge several player-sponsored events on Gladden and a couple on other servers. I've even been known to hand out a few prizes myself. This is a BIG maybe, as I've already got a lot on my plate. Outfit submissions are still out of the question...I know for a fact I can't accommodate those players, as much as I'd like to. I've seen many beautiful cosmetic displays over the years!

Depending on what comes along with Update 14 (if the quarterly update schedule holds true that would be late July), I might not retire from my cosmetic career entirely. With all these ideas and tidbits Turbine has been dropping, I've found my levels of interest in LOTRO slightly increasing. I still have enough materials to get me through July and August. Despite the game-altering changes that arrived with Helm's Deep, there are definitely some new and exciting possibilities approaching. Time will tell!

A Change in Plans and a Compromise

At the very end of my post on March 7, 2014, I announced that I would be closing down my blog sometime in early May. There was an overwhelming and altogether unanticipated response to that very announcement. My blog's e-mail inbox began to fill. Private messages were sent via the LOTRO forums. Even my lesser used Twitter account was receiving direct messages. I've even got a few messages over Facebook. So many people asking me to continue posting here. It really was my expectation to showcase my final outfit in May...but I find myself reconsidering that decision after seeing the support Material Middle-earth has earned the past few weeks.

I don't have to remind anybody, at least that's how I feel, that everything eventually comes to an end. My kinship has basically quit the game. All the friends that I began playing LOTRO with have all gone. Helm's Deep and the associated changes were unprecedented disappointments. Since January, all I've done is log into LOTRO to make outfits. Lately, it hasn't been enough to capture my full attention and the will to play diminishes each passing day. The time will come when I leave LOTRO permanently, of that I am certain.

I still plan on retiring from my blogging, but I'll make a compromise for the community and my followers. I will continue to create outfits until my supplies are completely extinguished. That means dyes, marks, medallions, various landscape barter tokens, mithril coins, and my crafting materials. I have no intention to replenish those supplies either...and there's not much left of them. When the time comes, I will make the announcement about two weeks in advance.

Thank you for your support!

Nathrien

What!? A New Dye Color?

Whenever there's new content for LOTRO, I like to take some time and test it on Bullroarer. As U13 has public patch notes on the forums, I can share some pictures and information. There is one thing I'm notorious for when it comes to testing--I usually get bored after a while and start making outfits with an inexhaustible supply of marks, medallions, seals, and mithril coins. I was starting to do just that when I saw in the dressing room...

...A NEW DYE!!! *squeals*

This dye is called steel blue. I've decided to take some pictures for the community, illustrating our new color. Don't mind these outfits and if they look kinda funky...I just took clothing already in my mini's outfit slots and dyed them. You've got a variety of pieces here to capture the range of tones. Some with pure white bases, other with muted bases, and then one that reveals the gradation of the new color. More often than not, you'll be seeing more steel than you will blue. Just wanted to warn you! : )

The photos on the left are dyed grey, the photos in the center are dyed steel blue, and the photos on the right are dyed navy. This is done in order to help everybody distinguish between these similar colors. I've chosen not to include black for comparison because all the gear featured below dyes a true black. Beta details for the recipe itself are at the bottom of the post.

Example of a piece that has a greyish base color

My Cosmetic Adventures Away From LOTRO

Greetings everybody! I remebered saying in a previous post, that I've been dabbling in other games like Neverwinter, World of Warcraft, Star Trek Online, Marvel Heroes, and Rift while on a semi-break from LOTRO. I had a bit of an idea. This post is going about cosmetics, but this contains little directly regarding LOTRO. This will probably be the only post of its kind, but it'll give me a chance to talk about the cosmetic and outfitting systems of a handful of other games from a cosmetic blogger's perspective.

You see, I can't resist a good outfit no matter the game I'm playing and I enjoy seeing what I can do elsewhere with my background as a outfitter. I'll be talking a little about RIFT, Neverwinter, and World of Warcraft and reflecting on LOTRO in the process. You learn about dye systems, the pros and cons of taking  screenshots, and the acquisition of cosmetic gear. For clarity's sake, I cranked the graphics as high as my computer would let me.

 I hope you'll enjoy this minor excursion while I work on future LOTRO ensembles!

RIFT

Left to right: Krysanthe, mage; Asphodella, rogue; Aerthain, warrior

One of my greatest pleasures since June has been exploring the landscape in RIFT. I have been absolutely impressed by the design of the world and the cosmetic versatility of many pieces of gear. The designers have certainly performed above and beyond my expectations with the details of every piece on an engine intended for gameplay over graphics. Clipping is virtually nonexistent. Each and every piece fits your race and gender perfectly, as if they were specifically tailored to that model. (If only LOTRO could get that right!) The RIFT Store offers prepackaged outfits, usually in the form of cosmetic end-game armor bundles, both PvE and PvP, and expansion specific sets! Both sexes can strip down to undies and wear festival-earned bathing suits if so desired. Have I mentioned that there is no level requirement to cosmetically slot a piece of gear?

The wardrobe system is very simple and is comparable to LOTRO. Just access your wardrobe and drop the piece into its respective space. Feel free to toggle on and off each piece as you see fit. RIFT features twenty possible wardrobe combinations per character, unlike LOTRO's seven. You can purchase each set with either game money or Store currency and the cost incrementally increases with each purchased.

Oddly enough, this is one of those games where your gender affects how your outfit appears. Unfortunately, I'm very on the fence about this. Unlike LOTRO, the appearance of your characters--females especially--lean towards the more mature, fan-servicey side of the spectrum. Most chest pieces will give you a wonderful helping of cleavage from a variety of perspectives and most leggings will give you an eyeful of her thighs. Even full-plate emphasizes your female character's chest no matter the race, constantly shoving her gender in your face. On occasion, you'll be dealing with the aggravating cleavage wedge. Male characters, however don't have to deal with this issue. This is my only gripe about the cosmetic system for RIFT. You will not find hypersexualized characters in LOTRO, for which I am eternally grateful.

Up to Speed

It's certainly been a while since I was last here! Now that my computer is back in working order, I can resume working on my blog from time to time. However, I'm still somewhat on break from LOTRO and biding my time until Helm's Deep. I've been fooling around on Rift, Neverwinter, and World of Warcraft (someone got me a 30 day game card last year and I never used it until now) in the meantime. I do have to say that of all the games that I've ever played, LOTRO by far has the superior cosmetic system between the versatility of designs and the assortment of color from which to choose! I took a couple of screenies from my brief adventures today...hope you enjoy them!

I hope to be back in full force soon! : )

Spring Lissuin War-steed set & matching Lissuin ensemble - this outfit is in progress!

An old, but favorite outfift that's been slightly modified. From the "Grace of the Golden Wood" post :)

Blog Update

Sorry that I haven't been around lately as I kinda promised I would be. Unfortunately, my power supply and graphics card on my gaming PC let go recently--and as a result, I won't be able to update this blog for the time being. Hopefully, when my monthly budget allows me to be more flexible, I'll be able to replace both of those parts. I do have a laggy laptop that can run LOTRO on very low using DirectX 9, which means I might still be able to draft outfits for future display. I wish you all well, and happy gaming!