Lavender Resolve

“She danced along the edges of life, like lavender in the wind, delicate yet resilient.” – Unknown

Lavender. The least used color in my shared storage. Why use it now? I've used rose, purple, violet, indigo, and shire plum on multiple occasions, but I've only ever used lavender one other time. That and...I hade sixty-something vials collecting dust. While I was mixing and matching the pieces seen here, I had a flashback to a particular heavy armor outfit from Cosmetic LOTRO called "The Rose." I've wished the community embraced purples and pinks. In a game where colors have primarily been masculine, earthen tones, I've believed there's always been potential for softer, more feminine colors to be used in a way that preserves strength, authority, and resiliency.

Stone-cleaver

 

In honor of purchasing Gundabad, my first impulse was creating another dwarven outfit. Two cosmetic bundles came with the Ultimate tier, the Fateful Gundabad set and the Gundabad Reclaimer set. I didn't particularly like the Reclaimer one, given how bulky and plain it was. Neither did it dye very well. However, the Fateful set offered far more flexibility. Largely a grey colored set, dyes affected the  dwarven patterns etched across the midsection of the chestplate and the central cloth tasset of the leggings. 

I've always been curious as to why, as of Update 23, Where Dragons Dwell, dwarven clothing became characterized by a stylized celtic block pattern. It made it easier to coordinate what other pieces I'd mix with the Fateful set. I drew, mainly, from the Ironfold crafting tier and Grey Mountains reputation vendors.

Nightshade

Many of my readers have noticed over the years how bright, colorful, and cheerful my outfits have been. I've always liked bold and brilliant purples, blues, greens, and reds. In fact, that's become a defining characteristic of Material Middle-earth. Unfortunately, that hasn't sat well with a multitude of readers. I've been getting messages complimenting me on what content is shared, but also requesting more natural and adventure-worthy outfits. I've also gotten a few rude messages that I will not repeat here. One went as far as to say I've made "outfits worthy of a carnival or circus." Of course, there have been other more modest reactions between those examples. And then there's the general pattern of comments on the official LOTRO forums' outfit thread.

I greatly appreciate my followers, both old and new. I always have and I always will. I've taken my incoming messages seriously, even if I've never gotten a response to my reply (and I have my suspicions about that...*coughjunkmailcough*). And I've also taken feedback and other criticisms to heart as well.

Visions Unseen

"And here in Rivendell there live still some of his chief foes: the Elven-wise, lords of the Eldar from beyond the furthest seas. They do not fear the Ringwraiths, for those who have dwelt in the Blessed Realm live at once in both worlds, and against both the Seen and the Unseen they have great power."

          ― The Fellowship of the Ring, "Many Meetings"

I've been reading the LOTR books again and this passage spoken by Gandalf caught my attention. It speaks of two worlds, the Seen (the one in which corporeal beings exist) and the Unseen (the one in which non-corporeal beings exist). Very few beings had the ability to cross between the realms--namely the Valar, Wizards (the Maiar), and the Elves who once lived in Valinor. The Ring-wraiths could also exist in both worlds simultaneously, though I'm not quite sure if the wraith-world they exist in qualifies as the Unseen. The One Ring also had the ability to draw the wearer into the wraith-world. At the very least, these realms were similar. And within the Unseen realms, the beings that freely walked them appeared differently. The spectral man-like forms of the Nazgul would be one example. The brilliant white aura manifesting itself around certain Elves like Glorfindel, which Frodo saw as he was succumbing to the Morgul-steel's curse, would be another. In Jackson's film interpretations, this aura also manifested itself around Arwen and Elrond. As interesting as this was, not much else is mentioned by Tolkien regarding the Unseen realm and it remains a largely speculative subject.

Pastel Brilliance

My, it's been a long time since I've uploaded an actual outfit. The summer kept me unusually busy, preventing me from investing any quality time in LOTRO and leaving me a backlog of outfits. However, it gave me the chance to gradually complete the Cosmetic Weapons Project. I haven't anticipated giving it any major updates in the future, except for new crafting recipes or when new vendors with swords and shields are added. It took over a year to add 1000+ images to that database! I'm glad it's finished, but there was an unforseen cost. I've almost used all of my free storage on Blogspot. That means I'll be cutting down on outfit images, starting today. I've even considered removing some from earlier entries as well, just to extend the life of Material Middle-earth.

Storage issues aside, there have been a handful updates to LOTRO in my absence. I've barely started Vales of Anduin and I very much need to complete it. Since the number of Embers rewarded from Skarhald dailies were reduced, I'll need the Vales dailies to supplement them. I often convert those extra Embers to Figments for cosmetics and housing items. And that brings me to the next topic. The Curator NPC. With the end of the Summer Festival, that particular vendor vanished. I was saddened to hear that, as I was still collecting those items. I wish that SSG had announced the Curator was a seasonal NPC months earlier...or at least from the very start. But now we have Rowan Raspberry...and new cosmetics to collect!

Bow-master of the Dark Wood

Here's a blast from the past. I haven't seen this outfit since early 2012. While cleaning out my portable hard drive's picture folders, I stumbled upon this. I would have loved to upload the picture, but it's so small, grainy, and had such poor lighting that it wasn't worth it. Back then, I played LOTRO on a non-gaming college laptop, which seldom handled more than very low graphics. As a special treat, I've recreated it for this "vintage" entry with a period-appropriate Mirkwood background! It took a few days to determine what pieces and colors I'd actually used. And I've even enhanced it with cosmetic weapons.

Verdant Grace

Quite often I repurpose slotted or old outfits. A splash of a different color, the exchange of at least one piece...that's all it's taken to transform an old character appearances into something new, fresh, and exciting. I've always been surprised how a subtle change in color, either in tint, shade, or tone, has altered the concept and emotion of an outfit. For those that have regularly visited Material Middle-earth, this particular clothing combination should look familiar. It's mostly a recolor of Silvan Elegance, which was posted in February 2018, almost a year from today.

Garrison Commander

Can I say how much I've loved having Bullroarer? Whenever I've finished testing what I wanted to test, and after giving appropriate feedback of course, I like to indulge my outfitting urges. Thanks to the Eyes and Guard Tavern located in Archet and Thorin's Hall, many of LOTRO's currencies are infinite. I've created or transferred multiple characters and completed the dailies found in the Tavern to cap my commendations, stockpile mithril coins, or collect whatever else I've desired. I'd been waiting for an opportunity to create this outfit, one that complimented the Great Axe of the Khazad-dûm Vaults, a weapons periodically available in the LOTRO Store.

Legion of Thrang - Draig-lûth Forgemaster

This will be most likely my final Thrang-themed outfit. Like I described in my previous entry, the limited pool of cosmetics that work with these glowing and sparking weapons made outfitting truly a struggle. This particular look of a Draig-lûth (Dragon-clan) Forgemaster took almost a week. I'm highly satisfied with how far I've been able to explore using these weapon skins. In fact, I wasn't expecting to make more than one, but I think we all know how I get when new shinies are dangled in my face! Of all the Thrang outfits, I'd declare this one to be my favorite...although I've swapped out the two-handed axe for the two-handed sword at this point. As fun as it was the use the axe, it didn't glow as much as the sword! (That and my Champ's LIs are swords!)

Picnic Power

There's a bit of a story behind this outfit. My kinship, Rangers of the West, hosts what we call Open Group twice a week--once on Friday evenings and once on Sunday afternoons (server time, at least from my perspective) when we are the most active. Basically, this is when we encourage players of all classes and levels to speak up if they need certain content run. Sometimes we have several groups running at once and we try to keep them all within a certain level range to avoid facerolling the content.

One week in October of 2017, we decided to shake up Open Group a bit. You see, our lower level players had felt a tad neglected. Lots of high level dungeons were being run. What we decided was to make this a sort of free for all event that would preserve the challenge/fun for our low level kinnies. Everyone was told to bring starter weapons with them that way DPS and healing would be level across the board. I chose to add some humor to our special event. A 115 champion dual wielding Butter Knives from the Mathom-house overlayed with Baskets of Apples from the Fall Festival. I didn't stop there. I made an outfit specifically to go with those apples! (By the way, those apples never seem to fall from the basket, no matter how wildy they're swung!)

Of Anniversaries and the Ithilien Spring

Seldom do I get overly excited about my character's attire. I've been in cosmetic overdrive since I returned to LOTRO. In such overdrive that, in fact, I've had dreams about what my characters could wear. Moments I've been at my job mentally piecing various skins together and dyeing them. I guess that having worked with the cosmetics from LOTRO for so long that I don't even need to be logged in anymore to do this. Once I envisioned this, I wrote each of the pieces down, and sat down at my PC the first chance I had. I've been waiting for an opportunity to use those North Ithilien cosmetics!

When was the last time I devoted an entire entry to a dress? And when was the last time I jumped into a Spring theme? I wanted greens, whites, yellows, pinks, flowers...anything that captured the heart and soul of the warming, sunny weather and the flowers beginning to bloom.

Scaled Scourge

This week's entry began with an overwhelming question: "What cosmetics have I NOT used?" For starters, I've avoided most of the crafted gear after level 65. That's when gear skins started deforming the bodies of our characters. I also haven't put any of the Eastern Gondor gear to good use. I've been reluctant to use a good portion of the Helegrod and Rifts armor sets. I've often ignored the Draigoch sets, since I can rarely get them to mesh well with gear outside the sets. Suffice it to say, the list was extensive. It boils down to personal tastes, but those tastes, in retrospect, have been restrictive. Taking a chance, I settled for some pieces I've either rarely seen worn by anyone in LOTRO, on the cosmetics thread of the forums, or by fellow bloggers.

Twilight Bladebearer

It pleases me to be able to play LOTRO, as intended, once more. Whatever was done in the past week or two server-side has corrected my issues with the game. Lag is gone, as well as the large ping and loss values, and the characters that were parked in housing instances were finally freed from their virtual confinement. I'll finally be able to sit down and create more blog-worthy outfits again!

In the meantime, I've only had one character free to roam around Middle-earth. Seeing how little I could actually do, I started making my way through Central and Eastern Gondor for the first time. What I didn't expect was the inclusion of the Dawnless Day, a time in which Sauron used smoke and fumes from Mordor to conceal the sun from most of Rohan and Gondor. Although this particular event lasts only five days in lore, LOTRO has made it seem dreadfully permanent. Even though I've only gotten to Bâr Húrin, I can't take much more of the atmosphere. It's difficult to spend so much time in a gloomy area when most LOTRO's landscape consists of clear, cheerful skies and lush vegetation. (I often rush through Angmar and Mirkwood for similar reasons.) In light of that, I was compelled to make a colorful outfit before I return to the doom and gloom of Eastern Gondor.

Revisiting the Early Days of MME

As promised in late November, I've gone back in time to 2012, taken old outfits from this blog, and reposted them here in bigger, brighter pictures with much improved graphical quality. It was difficult to choose from over fifty outfits, but I narrowed that list down to eight. With each picture, I've included the name of the outfit (most sound soooo corny!) and a link back to the original post for the dyes and skins. I almost changed some of the pieces, but decided to leave them as is.

Normally I post new outfits on Saturday, but I thought this would be a refreshing change of pace.

You might be wondering what was my reasoning for doing this? Here's my first reason. I never had the followers in 2012 that I have nowadays. When Material Middle-earth was in its infancy, I was lucky to get a hundred views a month. Nowadays, it nets at least several thousand. By not establishing myself on Facebook until late 2013 and Twitter in 2014, many LOTRO players didn't have the chance to see my early work as it was posted. I am hoping, today, that you'll join me on a sentimental journey and see where it all began. And for the second reason, this week's entry allowed me to exhaust whatever marks, medallions, and dyes remained simply by recreating these.

Also, don't forget that next Saturday I'll be posting my farewell entry with a new outfit! Before then, I'll be honoring one last outfit concept from a follower. If all goes well, that ensemble will appear here on Wednesday morning.

The War-forged Defender

A Warm Yuletide - Satella of Gladden

By far, my most shameless winter and holiday outfit to date. Why I say that? This outfit was heavily influenced by the mountie dress uniform a friend wore for Halloween. So, not only do you have an ensemble using Christmas colors, you have, arguably, LOTRO's first reinterpreted and embellished mountie. At least the traditional brown felt campaign hat isn't in the game, because that would be too much! This year, I've given you the perfect blend of security, hilarity, and holiday cheer...and a "virtual" tribute to one of the world's well known police forces!

Sea-bound Swan - Aldebaraan of Gladden

I feel like I've been periodically synching up with other LOTRO fashion bloggers. About a week after finishing the draft for this in early August, Gloredh from Wandering Around Arda had posted something strikingly similar in concept. In case you're wondering why I didn't post this immediately, I have a carefully arranged schedule of posts that last for weeks and sometimes months. If I had, that schedule would have needed some serious rearranging. Therefore, I think it's much easier just to add each new outfit I make to the back of the queue. Next week's post will be something visually similar to one of Hymne's outfits. This was also another one done shortly before she posted hers. Hopefully, the one after that will actually feel original! (It's always awkward when you feel like you've copied someone else.)

Advance Scout - Satella of Gladden

Despite having Dunland cosmetics for over nearly years, I didn't start exploring the outfitting possibilities until recent months. Since May 2014, I've been relentlessly using them in my creations. If only I had done that back in late 2011. Not going to lie here, but there are days where I feel cosmetically behind the times! Sure, I've used a piece here and there (or one pair of bracers shamelessly) but I ignored too many landscape rewards in of lieu hard-earned raiding gear from Dar Narbugud, Barad Guldur, and Orthanc. Funny how I've begun to appreciate the very pieces that have virtually fallen off the radar. All of my characters that I've actively played are well past Dunland, falling somewhere between the Westemnet and Western Gondor, which makes whatever I've collected from the Isengard expansion more valuable.

Crimson Valiance - Aldebaraan of Gladden

For once I left the safety of the starter zones on this mule character. It wasn't easy making it to the southern regions of the Trollshaws, as everything had purple names. Despite that, this was the place most connected to the outfit...and it was worth dying a few times on the way for several screenshots. Anyway, I had been toying with the idea of another elven sentinel's garb. Unlike my first one, which was fully dyed indigo, I thought something reddish would do nicely. It's great for characters of an elven heritage or any allied character while progressing storywise from Rivendell to Mirkwood. With the exception of the Mines of Moria, it'll help your character blend in wonderfully with the high volume of elves you'll encounter on the way.

Simple Fashion - Dress Ideas

It's been about a month since my first "Simple Fashion" installment. This week, I'm bringing you some ideas for various dresses obtained in the game. Last time I checked, there around 40 dresses in LOTRO, most of which are long-sleeved, short-sleeved, or sleeveless versions of the same dress. If you discount the alternate variations, you're looking at, maybe, sixteen distinct dress skins between in-game rewards and the LOTRO Store. Honestly, it would be nice to have more in the game, even if it means you see them casually worn or used in RP settings.

Just like last time, no big stories or multiple screenies of one outfit...only three outfit ideas focusing on dresses. And for clarity's sake, I turned off the bloom effect in each of the pictures.

Head: Urdol-helm (Indigo, Isengard instance cluster reward)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Mighty Verse (Indigo, Moria Minstrel trainer barter item or Lalia's Market)
Chest: Elf-queen's Dress (Indigo, LOTRO Store or Spring Festival random gift-box reward)

Shieldmaiden's Return - Satella of Gladden

This is a bittersweet post for me. My champion, the only character that had some semblance of a background story, has returned to her home of Aldburg. If you had asked me almost four years ago if I expected to see this historic town in LOTRO, I would have said never. Not once was it mentioned in the LOTR Trilogy, and even then, only briefly in the legendarium's Appendices. As I write this, I recall memories of my character's adventures across Middle-earth--Moria, the Golden Wood, Dunland--along with each and every outfit she wore. I'd have to say, of all of my toons, this one's story has progressed the most. A shield-maiden, barely known, that ventured from Aldburg some years ago into the heart of Eriador returns a seasoned soldier, clad in the garb of the races she encountered.