Double Outfit and A Blogging Departure

Back in late 2024, I did say that my return to Material Middle-earth would be a temporary one. The details are irrelevant at this point, but these are highly likely to be my final outfits. I'm on an indefinite break from LOTRO and probably not returning this time. I haven't felt inspired in some time and I feel comfortable where I currently am.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Despite in-game bugs, a busy life, and sporadic posting, thank you for showing your support these past 18 months with these 22 outfits. I hope these will serve as inspiration for your own creations!

Here are the last two outfits from my Hunter.

Head: Brilliant Forest Defender's Mask (White, Curator NPC)

Shoulders: Medium Nadhin Shoulders (Shire peach, reward from the Vol. 4 quest The Ruthless Dead)**

Back: Silvan Quiver (Washed, LOTRO Store)

Chest: Robe of Faramir's Faithful (Shire peach, Quartermaster found in Eastern Gondor)

Hands: Rakish Charmer's Gloves (Walnut brown, Rakish Patron's Enhanced Coffer)

Feet: Rakish Charmer's Boots (Walnut brown, Rakish Patron's Enhanced Coffer)

Swords: Malledhhrim Sword of Warding (T6 Weaponsmith recipe)

Bow: Well-worn Mumak Rider's Bow (This version only drops on T1 of the Osgiliath cluster)

**The shoulders also drop from random kills on the landscape, although this is rare. Can also be bartered at the Dol Amroth Quartermaster for medium armor.

Head: Potent Skirmish Helm of the Mark (Belegaer blue, T8 Tailor recipe)

Shoulders: Embroidered Mantle of the Doomfold (Walnut brown, T13 Tailor  recipe)

Back: Scholar's Ebullient Silk-weave Cloak (Walnut brown, Remmorchant Quartermaster in Estolad Lân)

Chest: Breastplate of the Slayer's Raiment (Belegaer blue, Keeper of Mysteries vendor in Mordor - figment barter)

Hands: Quick Gages of the Wyrm (Umber, Keeper of Mysteries vendor in Mordor - mote barter)

Feet: Nimble Boots of the Wyrn (Umber, Keeper of Mysteries vendor in Mordor - mote barter)

Swords: Sword of the Steady Mind (Bartered from the Riders of Stangard rep vendors)

Bow: Ornate Lebethron Bow of Speed (T4 Woodworker recipe)

Kingsfell Footpad

foot·pad [noun] a highwayman that operates on foot rather than on horseback

 

This is the first time I've ever used this mask, the Potent Skirmish Helm of the Mark in an outfit. It was also the first piece in this appearance. Typically, when I go through the outfitting process, the first piece is often the first to go. However, because I'm continuing my "mask challenge," it had to stay. It's not exactly the easiest one to use, as the piece itself is primarily colored umber and only the strip that runs across the top dyes. 

Traveling Solo

"You are surrounded by adventure. You have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it." -~Freya Stark, Baghdad Sketches

NOTE: Good news! The outfit panel bug appears to have finally vanished for me, so I can finally resume blogging. I have a lot of content to upload, and I hope to take advantage of this major blizzard raging through the northeastern US. Thank you for being patient. Without further delay, I present this next outfit...

Before I challenged myself to use masks on this Hunter, who has now reached the Walls of Moria, I made a single outfit. And, as you may surmise from the quote above and the blog entry title, I wanted some traveling attire. Fresh out of the gate, ready to explore, honest to goodness traveling attire. In a way, it was a symbol of a new beginning. First new character after the server consolidations. I knew nothing of the Peregrin community. I had yet to experience the Before the Shadows expansion. And the hunter class were had in 2025 was nothing like the hunter I'd retired back in 2019. For all of these reasons, this cosmetic appearance felt appropriate.

Fleet-feathered

 

Two weeks ago, I gave my readers a hint for this week's outfit at my previous entry's end. As much as I love Belegaer blue, which was used in those teaser screenshots, it too closely resembled what I used for Silvered Whispers. I felt that a splash of a darker color, one almost complimentary, would let the Jacket of the Wilds Hills and accompanying pieces shine. Crimson works well, lavender looks nice, but colors that fall into the spectrum between blue and green work best with the cooler silver found in the chest, gloves, and boots. This all goes to demonstrate how versatile any cosmetic piece can be when paired with the proper color.

Silver Whispers

It's a shame that cosmetics bartered with Figments of Splendor don't see much use, at least from what I've observed. I have a handful of them myself from over the years, generally bartering for them as the seasonal vendors change or from the elusive Curator, who only appears at specific times of the year. Honestly, I think the Curator should be available year-round that way good cosmetics don't go to waste. It would encourage players to convert excess motes and embers into figments for bartering, versus holding onto them and wasting them when currency caps are reached. However, that's my humble opinion. SSG has been petitioned in the past, but to no avail. I can remain hopeful that it may change someday, but I won't hold my breath.

Whimsical Autumn

I apologize for the unexpectedly lengthy absence. Unfortunately, there's only so much I can control between two jobs. I'm often exhausted when I get home. I seldom have the time or energy for gaming, let alone LOTRO. Despite that, my desire to continue making new outfits is still going strong. I'm on vacation in the upcoming weeks and I plan to upload as much as I can for scheduled content.

If you've been lucky and are on the LOTRO Official Discord server, you may have noticed I'm periodically dropping screenshots of new outfits either in progress or completed.

Ocean's Whisper

I apologize for the delay between blog entries. It took approximately three weeks in March to transfer from Gladden to Peregrin. And I've also been incredibly busy outside of LOTRO, including but no limited to, picking up a second job. I hope nobody thought I stepped down from blogging again. I haven't run out of outfits I'd like to share yet!

This week's elven outfit is inspired by a few things. The first being the shoreline. While Packing up my island kinhouse, I would often find myself staring, peacefully, at both the ocean horizon and the mainland. Second, the yearning to return to Valinor the elves experience, which I often equate to a beckoning whisper carried on the wind that only they can hear. Lastly, I had been skimming through the Tolkien Companion at the time, reading about Mithlond, Círdan, the Teleri, and the grey ships.

In the end, I find myself with what could be called an elven mariner's outfit. Wouldn't quite consider this my take on one of the Teleri. Just an ocean-inspired ensemble.

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.

Winter's Wings

Another year has come and gone in LOTRO. The Yule Festival's here (running from December 12, 2019 to Janurary 8, 2020) and it's a time of year marked by mirth and warmth, celebration, charitable acts, and the comfort of friends and family. Keep an eye on global channels, the forums, and social media for special seasonal events! Secret Santas and kinship parties are very popular through New Years. This is when I temporarily slow down with Material Middle-earth, as there are a variety of events to enjoy!

With the start of Yule Festival, I also break out the cold weather outfits. This latest appearance uses two of the Ice Flower skins, available at Frostbluff for the first time. They're a delightful reskin, and a more universal one in my opinion, of the Fall Festival's Autumn Traveller cosmetics. With a larger variety of color, they boast a greater flexibility and are easier to mix with other sets. And this year, I made another warm and feathered appearance suited to adventuring in inclement and often snowy regions, drawing on skins from various regions of Middle-earth.

Barbed Executioner

The Barbed Executioner is one of my more interesting outfits. I figured I'd try pairing two distinctly different sets of armor skins and see what I could create. The "Mordor's Bane" and "Mordor's Vanguard" gear from the High-enchanter seldom gets used outside their own sets. Most of those pieces were darkly colored, covered in scales, rivets, shingled plates, and spikes, creating a unique aesthetic. And then there's the dwarven-themed cosmetics from U23, covered in celtic knot-like patterns and intricately weaved leather interlaced with detailed and highly decorated steel. It was a challenge attempting to mesh these styles together and, even though it's not the most realistic appearance, I was satisfied with the result.

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.

Twilight Huntsman

Having spent enough time working on Mordor dailies, I've been able to acquire some of the latest crafted armor recipes. By all rights, I should have had them sooner, but if you know me I'm a much of a housing nut as I am a cosmetic blogger. I've lavishly spent the majority of my Silver Signets of the Thandrim on housing decorations in recent months and have been able to create a Mordor-themed house. Usually, it's the other way around, but I had enough outfits lined up that I could afford a change of pace, take a temporary respite from outfitting, and focus on the visual weapons guide.


That respite, unfortunately, wasn't much a of a respite after all. Mom had fallen and broken her ankle, which forced me to take a semi-hiatus from LOTRO until mid-May. I still logged in to screenshot a few weapons and at least say hello to my kinship, but I wasn't able to do much else while caring for her. Naturally, Stronghold of the North had just released just before her accident. I've been desperately trying to play catch up, focusing on content, while my blog quickly burned through everything I'd scheduled. I've gotten to a point where I've been able to shift my focus here again.

Legion of Thrang - Master of Shadow and Flame

You may have guessed it, based upon the title, that this outfit was inspired by Thrang, one of the major bosses from the Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu. That particular fight was isolated from the level 50 raid, made scalable, and was introduced as a temporary stand-alone instance for the duration of the Summer Festival this year. From the rewards, either by lucky drop or by spending ten vault tokens, you could collect your own two-handed Thrang's Sword, which features a tip that glows red-hot as if it were pulled from a forge. Whenever you land a blow with it, it sparks wildly, casting embers into the air. Also, the sword leaves behind a small stream of embers so long as it's visibly equipped.

Although this outfit doesn't feature the two-handed sword, it does showcase the one-handed version and Thrang's Bow, which can be acquired from the Armory of Thrang box at any time. This box is found, rarely, in Gorgoroth Lootboxes or at the Keeper of Mysteries vendor in Mordor for 900 Ashes of Enchantment. Eleven other selectable weapons can also be found in that box.

Springtime Merrymaker

Although the Spring Festival finished about a month ago, I've only just gotten to this outfit. I've had so much content scheduled since the beginning of March that it's overwhelming. Between my latest  project and the backlog of outfits, I've had to reorganize all of my scheduled posts. This is why you've been seeing new outfits approximately every other week and other content squeezed in between those outfits. I promised myself in September of 2015 that I wouldn't be publishing content weekly anymore to avoid burnout. Looks like I've broken that promise! (Broken promises/oaths tend not to end well in Tolkien's world. Oh dear...) However, I will admit that I've bitten off more than I can chew. I'll continue to work with what I've already added and go from there. Once I've finished posting my weapons collections, everything should go back to normal.

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!

Whispers of Yávië

Shortly after the Abyss of Mordath released, I decided to pick up my long retired Hunter. For four years, he'd been sitting at level 85, having never crossed the Entwade and into the Westemnet. When the class trait trees first dropped and the time consuming Epic Battles were the only way to obtain top tier jewellery, I was forced to heavily cut back on the number of active alts. Unfortunately, after those four years, I'd forgotten how to play my inactive classes. I was having a terrible time with my Hunter, which had been fundamentally altered by those trees, and decided it'd be easier to roll a new one. The class just wasn't what I remembered it to be.

Anyway, having made a new alt means (and you probably guessed it) having seven new outfit setups. I may or may not have filled all seven before I started Ered Luin quests!

His & Hers - An Ornate Yuletide

It's hard to believe another year has come and gone in LOTRO. And it's even more difficult to believe that I actually have a chance to upload some Yule outfits, let alone have a PC to upload them with (last year, I didn't have a working one)! I'll be keeping this post rather brief. As I'm finalizing this entry, and scheduling to auto-post while I'm working Saturday morning, I have a batch of mini oreo cheesecakes chilling in the fridge. Soon they'll be done, and then it's back to the kitchen for more baking! This will be my only chance to squeeze in some LOTRO time until after Christmas.

Idh Ryss en Belegaer

Seldom do I attempt to name anything in Sindarin. Why? Depending on what you're trying to say, the rules are quite complicated. You have to account for word origins, how each vowel changes when going from singular to plural, and special grammatical mutations. Of course, the name I had my heart set on involved quite a few special rules. "Idh Ryss en Belegaer" means "The Whispers of the Belegaer" (Idh Ryss (pl. the whispers--singular form being I Rhoss) + en (conj. of the) + Belegaer). Just in case you're wondering, Belegaer means great/mighty (beleg) sea (aear) and refers to the expansive sea west of Arda. Of course, I may have gotten my translation into Sindarin wrong. By no means do I declare myself an expert. My only guide, currently, is a small notebook that contains the Sindarin crash course my college Tolkien professor attempted to give ten years ago. If anyone can confirm or correct my attempt, please let me know!

Grammar lesson over! *wipes sweat from brow*

Tempered Pathfinder

Every now and then, I like to take a break from making those fancy, overly detailed, and sometimes complicated outfits. Much of LOTRO's gear is covered in large emblems, swirls, leaves, golden trims and accents, and intricate patterns. There is nothing more aggravating for me that having to coordinate racial motifs or making sure that high decorative skins can refer to each other. This week, I'll be sharing an outfit on the simpler side, one with armor skins that have a simple design and dye almost entirely one color. If anything, I used the studs on these pieces as a unifying motif.

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