Springtime Symphony

Another year has come and go in LOTRO. Not only does the Spring Festival herald the return of warm weather and fragrant flowers, it also heralds the coming of both LOTRO's fourteenth and Material Middle-earth's ninth anniversaries. It's hard to believe both this game and blog has been running for that long. Time is incredibly short this month, and odds are I won't have my usual anniversary post. In lieu of that, I've put together three outfits, each of which use at least one bartered piece obtained from the Spring Festival. Some of the pieces seen here, like the Naruhel cosmetics, are new while others, like the Simbelmynë cosmetics, are nearly a decade old.

This first outfit used the newest addition to the Spring Festival vendors. Not only does it use the aforementioned Naruhel cosmetics, specifically the vines covering the arms and shoulders, it also uses a dress worn by Goldberry and the various River-maidens encountered throughout the story. Though not the most original skins in the game, in a sense because they're pre-existing assets, it's amazing that we've been seeing NPC clothing converted into player clothing (my fingers are crossed for Glathlírel's armor)! I hope the trend continues. Anyway, between the dress and vines, it was possible to create a nature-centric outfit combining the essences of earth and water. And the Groom's Myrtle Circlet was thrown in for good measure.

Head: Groom's Myrtle Circlet (Autumn leaf, Midsummer Festival barter reward)

Shoulders: Naruhel's Shawl (Default, Spring Festival Festivity Token barter reward)

Back: Cloak of the Autumn Traveler (Rohan green, Fall Festival barter reward)

Chest: Short-sleeved Dress of the Spring Maid (Rohan green, Spring Festival barter reward)

Hands: Vines of Naruhel (Default, Spring Festival Festivity Token barter reward)

Outfit Variations

In recent weeks, some old and beloved friends returned to LOTRO. I've enjoyed questing with them, trying to balance my time between the normal and legendary servers. We agreed to stay on the same page, leveling or progressing the story only when we're together. It's been wonderful experiencing the well-written and timeless story of LOTRO again. And, more importantly, having a new alt meant having eight new outfit slots!

Whenever one person stepped away for food or some other reason during those sessions, I've gradually squeezed in some new-ish appearances during those downtimes. (The Subscriber Town Services item gotten from the VIP vendor, with instant vault and wardrobe access, has been a blessing!) I call these "new-ish" for a single reason. These were previously shared outfits that I've repurposed by altering color schemes and changing a few pieces. Making new outfits has been an ever increasing struggle and I've got to keep the creative juices flowing somehow. After all, I've made more than 250 custom appearances over nearly nine years! Not all of these repurposed outfits have been spectacular, but I thought I should share a few here. This blog has been about ideas, after all!

Before I list the pieces and the source outfits, I wanted to mention the legendary servers again. It's been a slow process with that "Story Pace" debuff, but I managed to reach level 100 and unlock all six special account-wide cloaks. Each cloak was earned through completing specific quests from the Epic storyline. I've been working with them recently and hope to have new outfits centered on said cloaks. As to when? I haven't a clue. However, I've been excited this past week to finally check something off my secret blog wish list!

 

Source Outfit: Recollections of the Last Alliance

Head: Circlet of Lorien (Default, Midsummer Festival barter reward)

Shoulders: Strong Shoulder Guards of the Reclaimed City (White, reward from The Fallen King Renewed)

Back: Cloak of Many Worlds (White, comes from the World Consolidation Gift Box)

Chest: Reinforced Hauberk of the Last Alliance (Black, reward from Rescue Rangers)**

Hands: Strong Gauntlets of the Last Alliance (Default, High-enchanter vendor in Mordor)

Feet: Thick Sabatons of the Last Alliance (Default, High-enchanter vendor in Mordor)

**This skin can also be bartered through the High-enchanter NPC in Mordor.

Penchant for Plum

I loved Minas Morgul. Definitely one of my favorite expansions to have graced LOTRO these past twelve years. Between Mordor Besieged and the Morgul Vale, the story was amazing and the landscape design phenomenal. However, the Vale itself was one of the darkest regions added to the game. My Rune-keeper, known for wearing dark or earthen-toned clothing, was blending into the landscape. It was difficult to play while traveling through light underbrush or while moving against the ethereal glow of the citadel's high stone walls. Sometimes, I didn't know where I was unless I was flinging lightning in some unsuspecting warg's face or roasting spiders in the web-covered Taurlingol. To fix the problem, I took some unusual measures and dived into my dwindling supply of shire plum, which I'll have to replenish next Spring.

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!

Shire Plum Shenanigans

This month's entry, though posted later than usual, features three outfits using the seldom seen shire plum dye. Shire plum, like purple, yellow, sunset orange, is a very bold, very bright color. When working with these dyes, it's best to remember the phrase "less is more." Depending on what clothing or armor you're dyeing, you'll stand out like a sore thumb on a earthen-toned of muted landscape. You might blind yourself standing in bright sunlight. You might blind your fellowship. You might even blind Durin's Bane in the dark depths of Moria. You may not even need the Phial of Galadriel to stand toe to toe against Shelob!

Originally, I had some overly complicated outfits put together in the dressing room when I began using this color...and they were downright obnoxious. I took a couple of them to the landscape for a few days, curious how they would appear in practical landscape use. Needless to say, that first wave failed. For the second wave, I scaled back this particular project and found the next set of outfits to be far more visually appealing. It's this wave you'll find featured here. If you're on Gladden, you might get lucky and see me adventuring in these!

At this point, I can safely say I've had my share of bright colors for now! I don't even want to think what kind of work yellow (the one dye I've refused, so far, to use) will require if shire plum was this difficult...

Head: Circlet of Fresh-picked Flowers (Shire plum, Farmers Faire barter reward)
Shoulders: Supple Wildermore Shoulderpads of Tactics (White, T8 Tailor's Guild recipe or Wildermore reputation recipe)
Chest: Elegant Formal Dress (Shire plum, LOTRO Store)

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.

Flower Girl - Pennycandy of Gladden

My hobbit mintrel is a character I have no intention of leveling. I had created her for one reason originally--Turning of the Tide's own Hobbits to Isengard event, which I held back in September 2013, long before Sapience held it for each server. To tell the truth, Forgotten Darkness of Gladden was the first community, that I know of, to run that event in early 2012. Community events or not, I decided to keep little level 8 Pennycandy and use her as an additional model. So far, she's provided me with a significant amount of practice in clothing hobbits casually. I highly doubt I'll have any battle-ready outfits for that race.

Simple Fashion - Tunic Ideas

As I promised in April, I'm kicking off my "Simple Fashion" series by displaying three outfits revolving around a certain type of gear. This installment will be focusing on tunics. There isn't anything long and complicated about these, nor do I have any tips or stories to tell. Besides, tunics are too often brushed aside after their respective seasons and collect dust for the remainder of the year. This post is about simple ideas attempting to revitalize overlooked cosmetic gear, using a minimal number of pieces. By no means are these finalized...they're just building blocks I'd like to share.

If this type of post seems well-received, I will have a similarly styled post for dresses and/or robes in the future!

Head: Turquoise Summer Circlet (Rose, LOTRO Store dyeable version)
Shoulders: Padded Mantle of the Dunland Soothsayer (Rose, Dunland quest reward)
Chest: Simbelmynë Tunic & Trousers (Ered Luin Blue, Spring Festival token barter reward)

Aurora Maiden - Lanael of Gladden

I think in this latest stretch of my cosmetic compilations, you'll be treated to some outfits I never quite felt finished until recently. I started playing LOTRO in 2010, just after it went free to play. Not quite sure what I was doing at that point of the game, I bought a couple of cosmetics from the store in addition to the Lone-lands and North Downs quest packs. I used one of those store items here, the Cloak of the Northern Lights, and this was only time it's been used in any of my outfits successfully. It still hasn't felt quite right anywhere else because of the rainbow of colors and the limited dyeability. Even so, I love to just look at it in the dressing room window!

Spring Series - Floral Queen

Here's the next installment in this year's Spring Series. You've probably noticed, or you will now that I've told you, these season-themed outfits are brightly colored and very casual. For the most part, I've been on this lengthy stretch of outfits geared towards combat and adventuring. This week, and perhaps next week as well, I'm showcasing a social outfit. I've caught wind that some RPers from Landroval and Laurelin follow this blog and I'd hate to leave them feeling excluded. I've attended various events myself, such as the weekly Ales & Tales and the Eriador Music Society's concerts. Many players come well dressed and sometimes in large groups wearing the same outfit!

Elven Blossom - Nathrien of Gladden

It was by chance that I had found the Lissuin cosmetic pieces on the AH this month. Normally, I would have spent a portion of my time gathering tokens during the Spring Festival this year, but it was nearly impossible at the time. You see, my PC hadn't been repaired yet and my laptop could barely handle LOTRO. I had to cash in half of my Badges of Taste from previous festivals to grab the war-steed pieces, as those are bound on acquire and can't be purchased elsewhere. The rest of the new cosmetics would have to wait, and with some patience, I hoped to find them on the AH...and I did. For thirty gold, I purchased the Lissuin Robe, Lissuin Dress, and the Lissuin Cloak. The hooded version of the cloak still eludes me.

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 :)

A Return from a Lengthy Holiday

My, it's been a long time since I updated here. I had taken a break from LOTRO and all things LOTRO related, but I wasn't expecting it to be so long! It's been four months since my last blog post. It's been two months since I stopped playing. In a nutshell, I just got tired and aggravated with the game, not liking the direction the developers were taking this MMO. Also, with the way my non-gaming life had overwhelmed me, I had to temporarily stop the cosmetic blogging. Anyway, I'm back but not to the extent I used to be before December. Hopefully, I'll have some new outfits ready to go in the next week or two! To those of you who periodically check this blog, if there's anybody left at all (I hope!), thanks for being patient!

As an unusual bonus, here are several screenshots unused in any of my outfitting posts. Whenever I make an outfit, I take at least two dozen photos at a given time at a location...but only four of them make it to the final stages of a blog post. You might recognize some of the outfits below...but I can guarantee you that some of these haven't made it to this blog yet! Oh, the things you find archived from a different time and a different computer...

Springtime Balladeer - Nathrien of Gladden

It's been a while since I've posted here. Life has gotten hectic the past month...between looking for a new job and spending time with family, I haven't had much time to spend on LOTRO with cosmetics. Luckily, the start of the Spring Festival coincided with the revival of my cosmetic ventures. It's not very often you see floral designs in a game like this. Usually, I see players running around Middle-Earth in armor, leathers, and various arrangements of end game gear. When I saw the new festival cosmetics, I could only imagine how perfect my mini, Nathrien, would look displaying them.