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)

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!)

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.

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.

Autumn Attire

It's certainly been some time since my last entry. I've been playing LOTRO quite a bit lately, taking time to work on my characters' gear and catching up on both the new zones and completing the epic story. I found myself falling farther and farther behind my friends and kinmates the more time I spent getting cosmetically creative. Believe it or not, most of my characters have been muddling through with the old statted level 95 gear since Western Gondor was released. I found myself unable to do group content at 105. I obstinately resisted the essence gear from its initial release until Update 19, which was a major mistake. I've come to realize that the essence grind is real. Same goes for stocking scrolls of empowerment. It's a much larger commitment than any level cap gear grind I've ever put myself through and the amount of time I've had to dedicate has been astonishing.

Now that I feel comfortable where I am in terms of character progression, I thought I should post a little something. In fact, since it's been so long, I have THREE autumn-themed outfits to present. Hopefully, I'll be back with more before the winter holiday season!

And I have a ton of outfits on my Beorning to post too! But that's if I ever find time to get out of Moria and get her to level 65. I have specific places in mind for screenshots...and I won't settle for anything less!

In the meantime, here are three autumn-inspired creations!

Head: Ceremonial Circlet of the Graven Word (Bullroarer's green, cosmetic skirmish camp vendor -- Light Rift set)
Shoulders: Ceremonial Shoulders of the Seven Stars (Sunset orange, cosmetic skirmish camp vendor -- Light Annuminas set)
Back: Pack of the Yield (Sunset orange, Farmer's Faire barter reward)
Chest: Tunic and Trousers of the New Bloom (Sunset orange, Spring Festival barter reward)
Hands: Pelennor Bracers of Wrath (Sunset orange, Vol 4 Epic quest reward)**
Feet: Ceremonial Nenuial's Boots (Walnut brown, cosmetic skirmish camp vendor -- Medium Annuminas set)

**Shares skin with any of the medium gloves from the Eastemnet Armor Quartermatser found in Rohan

Desert Rose - Emeridir of Gladden

For nearly three years, I've been staring at the same old pieces in the wardrobe. I've also been relying on the same gear combinations, altering colors here and there or adding different pieces to distinguish any given outfit. What I've been trying to do in recent weeks is break that habit. Instead, I look at the skins available to me and force myself to use one piece that I've NEVER used. As ugly as I thought the robe and cloak from the 2014 Spring Festival were, I decided to give them a shot. Quickly, I found the robe to be a dead end. The cloak, however, was not. It became the focal piece of this ensemble.

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)

Spring Festival 2014 Cosmetics and Steed

When I sat down today, I was surprised to see this year's Spring Festival active. Unlike with Hobnanigans or the 2014 Anniversary Festival, this was simply dropped on us without hint of a date. However, if you had been watching the recent TTHTI (Take The Hobbits To Isengard) livestreams, Sapience had made a vague comment that this would arrive sometime at the end of May. Honestly, a date would have been nice to have prior to this preview of the cosmetic rewards. Oh well : )

But, while we're on the subject, the 2014 Spring Festival runs from today, May 20th, to June 3rd. I wasn't around last year for this event, so if you're interested in seeing the cosmetics from 2013 and 2012, please drop by Cosmetic LOTRO and say thank you to Hymne.

In the pictures below, you'll find I've dyed each piece red through the dressing room panel to demonstrate how they'll dye. Beneath each picture, you'll find the name and token cost for each cosmetic. Sadly, we've got another reskinned robe and "tablecloth" steed.

Trellis-weave Robe (18 Spring Leaves)

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!

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.