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.

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.

His & Hers - Riverside Attire

It's been about seven years since I last wrote an entry for a His & Hers set. Perhaps I should have explored that theme more often. Over the years, festivals have offered tunic and dress pairs (sometimes robe and dress) with similar designs. And on the rare occasion, reputation factions have done the same. It's a wonderful thing to have that kind of flexibility in clothing styles. Quite often in the past I've looked at a cosmetic reward, loved the colors and design, and said to myself "It's too bad there isn't a dress alternative, because it would look lovely!"

During the Black Friday sales, I cashed in what LP I had left and purchased the Superior River Hobbit Bundle at a remarkable 75% discount. Aside of housing items, they contained a jacket, dress, and an assortment of other cosmetic pieces for the newest playable race, the River Hobbit. I may not have shown all of the coffer's pieces in these outfits, but the dress and jacket look amazing on all races.

Shoulders: Wildermore Shoulderpads of Tactics (White, crafted from the Wildermore Shoulderpads reputation recipe)*

Chest: Dress of the River-folk (Burgundy, Superior River Hobbit Bundle)

Feet: Westemnet Campaign Shoes of Fate (Burgundy, crafted from the Westemnet Campaign Shoes recipe)

*The Tailor's Guild also offers this recipe, allowing the player to bypass the Wildermore reputation requirement.

Back: Snow-strider's Mantle (Olive, Yule Festival barter reward)

Shoulders: Shoulderpads of the Osgiliath Bowmaster (Grey, Ruined City T2 Hunter class set)**
Chest: Jerkin and Trousers of the River-folk (Burgundy, Superior River Hobbit Bundle)
Feet: Westemnet Campaign Shoes of Fate (Burgundy, crafted from the Westemnet Campaign Shoes recipe)

**Wardens and Burglars can also win this skin from the Osgiliath Ruins Armour box. Must run at level 100 or higher for chance to drop.

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)

Rugged

 

It's been roughly three and a half years since the Mordor expansion's release. With it came the High Elf race, another class of elves hailing from Aman that had beheld the light of the Two Trees or elves with ancestors that had also seen that light. The High Elf saw major graphical improvements over the original Elf, both in facial features and hairstyles. And, as an added bonus, this racial variant had an exclusive Time-worn armor set granted to them at the intro's conclusion, determined by that character's armor class. Obtaining all three required having three new character slots or one slot and sufficient wardrobe space.

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.

Autumn Leaf Fashion

I need to put it out there that if I missed LOTRO's Fall Festival--my favorite one by the way--I might have quit LOTRO permanently. As most of my readers and Twitter followers know, this has been a rough year investing in LOTRO. It's been one thing after another, all in rapid succession. A pandemic that forced me into 60+ hour work weeks from April to September. (I had one afternoon of playtime this past July, and that was it.) I came back to an unstable game, due to a combination of issues with SSG's service provider and their server infrastructure. Once the connection issues stabilized early October, my PC monitor died. I replaced it, only to have my PC's motherboard and processor kick the proverbial bucket nearly a week later. I had no choice but to rebuild my PC, which took approximately three weeks. 

Although these circumstances have been out of my control, I feel terrible leaving this blog all but abandoned this year. To make up for lost time, I'll be sharing three new outfits, each featuring a new cosmetic from the 2020 Fall Festival. Golden leaf motifs and tattered, perhaps more accurate to say leafy, fabric are the core components of this year's theme. Between the Leaf-turner cosmetics, which are somewhat reminiscent of pre-Isengard elven design, the spookier looking Autumn Sage ones, I'd say SSG has captured the festival's essence. I haven't been this impressed with the seasonal fall designs since 2018!

Head: Woodland Crown (Default, Yule Festival token barter reward)
Shoulders: Fur Mantle (Orange, Yule Festival token barter reward)
Chest: Vestments of the Autumn Sage (White, Fall Festival token barter reward)
Feet: Embroidered Shoes of the Dunland Healer (Rust, reward from Missing Persons)**

Weapon: Smooth Holly Staff (From the T6 Woodworker Holly Staff recipe)

Iron Garrison Miner

It's been a long time since I've entertained role playing on this blog. I used to write stories--short blurbs may be more accurate--for my characters that matched the outfit and images contained within a given entry. It's been years, probably five or six, since I last did that. I almost wrote a brief story, but I decided to let the images themselves tell the tale of an often exhausted dwarven miner, hard at work, deep within the darkness of Moria.

Anduin Spear-shaker

The biggest break I'd ever taken from LOTRO was started in 2014, when I was utterly disappointed with Helm's Deep. I clung to the game, making outfits. That's it...just outfits. When January 2015 arrived, I wrapped up my affairs, tired of waiting for LOTRO to turn itself around, shut down my blog, was gone by February, and intended never to return....but it didn't go as planned.

And I hadn't expected the chain events that led to this outfit's delay.

When I came back some eight months later, I was overwhelmed. There was so much to do to simply catch up. Eastern Gondor had been released and Minas Tirith was almost here. I spent most of 2016 getting myself from Snowbourn to the gates of Minas Tirith with three level capped characters. And don't get me started on imbued LIs--those weren't around when I'd left. Honestly, I could have gotten there faster if I hadn't stopped to make outfits along the way! I had to put all those new cosmetics, starting with Western Gondor's, to good use!

Graceful Blade

Outfitting the graceful Gwaimallin, my High Elf, has been quite a challenge. Almost all of her outfits have taken a different approach. Versus piecing together clothing from various sources and the then selecting the appropriate weapon, I've been selecting the weapon first and trying to base the outfit around it. It hasn't been as successful as I hoped. Versus creating a matching style, I've found myself simply using the colors found in that weapon and hoped a random clothing combination would work.

I was surprised how wonderful this outfit looked, drawing upon a unique blend of LOTRO's more recent cosmetics. At least I felt it was befitting of a High Elf. It looked light and graceful. Ceremonial yet practical. But at the same time, I couldn't tell if it was a perfect fit for her, the weapon, or both. In a way, the weapon-centric outfitting method became the inspiration for my Cosmetic Weapons Project.

That being said, I do apologize for the lack of actual outfit posts. I decided to make my project a priority, given the size and scope of it. Once the first wave ends, which will be in a few weeks with two-handed axes, outfits will once again have the spotlight. In the meantime, I hope everybody that's been reading the content here, at Material Middle-earth, has also been enjoying the massive library of weapon skins. It's been my goal to complete it by the end of the calendar year, providing those playing LOTRO with an even greater ability to enhance their character's appearance.

Shoulder: Shoulders of the Westfold (Default, Rise of Isengard legendary pre-order package)
Chest: Robe of Anorien Mercy (Turquoise, reward from 4.4.7 - A Long Siege)
Hands: Dextrous Gages of the Last Alliance (Rust, High-enchanter ash barter in Mordor)
Feet: Lithe Boots of the Last Alliance (Rust, High-enchanter ash barter in Mordor)

Weapon: Hill-defender (Rare drop from Azgoth in Carn Dûm)

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!

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)

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.

Traveling in Luxury

Now here's an old outfit. This was the very first for my Beorning. Just like the last post featuring this character, I wasn't quite sure at the time what her clothing style would be. I just wanted to get her out of her intro clothing as soon as possible. It's been some time since taking these pictures and I believe that I've already cycled out this outfit. I think it looked lovely...but it just wasn't her style. However, almost any character could wear this somewhat decorative, yet casual traveler's attire.

Ashen Wastes

As you may have noticed, I purchased the Ultimate Fan bundle for Mordor. I was doing very well resisting the call of the new and exclusive cosmetics, but as the release date grew closer, I caved and purchased it. So far, I have no regrets. Two sets of exclusive cosmetics--the Alliance and Ash Plains sets--and their respective steeds and war-steed sets, the High Elf, the Aria of the Valar (made a High Elf Captain you'll eventually meet), a housing item that takes the user deep into Mordor, and other things. The expansion content and packages haven't disappointed me yet...and neither have the landscape cosmetics! The new Mordor skins have breathed much needed life into the pool of clothing options.

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

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