Indomitable Spirit

This year's 10th Anniversary Festival and subsequent Scavenger Hunt has produced some amazing rewards this year. My biggest concern this year was the distinct lack of quests that reward Anniversary tokens, especially if you didn't devote approximately ten hours to spamming the intermediate option for the Thorin's Hall Beer Brawl. And the lack of the Inn League and Ale Association token vendors made everything feel ten time more expensive than it needed to be. The anniversary festival had some amazing rewards, but, if you're like me, you don't have a ton of time to grind for rewards. Of everything offered, I set my sights upon the Unflagging Dragon cosmetic set, which is the focus of this outfit.

Uch-lûth Skirmisher

I've been wanting to take pictures of my Beorning's outfits for a very long time. Before I could do that, I made myself a promise first. That promise was to get her to Dunland. This outfit, even though it was assembled mid-2016, I had a particular place in mind to model it. That would be Barnavon in Carreglyn, however she was thirty levels too low at the time. I've put in a significant amount of work with my Beorning since my return and it's been wonderful experiencing landscape content and exploring locations I seldom have reason to visit.

Shimmering Song

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to join a T2 Tower of Orthanc raid as a healer. It was with an experienced group that knew most of the challenges inside and out. Wing by wing, we defeated each of the bosses and climbed our way to Saruman. For the first time since Rise of Isengard, I was able to complete this raid on T2. Also, for the first time, I saw a broken cloak clasp drop...and I was lucky to win the roll. Having been a serious raider back at level 75, I had a full collection of Draigoch cloaks tucked away. Not knowing if or when I'd see another cloak, I chose to upgrade my favorite Wyrmscale Blademaster's Cloak to the Shimmering Blademaster's cloak.

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.

Anórien Herald

It felt so surreal writing this outfit entry. My last set of them was posted in November. Before then, July. I'll admit that outfitting in LOTRO isn't what it used to be. Material Middle-earth has been around since 2012 and it's become progressively more difficult to find original combinations of attire and color. However, it's certainly not been an impossible task. I've spent some time pouring through other cosmetic blogs for LOTRO, looking at what others have used (or not used) that way I could create something unique. And this, at least to me, qualified as such. I've never seen anyone use a particular reward from the Volume 4 epic line, the Robe of Anórien Mercy. Thus, it became my central piece.