So I’m currently running around Middle Earth with my 130 Elf Huntress as I complete the Ballad of Bingo Boffin. As a result, I’m revisiting a bunch of low level areas, and have decided to make outfits to go with it. My last outfit was worn as I quested through the Barrow Downs just outside of Bree, and today I’m sporting a more stealthy outfit as I travel through the Lonelands.
I’m actually having quite a bit of fun with this. Bingo Boffin is a pretty demanding hobbit. He’s lazy, and I’m half-convinced he can’t do anything for himself. But running around as a skilled warrior helping out a curious hobbit does make me feel more immersed in the world of Middle Earth than I have in a long time, and I’m having a lot of fun getting into the experience. Feeling annoyance at Bingo, dressing up in area-appropriate clothing, feeling superior and awesome next to this bumbling hobbit…It’s pretty awesome.
I see you orcs. Prepare to meet your maker. DIE!!!!
I really had too much fun with this. But LOTRO is supposed to be fun, so that’s all that really matters. And as much as Bingo annoys me, questing for him really does make me feel like I’m back in Middle Earth.
So you want to dance, do you? Have at me, scum!Feel my wrath!
Moving on to a different orc camp to wreak more havoc…
They’ll never see me coming…ASSASIN!
Also, it’s really funny remembering that lower level mobs won’t attack you. You can literally run through the middle of an orc camp and they won’t even come near you. It’s like you don’t exist.
I’m supposed to kill you…but…you’re not attacking me…Look, if I don’t kill you, you promise not to hurt me, right?Hmm. Maybe you’re not so bad after all…Wait, what was that? Did you hear that?More orcs! Defend me my new friend!To battle!!
Alas, it was time to move on from my new friend. So I remounted my horse, and set off for Weathertop.
From here I must go on foot my friend.
Also, I just want to say, it’s moments like this — where I can just stand at a distance and look at the majesty of Weathertop that I’m reminded of how much I love this game. This view is just so cool.
Ahh! Crebain attack!
Lol I love how the feathers just float down after you kill a bird.
Outfit:
Head: Lesser Secret of the West Helmet (burgundy)
Shoulders: Pauldrons of the Mark (red)
Lesser Secret of the West Breastplate (crimson)
Gloves: The Bowmaster’s Gloves (crimson)
Legs: Spellweaver’s Leggings (red)
Feet: Lesser Memory of the West Shoes (black)
Bow: Exquisite Black Ash Bow
Sword: Defender of Gwingris
Dagger: Hero’s Dagger
Warsteed
Head: Head-Piece of the Northern Herald (Ccrimson)
Body: Harness of the Harbinger (crimson)
Saddle: Citadel saddle
Legs: Citadel Leggings (red)
This one’s just a fun, casual outfit I made once I realized that the Lesser Claw of the West set, the Isengard Dispeller set, and the Great Alliance set all share a similar default color. That’s literally all it took. I got excited that I wouldn’t have to dye much, and I made this outfit.
I also realized I’d never used these leggings for anything. So…yeah. That’s about it.
I think this outfit is going to become one of my faves for my elf huntress.
Outfit:
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Isengard Dispeller
Back: Quiver of the Waking Wood
Chest: Lesser Claw of the West Breastplate (default)
Hands: Gauntlets of the Hidden Blade (evendim blue)
Legs: Greaves of the Great Alliance (default)
Feet: Threadbare Boots of the Dunland Healer (walnut brown)
Bow: Sealed Hunter’s Bow of the First Age
Sword: Sealed Reshaped Champion’s Sword of the First Age
Dagger: Invader’s Stiletto
Warsteed:
Head: Head-Piece of the Northern Herald (navy)
Body: Caparison of the Great Alliance (default)
Feet: Starlight Leg-Guards
Saddle: Saddle of Blackroot
Gear: Snow-Beast Accessory
Here’s another sort of Viking-inspired outfit, this time with a distinctly Rohirric twist. The helm and gloves are both from Rohirrim cosmetic sets. It also gave me a chance to try out the Snowbeast warsteed set, which I’d gotten for myself last Christmas but haven’t really used. The outfit is very much supposed to feel like a scrapped together set.
Try me, outlaw! My baby bear will mess you up!
Ironically (or perhaps unironically if the outfit is supposed to be scrapped together??) it’s actually my high elf modeling this outfit. I think my thought process was supposed to be somewhat along the lines of, “what if my elf huntress went to Rohan and decided to immerse herself in the culture?” I’m not sure the finished product reflects that so much…by the time I finished it I actually had this narrative of a daughter of one of the horse lords who wanted to take up her father’s sword after he died, but had to scrap together her own armor and weapons to do so.
Something slew this orc…we should investigate! Oh wait. It was me. I killed it. Oops.
I actually really had fun with this outfit. I don’t know why…It’s just fun. And less “put together” than what I normally strive for.
I like that you can just see my bear cup poking out between my legs. Like it’s ready to attack, but not ready enough to go out in front lol
Outfit:
Head: Helm of the Hornburg Defender
Shoulders: Embroidered Mantle of Bard’s Will (black)
Back: Cloak of the Skin-Changers (black)
Chest: Jacket of the Sunset hills (default)
Legs: none -- for some reason if you wear pants with this tunic, it will change the color of the tunic t the color of the pants. I'm not lying. I don't know why.
Hands: Gloves of the Isengard Dispeller
Feet: Lithe Boots of Thranduil’s Power (black)
Bow: Arinora’s Bow
Dagger: Bronze Dagger
Sword: Potent Dextrous sword of Finesse
Warsteed:
Complete Snow Beast set (dyed black)
I think going forward I want to make more of these “pieced together” looks. They’re really fun 🙂 It’s like organized chaos. My favorite kind of chaos (and organization, if I’m being honest).
Been a while since I posted! This outfit was actually sitting in my wips folder – I think one day I’d been trying random combinations and found that the level 85 far-arrow jacket looked really good paired with the lesser defender of the west leggings. Anyways, apparently I took a screenshot, and after finding it I decided I had to complete the outfit.
Partner that up with some Nadhim cosmetics, and the rest kind of just fell into place (If you’re into LOTRO cosmetics you probably know that there’s a whole host of “bird/wing” related pieces out there that you can sort of fall back to when needed).
The warsteed outfit was also something that I was sort of working on. My only grudge against it is that the turquoise dye is slightly lighter for warsteed cosmetics than for character cosmetics, and given the nature of the two pieces this outfit was built around, I couldn’t really get away with using any other color.
So yeah, that’s about it. I wasn’t sure whether to feature this on my high elf champ or my high elf hunter, but ultimately my champ had the better warsteed cosmetics. Kind of sealed the deal. And since I can use my hunter’s Legendary bow as a cosmetic via the wardrobe, it was an easy decision.
Outfit:
Head: Heavy Nadhim Mask (white)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Armoury (white)
Back: Swan Cloak (Turquoise)
Chest: Far-Arrow’s Jacket (Default/white)
Hands: Heavy Nadhin Gauntlets (white)
Legs: Lesser Defender of the West Leggings (Turquoise)
Feet: Hero’s Boots (Turquoise)
Warsteed:
Head: Sea-ward Head-piece (Turquoise)
Body: Sea-ward caparison (turquoise)
Legs: Sea-ward legs
Accessory: Accessory of regal revalry
Saddle: Saddle of remembrance
So this is another outfit that fell together really quickly. I had stopped by Lalia’s Market cause it had the nearest vault, and I happened to espy Ceremonial Bleastplate of the Shining Blades (it’s a cosmetic version of champion moors armor). Anyways, I immediately decided I had to make an outfit surrounding it, and the resulting get up is basically a mix of Ettenmoors and Lothlorien raid armor.
The thing that honestly took the longest with this outfit was finding a matching war-steed get up that I could deem acceptable. Honestly, it’s not exactly what I pictured, but it’s fine. Maybe if I find something better I’ll edit the post, but it looks good enough.
I’m super happy with this outfit. I wanted something that would look regal and elegant but also deadly at the same time. This to me looked like something like Galadriel might even wear into battle. Definitely someone of very high status.
The outfit is featured on two of my high elves – my huntress (I made the outfit for her originally) and my new high elf champ, who I decided matched the outfit perfectly.
I made her on a whim, and then when level boosts went on a huge sale a couple weeks back I got one to use on her. I decided to go with the level 95 booster, since it’s been awhile since I’ve done some of the endgame stuff from Gondor onward. I almost kind of regret it, since I could have gotten so much more stuff if I went with a level 120 aria…but….enh. If I did that I probably wouldn’t go replay those regions. Besides, the level 95 was cheaper.
Here’s my huntress wearing the outfit:
I even picked a bow that matched the outfit!
Outfit:
Head: Circlet of Restoration (rust) **Lore master moors armor - ceremonial available in Lalia's Market**
Chest: Ceremonial Breastplate of the Shining Blades (white) **Champ moors armor - ceremonial available at Lalia's**
Legs: Leggings of Command (Imladris Fallen Leaf) **Captain moors armor - ceremonial available at Lalia's)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Lady's Power (rust) **Champion Dar Narbugud raid armor
Hands: Gauntlets of the Lady's Power (rust) **Champion Dar Narbugud raid armor
Feet: Lesser Cry of the West Boots (rust) **Warden Harndirion armor** (I wanted to use the boots from champ Dar Narbugud set, but there were clipping issues).
Bow: Flightsong
Sword: Defender of Gwingris
War-Steed:
Head: Halter of Rivendell (rust)
Body: Caparison of Rivendell (rust)
Saddle: Saddle of Rivendell
Legs: Leggings of Rivendell (rust)
Now all that’s left is to make an equally awesome outfit in silver! The challenge has commenced 🙂
This is another outfit I’ve had in the works for a while, heavily influenced by Jon Snow from Game of Thrones (Look, I’m not a huge fan, but even I know the last season SUCKED).
Anyways, with Yule Fest in full swing, we have a new cosmetic pet! The white wolf dog. So I figured the time to post this outfit was right considering I now had both Ser You-Know-Nothing and his companion Ghost.
I actually came up with this outfit a couple years ago, and it’s basically been my Champ’s staple winter-wear.
I went with the medium Nadhin jacket, which in my opinion just looks like a padded winter gambeson (if you don’t know what that word means, look it up and you’ll see where I’m coming from – I promise you it’s safe for work – it’s just a medieval garment of clothing).
I also went with a heavy fur mantle because A) it looked cool and felt right, and B) Jon wears a lot of dark fur around his shoulders.
Exhibit A.
I also gave him the cloak of the Raven – I debated using Cloak of the woodsmen or cloak of the autumn wanderer since it looked closer to fur, but ultimately I decided this cloak was a nice nod to the fact that members of the Night’s Watch are often referred to as “crows.” And I know what you’re thinking: But ravens aren’t crows, to which I respond: close enough!
It’s been a favorite outfit of mine for a while, and it was also fun to play around with giving my warsteed a cold-weather, but also functional look.
Admittedly this isn’t really inspired by anything from the books or show, just from my love of horses and my own creative spirit 🙂
Outfit:
Shoulders: Fur Mantle (black)
Chest: Medium Nadhin Jacket (grey)
Hands: Medium Nadhin Gauntlets (black)
Feet: Threadbare Boots of the Dunland Healer (grey)
Back: Cloak of the Raven (grey)
Warsteed:
Head: Guardian's Halter (white)
Caparison: Caparison of the Yield (black)
Saddle: Light Saddle of the Sutcrofts
Legs: Hunter's Leggings (black)
Mane/tail/body: solid white
So I kind of can’t believe I’ve never posted this outfit considering it’s my champs main look. All the cosmetics are available at or before you get to Galtrev, so that means its been his go-to look for a while now.
It’s really a quite simple outfit, which is part of the reason I love it. The wearer is ready for battle considering their covered in leather and chain-mail, but this is clearly an outfit that’s designed to move. Durable, but functional.
It’s always appealed to me because it seems like no matter what you end up getting yourself into, this kind of armor will make you prepared for almost anything. And considering my champ is my main, and he’s the one through whom I struggled to understand how to actually play this game, he’s been through a lot.
With him as always is his trusty steed. I do occasionally have him ride a black stallion, but his white stallion is his go to comrade.
I outfitted the horse similar to his master – in chain-mail and black leather. Together they’ve been through a lot. They’re not as shiny as they once were. But they fearlessly will adventure into even the most remote areas of Middle Earth.
I decided to take my screenshots in the Lone Lands. It just seems like the place where the really hardened people go. Or the really crazy ones…I can never really tell.
Also did anyone besides me never notice that there’s an actual hole in the ceiling in the forsaken inn? No? Just me? Okay…
Outfit:
Shoulders: lesser secret of the West shoulder guards
Chest: Scout’s weathered leather jacket (black)
Hands: Leather gauntlets of the leaping stag (black)
Feet: reworked boots (Grey)
In case you were wondering, yes, that is the Hobnanigans field. Do I play Hobnanigans? No. Will I play Hobnanigans? Honestly, probably not. Maybe. Who knows. But, will I occasionally go to the horse fields to grab some awesome screenshots of me riding around on my horsey? Yes. Yes I will.
So basically, I don’t know exactly what I was doing, but apparently at one time I made a Power Point presentation of warsteed outfits I like. And before you ask, yes, I use Power Point. Because I’m a grown-ass woman. Who has never owned a Mac.
Anyways, so I saw a warsteed outfit I really loved, and set about making an outfit to match it. Then of course, along the way, I made another warsteed outfit, and then had to make another outfit to match that. That’s what this is.
Basically, it’s a very classical knight, festival look. It’s almost too flashy for battle in my opinion, but I feel like it would make a great tournament outfit, where the purpose is to show off.
Then I found this cape, which had a similar design on it as the caparison of the Captain, so all that was left was to assemble a flashy, plate-metal look and I was ready to go.
Truthfully I think the outfit would make a stronger impression if I chose to use red or blue as the base color – not black. Unfortunately, I really wanted to pair the halter of the citadel guard with the captain’s caparison, and the only way to make those match was to use yellow and black. Oh well.
Besides, I still think it looks cool, and I like the combination of polished steel armor with the glossy black finish on the chest-piece.
I’m actually very proud of how this turned out. It’s definitely not my Champion’s normal style, but it was very fun.
I also decided not to put a helmet in the outfit, for two reasons: 1) I really am just not a fan of helmets. Or at least I like to think my champ isn’t. Which is an insanely stupid choice if you’re constantly fighting, but movie heroes do it all the time so we can see their gorgeous hair fly around in the wind. And 2) the Captain’s gear that I used on the warsteed actually has a helmet tied onto it, so I figured it would be a little weird for my champ to be carrying around an extra helmet. You only really need one, right?
Maybe I love warsteeds a little too much. Maybe. But also, maybe not?
I’ll fight you on this.
Outfit:
Shoulders: Lesser Enduring Shoulder Guards of Evasion (gold)
Hands: Lesser Valorous Gauntlets of Finesse (gold)
Chest: Westemnet Battle Armour of Srength (black)
Feet: Lesser Valorous Boots of Fate (gold)
Back: Potent Valorous Cloak of Prowess (black)
Warsteed:
Head: Halter of the Citadel Guard (yellow)
Caparison: Captain's Caparison (black)
Saddle: Captain's Saddle
Legs: Dol Baran Leggings (gold - although in retrospect yellow would have been better...)
Gear: Captain's Gear
Mane/tail: black
Body: solid black
It’s been a while since I last posted! Mostly it’s cause of school – freshman year is a bit of a transition and I’m still getting used to the swing of things, but I figured college stress can take sit shotgun for a while because LOTRO has a new update!
So I’ll admit, when I first heard the update was going to involve going back in time, I had my doubts. And when I was almost immediately transferred back to Mordor – a region I absolutely despised first time around I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the fact that I’d been sent back there again.
That being said, I’m loving it so far. I just finished the region of Mordor besieged, and while I was initially skeptical of the direction they were taking the story (not to mention pretty bummed to be back in literal Hell again – and yes I use the word literal not figurative), by the time the quests in the region were wrapping up I was fully engrossed. It’s cool. That’s all imma say about it.
That’s not to say everything was smooth sailing. With the addition of 10 new levels, people are now running Rako 6 man. I was not prepared for this. So, when I signed up for a Rako group, the leaders were well…um…less than pleased with my performance. In all fairness I did have my champ in the wrong trait line – I concede that – but we were super close to beating him and we definitely could have if one of us had decided to heal instead of all out dps. But um…the leaders didn’t like that I wasn’t providing “adequate” dps, so they booted me. And I do mean just me – I checked social panel and everyone else was still in a fellowship. Not that I’m bitter or anything. It’s fine. We’re fine. It’s. All. Good.
Seriously though, it’s important to remember that people online can be jerks, and you just can’t let that ruin your experience. I’m fine with the fact that I’m not super skilled at raids – that’s not what I enjoy most about the game anyways. Would I have appreciated it if they’d kindly let me know I wasn’t pulling my weight or that I needed to make adjustments? Sure. But I’m not gonna let someone who for all I know could be sitting at a computer screen on the other side of the globe ruin my day, or worse, ruin the experience of something I love.
People will be people. The best you can do is accept that you can’t control how other people will act, and also maybe accept that sometimes you’re just not doing as well as you think you are. At the end of the day, the group leader was kind of a jerk. But also at the end of the day I’m not that great a raid-follower either 🙂
Should have known this would happen. It’s a new region – he’s gotta sniff all the smells.Okay – so here’s the plan – Why do I get the feeling you’re not listening to me?
Outfit: Head:Worn ranger's hood (black) Back: Cloak of the Citadel Guard Shoulders: Medium Nadhin Shoulders (grey) Chest: Jacket of the Causeway (default) Hands: The Bowmaster's Gloves (default) Feet: Strong Leather Boots of the Silent Watcher (black)
COSMETIC PET: Harnessed Shepherd Dog
WARSTEED: Head: Head-Piece of the Northern Herald (black) Body: Harness of the Harbinger (default) Saddle: Marauder's Saddle Feet: Leggings of the Gloaming Autumn Tail: Tail of the Gloaming Autumn (black)
So this isn’t actually a NEW outfit, per say, but I’ve never posted it before (A similar outfit can be found in the Silent Watcher post – the chest-piece is the same). It’s been a staple of my main’s wardrobe and it tends to be a go to of mine for any new toon – or even established ones. One thing I love about it is that it looks great in pretty much any color. So, here’s a few shots in my favorite hues balanced out by beautiful locations!
My alt champ wearing all white in Dol Amroth –
Before going back to take some photos, I had never realized just how beautiful Dol Amroth really is. Probably cause the first couple times I went through there I was tired of questing in Gondor, and most of the times that I have returned it’s been only to barter for things, not to marvel at the scenery.
The white, the pink, the blue, it’s all just so regal. Not to mention that those are some epic ships and the harbor itself is so serene and beautiful.
Here’s my warden (level 77 now btw – just for the record!) dressed in burgundy while exploring Harangmar in the Lone Lands. Now, for all the fun that I’ve had questing in the area, it’s not a particularly beautiful region. There is something very cool about the red swamps and bogs that make up Agamar, Harangmar, Garth Agarwen, and the Red Pass. It’s kind of a surreal area – the only other place in game I can think of that has a similar geography is Arganaith in Mordor (which is a significantly less fun place to quest in).
As long as you avoid all the walking dead, it’s a rather nice area.
Next is my hunter in Ashenslades Green, tracking some creatures outside of Esteldin in the North Downs (JK – it’s actually the Guide to Bree skill he’s using, but it has the same animation). Also, fun fact, it took me going through Mirkwood FOUR times to finally realize that it was AshenSLADES and not AshenDALES. I finally realized it was named after a region there and that I’d been pronouncing it wrong (in my head at least – I don’t think I ever had cause to actually speak the word aloud) for years.
The jacket on its own has a default color of a darker green, but I couldn’t quite find a matching dye for the other pieces, so I decided to dye the whole outfit this color for uniformity. Full disclosure, my hunter IS wearing a different cloak than the other toons – I ran out of Ashenslades dye and I’ve been on such a fashion bender lately that all of my toons are quite literally BROKE.
Here’s my alt champ again – this time hunting shades in Ost Celebrant by the Great River while dressed in Walnut Brown hues. I must say, I LOVE this dye. I’m not normally a big fan of brown shades, but there’s something so rich about this one. It’s a cool brown – not in the sense of “oh that rocks,” but in terms of it’s actual color. Umber and Sienna in the game both are warmer, redder hues – I’m not a huge fan of either of them. But the Walnut Brown dye gives items that sense of luxury and wealth while still seeming practical.
Can I also briefly mention how weird it is to fight incorporeal ghosts with normal, steel weapons? Like, how would that work?
And of course this wouldn’t be one of my posts without a war steed outfit somewhere in there, so here’s the un-dyed West Rohan Set – It’s available FOR FREE in game as a reward for doing West Rohan war-bands. There are three pieces: the halter, caparison, and saddle (although this is actually not the saddle being worn – this saddle I bartered for during Yule Fest). They drop pretty regularly, although sometimes it takes a bit of patience to get all of the pieces. It took me a couple weeks of doing war bands on my alt champ to acquire them all, despite having only taken me 15 minutes to get them all on my LM. Luck of the draw, I guess?
Back to my main, here he is sporting one of his classic Steel Blue outfits while adventuring around Lake Town.
The North Mirkwood/Erebor region is one of my favorite regions. Maybe it’s because it was the first update after Mordor (a region which caused me to rage quit multiple times), or maybe it’s because of the variety in landscape (lakes, mountains, forests), or maybe it’s because it’s just so pretty, but I love it. Also the Lay of Rust and Rhime quest chain involving the Weeping Warrior and magnificent dragons was one that really intrigued me. I haven’t actually run Anvil yet, so I’m really curious as to how this story is going to wrap up (if it even will! I know there are still more updates to come)!
So pretty…
And because it is what I titled this post, here’s my main champ in his classic all black outfit watching the sun rise over Lake Town:
I’m all worded out by now. So here are some nice pics to wrap this post up!
Considering it’s now 2 am my time, I think it’s time I went to bed. Lest I see a sunrise like this!
OUTFIT: Shoulders: Medium Nadhin Shoulders Chest: Coat of Faramir's Faithful Gloves: The Bowmaster's Gloves Feet: Threadbare Boots of the Dunland Healer Back: Swift Wool Cloak of the Dwarf-Holds