Master of Dragons

I’m still here! Officially survived my fist year of college and my first (and hopefully last) summer of Covid! Anyways, I really hope that the few figments of my imagination that actually read this blog are staying safe and healthy.

Anyways, it’s been suuuper hot this summer so I decided to go all out and make a “fiery” outfit (Get it? Get it??). I actually designed this outfit for the new RK I rolled who traits red line for fire. And yes, I know that they always say use yellow line (lightning) for leveling RKs and red line (fire) for endgame, but I like the idea of having two magic users each excelling in a specific element.

My new RK – She’s super fun. I love her.

Anywho, my new rune-keeper is only level 34, so there was no way she was gonna survive the trek to Mordor to take some photos.

You’d think for having such a cool name the Lone-lands would have cooler monsters to fight…

Therefore, my LM was chosen to be today’s model.

Admittedly I edited the brightness on the Mordor photos a bit – just cause Mordor is soooo dark to take pictures in, even if it does have drakes and flames.

I don’t normally use helmets either, but I decided this outfit warranted one to complete the dragon like appearance.

This was also a great opportunity to pull out the unflagging dragon war-steed appearance.

Outfit:
- Head: Helm of the Dead City (red)
- Shoulders: Shoulder's of the Lady's Wisdom (sunset orange)
-Back: Wyrmscale Wizard's Cloak (black) ---- there is also a ceremonial version available in Lalia's Market
- Chest: Breastplate of the Slayer's Raimant (sunset orange)
- Hands: Strong Gauntlets of Thorin's Strength (black)
- Feet: Wildermore Boots of Combat (black)

War Steed:
- Head: Head-Piece of the Unflagging Dragon (red)
- Body: Caparison of the Unflagging Dragon (red)
- Tail: Tail of the Unflagging Dragon
- Saddle: Saddle of the Unflagging Dragon

Battle Sage

So this outfit was sort of an offshoot of my previous outfit – while I was trying to figure everything out, I happened to pair the Shoulders of the Lady’s Defense with the Isengard Lore Master’s robe. It didn’t give me the look I wanted for a winter outfit, but I immediately knew I wanted to make something from it.

I decided that it was both an elegant and intimidating look, one perfect for a powerful mage who only rarely has to enter the fray herself. And I know LMs aren’t technically magic-wielders according to the game lore, but I’ve already expressed my opinion on the matter and you can fight me on this.

I also decided to change up my LM’s normal hairstyle for this look, opting for a pulled back appearance rather than her long flowing locks. It seemed more appropriate for battle, it looked a bit more regal, and I liked the idea of her wearing some gold on her head to match the outfit and this hair style had just that.

So yeah that’s about it. Trying to mentally prepare myself for going back to school next week. I am excited about my classes, although my schedule won’t be finalized until drop/add has come and gone. I’m planning on taking a computer programming class which has me very excited, particularly since I really want to eventually understand how games work.

Outfit:
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Lady's Defense (ceremonial version available at Lalia's Market) (black)
Chest: The Beast-Keeper's Robe (default)
Hands: The Beast-Keeper's Gloves (Default)
Feet: Potent Battle Boots of the Mark (black)
Staff: Lore Master's Staff of the Third Age (min. level 53)

Warsteed:
Head: Head-Piece of the Unflagging Dragon (black)
Body: Caparison of the Unflagging Dragon (black)
Saddle: Plain Black Saddle
Feet: Light Leggings of the Entwash (black)
Tail: Tail of the Unflagging Dragon (black)
Body/Mane: solid black

Empress of Midnight Chill

I’m gonna be honest, I have no idea why I picked this particular title. All I know is that this is basically a counter-outfit to the Yule Queen one, similar to how I made the two complimentary sage outfits.

I don’t actually have a lot to say about the outfit. It’s basically just black and gold, whereas the other one was white and gold.

In more exciting news I finally got a new computer! I originally got a mac, but I wasn’t thrilled with it, and I couldn’t justify spending that much money on something I wasn’t crazy about so I returned it. Instead I got a PC – it’s actually a gaming PC technically, and it’s the most amazing piece of technology I’ve ever seen. I’m in love. I’m obsessed. Which is good, cause I still over a week left before I go back to school and I am bored out of my mind!!

Um….what else…I watched the new Witcher series! And honestly I really liked it. Don’t get me wrong, it has plenty of issues and some of the choices the show runners made seem excessive at best, gratuitous and unnecessary at worst. BUT, that being said, I think the core casting of Geralt, Yennefer, Ciri, and Dandelion (Jaskier) was extremely well done, and for me that’s what’s most important. I thought the chemistry between the characters was also really well established, except for that between Geralt and Ciri (due to lack of screen time). All in all, it made me want to reread the books, and I think it has a ton of potential for season 2.

I also watched some of HBO’s adaptation of His Dark Materials, so I think I might want to read those books now too. What else…watched the new Star Wars movie, still on the fence about whether I consider the new trilogy to be cannon…um…

I don’t know…I’m bored. But LOTRO looks really good with my new computer’s graphics card. I didn’t realize how much detail LOTRO had…I also didn’t realize how different colors look on modern screens. It’s interesting. Purple is a lot less blue now…

I’m still getting used to the lack of buttons on the laptop’s mouse. But all in all I’m glad I stuck with windows instead of switching to Apple. I love Apple for my phone and iPad and stuff, but I like the feeling of control Windows gives me when it comes to my computer. Also I just hate change and I’ve always used PCs.

So yeah. That’s about it. I’m in stream of consciousness mode right now.

OUTFIT:
Head: Ice Flower Crown (black)
Shoulders: The Beast-Keeper's Shoulder Pads (default)
Chest: Robe of Cleansing Fire (default)
Hands: The Beast Keeper's Gloves (default)
Feet: Threadbare Boots of the Dunland Healer (black)

Warsteed: 
Head: Head-Piece of the Ice Flower (black)
Body: Caparison of the Ice Flower (black)
Saddle: Plain Black Saddle
Coat/Mane/Tail: solid black

Yule Queen

I’m in finals hell. Officially. I spent 6 hours today studying philosophy, and I had a three hour physics exam last night that killed me. I’m dead now. I’m a ghost typing at a computer. That still needs to study for more tests…

That’s why in all honesty it was probably good that LOTRO was down today, because I really needed to study. On the other hand, I got so absorbed in making note cards for my next exam that I didn’t realize the gym closed at 7 until about 5:30. I hauled ass and got to the gym, which is probably good cause otherwise I would have started to vegetize right where I sat, but it was a rush.

Admittedly I’m a lot more confident in the material than I was a few hours ago, but I also feel ready to crawl into a hole and die. Again. Because in case you forgot, I’m already dead.

Also are we gonna get an extra day of Yule Fest? Because we basically lost an entire day today. Just saying.

I mean, for some of us this is literally all we’ve got going for us right now.

So anyways, the outfit. When I saw the new cosmetics for Yule Fest, I knew I wanted to do something with the crown.

Yeah, I’m too dead to write about creative stuff. I will say this though: the autumn leafmail dress is NOT flattering on most body shapes in game. High Elf worked, but seriously. Grrr…

Yeah. I don’t have much to say. As I’ve already told you, I’m dead.

Outfit:
Head: Ice flower crown (Default/white)
Body: Autumn Leafmail dress (default/white)
Shoulders: The Beast-Keeper's Shoulder Pads (white)
Feet: doesn't matter cause apparently the dress comes with shoes.

Oh yeah and here’s a horse:

And another:

Warsteed:
Head: Head-Piece of the Ice Flower (white/default)
Caparison: Caparison of Eldar Autumn (white)
Saddle: Saddle of Rivendell
Body/Mane: whatevs.

Victor of the Tourney

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

Horses for life!

HORSES FOR EVER!!!

Defender of the Mallorns

Okay so this was a fun outfit, and it was one of those that existed as a vague idea until I found the perfect piece and everything fell together.

The piece in question that ended up making the outfit was the chest piece. I was in the middle of the planning stages of this outfit when, while running Moria instances for deeds, I got this shirt as a drop, already the perfect dye.

I already had the legs and the shoulders, but with the chest piece everything just came together.

I have to say having an elf huntress has been super fun, especially for outfitting purposes. A lot of the outfits that I could never really make sense of before fit her perfectly. And since my head-cannon for my high elf is that she chose to serve Galadriel after reawakening in the Third Age, I was very excited to put her in Lothlorien.

Shooting in Lothlorien ended up being rather difficult, though, because it turns out I made my outfit a little too well. And by this I mean it’s kind of the perfect camouflage amidst the gold and silver Mallorn trees. Which is admittedly what I was going for, but it’s not super helpful if you’re trying to highlight the outfits in your photos.

I love this outfit though, and there’s a perfect matching warsteed outfit:

Unfortunately I don’t have the warsteed armor on my huntress, which is why its my RK and her steed modeling here instead.

Ah, well. I persevere.

Outfit: 
Head: Hooded Mask of the Golden Forest Defender (gold)
Shoulders: Lore-Keeper's Shoulders (gold)
Chest: Zaghal-Zudur (ranger green)
Hands: Gloves of the Forest Bounder (white)
Legs: Rune-Maker's Trousers (white)
Feet: Lore-Keeper's Shoes (gold)
Bow: Exquisite Black Ash Bow
Sword: Defender of Gwingris

Warsteed:
Head: Head-Piece of Elder Autumn (default)
Caparison: Caparison of Elder Autumn (default)
Mane/Tail: Steel Grey
Body: Tobiano Charcoal

Sunshine and Daisies

So it’s been raining all day today. Literally all day. I’ve been out and about since 8:30 am and it has yet to stop raining.

Anyways, so I’m sitting here on my computer lamenting how much I miss the sin when I stumble upon these old screenshots I took of my RK but never posted. Which is a bit odd considering this is pretty much her staple outfit. So I figured now was an appropriate time to pull out the dusty box of memories and post some old pics 🙂

The thing I really love about this outfit is how well the horse matches the rider – I specifically picked a coat pattern that would match the colors on my RK’s jacket, and it’s just such a fun, happy look.

In other words, it’s just what I needed today 🙂

Also I just want to mention how much I love the details on this jacket.

Outfit:
Chest: Tunic and Trousers of New Bloom (white)
Hands: Lesser Secret of the West Gauntlets (white)
Feet: Lesser Boots of the Dunlammad (sienna)

Warsteed:
Caparison: Caparison of Thorin's Hall (yellow)
Mane/Tail: Steel Grey
Coat: Charcoal Tobiano

Enedwaith Watcher

Here’s an outfit I’ve had sitting on the back burner for a while – not quite sure why. I really liked it the moment I made it so I saved it to one of my RK’s outfit slots. I guess I was just waiting for the inspiration to hit to screen shot it.

It really all started when I got a hold of these shoulder guards – the Fine Camail of the Towers. You can barter for it using ash from a High Enchanter. Once I got them I went about constructing an outfit to match, and this is what I came up with.

This was an interesting case in which I dyed everything Lorien gold in an attempt to get that pale green color. Oftentimes when you use that particular dye you get a pale gold, but depending on what the backdrop color of the item is, you can get this shade of green.

I ended up in Enedwaith somehow, and decided that was the right location for the outfit. I haven’t actually done all that much questing in Enedwaith before – it’s free to VIPs, but otherwise you have to buy the region. It’s a very beautiful region though, and the Mournshaws are a particularly interesting area.

So that’s about all I have to say in regards to the outfit. Like I said, I made it a while ago, so I don’t really remember what was going through my head. Enjoy!

OUTFIT:
Shoulders: Fine Camail of the Towers (default)
Chest: The Bow-Master's Jacket (lorien gold)
Hands: The Bow-Master's Gloves (lorien gold)
Feet: Lesser Boots of the Dunlammad (default)
Back: Cloak of the Grey Company (lorien gold)

Return to the Golden Wood

So it wasn’t too long ago that I posted my outfit for the Lothlorien Sentinel. At the time something still seemed a bit off, and with my recent endeavors with the Nadhin sets, I feel like I’m finally able to polish it to a shine!

So I know it’s kind of soon to “revisit” this outfit, but this is my blog so I make the rules. Besides, it’s not like anybody actually reads this blog anyways 🙂

I will keep this post shorter though, just cause I don’t have as much to say and the outfit isn’t exactly new.

OUTFIT:
Shoulders: Heavy Nadhin Shoulders (default)
Chest: Lesser Blade of the West Breastplate (white)
Hands: Heavy Nadhin Gauntlets (default)
Legs: Lesser Defender of the West Leggings (white)
Feet: Lesser Cry of the West Boots (white)
Back: Cloak of the Swan (Lorien Gold)

Harndirion Origins

So in my previous post I showcased an outfit composed of pieces bartered from Harndirion. I also mentioned that I had a really hard time deciding on the specifics of all the pieces – there were just so many options and possible combinations. So, I’ve decided to post some the original outfits I came up before changing it to the final one already featured – a way of capturing the creative process, as it were 🙂

This was the original outfit I had in mind, and to be honest I still quite like it. The only thing was the chest piece – the Lesser Ward of the West breast plate. Although I really liked the wings on it, I felt like it wasn’t bright enough to match the leggings, and I was dead set on having those be in the final product. Still, I really liked the contrast created by the black and white.

It’s really a rather elegant look, and the more I look at it the more I like it. But it’s definitely a very different vibe than what the final product turned out to be.

I just wasn’t sure that the chest piece really went with the leggings. I knew I definitely wanted to use the shoulders and the leggings, but I wasn’t as sold on the other pieces of the outfit.

So I decided to try a different chest piece: the Lesser Blade of the West Breastplate. Mind you, the outfit was still based on a black background at this time:

And, I mean, it was fine. The breastplate definitely matched the intensity of the leggings better than the original, but it didn’t have that same elegant, light armor feel. So I tried the original again, but dyed white instead of black:

And again, it was fine. But it didn’t really strike me as anything special. So what about the new breastplate but still dyed white?

And voila! The Lorien Sentinel outfit was born! The breast-plate matched the bright silver and gold of the legs, and it all worked together to give a plate metal feel. But in some ways it felt like a far cry from the original outfit.

Before this all happened there was also a period in which I was settled on the chest piece but not the leggings or shoulders. Here are some alternatives I tried:

Leggings: Fangorn Assault Leggings (black)

Leggings: Lesser Claw of the West Leggings (black)

Lesser Voice of the West Shoulder Guards (black)

As you can see, the creative process is anything but straightforward. Anyways, if anyone of the zero people who read this blog want to comment on which combo was your favorite or if you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them!