Scouting out the Lonelands

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.

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!

Moving on to a different orc camp to wreak more havoc…

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?

Alas, it was time to move on from my new friend. So I remounted my horse, and set off for Weathertop.

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.

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)

Hunting in the Barrows

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

Rohirric Ruffian

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!

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).

Forest Traveller

So…after some debate, I just said screw it. I’m posting this outfit in green too. After all, the purpose of this blog is really for me to catalogue my favorite outfits for my own reference. And considering this has been my huntress’ main outfit for over a year now, I decided I would post it too. Even if it is essentially the same as the last outfit.

This outfit actually came first, as I mentioned in my last post. It has different shoulders than the previous outfit – these shoulders were my initial pick to go with this outfit, but when I dyed it all orange, the shoulders didn’t work as well. So that’s that.

I wanted to pick an elk to go with the outfit, but it proved a bit harder than last outfit. In the end I decided to highlight the Elk of Felegoth’s Glory, but I also couldn’t resist adding a warsteed as well. Oops.

Also I had a really hard time picking a spot to take pictures in. It was hard to balance finding a place that was lush and green enough while also not being too dark, as is often the problem with forests. I tried Northern Mirkwood first, but that was too dark. Then I tried Fangorn Forest, and that was pretty good, except for an overall murkiness and fog. I did end up using several photos from that though. I did then go to the Old Forest at the edge of Bree just for some last photos, and that was probably the best location I found.

It was still hard though to get pictures where the outfit stood out enough against all the green.

Outfit:
Head: Time-Worn Headpiece (forest green)
Shoulders: Wymmar’s End (dark green)
Back: Cloak of the Autumn Traveller (dark green)
Chest: Ceremonial Thunderstruck Shirt (forest green)
Hands: The Bowmaster’s Gloves (forest green)
Legs: Trousers of the Autumn Traveller (dark green)
Feet: Lesser Memory of the West Shoes (sienna)
Bow: Exquisite Black Ash Bow

Warsteed:

Head: Withywindle Halter (forest green)
Caparison: Withywindle Caparison (forest green)
Legs: Withywindle Leggings (forest green)
Saddle: Withywindle Saddle
Gear: Hunter’s Gear

Elk: Elk of Felegoth’s Glory

Autumn Traveller

This outfit has been around for a very long time. Like, over a couple years I think. It’s undergone lots of tweaking, some as recent as a couple days ago. But I’ve decided it’s time.

This outfit was actually developed at the same time as my “Forest Warrior” post – essentially, this was an alternate version, and I had to choose between the two (It was originally in green as well). After making my decision and posting the outfit, I then couldn’t bring myself to move on from it. Instead I started adapting it to a more “autumn” palette, and gave it to my fire RK. She’s had it as her main outfit ever since.

Just to give some background, sunset orange is one of my favorite dyes in game. I’m not quite sure why, as I’m not normally a huge fan of the color orange, but I love it. So. Much. It’s also the main color I’ve decided to use for my fire RK’s outfit. And, as it turns out, it matches perfectly with the default color of the Autumn Traveller outfit.

I purposely chose items that had elements of yellow and gold in it as well. This outfit is basically just supposed to evoke the image of “autumn leaves,” so I wanted as many shades of orange and gold as possible. I’m a little biased, but I love it.

I don’t often use steeds that aren’t my warsteeds (except in cities and stuff because as much as I love my war steeds, they’re still not the best at maneuvering. Like at all. Sometimes when I’m bored I’ll take my warsteed to Minas Tirith and see how far I can get before being rubberbanded back to the previous circle. It’s fun. Sort of).

Anyways, I do love my occasional elk steed, especially for an outfit like this, which really evokes “elf ranger” themes.

Outfit:
Head: Time-Worn Headpiece (sunset orange)
Shoulders: Golden Host Shoulder Pads of the Gloaming (sunset orange)
Back: Cloak of the Autumn Traveller (default)
Chest: Ceremonial Thunderstruck Shirt (sunset orange)
Hands: The Bowmaster’s Gloves (sunset orange)
Legs: Trousers of the Autumn Traveller (default)
Feet: Lesser Memory of the West Shoes (sienna)
Mount: Steed of the Autumn Traveller

An Elf in Rohan

I don’t often make use of “reward” cosmetics granted for buying an expansion or as a reward for being VIP. Maybe because they seem too easy? Or because I know they aren’t accessible for a lot of players? But I finally decided to try and make an outfit based around one – specifically the Isengard Dispeller set. What can I say, I’m a sucker for blue things.

I actually ended up being quite a big fan of this outfit. It’s not my RK’s normal style at all, but I kind of put myself into roleplaying mode for a bit, and was like, “okay, my elf is in Rohan, her armor is all worn out, so she gets some stuff from the locals and makes do.” Which…normally I honestly don’t make up stories to go with outfits, but this one ended up happening organically. Maybe that’s why I’m such a big fan of the outfit now?

I also wanted to showcase one of the light caparisons that you can get just from questing in Rohan, as that also fit the narrative. So I went with the light caparison of the Norcrofts (which is a favorite of mine anyways, if I’m being honest).

If you’ve followed my warsteed outfits at all, you’ve also probably noticed that I tend to use the same bridle for EVERYTHING. Which, yes. I do. It’s the head-piece of the northern herald, and is (in my opinion) the best basic bridle in game, because it is so far the only regular looking bridle I’ve found that doesn’t change the horse’s default mane at all (if you ever play around with your warsteed’s appearance, you’ll notice that it has a differently shaped mane when it has no saddle or caparison on, versus once you put the saddle on. I’ll let this lovely wild horse model what a “naked” mane looks like:

Now compare that to the more “blocky” mane that the warsteed adopts once you put most saddles/caparisons on it:

See the difference? Anyways, that’s why I almost always use that bridle. I like the look of the first mane better, it seems much more natural. Anyways – back to my elf –

 Outfit:
Head: Rune-Maker’s Hat (navy)
Shoulders: Rare Mathom-Hunter’s Mantle (evendim blue)
Back: Woven Heavy Cloak of the Abyss (evendim blue)
Chest: Hauberk of the Isengard Dispeller
Hands: Gloves of the Isengard Dispeller
Feet: Threadbare Boots of the Dunland Healer (walnut brown)

Warsteed:
Head: Head-Piece of the Northern Herald (evendim blue)
Body: Light Caparison of the Norcrofts (evendim blue)
Saddle: Saddle of Lebennin

Music in the Mountains

So I did this outfit in two colors – one in steel blue to match the original color of the cloak, and the other in dark red. Funny enough, the red outfit formed first, and adding the cloak was a last minute decision. Once I decided to add it though, I decided I also had to do another color scheme that matched the cloak’s original version. I honestly don’t know which I prefer. I love them both.

I really like the way the white/silver of the shoulders matches the white designs on the arms of the tunic. It goes well with the snowflake design on the cloak.

Additionally, I decided to pick the medium Nadhin gauntlets and boots, since they have a sort of quilt-like texture that matches the tunic. It’s kind of amazing that they’re from different sets, actually (Although I guess both armor sets that they come from are from Gondor?)

So yeah, that’s it! I just really like this outfit 🙂

Red Outfit:
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Precise Bowmaster (default)
Chest: Lesser-Coat of the Fury Wielder (crimson)
Hands: Medium Nadhin Gauntlets (burgundy)
Back: Wintertide Cloak (crimson)
Feet: Medium Nadhin Boots (burgundy)

Blue Outfit:
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Precise Bowmaster (steel blue)
Chest: Lesser-Coat of the Fury Wielder (steel blue)
Hands: Medium Nadhin Gauntlets (steel blue)
Back: Wintertide Cloak (default)
Feet: Medium Nadhin Boots (steel blue)

Happy Holidays!

Robin Hood

I’ve decided it’s time I get around to more of the outfits I tend to use as default looks for my characters. So here’s one I use for my hunter, which may or may not be but definitely IS heavily inspired by the tale of Robin Hood lol 🙂

So this outfit ended up being REALLY hard to take pictures of because it blended in way too well with the surroundings. Which I guess is the point? But I knew from the get go that I wanted to take the pictures in North Mirkwood/Dalelands…and it just…it worked too well lol.

The warsteed was really fun though. After recently opening some lootboxes I’ve gotten a lot of new cosmetics, including the warsteed set of the wild hills. I really like how it looks on my hunter’s steed.

Um…so…yeah. Not much to say! Not a particularly interesting outfit, just fun and ranger-y!

Outfit:
Head: Worn Ranger’s Hood (Grey)
Shoulders: Potent Skirmish Pauldrons of the Mark (Olive)
Back: Fancy Quiver (Sienna)
Body: Potent Battle Armour of the Mark (Olive)
Hands: Enduring Gauntlets of the Traveler (Black)
Feet: Reworked Boots (Grey)
Bow: Polished Lebethron Bow of Precision

Warsteed:
Head: Head-piece of the Northern Herald (olive)
Body: Caparison of the Wild Hills (default)
Saddle: Saddle of the Wild Hills
Gear: Hunter’s Gear

Scout from Rivendell

This is another outfit I’ve had for awhile, just never got around to taking photos of. I was hoping to take pictures in daylight, but it turns out twilight and evening suited the outfit well.

I’ve really enjoyed my high elf huntress. She’s been so fun to play and make outfits for, and I’ve really embraced the nature vibes when it comes to her style 🙂

This outfit was really centered around the shoulders and the cloak. It’s a pretty fun outfit in my opinion – although it probably works best for the autumn. I’ll probably wear it come harvestfest and fall festival.

Outfit: 
Back: Cloak of the Gloaming Autumn (Rivendell Green)
Shoulders: Mantle of the Gloaming Autumn (default/washed)
Chest: Jacket of the Wall-Warden (default)
Legs: Leggings of the Wall-Warden (default)
Feet: Boots of the Wall-Warden (default)
Hands: Bow-Master's Gloves (rivendell green)
Bow: Exquisite Black Ash Bow

War Steed:
Head: Head-Piece of the Northern Herald (Forest Green)
Body: Citadel Caparison (Forest Green)
Saddle: Citadel Saddle
Gear: Hunter's Gear

Forest Warrior

So this is an outfit I’ve had in the works for some time, and in my gut I always knew how I wanted it to look, but I took awhile to post it because I kept making variations.

It’s probably one of my favorites that I’ve ever made – it’s just so sleek and deadly looking. So elegant yet functional.

It was actually pretty hard to find a scenery that would do the outfit justice. Eventually I actually decided on the Gravenwood in Dunland – it had the most greenery with the most wild growth that I could think of.

Before that I actually tried both the Trollshaws and Northern Mirkwood, but the former had too much red in the trees and the latter was just too dark.

It was also really fun to match it with the steed of they withywindle gear – it just fit so perfectly.

So yeah. I’m kind of worded out. But I love this outfit.

Outfit:
Head: Time-Worn Headpiece (dark green)
Shoulders: Light Shoulders of the Grey Mountain Stalwart (dark green)
Chest: Lesser Claw of the West Breastplate (dark green)
Legs: Trousers of the Autumn Traveler (dark green)
Hands: Leather Gauntlets of the Leaping Stag (ashenslades green)
Feet: Lesser Memory of the West Shoes (lorien gold)
Bow: Exquisite Black Ash Bow
Sword: Defender of Gwingris

Warsteed:
Head: Withywindle Halter (Forest Green)
Caparison: Withywindle Caparison (Forest Green)
Saddle: Withywindle Saddle
Legs: Withywindle Leggings (forest green)
Body: Black Chestnut Brindle
Mane/Tale: Black Chestnut