Another quick outfit, this time built around the Armour of the Three Peaks and the Valiant Dunedain armor from Before the Shadow (I really love this chest-piece, okay?). I’ve found lately I’m always using the same cloak, and I know probably I should be more diverse in my choices, but honestly this blog is first and foremost a way for ME to remember what outfits I like, so I guess its okay. And I just really like how this cloak dyes.

For the horse I decided to combine the Dunedain set with the Fateful Thunder set — not from War of the Three Peaks, but from the Gundabad expansion, which is basically the sequal to War of the Three Peaks anyways.

Outfit:
Shoulders: Valiant Pauldrons of the Dunedain (default)
Back: Swift Wool Cloak of the Dwarf-Holds (crimson)
Chest: Armour of the Three Peaks (crimson)
Gloves: Valiant Gloves of the Dunedain (default)
Feet: Valiant Boots of the Dunedain (default)
Shield: Hen Turrau Skald's Shield

Steed:
Head: Fateful Thunder Head-Piece (red)
Body: Caparison of the Dunedain (crimson)
Legs: Fateful Thunder Leg-Guards
Saddle: Saddle of Lossarnach 
Gear: Fateful Thunder Accessory

I’ve had it for a long time now, but I LOVE the cosmetic armor that came with the War of the Three Peaks update. The chest piece is just glorious in my opinion.

This is another warsteed set I’m a big fan of, for once giving me an opportunity to use a piece of the Minas Ithil preorder warsteed set. The cloak used in the outfit is also from the preorder, tying things together a bit.

And that’s another outfit done out of the vaults! Score for me!

Outfit:
Shoulders: Shoulder-Guards of the Golden Forest Defender (Ered Luin blue)
Back: Cloak of the Great Alliance (ered luin blue)
Chest: Armour of the Three Peaks (ered luin)
Hands: Barnavon Hunter’s Cured Gauntlets (ered luin)
Feet: Engraved Plated Boots (ered luin)

Steed:
Head: Headpiece of the Dead City (ered luin)
Body: Caparison of the Unearthed Kingdom (ered luin)
Legs: Reclaimed Mountain Leg-guards (ered luin)
Saddle: Saddle of the Ered Mithrin Steed
Accessory: Accessory of the Citadel Guard

I kind of can’t believe I haven’t posted this outfit before since its the main one my champ wears — But I guess its time! Particularly when King’s Gondor now lets you have the jacket as a cosmetic instead of having to grind out hours of Osgiliath instances like I had to do way back when…but it’s okay. I’m not bitter…

I actually haven’t any questing in King’s Gondor yet — there’s so much content I missed that I’m kind of a bit overwhelmed at everything I have to catch up with. But I’m REALLY excited to get into Umbar.

This is also a great time to introduce probably my favorite warsteed outfit ever. I’m a big fan of anything with the white tree of Gondor, so I love this caparison.

Outfit:
Shoulders: Medium Nadhin Shoulders (default/black)
Back: Cloak of the Citadel Guard
Chest: Jacket of the Osgiliath Huntsman (black)
Hands: Gauntlets of the Causeway (default)
Feet: Strong Leather Boots of the Silent Watcher (black)

Steed:
Head: Halter of the Citadel Guard (white)
Body: Caparison of Gondor (black)
Legs: Dagorlad leggings (white)
Tail: Tide-Breaker’s tail
Saddle: Saddle of Gondor

Wooh! It’s been a while. I recently got back into the game, however, and after a series of (probably) poor financial decisions involving buying expansions, I’m hooked! I made a couple new toons that I’ll introduce in a later post, and I’m raring to go. It’s also Farmer’s Faire right now, and I LOVE festivals. I also had a ton of unfinished outfits on a bunch of different toons so now I’m very busy jumping around between grinding, questing, and fashion…ing.

This outfit game about as I was messing around with style ideas for one of my new lore-inspired toons. I found the cloak in Lallia’s market, and then the color scheme came together to match everything. But I think its actually pretty appropriate for Farmer’s Faire! I would have liked to use the Windfell owl as a cosmetic pet, but alas I will have to wait until Harvest Festival when I can barter for it.

I’m not a big fan of this year’s apple cosmetics, but I AM a big fan of the horsemane that comes with the potato farmer’s steed, which is technically new to me since I didn’t play last year.

Head: Hood of the Northern Sky (gold)
Shoulder: Soothing Mantle of Outcast Spirits (dark clay)
Back: Ceremonial Wizard’s Cloak of the rider (walnut brown)
Chest: Doublet of the Trickster (gold)
Hands: Leather Gauntlets of the Leaping Stag (dark clay)
Legs: Trousers of the White Tree (gold)
Feet: Lesser Memory of the West Shoes (sienna)

Steed:
Head: Potato Farmer’s Fine Headpiece
Body: Shimmering Breeze Caparison
Legs: Horse Archer’s Leg-guards (gold)
Saddle: Shimmering Breeze Saddle
Accessory: Sand-Striker’s Accessory

So I was messing with the layout of my blog today and realized that the pictures of some of my old outfits are…uh…not great. To be fair, I did the best I could at the time with what I had. See, I played LOTRO on a really old/crappy PC for a while, including up to the time that I started this blog. I mean, the early pictures were honestly as good as I ever got the game to look. Right at the start of 2020, however, I got a NEW laptop for college. And man, the first time I booted up LOTRO, I didn’t know the game had so much detail. I mean, yeah, the graphics are still dated cause it’s a game from 2007, but suddenly things were so much sharper! And my computer could render objects further away and in greater detail! It was AMAZING! It also meant I was able to take better screenshots. Anyways, finals are coming up in a couple weeks, but then I get a month off of school for winter term. I think during this time I might go update some of my old posts with newer screenshots of the same outfits. It’s not necessary, I know, but I actually really like a lot of my old outfits, and I want them to be preserved for posterity in an equally nice manner!

I think I also want to start making posts for complete armor sets in game (for example a complete post on the medium Nadhin set, or Lothlorien light set) as well as warsteed outfits. I personally find myself forgetting what sets are what all the time, and this blog is first and foremost a way for me to keep track of LOTRO cosmetics, so I think I might start doing that as well. It can’t cover everything, because I’m simply not good at raiding or stuff and I don’t have a kin, so some items I really just can’t get. But I might be able to post previews of armor sets using a changing room plug in? We’ll see!

Bunny lover out.

So it was my birthday a couple weeks ago, and I had a really hard time thinking of anything practical in life I wanted. But I’ve also been going through a rough patch lately and I am an avid believer that every now and then it’s important to do something for yourself – to treat yourself with the kindness you’d treat others. Or, in the famous words of one Tom Haverford and one Donna Meagle, “Treat yo’ self!”

So I did! As you know from my last post, I got my warden to level 75 and got him his own customized war horse. But that was not where the fun stopped 🙂 You know how there are auto generated war steeds all throughout the cities of Bree and Minas Tirith (not to mention ALL OVER Rohan), well I like to look at them. And occasionally, I get inspired. So I started taking screenshots of my favorite ones – the ones that really stuck in the back of my head or just really struck me – so, for my birthday, I decided to try to match some of my faves! For example, I have run across numerous grey pintos and paints that are absolutely gorgeous:

Since my RK already had the grey color pack, I got her a paint hide pattern and voila!

 I’ve been curious about it for a while now, and for the most part had written it off. After all, it just makes the coat color a bit lighter and dolor and gives dark, charcoal colored stockings to the horse. But I will say this, I love this particular combination of brown that essentially creates a liver chestnut, and it would be impossible to get without the bay coat. I doubt I’ll invest in the bay coat for any of my other toons, but I’m glad I have one who can run around with it. It probably works best with shades of brown anyways, as those are the hues you’d normally find a “bay” horse sporting (In reality bay horses have brown coats and black manes and tails as well as some other highlights – or darklights? – so the in game option is close, except you’d never find a “bay” that had some other color mane).

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but when I ran across this particular horse in Aldburg I was really taken aback – when I was a young kid my uncle owned an old Arabian mare that looked almost exactly like this horse – she had a flea bitten coat with light brown specks (fun fact, often times a flea bitten coat is the result of a horse’s coat becoming increasingly grey (white in the horse world refers to having white hair and pink skin and is very rare, white hair with black skin is called grey and is much more common) as they age. Anyways, I absolutely loved her. Every time we went out to visit them, I’d bring my riding helmet and boots and I’d ride around the corral. She was actually my cousin’s horse, but young me felt like we had a special bond. Sadly, she passed away a few years ago (she was in her 20’s so it wasn’t a shocker, but still). I would never have thought to actually buy this combination of colors in game, but seeing this horse standing there in Aldburg like some digital horse ghost inspired me.

Now that precious mare can run again 🙂

This particular combination was also inspired by another horse I saw in game:

As was this one:

The mane and tale are slightly darker, but I think I like it better this way. Then there wasthis gorgeous horse that I completely fell in love with:

Finally there was this dappled grey in Bree that caught my attention:

WE DID IT!!! (me and my warden that is). Through farming LPs and earning enough gold, I was able to buy a number of experience boosts and within no time at all my wonderful warden reached level 75 and got himself a war steed!

Just look at the two of them! My beautiful red-haired boy and his even more beautiful red-roan steed 🙂 I’m so happy this day has come! It was recently my birthday, so I decided that I had earned a $50 gift from me to me. This is how I spent it. Was it the most reasonable use of money? Maybe not. Do I regret it? Definitely not xD

It was an interesting road getting here. For one thing, it has been an absolute pleasure to quest with a warden – I never really appreciated how OP they are until I was mowing down mobs 5 levels higher than me. I also took the time to explore a bit in regions I hadn’t really quested in before – turns out there’s this whole story line in Enedwaith about forest spirits and Lotro’s own version of the Wild Hunt – complete with a mystical, 10 foot tall man with glowing eyes and antlers on his head. The quest chain led me through ancient rituals and finally to the Hall of the Huntsman himself.

I also got to go talk to a bunch of different animal spirits from the forest, the last being a giant silvery stag who put me through a test of wisdom! I’m serious – I had to actually solve a logic problem – like in early math class. It wasn’t by any means difficult, but it was really cool to find something like this in game.

So anyways, I had a good day 🙂 Now onto my minstrel! Ooh!!! And I have to drop by the ox-clan merchant camp to get some of those Isengard Warden sets!

Warden's new Steed:
Coat: dappled (flaxen chesnut)
Tail: simple (red roan)

He still needs a name…that’ll take some time…

It’s been almost 48 hours. It wasn’t even supposed to be 24 hours!!!! *sighs.* I get that switching data processors or whatever Standing Stone Games is currently doing must be a pretty big deal or whatever, and that patience is a virtue and what not, but I want my LOTRO back!!! There’s only so much arranging I can do in a day, and after arranging Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” for a 12 person acapella group and finishing nearly half of “Paparazzi,” I’m starting to go crazy. It doesn’t help that every time I checked LOTRO twitter they were pushing back the timeline for bringing the worlds back online…

First it was supposed to be up and running again yesterday at 2 am. Then 5 am. Then 11 am. Then 5 pm. Then 2 am today. Now 2 pm…I mean I get that things like this can take some time, but patience is not my strong suit.

Well since I can’t play music in game (not that I’ve ever tried tbh…it’s definitely something I should look into) I guess I’m stuck with the real thing. On the bright side, I’ve been able to polish my solo for our upcoming concert and today I finally discovered my “mixed” voice register. If that even is a thing…I’m still not really sold on the idea. One way or the other, though, I did figure out a way to sing higher notes reliably without straining or flipping to head voice so that’s cool. Of course I had to do a bunch of weird vocal exercises to finally find it which I’m pretty sure my poor sweet dog mistook for a panic attack – at any rate she seemed very concerned about me.

I suppose I could use all that reserved LOTRO time to catch up on sleep while this whole thing plays out…at least these past couple days have been a good reminder of not to take the small things we love so much for granted. I mean it’s just a game – I don’t need it for survival or comfort, and I can find other ways to amuse myself (I mean real life people are a thing too, I guess) but it is nice to just take stock and give thanks for the small things that make life better.

It makes me think back to when my main was just another level 52 champion struggling to get through Volume 1 in Angmar, reduced to using Blue Line to survive and convinced that I was stuck in the most horrible place LOTRO could devise…Back when I had him wearing all green, before I even knew about cosmetic outfits or wardrobe space…If only I knew then what I know now…I would have tried to appreciated every agonizing moment. I might have even taken my time through Mordor on the second, even third time around…

I can even look back fondly on that time when my LM and her horse fell through the ground and just kept falling…

I’m definitely not thinking about how this all could have been avoided if SSG hadn’t tried to improve things. You know, if we’d all just accepted the crappy data processors we had. I did. But I’m not thinking about that. I’m giving thanks.

I’m not going crazy. I’m fine without Lotro. Life goes on. I have other hobbies. I can find meaning in life without those pretty pixels. Just because I’m singing “neh, neh, neh, neh, neh” over and over and over doesn’t mean I’m losing it. It’s for a purpose. Really.

How much longer was that wait supposed to be?

On days like today, when I’m having a really hard time eating, working, sleeping, even just existing, it’s important to take stock and remember what I do have to live for – even if it’s the small things.

Like, for example, leveling up my warden. I REALLY want to get another character a war steed, and he’s not going to level himself up to 75 on his own. I’m serious. There have been times in the past couple weeks where this is literally the ONLY thing I can think of as wanting at the time. So much so that I even considered buying an aria or a different level advancement just so I could get there. But if I do that, then isn’t my purpose gone? Last time I blogged about my warden he was level 22. Now he’s level 58. This all happened in the course of a few days, and even though it was a VIP appreciation weekend with boosted XP, that’s still A LOT of time to spend on the computer. And normally no, I would not recommend playing a game that much in one sitting nor would I actually do it myself, but here’s the big catch: I got through those days.

Between napping, leveling, and taking every chance I got to look at the auto-generated war steeds in Bree and Rohan, I got through those few days. LOTRO might not cure sadness or depression, but it does give me an escape – some other purpose – and maybe most importantly, a feeling of progress.

I’ve grown up in a rather conservative home – my parents were not – and ARE NOT – gamers. They saw me spending time playing on the computer as bad and unproductive, and that rubbed off on me. I’ll be the first to admit that I have my issues, but this one probably cuts to the core of a lot of my insecurities: I viewed one of the few things I could actually do to feel better as a sign of laziness and defeat. So…basically…I felt bad about feeling better?

But it’s not like I’m neglecting daily duties to play on my computer. If reading helps you, then read. If playing music helps you, then play music (which I often do – I play piano, guitar, sing, and create and record arrangments for my acapella group). Do I wish I was doing something more with my life right now? But a really wise mentor once told me: If we could do better, we would (and no it wasn’t Gandalf lol). Although now would be a relevant time to mention a quote of his. When Frodo is telling him how he wishes the trials of the ring didn’t have to happen during his lifetime, Gandalf responds: “so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” – Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring.

So what am I trying to say? Basically, I love LOTRO. I love being a nerdy computer gamer who wants to ride horses around in a digital landscape and wear leather armor and shoot orcs. Because sometimes, that’s a hell of a ton better than real life, and in the moments when I really feel trapped, I can log onto my computer and explore new worlds and be new people and try new things. I get to stand right beside my favorite book characters and witness epic battles and play an important part in making history. When I play this game, I MATTER. And maybe this sounds stupid, but when life just outright sucks you have to find SOMETHING to keep you going, whether it’s a video game or an upcoming vacation or the promise of change or whatever.. As long as you find that thing and it HELPS, does it really matter where or how you find your meaning?

Basically what I’m saying is that life has pretty much sucked lately, but thanks to LOTRO it hasn’t sucked as much as it could have and I’m still functioning. It gives me something to look forward to in the tough times; it gives me a reason – no matter how small – to ride out the storm.

Just the other day, for example, after waking up hungry at 11:30 pm because I had given up on trying to force feed myself dinner at 7 and simply gone to bed, I made myself some oatmeal and logged onto LOTRO. And what do I find? A band. Like, an actual, proper band parked right outside the Auction House in South Bree playing A-Ha’s “Take on me.” No joke. It was incredible. And I don’t normally play this game with the sound on, but one of the band members was posting lyrics to the local chat. So I turned on the in game sound. I asked them if it was oldies night and they said they would take requests so I asked if they knew any Queen and they just started playing Bohemian Rhapsody. I gave them a shout out in world chat. My champ applauded and danced, cheering whenever they finished a song. It was so bizarre and amazing and in that moment I just loved everything. Of course, the guy then started becoming racist toward a certain ethnicity (which I will NOT mention) and misogynistic which, as a female gamer, I do NOT appreciate, so I promptly left because I refuse to engage people online. Quick sidebar, I think it’s really funny how people assume gender based on your toon when you could be literally anyone behind that computer screen. Maybe it’s because we as humans just love to fit people into properly sized boxes all the time and tend to freak out if we can’t. All I know is, I’m treated differently depending on which gender my current toon prescribes to. Surprisingly I’ve generally been treated more respectfully when playing as a female, which I find odd considering in real life we women are much more prone to harassment. In LOTRO it seems to have (so far) been the opposite. Other people tend to be MUCH more confrontational with me when they think I’m a guy and seem to adopt a relaxed, dare I say it, obnoxious? attitude. The band guy, for instance, obviously thought of me as an ally and kept calling me “dude” and “bro” despite the fact that I totally did NOT approve of what he was saying and told him as much. I left before he could start insulting me (I have a no-engagement policy when it comes to trolls), but I did log off my main and onto a female toon just to see what he was doing when my watchful “male” gaze had disappeared. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately? I’m honestly not sure which would have been better…) nothing changed – he remained a jerk – but while I was toon hopping someone else gave him a proper scolding which I greatly appreciated. Pretty sure he didn’t get it though…Not sure an RPG is the best platform for social commentary…

Anyways, after leaving the quickly escalating performance, I found ANOTHER band in Bree, which was more of a medieval ensemble – and that was cool too. I just love those small in game interactions where you acknowledge other players or see something else going on in game that you’ve never seen before. Like once, I was leaving the Vault in West Bree and I caught a role play conversation going on over the “say” chat. A level 5 female human and a level 105 (or something) male elf were role playing right outside the gates of Bree, conversing as their characters and even addressing the guard at the gate. So what did I do? I naturally put my human champion into “stealth” mode, switched to a dark outfit (lol no I didn’t I was already wearing black – but I did put a hood on) and ran behind some buildings where I “couldn’t be seen.” As they walked to the Prancing Pony – and I do mean walked –like actually walked – I followed via rooftops and read their conversations. I mean, if it was private I suppose they would have used IM. But it was funny! And it was also so refreshing to see these two players interacting with this virtual world in a way that I had never seen before. I’m sure there are lots of people who role play on LOTRO, but I’d never actually seen it happen. It was just super cool! And I felt a little cool myself because I felt like I became part of their story. I even snuck into the Prancing Pony via the hobbit door on the north side to keep hearing their story. I eventually got bored and logged off to go to bed, but the point is I got to experience something completely new and fun just through my computer screen. And yes, maybe it was a little rude of me to “eavesdrop,” but I honestly just became invested in their story and wanted to know what was happening! I’m a curious person! You can’t just say you’re going on some secret quest and then not tell me what it is! I gotsta know!!

So here’s to the little things in life that keep us going, like finding a near-identical horse in Rohan while hunting war bands or running across a band with an unfortunately misguided leader who plays beautiful music through a computer screen. Things like leveling up a character or grinding to get a new cosmetic jacket that you’ve wanted for literally YEARS (see my post – the Triumphant lol) or even just getting a new hide pattern for one of your horses. Even things as small as /bowing to another character in game when you’ve briefly worked together to kill Grimbark in Agamaur or waving at a kinny when you pass them in Bree. Things like pretty horses and epic weapons and intriguing stories and inspiring characters. I don’t know who at Turbine or Standing Stone Games or Warner Brothers or Tolkien or WHATEVER deserves my thanks, but whoever you are – I appreciate you and what you have done for me and many other gamers. And when the world (or world chat)’s got you down, maybe take a break. Change the filters on your chat settings. Unplug from the madness. Because all that bluster about whether or not pit-bulls are aggressive (Seriously guys? They’re dogs. They’re flipping adorable dogs get over yourselves) or whether Trump is ruining our country or saving it (no comment) isn’t really where the action is happening anyways. Go see a band. Go ride a horse. Go run through some red water. It’s probably not gonna hurt you. And if it does, you won’t be killed – just temporarily defeated. And there’s always a rez spot not too far away where you can start again.