Late watches

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

If anybody says Shire is a safe haven of Middle-earth, his words are long past due. Bindbole Wood, a landmark in northern Shire, has recently been infested with horrible spiders and goblins, troubling peaceful hobbits and careless travelers. Especially at night, the road passing through Overhill is very dangerous. Luckily, many hobbits have also been trained by the Rangers in recent past, to be able to defend their homeland from allies of the enemy. One of them is Wasabito, a skilled warden born in Overhill, who keeps an eye on his hometown and lumberers working in surrounding forest.

A pre-order option for the upcoming expansion, Riders of Rohan, has become available last week. Of course I had to buy it, for the amazing Rohirrim cosmetics, if for nothing else. I'm a little disappointed that the Armour of the Eastemnet set does not dye, so it remains mostly olive. It's such a pity Turbine limits use of excellent pre-order cosmetics again, as they did with Rise of Isengard :(

Enough complaints - despite it's colour limitations, the Eastemnet set looks gorgeous. So does the steed - it looks sturdy and agile at the same time, fitting for a Rohirrim horse. But the best about the whole ensemble is that the armour looks amazing on all races and genders. It makes even male hobbits look sexy, so I had to make use of it :) I added burgundy accessories (to match the steed's harness) and the horrible Cloak of Vigilance, which I usually hate. Here, however, it seems to bind the pieces of the outfit together and the braided blonde fur matches the mount as well.

Don't forget to check out all the cosmetics which come with Riders of Rohan pre-order on Cosmetic LOTRO - Hymne did a great job collecting and previewing them (even the weird horse-mane cloak rewarded for the ingame deed following pre-purchase - and I mean, there's really horse mane sticking out of it!).

Please let me know what do you think about the outfit in comments, or simply rate below the post's title :)

Chest: Hauberk of the Eastemnet, default dye (Riders of Rohan pre-order, all editions) 
Shoulders: Hardened Steel Dunlending Pauldrons, olive dye (Dunland quest)
Hands: Hyrde-folme, burgundy dye (Dunland quest)
Feet: Polished Boots of the Dunland Shieldman, burgundy dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Cloak of Vigilance, burgundy dye (Store)

Mount: Steed of the Eastemnet (Riders of Rohan pre-order, Heroic or Legendary edition)

Emotes:
./mountrearup (Store exclusive)
./look
./think
./charge

Wish: Guardian of Dale

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Most wishes I receive from readers are role-playing based. I love working on these, because I often learn much about the lore. This was also the case of an outfit for Edna, a female guardian of Eldar server. She is a character of Edward of Les Furets du Gondor, one of the biggest LoTRO fansites of the Francophone community. Edward described Edna as a very strong woman, about 45 years old, honouring her Dale origin. She wears no cloaks, nor helms or hats.

Edward outlined the requirements for Edna's outfit:

• battle ready and heavy,
• colour scheme around burgundy, red, crimson, brown and eventually some green shades,
• no cloaks, helms or hats used, only circlets,
• if possible, matching Angmar Prized Steed of the Free People,
• and most importantly, outfit should be Dale themed.

He also sent me current picture of Edna:

I did a little research on Men of Dale, but I wasn't successful in learning more about their clothing habits. We can assume they mostly wore cold climate suitable clothes, but that's basically all - all I found was a few fan art pictures which didn't show many common characteristic features different from other men clothing. So I took a free hand and sent Edward first two designs without any specific elements of Dale origin:

In the first design, I went for a simple combination of good old ringmail and burgundy/gold plate. The chest piece creates nice cleavage and is still functional. Boots and gauntlets are also plated to offer protection of crucial bones. There is a simple touch of elven design on the leggings and shoulders, but they make the ringmail interesting. Edward loved the asymetric spaulders. But as men of Dale got their weapons and armours from the dwarves of Erebor, it would seem inappropriate to incorporate such significant elven influence into the outfit. However, he decided to try other combinations keeping the circlet, chest piece, gauntlets and boots from this outfit.

In the second design, I tried a more colourful and daring combination. I reused the beautiful Annúminas pieces Edna was already wearing, with goal to still match the horse. I thought the outfit looked interesting from back also, which might be an advantage when staring at character's back while playing. However, Edward didn't like this design - it's a mixture of styles and doesn't fit Edna at all.

So, we decided to try more leggings to pair with the rest of design number one, adding furry shoulders Edward liked. I was a little worried because I knew the elven leggings I used before are the only ones with this type of ringmail. All the others (man, westernesse and dwarf ones) have much bigger rings in the ringmail and it looks much less "noble". Also, they don't match the chest very well, so I knew I will have to experiment with the chest pieces as well. I sent Edward different chest & legs variations of design 1:

I also offered to try something completely different, in case Edward didn't like any of the combination. In the end, he was happy with number 1 and 5, but asked for the "different" design, to be more sure of his choice :) Meanwhile, I also thought of other combinations, so I sent him both new (hauberk) designs and more variations of the design 1:

a

I'm personally not a big fan of hauberks, especially on women, but I thought they could work as they have clear dwarf (design3) and man (design4) heritage. Anyway, I was happy when Edward said he also didn't like hauberks, but totally loved the first of the new design 1 variations, with the dragon scale!

I read a few more notes on Men of Dale and learned they were fighting the dragons of Lonely Mountain for a long time. I created the design 1 variation using dragon scale armour, so the outfit could be justified as wearing trophies of Edna's enemies. This fit Edna's role-play very well, because she's already had legendary weapons named after dragons.

The piece I listed as a chest piece in a shopping list for Edward was drop from Rift. He wanted to avoid stalking the AH, so he found the same looking armour in skirmish camp. Now, we proudly present Edna in her new signature armour :) Being heavy and protective, it still allows enough agility to move around the enemies and doesn't limit the character's movement.

This outfit consists of:
Chest: Breastplate of the North-Drake, burgundy dye (drop from the Rift; also available as Frost Covered Hauberk from Skirmish heavy armour barter)
Legs: Scalemail Leggings, burgundy dye (Heavy armoursmith vendor; also available as Restorated Soldier Leggings bartered for Arnorian coins in Evendim)
Head: Ceremonial Hat of the Elder Days, default dye (Skirmish barter - Cosmetic vendor, Rift cosmetics)
Shoulders: Fated Westfold Campaign Shoulder Guards, burgundy dye (T7 crafted)
Hands: Hyrde-folme, burgundy dye (Dunland quest)
Feet: Rusted Boots of the Dunland Berserkers, burgundy dye (Dunland quest)

What do you think of the outfit? Please let us know in the comments! :)

Guest: Fazlee of Landroval

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

In desert lands of Lonelands, the sun was slowly setting down and all the critters started to seek warmth and shelter before the cruel night. But for Fazlee Blackmoor, a nomadic captain known as Swift Executioner on Landroval, the fun was only starting. He enjoys the day but thrives at night, fighting the most dangerous enemies and facing all the dark and evil he can find. Fear not Amon Sûl, fear not Middle-earth! Fazlee can save you and amuse himself at the same time!

I simply love how exotic this outfit looks. It could be used as perfect southern ranger garb, as well as true Nomad's hunting attire. By the way, notice how Fazlee matched the ranger star on shoulders to its equivalent on gauntlets :) Fazlee didn't use any cloak to make his great sword stand out, but if you'd prefer one, he recommends Scholar's Cloak in burgundy, which can be crafted by T4 tailor.

Chest: High Herald's Armour, burgundy dye (T6 crafted)
Legs: Lesser Secret of the West Leggings, burgundy dye (Level 65 burglar epic set)
Head: Traveller's Hood, burgundy dye (Store)
Shoulders: Fine Grey Company Wrap, burgundy dye (Quest: Volume III Book 5, Chapter 1: Separate Ways)
Hands: Gloves of Helmingas, default dye (RoI pre-order)
Feet: Hardened Steel Dunlending Boots, default dye (Dunland quest)

Shadow of the night

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

A mysterious lady, accompanied only by her horse and snow-white lynx, recently arrived in the night's midst to Great Lodge of Sûri-kylä and requested immediate audience with Lossoth chieftain, Council Elder Yrjänä. Dressed warm for the freezing chill of Forochel winds, she still seemed a little exotic even to southerners traveling by. One of the visiting elves knew her and whispered to his companion: "She looks like one of the Rhûnen ambssador's companions, remember, in the harbours!" The lady disappeared right after her discussion with the chieftain, still covered by shadow of the night, and only the strange feeling of noble presence was left in those she passed by.

This outfit is basically remastered winter version of Lady of Rhûn outfit I decided to make after Hymne shared her discovery that we can put Ettenmoors armour into our wardrobe as well (we just need tradable Spirit Stones to barter for them). I've been in love with this lore-master's hat since I first saw it on My Precious blog, so I must have got it immediately for my lore-master, who is slowly approaching level 50 :)



How do you like this outfit? Please, leave your feedback in comments!

Chest: Herald's Armour, burgundy dye (T6 crafted)
Legs: Clanweave Leggings, burgundy dye (Dunland quest)
Head: Hat of the Learned Master, burgundy dye (Ettenmoors Lore-master trader; shares similar appearance with Stone-reader's Hat)
Shoulders: Disused Mantle of the Dunland Soothsayer, burgundy dye (Dunland quest)
Hands: (August) Resilient Gauntlets of the Golden Wood, burgundy dye (T6 crafted)
Feet: Embroidered Shoes of the Dunland Healer, burgundy dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Cloak of the Algraig, burgundy dye (Store)

Winter revelry

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Freyjuska has recently gained a lot prestige among Dunlending folk and even Théodred's riders, by driving off enemy forces and helping those in need. She decided to give herself a well-deserved break from serious business and get some past time for herself only. Freyjuska went on a good old fashioned hunt to her favourite district - Forochel, which always shimmers with northern light and evokes peace and serenity.

Again, I encouraged you, dear readers, to dress up in a winter outfit, and my own beloved lil' hobbit has been left neglected. Until now. After doing many skirmishes for superior 4th marks, I was left with tons of campaign marks and decided to find a decent use for them. I've never been a big fan of skirmish cosmetic rewards (especially hauberks), but sometimes just the right colour or combination is necessary to fall in love with an attire - and this happened to me just today.

I made so many action screenshots I couldn't decided which one to use as an opening picture. So I apologize for screenshot spam - I've decided to include those I liked the most. I don't usually dress up Freyjuska a lot (for some mysterious reason unknown to me, because she's adorable and I love her!) and when I do, I overenjoy it a bit :)

How do you like this outfit? Please, leave your feedback in comments!

Chest: Decorative Hauberk, purple dye (Skirmish cosmetic barter)
Hands: Burnished Dunlending Gauntlets, purple dye (Dunland quest reward)
Feet: Ajokoira Shoes, purple dye (T5 crafted)
Back: Feathered-Cloak of the North-men, purple dye (Skirmish cosmetic barter)

Explorer of ancient ruins

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Khamrad, a scholarly rune-keeper, is one of the few dwarves who are more interested in ancient parchments and relics than axes and blood. Often he sets off from Thorin's Hall before the dawn, just to get to one of his favourite hidden spots soon enough to be undisturbed and watch beautiful sunrise there. He believes that he can project the wisdom he gains from his explorations into the power of his runes, and so far it's proven right. Disguised under the raven mask, he has brought death upon many enemies of the Free People, as well as saved many lives of his fellows. Power is in knowledge, he says, and we can only agree.

For me, this outfit serves multiple purposes. First of all, it's my personal reclamation of Robe of Viisaus after its redesign. Although I liked the original robe much more, I have to admit I've made peace with the new version also, as it makes perfectly intricate rune-keeper's attire. Secondly, I don't think I've ever used the Raven's Mask obtainable in the Fall festival in my outfits. This was my big impediment, because it is probably the most easily available face-covering headgear ingame. And thirdly, I feel I neglected dwarves and rune-keepers badly since release of Isengard, so this is my sorry to all of you, dear dwarven fellows :) Stay tuned for more outfits coming!

Chest: Robe of Viisaus, burgundy dye (Quest: Vol. I, Book 13, Chapter 4: The Hand of Angmar; also available in Store - ceremonial version)
Head: Raven Festival Mask, burgundy dye (Fall festival)
Shoulders: Vibrant Calenard War Pauldrons, burgundy dye (T7 crafted)
Hands: Steadfast Westfold Campaign Gloves, , umber dye (T7 crafted)
Feet: Weathered Leather Scout's Boots, umber dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Cloak of the Algraig, burgundy dye (Store)

Wish: Éomer inspired outfit

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Let me use a way-back machine and take you to long forgotten pre-Isengard era of outfitting :) Today I present you brave guardian Tomeoric of kinship The Westfold Marshals on Riddermark server!

This wish-based outfit has made it to this blog's book of records - as longest time between a reader made a wish and its publishing :) It was still hot summer (July 30th), when I received a wish from a reader who was listening to CSTM cosmetics roundtable and noticed that I'm trying to fulfill readers' wishes for their desired outfits. The process of outfit creation took approximately a month and it was another two months until publishing - we wanted to publish Tomeric's and his daughter's outfit at the same time, but in the end didn't finish the second one (private life & RoI came in the way :)).

Tomeoric gave me very specific and interesting requirements (which I am thankful for :)):

• outfit inspired by Éomer and Théoden battle armours
• brown, burgundy and crimson tones with gold highlights (also typical for Rohirrim battle armours)
• matching to Prized Angmar's Free Peoples Horse

The first design I created seems a little bit funny now - although at that time, I found it quite decent :D I was trying to imitate Théoden's hauberk, which was pretty difficult considering I could work with pre-RoI and non-class specific pieces only:

Tomeoric provided a very detailed feedback, which helped me learn a lot - we discussed many peculiarities of Rohan armour design and I enjoyed it very much. I must quote one of his comments on the design above, because it made me laugh very hard: "I think the color/design from neck to waist and from elbow to shoulder is great - near spot on. From the waist to boot top, if you look quick, it looks like he is wearing an apron.  Now that I've seen that, I can't not stop seeing it!  Give him the Prized Pie to carry around and it would be the perfect Mr. Mom of Edoras." He was so right :)

I created second design, abandoning the hauberk attempts (as most of keen LoTRO fashionistas know, the pre-RoI hauberks were not manly at all and didn't resemble Rohirrim design even remotely). This basically meant getting closer to Éomer than Théoden from the initial idea. I also mentioned there are leggings ingame with plates on thighs similar to Éomer's, but they don't look good, so I used the elven ones:

Tomeoric and his home jury (all family playing together and helping him look the best :)) gave thumbs up for this design, but had particular remarks. The helmet hid character's hair (unfortunately headgear in LoTRO hides hair - I already had a small rant about it when I was designing Link inspired outfit), and he wanted the cloak to match the burgundy more than bronze/silver parts of the outfit. We agreed I will try more helm & cloak combinations. He was also interested in the "ugly plated trousers" I mentioned, so I showed them to him:

As you probably noticed, I didn't try more helmets due to hair hiding and we discussed that using just a circlet or no headgear might work better in the end. Tomeric picked his final cloak and I sent him the final design we agreed on:

Key features of this final design (besides remote inspiration by Éomer's battle armour) were matching the burgundy, silver and bronze parts on all armour pieces and introducing as much plate as possible. I also sent Tomeoric the "shopping list" with pieces used, and he started the journey to obtain them all. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get Gaerdail - boots used in this outfit dying very solid burgundy (similar crafted boots dye differently). So we decided to switch boots for the ones available in the store.

Tomeoric liked this outfit very much and since he collected all the pieces, he even received a lot of ingame compliments. I was a little worried because of how close we got to Kedwyr's Elven Defender's outfit, but you readers can see yourself how long was the process leading there :) Now, even though the fashion trends in Middle-earth have changed a lot with Isengard, we are both interested in your opinions about about the outfit :)

Final result:
Chest: Breastplate of Orod-Na-Thôn, burgundy dye (world drop)
Legs: Leggings of Orod-Na-Thôn, burgundy dye (world drop; also available from Rivendell heavy armoursmith)
Head: Circlet of Helmingas, default dye (Isengard pre-order)
Shoulders: Shining Dwarf Leather Shoulder Guards, burgundy dye (world drop)
Hands: Gauntlets of Orod-Na-Thôn, burgundy dye (world drop)
Feet: Brushed Leather Boots, burgundy dye (Skirmish cosmetic vendor or store)
Back: Ceremonial Defender's Cloak, burgundy dye (Store)

Warrior princess

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Sidgrid comes from old noble Vanyar family. She is a great-grandniece of Indis of the Vanyar and was always raised as an elven princess. Noble, yet still humble, well-mannered and predestined to represent her house. However, this wasn't enough for her, and she decided to join her brothers in hunting and become one of the best sharpshooter. Being a distant relative of Elrond the Half-elven, she often stops at Imladris to rest in his house. Say hello when you see her there!

And please let me know your opinion on the outfit in comments :)

Chest: Protector's Armour, burgundy dye (T5 crafted)
Legs: Footman's Leggings, rust dye (T6 crafted)
Head: Circlet of Men, default dye (Anniversary gift box)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Swift-Arrow, burgundy dye (Mirkwood hunter purple set)
Hands: Golden Host Gloves of the Awakened, burgundy dye (T6 crafted)
Feet: Golden Host Gloves of the Gloaming, burgundy dye (T6 crafted)
Back: Cloak of the Autumn Wood, burgundy dye (store)

Guest: Dakorandir of Eldar

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Growing up as the oldest child of a Gondorian trading house, Dakorandir was raised to become a scribe but, like many young men, did basic military training with the army before joining the business of his family. Through contacts and bribes, he was offered to become the clerk to a Gondorian envoy. As such, he came to travel much in the northern Middle-Earth in his early twenties.

However, his master – the envoy – was a corrupted man who did little to help Gondor but the more to gain personal gains. In time Dakorandir's loyalties towards Gondor also diminished, influenced by his master. Ten years later when the envoy died, Dakorandir did not return to the White City but started a vagabond life making a living both as bodyguard and, at times, a scribe. Eventually he found himself involved in the struggles that Bree-land are facing, and old loyalties and tales of heroic deeds once more begun to remind themselves.

Chest: Chestplate of the Northern Star, burgundy dye (Wardens of Annuminas reputation)
Legs: Leggings of the Northern Star, burgundy dye (Wardens of Annuminas reputation)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Northlands, burgundy dye (world drop)
Hands: Kelkka-maker's Gauntlets, burgundy dye (Quest: Building the Snow-sled)
Feet: Boots of Fém, burgundy dye (Quest: Present Yourself to the Chieftain)
Back: Ceremonial Cloak of the Leijona, burgundy dye (T5 crafted)

Inspiration: Arwen Undómiel

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Arwen Undómiel, daughter of Elrond the Half-elven and future Queen of the Reunited Kingdom ruling side by side with King Elessar, has been one of the most inspiring female characters in the Middle-Earth. Her everlasting beauty (truly one of an Evenstar) and goodness have always raised affection in Aragorn and admiration in all the people (or hobbits) she's ever met.

This outfit, modelled by Sidgrid, is my tribute to her. It's very simple, maybe the simplest on this site so far, but it instantly popped into my mind after I saw this picture from Arwen's unfinished journey to Grey Havens. The Elf-queen's Dress and Harbringer's Cloak are both so intriguing that they don't need any supplemental accessories to advance their beauty.

Chest: Elf-queen's Dress, burgundy dye (Store)
Back: Harbringer's Cloak, violet dye (Mirkwood pre-order bonus)