Dawn

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There are times of peace, and there are times of war. It wasn't long ago when young elf Sidgrid thought she would never see the faces of her loves ones again. In the battle of Orthanc, she was badly injured just before delivering a killing blow to Kalbak, slowly passing out while her fellowship was rejoicing. Right after they found out, they rushed with Sidgrid to Rivendell, for this was the only place where she stood a chance in hands of elven healers.

Luckily, they were as fast as wind, driven by will to save their friend, and managed to hand her over to healers very fast. A few weeks have passed since then and Sidgrid is now enjoying her peaceful recovering in the Last Homely House. After a long time, she can smell flowers, feel the sun on her cheeks and watch sunrise. Dawn has always been her favourite part of the day. After a new dawn of her life, she feels it that way even more.

I've always been in love with this cloak - even when there was only hooded version available. Velvet texture and great depth of any dye used on it made it one of my favourite cosmetic pieces. With the Great River, hoodless version became available and I rejoiced :) I knew I must create an outfit featuring it soon.

I also wanted to create a gentle, feminine outfit for my elf. Pink has never been my favourite colour (although they say it's the new black :), but it fits the sunrise scenery of Rivendell and let the velvet textures stand out.

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

Chest: Elven Cloth Jacket of Vigour, white dye (world drop)
Legs: Tattered Leggings of the Dunland Sage, rose dye (Dunland quest)
Head: Hat of the Concerned Elf, rose dye (Great River quest)
Shoulders: Padded Mantle of the Dunland Soothsayer, rose dye (Dunland quest)
Hands: Scout's Gloves, rust dye (T6 crafted)
Feet: Rhydhid-lhopan, sienna dye (Great River quest)
Back: Cloak of the Unwelcome Guest, rose dye (Great River quest)

Emotes:
./lookaround
./think

Let me invite you for a coffee :) LOTRO Fashion loyalty program!

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I've just set up a new service for my blog - PunchTab loyalty program. I'd like to reward you, readers, for your activity on LOTRO Fashion. For now, you are able to get gift cards for Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Groupon and Restaurant.com - all just for visiting, commenting, liking, recommending and tweeting about LOTRO Fashion!

All you need to do is click on red Rewards ribbon on the left and sign up with your Facebook account. You will start collecting points immediately, 100 points just for visiting. Starbucks 5$ gift card is worth 8500 points, so let's say that from time to time, I will invite you guys for a coffee ;)

It's a fairly new service, therefore untested, but it has pretty good reviews. Hence I hope it can be trusted and you guys will really get your gift cards. If it is a success, I will consider buying some Turbine Points codes and supply these as a reward. Time will show :)

Please let me know any feedback or questions. There is little info available, but I will try to find out how much I can from PunchTab's customer support.

So, let's comment, tweet, like and recommend! :)

Just a note: In case anybody would like to farm point with obvious spam (commenting many times isn't considered spam), I will opt him/her out of the loyalty program and delete the spams.

Galloping Gala: Mounts and outfits fans, rejoice!

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Screenshot courtesy the Windy Acres Ranch

This weekend will belong to sound of horse & pony hooves and exciting design! This LOTRO community event runs (literally) between May 3rd and May 16th. There will be tons of exciting events - unique races, mounted fashion contest, concerts. You can get in style and take part on a new mount, as all store exclusive mounts will be available from May 4th until May 6th.

For more information about the community event, as well as accompanying screenshot contest, visit official event page. For schedule of events and list of included servers, check the schedule.

I'm very excited about this event as I'm a big mounts fan (I don't count mine and the TP I've already spent on them :). I wanted to attend especially the Mounted Fashion Contest on Landroval this Saturday, but unfortunately I'm away at that time. I'm lucky that Kiralynn, the facilitator of this event, agreed to send me screenshots of the contest participants afterwards, so I hope I will be able to bring you a report as soon as possible! :)

Kiralynn is also an owner of Windy Acres Ranch - a blog which often sponsors races and shows on Landroval. Don't hesitate to check it out!

To all the contestants - best of luck and I'm looking forward to see you, at least on screenies!

Blogging tip 1: Screenshots make your blog interesting

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{[["☆","★"]]}

Disclaimer: In May, I will provide some tips for new blogs as part of Newbie Blogger Initiative. If you have recently started your blog and have any question, don't hesitate to ask!

New Blogger Initiative is directed at MMO blogs, so game screenshots will be a part of your blog for sure. I'd like to give some tips on how to use them to make your blog more attractive, along with examples of good & bad layout.

#1: Use them!
I've seen so many gaming blogs with almost no screenshots. I have to admit I almost never stay too long on them, even though the text might be interesting. Even if you're blogging about text MMO, include ASCII art! Pictures spice up the posts, keep the reader interested and in fact help the message you wanted to give the reader stand out.

Bad vs. good:

#2: Use common sense!
Use the pictures so that they help readers keep attention on the article - don't overload! This advice of course doesn't apply to posts where screenshots are the main focus.

You don't have to include a screenshot for one liner saying you will be afk from your blog for some time. You also shouldn't include too many pictures which will make the text within the post disappear. There should always be at least one paragraph (3 rows or more) between two pictures. Preview your posts before publishing and use common sense to judge if it looks good and eye catching.

Bad vs. good:

#3: Use high quality screenshots!

Try to squeeze the max out of your graphic card and tune ingame details to maximum your PC can handle when taking screenshots for your blog. My blog is heavily dependent on screenshots as it's about presenting LOTRO clothing in an attractive way. I litteraly see hundreds of views difference between posts with high quality screenshots and low quality ones.

I'm sometimes sad because of this, because I see a good outfit presented in a bad way (dark, undynamic screenshots) and it gets almost no hits. I'd bet my head the same outfit would be very popular, if presented appropriately.

Bad vs. good:

#4: Master taking the screenshots further!

Once you achieve all the above, try to master your skills when taking screenshots even further. Basically, if you enjoy it at least a bit, learn the art of ingame photography :) Some brief tips:

Background: anytime possible, try to take a screenshot against fitting background. It's not possible, of course, for specific situations such as boss fights etc., but especially for static pictures of characters, you should never take a picture against white wall. For really spectacular screenshots, some people might even want to use them as desktop wallpapers - link full-size version if you consider it appropriate.

Light: good lightning can do miracles. Use ingame sources of light to your benefit - make the main focus of your screenshot well lit. Some games (e.g. LOTRO) even offer built-in torch tools, which will lighten up your character and its small radius - use them!

Composition: always think of rule of thirds when taking a screenshot. There are many examples on the internet - rule of thirds is your best friend!

Angle: learn to rotate that ingame camera. Pictures from non-standard angles are much more interesting than standard front, back and side view.

Action: wanna show how awesome your new character is? Don't present him or her planking vertically. Do an emote, make the dude run, do a skill - whatever, just avoid being completely static.

Bad vs. good:

I hope you found at least some of this information useful - please let me know your feedback and ask questions! It's exactly the right time and place to ask :)

Guest: Tasmanian of Crickhollow

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"It's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened."

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

Summer has come to Middle-Earth! And what can make a better spent early summer day than fishing on Brandywine? Correct answer is: for a decent hobbit, nothing (providing there is some elevenses, luncheon and a good snack packed on the boat). Tasmanian spent such day with his two buddies and caught a few tasty fish - pity they didn't last long enough to let anybody besides these three find out! :)
Evvy is a supplier of cute hobbit outfits - can't wait to see another one! :)

Chest: Fisherman's Vest, gold dye (Outfitter vendor)
Head: Straw Hat, gold dye (Skirmish cosmetic vendor)
Back: Fisher's Backpack, gold dye (Skirmish cosmetic vendor)

Sir Kay, Knight of the Round Table

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{[["☆","★"]]}

"Nine nights and nine days his breath lasted under water, nine nights and nine days would he be without sleep. A wound from Kay's sword no physician might heal. When it pleased him, he would be as tall as the tallest tree in the forest. When the rain was heaviest, whatever he held in his hand would be dry for a handbreadth before and behind, because of the greatness of his heat, and, when his companions were coldest, he would be as fuel for them to light a fire."

About Sir Kay

When I first saw the Steed of the Champion, I immediately fell in love with it. The striking sharp lines of its saddlery, unconventional combination of bright red, grey and brown - it all appealed to me very much. Even though my champion is level 11, I had to buy it at least for outfitting purposes (and who knows, maybe one day I'll give Maney a go too :). I've created a matching outfit for it based on knight theme. When I decided the outfit's finished, it was raining all over the Middle-earth, which is not very good for taking screenshots - but I decided I will use it to add dramatic atmosphere to the pictures.

It was fun to combine all the pieces - those of you who have been following my outfitting know that I love impossible combinations. I wanted to cover all unique aspects of the horse in the outfit - sharp lines, red, metallic grey, umber without making it look disturbing. I'm not sure how well did I manage it - I'll be more than grateful for your comments and ideas, so that I could improve the outfit further.

If you want to ride Steed of the Champion yourself, don't forget that you have only until May 3rd (this Thursday) to buy it. Good deal I used myself to get two nice horses in one was buying Mithril Edition on sale, about which Hymne also informed on her blog. For $15 you can get 2000 Turbine points (just enough to buy Steed of the Champion) and a unique Mithril Edition Steed of the Horse-Lords (this one is given to all of your characters).

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

Chest: Chainmail Chestpiece of Fleetness, crimson dye (world drop)
Legs: Leggings of the Brazen Call, red dye (Moria level 60 captain teal set; also available as champion and guardian set parts with very small differences in looks)
Head: Polished Helmet of the Dunland Shieldman, grey dye (Dunland quest)
Shoulders: Scout's Weathered Leather Shoulder-guard, grey dye (Dunland quest)
Hands: Gloves of Forbidden Love, white dye (Great River quest)
Feet: Boots of the Brazen Call, white dye (Moria level 60 captain teal set)
Back: Ceremonial Defender's Cloak, umber dye (Store)
Mount: Steed of the Champion (Store exclusive)

Emotes:
./mountrearup - store exclusive mounted emote

Newbie Blogger Initiative

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{[["☆","★"]]}

Have you been thinking of starting your own MMO blog? Perhaps about LoTRO outfitting, role-playing, PvP or anything else you can think of? Now it's the right time! Syp of Massively and BioBreak had a great idea to launch a support initiative for new MMO bloggers, helping them in the tough beginnings.

LoTRO Fashion is joining this initiative and I will post a few pieces of advice on MMO blogging this month. It will be mostly concerning my experience I've gained on how to design attractive posts, especially when pictures/screenshots are focus of the blog post. The blogging beginnings were tough for me and I see so many things I could have done better - I hope I will manage to save your time and nerves by sharing what I've learnt :)

Please, if you can think of any topic that would interest you as a newbie blogger, let me know!

I will also present new blogs related to LoTRO and outfitting if you let me know about them. You can do it via e-mail lotrofashion(at)gmail(dot)com or in comments - I will be most happy to spread the word :)

However, if you prefer to submit your outfits and not maintain your own blog, I will also be most happy to post your guest submissions. You can find out how to do it here.

For more information on Newbie Blogger Initiative, visit this forum. There are over 70 blogs participating, so a lot of good advice will be compiled there. Also, go through the newbie blogger instructions - if you follow them, a link to your blog will be published at the end of the month :)

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