Tough ladies don’t avoid a good fight, but they don’t go without proper protection either!
I find it quite hard to dress a lady in heavy armour. Most chest pieces have plates on the front side, and for reasons I don’t need to explain, it looks really awkward on a female. As far as I’m concerned, girls should wear something that flows with their curves. This outfit is entirely based on heavy armour yet looks comfortable enough for a woman.

Chest: Steel Armour, sienna dye (crafted)

Head: Circlet of Adamant, default (store)

Shoulders: Shoulders of the West-tower, default (Annuminas tokens)

Hands: Gauntlets of Fém, sienna dye (quest)

Legs: Leggings of the West-tower, sienna dye (Annuminas tokens)

Feet: West-land Boots, sienna dye (crafted)

Back: Wood-wanderer’s Cloak, white dye (store)

It has been said that dragon-fire could melt and consume the Rings of Power, but there is not any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough…
~ Gandalf to Frodo, Lord of the Rings Book 1

The regular worms that we encounter in Lotro may be mere infant dragons, without wings and without the ability to breathe fire, but they look so awesome! When I take screenshots of an outfit I often go back to a region that in my mind provides the right setting for that outfit, sometimes because the surroundings match the colours, sometimes because it matches the theme. For this outfit I was actually on my way to the larger drakes that sneak around in West Angmar, but while on my way over there I encountered these fire worms in Malenhad and I couldn’t help stopping and admiring how very beautiful they are. Lotro is such a well designed game, with such attention to detail that it’s hard not to fall in love with virtual Middle Earth.

This outfit turned out to be one of my flashier combinations. I was going to match this awesome Helegrod Champion’s cosmetic chest piece with some more modest heavy pauldrons, but then I remembered I had these Champion’s shoulders from the Mirkwood instances in my vault and found them to be an impressive match.
The boots are from the purple Isengard instances Champion’s set. They provide a welcome change of design, but I just wish they would have made the purple sets a little bit more detailed. The details on the level 75 instance and raid armour is not as refined as on lower level sets. It’s not even as decorative as the quest armour rewards from Dunland!

If you want to know where a certain armour piece or cosmetic comes from, you can look it up on Lotro Wiki, by typing its name into the search box. You can equip any piece of armour cosmetically through the wardrobe, even armour that is not meant for your class or level.

Chest : Ceremonial Dragon-scale Breastplate, black dye (skirmish camp barter, Helegrod heavy cosmetic)
Shoulders: Berserker’s Shoulders, black dye (Mirkwood instances barter reward)
Hands: Ceremonial Dragon-scale Gloves, black dye (skirmish camp cosmetic)
Legs: Dented Leggings of the Dunland Clansman, black dye (Dunland quest reward, heavy)
Feet: The Berserker’s Sabatons, black dye (Isengard instances barter reward)

Hauberk alert!! Yes, Hauberks seem to be an either hate or love cosmetic item. I have mixed feelings about Hauberks as they are not equally flattering to each race and gender. On top of that, even though all Hauberks share the same basic model, there’s hauberks and there’s Hauberks. Fortunately though, there’s a lot of choice when it comes to hauberks. Many of them can be obtained easily from the Outfitters around Middle Earth, some rare ones come from Anniversary boxes, but I have to say that the nicest Hauberks are being sold in the Lotro store. So that means paying TP if you really want them. Well, since I am a big fan of “FLUFF” in the store, have done and will do more than my fair share of sponsoring the cosmetics department, I have these Hauberks too. Funny thing is though that I have never really gotten around to making a good outfit for all of them, other than for the Hauberk of the Mirrormere and the Hauberk of Glory.

Well I decided that before Update 7 comes out with the new Mystery Hauberks I should at least try and make some outfits for the Hauberks that I already own before getting any more of those! So here’s another beautiful Hauberk which has a lot of chainmail. Good for guardians or other heavy armour users, but very nice for hunters and wardens as well. I didn’t use a cloak here because I like to see these shoulder guards all the way around the shoulders like a wrap.
Gloves and Boots can be crafted of course, but I am cheap when it comes to temporary cosmetics and got them from the Heavy Armour Smith in Evendim. Be aware that they don’t match when dyed the same colour, so I had to work with a darker shade of red (crimson) for the boots.

If you want to know where a certain armour piece or cosmetic comes from, you can look it up on Lotro Wiki, by typing its name into the search box. You can equip any piece of armour cosmetically through the wardrobe, even armour that is not meant for your class or level.

Head: Urdhol-helm, white dye (boe Isengard instance drop level 75, light)
Shoulders: Gwir-Palvais, white dye (boe Isengard instances drop, light armour)
Chest: Hauberk of the Greenwood, red dye (Lotro store exclusive, cosmetic)
Hands: Chainmail Gloves, red dye (Heavy Armour Smith, Ost Forod)
Feet: Chainmail Boots, crimson dye (Heavy Armour Smith, Ost Forod)

In the days before the War of the Ring, when Isengard was in friendly or at least neutral hands, the river Isen formed an effective barrier between the Westfold and the lands of the Dunlendings, the hereditary foes of Rohan. But with the treachery of Saruman, Isengard rendered the whole river useless as a strategic frontier.
Théodred the marshal of the west-mark; Erkenbrand the lord of Westfold, and Grimbold his marshal, were all determined by tradition to defend the old frontier come what may. In this they were no doubt mistaken: for Saruman’s army of Orcs, Uruk-hai and Dunlendings was far too powerful for the west-mark to handle alone.

After a long weekend of participating in the Spring Festival festivities, I changed pace a little to work on some outfits. With the beautiful Ceremonial Rift gear that is available now, there is enough new stuff available to keep me interested for a while. I originally created this outfit for an elf female character, using the Scout’s Weathered Leather Jacket from Dunland dyed grey (in stead of the Trill-seekers Jacket), but I switched over to a male character later on and remain undecided which outfit I like better. I used a mix of Rift gear from various classes, omitting the cloak as the backside of this chest piece is nice enough.
This week my much admired fellow cosmetic blogger The Starry Mantle celebrates six months of creating awesome lore-specific outfits and she is giving away 1550 Turbine Points for the occasion! If you leave a comment to one of the outfits that she posts this week, you will enter the draw, so make sure to check out her blog and tell her what you think!

If you want to know where a certain armour piece or cosmetic comes from, you can look it up on Lotro Wiki, by typing its name into the search box. You can equip any piece of armour cosmetically through the wardrobe, even armour that is not meant for your class or level.

Chest: Ceremonial Thrill-seeker’s Jacket, red dye (skirmish camp, cosmetic)
Shoulders: Ceremonial Wandering Bard Shoulders, red dye (skirmish camp, cosmetic)
Gloves: Ceremonial Thrill-seeker’s Gloves, red dye (skirmish camp, cosmetic)
Leggings: Dented Leggings of the Dunland Clansman, grey dye (Dunland quest reward)
Feet: Ceremonial Boots of the Gloom-bane, red dye (skirmish camp, cosmetic)

As some of you may have noticed already, I’ve changed the layout of my blog again! I was ready for a new theme and a fresh look that will make this blog “Rohan ready”. The new layout allows for slightly larger pictures, so when you visit older posts you will notice that they don’t quite fit the entire body of the new layout, but such is blog-life.
This week I received an email from Winterwolf, a reader, with the request to help him out with an outfit. He wrote me the following description: “The outfit is for my latest character, Marthord who hails from the swan-city of Dol Amroth in south Gondor. I’ve been looking for an outfit that has that big heavy armour look about it, with lots of silver and some swan references, while still looking like an elite soldier of the nation of Gondor.” Whenever people mail me seeking advice, I usually help them out and point them in the direction that I think would be what they are looking for, but this request in particular triggered my inspiration and I just had to make a Swan Knight for my blog. My Champion is from Gondor and he usually rides his Steed of Minas Ithil. When I first got him the steed I created an outfit for it, but this was over a year ago, long before the release of Rise of Isengard and all the beautiful armour that it brought us, and long before I learned how to take proper screenshots or created any worthwhile outfits at all, ha ha. I didn’t have the cosmetics to work with that I have today, so revisiting this concept and using it for a Knight of Dol Amroth outfit was a great idea. If you still don’t own the Rise of Isengard expansion, but would like to travel there some day, check out the generous giveaway from Casual Stroll to Mordor for your last chance to obtain a Legendary Isengard edition that comes with all cosmetic goodies.
My very respected, awesome and inspiring fellow blogger Starry Mantle once made a Knight of Dol Amroth outfit too, and it’s very much worth visiting her creation for inspiration on the same theme as well.

The final countdown toward the release of Riders of Rohan has started and we now have less than a month to go before we will ride our War-steeds out onto the plains. For this reason I will be doing a number of Mount-inspired outfits this month, hoping that this will put us in the right mood. In this context I also want to point you to the Equestrian Fashion Contest that the Windy Acres Ranch is hosting on their blog. If you love horses and love outfits, this is your chance to participate and win 100 Turbine points! Windy Acres regularly hosts Equestrian events such as horse races and shows on the Landroval server. Please check out their schedule of events as they are worth a visit.

Head: Reinforced Leather Dunlending Helm, white blue dye (Dunland quest reward, medium armour)
Chest : Hyrde-Bréost, Evendim blue dye (reward from Vol.III, Book 4, heavy armour)
Shoulders: Barrow-warrior’s Shoulder Pads, white dye (Classic vendor, Great Barrows heavy set)
Hands: Barrow-warrior’s Gauntlets, white dye (Classic vendor, Great Barrows heavy set)
Feet: The Berserker’s Sabatons, white dye (RoI instance armour set, Champion)
Back: Swan-cloak, Evendim dye (Lotro store exclusive, cosmetic)

Horse: Steed of Minas Ithil (Lotro store exclusive)

It was hard to let go of Summer, and I really wished it could have lasted a little longer, but the first signs of Autumn are in the air and Summer is slowly fading. I always regret changing seasons, any season, but once I accept the transition, it becomes something to look forward to. I haven’t done an outfit in Autumn colours for a long time, so here’s my attempt to get in the mood for the Fall! Even though this outfit is largely assembled out of Champion pieces and some random stuff, I think it’s very fitting for an Elf hunter. I just love Autumn colours!

Last Monday the NPC Look-alike contest was launched and the entries are already coming in. I must admit this is the most fun Outfit Contest I have ever done and I am already amazed at some of the ingenious outfits that people have put together to resemble their selected NPC. When the contest is over and the winners have been nominated we will share all entries with you in a slide show, as each creation is really unique and worthy of display. Well… not every outfit is unique unfortunately. We are receiving a number of Grey Company Look-alikes that all make use of the cosmetic rewards from Volume III, Book 5. Evidently those outfits are near perfect look-alikes of the ranger NPC’s; however they are not very creative or original and will not score any points in that category. I hope you keep that in mind when creating your Look-alike!

Head: Fine Elven Circlet, cannot be dyed (Anniversary box cosmetic)
Chest: Cer. Dragon-scale Breastplate, orange dye (Cosmetic vendor, Helegrod Champion set)
Shoulders: Rock-climber’s Shoulder Guards, violet dye (T6 crafted, light armour)
Legs: Cer. Dragon-scale Leggings, orange dye (Cosmetic vendor, Helegrod Champion set)
Hands: Footman’s Gloves, violet dye (T6 crafted, medium armour)
Feet: Berserker’s Boots, violet dye (Mirkwood barter, Champion instance set)
Back: Rugged Quiver, orange dye (Anniversary box cosmetic)

The Rohan expansion so far has been everything I hoped for, except for the most important part: the armour appearances. Rohan has only two-and-a-half new armour appearances per weight: 1) the quest reward and barter gear, which is a rework of old world model armour designs and thus counts for half only, 2) the level 80 crafted armour and 3) the level 85 crafted armour.  I really like some of the crafted armour pieces but because of the deformation bugs, many pieces cannot be used. I just got my champion through the first Rohan quests and I wanted to use the level 80 crafted heavy chest piece for an outfit, but it has such terrible deformations on the chest (looks like somebody punched him really hard on his ribs) that I cannot use it as it is. In stead I had to come up with something a bit more old worldly.

A nice heavy armour outfit is always problematic for me. There aren’t really any full plate pieces in the game, which is a shame. Most of it is half plate with chain mail or even leather. Heavy leggings are the hardest part. I like the heavy Rift leggings but they all have an undyeable sienna detail on front and back and that just irritates the hell out of me. I have this manic need to match colours and details on every outfit, and having to either match or ignore the sienna gets old quickly. The Ost Dunhoth gear is a bit more flexible in that regard, but still has a lot of chain mail and very little plate. So for this outfit I had to find a compromise again. I keep wondering if we’ll ever see full plate gear. Maybe when we march to Gondor?

Head: Tarchar, white dye (barter in Ost Galadh, heavy armour)
Shoulders: Pauldrons of the Galadhrim, white dye (crafted Tier 6 Lothlórien, heavy armour, also available as skirmish cosmetic)
Chest: Ríanham, gold dye (Vol.I Bk8 reward, heavy armour, appearance also available as world drop)
Hands: Gauntlets of the Galadhrim, white dye (crafted Tier 6 Lothlórien, heavy armour, also available as skirmish cosmetic)
Legs: Lesser Defender of the West Leggings, white dye (barter in Ost Dunhoth, warden set, medallions of the north-men can be soloed)
Feet: Berserker’s Boots, white dye (trainer in Ost Galadh, champion only)
Back: Festive Azure Cloak, white dye (5th Anniversary veteran gift cosmetic)

Finally time to make myself another outfit! It’s noticeable that I haven’t been playing many instances or raids lately, because my medallion pool is swiftly shrinking to an all time low, and there’s still so many fantastic Dol Guldur pieces that I would like to add to my collection! I do hope the level 65 pieces will get converted to cosmetics some time soon, so we can get them a bit cheaper, because I cannot keep up with everything I want this way!
For those who are still after some Ost Dunhoth pieces but have a hard time gathering the Medallions of the Northmen, the good news is that by next update these pieces can be obtained with regular medallions too. I have no idea what they will cost, but Bullroarer will be up soon so we can check. I assume the prices will be in the same range as the Dol Guldur level 65 pieces. And in case you are really running low on medallions too, the Lotro store has two of the Ost Dunhoth sets available from the Mannequins.
The cloak in this outfit used to be different. Ever since the release of the Annúminas cluster in 2007, its color was chartreuse and only the tiny branches and leaves were dyeable. It was a unique and beautiful color. Last year this suddenly changed where the branches and leaves became the undyeable part and the cloak itself will now change color. Personally I still feel sad that this was changed. I /bugged it, but apparently it’s working as intended because it was never changed back to its original state.

The best news of the week comes from the Twitter devchat: as per next update we will get a *free* toggle to opt out of forced emotes! (Yes, free, as in not in the Lotro store but available to everyone!). Now I know this is a very touchy topic on the Lotro forums, but I myself am incredibly relieved that this is finally being implemented. I was never very vocal about it, but I absolutely hate forced emotes. I don’t use them on other people and I don’t appreciate people using them on me either. The fact that this feature will be offered free of charge just gained Turbine a boost in +rep from my perspective, especially because lately every feature seems to come with a price attached.
Another thing coming by next Update are the new armor sets! No doubt it will require some grinding and raiding to obtain them, but at least it’s something new to look forward to and work towards. I really hope they look good and don’t suffer from clipping and deformations!

Chest: Blade of the West Breastplate, Evendim blue dye (barter Harndirion, champion)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Hopeful Melody, Evendim blue dye (Skirmish camp Classic vendor, Dol Guldur level 65 minstrel)
Legs: Blade of the West Leggings, Evendim blue dye (barter Harndirion, champion)
Hands: Gloves of the Quiet Knife, Evendim blue dye (barter Ox-clan Camp, burglar)
Feet: Reclaimed Nobleman’s Shoes, Evendim blue dye (Great River quest reward, medium)
Back: Cloak of the Seven Stars, Evendim blue dye (Skirmish camp Cosmetics and Classic vendor, Annuminas light set)

So when Ketani mentioned on Twitter last week that there was a new store exclusive Steed available in the Lotro store with actual silver colored armor, I knew my champion berserker would finally have his own “class steed”. I never bought him the champion steed because it’s just not my taste. I was always hoping for something more heavily armored, and it finally arrived! Just like any other store exclusive steed (or reputation steed for that matter), it comes with certain drawbacks. For starters it has an undyeable olive colored blanket . Now I know for a fact that every player who rides a war-steed and has ever purchased some gear color packs absolutely hates this. Just as much as undyeable parts of an outfit are an insult to a carefully color coordinated look. Well, maybe you can live with it if you adore olive, but… to me it’s an eyesore. However there are too many eyesores in the world of Lotro cosmetics to even bother anymore, so I got my steed and got him as close to looking good as I could. My champion has only limited access to war-steed colors as in my opinion they’re still way overpriced and I only bought him two packs when they were on sale last year.
The saddle that is included in this set looks really cool, however, it is as flawed as it is cool because when my champ sits on it, the high front part cuts through his abdomen. So I decided to use the regular black saddle and have him sit more comfortably.
Despite all these discouraging issues, he turned out looking great and I’m very happy with my purchase and pleased with the end result of his looks.
The Steed of the Khundolar is currently for sale for a limited time until February 28, 2013.

The outfit pieces that I used all come from the Steely Dawn Steam deal that was on a 50% sale last December. Minus the chest piece which is an Isengard quest reward that I still treasure as one of the better chest pieces in game. The matching detail is the color of the sleeves, which are an undyeable…. olive.

Head: Helm of the Steely Dawn, cannot be dyed
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Steely Dawn, cannot be dyed
Chest: Hyrde-Bréost, black dye (Isengard landscape quest reward, heavy armour)
Hands: Gauntletsof the Steely Dawn, cannot be dyed
Feet: Bootsof the Steely Dawn, cannot be dyed

War-steed:
Khundolar Halter – grey
Khundolar Caparison – grey
Khundolar Leggings – grey
Plain Black Saddle
Hide: grey
Tail: white

I know that it’s not at all lore-appropriate to run around Middle-earth looking like a Musketeer, but since I am a hopeless romantic I just had to make my own Comte d’Artagnan. I originally made my male Champion to sort of look like Aragorn, but ever since I created him some four years ago I have used him to look like more or less any attractive man that I could think of. I’m convinced that many male MMO players create female toons to look at something pleasing as well, non?
I was never able to create the perfect Musketeer-look but accidentally found the new Tier 8 Wildermore crafted heavy armour to be a very good match to an old cloak he had in his vault, and I was pleased enough with the end result to post it to my blog.

My summer holiday has started and rather than sitting outside in the sun I find myself drawn to outfitting again. Some bad habits never go away I guess, ha ha. I may be posting a few more in the next few weeks!

Chest: Potent Wildermore Armour (Ered Luin Blue dye) – crafted T8 Wildermore heavy armour
Head: Elegant Plumed Hat (Ered Luin Blue dye) – Lotro store cosmetic
Shoulders: Storyteller’s Furlined Mantle (Ered Luin Blue dye) – Dunland quest reward
Hands: Eastemnet Skirmish Gauntlets (Ered Luin Blue dye) – crafted T8 medium armour
Feet: Disused Boots of the Dunland Soothsayer (Ered Luin Blue dye) – Dunland quest reward
Back: Cloak of the Stronghold (Ered Luin Blue dye) – drop from Igash, Grand Stairs Moria

“On all her breezes borne,
Earth yields no scents like those;
But he that dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose.”
― Anne Brontë

I was finally bold enough to make a rose coloured outfit! I’m so proud, ha ha. I have always pretty much avoided rose dye. I think it makes most armour look like Barbie clothes and I’m not playing Hello Kitty but Lotro. Actually my female characters all wear mostly earthen colours like umber, sienna, black and olive. Sometimes I will throw in a little red or blue but I usually avoid the brighter colours like sea blue, purple and rose. Nevertheless I love it when I see players that use those colours in very original ways, it’s just not so much my style, at least it wasn’t until I saw Nathrien’s rose outfit and thought it was brilliant. It inspired me to come up with a rose coloured outfit of my own. So here’s the result: tough girls wear pink!

The shoulders in this outfit can only be obtained by Minstrels at the Minstrel class trainer in Moria, so even though these are cosmetically one of the best items in the game, they cannot be obtained by all classes. I hope that Lalia will some day soon add these to her collection at Lalia’s Market, so everyone can enjoy the cosmetic benefits of this wonderful accessory. As an alternative there are light armour shoulders in the Hobbit presents with the same design. You can try to roll for those on a light armour character, however that particular model has a dark background colour.
All other pieces can be obtained by all classes and used in the wardrobe. So even if your character is a Loremaster, you can still purchase the Guardian items in Galtrev or the Warden leggings in Enedwaith. If you want to know more about how to purchase items that are not for your class, check out my cross class bartering guide.
The leggings can be obtained at Lalia’s too as part of a full cosmetic set: Windsinger.

Head: Westfold Campaign Helm, violet dye (crafted light armour T7 recipe)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Mighty Verse, white dye (Minstrel, Watcher raid armour, Moria)
Chest: Chestplate of the Indomitable Protector, rose dye (Guardian, raid armour, Galtrev)
Hands: Gauntlets of the Indomitable Protector, rose dye (Guardian raid armour, Galtrev)
Legs: Defender of the West Leggings, rose dye (Warden raid armour, Harndirion)
Feet: Cry of the West Boots, rose dye (Captain raid armour, Harndirion)

Tough ladies don’t avoid a good fight, but they don’t go without proper protection either!
I find it quite hard to dress a lady in heavy armour. Most chest pieces have plates on the front side, and for reasons I don’t need to explain, it looks really awkward on a female. As far as I’m concerned, girls should wear something that flows with their curves. This outfit is entirely based on heavy armour yet looks comfortable enough for a woman.

Chest: Steel Armour, sienna dye (crafted)

Head: Circlet of Adamant, default (store)

Shoulders: Shoulders of the West-tower, default (Annuminas tokens)

Hands: Gauntlets of Fém, sienna dye (quest)

Legs: Leggings of the West-tower, sienna dye (Annuminas tokens)

Feet: West-land Boots, sienna dye (crafted)

Back: Wood-wanderer’s Cloak, white dye (store)