This outfit is a real outfit in the sense that I have only used outfits and no armour pieces. The chestpiece is a Tunic&Pants from the skirmish vendor, and the good news is that starting next Monday when Update 5 arrives, you won’t need any instance-specific marks anymore to purchase it. In stead it will only cost a certain amount of generic medallions and marks (see currency conversion). The unfortunate aspect of all Tunic and Dress type cosmetics is that you cannot use any gloves, shoes or pants. Those outfits already have their own shoes attached and you cannot change that. I remember when I was still a newbie with outfits I didn’t really understand this and I always tried to find matching boots only to discover that they wouldn’t show. In other words, don’t bother finding gloves and boots when you wear a tunic or a dress.
The scarf and cloak both come from the Yule Festival cosmetics vendor and can be earned starting December 20!! I am very much looking forward to this festival again, it is my absolute favorite one!

I do want to share one funny story. When I was taking the screenshots for this outfit I used the Champions skill “True Heroics”, for the effect of blowing the horn. When I used it I suddenly got attacked by a bear, and go wt? Why would a level 12 bear attack me? It’s way below my level? Well.. the skill attracts the attention of any enemies nearby, I guess even those that I can kill with my bare hands. I didn’t have any weapons equipped so I had to strangle the poor guy.

Chest : Cold-weather Tunic, dark green dye (skirmish, cosmetic)
Shoulders: Yule Scarf, white dye (Yule Festival, cosmetic)
Back: Bearskin Winter Cloak, dark green dye (Yule Festival, cosmetic)

When Update 5.1 went live, one of the first things I did was checking at the Moria barters if perhaps they had lifted the ban on cross class bartering. I have lots of Moria medallions but don’t really want any gear from there right now, so I picked the cheapest item I could find: a helmet for 3 medallions. I was excited that it worked! I got the helmet. Of course now that I was stuck with a new helmet, I had to make an outfit for it. I immediately thought of using it for my dwarf and I think this helmet goes well with any type of armour, light, medium or heavy. I chose to combine it with the Lesser Voice minstrel set (Northmen medallions).

I never liked how those leggings looked on my minstrel so I never used them cosmetically, but they actually look pretty nice on a dwarf. It’s funny how armour fits each race and gender differently. Never discard anything until you’ve tried it on all of your characters.

If you want to know where a certain armour piece or cosmetic comes from, you can look it up in the Lorebook, 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: Pathfinder’s Helm, Rivendell green dye (Moria medallions, hunter – medium armour barter)
Shoulders: Westfold Campaign Shoulder Pads, Rivendell green dye (crafted Tier 7, light)
Chest : Lesser Voice of the West Robe, Rivendell green dye (Northmen medallions, minstrel barter)
Hands: Dirge-Singer’s Bracers, Rivendell green dye (Isengard Draigoch armour, minstrel)
Legs: Lesser Voice of the West Trousers, Rivendell green dye (Northmen medallions, minstrel barter)
Feet: Disused Boots of the Dunland Soothsayer, Rivendell green dye (Dunland quest reward, light)
Back: Campaign Backpack, Rivendell green dye (Lotro store, cosmetic)

Landroval and Laurelin may have their famous musicians and bands, but Snowbourn has a number of roving street performers! These troubadours wander from town to town to share their poems and ballads about heroic deeds from forgotten ages and long lost loves from a distant past, hoping to earn a few coins to stay the night in a nearby inn. These talented performers are dressed to attract the attention of bystanders, and though their musical talents may not even come close to the amazing skills of accomplished musicians like Beorbrand, Geoffroi and Aegthil (though the talents of the latter have been called into question by many), the Snowbourn Street Balladeers make up for it in appearance and performance!

This outfit is the first of a series of minstrel outfits that I am planning to roll out over the next period. My main character is a minstrel and it’s the class I love and play most of all, on top of that, music and the performing arts are part of my real life too, so I thought it would be nice to give this class some extra attention and create a series of solo performers roaming through Middle Earth, with emphasis on their costumes rather than their music of course!

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: Hat of the Lady’s Grace, purple dye (reward from Dâr Narbugud, minstrel)
Chest: Dirge Singer’s Jacket, purple dye (Galtrev Quartermaster, minstrel)
Hands: Leather Bracers of the Gentle Stag, purple dye (Dunland quest reward, medium)
Legs: Isbur-socas, burgundy dye (boe drop from Isengard instances, medium)
Feet: Boots of the Golden Wood, purple dye (crafted T6 Lothlórien recipe, medium)
Back: Golden Tree Summer Cloak, purple dye (Summer festival barter, cosmetic)

This minstrel hosts his shows in more remote places, outside of the busy streets of the larger towns. The sound of his bagpipes is essential to his performances of highland dancing, comedy and songs of hills and heather. His notes carry far across the high peak mountains, and all who hear his music from afar come to see him perform in the spring. He is talented and keen to share his battlefield songs and highland melodies, while instructing others in the art of traditional folklore dances.

I actually wanted to make this outfit for my dwarf, but since he’s a low level character, he cannot learn the bagpipes. So I ended up fitting the pieces to my high level male and I was surprised to see the results! He turned into a handsome and well dressed bagpipes player and long beards are apparently not a requirement!
Then I had another dilemma. I actually wanted the Moria Minstrel headpiece for this outfit, but I have never been lucky with my rolls at the watcher raid when I used to do it, and nowadays this raid is not done so frequently anymore. In any case, if I ever do get the Moria headpiece, that’s what I would use here, but I think the “Iornaith’s Ward” is not a bad replacement at all.

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: Iornaith’s Ward, red dye (quest reward, light)
Shoulders: Pauldrons of the Wandering Bard, red dye (Ettenmoors barter, minstrel)
Chest: Cel-crus, black dye (Isengard instances boe drop, light)
Hands: Cadarn-durnvol, white dye (Isengard instances boe drop, light)
Legs: Dwarf Quilted Pants, red dye (light armour smith Thorin’s Hall, level 41)
Feet: Hardenend Steel Dunlending Boots, white dye (Dunland quest reward, heavy)

His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.
~ The Hobbit, chapter 3

Obviously this outfit is inspired by Bilbo’s first visit to the Homely House of Elrond, a meeting with the Elves of Imladris that deeply influences the rest of his life. He develops a keen interest in their knowledge, language and heritage, and eventually returns there to finish his writings and spend the final days of his life. I envisioned a hobbit mesmerized by all things Elvish, including their vestments and garments, setting foot in the House of Elrond for the first time.

The medium shoulders are a selectable quest reward from Thinglad, The Great River and just like the other sets, share appearance with the old PvMP armour. The cloak is a very pretty quest reward as well that shares a similar appearance with the Cloak of the Dreamflower/Golden Wood, a reward from the Epic Line, Volume II, Book 7, with the difference that this cloak is not hooded. I really appreciate having both cloaks available now in both hooded and unhooded version. I just wish they would have given it a different name…

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.

Shoulders: Wynmar’s End, Rivendell green dye (Great River quest reward, medium)
Chest: Lesser Voice of the West Robe, Rivendell green dye (Medallions of the North Men, minstrel)
Hands: Westfold Campaign Gloves, Rivendell green dye (crafted Tier 7, light)
Legs: Dented Legings of the Dunland Clansman, Rivendell green dye (Dunland quest reward, heavy)
Back: Cloak of the Unwelcome Guest, Rivendell green dye (Great River quest reward, light)

Hobbit Day is the birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Both Bilbo and Frodo were said to be born on September 22, but of different years. Tolkien fans around the world celebrate Hobbit Day in some form or another, and the internet is buzzing with Hobbit activity. You can follow the online celebrations brought to you by Middle-earth Network with lots of readings, live streams and information. Yesterday was an important marker as it was the 75th anniversary of The Hobbit. A special 75th Anniversary edition has been published for this occasion. The second trailer of the upcoming The Hobbit movie was released this week, which is awesome to watch as it is, but on The Hobbit website you can even create your own version of the trailer! My favourite blog to keep up with all Hobbit news is Heirs of Durin (ok it’s really about dwarves, but hey, they were in that book too so we’re stuck with them). If you enjoy LARP and parody, don’t miss the Hobbit Day episode from The Troubadoors. Lotro has us celebrating along by offering a double bonus point and double XP weekend all at once, and if that wasn’t enough the Treasure Hunt event and the Tale of the Shipwrecked Mariner are still active. My little blog is joining in the fun of online festivities with a Hobbit outfit! Yeah, big surprise there, I know. :D

For those of you who don’t follow my tweets or haven’t heard from other sources yet: the Lotro Community Team has kindly opened a forum dedicated to Outfits and Cosmetics! The long standing and ever popular thread “Show us your Favorite Cosmetic Outfit” has finally found a fixed home as it has been stickied on top. I will be visiting the forum regularly and hope to find lots of inspiring ideas and outfits there, as well as help players that have questions.

Happy Hobbit Day!

Head: Mariner’s Hat and Eye-patch, red dye (Tale of the Shipwrecked Mariner event, cosmetic)
Chest: Tunic of Harmony, crimson dye (Vol.II Book 7 quest reward, light armour or Lotro store cosmetic)
Hands: Durn-durnvol, black dye (boe drop from Isengard instances, light)
Shoulders: Noriel’s Folly, black dye (Great River quest reward, light)
Legs: (Ceremonial) Silver-voice Leggings, black dye (Helegrod raid minstrel armour or cosmetic)
Back: Treasure Hunter’s Satchel, crimson dye (Treasure Hunt reward, cosmetic)

And now it’s time for the real important stuff: the Fellowship Walk 2012!
As has become tradition, Goldenstar and Merric from Casual Stroll to Mordor are organizing the Fellowship Walk again to make the most epic journey in Middle-earth. The reason for this is to raise funds to buy toys for sick children in hospitals. I don’t talk a lot about my private life on this blog, but I have three children of my own. Three beautiful girls that are blessed with good health and a good life. I don’t take that for granted. I am deeply thankful for that and I fully realize that not all children are this lucky. If there is something I can do in return for a sick child, even if it is as small as a simple toy that may bring some distraction and relief, then here’s my opportunity, and I’m grabbing it.

This year CSTM has found an even more creative way to bring in donations, and that is charity auctions! I think this is an absolutely cool idea, so here I am offering you my outfitting skills and time if you win one of the two cosmetic make-over auctions! If you win I will get in touch with you by email and if needed join you on your server to chat, to help you create the perfect outfit for your character. Evidently the outcome will depend on the items that you have access to, but even low level items can make fantastic outfits, just check the outfit in this post which is very easy to assemble yet looks great for a traveling hobbit. When the Fellowship Walk auctions were announced I had only one cosmetic make-over up for bids. Seeing that this was a popular auction I decided to put a second make-over on offer. So now you have two chances to win a make-over, and I will be extremely busy volunteering my time for something I love to do! Remember that any money that you decide to bid will go to the Child’s Play charities directly, so if you really want that Cosmetic Lotro Exclusive make-over, you may want to start doing some serious bidding!

AUCTION # 1
AUCTION # 2

If you win the make-over and your character resides on the Snowbourn server, some cool and rare cosmetic items will come your way as well!

Head: Harvest-brew Hat, orange dye (Harvest Festival cosmetic)
Chest: Craftman’s Robe, ranger green dye (outfitter cosmetic)
Shoulders: Yule Scarf, ranger green dye (Yule Festival cosmetic)
Back: Campaign Backpack, orange dye (Lotro Store cosmetic)

It’s been a while since I posted an outfit, but Yule is getting closer and closer so I really felt like dressing up accordingly to get in the mood. For this outfit it’s my dwarf getting ready to follow his star like a wise man. The Yule Festival is scheduled to start next Monday. To be honest, it’s the first time in five years that I’m not looking forward to participating in a festival. Other years I used to be extremely excited anticipating the Yule Festival, but not this time. Since we got a sneak peek on Bullroarer to see what the festival will be like this year, I felt very discouraged with the huge grind and the gated rewards. I know there have been some changes made since then, requirements have been slightly lowered, costs slightly lowered, but… unless additional adjustments have been made, I fear it will not be the festive experience that it used to be in previous years. I’ll have to wait and see on Monday how it turns out before I reach my final verdict, but I’m not optimistic.

Nevertheless I’m still hoping to do a few fun winter outfits this time of year. After almost two years of running this blog there comes a point when you have kind of seen it all and have to take a step back. This probably means that I won’t be posting outfits as regularly as I used to anymore, just occasionally when the inspiration strikes me. In the meantime I want to remind you to vote for Harperella every day until December 21st. In fact, you are not even allowed to read my blog without having voted for her at least once! She’s an awesome creative soul who freely shares all her musical and leadership talents with the Lotro community, and she deserves our unconditional support.

Tomorrow it’s my turn to go see The Hobbit! Getting my whole family together on the same night was no easy task, but tomorrow will be the day. I’m really looking forward to it!

Head: Hat of Anórien, Rivendell green dye (light armour, level 31 world drop)
Chest: Hyrde-Bréost, Rivendell green dye (heavy armour, Isengard quest reward)
Hands: Gloves of the Vicious Proclamation, white dye (Tinnundir barter reward, rune-keeper)
Feet: Ajokoira Shoes, Rivendell green dye (light armour crafted Tier 5, also as cosmetic)
Back: Fancy Winter Cloak, Rivendell green dye (Yule Festival cosmetic)

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

Ho, ho, ho! I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and is enjoying at least a few days off during this Holiday Season. I spent the days with my family and will be visiting other relatives later this week. Although I am obviously a gamer and like to have plenty of time to myself, connecting to the ones I love around me remains my number one priority because it feels so good to love and be loved! Exchanging presents is a wonderful way to emphasize the value of that.
At the same time I am well aware that not everyone is as fortunate as I am, so I am also reaching out to those who lack a home or even food. These little encouragements can make a world of difference to people going through a challenging period in their lives.
It’s nice to see this spirit reflected in the Yule Festival, so truly if you don’t want to, then simply don’t chase off the poor folk and don’t pester the snow beasts! The Yule Festival has changed back to a more laid back format after the grind that it was last year, and as it will last two weeks into January there’s no need to worry about getting sufficient tokens.
If you are a resident of the USA, UK, Germany or France, you will also be eligible to enter The Yuletide Contest on the Lotro Forums. Since that excludes me (and many other lotro bloggers), feel free to copy any outfit that suits you off my blog and enter it into the contest. All you need to do is dress up your own character accordingly and take your own screenshots!
I hope everyone continues to enjoy these wonderful holidays!

Head: Wintry Yule Cap, red dye (Yule Festival Sack of Presents Cosmetic)
Shoulders: Padded Mantle of the Dunland Soothsayer, white dye (Isengard quest reward, light armour)
Chest: Jacket of Lies, crimson dye (Epic Vol.III, Bk.11 reward, medium armour)
Hands: Gloves of the Vicious Proclamation, white dye (Evendim Barter Reward, runekeeper)
Feet: Rhydhid-Lhopan, white dye (Isengard instance cluster drop, light armour)
Back: Cloak of the Unwelcome Guest, red dye (Great River quest reward)
Hand: Festive Yule Mug

Note that any of these items might at some point appear as a purchasable cosmetic at Lalia’s Market in Bree.

Hurray it’s snowing!
Winter is here, although here in Europe I have not seen any snow yet. Many people are busy with preparations for the December month, including myself. Even LOTRO is preparing for winter and has released the Yule Festival on the Bullroarer server for testing. This allows us a sneakpeak into what is to come for the holidays and to my delight there will finally be a change of cosmetic design. This is for the first time since Summer 2013 that we’re going to see something other than the bathrobe cosmetic! The design is based on a Rise of Isengard quest reward armour piece. There is a post up on the forum if you want to see a preview.

My dwarf winter outfit for this year makes use of a piece from the Beorning starter instance. The two sets of armour that you get from this starter instance are the only Beorning pieces with a unique appearance available in the entire game. Their appearances are mixed up, so will look different depending on the race and gender you equip it on. It’s a real shame that these designs are all there is for the new class, but obviously LOTRO is working with a lot less resources available than a few years ago, so this is all we get for now.
The pieces work well on other races too, and this hat looks particularly nice on a dwarf.
The backpack in this outfit originally comes from a Yule Festival gift box, but I think these days it drops from Anniversary gift boxes. The gloves are also available as a cosmetic from the reputation barter in Wildermore.

Head: Worn Hood, steel blue dye (Beorning starter instance armour)
Shoulders: Grimbeorn’s Shoulders, steel blue dye (Beorning starter instance armour)
Chest: Hauberk of the Eagle’s Crest, steel blue dye (Lotro Store cosmetic)
Hands: Mitts of the Encroaching Winter, steel blue dye (light armour quest reward Vol.III, Bk.10)
Feet: Ceremonial Leijona Boots, steel blue dye (Forochel tailoring recipe)
Back: Dwarf-make Prospector’s Pack, steel blue dye (Anniversary gift box)

In addition to my hobbit-elf girl, an outfit for a male hobbit that uses the same hat, scarf and backpack. Of course he’s not nearly as cute!
This outfit is based on the Swiss horn blowers, that blow their sounds across the everlasting snow in the high peak mountains. “Hornblower” is a quite common hobbit family name in Lotro, and my hobbit lad is definitely one of that lineage.

If you want to know where a certain armour piece or cosmetic comes from, you can look it up in the Lorebook, 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: Padded Hat of the Dunland Soothsayer, Rivendell green dye (Dunland quest reward, light)
Chest : Ale Association Robe, Rivendell green dye (Ale Association kindred reputation, cosmetic) *you can place the item in your Wardrobe regardless of reputation level*
Shoulders: Yule Scarf, red dye (Yule Festival, cosmetic)
Hands: Westfold Campaign Gloves, Rivendell green dye (crafted, light)
Feet: Padded Shoes, Rivendell green dye (Light Armour Smith, light)
Back: Elk-hunter’s Pack, Rivendell green dye (lotro store, cosmetic)

This outfit is a real outfit in the sense that I have only used outfits and no armour pieces. The chestpiece is a Tunic&Pants from the skirmish vendor, and the good news is that starting next Monday when Update 5 arrives, you won’t need any instance-specific marks anymore to purchase it. In stead it will only cost a certain amount of generic medallions and marks (see currency conversion). The unfortunate aspect of all Tunic and Dress type cosmetics is that you cannot use any gloves, shoes or pants. Those outfits already have their own shoes attached and you cannot change that. I remember when I was still a newbie with outfits I didn’t really understand this and I always tried to find matching boots only to discover that they wouldn’t show. In other words, don’t bother finding gloves and boots when you wear a tunic or a dress.
The scarf and cloak both come from the Yule Festival cosmetics vendor and can be earned starting December 20!! I am very much looking forward to this festival again, it is my absolute favorite one!

I do want to share one funny story. When I was taking the screenshots for this outfit I used the Champions skill “True Heroics”, for the effect of blowing the horn. When I used it I suddenly got attacked by a bear, and go wt? Why would a level 12 bear attack me? It’s way below my level? Well.. the skill attracts the attention of any enemies nearby, I guess even those that I can kill with my bare hands. I didn’t have any weapons equipped so I had to strangle the poor guy.

Chest : Cold-weather Tunic, dark green dye (skirmish, cosmetic)
Shoulders: Yule Scarf, white dye (Yule Festival, cosmetic)
Back: Bearskin Winter Cloak, dark green dye (Yule Festival, cosmetic)

I wish all of you readers and followers of this blog a very Merry Christmas. May your home be filled with love, peace, and joy and may these blessings follow you throughout the New Year.

Head: Bud-helm, forest green dye (Isengard instance BoE drop, light armour)
Shoulders: Gwir-palvais, red dye (Isengard instance BoE drop, light armour)
Chest: Jacket of the Sun-lands, forest green dye (world drop level 50, medium armour)
Hands: Cadarn-durnvol, red dye (Isengard instance BoE drop, light armour)
Legs: Luc-socas, forest green dye (Isengard quest reward and instance drop, heavy armor)
Feet: Assault Shoes of the Deep, red dye (Tier 9 tailoring recipe, light armour)
Back: Sturdy Quiver, forest green dye (Anniversary gift box item)

Right hand: Wood-lily (quest reward Vol.III, Bk.10)
Left hand: Bunch of Holly (Yule festival item)