Riders of Rohan is going to change this wonderful game forever. Most certainly for the better, as I believe the majority of changes and the beautiful new Rohan regions are a much needed breath of fresh air. It’s going to be amazing, and most of us are looking forward to it with much anticipation. No doubt Turbine staff will be holding their breath tomorrow as they keep monitoring the download servers on the day of release. Those days are not like other days, and usually extremely stressful for everyone. I expect to get stuck on the launcher or not enter at all on the first day, but this is all fine with me. Eventually, we all get there, and cross that bridge into Rohan.

Just like any other player that bothers with outfits, I’ve prepared my characters for the journey into Rohan. I really wanted to achieve a very rugged look, at least for the first part of the journey. I know that I’ll soon be changing outfits again, as new gear will start to appear that looks more interesting than what I’ve been using forever already, but still I wanted my characters to look travel ready. So here’s my last pre-Rohan outfit for my Lore-master.
I wish everyone who reads this a very wonderful journey into Rohan this week. Enjoy the beautiful new scenery and most of all the incredible music!

Head: Snow-dusted Travelling Hat, rust dye (Yule festival cosmetic)
Chest: Lockmaster’s Jacket, default dye (Wardens of Annuminas barter, Burglar set)
Hands: Gloves of the Westfold, default dye (RoI expansion reward)
Legs: Westernesse Protector’s Leggings, navy dye (crafted Tier 5 medium armour)
Feet: Boots of Dunnauth, rust dye (Ost Dunhoth barter, Lore-master set)

Horse: Prized Dunlending Steed (kindred standing Men of Dunland)

This is my first Riders of Rohan blog post and I’m not really sure how to start it off, because I never expected to be saying the things I am going to say. My first Rohan post was supposed to be a happy post. A post showing off my new warsteed in awesome colours with a mix-‘n-match outfit. A first post of many, sharing  the amazing new possibilities using the warsteed outfit system. Unfortunately, this is not to be. Not because the new warsteed customization options aren’t there, but because those options require a hefty sum of real life money to be accessed.

If I were to give only one of my characters access to all warsteed colours, it would cost me more than the entire Riders of Rohan legendary expansion, over $70. Given the fact that I have four characters going into Rohan, I would need $280 to give each of them full access. This is without even considering additional cost for an extra warsteed outfit panel, much less an exclusive outfit set. These solid colour options have no equivalent in game. There are speckled and blotchy skins dropping from warband spoils boxes, but no solid colours. My scholars can make dyes for my outfits, but not for my warsteed items. In other words, a huge portion of the warsteed customization options is limited to my real life wallet.

It may not come as a big surprise that I cannot afford to spend $280 for my four characters. Heck I don’t even want to spend $70 for one character! These are not reasonable amounts to spend on a cosmetic game mechanic. Even if I had that kind of money available, I would much rather spend it on a noble real life cause like The Fellowship Walk or getting Sapience to shave his beard.

I am not alone in my disappointment. @ForgotMyGambits has started a petition on the forum to lower the prices. The suggestions made in that thread to make colour packs account wide and allow individual colours to be picked are all good and may make the system more accessible. Sig from warsteeds.com has posted his frustrations. He also points out that the class steed caparisons don’t even have their original colour nor include their original skin colour. And I have seen many more tweets and comments from players regarding the price issues who feel the same.

Now I understand that Turbine is free to put whatever price they want on their lotro store items. They are also free to choose which items are going to be store exclusive. I have an above average passion for outfits and have always purchased all wardrobe options from the lotro store including many store exclusive cosmetics and some steeds, but the prices for these colour packs are far beyond my means and far beyond what I am willing to spend on a cosmetic system, regardless of my passion for it. So I am sad. Sad and disappointed that something I have been looking forward to so much turns out to be nothing but a money scam.

So far I have purchased one hide colour pack and one item colour pack for my main character. That is my limit and I am not going to spend another cent on this system unless something changes drastically. Until then, I am joining the large herd of grey warsteeds that are running across the planes of Rohan right now. I will merge with the masses, and enjoy the otherwise awesome landscape and quests while my characters clad themselves in dull shades of grey to match their dull grey warsteeds.

Head: Worn Ranger’s Hood, grey dye (Vol.III Book 5 reward, cosmetic)
Shoulders: Combat Pauldrons of Éomer, white dye (T8 crafted level 85, medium armour)
Chest: Eastemnet Assault Robe, white dye (T8 crafted level 80, light armour)
Hands: Gloves of the Westfold, default dye (RoI expansion reward)
Feet: Refugee’s ragged shoes, grey dye (Rohan quest reward, light armour)

Warsteed
Legs: Hunter’s Leggings – default dye
Saddle: Hunter’s Saddle
No additional colour customziations

Since my last post about my disappointment with the warsteed dye colour system, many players have expressed similar sentiments, especially those players who derive a lot of joy from the outfitting system in Lotro. There is one more thing I would like to address, before I leave this issue behind and just accept it for what it is.
Let me make absolutely clear that I am not on a crusade against the Lotro store. I am not encouraging anyone to avoid it or refrain from purchases out of some (quite possibly fruitless) attempt to sway Turbine’s store policies. So if you feel comfortable paying for steed colours within the current price range, by all means do so and enjoy the purchases that you make. I have expressed my own opinions and feelings on this blog regarding the current warsteed colour system, but if other players make different choices, I have nothing but respect for that. More than anything I want people to think and decide for themselves, as everyone’s situation is different.

So… having said that, let’s move on and enjoy this game the way we have been enjoying it for years, by exploring everything that is beautiful and awesome about Rohan! If you have been immersing yourself like I have, then you must agree that Rohan is absolutely the best expansion ever in terms of storyline, landscape and music. The new armour appearances are not a huge revolution like what we have seen in Rise of Isengard, where every quest rewarded some unique new piece of armour. Armour appearances in Isengard were definitely better than in Rohan, but I’ll make do with what I get and not complain too loudly as everything else is so very beautiful. Crafted armour is really nice actually, but the regular quest rewards become rather dull after a while as they all share the same appearance and only their regional emblems differ. You don’t even need to hold on to these quest rewards since armour with the same appearances can be bartered for in Cliving and Snowbourn. Even the new endgame Hytbolt armour sets have the same apperance. I guess we won’t be seeing anything “epic” until the new raid cluster is released later this year.
There is a small shabby surprise out there as some new “tattered” cosmetics have appeared from lootboxes. I got mine from the auction house as I never seem to get any lootboxes. I was really happy with this new outfit as it seems to fit my burglar perfectly. The Tattered Hat even looks like a Bounder’s Cap that has seen better days. The cloak seems to be truly old and waterlogged as it only dyes in very dark muted colours.
There’s a Tattered Dress as well and I also found a hooded version of the Tattered Cloak. If you know of any other cosmetics appearing let me know so I can keep an eye out for them!
Head: Tattered Hat, olive dye (>level 80 lootbox cosmetic)
Chest: Tattered Tunic & Pants, olive dye (>level 80 lootbox cosmetic)
Back: Tattered Cloak, default dye (>level 80 lootbox cosmetic)

Warsteed:
Steed of the Burglar appearance, default dye

My minstrel reached level 85 last week and is pretty much set up in Rohan to do daylies, warbands and… well that’s all for now I suppose. I’m trying hard to find new looks but there isn’t a lot of variety in the new Rohan armour. On top of that, many of the crafted chest pieces have deformation issues. For example the medium crafted Eastemnet chest piece that she is wearing here makes her legs look like she’s suffering from anorexia. Besides the legs being deformed, they aren’t placed straight onto her feet either, which becomes very obvious when she wears shoes as her feet literally stand next to her legs. All this causes clipping issues when wearing boots. This chest piece isn’t the only one with problems. When wearing the heavy crafted Eastemnet chest piece on a man, his chest will have deep recesses. The light Robe of Eomer, crafted level 85, gives my female elf a huge inflated breast and super thin arms. In other words, these crafted pieces are potentially hazardous to your character’s health!
The warsteed halter and caparison bear the emblem of the Entwash region which is a large harp, making items with this emblem very popular with Minstrels.

As far as the warsteed appearance customization options go, I’ve pretty much given up on hope that Turbine will listen to their customers and make the steed colors more accessible. I have accepted the fact that the appearance system was never intended to resemble anything like our current outfit system, and is probably better viewed as a “design your own steed for money” system, where you create an appearance for your steed and stick with that. This means that once you finished designing your tailor made steed and purchased the necessary colors, you are back to square one where, just like in the old world, you design your outfit to match your steed. Unlike what I had expected it to be, a system where the warsteed appearance can be customized to fit my outfits. Call me dumb for having had those expectations.
For this steed I’m using the default grey hide color and for its horse tack I’m using one of the free item colors. There are 6 item colors for free: Indigo, Rust, Orange, Forest Green, Rose and Yellow. All are colors that you’re not likely to have purchased with TP, but I guess Turbine wanted to throw us a bone. So for my steed I picked Forest Green, to match the Minstrel accessory that has an undyeable green section in it.
Given that these steed colors are so expensive, I decided to buy no more than two color packs for each of my characters. If the packs would have been cheaper I would have spent double or triple the total amount that I’m spending now, but I don’t want to feel like I’m being ripped off while playing my favorite game and at the same time I don’t want to exclude myself completely from the warsteed color options. I’m fine with the prices for accessories and hide-patterns, as I see those additions as optional, while I consider reasonable access to all color options as being mandatory to a successful and enjoyable outfitting system.

Back: Cloak of the Golden Oak, forest green dye (skirmish camp, cosmetic)
Chest: Eastemnet Skirmish Armour, forest green dye (T8 crafted level 80, medium armour)
Hands: Fingerless Gloves, forest green dye (Yule festival, helping the poor quest reward)
Feet: Reclaimed Nobleman’s Shoes, forest green dye (Great River quest reward, light armour)

Warsteed
Halter: Light Halter of the Entwash – forest green
Caparison: Light Caparison of the Entwash – forest green
Legs: Light Leggings of the Entwash – forest green
Saddle: Minstrel’s Saddle
Accessory: Minstrel’s Gear
No additional color customizations

My lore-master is from Rohan, so I changed her outfit to something more Rohirric (ok I admit, I change outfits about every three days). Because of the severe clipping and deformation issues with all the new crafted armour pieces I used an Isengard piece. Overall I still like the Isengard pieces better anyway. I really hope Turbine will fix the deformation bugs because with all those distortions, outfitting is not a lot of fun.
Last week I finished the first outfit for one of the winners of the Fellowship Walk Charity Auctions. I will post it to my blog soon. Other than that I don’t have a lot of news to share, so it’s just pictures this time!

Shoulders: Combat Pauldrons of Éomer, crimson dye (T8 crafted level 85, medium armour)
Chest: Hyrde-Bréost, burgundy dye (Vol.III Book 4 quest reward, heavy)
Hands: Heavy Plated Dunlending Gauntlets, burgundy dye (Isengard quest reward, heavy)
Feet: Boots of Dúnnath, red dye (Ost Dunhoth barter, lore-master)

Warsteed
Legs: Leggings of the Eastemnet – default dye
Body: Caparison of the Eastemnet – default dye
Saddle: Lore-master’s saddle
No additional colour customziations

I have a golden steed! And her name is Laurë, which means golden light in Quenya.

Thanks to the unannounced Lotro store sale this weekend, with 50% off steed color dye packs, I’ve been able to furnish my main character with all possible color options, and my alt characters with a few selected packs. Everyone is at a loss as to how long this sale is going to last, as it isn’t announced anywhere on the store page, and while writing this post the sale is still on.
I have been looking forward to playing with my war-steed appearance options since release, but was deeply disappointed and discouraged when I saw the prices. Now with 50% off, the color packs have finally come within my reach and I busted my piggy bank of TP that I had been saving up for this purpose. I can finally make combined war-steed outfits!
The transformation from dull grey gelding to light golden mare amazed me and I totally fell in love with my steed for the first time. I’m sure I will try out many more appearances now that I have access to everything, but Laurë will always be special.

Today marks the First Anniversary of The Starry Mantle! Please hop over to her blog to tell her how absolutely awesome she is, not because you might end up winning some TP for leaving a comment, but simply because she is.
In addition, don’t forget to cast your daily vote for Harperella, every day from now on until December 21st. This most dedicated and creative Lotro kinship leader deserves the support of the entire Lotro community. She has given us so much, and this way we can give something back, so please vote!

Chest: Festive Azure Tunic & Pants, violet dye (5th Anniversary Veteran reward, cosmetic)
Head: Balladeer’s Hat, violet dye (Moria class trainers minstrel, loremaster, runekeeper or skirmish cosmetic)

War-steed:
Body color: dun
Mane/tail color: tan
Legs: Minstrel’s Leggings (violet)
Accessory: Metal Braided Tail

The Wintry Yule Steed comes in two versions: the regular festival horse and a box of war-steed cosmetics. The normal horse is available for 80 festival tokens + 1 gold token and gated behind the completion of Tier 1 of the “The More The Merrier” deed. The war-steed cosmetics are available for 150 festival tokens + 1 gold token and gated behind the completion of Tier 3 of the “The More The Merrier” deed.

Like many of you who are serious Festival fans and participants, I finished my Tier 3 Yule Festival deed a few days ago. In a previous post I had stated my reservations about the huge grind required for the War-steed Appearance traits, and now that I have completed it I can recount my experience. I have completed the deed on 4 of my characters, a 5th is still in progress. The festival has been extended until January 3rd allowing for two extra days to complete the deed, so I might even be able to complete my 5th character as well. To be fair, I think the amount of quests (120 total) required for this deed is very reasonable and commensurate with the reward. What makes it hard is the time limit in which the deed needs to be completed, especially considering the Christmas Holiday. Personally, I do not enjoy this kind of time pressure at all. I think the duration of this festival is way too short for casual players with a normal and healthy family life. I managed to do it, but it required me to arrange my real life schedule around my game, rather than the other way around. That is not the way I like to consume my game time. To sum up my opinion: the requirements of 120 quests is fine, the available time in which to do it is not.
I know there are Festival Tickets available for reset quests, but I leave those out of the equation as I would never consider buying them.

The good news is that I now have these beautiful Wintry Yule War-steed cosmetics and I think they are absolutely gorgeous! My main character Hymne (minstrel) has clad her golden steed in these garments and they look stunning. My little hobbit Mayrose (burglar) has dyed hers in yellow and that looks amazing as well. You can check out that appearance on warsteeds.com. It’s a shame the tail on the ponies is currently bugged and doesn’t dye. Just like war-steed leggings cannot be dyed black nor white. Please /bug any anomalies that you encounter as the bugs seem to be different depending on race and gender even.
If you are interested in war-steed appearances you may want to take advantage of this weekend’s Class Mount sale, as a few selected steeds got a 25% discount.
Another bit of cosmetic news, as some of you have already noticed, the mannequins that stand near the various armour vendors are wearing new outfits since Update 9. Two of those outfits were assembled by me. Mind you that these outfits were combined out of already existing lotro store items, as such was Turbine’s requirement when they asked me to redesign them. What is more interesting though (from a cosmetics point of view) is that the other two mannequins are currently wearing Northmen Armour (hunter and champion). These are highly sought after pieces, so you may want to consider purchasing those in the store rather than grinding out the medallions of the Northmen needed to purchase those pieces.
I suspect that this post is my last 2012 outfit. I’m looking forward to making some more in 2013!

Chest: Gossamer Dress, gold dye (skirmish cosmetic)
Back: Hooded Cloak of the Dove, gold dye (lotro store cosmetic)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Wall-warden level 65, gold dye (skirmish camp Classic vendor)

War-steed:
Wintry Yule Halter, gold
Wintry Yule Caparison, gold
Wintry Yule Leggings, gold
Wintry Yule Saddle
Mane/tail: tan
Hide: bay

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 was actually going to do a low-level outfit for my hobbit warden, until I saw this week’s sale being announced and noticed that the War-steed colour and equipment dyes are on sale! As you may know I find the base price of the war-steed cosmetic features way too high (especially since these prices are per character) and refuse to buy them at full price, so whenever they are on sale, I am interested. My lore-master’s steed got a colour make-over and a new combined outfit. For the outfit itself I used yellow dye which is one of the few free colours, but more important than equipment colours are the hide colours, as the dull default grey of the skin is just unbearable. Being able to change hide and mane colour of your steed makes a lot of difference to the visual enjoyment of the game.
I may purchase some accessories too later this week, if my TP funds allow me to.

Now something needs to be said about the Robe of Eomer that is used in this outfit. It is one of several crafted Tier 8 items that are affected by deformations. The severity of the deformation depends on the race and gender that you are using the item on. This Robe for example cannot be used on female elves for it makes their arms look like spaghetti and their chest like a deflated balloon. The same is true for the medium and heavy crafted chest pieces. Many of the Tier 8 items are terribly deformed on certain races. This robe has a slightly weird look on Race of Man females as well, the shoulders look too square for my taste, but that may just be the design of the robe itself and not a deformity. I have bugged the deformities in game and I know many other players have as well, but so far nothing has been changed about their appearance. It’s a real shame because of all armour pieces that came out of the Rohan expansion, the crafted pieces are the best looking, but unfortunately often unusable as cosmetics. Maybe if we continue to bug these items, some day they will be corrected.

Head: Quilted Hat, yellow dye (crafted Tier 2, light armour)
Chest: Spirited Assault Robe of Éomer, yellow dye (crafted Tier 8, light armour)
Hands: Fingerless Gloves, yellow dye (Yule Festival reward, cosmetic)
Feet: Potent Skirmish Boots of the Mark, white dye (crafted Tier 8, medium armour)

War-steed:
Lore-master’s Caparison – yellow
Lore-master’s Leggings – yellow
Hide – copper
Tail – flaxen chestnut
Accessory – Steed of Night
Light Saddle of the Wold

The Lissuin Steed comes in two versions: the regular festival horse and a set of war-steed cosmetics. The normal horse is available for 40 Spring Leaves at the Quartermaster on the Festival Grounds or at the Hengstacer Farm. The war-steed cosmetics are available at two different locations. Caparison and Leggings at the Quartermaster for 20 Spring Leaves each, and Halter and Saddle at the vendor in Bree near the Boar Fountain for 80/80/80 flowers each. You need to do the (daily) flower picking quest from the same vendor to obtain those flowers.
The war-steed cosmetics can be dyed.

Just when I think I’m done posting for a while because there’s not enough time in the day, I get distracted by this awesome Spring Festival war-steed Caparison that is just begging me to be used in a screenshot. This most outrageous neon-green color has me completely fascinated, so here it is. The dawn gave me just enough time to capture a few worthwhile screenshots of my latest dark and mysterious night elf outfit.

There’s no shot of the backside of the outfit unfortunately, but this unique top, which is now for sale at Lalia’s Market in Bree, has a beautiful back, so I didn’t cover it up with a cloak. If you love the Annúminas cosmetics, this top makes a great addition to the Seven Stars set. I first saw this top during the Dressage daily in Harwick but had not seen it before and had no idea where to get it. I’m so glad it’s now available as a cosmetic!
The head piece however is no longer available in game, as it belongs to the obsolete PvMP Hunter’s armour set. I hope those sets will show up at Lalia’s too some day!

Head: Helm of the Hawk-eye, black dye (Hunter PvMP set, no longer available)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Wall-warden, black dye (Warden BG level 65 set, Classic Vendor)
Chest: Jacket of the Woods, black dye (Lalia’s Market, cosmetic)
Hands: Gauntlets of the Hidden Paths, black dye (Great River quest reward, heavy)
Legs: Leggings of the Seven Stars, black dye (Annuminas Light Set, Cosmetics Vendor)
Feet: Boots of the Shadow-walker, black dye (Burglar BG level 65 set, Classic Vendor + Lalia’s Market)

War-steed: black hide & mane, tail
Caparison: Spring Lissuin Caparison, black
No saddle, halter or leggings. Elves ride bareback!

Steed of the Midsummer – 40 Summer Festival Tokens
Caparison of the Midsummer (war-steed cosmetic) – 40 Summer Festival Tokens

The good part of the Summer Festival in my opinion is that Turbine has offered us an enjoyable festival without too much of a steep grind to obtain our items. Just like the Spring Festival, the amount of tokens needed for a horse or the (war-steed) cosmetics is well within reason. This makes it fun for me to participate with all my characters without feeling like I’m doing something I should not be doing. So far 3 of my characters have obtained the horse.
Unfortunately I’m not very excited about the matching cosmetics. There is no dress in the new set, which is a disappointment if you like the girly stuff, and the old world design that is used for the robe is well… old. I would have loved to have seen this rising sun design on one of the longer Dunland model robes. The war-steed cosmetic consists of only one piece, the caparison. There is no matching saddle, leggings or halter. This is in line with the looks of the regular horse version.
So for my matching war-steed outfit I decided to use a classic dress, and I’ll just store that robe for colder days in Autumn. The war-steed caparison dyes well in all colors, although in my opinion not all colors are a good match to the greenish hemline. Fortunately the old Rohan pre-order war-steed cosmetics come in handy now if you wish to use additional gear, as their color green is an exact match to the hemline.

Chest: Innkeeper’s Dress (olive dye), Lotro Store cosmetic
Head: Harvest-brew Circlet (no dye), Fall Fesitval cosmetic
Hand: Foxglove, reward from Epic Vol.III, Book 10, Ch.15, hand item

War-steed:
Caparison of the Midsummer (sienna dye)
Rohirrim Elite Leggings (no dye), Rohan pre-order item
Rohirrim Elite Tail (copper), Rohan pre-order item
Hide (dark chestnut)

Steed of Plenty – 120 Farmer’s Faire Tokens
Caparison of Plenty (war-steed cosmetic) – 120 Farmer’s Faire Tokens

I think the regular Steed of Plenty is incredibly dull, but fortunately its caparison dyes very nicely so I decided to spice up its colours a bit on my warsteed to make it look more bountiful. The 120 tokens are not hard to accumulate, with only a couple of hours play you should be able to get this, which I think is wonderful as I can get it on all my warsteed riding characters.
In my view the robe is best used without any shoulder pads or hoods. It is very decorative and those decorations are covered up by most accessories.

It’s unfortunate that for the second year in a row Turbine is doing back to back festivals in summer again. While there is a very long and boring span between Yule and Anniversary, and months go by without any festivals, now we are getting them too soon too often again. Since Anniversary we got Spring festival, Treasure Hunt, Summer Festival, Farmer’s Faire, and the tale of the Shipwrecked Mariner already around the corner and a month after that Autumn Fest is already due. Not to mention the launch of the new expansion and all those Bounder’s Tokens that still need to be collected for Michel Delving. Too much to do in too little time!

Head: Tactical Eastemnet Campaign Circlet, black dye (crafted T8 light armour)
Chest: Robe of Plenty, crimson dye (Farmer’s Faire cosmetic)
Hands: The Beast-keeper’s Gloves, cannot be dyed (Ox-clan camp Loremaster armour)
Feet: Gardening Boots, black dye (Farmer’s Faire cosmetic

Mount:
Caparison of Plenty, crimson (Farmer’s Faire reward)
Halter of the Minstrel, crimson
Leggings of the Minstrel, crimson
Plain Saddle
Hide & Tail, black

My home server Snowbourn finished the Bounder’s Bounty yesterday! Congratulations to all who participated and worked hard to donate those tokens! There was a celebration at the statue when the boon appeared, people were dancing, playing music and lighting fireworks. Even on a non-role-playing server there was a real party!
My hobbit is now the proud owner of a Steed of Michel Delving (which includes the war-steed cosmetic set) and wears the Bountiful Bounder’s title. The matching war-steed cosmetics cannot be dyed which is always disappointing, but its colours are really lovely so I won’t hold too much of a grudge over this one.

However, I do not understand why some of the more prominent items like the pre-order cosmetics in all expansions, cannot be dyed. Items that cannot be dyed instantly lose about 90% of their potential cosmetic value. Those items quickly end up collecting dust in my vault because I simply refuse to let my characters wear the same uniform as everyone else.
Who knows, I might still pre-order some time next month, but it will not be for the cosmetics. I just want to experience Helms Deep and continue playing my story in Middle-earth. Naked if I have to!

Head: Voice of the West Hat, rust dye (Harndirion barter, minstrel set)
Shoulders: Supple Wildermore Shoulders, olive dye (crafted T8 tailoring guild recipe)
Chest: Innkeeper’s Dress, crimson dye (lotro store cosmetic)

War-steed:
Caparison of Michel Delving – cannot be dyed (Bounder’s Bounty Vendor)
Leggings of Michel Delving – cannot be dyed (Bounder’s Bounty Vendor)
Saddle of Michel Delving – (Bounder’s Bounty Vendor)
Rohirrim Elite Tail – (Riders of Rohan war-steed cosmetic)
Hide – black chestnut
Tail & Manes – sorrel

My minstrel reached level 85 last week and is pretty much set up in Rohan to do daylies, warbands and… well that’s all for now I suppose. I’m trying hard to find new looks but there isn’t a lot of variety in the new Rohan armour. On top of that, many of the crafted chest pieces have deformation issues. For example the medium crafted Eastemnet chest piece that she is wearing here makes her legs look like she’s suffering from anorexia. Besides the legs being deformed, they aren’t placed straight onto her feet either, which becomes very obvious when she wears shoes as her feet literally stand next to her legs. All this causes clipping issues when wearing boots. This chest piece isn’t the only one with problems. When wearing the heavy crafted Eastemnet chest piece on a man, his chest will have deep recesses. The light Robe of Eomer, crafted level 85, gives my female elf a huge inflated breast and super thin arms. In other words, these crafted pieces are potentially hazardous to your character’s health!
The warsteed halter and caparison bear the emblem of the Entwash region which is a large harp, making items with this emblem very popular with Minstrels.

As far as the warsteed appearance customization options go, I’ve pretty much given up on hope that Turbine will listen to their customers and make the steed colors more accessible. I have accepted the fact that the appearance system was never intended to resemble anything like our current outfit system, and is probably better viewed as a “design your own steed for money” system, where you create an appearance for your steed and stick with that. This means that once you finished designing your tailor made steed and purchased the necessary colors, you are back to square one where, just like in the old world, you design your outfit to match your steed. Unlike what I had expected it to be, a system where the warsteed appearance can be customized to fit my outfits. Call me dumb for having had those expectations.
For this steed I’m using the default grey hide color and for its horse tack I’m using one of the free item colors. There are 6 item colors for free: Indigo, Rust, Orange, Forest Green, Rose and Yellow. All are colors that you’re not likely to have purchased with TP, but I guess Turbine wanted to throw us a bone. So for my steed I picked Forest Green, to match the Minstrel accessory that has an undyeable green section in it.
Given that these steed colors are so expensive, I decided to buy no more than two color packs for each of my characters. If the packs would have been cheaper I would have spent double or triple the total amount that I’m spending now, but I don’t want to feel like I’m being ripped off while playing my favorite game and at the same time I don’t want to exclude myself completely from the warsteed color options. I’m fine with the prices for accessories and hide-patterns, as I see those additions as optional, while I consider reasonable access to all color options as being mandatory to a successful and enjoyable outfitting system.

Back: Cloak of the Golden Oak, forest green dye (skirmish camp, cosmetic)
Chest: Eastemnet Skirmish Armour, forest green dye (T8 crafted level 80, medium armour)
Hands: Fingerless Gloves, forest green dye (Yule festival, helping the poor quest reward)
Feet: Reclaimed Nobleman’s Shoes, forest green dye (Great River quest reward, light armour)

Warsteed
Halter: Light Halter of the Entwash – forest green
Caparison: Light Caparison of the Entwash – forest green
Legs: Light Leggings of the Entwash – forest green
Saddle: Minstrel’s Saddle
Accessory: Minstrel’s Gear
No additional color customizations

My lore-master is from Rohan, so I changed her outfit to something more Rohirric (ok I admit, I change outfits about every three days). Because of the severe clipping and deformation issues with all the new crafted armour pieces I used an Isengard piece. Overall I still like the Isengard pieces better anyway. I really hope Turbine will fix the deformation bugs because with all those distortions, outfitting is not a lot of fun.
Last week I finished the first outfit for one of the winners of the Fellowship Walk Charity Auctions. I will post it to my blog soon. Other than that I don’t have a lot of news to share, so it’s just pictures this time!

Shoulders: Combat Pauldrons of Éomer, crimson dye (T8 crafted level 85, medium armour)
Chest: Hyrde-Bréost, burgundy dye (Vol.III Book 4 quest reward, heavy)
Hands: Heavy Plated Dunlending Gauntlets, burgundy dye (Isengard quest reward, heavy)
Feet: Boots of Dúnnath, red dye (Ost Dunhoth barter, lore-master)

Warsteed
Legs: Leggings of the Eastemnet – default dye
Body: Caparison of the Eastemnet – default dye
Saddle: Lore-master’s saddle
No additional colour customziations

I have a golden steed! And her name is Laurë, which means golden light in Quenya.

Thanks to the unannounced Lotro store sale this weekend, with 50% off steed color dye packs, I’ve been able to furnish my main character with all possible color options, and my alt characters with a few selected packs. Everyone is at a loss as to how long this sale is going to last, as it isn’t announced anywhere on the store page, and while writing this post the sale is still on.
I have been looking forward to playing with my war-steed appearance options since release, but was deeply disappointed and discouraged when I saw the prices. Now with 50% off, the color packs have finally come within my reach and I busted my piggy bank of TP that I had been saving up for this purpose. I can finally make combined war-steed outfits!
The transformation from dull grey gelding to light golden mare amazed me and I totally fell in love with my steed for the first time. I’m sure I will try out many more appearances now that I have access to everything, but Laurë will always be special.

Today marks the First Anniversary of The Starry Mantle! Please hop over to her blog to tell her how absolutely awesome she is, not because you might end up winning some TP for leaving a comment, but simply because she is.
In addition, don’t forget to cast your daily vote for Harperella, every day from now on until December 21st. This most dedicated and creative Lotro kinship leader deserves the support of the entire Lotro community. She has given us so much, and this way we can give something back, so please vote!

Chest: Festive Azure Tunic & Pants, violet dye (5th Anniversary Veteran reward, cosmetic)
Head: Balladeer’s Hat, violet dye (Moria class trainers minstrel, loremaster, runekeeper or skirmish cosmetic)

War-steed:
Body color: dun
Mane/tail color: tan
Legs: Minstrel’s Leggings (violet)
Accessory: Metal Braided Tail