Gamer Reverie: Learning LOTRO: Lesson Seventeen

Monday, June 15, 2020

Learning LOTRO: Lesson Seventeen - Wardrobe

In this series, I talk about various aspects of The Lord of the Rings Online. This series is meant for newcomers, but may also help veteran players find more to love about the game.

If you started this journey through LOTRO with me, you've probably seen a lot of different outfits and appearances in your travels -- even just making a trip across Bree! It can quickly become clear who the newbie players are versus the long-time players with a collection of cosmetics. So today I'm going to talk about how you too can start building a collection of fabulous outfits for your characters using the Wardrobe!

What is the Wardrobe?

The Wardrobe (also called "shared wardrobe") is a shared storage system for cosmetic items that you access via the Vault-keeper. It is shared across characters on the same account and server. Items in the wardrobe are copies of the actual items, so you are free to trade, sell, equip or store the original as permissions allow and anything you do to the copy in the wardrobe will not affect the original -- likewise, if you get rid of the original you will still have the copy in the wardrobe.

Sounds great, right? It is, except it is a paid feature of the game. VIP players will get 20 slots with their subscription, but every 10 slots costs some points to unlock. As a result, the maximum amount of storage for Free and Premium players is 290 slots, whereas the maximum for VIP players is 310. Each purchase of 10 slots costs 595 points, so be sure to use your space wisely!

I've been playing LOTRO since 2012, and I've only got 250 slots as a VIP. Why don't have I have 310? Because I needed other things more!

Equipment Appearance

A. The default appearance in-game is your Equipment Outfit. To see it, you open your Character Panel, then click the Cosmetic Outfits tab.

B. If you actually want to use the appearance of your equipment, make sure you have this outfit selected. And please know that I think you're a brave soul. Deluded, but very brave. Show me your equipment outfits if you're proud of them!

C. You will only have access to a couple Outfit slots when you start out, and you'll see the big LOTRO Point icon indicating a slot you have yet to purchase. Clicking on it will take you to the store to purchase it (for the price of 495 points each).

D. Looking for some cosmetics and have points to burn? Here's your gratuitous Store link that will take you to available cosmetics you can purchase. But... don't do that just yet.

Dressing Room

A vastly under-utilized feature is the Dressing Room. By hovering over an item that you can equip (in your bags, vault, wardrobe, vendor, quest reward window, etc.), you can use CTRL + left click to view that item on your character in the Dressing Room. This window will let you preview dye colors for all items you're wearing, which is a great way to see if that cool-looking helmet from that one quest is going to look good in Crimson.

Where can you buy cosmetics?

Lalia's Market

There is an in-game store in Bree where you can buy cosmetics by actually viewing them on mannequins on display. In addition to the four mannequins on display at various hubs and starter areas (you know, those ones I feature in each Class-specific entry that change monthly), this store has a dozen or more of each type of cosmetic item. They can be purchased for Mithril Coins, and you can use the Dressing Room to mix and match your appearance before buying anything as well. If you have the points to burn on Mithril Coins, this is a fun thing to do. But there are less expensive ways of getting that dashing and debonaire look for your character. Fun fact: We didn't get Lalia's Market until late spring of 2013, and boy did it ruffle some feathers and excite others! Up until then, we just knew Lalia as that whiny girl in the Barrow-downs... and I think we all hoped to leave her there!

LOTRO Store

If you have LOTRO Points to spare, but don't want to convert them into Mithril Coins, you can also purchase a variety of cosmetics through the store. These mostly stay the same unless they have released something new or have added a bundle of some sort. Some of the items can be obtained in other ways, but in some cases the store is the only way to get a particular appearance. I recommend checking with one of the many Cosmetic websites/blogs before investing -- or check one of the options below under "Other Sources."

Festival Cosmetics

Usually there's a new wave of cosmetic items every time a festival rolls around -- but not always. Even so, the previous years' cosmetics will be available to barter for, and there are some great items to be had from just about all of them.

Other Sources of Fashion

If you've exhausted those options, then there are still three or four more options available to you!

Skirmish camps: We'll cover these in a future entry, but there are a variety of cosmetics you can barter for -- some are restricted by level because they are items with stats, while others are purely cosmetic.
Auction House: People often get cosmetic items as drops or gifts and will put them up for auction for various costs. Don't overpay for something if it seems expensive! Chances are good that you can barter for the item or make it yourself.
Pay a Crafter: Lots of players spend hours and hours honing a craft vocation. There are some great gear appearances to be found in crafted items, so be sure to check if something can be crafted for a handful of silver and materials versus spending 20 gold in the Auction House!
Quest Rewards: A lot of my best cosmetics have been quest rewards. While the item is bound to the character who finished the quest, I can freely copy it into my Wardrobe and have it instantly accessible to all of my other characters on that server. I sometimes come across the PERFECT weapon appearance for other characters and get that item from a quest instead of something the questing character can actually use. Use that Dressing Room to check appearances!

Dyes

There are a few different ways you can acquire Dyes, too. The easiest is going to be from a Scholar (that's a craft vocation, not a vendor). Sometimes if you just supply the materials needed, Scholars are happy to craft dyes for you. They can also be purchased from the Store for points, or from Lalia herself for Mithril Coins (I do not advise this unless you have some to spare). You cannot dye weapons, and I would recommend using the Dressing Room to see how a dye looks on an item before you use the dye.

Weapon Cosmetics & Limitations

In 2015, the devs were awesome and added cosmetic appearances for weapons. No longer did we have to use the giant q-tip looking staff in Moria because of its awesome stats -- only, we would, and people wouldn't have to laugh at how awful it looked because we would give it a better appearance.

You can add weapons to the Wardrobe, too! You cannot dye them, but you can sort by weapon type. You cannot, however, use a 2-handed cosmetic appearance for a 1-handed item, or vice versa. It will have to be a similar type to use the cosmetic appearance. But hey, that's better than nothing, right?

Shields and various back-equipped items can also be placed in the Wardrobe. My warden was glad to get rid of the poptart-with-a-bite-missing shield appearance, let me tell you...

Tips & Advice

When using a dye, use it on the item in the wardrobe and not the original item in your bag or storage. What this does is add that color option to the item in the wardrobe without using a second slot or losing the original color option. So, say you dye a dress White in the wardrobe, but then also dye it Pink. When you sort your Wardrobe items by color, the item will display for White and for Pink -- you can use either color without overwriting the original. That means you can have one item in every possible dye color if you choose!
Sometimes you get a cosmetic item that isn't bound to account. Keep these even if you have a copy in your wardrobe! You can share this with friends who just started to play, or share it with your kinship. People can keep copying the item into their wardrobes as long as it is never equipped (it will become bound once equipped).
I cannot stress this enough: Use that Dressing Room to preview Quest Rewards and dye options. It will save you a lot of money on buying cosmetics! My main on Landroval, Birle, has an outfit made of completely quest reward items! (See below!)

Some of my Favorite Character Cosmetics

I wanted to share 10 different characters, but the weekend got the best of me... so you'll have to settle for 5. I've listed the items used in their appearances, but not any dyes. If you're curious about anything just leave me a message and I'll get back to you with an answer!

Thiadil (Rune-keeper)

Snow-dusted Travelling Shoulders
Cloak of the Sunset
Snow-Dusted Travelling Robe
Snow-Dusted Travelling Gloves
Ceremonial Shoes of the Stone-Student
Ring Satchel

Soloveya (Minstrel)

Ice Flower Crown
Shoulderpads of the Learned Stag
Cloak of the Rescuer
Tunic of Harmony
Ceremonial Secret of the West Gauntlets
Ceremonial Woodsman's Supple Leggings
Elegant Silk Boots

Hasugar (Warden)

Leather Helm of the Stoic Stag
Wynmar's End
Ceremonial Thin Cloak of Salvation
Ceremonial Jacket of the Shade-Finder
Ceremonial Gauntlets of the Lady's Defence
Ceremonial Woodsman's Supple Leggings
Ceremonial Potent Battle Boots of the Mark
Arzgât's Folly (shield)

Esgaril (Hunter)

Leather Helm of the Stoic Stag
Shoulderpads of the Learned Stag
Silvan Quiver
Rune-Stitched Dunlending Robe
Ceremonial Secret of the West Gauntlets
Ceremonial Woodsman's Supple Leggings
Elegant Silk Boots
Honed Dagger (x2)
Lithuilas' Bow

Birle (Lore-master)

Circlet of Men
Pauldrons of the Valleys
Cloak of the Rescuer
Idmar's Soft Robe
Gauntlets of the Valleys
Nightshade Leggings (not visible)
Steel Boots of the Valleys
Blessed Staff of Stone-Cutting
Fine Anórien Resolute Sword