December has started which to me is the beginning of the Winter season and lots of wintery outfits! I am really looking forward to this month which is always special as we approach Yule tide. One of the things to look forward to is the Yule Festival that will start at the end of December. This festival is now available for testing on Bullroarer. The way it is going to be set up this year worries me greatly. There will be some very large “end” rewards like War-steed cosmetics and a special Yule portrait for your character, however these bigger rewards, including the regular festival horse, will be gated behind new deeds. The top tier of these deeds will require 200 daily quests completed. The fact that these quests are dailies, means that if you miss a few days, or even a whole week, (because you spend time with your family during the holiday season!), you won’t be able to complete the deed and miss out on those end rewards. The solution? Buy reset tokens in the Lotro store and complete more daily quests at once!
This is very sad news to me, and once more I feel disappointed about the choices Turbine is making regarding the festivals, the grinds and the lotro store. Festivals used to be a fun break from it all, something easy and enjoyable to hop into and do at your own pace in your own time. Of course you can still participate that way, but that kind of casual approach will likely lock you out of the bigger rewards, which will be available to hard-core grinders only. On top of that, any accumulated gold tokens will be wiped after the festival, so next festival you will have to start all over again.
This is how it currently stands on Bullroarer. I really hope and pray that we’ll see something more casual player friendly when the festival goes live.
Update 9 will bring plenty of new stuff, even though it’s not entirely as promised since not all instances will be released at once. The positive cosmetic news is that we’ll see the Barad Guldur raid scaled up to 85 which provides new cosmetic options. The original level 65 armour pieces will now be available for medallions and marks at the skirmish camp and there will be some new level 85 pieces with a redesigned look. If you’re interested in previews you can check out either Material Middle-earth or Estel Fashion (french).
I for one am really looking forward to obtaining some long desired pieces!
Chest: Eastemnet Battle Armour, sea blue dye (T8 crafted heavy armour)
Hands: Mammutti Gloves, umber dye (T6 crafted Lossoth heavy armour, can also be crafted as a cosmetic)
Feet: Mammutti Boots,umber dye (T6 crafted Lossoth heavy armour, can also be crafted as a cosmetic)
Back: Bearskin Winter Cloak, sea blue dye (old Yule Festival cosmetic, currently store exclusive, only available during festivals)
Cosmetic Lotro 
Happy Comment: I love this outfit, and I love her cute, sly expression in the fourth shot.
Sad Comment: I had heard that all previous work towards deeds would be wiped, but not that we’d all have to start over each year… that makes me rather unhappy.
Well we can’t really be sure about anything definite yet, let’s hope they will change how the deed works when it goes live.
I corrected my comment. It’s not so much the deed progress that gets wiped but the accumulated gold tokens. This is slightly different, but not entirely. It means that you will have to regrind gold tokens for every festival and cannot save them up.
Love this! Never would have thought to pair that chestpiece with those gloves and boots but they go together perfectly.
Thank you Cithryth, sometimes these matches come unexpectedly. This one sure surprised me!
Great combination! That chestpiece pairs so well with the lossoth heavy pieces.
Thank you Cagney! It’s time to get those warm winter gloves out of the closet again! 😀
The light blue is a color that really fits the outfit ensamble, wintery and cheerful, hehe and the warg looks like he wants lots of hugs 😀
This is such a beautiful, surprising combination! I love it! Awesome screenshots.
As for the festival, I hope some modifications will be made to the sheer amount of Yule deeds. I like to do Yule stuff with a couple of my alts and I’m not looking forward to getting my grind on. 😦
Looks great!
The festival changes are very, very bad. You can’t even complete the final tier deed without purchasing tickets, if this analysis is correct: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?490782-Yule-Festival-Feedback-Thread&p=6552664#post6552664
We have to grind and pay TP for the warsteed appearance. Happy Yuletide. 😦
But anyway, your outfit is very, very good! I love winter outfits and this is no exception. Beautiful.
What a great match of pieces! I’m now into summer, so feel a bid odd rugging my characters up, but can’t help getting a bit of a wintery feel going. Some wishful thinking from the heat we’ve got here at the moment!
The news about the fest on Bullroarer does make me sad, so hopefully Turbine will take player feedback into consideration and make (positive) changes when it goes live. *fingers, legs, eyes, etc crossed*
Thank you Lasswen, I can’t imagine what it feels like to celebrate the December month in Summer! It’s snowing here as I type this, so a lot easier for me to get into that wintery mood. 🙂
This is one of my favorite outfits I’ve ever seen! I, too am a sucker for the warm weather outfits but this is great even for that. It’s also the only time I’ve seen that hauberk where I actually like it. Regarding Yule, at 85 right now you already have the Hytbold grind, skraid grinds, virtue grinds, rep grinds and nothing else. To add an unyielding FESTIVAL grind would be absolutely brutal.