Fashion Friday: High Elf Warden

You may remember the commotion about Lord of the Rings Online's Mordor expansion earlier this year. One of the gripes about its pricing was that the new High Elf race was only available if you'd buy the deluxe edition for $80,-, or the legendary edition for even more. Other players would have to wait until "winter" and buy it in the in-game store. Well, last week the time was finally there: the High Elf race was available for LOTRO points! And I bought one.

Then a difficult decision had to be made: what class should my High Elf be? I already had all ten different classes. Only burglar and warden were still below level 50. Burglar is not available for High Elves (and wouldn't make much sense lore-wise), so warden it was. And since I also had an Aria of the Valar from the Mordor base edition (an item that instantly levels up your character to 105), my new warden, Ravalas, was near level cap right away.

The first thing that I noticed, is that High Elves are taller and more masculine than regular Elves. Even their faces look stronger. This makes sense from a lore perspective: in Tolkien's lore, generally speaking, the older the race, the more powerful it was. Because of the High Elves' superiority, I wanted a perfect looking one, with golden hair and shining armour. I knew right away which armour I wanted to use, as it had been in the back of my mind from the moment I set foot in Mordor.

Another interesting fact about the High Elf race is that there are small, but noticeable details that distinguish High Elves from regular Elves. For instance, High Elves sit differently on their horses, as if they're holding reins (unfortunately you don't see any reins, though, so it looks silly if you're paying attention). When High Elves fall from a height, they roll over. They also have a special Elven cry for skills that play a shout sound effect. It sounds really cool.

/dance3

But most of all, High Elves are famous for their special racial dance. There was a lot of buzz about this gracious, ballet like dance when the race was just released. Everyone loves it. It certainly fits the look-at-me-I'm-so-perfect air of the High Elf like a glove.

Outfit

Warden Ravalas to the right is wearing the following:

• Memory of the West Hat (lore-master item from skirmish camps, originally from Ost Dunhoth)
• Conquerer's Camail, dyed steel blue (Mordor gear)
• Expeditionary's Reinforced Hauberk, dyed steel blue (Mordor gear)
• Invader's Mighty Gages, dyed steel blue (Mordor gear)
• Expeditionary Boots, dyed steel blue (Mordor gear)
• Cloak of the Slain Hunter, dyed steel blue (Great River quest reward)
• Infiltrator (The Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu)
• Elven Soldier's Light Shield (metalsmith crafting tier 5)

The pieces of the Mordor armour set come as selectable medium armour quest rewards for various quests. There are many quests that reward then, so don't worry if you can't find the specific one mentioned here. You can also barter them for ash.

An alternative for the shiny golden spear is the spear Fight Against the Darkness or the javelin Strike Against the Darkness, both selectable rewards from the level 30 warden class quest. They are dark blue with gold, so they are a perfect fit for this outfit. It's a shame you have to pick between them, because I'd love to have both!

Did you buy the High Elf race? And if so, is yours wearing shining armour as well?

Many thanks go to Conrad, for helping out with the animated GIF and for his invaluable fashion advice. I don't thank him nearly enough for his invisible contributions to this blog from behind the scenes.