Harvestmath Blues

Every year on Lord of the Rings Online I look forward to autumn because of the Harvestmath festival. It is always the one with the most beautiful mounts, the prettiest cloaks, the best dresses...you get the idea. It also has the Haunted Burrow now, which is my favourite of the festival settings. Each year I drool in anticipation of the upcoming autumn leaf or tree designs.
For example, last year we were offered a nice creepy bare-branched tree theme for cosmetic outfit items and mounts.

I love the way the tree shadows blend and Aurelas is almost camouflaged! And yes, the hat is from the winter festival, but it went so well that I had to include it.

The full regalia from last year, including the mount, can be seen here. Isn't it so nice and spooky?

From past years I have accumulated other lovely items, such as the Cloak of Falling Leaves and the Harvestmath mount, which is one of my all time favourites!

Of course we mustn't forget the Wrap of Turning Leaves and pumpkin mask.

Leaves, pumpkins, bare trees...so far everything has been pretty much what you would expect for autumnal fashions on LOTRO. For those who like to be even a bit creepier, there is the raven costume, which of course I had to have for Cal. What could be more perfect for one who creeps through the shadows?

So all of these years there have been nice, spooky, pretty, creepy, leafy things to get from doing quests at the Harvestmath festival. However, this year, there has been a major disappointment for me. While I appreciate the idea of choosing something a bit different for the theme, Oktoberfest is just a bit too different to me. I cannot picture my lovely elves running around with giant pretzels on their clothes! I guess Caledonia, my hobbit burglar, or Dagney, my lovely dwarfmaiden guardian, might look alright in "beer and pretzels everywhere" gear, but not good enough to justify spending hours trying to accumulate the tokens needed to buy it.

Click here to visit Cosmetic Lotro to see what I mean. Warning: it really is pretty dreadful! Unless you live for beer and pretzels of course. I wish they had at least made it a bit more authentic and had a classic dirndl dress for the ladies.

The only item I decided I really needed was the Harvest Brew Circlet. It goes really nicely with the Farmer's Faire dress!

The air is a little chilly, the leaves are sort of turning, and instead of getting lost in the Haunted Burrow I actually have time to get real quests done! I guess that is a nice change but at the same time, I feel cheated--just like Sally after the Great Pumpkin didn't show up!

Dear LOTRO,

Next year could you bring autumn back to the autumn festival? Please?

Sincerely,
Aurelas