Here’s a fun bit of trivia for you newcomers to Lord of the Rings Online: Did you know that for most of the first year of this game’s operation, it didn’t have a cosmetic wardrobe system? From the launch in April 2007 until February 2008, players had to suffer whatever odd fashion that their gear provided. Then the wardrobe arrived, and things got pretty interesting.
It’s hard to imagine LOTRO without the wardrobe, seeing as how much joy and engagement it’s provided over the years. Entire fashion sub-communities have arisen from this system, and it’s not uncommon to see player bands all sporting the same uniform. But there’s always room for improvement, and I’d argue that the cosmetic system is past due for a sweeping overhaul. Here’s how I’d do it.
What LOTRO’s cosmetic system does right
Actually, before I get into any proposed changes, I think it’s important to recognize what this system does right. There’s actually a lot that works very well here! You can set up multiple outfit loadouts to customize your look, including your weapon and auras. You have the option to disable certain slots, such as hiding your boots if you’re an orthodox Hobbit!
Not only can you dye pieces (alas, only one dye channel per), but through the wardrobe, you can save all of the different dyes you’ve used on that piece and swap between them freely.
The tools of this system are surprisingly robust, allowing for a great amount of variety as you collect skins over the course of your journey. Acquiring cosmetics is a huge part of the reward tables in any festival, and there’s no prouder moment than when someone whispers you to ask where you got such-and-such piece.
Heck, I’d even argue that LOTRO has an advantage over similar systems in Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft, as this game doesn’t charge you gold or special tokens to swap pieces or outfits. Nor does LOTRO ask you to go to a specific vendor to swap outfits, only to modify them. It’s also a far easier system to work with than a similar one that we find in FFXIV’s glamour chest.
Of course, it’s got disadvantages as well, which is to be expected from a system that’s been only slightly modified over the past 16 years. So how could it be made better?
Where the cosmetic system needs help
While LOTRO’s wardrobe might’ve once been an impressive and even rare sight in the genre, pretty much every MMO has some sort of cosmetic system, and many of them are better in several respects.
The first and most egregious area in which this game’s wardrobe suffers is how cosmetics are saved. Players are expected to examine armor and weapon visuals that they find, and if those are interesting, then the player has to go into the wardrobe and drag the piece in there to make a copy.
Many other MMOs fully automate this system, a fact that makes LOTRO’s space limitations even more annoying. Sometimes you end up having to yank out pieces from the wardrobe to make space for new ones, and by doing that, you could lose those looks indefinitely.
However, the second problem is even worse. LOTRO’s free-to-play model slammed down limitations on the number of outfits you can store and the number of pieces that can be saved. If you want more outfit slots or wardrobe space, you’re going to need to subscribe and/or pay in the cash shop. I mean, yay that these unlocks are account-wide, but boo that they even have to be dealt with in the first place.
There are other deficiencies as well, such as the aforementioned single dye channel. Cosmetics aren’t shared across servers, so whatever you unlock on Server A won’t be present if you roll up a new character on Server B (although a transfer should bring all of those cosmetic unlocks over). I also find the weapon type restrictions and the weapon auras unnecessarily confusing and hard to handle.
What changes need to be made to LOTRO’s wardrobe
I’m encouraged to hear that SSG is looking to streamline player inventory management by expanding the collections panel — which currently handles emotes, pets, and hobbies — to include “baubles” (toy unlocks) that would remove those items from inventories and make them usable abilities. So why not use that expanded tech as a springboard to do the same with inventory?
Imagine a future when the wardrobe as we know it is completely gone. Instead, every cosmetic variation on pieces are automatically saved to the collections screen when your character acquires them. To form an outfit or dye pieces, you’d pull them from this panel, which would always be accessible.
In the same stroke, the old F2P limitations should be completely abolished. Yes, I know SSG loves to (and needs to) make money, but it shouldn’t be in this quarter. Sell cosmetics, not cosmetic slot unlocks. Give every character the full eight outfit unlocks and unlimited wardrobe unlocks on the collections panel. People would spend more readily on cosmetics to fill those slots, guaranteed.
I fully admit that this project wouldn’t be small or undertaken lightly, but the end result would be worth it. This overhaul would be such a massive quality-of-life improvement and garner some goodwill toward the studio for modernizing a system and eliminating a petty monetization scheme at the same time.
What do you think? How should LOTRO improve or revamp its cosmetic system?
Every two weeks, the LOTRO Legendarium goes on an adventure (horrid things, those) through the wondrous, terrifying, inspiring, and, well, legendary online world of Middle-earth. Justin has been playing LOTRO since its launch in 2007! If you have a topic for the column, send it to him at justin@massivelyop.com.
