Pet Obsession Update
Just a short update about my obsessive grind to 150 companion pets. I’m now at 148 because I found a Captured Firefly on the AH this morning. I decided to spend today grinding out Shatari Skyguard rep for the guaranteed pet there and have made it into Revered. Just a few more circuits of this accursed place and I’ll be exalted and at 149 pets. Then I suppose it will be back to archeology and obsessively checking the AH.
I ran into a weird bug just now while grinding Skettis mobs. Suddenly all the Time-Lost Skettis showed up as friendly and unattackable. This was confusing enough, but suddenly all these “friendly” mobs attacked me! And I couldn’t defend myself! So there I was, a big level 85 Boomkin running away from hordes of level 71 mobs.
You can see in the frames that these mobs are green, i.e. “friendly”. But they’re attacking me anyway…
Thankfully, clicking off the Elixer of Shadows buff and drinking another one solved the problem. Did I accidentally drink a faulty potion the first time? Who knows.
Companion Pets — My Descent Into Madness
A couple of days ago I noticed that I had 141 mini-pets. “Sweet!” I thought. “I’m almost to 150 and the little dragon pet. When MoP comes out it will be easy to grab the last few.” Then I read this edition of The Queue on WoW Insider, which stated:
Non-Combat pets in MoP: I’m 129/150 towards Littlest Pet Shop. With MoP’s account-wide pets, what will happen to this achievement? Will I need to finish it before 5.0 in order to get my Celestial dragon?
As of the current beta build, those achievements are nowhere to be found in the beta. That doesn’t mean that the associated pets won’t return in some other way, but if you think the achievement is within reach in the next few months, I’d push for it if I were you.
WHAT?!?!?! They might take away my 150 pet achievement award?! Queue hyperventilation and full on panic mode.
I have spent the last three days doing nothing but farm pets. I’ve managed to get up to 147. I need three more. Just. Three. More.
I made a list of all the pets in the game that I do not yet currently have (and which I don’t need to spend real money on, so no trading card or Blizz store pets):
- Nether Ray Fry (Rep reward from Shatari Skyguard)
- Hyacynth Macaw (BoE world drop)
- Fox Kit (BoP world drop)
- Azure Whelpling (BoE world drop)
- Crimson Whelpling (BoE world drop)
- Dark Whelpling (BoE world drop)
- Firefly (BoE world drop)
- Sprite Darter Hatchling (BoP world drop)
- Tiny Shale Spider (guaranteed drop off rare spawn in Deepholm)
- Chuck (Shattrath fishing daily)
- Muckbreath (Shattrath fishing daily)
- Snarly (Shattrath fishing daily)
- Toothy (Shattrath fishing daily)
- Mr. Pinchy (Fishing… honestly, I’m not sure how one gets him, I’ve never tried. I’ve heard it’s a real pain to farm up though.)
- Clockwork Gnome (archeology)
- Pterrodax Hatchling (archeology)
The Nether Ray Fry I consider a given — I just need to grind out Shatari Skyguard rep, and I’ve been meaning to do that for the mounts anyway. Which means I really only need to find two more somehow. Unfortunately, my options right now are either: grind archeology and hope a pet shows up; grind mobs and hope for a rare world drop; get lucky with a Shattrath fishing daily; or get lucky on the AH.
The really irritating thing about the Auction House is that there are THREE pets I could learn on the Alliance AH, but I don’t have enough gold on that side to buy them. And transferring enough gold over to the Ally side to buy them would be extremely expensive because of the 30% neutral AH fee.
So what do I work on grinding out? Do I grind mobs or archeology? Which has a better chance of success? If I grind mobs, which ones should I concentrate on? It seems like they all have equally abysmal drop rates. (Before anyone says, “Go for the Sprite Darter, it’s really easy to farm” I just want to say screw you! They changed the drop rate on the Sprite Darter. It’s now an extremely rare drop off any mob in Feralas and is no longer easy to farm. Getting soooo tired of people telling me how they got it in less than 10 kills about a year ago. I know you did, but that’s no longer possible.)
The easy way out would be to just spend $20 at the Blizz pet store, and let me tell you that is really freaking tempting. However, my husband just doesn’t understand why this is so important. Isn’t my sanity worth $20? Isn’t it? I guess he wants me to go a bit crazier before we start shelling out real monies. *rocks desperately back and forth*
I guess my theory is that I should work on grinding things that I won’t be able to buy. I mean, I might be able to find the whelplings and the firefly on the AH, so I should camp the AH while farming other pets. Obviously I can do the Shattrath fishing daily when it’s available, grind Shatari Skyguard rep, and camp the Deepholm rare spawn spider while surfing the net or writing blog posts. (What do you think I’m doing right now? LOL) Otherwise I should probably do archeology and grind mobs for either the Sprite Darter or the Fox Kit, since they’re both BoP and won’t be on the AH. What sucks is that if I’m working on trying to get one pet that means I’m not working on trying to get another pet, and if I’m out grinding I’m not able to neurotically check the AH over and over again.
I may need professional help. Please send some. 
Or send me a pet. Please! I needssss them, preciousssss!
All About Frank (and a Little About Transmog)
Ok, first of all, I’m sorry for being a slacker and taking so long to post anything. I have a bunch of reasons (or excuses if you prefer), but I’m not going to bore you with them. Instead, I’m just going to dive into the post. Ready? Here we go.
Frank’s Glorious Defeat
You might remember from my last post that I’d entered Frank in Round 4 of the Mog Madness competition. Sadly, he came in 7th, which was not enough for me to move on to the fifth and final round. (You can see the results and other entries for Round 4 here. Round 5 and the final results are here.) I was a bit disappointed, but mostly relieved.
In all honesty, I was getting a bit tired of the contest, especially with having to work with items that I didn’t like. Frank’s character developed as a way to personify my own negativity and subvert the entire transmog beauty contest thing at the same time. In that sense, Frank was a roaring success. Frank gave me a way to have fun with the contest after I was past the point of having fun with it. He also really did take on a life of his own, and creating an outfits to suit his personality was an interesting and challenging experience.
Frank also surprised me by becoming something of a fan favourite. There were so many positive comments about him from the other contestants, including a few people who thought he should have won the round. I was shocked, because I really didn’t expect him to do well and I certainly didn’t expect other people to fall in love with the character as much as I had.
The Alternate Round 4 Outfit
The first outfit I made for Frank was actually a standard “cool” transmog design. However, I abandoned it and started over because it didn’t look like “Frank” — didn’t suit his personality at all. While I realised that the “cool” warlock look was actually more likely to win, it didn’t serve the subversive purpose that I had intended, and the character was completely lost while wearing it. Nevertheless, it’s a nice look, so here it is:
- Tabard: Green Trophy Tabard of the Illidari.
- Head: Green Lens.
- Shoulders: Nemesis Spaulders.
- Chest: Elder’s Padded Armor.
- Hands: Darkmist Handguards.
- Belt: Cord of the Patronizing Practitioner.
- Legs: Prideling Down Leggings. These only work with this outfit on an Undead Male model because the break where the bones shows through hides some elements that don’t look very good with the rest of the set.
- Feet: Serene Echoes.
- Weapon: Scalpel of Unrelenting Agony.
- Off-Hand: Bouquet of Ebon Roses. This was a placeholder off-hand. I had intended to find something better, but then abandoned this outfit to create the one I actually entered. Still, I like them with this look.
I also choose a wand to go with it, since wands will be main weapons in MoP:
- Wand: Bonecreeper Stylus.
There’s no cloak because I didn’t like any of them with this set.
Can’t Keep a Bad Undead Warlock Down
I originally rolled Frank on a random server just to use as a transmog model. But really, he’s far too awesome to languish away at level 1, unloved and forgotten. So I deleted my level 5 female Undead Warlock on my main server and re-rolled Frank.
Well, of course, all possible permutations of the name “Frank” were already taken, so I wracked my brain trying to find some way to keep his name. I figured giving him a last name would be the easiest way to do it, but which last name should he have? And then it struck me.
Frank Oz, of the guild Electric Mayhem.
Too perfect, am I right? To my delight, it was available! So now Frankoz is cheerfully running around the Kargath server, leveling up and bringing his terrible fashion sense to the masses.
Of course, it didn’t take long to discover that he has some competition in the mushroom farming business. Someone named Hamlin Atkins is trying to muscle into Frank’s turf. How dare he peddle his obviously inferior fungus to the residents of Brill!
Well, Frank was not going to stand for this. He lured invited Mr. Atkins to the nearby cemetery to chat a little business and introduced him to Mr. Thogphog, one of Frank’s minions investors.
Don’t ask what happened next. Let’s just say they managed to reach an agreement that was best for all parties named Frank.
Frank also hates heirlooms. They’re too pretty for him. He spent the first 16 levels refusing to wear any, but I finally wrestled him into them. I’ve promised him that as soon as he’s old enough to wear regular hats and shoulders we’ll transmog the heirlooms into something that better suits his personality.
Frank Goes A-Courtin’
Another unexpected outcome of Frank’s Mod Madness entry: He has an admirer. He caught the eye and the fancy of Tome of the Ancient’s female Undead Warlock, and she’s been longing for him ever since. Poor TotA has had no peace, what with all the crying and the pining away, but all efforts to convince the young lady to approach Frank have failed. She’s just too shy to make the first move. So I agreed that I would pass the message on to Frank and see if I could convince him to pay her a visit.
At first I don’t think he believed me. He’s definitely not used to being an object of affection, and I think he thought I might be making fun of him. (It’s a good thing I vastly out-level him, because making fun of Frank is not a wise life decision.) It probably didn’t help that I had to admit that I think the name of his admirer is Sasche, but I’m not entirely sure. I just directed him to TotA — she’ll be able to introduce them.
Of course, then Frank started mumbling all kinds of excuses. Yes, I know spring is a busy time for farmers, but you can’t possibly be in the fields 24 hours a day. Besides, I know he likes to moonlight as a Warlock, and if he can find time to play with his demons he can find time to date a girl.
Then he complained that he wasn’t sure how he should approach her. So I told him to dress himself up a little and maybe bring her some flowers.
Perhaps I should have been more specific.
Frank… is that… are you… Are you wearing a tuxedo shirt under your overalls? And is that a pine cone? A pine cone with a… demonic red eye? Oh, lordy.
Well, maybe this is for the best. After all, she’s going to have to love you for who you are, if she’s going to love you at all. Best of luck, Frank!
In case anyone out there is crazy enough to want to use this outfit:
- Head: Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat. I’m so farming this up for him at the earliest opportunity. It just screams “Frank”.
- Shoulders: Feline Mantle.
- Back: Tumultuous Cloak.
- Chest: Blue Overalls.
- Shirt: Tuxedo Shirt.
- Gloves: Skitterweb Glovelettes.
- Waist: Willow Belt.
- Legs: Foreman Pants.
- Feet: Durable Boots. Because we all know about Frank’s love of sensible footwear.
- Staff: Conifer Cone Staff. Just… why, Frank? Why?
Mog Madness Round 4 Entry
Another Victory!
To my great surprise I managed to come in 6th in Round 3. This means I’m one of the 10 people who moved on. Yay!
Unfortunately, this round’s required item is either the Green or Purple Trophy Tabard of the Illidari; both of which are very ugly, in my opinion. Last round I said that I was trying to design outfits that I would dress my characters in. So, what to do when forced to work with an item that I wouldn’t ever choose for any of my characters?
The solution: Create a character that would wear something ugly.
Meet Frank
I was discussing Round 4 with Minstrel and showed him the tabard we were required to use. Minstrel said, “Oh, the breast enhancing tabard?” Like magic Frank popped into my head and said, “Breast enhancing, you say? So, do you expect lots of Draenei and pretty Blood Elves entering this round? Enter me instead. I dare you.” And then he gave that frightening Undead male laugh.
This is Frank. Frank has a very… strong personality. He popped into my head pretty much fully formed, with his own motivations and preferences. You know how authors sometimes talk about their characters taking on a life of their own in a terrifying sort of way? Yeah, like that.
Frank is an ordinary guy. Or at least, he’d have you think so. A simple farmer before the plague of undeath took him, he continues to raise crops for Sylvanas and the Undercity. Where once he tended orderly rows of cabbage and carrots he now raises several varieties of diseased mushroom. He also keeps a small pack of felhounds to guard his fields. You see, Frank is also a warlock, though you might not know it to look at him.
It would amuse him if you were to underestimate him.
Frank has a dark sense of humor, enjoying sarcasm and irony in particular. Entering his decaying corpse in what is essentially a beauty contest tickles his fancy to no end. He doesn’t care if he wins or loses — but he will enjoy the side-long glances and obvious discomfiture of the judges and other contestants.
It was difficult to wrestle Frank into a decent outfit. He was constantly telling me to use items like Don Carlos’ Famous Hat, or perhaps a lumberjack shirt. (I mollified him by allowing him to wear the latter in his intro picture.) He flat out refused to wear purple pants.
“You wouldn’t catch me dead in those,” Frank said.
“But, um… You are dead, so anything you wear is something that– AHHHH!” The look he gave me was so terrifying I ran around helplessly for about 8 seconds. “OK! OK! No purple pants, I swear!”
He also wanted to wear real boots. Not slippers, boots. Sensible boots for mucking about in fields or the blood of your enemies. Also, he really likes the color brown.
The following outfit is Frank’s fault, I swear.
Round 4 Entry — Cloth Armor
invisible line
- Tabard: Green Trophy Tabard of the Illidari. Somehow the green one just worked better for Frank than the purple version.
- Head: Shadowbrim Travel Hat. This is a quest reward from “Disrupt their Reinforcements” in Hellfire Peninsula (either faction). Good for keeping the sun off your delicate undead skin while tending your fields, or for looking dapper while sucking the life from your foes.
- Shoulders: Slavehandler Amice. A random green-quality BoE that drops from Outland mobs. Do warlocks have slaves? Oh yes, they sure do.
- Back: Syrannis’ Mystic Sheen. As the name implies, this drops from Commander Syrannis in The Botanica.
- Shirt: Green Linen Shirt. Easily crafted by any low level tailor, this shirt is an integral part of the look.
- Chest: The important thing about the chest is that it be hidden under the tabard, allowing the shirt and tabard to provide the look instead. I chose the first one to fit this criteria that I came across, the Soulcloth Vest. The tailoring pattern drops in Karazhan, but there are several other pieces you could use instead and which might be easier to obtain. (And yes, under his tabard Frank is wearing a very pretty chest-piece. It amuses him.)
- Hands: Greenweave Gloves. Random green-quality BoEs that drop from level 15-26 mobs. Not too bulky — good for gardening and the pruning of souls.
- Waist: High Councillor’s Sash. Another random green-quality BoE from Outland mobs. Adds just the right splash of color.
- Legs: Councillor’s Pants. Interestingly enough, these pants are a re-color of the set the waist is from. The pants from the other set are purple though, and we’ve already covered how Frank refused to wear them. These are a random green-quality BoE that drops from level 55-58 mobs.
- Feet: Willow Boots. More random green-quality BoEs. These ones primarily drop from level 9-16 mobs, but WoWhead says they also drop from heroic Deadmines. Not sure how much I’d trust WoWhead on that. As you can see, these are indeed practical boots. Frank approved!
- Staff: Elemental Mage Staff. It might be tough to get your hands on one of these because it’s a random BoE epic world drop. However, it’s great for stomping after trespassers who are attempting to steal your mushrooms and teaching them that stealing is very, very bad for your immortal soul. Seriously, don’t try to steal the mushrooms!
- Wand: Torch of Austen. Since wands will be main weapons in Mists of Pandaria I thought I’d also include one here. This is a blue-quality BoE that drops from level 40-60 mobs. It has a similar “coming after the trespassers” feel for me, or perhaps a feel of descending into dark places in pursuit of demonic power.
Frank is the Judges’ Problem Now
So, Frank is taking his turn on the catwalk. Somehow I don’t picture him doing so with much grace. I’d also count the other contestants afterward just to make sure they’re all present and accounted for. I mean, Frank knows that five will be eliminated — better make sure he doesn’t eliminate them for you.
Oh, God! He just muttered something about needing fertilizer for his mushrooms. Watch your backs, I beg you!
Mog Madness Round 3 Entry
More Madness!
Sorry for not updating sooner, but I’ve been pretty busy this week. The results of Round 2 were in last Sunday, but I didn’t get a chance to post about them. There were 20 entries in Round 2, and my entry came in 9th. The top 15 were moved on to the third round, so I got in. Yay! (And yet I will always wonder if I would have placed higher with the other outfit. LOL) I’m not getting my hopes up for Round 3 though. My competition is pretty stiff so I’ll be surprised if I move on to Round 4.
At this stage of the game I’m finding myself tempted to check out what the other contestants are doing, or to try to figure out what the judges go for in terms of their stylistic tastes, or to do something totally outrageous in hopes of getting originality points or something. But I am resisting these urges because that whole second guessing myself thing is really stressful, and — let’s face it — I’m just not good at “gaming the system”. So what I’m doing is completely ignoring what anyone else might be doing while trying to continue to design outfits that I’d want my toons to wear. I’m entering the outfit that I like best, and it doesn’t really matter if it’s what other people (including the judges) prefer. (At least this is what I’m telling myself.)
The Round 3 Entry — More Mail Armor
For this round we have to base the set on The Wavemender’s Mantle, a blue & gold mail shoulder piece. To be honest, I wasn’t very happy with this, because I’d just entered a blue & gold mail set, (and in fact had considered using these very shoulders at one point), and I didn’t want to spend Round 3 staring at the same mail options as before. It just seemed too boring. So I went scrolling through Mogit, grumbling to myself about how I wished they’d gone with any color but blue — maybe a nice green, or purple, or red, or– ooh! Red! And there it was, the skirt I would use to make this outfit interesting.
Now, much as I said last time that I really like putting Hunters in skirts, that wasn’t my primary objective here. I just really fell in love with how the blue design on the skirt looked like the lightning on the shoulders, and how the red of the rest of the skirt broke away from the blue/gold color scheme. This outfit would work equally well on a Hunter or a Shaman because none of the pieces are class-specific and both classes can wield staves. However, I modeled the items on a Hunter because then I could include a ranged weapon option as well.
My model is an Orc because, once again, I wanted a race that epitomizes the Shaman and Hunter mentalities, and I felt a bit guilty for betraying my beloved Horde by using a Dwarf in my last entry. Oh, and Orc females look totally bad ass. Don’t try to deny it. You know it’s true.
The Itemized List
- Shoulders: The Wavemender’s Mantle. These are some really cool shoulders. I love the electric spell effect. However, taking screenshots of these things nearly cost me my last shred of sanity. Do you know how many shots I took in order to capture the lightning at four different angles? 290. Yeah, that’s right, I counted them. You’re welcome.
- Legs: Kilt of the Forgotten Battle. This kilt looks really awesome. Unfortunately, it only drops off Heroic Cho’gall in Bastion of Twilight. You’ll need to bring a pretty skilled group with you if you want to farm it. It might be something to keep in mind for later in Mists of Pandaria when it might be easier to obtain.
- Chest: Circuit Design Breastplate. Another piece that might be tough to farm since it drops off Heroic Omnitron Defense System in Blackwing Descent. It is a perfect match for the Kilt, however.
- Belt: There are actually three identical belts that you could use for this, but all of them are fairly difficult to obtain at this time. Lifecycle Waistguard drops from Heroic Magmaw; Waistguard of Hatred drops from Heroic Valiona/Theralion; and Lightning Well Belt drops from Heroic Conclave of Wind.
- Feet: Treads of Flawless Creation. This is the last piece that will have you pulling your hair out on heroic bosses. They drop from Heroic Maloriak in Blackwing Descent. There is a look-alike piece available… but you have to down Sinestra to grab Boots of Az’galada. Probably easier to kill H. Maloriak, right? (Or re-roll to a race with digitigrade legs so you can’t see the boots anyway.)
- Hands: Handgrips of the Savage Emissary. These are much easier to obtain than the previous pieces as they drop from Cyanigosa in Heroic Violet Hold. The blue dots on the side match the blue of the shoulders perfectly, and the reddish brown matches the kilt.
- Wrist: Blackfathom Warbands. It isn’t strictly necessary to use these or any other specific bracers, as the set looks great on its own. However, these bracers add a band of gold at the elbow which matches the distressed gold on the shoulders. It’s a nice detail, but if you’d prefer the set without it then just find some short bracers that won’t be visible with the gloves.
- Weapon: Icecore Staff. There are a lot of weapons that look lovely with this outfit, but I could not resist the electric effect on this staff which matches that of the shoulders. In addition it has red leather wrapped around the shaft so it matches the kilt nicely. It’s pretty easy to farm as it drops from 10-man normal-mode Hodir in Ulduar — but only if you get the extra loot by completing “I Could Say That This Cache Was Rare“. Thankfully, it should be pretty easy to get the achievement with a small group of 85′s.
- Ranged Weapon: Final Voyage. As I said, this outfit works equally well for Shaman or Hunters, but if you’re a Hunter you’ll need a matching bow. This crossbow fits the bill perfectly. The blue matches the blue of the shoulders and the details on the kilt, while the reddish-brown matches the browns of the kilt and chest. Even the texture of the wood is similar to that of the kilt! The horns on the front are also a golden color, and even the metal details on the bow bring out the greys of the kilt and shoulders. It won’t be too difficult to farm either, as it drops from either Guth or the Four Horsemen in 25-man normal-mode Naxx.
Pieces Not Appearing in This Ensemble
- Helm. I hate mail helms. In my opinion, the only nice mail helms drop from Ragnaros or Ragnaros. Unfortunately, neither match this set. Just hide your helm.
- Back. There are no cloaks to match. The problem is that I’m pulling off a delicate balance between the red and blue elements of the design, and every cloak in the game is either too red or too blue, or looks nice from the front but not the back, or vice versa. I found that it’s much better to hide your cloak and allow the electric blue in the kilt to pick up the blue of the shoulders.
In Conclusion
So, will this outfit be enough to move me into the next round? I honestly have no idea. Either way I got a lot farther than I thought I would and had a lot of fun doing it. (Well, when I wasn’t driving myself crazy deciding between outfits and taking hundreds of screenshots.) We’ll see what the judges say in a couple of days!
Mog Madness Round 2 Entry
Mog Madness
Some of you might be looking at the title of this post and thinking, “What’s Mog Madness? And hey, wait– Round 2? Where’s Round 1?” Don’t worry, for all shall be explained.
Mog Madness is a transmogrification contest being co-hosted by three blogs: Effraeti’s RP, Amateur Azerothian, and Tome of the Ancient. For Round 1 they asked people to submit outfits for any of the cloth wearing classes, so I submitted my Priest’s transmog set. I entered on a whim and I didn’t expect to win. Mostly I just wanted to see all the other pretty entries and figured that entering myself would remind me to check the results. However, to my absolute surprise and delight I tied for first place!
And that was when I realised that I’d misunderstood the nature of the contest. You see, I assumed that because Round 1 was for Cloth outfits the subsequent rounds would be for different armor types. I figured that I would only enter a round if I had a really good outfit of whatever armor type, and otherwise I would just observe. But, oh no! That’s not how this contest is organized! It’s actually more like Survivor — the entries with the lowest scores are eliminated while everyone else moves on to the next round. Anyone who is eliminated gets to stay on as a judge and vote for their favourites in later rounds. This means that winning the first round obligated me to enter the second round as well!
To make Round 2 even more interesting the judges added a twist. They chose a specific polearm model that we had to base the set around. Because it’s a polearm the round would be limited to Hunters and Druids only — so either Mail or Leather armor. So, of course, I created one set of each armor type.
Now I can’t decide which set to enter. I’ve been staring at these images for two days! I like them both, and I don’t know how to decide between them. I solicited opinions from several friends and the votes were split exactly down the middle! (GAH! No help at all!) What I’m going to do is to write up descriptions for both, in the hope that doing so will help me decide. Then I’ll edit this post to put the set I’m entering first and the set I’m not entering second. (That process will be hidden from your perspective, dear reader.)
Ok? Ready? I can do this! Go!
** Three hours later, including a few sanity breaks… **
Graaaah! It’s still so hard to decide! I feel like no matter which outfit I pick it will be the wrong one and the judges will have liked the other one better. But I need to pick one. Just one. Ok, Magic 8 Ball, which one should I enter?
The answer is… The Mail Armor Set!
The Mail Armor Potential Official Entry
“Which class do you think best epitomizes BOTH the Hunter and the Shaman class?”
“Alliance or Horde?”
“Either.”
“Dwarf.”
“Yeah, that was my thought too.”
There’s something about putting a Hunter in a dress that really tickles my fancy. Perhaps because skirts are just never designed with Hunters in mind. Perhaps because I picture them getting all tangled up in the underbrush as they stalk their quarry. Or perhaps because it blends the Hunter and Shaman class expectations in a way that messes with the minds of others. Whatever the reason, I just really wanted to put a Hunter in a skirt. Because the final look was such a perfect blend of Hunter/Shaman I wanted to have a model that epitomized both philosophies. That could only be a Dwarf.
- Weapon: There were actually two polearms we could use: Glaive of the Pit and Marrowstrike. They are the same model and color, but Glaive of the Pit has a fiery enchant-like effect on it. For my red-haired Hunter gal I chose to go with the Glaive.
- Legs: Replica Kilt of Elements. As I said above, I really wanted to put my Hunter in a skirt. This kilt is absolutely perfect with this polearm too. It has the right color palette and has many golden triangular elements that compliment the spikiness of the polearm. Also, the orangish-brown panel in the center plays off the weapon enchant-effect and the color of our model’s hair. However, it’s a bit of a pain to farm as it’s only available from the Darkmoon Faire replica armor vendor.
- Chest: Rift Stalker Hauberk. This chest piece is a great match for the kilt. It has the blue, brown and gold coloration, the triangular bits, and it even picks up the lighter blue color of the “gems” in the kilt. It also has a chain-mail texture in the details that I very much like, as I prefer my gear to look like it’s made of the material it’s supposed to be made of.
- Shoulders: Stormforged Shoulders. I chose these shoulders to balance out the browns in the kilt, and also to add another shamanistic type of element. Again, there’s a spiky motif going on here. (The spikes match the bow I picked out for her too.) Also, the fur trim plays off the similar trim in the kilt.
- Wrists: Bands of the Celestial Archer. I’m really sad that you can’t see these. For one thing, they have an awesome name; but for another, they look just like the gloves, only more form-fitting. I loved the form-fitting look, but it seems there are absolutely no short, bracer-revealing, mail gloves. So disappointing.
- Hands: Rift Stalker Gauntlets. Similar to the look of the bracers, only not quite so lovely. Still, they are from the same set as the chest-piece, and a very nice match for the outfit overall. They have the same colors, some chain-mail detailing, little dots that match the belt (which I’ll get to in a moment), and it also has some fluid curved lines that remind me of the drape of the kilt. This is perhaps easiest to see in the back view.
- Back: Speaking of the back view, you’ll notice that I didn’t choose a cloak for her. I didn’t think any of the back-pieces matched well enough. They were either too refined or too primitive, or they had a clashing texture/pattern. I suppose if you really want to go all out you could farm up The Emperor’s New Cape, but otherwise just hide your cloak.
- Waist: Belt of the Black Eagle. This is the matching belt to the Rift Stalker set, but it’s crafted with Leatherworking. (The pattern drops in Serpentshrine Cavern.) This matches all the other elements of this set: the blue, the brown, the spiky bits, the dots around the side match those on the gloves — even the light blue “gem” in the middle that matches the ones on the chest and kilt. I really love how those light blue bits form a vertical line down the front and into the top part of the kilt.
- Feet: Unfortunate Treads. The name of these boots is appropriate, because unfortunately they are not really a good match for the outfit… At least, they wouldn’t be if you could see them. Thankfully only the toes poke out, and the toes are the best color match I could find. The other reason they are unfortunate is that these boots are a unique model that is only available as an Alliance quest reward from Hero’s Call: Redridge Mountains. After about level 20 I don’t think you can even pick up the quest! Still, I’m going to stick with them here because this Dwarven Hunter is just a baby and so could easily complete the quest and nab the shoes on her way to building this set.
- Ranged: Dragon Slayer’s Shortbow. This is a really cool bow that perfectly matches the browns and spiky motif of this outfit. It’s available as a quest reward in Sholazar Basin, or you can pick up the lookalike Trophy Gatherer from Gortok Palehoof in Utgarde Pinnacle.
The Leather Armor Potential Entry (which is totally not an entry — judges stop reading here).
Since we’re limited to the Druid class for our leather armor option, that means I also limited myself to races that can be Druids when choosing the toon to model my outfit. Unfortunately, Tauren, Trolls and Worgen have weird feet and the boots I chose didn’t look very good on them. Therefore, my model is a Night Elf, the only one I’ve ever rolled, and I rolled her specifically for this contest. I’ve fallen in love with her blue hair though, so it’s possible I might decide to level her one day. Maybe. (Hi, my name is Khizzara, and I’m an altoholic.)
- Weapon: Marrowstike. Because there’s nothing reddish about this outfit, I decided to go with Marrowstrike instead of Glaive of the Pit and avoid it’s glowing enchant effect.
- Legs: Moonchild Leggings. As soon as I saw these legs I knew they would be perfect with the polearm. I mean, they almost look like legs made of Marrowstrike. They have the same dark blue and the same spiky gold pattern. The giant leaves on the side also give the outfit a bit more Druid flavor.
- Chest: Felfire-Tainted Vest. A good color match with gold and brown details. It’s nice that the brown part mirrors the shape of the leaves on the legs somewhat. What’s really cool, however, is that this chest adds upper arm bands that perfectly match the bands of the gloves!
- Hands: Serpentis’ Gloves. These gloves match the blue and brown coloration, and look just like the upper arm bands from the chest-piece. Although they don’t have gold elements on their own, there’s a gap at the wrist where bracers can peek through — the perfect opportunity for adding some complimentary bracers!
- Wrists: Expedition Bracers. The gold portions of these bracers line up perfectly with both the gap in the Serpentis’ Gloves and the area near the elbow. Being able to combine the wrists and hands in this fashion makes it look like the hands are one unified, perfectly matching set piece.
- Shoulders: Spaulders of the Ring. Finding shoulders to match this look was quite difficult. Eventually I settled on these ones. They are a slightly lighter shade of blue, though the darker blue is present around the outside edges. The gold design recalls the spikes and swirls of the polearm and legs.
- Waist: Gem Studded Leather Belt. This belt matches the brown of the leaves on the legs and has a nice circular gold design that matches the gold elsewhere in the outfit. However, the main reason I chose it is because of the light blue stone in the center that ties into the light blue of the shoulders.
- Back: Crazy Cenarion Cloak. The name alone makes this the perfect cloak for a Druid. The lighter blue color also matches the shoulders and belt, tying the outfit together. And of course, the gold trim matches the gold in the other pieces.
- Feet: Nightmare Rider’s Boots. It was difficult to find boots that I liked with this outfit. Most of the boots were too distracting, even if they otherwise matched. I finally settled on these, even though the blue and brown is a little darker than in the other pieces.
With the lighter-colored shoulders and darker-colored feet this outfit has a bit of a gradient to it that I like. Because the lighter colors are near the top it helps to draw attention to her face. Matching her hair to the blue of the chest and legs also pulls that color up past the shoulders, balancing them out. This outfit also seems very practical, and I can easily imagine sentinels wearing it as they go about their duties. However, my absolute favourite part of the ensemble is the interplay between the gloves and bracers.
Concluding Thoughts
Well, that’s finally done. That took a lot of time and effort, let me tell you! I hope the judges like my entry… but then again, if I make it through Round 2 I have to do this all over again for Round 3! Ahhhh! D:
I’d also like to give a HUGE thank you to all my friends who gave me their opinion as I tried to decide which outfit to enter. I’m sure half of you are really pleased that I entered “your” outfit, and the other half are slightly disappointed that I didn’t enter the one you liked best. You’re welcome and I’m sorry respectively. Also, thanks for putting up with my endless transmog chatter this week!
