Raiding After Dark: looking good

Showing posts with label looking good. Show all posts

Friday, April 13, 2012

This Is How I Mog (April, '12 edition)

I played with the idea of making some very specific mog-sets in the past, and have had the luck of getting a few drops that let me finish my sets. These might not look incredibly creative but I like complete sets and I think a good way to set the look of a full-set apart is, as my friend Maara said, to accent it with a couple of off-set items that compliment the themes. It's a very good way to distinguish the uniqueness of your character, I think.

Given that, here are my sets that I'm using now, and will likely use until either I get bored of them (unlikely) or Pandaria (very likely).

ARMOR OF RADIANT GLORY
This to me is the best paladin tanking set in game right now. The white and gray accents are lovely, they match well, the feathered shoulders are delicate but evocative, and with a good tabard, you can hide the hideous plate-belly-shirt. Of course, snagging Holy feet and belt to complete the look is important and you can luckily buy both of them from Valor vendors along with almost all the other pieces. So, if you can win the Shoulders the rest of the set can be purchased with Valor making this an easy 'mog to put together and yet I almost never see people in it.

The accents here are the weapons. The sword is Honor's Call which comes from being Exalted with Honor Hold in Hellfire Penninsula (many thanks to Maara for suggesting the sword.) The shield is the current Season Conquest PvP shield (which I splurged on despite the fact that I don't play Holy-PvP). Here are all the pieces I'm using. Oh, and no helm, no cloak.

Slot	Item
Shoulder	Shoulderguards of Radiant Glory
Chest	Chestguard of Radiant Glory
Tabard	Argent Crusader's Tabard
Hands	Handguards of Radiant Glory
Belt	Dragonfracture Belt
Pants	Legguards of Radiant Glory
Boots	Pillarfoot Greaves
Sword	Honor's Call
Shield	Cataclysmic Gladiator's Redoubt

ARMOR OF VINDICATION

If the objective of PvP armor is to make you feel like a bad-ass while giving your class as aggressive a look a look without descending into farce and brutality, then this set manages the look hands down. Even the helm is awesome! However, the belt is a bit under-whelming so I'm using an off-set belt which matches it quite nicely. Also, I don't have the feet quite yet as I can't splurge on Transmog gear just yet, but I will have the matching feet by the time the set is finished.

However - the sword is what takes this set over the top. Ashkandi has always looked good but it seems to just match this set in a way I can't describe - the colors accent well, the scale and size of it just brilliantly reflects the kind of sheer power and burst Paladins can bring to bear, while being majestic and graceful - it never seems brutal. If it could reflect a subtle, smoking enchantment of some sort, it could be perfect. No cloak, no helm. Pure awesome.

Slot	Item
Shoulder	Cataclysmic Gladiator's Scaled Shoulders
Chest	Cataclysmic Gladiator's Scaled Chestpiece
Hands	Cataclysmic Gladiator's Scaled Gauntlets
Belt	Cataclysmic Gladiator's Girdle of Prowess
Pants	Cataclysmic Gladiator's Scaled Legguards
Boots	Cataclysmic Gladiator's Greaves of Alacrity (Shown: Cataclysmic Gladiator's Warboots of Cruelty)
Sword	Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Guest Post: Doing The 'Mog Right

I know plenty of awesome 'Mogeres but none who've decked out every one of their alts in awesome and unique sets like my co-tank and DK extraordinaire, Miss Maara. I've convinced her to write out her process and guide, and she was gracious enough to do a guest post. There are 5 distinct sets listed here, and they really show the breadth of her design, from a very practical outfits for her Priest and Mage to the more ethereal and gloomy outfit for her Druid. The 'mogs on the Shaman and DK are a blending of the two, with more flash and cool-factor built in. If you're looking for some custom and unique sets, these might give you some ideas. I love 'em - enjoy!

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My friend and fellow Turtle Saif has asked me to write a guest blog for Raiding After Dark on the subject of Transmogrification. Here's my go at it, but please don't blame me if it sucks. Blame Saif. It was totally his idea.

I guess the basic root of finding a good 'mog set is determining what, exactly, makes a look "good." This, of course, is extremely subjective. Some people love shiny sparklies while others prefer a more subdued look. Still others favor a look from an old raid set from the Days of Yore.

Buuuuuut, since Saif asked Yours Truly, you'll get my opinion and you'll like it!

Generally speaking, my philosophy for creating a solid 'mog look is to pick one or two items that you want to showcase, and choose the rest of the outfit around that. That piece can be thematic to the character, or simply awesome-looking, but whatever it is, the key is to make it shine (and I don't mean literally.)

To illustrate, I'll go though a few examples of this philosophy.

This is my shaman, Lumena. She's not my main, but she's my most showy 'mog currently. It took me a while to decide how to show her off... the draenei are somewhat under-represented lore-wise, so I decided on a look that was mostly "draenei" with less emphasis on the wild, shaman-y aspect. My starting point was actually the shield, though it was the last item I managed to acquire. It was uniquely draenei-looking, and the set flowed from that. I was lucky that the entire [Steadfast] set fit well, with a sort of aged, yet polished look. The [Mantle of the Sea Wolf] are the dash of shaman, and I chose them for that along with the color scheme that fit so well. The [Vicious Spellblade] I chose simply because its ambient effect overwrites any enchant effect and Power Torrent gives me a headache.

An outfit doesn't have to "match" though, to be a solid look. My mage, Kaelie, for example, or my priest, Lilienne, both sport looks that are more subdued. My mage I picture as something of a woodsy, active sort of person. I started with the [Legwraps of the Master Conjurer], a texture I'd noticed and loved back in Wrath. The rest just sort of fell into place... so many chest items look great with them! Once more, I chose a dagger based on mageyness and the ability to nullify the Power Torrent appearance.

Similarly, with my priest, I wanted her to look like a priest-on-the-go. (She served at the Cathedral in Gilneas, but is now at home in Stormwind). Her mace was the main piece of the set, and I let it carry the rest, keeping her simple and (I hope) subtle.

The set I am most proud of at the moment is my DK's frost gear. I started with a shoulder model, [Chilled Shoulderplates], that I absolutely loved. I wanted to convey the idea of a frozen, fallen Sentinel, so I chose smooth armor that matched the plate of the shoulders. I also loves the pattern on [Permafrost Cape], so when weapons don't clip it, I turn it on. For the weapons themselves I am currently 'mogged to [Stellaris] because it feels almost like a Night Elf glaive, but I've also enjoyed the look of [Teldrassil Protector], because it is very much in keeping with Maara's theme and color scheme.

Most recently I've put together a look for my resto druid, who is something of a wanna-be-devotee of Malorne (and the self-appointed intern of Elrahd). The center item for her was the [Druidic Helmet of Second Sight] and the rest followed easily enough. I find that matching your cloak to either your helm or your shoulder piece allows for a consistent look while still contrasting nicely with any given look. I'm not entirely happy with it, but the ideal black leather pieces drop from ToC and will take longer to get! For now the basic leather set works nicely and [Brutal Gladiator's Staff] is perfect to accent it.

Yeah, maybe I have a 'mogging addiction. Maybe it's some deep-seated girly urge to play dress-up. Whatever it is, I love transmogrification!

The next set on the table is going to be a tougher one to tackle: my little gnome Gnelly is convinced that she's a hunter and once she's 85 I'm determined to have her look like one. My plan is something along the lines of this, but I guess we'll see how it goes!

For anyone wanting to play with hunting down great transmogrification ideas, Mogit is a fantastic addon, if you have the space to run it. Otherwise, just find an item you love, and just choose everything else with it its awesomeness in mind! Even if you have a favorite pair of boots, or an extra lucky hat, you're already halfway to an awesome 'mog!

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If you're interested, here are the complete looks above:

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Then & Now

Vidyala over at Manaliciou posted a "Then & Now" theme a couple of weeks ago which I intended to get to, but to find some screen-shots I wanted to use, I had to boot-up a machine that hadn't seen the light of day since 2007. Still, it was worth digging through it just for the one image I did want, and remembered, and yes, it was there.

Now, keep in mind that my Paladin who has been my main focus since the day Wrath launched was not my first character. Or second. Or third. But my Paladin is my main at this point, and forever more, and that's the history I'll be tracking.

I rolled my first character, a human Mage, in the summer of 2007, got him to ~50 or so and shortly thereafter, a human Warrior and got him ~40 or so, before my wife who was my leveling partner took a break in late 2007. I decided to wait for her, and rolled a Night Elf Druid to play on my own and got him all the way up to 70 in early 2008, before the other two even reached Outland.

My Druid was my first love, and I played the hell out of him all through TBC, and sometime in mid-2008, while rolling through Z'A on my Druid, I rolled my Paladin to pass the time after raiding with a couple of them and enjoying their flashy spells, especially compared to the dull bears (remember, this was pre-reskin, when bears were horrifically ugly and boring to look at). I loved the Druid class, but didn't enjoy being in a shape-shifted form all the time and I wanted to look at all my shiny Tier 4 stuff, damnit!

Paladins pre-Wrath were a very strange affair - there were multiple Judgments and multiple Seals which interacted with each other in strange ways, the Seals had a very short duration and there were just an insane number of Blessings, no taunt other than Righteous Defense, spell-power was a think we had to worry about... anyway, it was a pain, but I enjoyed the look and feel of the class regardless.

Here's the oldest picture I could find of Joachim, somewhere in the late 40s, early 50s, having chopped off the head of an ogre and stuck it on a post while giving a thumbs-up. As you do.

I liked the look of a baldy-face and I had to have a Van Dyke just to hide that horrible lip-curl that Human males have. When patch 3.0 hit and all the huge Paladin changes came down, I just fell in love with the class and despite myself, leveled him to 70 first and began raiding in earnest, even joining my first hard-core 25-person raiding guild during Ulduar. Here he is, having grown a lot of hair and letting his beard down for the cold Continent, decked out in a set of T9, hanging out with some Sentinels.

During T10, I made a brief, ill-advised foray into Horde territory, though I have to admit, Joachim looked pretty damned hot as a Blood-Elf.

But that couldn't last and he reverted to his dumpy human self shortly thereafter. Here he is, with the Turtles guild, all surrounded by friends and, um, turtles, at our first guild kill of Lichy. It's so heartwarming to know that I still raid or know the majority of the people in this picture.

After playing a Blood Elf and seeing the awesome animations and smooth textures of the higher quality model, humans became even more difficult to put up with. Besides, my RP days were behind me, I had a lot of trouble staying with the character, so I wrote him a farewell and with Cataclysm, made the biggest change yet.

Joachim was dead, and I created Innana a female Draenei. I loved this look and honestly wish I could have stayed with it.

Alas, it was not to be. With no lore forthcoming for the Draenei after the announcement of Pandas, I had to revert back to the base race for the Alliance for the sake of story and immersion. I need to feel like my character (and I) have a huge, vested interest in the world and setting, and are really, really committed and I don't feel like the Draenei have that going for them at all except for Valen saying "Trust me."

So back to the base races again but which one? The Dwarves were too silly for me, so I elected to became human again. Only human again.

This is how I looked last night when I logged out.

I think I've finally settled on something that makes me happy - being Alliance feels like home, and being Human give me plenty of immersion and story and incentive to do things in game. The human female is a world better than the human male and my armor looks fantastic.

For the first time since I faction-transferred to the Horde, I'm finally satisfied with my character. I can't imagine changing again, but based on my past, who can say!

Thanks again to Vidyala for an awesome theme. I had a lot of fun parsing through tons of screen-shots to make this.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Paladin Transmog Sets - Part 2

Right now I'm sporting a mixture of the first set I made, with a different shield than the one I showed there. Mostly because Human Female model covers her entire face with the shield and it's not a lot of fun. Also, I quite like the model's face so I'm actually not using the helm right now.

Anyway, once I do start to build up some Tier 13 gear, I'll be switching to a more contemporary look. However, there are some issues I have with the full Paladin set. Mostly with the fact that it brings back the bare midriff. Ugh.

Thankfully, we also happen to have an amazing PvP set this season, and with Conquest available through daily Random BGs at a reasonable pace, we can build what I think is a truly unique and inspirational, Paladin-y set.

I really like this set and I think this is what I'm going to be wearing till MoP comes out. The added benefit is that you can get a LOT of this gear without ever having to set foot into the raid. The only thing you'll need from the raid are the shoulders. Almost everything else is purchasable with Conquest or Valor.

The Shoulders, Hands and Legs are all Paladin Tier 13 gear, but, you can also buy the off-set pieces from the Valor vendor, or get the off-set healer pieces from the raid. I'll have to wind up buying or getting the healer Belt and Boots somehow myself. The Conquest sword and shield are absolutely amazing. Some of the best art that has come into the game in a long time. They're beautiful, but functional, and they are absolutely on-mark for Paladins.

The chest, sword and shield are all from Conquest gear. I'll be doing Arenas on Innana this season, so I expect to be able to get the weapon and shield fairly easily, however, I won't be doing it as Protection so it'll be a bit of a point-sink just for aesthetics. But oh, so worth it. Look at those gear - just absolutely lovely and perfect for a Light-wielding warrior. The cloak is actually a throw-back to ICC, and is purchasable with Justice for cheap. I like the colors as they synchronize well with the blue in the shield.

If you're a fan of helmets, I would recommend you forgo the winged Tier helm and actually grab the PvP conquest helm as well - it fits in quite nicely with the rest of the set and actually makes you look a bit like an avenging and wrathful angel of some sort straight out of the Old Testament.

Here are the individual items in detail and a link to the base set for you to start messing with.

Gloves: Handguards of Radiant Glory (Valor alternative: )
Leges: Legguards of Radiant Glory (Valor alternative: )
Shoulders: Shoulderguards of Radiant Glory
Chest: Cataclysmic Gladiator's Ornamented Chestguard (Conquest)
Belt: Blinding Girdle of Truth (Valor)
Boots: Silver Sabatons of Fury (Valor)
Sword: Cataclysmic Gladiator's Slicer (Conquest)
Shield: Cataclysmic Gladiator's Barrier (Conquest)
Cloak: Sentinel's Winter Cloak (Justice)

Helm: Cataclysmic Gladiator's Ornamented Headcover (Conquest)

If you are still dedicated to using the Tier chest, you can always sport it with an undershirt to eliminate the midriff. It doesn't fit perfectly, but the result isn't terrible either. Lastly, you always have the option of using a good looking Tabard to cloak yourself - but if you do this, I'd recommend ditching the cloak. You have some pretty good options here, and the set is just lovely. I've linked alternate set pictures below so you can decide what works best for you.

With a Formal White Shirt.

With the Argent Crusader's Tabard, sans cloak.

I realize this set is expensive to make in terms of the time commitment required to get all the items, but I think it's worth it in the long run. It's one of the best looks I can imagine for a Paladin that's in the game right now. Enjoy!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Paladin Transmog Sets - Part 1

In case you weren't sure, I'm really, really, really excited for Transmogrify. I'm a stickler for the way gear looks, I want my character to look powerful, regal and heroic. I want her to be dressed as a sword-wielding shield-bashing name-taking blood-spilling holy warrior of the Light would dress. That is to say, not wearing plate bikinis and exposing a flat mid-riff in the hopes of distracting her enemies.

So I'm going to make a catalog of various sets I'm planning to use - I'm sure I'll swap between these as the mood and whim strikes. I'll start with my hands-down absolutely favorite, best remembered set from the last two years that I actually gained and used actively while playing that I haven't worn in close to a year - the Sanctified Lightsworn Plate. This is the set in it's unadulterated glory:

It certainly isn't bad on it's own,and it might be fine for healing, or even DPS but I think tanking sets just look better without a skirt. I adore paladin sets with with plate skirts, but I think functionally they work as ceremonial or for healing at best. And besides, can you imagine her being able to kite mobs in that skirt? I don't think so. The set itself is dramatic and striking, the visor is unique, the glow and effects and the details of the ribbon are lovely and I like the way it works even when you color shift it for some glamour shots.

So, taking the head and shoulders as a base, and relying exclusively on Icecrown gear, I build into this.

Paladin Transmogrify Set: Modified Sanctified Lightsworn Plate
(link to full set)

The set uses a lot of stuff you can easily purchase from Vendors or get crafted:

Head: Lightsworn Faceguard (1100 JP)
Shoulders: Lightsworn Shoulderguards (695 JP)
Chest: Lightsworn Chestguard (1100 JP)
Legs: Pillars of Might (crafted)
Hands: Gauntlets of the Kraken (695 JP)
Boots: Boots of Kingly Upheaval (crafted)
Belt: Lich Killer's Lanyard (695 JP)
Shield: Icecrown Glacial Wall. Drops from Blood Queen Lana'thel in 25s - alternately, you can buy an almost-look-alike from the legacy PvP gear vendor in SW/Org called Wrathful Gladiator's Redoubt for 190 Honor. It comes in 3 colors so you can find the one you like best. It's not as nice as the Glacial Wall but for being so easy to obtain it's absolutely a good substitute.

The only thing you might actually have to go hunting for is this:

Weapon: The Facelifter. Drops from Professor Putricide in 10s - alternately, you can use the Soul Blade, a BoE sword from Bastion of Twilight that's fairly easily found and looks quite good.

Of course, I would have much rather used the purchased off-set Tanking chest piece, but it suffers from bare-midriff-itis. You can mitigate it with a black undershirt somewhat, but the colors and patterns don't quite match up. The caster belt helps transition between the warrior tier legs and the Paladin tier chest piece quite nicely. I don't use a cloak with it because it just looks much better without it.

UPDATE POST PATCH 4.3!!
It's one thing to plan an outfit and another to wear it. I found the shield and sword to just not be up to my standards in game, in terms of look and feel, and while it might work for you, the shield in particular was just too big and disguised my character's face far too much. I wound up using the Soul Blade and a vintage shield called Brutal Gladiator's Barrier that you can buy from the retro PvP vendor in Stormwind/Orgrimmar the same as the PvP shield I linked above for a small amount of Honor. Here's how I look in game right now:

Pretty snazzy, if I may say so myself!

Next time, I'll look at modifying Tier 13 to be even more bad-ass than it already is, by eliminating the bare-mid-riff and tweaking the look slightly with different weapons and cloaks.

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Friday, April 13, 2012

This Is How I Mog (April, '12 edition)

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Guest Post: Doing The 'Mog Right

Lumena (Shaman)

Maara (Death Knight)

Lilienne (Priest)

Celaen (Druid)

Kaelie (Mage)