Kamalia of the Earthen Ring and other new Transmogrifications

While I was working on my FFW gift for Dahakha, I concluded that it was high time that I had an official “of the Earthen Ring” Transmogrification kit for Kamalia. The shaman of the Earthen Ring who appear at the Temple of Earth in Deepholm and in various other Cataclysm sites wear a variety of outfits, some Tier or PvP sets and some mix-and-match, so I think this ensemble would fit right in.

Headcover of the Speaker, Mystical Pauldrons of Elements, Skyshatter Chestguard, Renegade Belt, Spiritwalker’s Handwraps, Tabard of the Earthen Ring, Carapace Breaker, Zom’s Crackling Bulwark

Winter Veil having ended, my alts queued up at the Ethereals to exchange their festive Transmogrification kits for more everyday apparel. Some of them just went back to what they had been wearing before. Others made relatively small modifications to convert their holiday outfits into regular wear. And a few decided they needed something new.

La Tortuguera

Turtle Scale hat leggings & gloves, Bog Epaulets, Tortoise Armor, Unyielding Waistband, Moccasins of Verdurous Glooms, Cerulean Filigreed Doublet, Taut Driftwood Bow
All other items that match the Tortoise Armor style are leather. Prior to Cataclysm, there were a few leather items that also matched it in coloration. Thus, this chestpiece is unique among mail items and posed an interesting challenge for making a coordinating Transmogrification kit.
An Elemental or Resto Shaman should use one of the turtle shell shields with this set.

Merciless Magistrix

Crown of Endless Knowledge, Merciless Gladiator’s Silk Amice & Raiment, Gossamer Belt, Brightcloth Gloves, Cushy Cenarion Walkers, Invincible Stave, Stylish Red Shirt
During a recent Horde-side LBR excursion to Tempest Keep, Kaelinda was lucky enough to pick up the T5 shoulder and chestpiece tokens. I decided to turn them in at Quel’Danas for the PvP items because I’ve always liked the rich, jewel-like colors of the Merciless Gladiator’s Silk set.

To see the rest, check the Fashion tab to see which “Things my Characters Wear” posts have been updated most recently.

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Things my Hunters Wear

A collection of Transmogrification Template Kits actually worn in-game by my Tauren Hunters. I will update it whenever I change my in-game TTK. Items that are no longer obtainable are marked with an asterisk (*).

Dressed to Kill I


Cured Orcascale Spaulders, Dark Iron Mail, Bonelink belt gloves & boots, Bloodmail Legguards*, White Tuxedo Shirt/Stylish Black Shirt, Ironfeather Longbow
Because a mail pastel-hued “Elegant Dress”-type outfit had a high probability of turning out exceedingly similar to my mail Darkmoon Faire outfit, I decided to make a black and white “Spring Tuxedo”-type outfit instead.
This outfit takes its name from the stylish apparel provided by Blingtron 4000.

Voodoo Hunter

Defiler’s Mail Pauldrons, Dragonkiller Tunic, Warmonger’s Belt, Shifting Camouflage Pants, Gauntlets of Sniping, Ravager’s Sandals, Voodoo Hunting Bow
When I went looking for items to use with the level 85 T11-recolor Dragonkiller Tunic, the teal tones of the agility versions of the level 70 Zul’Aman mail coordinated excellently. The copper tones of the belt and boots provide a nice burst of complementary color and also tie in the bindings of the bow.

Sin’dorei Sentinel

Ravager’s Mantle, Silvermoon Armor, Ornate Girdle, Electrostatic Legguards, Gauntlets of Divinity*, Radiant Boots, Skyfire Hawk-Bow
A post by Samaramon of “Sin’Draenei” outfits reminded me that I had a mail outfit planned using the same tunic and bow.
I recommend the Glimmering Mail gloves & boots for those who don’t have the Gauntlets of Divinity from old Scarlet Monastery.

Argent and Aurum

First Responder’s Pauldrons, Kadrak’s Breastplate, Myrmidon’s Girdle, Electrostatic Legguards, Mail Combat gauntlets & boots
An ideal outfit for any mail-wearer who wishes to declare his or her allegiance to the Argent Crusade.

Brigade Champion

Champion Herod’s Shoulder, Brigade breastplate belt & boots, Fort Livingston Legguards, Scarlet Gauntlets*
If you don’t have the Scarlet Gauntlets, use the Merciless gloves and boots.

La Tortuguera

Turtle Scale hat leggings & gloves, Bog Epaulets, Tortoise Armor, Unyielding Waistband, Moccasins of Verdurous Glooms, Cerulean Filigreed Doublet, Taut Driftwood Bow
All other items that match the Tortoise Armor style are leather. Prior to Cataclysm, there were a few leather items that also matched it in coloration. Thus, this chestpiece is unique among mail items and posed an interesting challenge for making a coordinating Transmogrification kit.
An Elemental or Resto Shaman should use one of the turtle shell shields with this set.

War Paint II

Ravager’s Mantle, War Paint chest belt gloves & boots, Turtle Scale leggings, Taut Driftwood Bow, Sawbones Shirt*
With its bold red and green colors, the War Paint set makes a wonderful Winter Veil outfit for a mail-wearing character. The War Paint belt and pants have identical graphics, so I prefer to use the Turtle Scale Leggings instead.
The Red or Green Workman’s Shirt would also work nicely in this outfit.

Darkmoon Sharpshooter

Bog Epaulets, Turtle Scale chestpiece & leggings, Netherstalker belt gloves & boots, Cloak of the Darkmoon Faire, Taut Driftwood Bow, Bright Yellow Shirt
The Green Dragonscale chestpiece and leggings would also work nicely in this set.

Blue Moon


Ironpatch Shoulderguards, Chestpiece of Returning Strength, Stormbringer Belt, Sea Legs, Swamp Gas Gauntlets, Misshapen Boots, Night Elven Bow
Some of the quest reward sets from the revamped level 1-60 content are really quite nice. The beautiful bow is another legacy of Kawneiha having spent her first 40-odd levels as a Worgen.

Stormscale

Stormscale set, Master Builder’s Shirt, Spare Gunship Cannon
A rather barbaric look. The helm is very similar in style to those worn by male Centaurs.
The crafted Stormscale set, which can be worn by level 85 characters, is identical to several quest rewards from the highest-level zones in Pandaria. I like some of the recolors better; whereas Kamalia has long since discarded or Transmogrified over this set, Ketura may actually keep some of the items from the other color schemes.

Dragon Quake

Helm of Affinity, Dragon-Quake Shoulderguards, Shamblehide Chestguard, Tracker’s Belt, Scale Leggings of the Skirmisher, Lord’s gloves & boots, Cloak of Beasts, Master Builder’s Shirt, Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle
Shhh, be vewy vewy quiet… I’m hunting dwagons!

Royal Blue


Helm of Affinity, Pauldrons of the Promise, Nexus-Stalker chest & leggings, Dreadhawk’s Girdle, Radiant gloves & boots, Vicious Fur Cloak, Blue Workman’s Shirt, Seliza’s Spear, Amber Messenger, Ramkahen Tabard
I assembled this outfit to wear with the Ramkahen Tabard, but it would be wonderful for an Alliance Hunter (particularly a Human), with or without the Stormwind or Knight’s tabards.

Gilneas City Guard

Totem-Caller Hood, Purifying Spaulders, Troggbane Chestguard, Lord’s Girdle (without tabard) or Dreadhawk’s Girdle (with tabard), Groundshort Leggings, Silencer’s Gauntlets, Rockslide Treads, Vicious Fur Cloak, Blue Workman’s Shirt, Ramkahen Tabard
Except for the belt, this set, obtained by questing in Deepholm/Vashj’ir, is identical to the uniforms of the Gilneas City Guards. Because of its dull blue & gold colors, I wore it with the Ramkahen Tabard until I finished assembling the Royal Blue set, but Human or Worgen Hunters should wear it with the Gilneas Tabard and cloak!

War Paint I

Helm of Affinity, Drakesfire Epaulets, War Paint chestpiece, Scarlet Belt*, Bloodmail Legguards*, War Paint gloves & boots, Sawbones Shirt*
The Voidscale Belt is an adequate substitute for the Scarlet Belt, the Red Workman’s Shirt is an okay substitute for the Sawbones Shirt, and the Ebonhold Leggings could be used in place of the Bloodmail Legguards… but it wouldn’t be quite the same.

Ancient Lichen

Sparkleshell Mantle, Guerilla Breastplate, Gol’Bolar Miner’s Belt, Marsh Fire Legguards, Ancient gloves & boots, Darktide Cape, Crossbow of the Crown
Some of these items are Alliance-specific quest rewards — Kawneiha spent her first 42 levels as a Worgen.

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and Hunter makes four

Huzzah, I will be going out of Cataclysm with more 85s than I had 80s coming in!

When she dinged 85, Ketura was wearing a Transmogrification Template Kit assembled around the Bloodmail Legguards and Sawbones Shirt from Scholomance — a “red shift” outfit inspired by the very cool “Blue Shift” TTK that the Godmother created for her Night Elf Hunter using the same pants.

Helm of Affinity, Drakesfire Epaulets, War Paint chestpiece, Scarlet Belt, Bloodmail Legguards, War Paint gloves and boots, Sawbones Shirt

I have had the War Paint pieces in my bank for a long time already because I like to use them with the Turtle Scale set.

Turtle Scale set with Bog Epaulets, Unyielding Belt, and Lord’s Sabatons; mixtures of Turtle Scale set and War Paint set, with all combinations using the Turtle Scale Leggings — I will probably be using one or another of these combinations as Ketura’s TTK during Winter Veil this year

I plan to use this combination at some point in the future, when I can get all the pieces assembled.

Bloodmail Legguards and Sawbones Shirt with Talhide Shoulderguards, Scarlet Belt, and Battleforge/Blood Knight chest, gloves, and boots.

It also occurred to me that the Bloodmail Legguards + Sawbones Shirt combination might work well with the Dragon-Quake Shoulderguards.

I liked the look of the Barbaric Iron items, but I soon found that I liked the Lord’s gloves and boots even better.
I then tested the Lord’s gloves and boots with the Shamblehide Chestguard/Tracker’s Belt/Scale Leggings of the Skirmisher combination I was already considering for use with these shoulders, and I think I like that kit best of all! The blue-black Master Builder’s Shirt coordinates better with the shoulders than the Sawbones shirt, however. I’ve already farmed up the Master Builder’s Shirt from BRD — a much quicker and less obnoxious farm than getting the Sawbones Shirt from Scholomance! — but I still need to hit up the Outland dungeons for the recolored Beastmaster items.

In the meantime, the Agility head enchant comes from Ramkahen, which means that Ketura will be wearing the bright blue and gold Ramkahen tabard while she runs Heroics. Ramkahen is my favorite Cataclysm tabard, but it doesn’t coordinate with the black and red of the Bloodmail Legguards + Sawbones Shirt at all! So until I can assemble all the pieces for this set that I showed as an alternate for Mog Madness Round 2, I’ll be using the dull gold and blue Deepholm leveling set (also the inspiration for my High-Society Gilnean Mail set) as Ketura’s TTK. Yes, deliberately.

Left: Pauldrons of the Promise, Nexus-Strider chestpiece, Dreadhawk’s Girdle, Nexus-Strider leggings, Radiant Gloves & Boots, Vicious Fur Cloak, Blue Workman’s Shirt, Ramkahen Tabard — the rate-limiting step of completing this ensemble will be getting my Blacksmith’s skill up high enough to craft the Radiant items
Right: Purifying Spaulders, Troggbane Chestguard, Dreadhawk’s Girdle, Groundshort Leggings, Silencer’s Gauntlets, Rockslide Treads, Vicious Fur Cloak, Blue Workman’s Shirt, Ramkahen Tabard

(as an aside: While running Scholomance over and over and over trying to get the black pants and the crimson shirt to drop, I started contemplate what the place would look like all cleaned up and redecorated — or, rather, restored to the grandeur it had before the Barovs sold their souls to the Cult of the Damned.

The fancy wrought iron candlestands can stay — just get rid of the skulls and fill them all with the white candles. All those crypt niches could be filled with books or statuettes or exotic magical devices. I think it could be rather luxurious! Something would really have to be done about that nasty seepage in the subbasement, though.)

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what to wear with your Spring Circlet

Between administrating the GBNEH3, collecting 20 eggs a day with each of sixteen alts (in the first half of the week, dropping off to just seven by the end of the week), and Mog Madness, I didn’t manage to do anything fashion-related during Noblegarden itself this year. So I’m doing it now, a bit belatedly — but before Children’s Week, at least!

Because the Spring Circlets themselves cannot be used as transmogrification templates, these outfits are not Transmogrification-friendly — they are purely for RP use.

(White) Spring Circlet

Aurora Robe, Aurora tunic & trousers, extras are Formal White Shirt & Feline Mantle & some Darkshore quest rewards

Spring Robes with Formal White Shirt + Magician’s Mantle + Aurora or Serenity Belt, Gossamer Robe & Shoulders

Mooncloth Robe with Formal White or Pink Mageweave Shirt

Astralaan Robe, White Traditional Hanbok

White Wedding Dress, Elegant Dress

Black Spring Circlet

Tuxedo (with or without jacket)

Black Festival Suit, Pilgrim’s Attire

Shadow Council tunic & trousers + Silver-Thread Sash + Bandit Boots + Antique Cufflinks, Master’s Vest & Belt + White Swashbuckler’s Shirt + Astralaan Pants + Buccaneer’s Boots

Runecloth Robe, Black Velvet Robe + Belt of Arugal, Robe of Arugal

White Woolen Dress, Simple Black Dress (both shown with Pink Mageweave Shirt)

Red Traditional Hanbok, Formal Dangui

Lovely Black Dress + Pink Mageweave Shirt, Vestments of the Shifting Sands + Master Builder’s Shirt + Darkweave Breeches, Elegant Dress

Black Mageweave Vest + Tux pants + Pink Mageweave Shirt + Silver-Thread Gloves & Boots, Dusky Leather Armor + Scouting Pants & Belt & Boots + Bandit Gloves

Pink Spring Circlet

Elegant Dress + Cerulean Filigreed Doublet + Feline Mantle, Blue Overalls + Pink Mageweave Shirt + Rusty Pitchfork

White Traditional Hanbok, Seer’s Robe, Fur Covered Robe

Pink Festival Dress + Dreadwing Skin Belt or Buccaneer’s Belt

Barbaric Cloth Robe + Pink Mageweave Shirt, Robes of the Exalted + Pink Mageweave Shirt + Arachnidian Bracers + Sage’s Boots, Robes of the Guardian Saint with same accessories, Teal Festival Suit

Lovely Blue Dress + Pink Mageweave Shirt; maybe we’ll get the Kezan partygoer’s Blue Bunny circlet in another few years?

I would really love to have a light pink version of the Councillor’s Sash to wear with the Spring Circlets!

~*~*~

I didn’t really dig the three pink tallstriders thing during Love is in the Air. Or, at any rate, I didn’t dig it enough to want to compete for Lovely Charms as a level 82 character against raid-geared level 85 characters on a PvP server (I didn’t even do my Argent Tournament dailies during that holiday, because my quest mobs were too popular of a charm-farming spot), nor did I dig it enough to want to stalk and tame Mazzranache.

But the idea of three differently colored tallstriders, that I rather liked. So Ketura stayed at the Argent Tournament until she could get the Mulgore Hatchling, as well as her Darkspear Raptor mounts. She’d already gone out and tamed a Lost Torranche to mimic a level 1 Tauren Hunter’s pet (she herself began adventuring long before Hunters got pets at level 1). During Noblegarden, she collected 100 chocolates every day, starting on Monday, and got her Springstrider on Friday. Together, they are quite a Noblegarden-ish flock of birds indeed!

Interlaced Cowl (grey-quality cloth), Bog Epaulets, Turtle Scale Breastplate, Lord’s Girdle, Turtle Scale Leggings, Turtle Scale Gloves, Netherstorm Greaves, Stargazer Cloak (no longer obtainable in-game), Pink Mageweave Shirt, Emerald Ripper

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Mog Busting for Tallys, the Orc Huntress

Shoryl has kicked off a new Transmogrification challenge!

It goes like this:

Tag another blogger to create a mog outfit for one of your toons. But that’s not all. To get a really good mog outfit, they’re going to need a little bit of background. So here’s what info you should provide:

Character name, race and gender (and server, so they can go look at things like hair color and facial features!)

Character class (and spec, if you feel it’s important)

If desired, an item you’d like them to use in the outfit

A sentence or two about your character’s personality, or what you’re looking for in the outfit.

Cymre was the first one tagged, and she created two great outfits for Shoryl’s Dwarf Priest, Sruith. Now Cymre has tagged moi to create a look for her Orc Hunter, Tallys, using the Rough Bronze Cuirass. Cymre notes that Tallys doesn’t do end-game raiding, prefers bows and crossbows to guns, and is a skilled leatherworker with most of the patterns obtained from drops.

Taking Tallys’ Leatherworking profession as my major inspiration for her Transmogrification Template Kit, I chose the Tough Scorpid Leggings for the pants and the Heavy Scorpid Belt for the waist. The Warmonger’s Shoulders and Malefactor’s Eyepatch coordinated handsomely.

I found three sets of gloves & boots that I liked:

bright Barbaric Iron (crafted, blacksmithing), mid-toned Tough Scorpid (crafted, leatherworking), and dark Savage Gladiator (Ring of Law event in BRD).

Using the mid-tone gloves with the dark boots produced the overall appearance that I liked best.

Advanced Flatbow, Nightstalker Bow, Under-Arm Crossbow (shown with Mail Combat Headguard as alternate helm)

I feel like a shirt such as the Thunder Bluff Doublet (shown above in the picture with the three gloves & boots combinations) or the Dark Silk Shirt really pulls the whole ensemble together nicely, but of course Cymre may choose to consider it optional.

I also created this brighter “Red Rocks of Durotar” alternate Transmogrification Template Kit:

Malefactor’s Eyepatch, Pauldrons of the Deafening Gale, Rough Bronze Cuirass, Girdle of the Dauntless Conqueror, Replica Beastmaster Pants, Time Twister’s Gauntlets (alternate: Arrowflick Gauntlets), Lancer’s Greaves, Dark Silk Shirt, Trophy Gatherer

This was fun, Cymre, thanks!

I tag Effraeti to create an outfit for my Draenei Mage, Kaprikka, using the Soulcloth Vest & White Swashbuckler’s Shirt .
Kaprikka is quite young, for an adult Draenei; she was born in Farahlon a few decades after the Draenei settled on Draenor. She may have been one of the apprentices Kaelinda befriended during her disguised tour of the Alliance capitals, and Kaprikka and Kaelinda may yet become fast friends under the auspices of the Shattered Sun on Quel’Danas. She adores children. Perhaps what she needs is an attractive (yet modest — hence the shirt) dating outfit to help her catch the eye of some young Draenei buck, so that she can eventually get married and have children of her own?
Kaprikka is currently level 60 and I doubt that I will ever raid with her. However, raid gear from anyplace that you predict will be easily soloable by a Mage at level 90 is fair game.

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MOG MADNESS round 2: Glaive of the Nether-Beast Master

Amateur Azerothian, Effraeti, and Tome of the Ancient have teamed up to bring Mog Madness to the WoW blogosphere! There will be five rounds, and each round will have a different “Mog Build” prompt. For the second round, the Mog Build criteria are these: Hunter or Druid (using class-appropriate gear type), must incorporate Glaive of the Pit/Marrowstrike as the weapon.

As it so happens, just a few weeks ago, I took my caster Druid, Kerisa, on a guild fun run night that started in Magtheridon’s Lair, then continued to Ulduar. The Glaive of the Pit dropped from Magtheridon, and I won the greed roll for it. Looking at that beautiful blue and gold weapon made me sad that polearms will never, ever be itemized for casters, because it matched what Kerisa was already wearing so perfectly!

For the purposes of the contest, however, I decided to look into mail and let my Hunters, Ketura, Katelyra, and Kerithian, be my models.

Mixing blue and gold makes green, and, as it happens, there are a matching set of beautiful gold, green, and blue mail breastplate and leggings — the Netherstrike Breastplate and the Leggings of Beast Mastery.

Thunderbringer’s Guard, Pauldrons of the Promise, Netherstrike Breastplate, Dreadhawk’s Girdle, Leggings of Beast Mastery, Triumphant Gauntlets, Radiant Boots, Permafrost Cape, Glaive of the Pit

This is the second time I’ve wanted to make an outfit for Ketura using this combination of chestpiece and leggings. Unfortunately, the chestpiece is a Bind-on-Pickup crafted item. I’m beginning to think that perhaps I should drop Ketura’s Mining, level Leatherworking until she can craft the Netherstrike Breastplate, make it, and then drop Leatherworking and relevel Mining (her other profession is Engineering, and no way am I dropping and releveling that!).

Ketura is also extremely unlikely to ever visit Al’Akir in the Throne of the Four Winds, so if I ever make this outfit for her in-game, she will probably use the much easier to obtain Cloak of the Moon instead of the Permafrost Cape.

Suggested ranged weapons to use with this Transmogrification Template Kit:

Mark “S” Boomstick, Expedition Repeater, Moonbow
I have deliberately chosen simply-styled ranged weapons to not compete with the elaborate melee weapon and to keep the visual focus of the ensemble on the chestpiece and leggings when in combat.

As the Thunderbringer’s Guard is a Horde-only quest reward, I have used the neutral quest reward Princess Poobah’s Tiara for Kerithian.

Round 2 Results!

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Kamalia, then and now

I wanted to participate in Vidyala’s “Then and Now” challenge, but I had a little bit of a hitch. I don’t have very many really old screenshots. I think I only took a few screenshots, from the character selection screen, on the first computer I played WoW on. I took lots of screenshots in 2008 and 2009 on my second computer, but then the hard drive failed in early 2010, and I hadn’t considered my WoW screenshots valuable enough to back up and didn’t consider them valuable enough to pay for data recovery. Only a few of my pre-2010 screenshots survived — the ones I’d printed out for my WoW notebook or posted to the Kirina’s Closet forum. A scan of a poor-quality printout isn’t great, but it’s the best I’ve got.

This picture is probably the oldest of them all.

Kamalia crafted the Turtle Scale set for herself as soon as she could both wear and make it, around level 42. The picture is annotated “42″, and I’m pretty sure that Kamalia was around that actual character level at the time I took the picture. Her horns are still the stub size I chose when I first created her; I later changed them to the upward pointing style when the Barbershot debuted. I wouldn’t have kept that shield after I upgraded it, and I probably didn’t keep that weapon around for very long after I upgraded it, either.

Here she is in her level 70 raiding gear, as good as it got.

I think I might have come back to Shattrath to take this picture at level 80 prior to deleting most of those items at the beginning of LK.

At level 80, in her Naxx gear.

I was so proud of my first complete Tier set, even though it was from mixed difficulty levels. I only kept the T7 chestpiece, though, because I thought I could make it work with the T6-lookalike kilt from the Nexus.

I took screenshots of each of her Tier sets, either when they were completed or at the time that I’d fully replaced them with the next tier and was ready to discard them.

Here is Kamalia on the Armory today. She’s still wearing her T12 set, though she’s upgraded her weapon to early T13. The shield is the Ward of the Red Widow, Transmogrified to Zom’s Crackling Bulwark, which I though matched the Vagaries of Time quite nicely. Her belt is also Transmogrified.

I have tokens for a couple of T13 items in my bags, but the T12 4pc bonus is so good that I was reluctant to replace it until I could get the T13 4pc bonus all at once. And then I stopped doing regular guild raiding, and I haven’t felt like venturing into LFR… If I did have full T13, I’d take a screenshot of it for the record — and then I’d Transmogrify it into something else for everyday wear.

Among other reasons, one big reason why I haven’t done any LFR is that I’m not particularly enthusiastic about either the Shaman or the Druid T13 designs. I just don’t covet the look of that gear for my characters. (In contrast, if Blizz retrofitted BoT and BWD with an LFR setting, I’d be running it regularly to get Kerisa the T11 shoulders she’s lusted after all expansion.) I’ve also been thinking that I probably won’t raid in Mists unless the T14 designs are really super beautiful and exciting to my sense of aesthetics.

I also found this fun picture from way back when Ketura was level 28. BTH’s Hunter, Farrier, was about the same level, and he suggested that we go do the Nesingwary quests in Stranglethorn together.

That was back when the end quests for each part were group quests, and when Stranglethorn was a few levels higher than it is now. We were barely high enough level to get the Nesingwary quests at all. It was a crazy, crazy day, with lots of trapping and kiting and running away, but in the end, we completed Big Game Hunter and got our Nesingwary Master Hunter’s Rifles.
Though she has tamed a variety of other pets, Cosmo has remained Ketura’s faithful companion for almost all of her questing. Farrier has gone through several preferred pets.

Ketura spent a lot of time just idling, and then she’s spent a lot of time doing alternative leveling — holiday travel-the-world quests, archaeology, dailies, grinding for mats, that sort of thing. She’s currently level 82 and schlepping around in Icecrown doing Argent Tournament dailies and debating whether or not she really wants to do the Orgrim’s Hammer questlines and get herself exalted with the Horde Offensive so that she can buy the Chopper schematic.

BTH spent the last week or so before LK power-leveling Farrier. He wanted her to be level 70 before she set foot in Northrend, hoping that would make her a little less of a target for PvP in those earliest days of the expansion. Farrier has been BTH’s secondary main throughout LK and Cataclysm, and he did quite a bit of LFR with her over the holidays.

I don’t have any pictures that show an old UI, but I still play with more-or-less the default UI, and all there would be to see is at what points I added Grid and Power Auras.

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conflicts of interest

While I have been somewhat tempted by SW:TOR or by checking out LOTRO since it went F2P, WoW is still my game of choice. What to do within WoW, though, is often quite the sticky wicket.

I’m not going to write out a comprehensive, semi-detailed “bucket list” of things I want to do in WoW. I’ve found that, for me, making a written list can turn a creative project into a series of chores and effectively kill my enthusiasm for actually finishing the project — better to keep the list in my head and risk forgetting a few of the items of lesser importance. A lot of the stuff on my list runs along the lines of play through zone X with character A, zone Y with character B, and zone Z with character C. The only thing on the list that is really time-constrained by needing to be done before Pandaria is playing through Theramore/Dustwallow Marsh from the Alliance perspective, and I’ve already got an appropriately-leveled toon parked in Theramore waiting for me to just do it.

BTH got accepted to the other guild he’d applied to and transferred his Bear Tank over to the new server, leaving his Tankadin and his Hunter in ES (for the time being). Kamalia and Kerisa are still in ES. I’m not sure what BTH’s new guild’s policy on social members is, and their 25s team already has two Resto Shaman. I also don’t want to move Kamalia out of ES until mini-Kam is prepped to take her place — or at least level 85 and ready to give back all her heirlooms.

BTH’s new server is Bloodhoof. It’s a PvE server, and I’d have moved my lower-level Tauren alts and their guild over there already except for a couple of difficulties. First, I already have toons on Bloodhoof. Bloodhoof is where I’ve been keeping all my “gimmick” characters — the underpowered Death Knight, Thrifty-lynne and Iron-lynne, the Goblin Time Capsule, and the Gilneas Time Capsule. Kaumalea can be server-transferred, but the others can’t. I’d have to delete them — setting back my 2012 in 2012 progress — and reroll them on a new server if I wanted to bring Kamalia’s family over to Bloodhoof. And if I did that, I might not reroll the Chiselspark twins at all, as I’m having more fun with my own variation on the concepts (the underpowered DK). Second, when I looked up the guild transfer information, I discovered that a guild has to be at least level 2 to be eligible for server-transfer. My alt guild is just under 50% of the way from level 1 to level 2 — and I’m not sure I even really want the 5% bonus XP perk from guild level 2 for those characters, anyway. I could get more guild XP by going questing and dungeon-running with those characters, particularly the two highest level toons in the guild — Kregga the DK, who would, at some point, like to go to Well of Eternity and see how she looks as a Night Elf, and Ketura the Hunter, who recently dinged 81 while doing Argent Tournament dailies and mining around Icecrown.

But leveling mini-Kam and leveling my alt guild conflict with each other. Mini-Kam is already in ES and actually wants the guild bonus XP perks. Adding another degree of conflict just on Lightninghoof, because I went to all the trouble of getting Kerisa a Tsunami card, I feel like I really ought to get her geared for Resto and run some endgame content — dungeons and maaaaybe LFR — with her as a healer.

And doing things to advance the goals of my higher-level characters conflicts with 2012 in 2012, because that objective will advance most rapidly if I pile on the levels by playing with my lower-level characters.

As you can see, I’m having a really hard time prioritizing my various objectives. I usually end up just playing whatever I feel like at the time, and while I have a lot of fun, most of my goals don’t advance very quickly at all. Not to mention the things I’m doing or want to do outside of the game…! Too many fun things to do, too little time!

sigh

Now that you’ve listened to me whine, how about some cheese to go with it?

My Hunter is a Beast Master, so I’ve felt like she ought to have at least one Exotic pet in her stable. I wasn’t really interested in most of the Exotic pet families, however. Finally, I decided to tame Arcturis, the Spirit Bear…

… and I named it as an anagram of BTH’s Bear Tank’s name.

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art post: orc vs elf

I’m amused by the idea of a purple-skinned, green-haired Night Elf facing off against a green-skinned, purple-haired Orc, as if they were some sort of bizarre inversion of each other.

Not long after I drew this picture, I had the opportunity to create the scenario in-game in Ashenvale, although my Orc character was a Shaman instead of a Hunter.

Of course, turning off one’s interface and taking screenshots while in combat is often a good way to get killed — but at least Keshona and her opponent went down at the same time!

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A Rainbow of Classy Clothes

In which I have an irresistably silly idea to compile a Transmogrification-friendly outfit for each Class using that Class’s color.

Death Knight Maroon: Tyrant’s Epaulets, Breastplate of the Warbringer, Legguards of the Shattered Hand, Thorium Belt, Bloodforged boots & gloves, Sawbones Shirt

Druid Orange: Warchief Kilt, Scorpashi shoulders, Dokebi tunic belt boots & gloves, Orange Mageweave Shirt

Rogue Yellow: Robust set with Headhunter’s Girdle and Bright Yellow Shirt

Hunter Green: Bog Epaulets, Turtle Scale chest & pants, Der’izu belt boots & gloves, Green Linen Shirt

Mage Cerulean: Lunar Mantle, Robes of the Exalted, Belt of Arcane Storms, Runed Spell-Cuffs, Royal gloves & boots, Cerulean Filigreed Doublet
I tried to stick to items that could be obtained solo, but it was very, very difficult to find a belt that layered well with this robe. The golden Sutarn’s Ring also looks reasonably good.

Shaman Blue: Elements set (soon to be available again as “replica”-quality items from the renovated Darkmoon Faire) with Blue Linen Shirt
Okay, I cheated with this one because Shaman have a wonderful class set that is already in their class color — and, as far as the datamining at WoWhead can tell, the replica items will NOT be class-exclusive!

Warlock Purple: Twilight Cultist Shoulders, Death-Speaker’s Tunic, Darkweave Breeches, High Councillor’s belt, Gloves of the Deadwatcher, Kayser’s Boots of Precision, Rich Purple Silk Shirt

Paladin Pink: Bloodscale set with Commander’s Pauldrons & Pink Mageweave Shirt

Warrior Brown: Brutish set with Rustic Workman’s Shirt

Priest White: Gossamer robe and shoulders, Aurora belt, Sage’s boots, Gandling’s Gloves, Formal White Shirt

~*~*~

And here they are again, arranged by armor type:

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