Touch of Blue

Phantasmal Headdress, Ranger Pauldrons, Grizzly Jerkin, Brown Belt of Humbling Gravity, Earthborn Kilt, Hewn Kodo Gloves + Uninsured Bracers
The most recent time BTH and I ran a dungeon with our Monks, I was appalled at the state in which I’d left Kate’s Mistweaver set after our previous dungeon session. She needed something better, asap!
The Grizzly Jerkin + kilt (most often Earthborn, but sometimes Jinxed Hoodoo or Kurenai) combination seems to be quite popular for female monks. I’ve seen outfits using these two items as core with varied accessories at a few different Transmogrification sites. Here’s my take on it.

Winddrift


Ornate Pauldrons, Mindsliced Chestguard, Naturalist’s Preserving Cinch, Arness’s Scaled Leggings, Lord’s gloves & boots, Don Carlos’ Drifting Shield, Common Grey Shirt
I leveled mini-Kam from 85 to 86 on cooking & fishing dailies, then kitted her out with Mists greens from the AH to get into Mists LFD. When I reached level 87, I wondered why I was still getting only Temple of the Jade Serpent and Stormstout Brewery, even though Shado-Pan Monastery and Mogu’shan Palace were supposedly now available. I discovered that her average ilevel was too low. Hoping to remedy this, I looked for reasonably priced Mists blues. I found these pants for 500 gold, which I thought was a pretty decent price, considering that the next-lowest-priced copy of them was about 1K. So I bought them. I’d been thinking it was time to change mini-Kam’s transmogrification kit anyway.
I like the complimentary colors of the blues in the chestpiece and belt with the coppery tones of the shield and the side panels of the pants. I also tried the Tol’Vir Hereditary Girdle, which matches the chestpiece, but I liked how the blue in this belt aligns with the color in the pants better.

Howling Blast

Chilled Shoulderplates, Hydralick Armor, Dojani belt pants gloves & boots, Shroud of the North Wind, Obsidium Executioner
Although I like the Dojani Plate well enough to wear it as a complete set, I’ve been looking for items that coordinate well with the Hydralick Armor for some time. The bluish tones of the Dojani items seemed like they’d be a great match, and they are!

One of my favorite cousins posted this to Facebook, and I just couldn’t resist sharing it here.

Speaking of Facebook, if I have you on RealID (not battletag) — that is, you know my real name and I know yours — and you’re on Facebook, too, then I’d be happy to have you as an FB-Friend.

Titles. Now that they’re account-bound, all your alts have a list to choose from as soon as you roll them. So today I want to know – Who’s wearing what, and why?

Kamalia‘s favorite titles are “of Thunder Bluff”, “Loremaster”, and “Professor”. The first expresses my Tauren pride! The second was an achievement I worked quite hard to get before Cataclysm and represents my enjoyment of the lore of the game. The third appeals to my RL identity once as a graduate student, now as an adjunct professor — though I will never actually be a full Professor because I have very little interest in research. Sometimes I will wear another title for a few weeks when it’s the new shiny from completing a raid or a very work-intensive achievement, but I always come back to one of these three.

My two druids, Kerisa and Kaiuna, both wear “Guardian of Cenarius” because it seems the most appropriate for their class. Kerisa spent a lot of time in Silithus and Zangarmarsh earning those titles, and now Kaiuna benefits from her efforts. Kerisa could also use “the Astral Walker” when she’s using the Glyph of Stars with her Boomkin spec.

My monk, Katewatha, is currently using “Loremaster”, and I do intend to get her exalted with the Lorewalkers once she reaches level 90 and can fly from scroll to scroll. Ultimately, however, I plan for her to use “Chef” or “Master of the Ways” because she’s the holder of my Portable Refrigerator. I’ll start using those titles with her as soon as she accumulates enough Epicurean’s Awards to buy the Chef Hat.

My primary hunter, Ketura, alternates between “of Thunder Bluff” and “of Sen’jin” depending on whether she most wants to express her pride in who she is or her love of the trolls and their raptor mounts.

My pseudo-Ironman death knight, Kaumalea, uses “the Seeker”, expressing her quest to return to her original home in Northrend, or “the Patient” because of the patience this playstyle requires. My other pseudo-Ironman, Tushui pandaren mage Koralyra, is also “the Patient”. Koralyra especially has to be patient because her priority on my alt leveling list is very, very low.

My blood elf mage, Kaelinda, uses either “the Diplomat” or “Ambassador” to express her fondness for Alliance races and cultures (particularly the draenei) and her desire for reconciliation between the high elves and the blood elves. If an option to change faction without having to change race were ever to be implemented, Kaelinda would jump right across the fence to the Alliance.

My forsaken mage, Kivrinne, is “Assistant Professor” to indicate her status as a junior (and somewhat heretical) member of the Royal Apothecary Society. My draenei mage, Kaprikka, is also “Assistant Professor” because she is my most advanced Alliance archaeologist.

My two characters with grey hair and middle-aged faces, orc mage Kenosha and human priest Kimorene, are “Elder”, of course. I’d like to use “Matron” with them and with my other character who has children in her RP story, my worgen mage, Kymberlea, but that’s not going to happen until “School of Hard Knocks” gets dropped from the Children’s Week meta requirements.

My Huojin pandaren mage, Kaoling, is “the Explorer” as she travels the world beyond the Wandering Isle. My two dwarves, the shaman Kjerstin and the mage Khrissalys, also use “the Explorer”, but for them, it represents their affiliation with the Explorer’s League.

My blood elf shadow priest, Kandrista, does not use any title right now, but she will probably use “of the Nightfall” when she gets to a high enough character level to have access to that title.

My dps warrior, Keija, does not currently use a title. If, at some point in the future, she manages to collect the green Destroyer armor worn by the warriors of the Molten Front, she might use the “Avenger of Hyjal” title.

My paladin, Karaelia, also does not currently use a title. Eventually, when she has earned exalted reputation with the Argent Crusade for herself, she will use “Crusader” or “the Argent Champion”. She may use “the Pilgrim” when she reaches Pandaria to indicate her role as a member of the Dawnchaser expedition.

The rest of my characters use no title because none of the other titles I’ve accumulated really seem to fit their personalities and fragmentary RP stories.

I don’t have very many of the holiday meta achievements and titles, but I do like to use “Elder” and “Merrymaker” for my bankers during Lunar Festival and Winter Veil, respectively.

If I am actively leveling a character via LFD, I tend to use “the Seeker” until the “of [racial capital city]” titles become available, at which point I may switch to the one appropriate to her race.

Alas, Matron is a title I will never obtain in-game until “School of Hard Knocks” is removed from the Children’s Week meta requirements. Although certain of my characters would like to be able to use that title, it doesn’t fall into the category of things I want badly enough to suffer through PvP for them.

The innkeeper raised an eyebrow at her. “Ah, right, you’re one o’ them taunka from Northrend, ain’tcha? So you wouldn’t know ’bout Children’s Week. There have been so many wars everywhere that all the big cities have orphanages overflowing with children that have lost their parents. Once a year, the orphan matrons do a charity drive to get adventurers to recognize the cost of the wars by giving a little of their time to these poor kids.”

“But what do you, well, do with one of these children?” Kaumalea wondered.

“Oh, mostly you just let them follow you around as you do whatever it is you do everyday anyway. Usually, the kids have a few particular things they really want to do, too — places they’ve dreamed about going, famous people they want to see for themselves, that kind of thing. And it’s nice to buy them a treat or a toy or something at the end of the week, to help them remember you.”

Kaumalea looked around the crowded, noisy room. “It certainly seems to be popular.”

“Aye,” the innkeeper smiled. “The kids, they want you to remember them, too. They’re always taming little critters of one sort or another, and of course the orphan matrons won’t let them keep them, so they’ll give them to you. A lot of adventurers treat the orphans they sponsor kind of like a little sister or brother — write them letters, send them trinkets, that kind of thing. Those folks over there,” the innkeeper indicated an orc warrior and a troll hunter who were playing cards with two blood elf children, “have sponsored those same kids from the orphanage over in Shattrath for three years or so now. It’s great experience, they say — doesn’t strengthen the body much, but does wonders for the heart.”

Kaumalea considered this. She could definitely use more experience, in whatever form. The Battle for Light’s Hope Chapel had left her severely debilitated, making the usual ways that adventurers gained experience very difficult for her. It had taken her nearly a year in Outland to gain enough strength to even think about trying to return to her once-home of Camp Winterhoof, and when she’d gotten there, she’d soon realized that she wasn’t nearly strong enough yet to contribute meaningfully to the defense and provisioning of the tribe. So she had come back to Outland. She had surely created orphans herself during her time as the Lich King’s thrall. Because of her weakness, she was used to being careful, so she wouldn’t have to be any more careful than usual with a child in tow. Sponsoring an orphan was something that was certainly within her power to do.

Kaumalea had such an agreeable outing with the orphan that she sponsored from Shattrath — a clever-fingered blood elf girl named Ameridala who soon had her hair out of its customary braids and twined up into an elaborate crown never seen before or since on a tauren (or taunka) — that she decided to sponsor an orphan from Orgrimmar as well.


With the talkative orc boy Ezrom as her guide, she learned much more in a day or two about the history and heritage of this “Horde” that she had been swept up into upon being freed from the Lich King than she had gleaned during a whole year in Horde settlements in Outland.

“I am sorry,” Matron Aria in Dalaran said, “but only adventurers who have already reached their 70th season are allowed to sponsor the wolvar and oracle children. I have heard, however, that there is an orphanage of taunka children at Agmar’s Hammer in the Dragonblight; the matron there does not like to ask for help, but I am sure she would accept it gladly if you offered.”

“Oh!” said Matron Twinbreeze, when Kaumalea explained her intentions, “I had never thought of something like that, but, yes, it would be a wonderful thing for one of the older children!”

She introduced Kaumalea to a youngster named Omner.

“I miss my sister, Abish,” Omner said when Kaumalea asked him where he would like to go first, “She’s the only other member of my family who escaped when the Nerubians overran our village. She’s almost an adult, though, and she’s already started her real training to be a hunter. I think she’s probably at Westwind, where we’ve had a hunting camp forever. Everyone knows where it is — west of here, just this side of the bridge to Borean Tundra. That’s what made it such a good spot for the refugees from the Scourge attacks to gather.”

“I can’t wait until I’m old enough to start my real training, too!” Omner enthused. “Then I’ll get to be with my sister and her friends all the time!”

~*~*~

“Greatmother Icemist tells us a story about ancient druids trying to grow a huge tree in the middle of the Grizzly Hills,” Omner said next, “I don’t know how growing a big tree could fix the world in the first place, but I guess it didn’t work because she said the tree died. I don’t know if I belive that a tree could get that big, either. Can we go see the place where it was?”

“Wow,” Omner said as they flew over the fallen pieces of Vordrassil and down into Grizzlemaw, “that must have been some strong magic. Usually trees rot to splinters in only a few years after they fall, but Greatmother Icemist said that this tree fell thousands of years ago! I guess that strong magic is why the furbolg decided that this would be a good place to live.”

~*~*~

“Sometimes at night,” Omner confided, “I sneak downstairs and listen to the adventurers talking. Once, I heard one of them saying that he went to a place called the Bronze Dragonshrine, northeast of the dragons’ Wyrmrest Temple, and saw himself, only from the future! And then another one laughed and said that he’d done that, too, and then he’d come back later, and seen himself, only from the past, when he was there before! If we go there, do you think we might see me from the future and you from the past?”

“I wasn’t expecting that… I’ve always wanted to be a hunter. But I guess being a wind tamer wouldn’t be so bad.”

~*~*~

As they rode out of the pass leading to the Bronze Dragonshrine, Omner pointed at the great Titan structure rising up in the distance. “Wyrmrest Temple! That’s where the dragon queen lives, up on the very top floor. I’ve always wanted to see a dragon up close, and she’s supposed to be friendly… right? Let’s go!”

“I never knew that dragons could do that, change their shapes. It makes sense why they do it, but I’d still like to see her dragon form, someday. If her dragon form is too large for even that big room, she must be simply magnificent!”

~*~*~

Finally, Omner said, “I love to hear Greatmother Icemist’s stories. Matron Twinbreeze tells some good stories, too, about the place where she comes from. You know who has all the stories about our people, though? There’s an Elder named Xarantaur who knows everything! He lives at Tunka’lo Village. It’s on a mountaintop way up in the Storm Peaks, north and a little east of the frost giant place called Dun Niffelem. Will you take me to visit him?”

“That was so cool! Maybe being a wind tamer will be better than being a hunter, after all, if it lets me spend more time learning stories.”

Before returning to Agmar’s Hammer, Kaumalea took Omner to The Wonderworks in Dalaran. His eyes grew big and round as he took in the variety of toys. He inspected them all carefully, lingering longingly over the copper racers. Eventually, he chose a paper zeppelin kit, explaining that this toy was simple enough that maybe he could figure out how to make more, to share with the other children, from materials he could scavenge.

When Kaumalea at last came back to her lodgings in Outland at the end of the week, the innkeeper asked, “So, how did you enjoy helping the orphans?”

“It was good experience. It made me feel… warm. On the inside. I think I’ll do it again next year,” she replied.

Tier 15 is completely linear. Normal-mode raiders have to fight through each of the twelve boss encounters of Throne of Thunder in order. BTH’s guild has killed 9 bosses in 10s and 7 bosses in 25s. They started at Durumu tonight, but only because they’d already killed the previous six bosses on Tuesday and Wednesday. LFR allowed me to jump into Throne of Thunder at Durumu on Tuesday night, without having to have already fought through the first six bosses in this raid reset period. I did the last six bosses of Throne of Thunder first, and though I could go into the first two wings of LFR this evening for the chances at loot and collecting more of Wrathion’s thingamabobs, I don’t have to go defeat the first six bosses of Throne of Thunder this week if I decide that I want to do something else instead. In fact, now that I’ve completed Pinnacle of Storms LFR, I can do as many or as few of the wings of Throne of Thunder as I want, in any order that I please.

Tier 14 was only sort-of non-linear. Sure, the bosses were spread over three different instances, but one had to complete Mogu’shan Vaults before proceeding to Heart of Fear and Heart of Fear before going on to Terrace of Endless Spring. Only after one had completed Heart of Fear could one really pick and choose among the three instances. And each instance was linear within itself. The splitting of Mogu’shan Vaults and Heart of Fear into two wings apiece gave the LFR versions a greater degree of non-linearity.

Tier 13, the first raid to have the LFR option, had a little bit of non-linearity: Zon’ozz and Yor’sahj could be done in either order. The rest of it was all linear. The LFR version split the raid in half, offering the option to do just the second half, provided one had done the first half once — which is what I did, given that my normal-mode guild had cleared the first half and I’d gotten all the gear I wanted from it at the time that I decided to stop doing regular raiding and they downsized from 25s to 10s.

It seems to me that the division of raid dungeons into wings for the LFR mode produces an illusion of non-linearity, because the wings can be run in any order after one has completed a first “in order” run-through. A certain degree of true non-linearity is possible within the wings themselves — I think that an LFR wing could accomodate such sprawling non-linearity as the opening plain of Firelands or the Watchers area of Ulduar. It’s easy enough to imagine dividing Ulduar into wings for LFR, based on the breakpoints ordinary raid groups used to use: 1) Flame Leviathan, Ignis, Razorscale, XT-002; 2) Iron Council, Kologarn, Auriaya; 3) Hodir, Thorim, Freya, Mimiron; 4) General Vezax, Yogg-Saron. But what about Karazhan, with all of its optional, skippable bosses — the animal bosses in the servants’ quarters that I never saw because the guild I began my raiding career with was already starting Kara at Attumen when I joined, the Maiden of Virtue, Nightbane, Netherspite, Terestrian Illhoof? Could a raid with such side-spur bosses be made to work in an LFR mode, or does the advent of LFR mean that such diversions in raiding will never come back again?

With these tasks accomplished, I was finally ready to venture into Throne of Thunder LFR. I’ve only felt up to doing one wing in any given evening, and I don’t want to do LFR too late in the raiding week, so I only got the first two wings done last week. This week, I started with the third wing, and last night, I did the fourth and final wing.

I’ve gotten one of Wrathion’s T15 MacGuffins from each wing that I’ve run. I’ve also gotten a bracers upgrade that I am using, a chestpiece upgrade that I’m not using (not ready to break my T14 4-pc set bonus quite yet), and three lovely weapons that might get rotated through my Elemental set — between the Breath of the Black Prince and the Eye of the Black Prince, my Sha-touched weapon will be superior for my Resto set for a long time to come.

As much as I agonized over “what am I going to do about raiding in Mists?!” in the waning months of Cataclysm, I have not regretted my decision to not do regular, guild-based, normal-mode raiding in the current expansion. I’ve been grateful that LFR allows me to get a taste of the current raid environments, encounters, and atmospheres, but I haven’t really missed normal-mode raiding.

Until last night, when I did Pinnacle of Storms in LFR.

Defeating Lei Shen only took two attempts. Afterward, the group just dispersed, and seeing Lei Shen lying there, abandoned, made me feel sad, somehow. I found myself missing the whoops and cheers of triumph and the jostling around as the group arranged itself for a kill shot that would inevitably have followed a hard-fought, hard-won normal-mode guild first kill of a boss. The Twin Consorts and Lei Shen fights were crazy and fun — and yes, even somewhat difficult — on LFR-mode… but they didn’t feel epic like my memories of normal-mode penultimate and final boss fights. I found myself missing that normal-mode challenge, the need to wipe and wipe and wipe and wipe and wipe to be able to master the mechanics and the proper timing of raid cooldowns. I already knew that LFR is the “poor relations” of raiding, and I have accepted that — but somehow these two encounters really drove that home for me.

Okay, so, height and build aren’t exactly things that you can change at all, let alone at the barbershop. They are, however, appearance-related. I put together this scale comparison of the various World of Warcraft player-character races for my own reference. Although it’s kind of rough around the edges, I thought others might find it useful, too.
Click on the small picture to see a larger version.

The Alliance races were all compared to a normal-sized NPC human. The Horde races were all compared to a normal-sized NPC blood elf. I used a comparison between a tauren and a normal-sized, neutral night elf (a Moonglade NPC) to make sure that the two factions were correctly scaled relative to each other.

Also, I finally managed to update the rest of the Azeroth Beautician’s Manual of Feminine Style to include pandaren color and style information.