Best Dressed (Z & Cinder’s Blog Challenge)

This fortnight, Z & Cinder’s Blog Challenge has another topic that I can’t pass up:

Best Dressed: We want to see your best transmogs, and hear the story behind them. How did you come up with them? How long did it take you to farm the pieces? And just how often do you change your outfits? Let us know!

Since Transmogrification went live in Patch 4.3 (29 November 2011), my characters have worn a lot of outfits. If I don’t count things like the new character creation screen sets or the starting zone sets for Death Knights and Demon Hunters, I have posted…

12 Demon Hunter outfits
28 Warlock outfits
29 Rogue outfits
37 Druid outfits
44 Warrior outfits
45 Paladin outfits
45 Monk outfits
47 Hunter outfits
56 Priest outfits
67 Shaman outfits
69 Death Knight outfits
and about 100 Mage outfits (I didn’t go count exactly how many outfits all the Minor Mages have)

It was really hard to pick just one “favorite” or “best” outfit for each class, and if I did this again next month, I might pick different ones! I tried to choose kits that I thought expressed the class fantasy as well as being outfits I’m just really dang proud of. Well, except for the Shaman one, which I picked because I think it’s hilarious.

DEMON HUNTER: BatGirl

Most of my other Demon Hunter kits that don’t use class-specific armor items could really be done equally well with any of the other leather-wearing classes. This one, though, works best on a Demon Hunter because it partly relies on the unique blindfold to create the look (though I guess a Rogue could also make it work with the T4 helm). I was fortunate that once I decided to make this kit, I was able to get the Heroic Dragon Soul Rogue lookalike shoulders on the first try.

WARLOCK: Doomcaller Moth

I love this Warlock robe because it’s not black and skulls and ugly. Instead, it’s very pretty indeed. I was delighted when I discovered how nicely the Malefic shoulders go with it because I like this robe but not the shoulders that go with it, and I like the Malefic shoulders but not the robe that goes with them.

ROGUE: Silver Covenant Razor

This kit expresses my desire to be able to play an Alliance High Elf. I know it will probably never happen, though.

DRUID: Sun, Moon, and Stars II

This outfit combines a number of items — the helm, the shoulders, the belt, the dagger — that I coveted for a long time before I finally got them. Cymre was gracious enough to let me roll for the dagger (which I then won) even though she wanted it herself when it dropped while I was helping her out with acquiring Val’anyr. I spent real money for the shoulders — before servers began to be linked, I discovered the shoulders on the AH of my secondary Horde server for a gold price that I could afford. I hadn’t seen them on the AH of my primary server very often, let alone for a gold price I could afford. So I spent the real money to transfer my banker over to the other server, then back, to get them for my Druid. That’s how much I wanted them.

WARRIOR: Truesteel & Truesilver

When I discovered how the filigree on the Truesilver breastplate is a similar pattern to the filigree on the Truesteel armor, well, then, I just had to use them together. This is a great Parade Dress look for a warrior — though not perhaps so functional and practical for being down and dirty in the field.

PALADIN: Crusade Champion

I’ve made at least three Argent Dawn/Argent Crusade-themed outfits for my Paladin. This one was created specifically to wear while I was doing the Broken Hilt/Quel’Delar questline. After going back and forth between all three outfits for awhile, I decided that this one best expressed the Paladin “I’m SHINY!” aesthetic.

MONK: Shado-Pan Smoke Knight

I’ve made multiple Shado Pan-themed outfits for my Monk. I chose this one for this post because I like the combination of dark and light grays and also because I designed it myself, whereas my other favorite Shado Pan Monk kit is a design that I borrowed from someone else.

HUNTER: Draenor Beast Master

I just love the combination of gold, blue, and green in this kit. I designed it when Transmogrification was still brand-new. I couldn’t actually make it for my Hunter until the account-wide Appearances tab was introduced, however, because the chestpiece is a BoP Leatherworking item, and it’s Kamalia who’s the Leatherworker in the family. Ketura is an Engineer.

PRIEST: Mystical Dragons

I surprised myself a bit by pulling this outfit out of my Priest’s collection. I just really love the colors of this robe and how nicely they coordinate with this fun shoulder design. Some of my other Priest outfits are also really pretty — but they’re also rather vanilla, common, not particularly creative combinations.

SHAMAN: Ow Mon, Me Eyes!

So this funky orange and aqua fist weapon with intellect on it dropped in Throne of Thunder, and I couldn’t resist coming up with a funky orange and aqua outfit to go with it. When I decided to pull in the funky aqua and magenta shield from Mogu’shan Vaults, the idea just got better!

DEATH KNIGHT: Dark Runes

I think this chestpiece style is fabulous for a Death Knight because the sigils on it remind me of the runes on Death Knight weaponry. This particular color is crafted, and the pattern is somewhat hard to come by, so I was delighted when I found it on the AH for a very reasonable price. The shoulders are also crafted, and I think that they look like an upgraded version of the shoulders that a newly-created Death Knight wears.

MAGE: A Study in Blue; Theramore Arcanist

I love this style of robe, especially the blue version. Being able to wear it with shoulders and belt hidden is wonderful!

The white wizard hat is a very special item in my wardrobe. It was only available from the Alliance version of the limited-time level 85 version of the Theramore’s Fall scenario that was the entirety of the Mists pre-launch event. I pushed my Human Mage hard to get her to level 85 in time to do that scenario — and then I ran it until I was so, so, so tired of it. If I’m remembering correctly, it took me 85 tries to get that white hat.

Characters that I’m playing actively — or at least logging in with regularly to do things like profession cooldowns or old reputation dailies — tend to get their outfits changed every 2 – 3 weeks. If I make an outfit that I’m not really all that happy with, I might change it as soon as one week has passed. If I make an outfit that I like a lot, and I don’t have any exciting new ideas that I really want to make — or the items I need for that exciting new idea just aren’t dropping, I might leave a character wearing the same outfit for several weeks. Characters that I’m not playing actively might get left wearing the same outfit for months or years.