Posted in Alts, Events on February 26, 2019| 4 Comments »
When each character went to receive her Heart of Azeroth, I wanted her to be wearing an outfit that was representative of a Champion of her Class Order.
Now that the Twelve Classes and the Blue Team have all received their Hearts of Azeroth, it’s time to start moving folks out to Zandalar/Kul Tiras. In fact, the Blood Elves have already gone and gotten their Hearthstones set to the Great Seal, so it’s really just the Tauren and the Blue Team who need to get going.
Posted in Events, Sunday Mog Show, Transmogrification on August 19, 2018| 9 Comments »
This post marks two years of the Sunday Mog Show!
There are 52 weeks in a year, and this is Episode 52, so that averages out to a Sunday Mog Show post every two weeks.
These first two outfits were created specifically for the War of Thorns.
Horde Scout
Fireguard Shoulders, Bladed Chaos Tunic, Aitokk’s Belt, Tough Mushanhide Leggings, Warhide Gloves, Black Featherlight Boots, Orange Martial Shirt, Scout’s Tabard, Wild Combatant’s Slicer
The boldness of this outfit in proclaiming “as a Horde Scout, I am exactly where I am supposed to be” was good cover for Kelisanna as she poked her nose into every aspect of Sylvanas’s operation in Ashenvale and Darkshore to make a full report for Regent-Lord Theron.
Drassil Defender
Conqueror’s Nightsong Cover, Furious Gladiator’s Wyrmhide Spaulders, Malfurion’s Vestments of Conquest, Girdle of Lenience, Mana-Saber Hide Gloves, Dark Leather Boots, Darnassus Tabard, Kihrawr’s Scratching Post
Kerithian was wearing this outfit (without the tabard) when she went to meet with High King Wrynn in Stormwind. Athough she is personally not particularly fond of Teldrassil and Darnassus, after she arrived in Kalimdor and began to understand the situation there, she put on the Darnassus tabard to express her support for her beleagured kin.
Lordaeron, Lost
Azure Silk Hood, Enumerated Shoulderpads, Mindwrack Robes, Clutch of Andros*, Cobalt-Threaded Gloves, Apprentice Boots, Mantle of Undercity, Undercity Tabard, Wand of Qiraji Nobility, Light-Imbued Lantern
In the interest of faction parity, here is an outfit for the other racial capital city that was lost at the outset of Battle for Azeroth. I have never liked Undercity, though, so the chances of me asking Zidormi to turn back time in Tirisfal Glades are quite small indeed.
Silvermoon Paragon
Judgment Spaulders, Bloodforged Chestpiece, Girdle of the Silver Hand, Hyperion Legplates Gauntlets & Greaves, Scarlet Filigreed Doublet, Silvermoon City Tabard, Blood Tempered Ranseur*/Hammer of the Penitent + Bayeaux Shield/Ashbringer (default, original tint)
I like to use the Hyperion set with the Silvermoon tabard because of the colors. Rather than just doing the same things I’ve done before with the Hyperion set, I decided to put on the Judgment shoulders. Then I was delighted by how nicely the Order Hall belt coordinated… which really shouldn’t have surprised me, given that the Judgment set and the Silver Hand set use similar red-black-gold color schemes.
Turalyon’s Victory
Turalyon’s Plate shoulders chestplate & legplates with Demonic Gladiator’s Scaled belt gloves & boots, Wild Gladiator’s Gavel, and King’s Bulwark
After making a kit for my new Blood Elf Paladin that combined Liadrin’s Plate with the red Horde PvP recolor of the crafted Leystone set, I wondered if Turalyon’s Plate would work equally well with the blue Alliance PvP recolor of the Leystone set. It didn’t, not at all — but it does look fabulous with the Alliance PvP recolor of the Antorus raid set.
~*~*~
This series of posts began because I set myself a goal to document new Transmogrification outfits in a more timely fashion. As soon as I create a new outfit, I write it up in a draft post. As the weekend approaches, I start working on taking fashion screenshots, processing them, and updating “Things my [Class] Wears” posts. On Sunday — though not every Sunday — I publish the collection of my recent efforts. Then I begin the next “Sunday on the Promenade” draft post.
Occasionally, I have ideas for themed Transmogrification collections that take several months to completely assemble. Thus, some of these outfits might get re-posted at a later date as part of such a themed Transmogrification collection.
If any of you, my dear readers, have kits that you’d like to share, I’d be happy to add you to the show! Just email me your picture(s), along with a list of the items in the outfit. I don’t regularly check my blog email, though, so if you’ve sent me an outfit, please make a comment on the most recent Sunday Mog Show post so that I know to check my blog email for your contribution.
Posted in Events, Night Elf, rwlrwlrwlrwl, Story/RP on August 13, 2018| 6 Comments »
Teldrassil was never a good idea.
There, I said it.
I hadn’t completely agreed with Shan’do Stormrage’s assessment that it was necessary to sacrifice Nordrassil — and our immortality — to stop the demon Archimonde, but it had been done. Instead of trying to regain what we had lost by trying to grow a new World Tree, however, we should have been more focused on reclaiming some of the other things we had lost. The forest now known as “Felwood”, for one. The regions of Ashenvale that had become infested with orcs, for another. If we’d cleared out the orcs from Ashenvale when we had the chance, then their so-called allies the undead might not have defiled the Dor’danil Barrow Den and killed my grandfather…
And perhaps if we had not been so determined to “not interfere with the development of less advanced societies*” (utter rubbish, given our interactions with the furbolgs), we might have been the ones to save the tauren from the centaur, denying the orcs one of their most valuable allies. The tauren could have been our allies, instead — not just the ones who’d been invited into the Cenarion Circle, all of them. Hadn’t it been my own grandmother who had argued that the existence (and sophistication) of music created by the tauren tribes demonstrated that they were a more intelligent and advanced society than their centaur, harpy, quilboar, and gnoll enemies?
But I digress. Teldrassil. It was Shan’do Staghelm’s idea. When the Aspects, especially my beloved Ysera, initially refused to give it their blessing, that should have been a clue that it really wasn’t a good idea. After all, hadn’t Shan’do Staghelm already been involved in the creation of a failed World Tree, Andrassil-that-had-become-Vordrassil up in Northrend? Like Andrassil, which had created the leak into the Emerald Dream that allowed the Emerald Nightmare to begin, Teldrassil also was corrupted.
Furthermore, Teldrassil and Darnassus had only even existed for, what, fifteen years? Twenty? Maybe thirty? Even for a young kaldorei like myself, less than a millennium old, born after the War of the Shifting Sands, that was still an absolutely insignificant amount of time. I didn’t understand how any kaldorei could truly think of Teldrassil or Darnassus as “home”, except perhaps the handful of children who had been born there.
Watching Teldrassil burn, I was infuriated by yet another Horde atrocity, and I grieved for the innocent lives that I could not save. But for the tree itself? I found no sorrow in me for the loss of a false home.
~*~*~
* Yes, that is a sideways reference to Star Trek‘s Prime Directive.
~*~*~
Remember, this is an RP story! Kerithian’s opinions are not necessarily my opinions!
…Okay, maybe they are. Apologies to my Night Elf friends, but Darnassus and Teldrassil have never particularly captured my imagination. I don’t dislike Darnassus the way I deeply dislike Undercity — it just never “clicked” with me (I am glad to see Undercity gone — definitely no tears there at all!). When it comes to Night Elf zones, I’ve always preferred Ashenvale to Teldrassil.
I played through the War of Thorns first as Horde, then as Alliance. I’m glad I chose to do it with my Rogue on the Horde side; I don’t think any of my other characters (except perhaps the Warlock) could have stomached doing what Sylvanas commanded. My heart ached through the whole thing, as Horde as well as Alliance.
Look, I play Horde because I want to play Tauren and Blood Elves. I don’t play Horde because I like or agree with the role they are too often given in the overarching plotlines of the game. I am tired, so, so very tired, of the Horde always having to be the bad guys. And there are those who might say, oh, but the Alliance sometimes does bad guy things too — but the Horde always has to do more and worse bad guy things. For example, the things the Horde sees the Alliance doing versus the things the Alliance sees the Horde doing in the first part of the Jade Forest storyline, or the Horde killing the Astranaar guards with a swift poison versus the Alliance using sleeping powder on the Horde guards in the captured furbolg village in the War of Thorns.
The kaldorei have now suffered a population decimation on par with that suffered by the quel’dorei when Arthas and the Scourge burned the Dead Scar through Eversong Woods and what is now the Ghostlands. The Warbringers: Sylvanas short draws that parallel very clearly. I’m not sure what I want to say about that beyond pointing it out…
~*~*~
Kerithian is the granddaughter of my Night Elf Mage, Keriluna, through Keriluna’s son, Ceredion. She was born, raised, and spent most of her early life at Feathermoon Stronghold in Feralas before becoming one of the caretakers of Nordrassil during its recovery after the Battle of Mount Hyjal, then one of the vanguard on the Molten Front during the Cataclysm. The events relating to her grandparents that she mentions are described in Keriluna’s Song.
Keriluna herself survived the inferno by virtue of not being in Darnassus when it happened. When she resigned her position as one of the Temple of the Moon musicians at the beginning of Cataclysm to pursue the Arcane arts, she moved herself and her belongings to Feathermoon Stronghold — a place that had long been something of a secondary home for her — so that she could study under the tutelage of Estulan.
I didn’t actually move the character to Feathermoon Stronghold and set her Hearthstone there until a week or two ago, though, shortly before playing through the War of Thorns campaign.
On the other side of the faction fence, Kivrinne had been traveling back and forth between her home lab in Undercity and Plaguewood Tower in Eastern Plaguelands, where her on-again, off-again romantic interest Argent Apothecary Judkins resides, for some time. After her friends Parqual and Vellcinda failed to return from the events chronicled in Before the Storm, she moved herself and her belongings out to Plaguewood Tower permanently.
As with Keriluna, I didn’t actually move the character there until recently, and in this case, the nearest place where she could reset her Hearthstone is Light’s Hope Chapel.
Posted in Achievements, Alts, Artifact, Events, Order Hall, Questing on July 31, 2018|
After finishing up the Warrior campaign, I did Priest & Paladin in parallel, alternating between them. Despite the dire circumstances, the twins were delighted to be able to work together for their Order Hall Campaigns — and the members of their orders observed and recognized the special synergy between them. Then I pushed through the rest of Death Knight because I just wanted to be done already with Order Hall Campaigns. I got spoiled on how the DK campaign ends long ago — one reason why I was saving it for last — and it was as epic… and troubling… as advertised.
I’m feeling kind of burned out on WoW now — having a 5-day break while I attend this chemical education conference is actually rather refreshing!
My Priest also picked up the Hidden appearance for her Disc Artifact. So far, I’ve gotten the Hidden appearances for Arcane Mage, Fire Mage, Frost Mage, Brewmaster Monk, Holy Paladin, Enhancement Shaman, Beastmaster Hunter, and Guardian Druid.
Interestingly, though Kamalia hasn’t obtained the base Hidden appearances for Elemental or Resto, she has the 200 WQ tint of those appearances available for her to use.
I’ll have to come back at level 120 to farm the dungeon drops for the Hidden appearances for Balance Druid and Holy Priest.
I’d thought about getting the Feral Druid one for Kerisa, but I decided instead to get it with my Highmountain Tauren Druid.
Niskara, Niskara, Niskara… Marksmanship Hunter, Blood Death Knight, and Holy Priest all go there at the very beginning of things to get Artifacts. Warlocks go there for Chapter 2 of their campaign. Paladins and Priests have an intersecting storyline there near the end of Chapter 3 & beginning of Chapter 4 of their respective campaigns. Demon Hunters and Warriors conclude their campaigns there. From a meta perspective, I recognize that this place is a hub to answer the common complaint about art resources being created that only a small fraction of the playerbase will ever see (locations such as Kezan, the Broken Isles, Gilneas-before-the-Cataclysm, and the Wandering Isle, for example) and to reduce the load on the art team. From an in-universe lore perspective, though, why is this scrap of a world such a central location? Might that have been explained in some bit of quest text that I have long since forgotten?
I was greatly relieved to read Gnomecore’s report that the gear from the Darkshore WQs uses the new character selection screen/Boosted/Warlords Salvage Yard models — I have all of those already, so no need for me to run myself ragged trying to collect them. Between missing 5 days of play time and wanting to finally do the Argus campaign when I get back, I may end up doing all three chapters of the War of Thorns back-to-back with just one character per faction on the night of August 12th. On the Alliance side, it will be Kerithian the Night Elf Druid, of course. On the Horde side, I’m thinking it will be Kelisanna the Rogue, to observe and report on Sylvanas’ operations for Regent Lord Theron.
Posted in Alts, Events, happy dance, Order Hall, Questing, Raiding, Screenshots on July 17, 2018|
Cenarius finally coughed up the lookalike of the Emerald Nighthold Druid tier robe for Kerisa. Hooray!
My Warlock finished her Order Hall Campaign. Five done, seven left. Can I manage to get seven more Order Hall Campaigns completed in only four weeks — three and a half, really, because of this conference I’m going to at the end of the month?
I was surprised that compassion — albeit in the somewhat limited sense of even if you don’t give a damn about the rest of the world, you should still take care of the people who are part of your own community — emerged as one of the main themes of that story. I wasn’t expecting that from the Warlocks. Good job, devs!
I went and did the Wound quests in Silithus with Kamalia and Kaylynda, just in case they might go away in Patch 8.0.
I had been under the impression that one had to complete the Broken Shore campaign to do the Mage Tower Challenge, and I just didn’t have time energy or desire to do that. Reading posts about the imminent end of the Mage Tower Challenge, I realized that I’d been mistaken. So Kaelinda hurried to do the questchain that leads up to the Mage Tower Challenge, and do to the Wound quests in Silithus to get her Artifacts to be OP, and then I started trying the Frost Mage challenge. It is a kiting fight, and I am rubbish at kiting. After making a half-dozen-ish rather feeble attempts in which I felt like I was making little to no progress, I decided that I had other things — both in-game and out — that I’d rather spend my Monday evening doing. Specifically, my Rogue finished Chapter 3 of her Order Hall Campaign.
Many many thanks to Coffee Cakes & Crits, who tipped me off that the Tabard of the Lightbringer is BoE and can sometimes be found on the AH. I looked, and there it was. The list price of 255 K might not be much for some folks, but for me, it took a bit of pooling cash — with Kamalia and Kaelinda, who have been level 110 the longest and thus have had the most time to rake in gold from Order Hall missions, being the major donors — to be able to afford it.
Now Patch 8.0 is here, but there’s another week before the pre-launch-event quests begin. I’ll need to do those with the characters who will eventually be heading off into BfA content.
For the Blue Team, we have Kaylynda the Human Mage, Kerithian the Night Elf Druid, Kjerstin the Dwarf Shaman, and Kyraleia the Dwarf Paladin.
For the Red Team, we have Kaelinda the Blood Elf Mage, Kerisa the Tauren Druid, Kamalia the Tauren Shaman, and Keija the Tauren Warrior. Kaelinda, Kamalia, and Keija will have to go to Zandalar eventually because the only Professions I care about any more are the ones that make me things I can use for Mogging and they are my Tailor, Leatherworker, and Blacksmith, respectively. The leather-wearer position for the Red Team is theoretically flexible, but it will probably end up being Kerisa because of my four level 110 Horde leather-wearers, I am the most attached to her.
Posted in Events, Silly, Transmogrification on April 3, 2018| 8 Comments »
If you’re going to wear the Darkmoon Top Hat to get that sweet 10% XP and rep buff, you might as well own the look.
To allow characters of any level to wear them, I designed these outfits exclusively with items usable by characters in the Classic (1-60) level bracket.
Darkmoon Sleight-of-Hand
Elder Wizard’s Mantle, Cat Lover’s Vest, Nesingwary’s Sash, Genavie’s Leggings, Shimmering Gloves, Duskwoven Sandals, Tuxedo Shirt, Cloak of the Darkmoon Faire, Enchanted Azsharite Felbane Staff*
Trying for a stage magician sort of look here. I almost didn’t use any shoulders with this kit, until I saw how nicely these ones complemented the cloak.
A lookalike of the staff is the Rod of the Void Caller, a quest reward from Hellfire Peninsula. For a low-level character, the Magician Staff would also work nicely.
Darkmoon Flower Seller
Songbird Blouse, Dervish Belt, Leggings of the Fang, Inscribed Leather Gloves, Dark Leather Boots, Cloak of the Darkmoon Faire, Staff of the Verdant Circle
“All I want is a place somewhere,
Far away from the cold night air,
With one enormous chair —
Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly?
Lots of coal making lots of heat!
Lots of chocolate for me to eat!
Warm [face (?)], warm hands, warm feet!
Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly!
Someone’s head resting on my knee
[Nice and cozy (?)] as it could be
Who takes good care of me —
Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly…”
—My Fair Lady
Darkmoon Daredevil
Sparkleshell Mantle, Darkmoon Breastplate, Belt of the Gladiator, Soldier’s Leggings, Wastewalker’s Gauntlets*, Sabatons of the Flamewalker, Cloak of the Darkmoon Faire, Tremendous Tankard O’Terror, Driftmire Shield*
Don’t be fooled by the huge tankard — it’s just for show. Whether the mount is animal or mechanical, she’s one of the sharpest stunt riders at the Faire.
One thing the Transmogrification interface doesn’t tell me is if an item I’ve chosen is something that isn’t available anymore… /headdesk.
The Ice Cream Mitts are an excellent alternative for the gloves. The Shield of the Barrens is the most comparable shield design.
Darkmoon Demolisher
Acid-Etched Pauldrons, Revenant Chestplate & Leggings, Symbolic Belt Gauntlets & Greaves, Cloak of the Darkmoon Faire, Darkmoon Hammer
This kit takes its inspiration from the outfits worn by Mola and Ziggie Sparks.
There are two sets of plate armor that use the “Revenant” name: one from Classic that is a recolor of the crafted Thorium armor set and has a lot of lookalike items from Burning Crusade quest rewards, and one from Wrath that is a lookalike of the crafted Cobalt armor set. This outfit uses the Classic items.
Posted in Events, Kamalia, Shaman, Story/RP on January 23, 2018| 13 Comments »
Kamalia barely had time to notice the ground heaving underneath her, throwing her off of her feet, before the pain overtook her. White-hot, blinding, like a blade had been shoved through her — worse, so much worse than when Garrosh had dumped the Heart of Y’Shaarj into the pools of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms — it consumed all her senses. Dimly, she heard herself screaming. Dimly, she felt herself rolling across the hard rock floor of the Heart of Azeroth as the ground continued to quake violently.
After some unknown interval, the quaking and the pain began to subside.
A hand was gently shaking her shoulder. A voice was calling, “Farseer? Farseer?”
A woman’s voice with a foreign inflection, repeating “Farseer, can you hear me?”
A Draenei’s voice… Earthcaller Yevaa.
Kamalia opened her eyes and looked up at Yevaa. Slowly, she uncurled herself from the fetal ball she had been lying in and, gratefully accepting Yevaa’s proffered hand, rose on trembling legs. She didn’t notice until she was fully standing that she had one hand pressed to her side as if covering a wound. Looking down, she half expected to see her hand and armor caked with blood, and fresh blood still oozing around her fingers. But she was only muddy and scraped and scratched from sliding across the floor, and no blood rushed forth as she tentatively pulled her hand away from her side.
“The Earthmother,” Kamalia gasped, “The Earthmother suffers. She is — ” the phantom wound in her side throbbed as the floor quivered with another small earthquake “– she is wounded.”
Yevaa was looking at her with complete incomprehension, and Kamalia realized that she had been speaking in Taurahe.
“The Earthmother is wounded,” Kamalia repeated, this time in Common.
Other members of the Earthen Ring were gathering around Kamalia and Yevaa. All were trembling and shaky from the earthquakes, but some, including Muln Earthfury, Stormcaller Mylra, and a few others, seemed weaker than the rest.
“You are the last to recover, young Farseer,” said Magatha Grimtotem. “For a while there, I wasn’t sure if you were going to wake up again. Your contact with those Artifacts seems to have given you a deeper attunement to the Earthmother than the rest of us.” Her tone held a slightly mocking note, as if she thought that what she had just said was what others might say about Kamalia’s collapse — but she herself merely thought Kamalia to be weak.
“Was I…?” Kamalia began.
“You were not the only one to be totally overcome,” grunted Muln. “I was also, and Mylra, and others. The Earthmother is wounded, certainly gravely. We must find where, and do all we can to save her. If we can save her?” There was a hint of a question in the senior Farseer’s voice, and he looked toward Nobundo and Aggra.
Nobundo shook his head. “I feel that this world is in distress and terror, but I do not think I felt what you felt, my friends. As for your question… I cannot answer that. We were just learning to become Shaman when Ner’zhul’s portals began to tear Draenor apart, and Draenor was not host to a world-soul. I did not know enough then to be able to compare what I felt from Draenor’s elements, then, to what I feel from Azeroth’s elements, now.”
“I was only a child, and had not yet begun my training, when my world broke,” said Aggra. “When my teacher told me about it, she said that she felt the elements’ distress and knew that the world was falling to pieces, but she didn’t describe being physically affected in the way that you were just now. And I… I can feel that this world is now in terrible pain. Greater pain, deeper pain than the surface burns and scars inflicted by the Legion on the Broken Isles. But I do not know if it will be fatal.” She nodded toward Muln. “We must find the place, and go there, and do all we can to prevent it from being fatal.”
There was a sudden clamor from the portal to Dalaran. The delegation of Earthen Ring Shaman whom Kamalia had sent to Argus, who had been out of contact for several weeks following their reports of the initial forays by the Army of the Light and the Legionfall Concordance into the seat of the Burning Legion — Antorus, the Burning Throne — burst through, running, shouting.
Seeing the toppled totems and other items, the rockslides, and the other members of the Earthen Ring crowded around the inner circle of Farseers who were all looking pale and some of whom were holding hands to their sides, the returning champions faltered to a halt and their shouts began to quiet even before Muln held up a hand.
“You already know,” one of them, a well-respected Troll man, said.
“Perhaps,” said Muln. “We know that Azeroth is gravely wounded, but we do not yet know where, or how, or why. It seems that you may know these things. Tell us what happened in Antorus.”
The champions began telling what they had seen and experienced in the Burning Throne. At first, they spoke in turns, but soon a Pandaren woman named Cinder became the main storyteller, with the others occasionally chiming in to provide additional details.
“…as the Pantheon’s power pulled Sargeras into their prison, he turned and plunged his sword into Azeroth! We weren’t able to see exactly where it struck, but we know it was somewhere in southern Kalimdor. If we take the portal to Ramkahen from the Earthshrines and fan out from there, we should be able to find it very quickly — that thing is immense!”
From Ramkahen, the location of the Sword of Sargeras* was instantly obvious: Silithus.
The Earthen Ring group landed on the ridge above the Oasis of Vir’sar and looked down on a horrifying sight.
The incomprehensibly large weapon appeared to have pierced Azeroth right at Cenarion Hold — all the valiant kaldorei warriors and Cenarion Circle druids who’d lived there, obliterated instantaneously. A new wave of pain and grief washed over Kamalia, bringing her to to her knees. She fought down a surge of nausea.
The sands of the whole Silithus valley had been turned to buckled slabs of slag. Around the edges of the weapon itself, white flames flickered and curled, looking eerily like Sha fumes. Elsewhere, the cracks glowed a strange color, neither the orange-red of lava nor the blue-violet of a ley line, but an unsettling golden yellow.
“This is not going to be as easy as blasting out the ‘thorn’ and throwing down some enchanted seeds, the way we healed Shen-zin Su,” Wavespeaker Adelee commented wryly from behind Kamalia. Adelee’s voice dropped to a despairing whisper. “Oh, Eonar, what do we do?”
~*~*~
* Of course, to actually see the Sword of Sargeras, I had to run through Antorus LFR with Kamalia. While I was there, of course I had to take a selfie with Argus, to get the filter — because I wasn’t sure if I’d ever come back there.
This story is still Kamalia’s canonical experience of the event, though — running the LFR was game mechanics.
Though reports from the PTR showed the Sword being visible from as far away as Thunder Bluff, I couldn’t see it from there. I could only see it from the edges of Mulgore, near or just over the borders with Feralas.
