<3 that garrison jukebox

So I’m sitting here in my office on campus, late at night, working on the last couple of documents for my portfolio for my final tenure review, which is due on Friday.

The sound card in my school laptop, which is five years old, gave out during the spring, so I’d brought in one of my laptops from home to be able to show a video clip to one of my classes as part of my first day spiel. That other laptop happens to have WoW installed on it. So I’ve got that other laptop booted up, running WoW, with all of the sounds turned off except the music, and a character sitting in her Garrison, so that I can listen to a variety of WoW soundtrack pieces while I work without having to actually run about in the world.

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growly face

Between Bedtime for Frances and Bread and Jam for Frances in my childhood, the Redwall books in my tween and teenage years, Hogwarts’ Hufflepuff House in my young adulthood, and attending University of Wisconsin-Madison for my PhD, I have a certain fondness for badgers. This charming fellow is the wallpaper on my school laptop.

Lately, whenever I go to Pandaria, I can’t help noticing the similarity between Growly Badger’s growly grin and the snarl-grin of that imposing Mogu dude on the Pandaria loading screen…

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Warfronts yet to come?

It occurs to me that the races paired by the existing Warfronts are those that are also paired by the Orb of Deception:
Humans vs Orcs in Arathi
Night Elves vs Undead in Darkshore

If this is a true pattern (which it probably isn’t :P), then future Warfronts might be:
Dwarves vs Trolls
Gnomes vs Tauren

There are various sites in the world where Dwarves and Trolls are in conflict… but I think it might be a big stretch to come up with a Warfront that would pit Gnomes vs Tauren.

Anyway, I think I remember seeing some kind of datamining/speculation that there might at some point in the future be a Warfront in Southern Barrens centered on the conflict between the Dwarves and the Tauren over the Dwarves’ archeological excavation there.

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the easiest class for preschoolers to play

In the evenings, while we sit at our computers, our toddler usually sits in BTH’s lap watching music videos (he’s a fan of Oonagh and Lindsey Stirling) on BTH’s third monitor while BTH plays a game on his main monitor and writes posts for his RPG Crossing D&D games on his second monitor. This evening, all of a sudden the kid started banging his head on the desk in front of BTH’s keyboard.

“You can’t program computers that way,” BTH says to our son.

“No,” I said, “but you can Ret Paladin.”

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little gilded Fire Festival incense burners

When the Helm of the Fire Festival was first introduced in 2012, I wrote

Together, the Fire Festival shoulders and helm look like something out of the next great Harrison Jones adventure. They look like the kind of thing one might find on little statuettes or idols arrayed around the altar of some forgotten [deity] — incense burners that would have to be activated in a specific order and with specific types of incense.

A forgotten deity like this strange statue that I found in the Karazhan Catacombs while doing the Balance Druid Artifact quest, perhaps…

When, in mid-2017, holiday items became Moggable during the corresponding holidays, it was somewhat inevitable that The Underpowered Death Knight would want to do this…

Incense Burner

Helm of the Fire Festival, Mantle of the Fire Festival, Glorious Breastplate & Girdle, Conqueror’s Legplates, Sunscale Gauntlets, Replica Lightforge Boots, Yaungol Fire Carrier

This year, I’ve expanded that silly idea into a full Transmogrification Collection for all the armor types!

Triumphant Flame

Triumphant set with Helm of the Fire Festival, Mantle of the Fire Festival, Masterwork Leggings, and Emberhawk Crossbow
There are other plate-like golden mail sets (Masterwork, Radiant, Sparkleshell) and a handful of scale-like golden mail sets (Burnished, Dreamwalker, Captain’s, Glimmering). I like the Triumphant set best with the festival helm and shoulders, but you may like one of these other sets better.

Soot-Stained Glitter

Helm of the Fire Festival, Mantle of the Fire Festival, Vest of Forceful Fury, Headhunter’s Belt, Mennu’s Scaled Leggings, Gloves of Issued Challenge (LFR), Felshroud Boots, Master Builder’s Shirt, Alysra’s Razor (N)
This set was the most difficult to make because there isn’t much in the way of either gilding or solid bright yellow in leather. Dark with gilded accents seemed like the best way to go.

Golden Goddess


Helm of the Fire Festival, Mantle of the Fire Festival, Elegant Robes/Robes of the Battleguard, Cloudscorcher Leggings, Wild Gladiator’s Gloves of Prowess + Nightvale Wristwraps, Kurkenstoks, Nimboya’s Mystical Staff*
Either of these robes is “the obvious choice” for this sort of outfit.
The Bling Cane is a good alternative for the staff.

Stay tuned for more Fire Festival outfits later!

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Things to Wear with the Darkmoon Top Hat

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.

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micropost: something wicked this way comes

After reading the announcement for the new Hearthstone expansion, “The Witchwood”, now I have the “Something Wicked This Way Comes” track from the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban soundtrack looping in my head.

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