Trial of Style

Despite my interest in transmog, I wasn’t too excited about the Trial of Style. None of the mog prizes were that exciting to me. The only one I really wanted was the mail set. I would have totally forgotten about the event altogether until I saw someone on my friends list queue for it. So I figured, ok, I’ll go get that set and be done.

 

WRONG.

 

I queued up my hunter first since that was the set I wanted. She went in blind with no idea what she was in for. I didn’t do so well but at least now I understood how it worked. And it was FUN! It took a few rounds to get the tokens I needed and then I put her away.

 

Next day I thought You know, that was pretty fun. I should take my main mage and make him some theme sets ahead of time and see how he does.  So I made him a few sets of the themes that I had seen already and queued him up. Naturally, the first theme was one I hadn’t seen before so I had to create something on the fly. Being a belf, he has an extensive wardrobe, so it was pretty easy to come up with an Epic Purples outfit. And he won! First try. Go figure.

So then I thought, well, I might as well get the plate, too. So I made some outfits for Kerick. Faction Pride came up, and I had the Stormwind Guard transmog from the Draenor garrison thing already saved up and ready to load. Yeah, it’s a set, not a unique mog. I figured that was a mark against it, but apparently it didn’t matter. It won.

Then there was the rogue. I have an extremely limited leather wardrobe, so I wasn’t sure how that would go.  But his Primal Style outfit won. It seems like tying together a look ahead of time does make a difference.  As you can see in the shot which has the top three all on the podium, the other two had the right idea. But their outfits were just a little too thrown together and mishmash to stand up to the cohesive design. Could I have thrown this together in 2 minutes and had it look like this? Probably not. Planning ahead does pay off.

And here is a better shot of him by himself.

I really hope they do this again, preferably not just once a year. It would be nice if they added some new prizes. I think people really enjoyed this. I know I did!

Blog Challenge #24: Class Fantasy, Yay or Nay?

I haven’t posted in awhile (again) but Z & Cinder have gotten me with their latest topic, Class Fantasy, Yay or Nay?

My answer is going to differ depending on the class, because some they got right and some are rather lacking.

The Good

Outlaw Rogue. Yes please. I love the toe-to-toe, pistol packing highwayman/swashbuckler image and the spec nails it. Plus it’s fun to play. The class hall is fitting, although it’s a pain sometimes to get to lately if you use the shop next to the fishing trainer. I haven’t really played the other specs yet but they seem to fit.

Balance Druid. The class hall, the Emerald Dreamway, heck, all of Val’sharah, just SCREAMS druid. I mean, seriously, I even have my own little patch to plant things and hope for my very own tiny Broot, and I get to run around with Mylune and have little critters randomly follow me around and I’m wielding THE SCYTHE OF ELUNE … honestly the only bad thing I can say is what the heck is that class mount? Or rather, why is it SO BIG? I will get it eventually but I won’t use it. I’m already a big fat Tauren, I *like* being a regular sized bird in flight so I can actually see around myself, ya know?

Paladin. Leaning toward The Meh category because, well, it’s been my main for the last two expansions and isn’t now, but .. well, that started in the middle of WoD so I can’t totally blame Legion or the class fantasy of it. I love the class hall, all of my favorite paladins are there … well, all except for my beloved Tirion. I think part of the reason I have been dragging my heels on finishing the DK is because I’ve heard parts of what’s going to happen in the story and I just. don’t. want. I mean, even looking at Ashbringer on my back … it’s probably the reason paladin isn’t my main. So I guess I CAN blame Legion. I know it sounds dumb, but Tirion was my in-game hero and knowing that I’m taking his place just doesn’t sit well with me. Does it make sense for the class fantasy and the story? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I like the class mount though. I need to keep collecting AP to get all of the colours.

The Meh

Mage. Yeah the class hall is ok but, I don’t know … I love burning things, fire mage is my main this xpac after all, but the class fantasy doesn’t excite me much.

Warlock. Same as mage really, it’s all very warlocky and the spec differences are appropriate enough, but the only thing I’m excited about is the class mount. I need to keep working on that because I want it.

The Eh What?

Warrior. The specs make sense. But the whole Odyn and the Vrykuls thing. I just don’t get it. My human warrior is having a hard time identifying with them. And don’t EVEN get me started on how my Forsaken feels about them. He’d just as soon shove them into an alcove in the Undercity as have to visit that bright, golden eyesore in the sky. Nope.

Hunter. I like BM. I like Hati and having dire beasts and all that. But … I think it’s a personal thing, because my hunter, she isn’t … well, she’s less Nesingwary and more Rexxar. To her, being a hunter is about her partnership and friendship with her pets. It’s not about stalking prey, or trophies, it’s not even about fighting. I sometimes wonder why she chose the path of the hunter at all instead of that of the druid. So the class hall doesn’t really do much for her. And she hates guns. Why in the world is the BM weapon a gun? I don’t get it.

That covers the 7 classes I have leveled.

Ashbringer and Titanstrike

So I finally got to log on after work last night, by which time two of my friends were already 110. Crazy people! But they raid so … they have other priorities. My main goal at the moment is to get everyone their weapon and class hall. Or at the very least to get their Dalaran hearthstone. There will be a bit of spoiler stuff down below so if you don’t want to know, stop here.

Ashbringer

Obviously Kerick is first. I had a hard time with this. Partly because all of the green fel stuff on the ground makes my puttering old graphics card almost suffocate, and partly because of the content.

I don’t want to be Highlord. I’d be okay with ‘Acting Highlord’ while Tirion recovers, or even taking over as Highlord with him retiring, but I’m not ok with his death. I know, I know, he’s not exactly young anymore and it had to happen eventually, he’s only human. But still … If they wanted to make me actually care about kicking Gul’dan’s loser ass, they found the way to do it. I know there are plenty of people in the playerbase who’ve made fun of him over the years, but he’s always been special to me. Kerick has always tried to live up to what he’s seen in Tirion … the willingness to make sacrifices for what he knows is right, like befriending Eitrigg; the inner strength to keep going and believe in the Light even through the things that happened with his son Taelan; etc. He was even willing to trade places with Bolvar on the Lich King’s throne. (Oh dear Bolvar, that’s another one I’ve never quite gotten over losing.) I’m sure Tirion had many regrets, but he buried them and fought on. Now all we can do is pray that he rests peacefully, and fight on. And, of course, seek some vengeance .. we are, after all, retribution paladins!

Titanstrike

I must admit, despite the wonderful quest and lore that came with this, I don’t feel any special attachment to the Titans, or Mimiron, or Thorim, or any of it. I do, of course, love love love Hati. Now Juna can go to bed sandwiched between her canids, much like I do every night. Except mine are battle pet sized and don’t have lightning arcing across their bodies. Anyway … she got a new mog to match the colours of the gun because I didn’t have anything in her collection that really went with the pets yet. That’s a project for later on, as is getting the skin that turns the gun into a bow (unless it requires pvp).

She also bought the tomes in her class hall that lets her pets play dead, which was really fun. She was running around the lodge while her two wolves just laid out on the floor. I didn’t get a good pic though because it was pretty dark in there. Oh well. Plenty of time later. 🙂

Eight

With the Faire around last week, I figured it would be a good idea to get some more leveling done.  Saturday afternoon I finished up with Madorsa.

That makes 8 classes to level 100. Only druid, monk, and priest to go.

Oh. Yeah. You’re probably wondering how I skipped from 6 to 8, eh? Yeah, I boosted Kriann, the dwarf shaman, with the Legion pre-order. I didn’t document it because, well, it’s a boost. I didn’t level her. Well, I did, to 68, but not the rest of the way. So, she counts, but she doesn’t, ya know?

In the course of her adventures in Nagrand, Madorsa ran across Luk’hok, a rare elite elekk that drops a mount, the Mottled Meadowstomper. Now, he’s level 100 and she, at the time, is 98. Yes, I know, warlock OP etc etc but I didn’t even bother. I mean really, I have 7 other classes at max level right? Ok, 4 if we’re only talking about the server group that she is on, but still … I trotted Van out there instead.

I am totally out of practice with him, but I remembered enough to kill the thing without getting myself killed. So, new and totally unexpected mount!

Aside from all that, I spent yesterday working on my seasonal character in D3 since the season ends … crap, Friday. I don’t think I will be completing chapter 4. First off, in order to even get into my set dungeon, I had to dink around with finding the crimson beta drivers for my ‘legacy’ AMD video card so that the game won’t crash if I try to visit the Desolate Sands. Yeah. Next time I’m buying Nvidia. I might be able to get to Greater Rift level 20 and kill Siegebreaker Assault Beast on T4 by then, but I have to do some research on the set dungeon. That might be too much. Still, for a casual player, I’m happy just to have completed my set. I just need the pants still to have all 7 pieces.

Remind me next season to start running rifts at 60 or so, so that I have a collection of greater shards ready for me when I hit 70. I’m behind now because I have to run 2 or 3 neph rifts to get a shard in between each greater rift. Gah.