We apologize for not getting the results out sooner but it’s been a crazy busy few days for all of us judges. But, we’re bunkered in and performed our duties once more in an effort to see who moves on to the finals! Goodness knows the contestants were thrilled with Round Four and having to match up with the Tabard of the Illidari. Having said that, let’s see how they did!
JD: Another impressive compilation here. I wanted to not like the helm because of the orange “eyes” but the problem is you don’t notice them until long after the rest of the outfit. That’s a good thing. Great weapon choices here, and am surprisingly in love with the Chromite Legplates here. 14.2
TotA: I really like the color in the legs and how it’s echoed by the weapon choice. I think the helm works for me because of the hint of a similar glow from the cloak’s border. Overall everything works well for me, lovely. 14.3
Effy: This outfit required a temporary “Oh shiny”-like moment, as I had to see this larger. This meant firing up WoW and MogIt and a whole 10 or so minutes of fiddling and zooming and twirling. Because from the picture, I could tell this outfit had a lot of character, I just could not tell how much. This is one of those outfits that grow on me, mostly because the combination of colors is at first overwhelming – which is not too surprising considering the combinations of purple, green, and yellow. Belts must be a be a larger eye-catcher for me, because that seems to be where I find myself commenting most in this judging – but I find my eyes wanting more purple there. I like that the outfit is purple, trimmed and accessorized with green. I also like the Chromite pieces here, which I find surprising, but once more Kamalia makes the simple pieces the most likeable. They just go well with the shield. The shoulders are also still throwing me off, as they are more of the majority of the outfit, which is primarily purple. Overall, what an exciting piece for the eyes. 13.9
JD: I want to like “Frank” here. I really really do, and the truth is I like what’s been put together. The hat was a great choice…it’s all a great choice. The problem for me is that I look at it and think Darkmoon Faire. I can’t get past that impression and that hurts my overall score for an otherwise solid outfit. 13.4
TotA: OMG! Frank, I know an Undead Warlock lady who would love to meet you. She keeps nudging me saying “get his number” so it’s hard to pay attention. Maybe I’ll send her to gather some cloth so I can have some peace. There whew, she’s out of the way. I don’t know what to say Frank. Your lovely hat, your weapon and then showing a little skin doesn’t hurt … sorry I meant bones. I do understand what JD means by the Darkmoon Faire look but in spite of that I can’t help but be smitten. What? Yes, yes, you can put your lumberjack shirt back on now Frank. 14.0
Effy: I am actually quite fond of this outfit (and character), too, Ancient. And for any of our readers, I suggest following the link and learning more about Frank, as it is all quite pertinent to his item choices. I like the whole farmer by day and Warlock by night thing Frank has going – does that mean he moonlights for Illidan? Or just that he swiped this tabard from some unwitting follower and now sports it to show off his prowess? I feel the tabard, belt and cloak are the focus of this outfit, and the hat and shoulders complement them well. BTW, kudos for the shoulders! I had to pick up a pair for myself a while back, but unfortunately I have yet to find anything I really want to pair them up with. I also like the remaining pieces for being simple, and adding to the outfit overall. 14.1
JD: Illidari squire! Peasant? I have no idea but I love it! The Darkmist Handguards are a near perfect match to that tabard, and I love the use of grey here. Just phenomenal. Kudos for one of my favourite shoulders in the game as well as the staff and belt to bring out the tabard’s green…to say nothing of the model choice and her eyes. Well done. 14.2
TotA: There seems to be a story behind this entry, wonderful look. The shoulders and belt do a great job of tying the tabard into an overall look. The weapon and eyes are icing on the cake! Very nice. 14.2
Effy: I agree that the Blood Elf, especially with the dark, simple haircut, makes for a great complement to this outfit. The shoulders and belt (and even the gem in the very simple staff) go perfect with the green in this tabard, and yes, the gloves fit well with the purple. Even though the heaviest focus is from the belt up, the good usage of a similar shirt and pants brings the simplicity of the bottom half together with the rest. Great composition. 14.0
JD: Another one of these creepy ones. At first I looked at the cloak and thought it didn’t belong, but then I saw it from the back and foolishly realized how perfect it was. I’ve commented on the trim of the tabard being out of place before, but here it actually gets lost in the image. As the tabard itself is still the focus (again weapon and shoulder choice help), that’s nicely done. 13.8
TotA: I love the reflection of the evil glow emanating from the weapon mirrored by the shoulders, very nice. And the skulls on the boots, shudder. I’d hate to see this group of ten coming for me. Very evil which in this case is a good thing! 13.9
Effy: I think this is my favorite this round, partly because it is along the same idea I had for an Illidari Death Knight, only a completely different take than mine. Also, a great combination of different set pieces, with some simple and non-detracting but great matching quest drops. Well thought out, well executed, well done. 14.8
JD: As a complete outfit, I’ve never ever been a fan of the purple Judgement gear. The pieces that were used here, I’m incredibly impressed with as it relates to the whole outfit. She means business. Great choice of weapon to make both it and the tabard stand out. Also, I love that you’re in the middle of a raid when you took this. 14.0
TotA: Oh, I love the action shot! This Tauren is not to be taken lightly. At first glance I didn’t think just using the green in the weapon was enough to overpower that tabard but it really does balance the outfit for me … or it might be her look. I’m not telling her it’s not working, would you? 14.0
Effy: I, on the other hand, am a big fan of the Judgment gear – especially the purple variety. (I have a purple-skinned Draenei Paladin, what can I say?) I think the black fur does a great job of bringing out this outfit, and the weapon reminds us that the fel-green of the tabard is a very important part of this outfit too. However, I have to mark down, because this outfit does set off my internal alarm in regards to number of set pieces – I count four and perhaps five with the chest. Other than that, I count this as an outfit I could see one of my toons running around in. 12.4
JD: I’m terrified, again. Seriously I would not want to irk this woman for fear she would turn me into much more than a newt. Another outfit that uses the Patronizing Practicioner to enhance the tabard, but off-illuminated by the weapon choice here as well. Nothing here feels out of place. 14.3
TotA: I’m going to have nightmares tonight. This is the scariest bunch of competitors so far. The staff seems to counterbalance the shoulders and tabard perfectly. Overall lovely, while scary outfit! 14.3
Effy: Scary lady, indeed. I think this outfit has a lot of great elements to it – that staff for one is gorgeous with this tabard, not to mention it ties in the lesser elements of the helm. Yes, usually I am not one for helms, but I think outfits for matching these two tabards are well complemented by attention here and giving thought to some of the great and eerie helms available to all the armor types. The only constructive criticism I have here I that I would prefer to see this outfit with a belt matching the glow of the purple in the shoulders, despite how much I really like the belt used. I feel the staff’s glow has enough green to carry that part of the tabard, and a purple belt would add to the movement of the eye along the outfit as a whole. 14.0
JD: This one jumps out at me for looking evil…yet quite content about it. Good use of the purples and greens, while the shoulders and staff just rip all innocence away. Love the belt too. Only drawback is the trim color of the tabard looks completely out of place on the outfit. 13.9
TotA: Oh the horror! Nothing says evil like a little Gnome with glowing green skulls! Run! This Gnome managed to put that tabard in its place. Shoulders and staff are wonderful. JD’s right about the tabard trim but I didn’t even notice until he pointed it out. I think I was hypnotized by the glowing skull eyes! 14.0
Effy: I am not distracted by the lack of tabard-border color throughout. Honestly, I think this is great work done with a small Gnome palette – focus was placed on the pieces most visible: shoulders, staff, belt. And kudos for shoulders that scream fel, but are not awkwardly large on a Gnome. He looks like a powerful Warlock who I dare say enjoys his work. 13.8
D: I like the color scheme blending closely with the tabard in this one. In particular I’m a big fan of the helm choice, as well as the weapon, and using the Rich Purple Silk Shirt to fill in the gaps. However, I’m not sold on the Symbolic pieces. Not because there’s too much of it (as I know Effy will address), but I just don’t feel the symbols on it match up with the tabard all that well. Much like a prior entry, they fit the outfit, but not the piece the round was based on. 12.9
TotA: I’m not a fan of helms but in this case it really works well. As expected this round is proving the hardest so far. I’m not as knowledgeable as Effy and JD about gear so I’ll have to proceed using the “gentlemen, my eyes are up here” approach. I love the overall look of the outfit but it’s not blending the tabard to the point that it works as a set for me. 13.0
Effy: As JD was alluding to, yes, I have a mental limit where I feel an outfit moves from created to reused from Blizzard sets, but that limit is 3 pieces and so I believe this outfit meets the criteria. Personally, I think the Symbolic pieces go beautifully with this tabard, what I am thinking is the detracting point here is the helm and shoulders look so great with this tabard that the Symbolic pieces almost seem like too much color. A head and shoulders shot of this toon next to the full body I think would be the perfect illustration of this. Overall, I think this outfit did a great job of matching the tabard, but I do somewhat feel we have more than one thing going on here. 13.6
JD: I like this outfit, and the overall look. Jaina’s Staff was a great choice, while the headdress and shoulders work as well. Unfortunately for me, the rest of the outfit just gets too busy -in both design and colors. As a sum of all parts, the tabard doesn’t quite suit the outfit. Parts of the outfit yes, but with the complete package I’m thinking less Illidari and more Sen’jin (in colors). 13.2
TotA: The staff is wonderful with this outfit. I have to admit I’m a great fan of busy as far as color goes, the problem I’m having is with the gloves, the shoulders are perfect, staff is great, I just wish the gloves had a touch of the green from the tabard. 13.3
Effy: I have to veer off and disagree with JD here, as I do not see this outfit as too busy. The only part that temporarily gives me halt is the shoulders, as they have less vibrancy than the lower pieces, but I think I think this outfit works as a whole. I mean, we have to consider the source of this tabard – the Legion, Illidan, and the Burning Crusade expansion, all of which are color saturated… and why I adore them. I think this outfit conveys the feel of a BC outfit. Also, I cannot help but think of what the story behind this outfit might be – a fel Druid?? Illidan converting his brother Malfurion’s disciples to loyalty to himself? It gives a great slant to an outfit I am already pleased with. Also, I like the use of purple Night Elf hair to complement the entirety. 14.6
JD: This is hideous. Before you say anything, though, I mean that in a good way. I mean, there are SO MANY colors going on here…and yet, it actually all works! How you managed to keep the tabard the focal point is beyond me, but I could actually see this outfit on an instance NPC. 14.5
TotA: OMG! Who is this crazy person, run for your lives! Okay I think I’ve owned up to loving a lot of color and this just so works for me. Very bold move Ms. Night Elf! 14.5
Effy: At first, I really wanted to dislike this outfit. It is so colorful, it almost hurts. But then, I stopped and remembered – BC, color, LOTS of color – and I realized this fits. This is like the Illidari version of Druids of the Flame – Druids of the Fel? Or even more “modest” on the part of our dear Illidan – Druids of the Illidari? I think this is the one place I could ever like those Druid shoulders or helm. I want to say this Druid belongs in Hellfire Peninsula, where she would almost blend in. heh Great combination of unrelated pieces and somehow making them look coherent – I still cannot put my finger on how it works, but it does. 14.4
You know, for an incredibly hideous tabard these outfits turned out amazing, didn’t they? There’s a reason I didn’t post a “if I was in it” as I was drawing a complete blank on ideas. As I’ve said all along, the final round was my idea. Before we get there, though, we need to know who’s going to be taking part. So let’s tally up the the points!
- Missescake 43.4
- Cymre 42.6
- Reluctant Raider 42.5
- Kamalia 42.4
- Tolbi 42.4
- (bttf) Deb 41.7
- Blog of the Treant 41.5
- Kathleen T 41.5
- Nightwill 40.4
- Godmother 39.5
There you have your top 5 folks, in another ridiculously tight round. A single point between 1 and 5 and an overall differential of less than 5 points! To Deb, Treant, Guildmum, Nightwill and Kathleen we part with much sadness, but applause over their great efforts yet again this round. To the 5 remaining competitors, can’t wait to see how hard you bring it in this final round. You’ll have to wait a little bit for the guidelines post though!
arcanewordsmith.wordpress.com 
Once again, I am in absolute AWE of all of the entries. Congrats to everyone and good luck to the final five!
Erm… is not Guildmum – I withdrew – thank goodness given the quality of entires – they are ALL so amazing
Ack…I meant to say Godmother. Fail Judge is Fail.
…and fixed. I apologize to both of you for that.
No need to apologise to me – I’m honoured to have been mixed up with such a fab person and amazing blogger!
Oh no, Frank! I’m always afraid to view the results, of course I don’t want anyone to be eliminated but my Undead is going to give me a tongue lashing over Frank.
I can’t believe what incredibly wonderful outfits were put together by everyone around that tabard!
Well, I guess it’s the end of the line for me 😦 Congrats to all the winners, and I have to say this was a BLAST to be a part of! I’ll never look at Transmog quite the same again, and maybe if this kind of thing happens next year… 🙂
It was a pleasure having you and every entrant.
I hope you don’t expect to have to wait that long… 😉
Heh, If we do this again, perhaps only one Round at a time. Maybe just a small contest based around one piece.
But I agree, it has been a pleasure with all of these entries thusfar. This has been quite a challenge on all ends – contestants and judges.
I expect the last round to be very difficult – and this time it is JD’s fault. 😉
~ Effy
..and proud of it 😉
I can not believe I made it this far. Thank you guys so much! This is awesome fun!!
I’m glad the response has been as positive as it has.
Another round of outstanding entries! Frank is awesome — and yes, I would LOVE to see what happens if/when he hooks up with Tome’s ‘Lock 😉 And Tolbi — wow! I think that one is my favorite of the round. I also considered the Titansteel helm with the awesome wings, but it didn’t fit with the rest of what I had going very well.
Grats to those who made it through!
Always painful to know who didn´t make to the next round.
Not fair! Blog of the treant was really my favorite this round! Loved the simplicity of the outfit (I can get you the number of that undead warlock lady lol).
And I loved the last round rules. I will do a “pretend I´m in” look this time 🙂
I’m glad you liked Frank! I’m pleasantly surprised by all the positive attention he’s received. (All the Frank love is going to go straight to his head and there will be no living with him…)
Maybe you should chat with Ancient and see how she learns to get along with her primadonnas. 😉
~ Effy
This whole transmog experience — particularly the Frank part — has me almost considering rolling on an RP server. I’ve never tried RP before, and the thought of starting terrifies me a little, but I’ve always played through the eyes of my toons and composed backstories and stuff in my mind for them. The thought of trying to interact with other characters in-character is intimidating though.
It is tough to interact in-character all the time. When I started my Blog, I was on an RP server. Though I love giving life to my characters, I discovered it was not for me.
But I suggest conquering your fears to at least try it out. 🙂 The great part about RP? You can do it at any level! So there is no harm in rolling a brand new character to try it out. It is certainly good for helping you learn to develop your characters on the fly.
And either way, blogs and short stories are greatest outlet for those mini-stories I have found. 🙂
~ Effy
I’ve always been the same way with my characters. I’ve done a little bit of RP in WoW (much D&D in the outside world) and it varies. The thing is, in WoW it isn’t about going and finding RP so much as RPing and having IT find you (“it” being involvement of others).
Forsaken is great material, and Brill is usually a good RP location on most RP servers. Speaking of Forsaken, I should get cracking on that story before I call it quits…
i just can’t imagine walking around talking to myself. I would feel like an idiot. I mean, only crazy people do that in real life. (Or people with Bluetooth…)
I don’t have Bluetooth…
Yup, you are just really talking to yourself. 😉
~ Effy
That’s fine. I find the sarcasm to be of much higher quality. 😉
Oh snap!
See what I mean? It’s “how” you bring it.
Hahaha! Erm… *awkward silence* >.>
Just hook him up with what’s her name over at Tome’s and they’ll both shut up. lol
Better be careful, or she will give you to her Succubus for calling her what’s her name. 😛
*moves far away from JD*
~ Effy
….well if you looked at the outfit you would know it isnt a set for the chest. But I havent known whats going on with the things you say for a while now. Im glad its over.
Ah, well. I had a good run. And at the very least I seem to have created a fan-favourite in the character of Frank. LOL I knew I was taking a risk with him, but I’m glad I did because he was a lot of fun to create.
Grats to all those who are moving on. I look forward to seeing your final designs!
I am a bit disappointed to be eliminated, but also a bit relieved as well. To be completely honest, I haven’t entirely enjoyed the last three rounds because I didn’t like the items we were given to work with. It came to a head for me with the ugly tabard assignment. It made me wonder why I was even participating when I had to force myself to work with items I didn’t like and would never choose to use on my own. The item choices made the rounds feel more and more of a chore to me as time went on, and I seriously considered forfeiting this round. Instead, I channeled all my negativity into the subversive character of Frank, and ended up enjoying myself.
I understand that you probably chose items that would be a challenge to work with, and I do see the point to that. However, for me the fun of transmog is working with pretty/cool items. Also, I feel like the rounds would have been much more interesting if they were conceptual in nature, rather than just numerous variations on “Use item x and armor type y”. Having more variety in the types of items we were matching might have helped too. Here are some examples to illustrate what I mean:
– Your Human Male is a lounge singer. Design an outfit that will have all the ladies swooning over him.
– Your Hunter has tamed [cool beast x]. Unfortunately your current gear clashes with Fluffy’s fur! You need a new gear set to match him. (Most of the Hunters I know have actually done this… Real life example!)
– You are a Warlock attempting to sabotage a top secret meeting of Mages. Don a disguise that will allow you to infiltrate the meeting and foil their nefarious plans.
– You’re finally level 40 and have that epic Green Hawkstrider you’ve always wanted! Design an outfit so that you can ride in style. Level appropriate gear only, please.
I could go on, but you can probably see what I mean. You could also write brief character descriptions, or provide a setting. I just think it’s more interesting to work with concepts than specific items, though I understand that in-game gear sets are often born of a desire to use a specific item. Mixing up the rounds using both concepts and items might be ideal. (Ironically, the only round that’s concept based turns out to be the final round that I’m not taking part in.)
I’m also a bit unclear about the judging criteria that was used. “Creativity” and “Originality” seem like two different ways of saying the same thing. I’m not sure how one can be creative and unoriginal, or original and uncreative…
It seems that I must have lost points for Frank looking too “Darkmoon Faire” for some of the judges, which I don’t really understand. I actually just went back and looked at the Darkmoon NPCs on WoWhead and Frank’s outfit doesn’t look like theirs at all. The only thing in common is the color scheme, and since that’s the color scheme of the tabard I think it’s unfair to be penalized for using it. Also, considering that other entries have received high marks for looking like they could be “city guards” or “druid NPCs” or what have you, I’m not sure why creating a character that could blend in at the Darkmoon Faire would be a bad thing. (Frank would actually love to be mistaken for a harmless carny… Unsuspecting souls are the easiest ones to harvest.)
There have also been a few outfits that I didn’t like much at all which received high scores. I’m not going to point out specific examples, but in general I mean outfits that were clashing, or combined too many different textures/colors/elements, or which were just flat out kinda ugly. I recognize that this contest is entirely subjective in nature, so perhaps I just have different stylistic taste than the judges, but certain choices seemed odd and sometimes arbitrary to me. (Not saying I could have done a better job, as I’m sure people would disagree with some of my choices if I were judging too!)
Anyway, this comment is now far too long, so I should wrap up. I hope this didn’t come across as harsh at all, because that wasn’t my intention. I just had feedback and figured you would appreciate that, even if you disagree with me. 🙂 (I’ve also been accused of being “brutally honest” before, but I seem unable to help myself. *sigh*)
Overall I think this was a fun experience and that you all did an awesome job of running it. (I particularly appreciate how quickly you got the results back to us every week.) Thank you all so much for putting this together and allowing us to participate.
You know what, I appreciate the brutal honesty and feedback, all of which I consider incredibly positive. This contest came about on a whim from my brain and I e-mailed Effy to see what she thought and we put it together with Tome and launched it just a few weeks later. I’ll be the first to admit it wasn’t the perfect event and there are ALWAYS ways to make things better.
After the contest ends next week I’ve got my own things to say about the whole ordeal and as such will just leave it at that for now. But, please know that I very VERY much appreciated this entire comment.
I second that. Any and all feedback is appeciated and makes it that much more likely we will do something similar in the future. 🙂
Thanks, Khizzara – both for your feedback and for participating.
BTW, I look forward to more on Frank the Forsaken Fungus Farmer. hehe
~ Effy
And yes, this was more thrown together than it may appear. I do not think we expected (though we hoped!) for such a great turnout and such wonderful contestants and entries!
No matter this weekend’s results, everyone did wonderfully stepping up to the challenges presented. Judging has been a most wonderful experience for me.
~ Effy
*Whew!* I’m so glad you guys didn’t take my huge comment the wrong way. Thank you both for being so open to suggestions.
Since this is a fun, fan-created event I don’t expect perfection. (And seriously, there’s no way you should stress out much trying to please everyone.) You guys created the contest on a whim and I entered on a whim — so we’re more or less in the same boat there!
I hope you hold many more events in future and that I get to be part of them.
(Also, OMG! Frank the Forsaken Fungus Farmer! Hahahaha! I’m totally going to have to use that.)
It was originally going to come out Frank the Farmer… but the rest came as I was typing. hehe
~ Effy
The thing I learned long ago is to take comments, particularly text ones (that convey zero emotion quite often), with an open mind. I read them for what they are. Some do convey clear emotion and intent, but in a case like this where it was clearly your own thoughts on things and not 20 lines of f-bombs and attacks…well, it was pretty clear what you were saying. 😀
^ That 🙂