We’re turning the page on the calendar yet again (Gong Xi Fa Cai!), and that means a number of things. For starters, the Lunar Festival ends on Monday. Remember what an easy source of XP and guild rep it is if you happen to be looking for either. Also, with February now upon us Tycer has a new list for a screenshot a day. I haven’t previously taken part, but I decided to give it a go to give myself a little something different to try out creatively. I’m sure some days I will admittedly mail it in, but others I want to see what I might be able to achieve. It might also mean daily posting again, which has been gone a long time around here.
Speaking of taking part, a friendly little reminder that Dragonray’s Mog The World In 80 Daysentry deadline is coming to a close. I think you’ve got a few more hours to get the first entry in. You need an entry in every week to have a chance at winning the contest, but can participate as much or as little as you like. I believe there are six of us confirmed thus far. Yes, I say us because I managed to get my entry in earlier today. I didn’t go with the original country I had planned on and while I’m not 100% satisified with what I did, I still enjoyed it. I think there could be some fun tales to tell about that particular character. Can’t wait to see what the others have done, and I also need to get to work on the next couple because ideas are brewing in my head.
Where I need to get a transmog idea at the moment is Saintvache. He’s picked up some nice gear along the way but only bits and pieces and I really need to give him a look that’s “him.” Tum, Siori, Carrera…no problem. Elcombe? We’re good. Saintvache? Not so much. Perhaps I’ll focus on that after I finish grinding out the reputation for that Dark Phoenix mount with the guild. It’s one of a number of things I want to accomplish this month. None of them are major items, but if I put them down on…erm…paper, then I might have a greater chance of completing them.
What about you? With a fresh month that brings closure to a World Event and the start of another one, the Darkmoon Faire, and more out there…what does February have in store for you?
It seems like just yesterday I was talking about how to run your own contest for Transmogrification. Right around that same time, oddly enough, I came upon someone’s contest. That someone would be Dragonray over at Azerothian Life. The contest? Around the World In 80 Mogs! Wait, no…that’s not quite it. Ah, found it. Mog The World In 80 Days!
Head over there to get the full details, but if you’re looking for the short version from me first…it’s a 12 week competition with a different entry due each week. The emphasis is on countries, and more specifically mogging to match their flag colours with an outfit. I haven’t seen the list of 12, but man I hope Jamaica is in there. That would be a great colour scheme to build from. I also expect many entries to include the Scarlet Crusade Tabard if Canada is one of the weeks.
So there’s the short version. I know there’s a panel of judges just as there’s been around here, though I don’t know what the criteria is to increase your chances of winning. Personally I’m not concerned as I just look forward to using this as a chance to get some old fashioned mogging done and submit my own entries.
No, it’s not my transmog contest, I haven’t been back long enough for anything like that. In fairness I know some wouldn’t put it past me just the same. This one, though, is Samaramon’s. The contest ends on December 8th, and the challenge before then is to build an outfit around the Tabard of the Hand. Horde folk have probably never seen this tabard, and even Alliance who’ve never ventured into Draenei land can say the same.
For me, I remember actually getting said tabard. It was on my Hunter Liouxpold and it started my interest in getting him as many tabards as I could -until the Siori was in Scarlet Monastery and that one dropped for her. Then all bets were off basically. But, Liouxpold did get The Hand and as such it was him I chose to be my model, and that means rocking a Hunter package as well.
At first, my intention was to go with a mostly dark set, in order to make the tabard stand out that much more. You can see I still stuck to that with the Gladiator’s Chain Armor. With the finished look, the Armor is a very subtle shade that keeps focus on the tabard. It was with the shoulders, though, where the concept began to change. The Fiery Chain Shoulders are primarly red, but the shade and the overall look connected just enough with the orange in the tabard that it immediately worked for me. That left the hands, and so I sought something closer to the shoulders instead of the chest and the Molten Fists did the trick for me.
With the upper half down, it was time to clean up our model south of the equator. I went legs first and unexpectedly found the Flamewaker’s Legguards. Funny thing about the Legguards is that I really liked the belt and the “boots” portion of the model. I was concerned about what my options would be when it came to what would end up covering them. The belt was a quick solution, with the Girdle of the Gambit. The legs, I spent a lot more time on before I chose to go with Talhide-Lined Boots. On a normal footed character, I don’t think these will look right. But Draenei don’t have normal feet and this works just fine.
All that was left at this point was a weapon. I first looked at bows, because I just felt like The Hand would have archers. I also wanted something blue to connect to the tabard again, but nothing worked for me. Nothing in crossbows either, and I didn’t want a gun. So, I went back and looked at my options and under the crossbows I found something. The Merciless Gladiator’s Crossbow of the Phoenix fit the look quite well and was unique enough for what I wanted.
So after all that I must say I came up with an outfit I am really quite happy with. Not only was it a combination I didn’t expect, but I’m quite tempted to go track it down for Lioux and make it happen. What do you think (click to enlarge)?
Here we are folks, as it’s decision time. The RNG has no business here tonight and even I have no say in the voting. I’m ok with that. I’m sure even Pat wished he was Vanna some nights. So let’s take a look at the final two competitors and their submissions.
FreyanaZazzy
The contestants both put in awesome and unique designs. Again, glad I didn’t have to choose a winner. Instead, I left that in the hands of the other 15 competitors who were previously eliminated. In the end, the final vote was 9-6. Continue reading →
What better time to wrap up the third round of The Amazing Transmog Survivor Contest than during maintenance? I’m not going to waste any time this morning, as the remaining six contestants were tasked with designing an NPC of yours truly. Let’s see what folks came up with!
Lyla
My take on the NPC you is as a bit of fixer, a go to guy, an organiser, if you need something, from clothes to allies he can provide or at least knows someone who can. A little gruff on the outside, once you’ve earned his trust he’s loyal to the bitter end. He’s suave (see the suit made from the finest Panderen silks) but also dangerous (eye patch and stave which isn’t just for decoration but clubbing bandits over the head). He can be found travelling the highways and byways with his lovely lady Wife, a charming Pandaren who sells the finest teas on the continent.
Rhuanious
What immediately came to mind, beyond mogging and the bit of AH-ing you do, is LBR. And if you run your Laid Back Raid nights, you are a fight coordinator. Fight Coordinators need to be badass to deal with pissed off people if something goes wrong (not that it does ^.^). If blood elves could be druids you would be carrying a book (ledger) to record the fights 🙂
Katami
For the third round I’ve chosen to make you a keeper of time. This because I’ve first found your blog when you were writing about the laid back raids. Those are, of course, always a step back in time, so what better than a bronze dragon. 🙂
Freyana
When I saw the challenge, I instantly knew I wanted to pay tribute to the Laid-Back Raids. I decided to make my transmog outfit entirely out of gear from raids (drops, tier tokens, or JP-bought tier gear). As a fellow player of a Sunwalker, I decided to use Saintvache as a model (as best as I could recreate him, anyway). I thought “Kenada” was a great tauren name, so I took my naming inspiration from the ways Blizz has named tribute NPCs in the past and came up with “Kenada the Amateur”. I imagine him standing with the other Sunwalkers in Thunder Bluff, chatting about the best-dressed tauren in town.
Zazzy
I’ve always seen you as a tauren, this could be due to your avatar at WordPress. After reading the chapters of the text “Posthumous” I also consider him an author. So I wanted to do a tauren scribe.
As an NPC JD Kenada the Scribe is traveler you can run in to while adventureing in Azeroth. He travles through the land to get inspiration for the great epic he is writing. He is neutral to all but do not underestimate him. If attacked he will defend himself with his pencil shapener and most likely hit you over the head with the heafty book he carries with him. As with all taurens there is also the risk of getting stomped.
Euphyley
I figured goblin suited you because they seem a little shifty to me (something shifty only seemed to fit given the evil nature of this round). So anyway I figured being pretty much the king of transmog contests that your npc should be dressed good, so I totally pimped him out. This goblin is stylin’ and ready to judge some outfits! Oh, and to add a little bit of badassness to the look (cause we all know your a little badass) I threw in some brass knuckles so nobody would mess with ya!
Ok, so as you can see I’m within my rights to take an extra day or so just to try to figure out which one deserves immunity. If it was based purely on explanation, man Euphyley wins hands down because I howled at the whole thing. Zazzy isn’t too far off on the idea of me carrying a book and belting someone over the head with it. A good portion of trade comes to mind…
Now, if Blizz called me up one day and said “hey, we put you in the game,” I would be rather humbled and excited. If they told me it was as a Blood Elf, I would be disappointed. Next to a plain old human, the race doesn’t do anything for me. However, both entries as one were pretty impressive just the same. I’ve always said I would make me a Goblin if I had the power, because it seemed most fitting, and well we all know what I think of the best race in the game *cough* Tauren. *cough*
In the end, I went with the outfit that took a piece of gear I probably wouldn’t touch and turned it into something sharp and unique. As such, Zazzy has been awarded immunity from elimination and is one of the two finalists! I can say truthfully that every single outfit impressed me and this was the hardest round. So glad I don’t have to pick a final winner!
The bad news, is that means we have 5 remaining contestants…but only one spot open. If this were a live show, we’d do the old one by one elimination process. Well, it’s not. So instead, the RNG will choose who is moving on….and it has chosen Freyana!
That means Freyana and Zazzy get to duel it out in the finals, with the winner chosen by our previously departed contestants. Once I’ve received an entry from both, I will e-mail the others to vote for which one they prefer and when the votes are in, the results will be up. Now, as this is the final round and you no doubt want a fair opportunity to “shake your little tush on the catwalk,” it only seems right that all restrictions are off in terms of requirement. You must still create an end-game transmog, but the design is completely freestyle. Create an outfit based on whatever you like. The only catch being you have until this Sunday (EST) to get it in to me.
And after some network rescheduling, we are back! Welcome to the second round of the contest, where we are going to chop the participants…IN HALF! Not literally, just in the number of competitors. Literally would be fun too, if not for the whole mortality thing. Yes, just a little Mortal Kombat humour thrown in there as that was the theme for this round. Contestants had dozens of characters to choose from and play dress up. With that in mind, let’s see what the eleven entries were…
Zazzy (Shao Khan)
Jstmel (“Nature” Shao Khan)
Kamalia (Kung Lao)
Rhuanious (Kung Lao)
Katami (Scorpion)
Euphyley (Scorpion)
Freyana (Sindel)
Lyla (Kitana)
Navimie (Kitana)
Ysera’s Daughter (Kira)
Tome of the Ancient (Kira)
Once again, holy crap. I loved them all. But, I can only grant one immunity for this round…
“Hi, this is Jeff Probst and welcome back to Survivor…in our last episode…”
*THWAP*
Wrong show, go away Jeff.
So where was I? Right. Round One. You know, choosing who gets the old immunity idol/volvo/golden murloc britches was not hard enough on it’s own…I realized along the way that the ones I didn’t choose had a 40% chance of being eliminated. Wow…nothing to worry about there. Ugh. So, I know you all want to know in the end who I chose. I mean, that’s why we’re here. With just a little more preface I would like to say that I easily could have chosen 4-5. They were all great, but there were a handful that I debated on. In the end, immunity went to…
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