Transmogrification - One of Blizzard's best moves in Cataclysm?

Updated pictures since my WoW account has been reactivated.

Epilogue: I could do shorter posts, but fuck it, i'll write as I feel. Easier that way + I suck at following the rules and I write for my own enjoyment. Let's get things into gear shall we?

Read this while listening to the Youtube clip (Isle of Quel'Danas) in the middle of the post if you're into Atmosphere (a non related shout out to Slug!)+ reading.

Transmogrification (added patch 4.3)

The ability to use any class specific gear with stats and transform it into any gear you have in your bags (and/or in your Void storage?). There are some restrictions and it costs gold.

I've raided, i've done PvP, i've reached the two gold caps (214k, 1 million), i've been addicted to playing alts and even collected mounts at times when nothing else has made sense. I did end up quitting the game a few months ago. I wasn't sure if it was for good, but I wasn't expecting to play in at least 4-6 months time.

Read my thoughts on how Transmogrification changes the game to the better and why I just have to try it out after the jump....

One of the biggest reasons for turning the other way around and rather return very soon (within a few days from now) is Transmogrification. I don't give a rats ass about raiding for new gear and nor do I care for PvPing for new gear either, when seen from a pure esthetic view point. Most gear is copy/paste and I can't seem to find much gear at level 85 that I think looks good. This is a feeling I had in Wrath as well, but Cataclysm gave the toons an even worse wardrobe. I mean when I look at the classes retrospective Tier sets (@ Warcraft Looks) there's no doubt in my mind that the Tiers are getting uglier for every single released set. Yes, there are a few exceptions. Warlocks and Priests sets have a higher quality in general, even over the years, with certain peaks here and there.

Transmogrification adds a factor that Rich from the Horde for Life podcast has stressed a few times, the old content needs to be revisited instead of being a large scale graveyard. I completely agree with him when he talks about how sad it is when the Tier artwork from older content, which in many cases looks really good, just disappears (was said many months before any patch notes or ideas for 4.3 had been released). Seeing Blizzard bringing back such Tiers with Darkmoon Island (once a month and in conjunction with the Darkmoon Faire) is something that that Grayz warmly welcomes.

Thanks to Transmogrification existing in the World of Warcraft many players will run whichever instances and raids they need in order to farm the gear they need. The old, and in many cases more interesting content, will be explored and enjoyed once again. I'm fully aware of the fact that it's content, that many players that have been around for years already have played, but what it actively does is that it makes this expansion last a bit longer for the players that have run out of interesting things to do. Firelands dailies, fuck no!! The FL "event" was nowhere near Isle of Quel'Danas (the single best combination of daily hub + event that i've experienced) and it's atmosphere in any way. The music from 2.4 was epic!

You hear that!? Can you feel it!?  Even doing the bombing quest run for the 250th time gave a sense of questing for a cause just thanks to the music and how the event was scripted! That's the Blizzzard I could support whole heartedly!

Hell, i'm one of the incredibly bored and since I want to focus on something new this could hold my attention for a while especially in combination with leveling alts. Now if we only had the the up and down scaling of gear it could lead to some extremely interesting scenarios, especially since I get bored of endgame dungeons fast. It's nothing but a long repetitive grind. Same goes for BG's, but in BG's there's at least the human factor which adds some spice to the gaming experience. There's just too much content going to waste once you ding level 85 and that's especially true for many of the level 25-60 instances.

Transmogrification draws me back in, and I can tell you this, as of right now, it has nothing to do with the gold aspect. I have a crap ton of gold left on BDF and a lot less on Agg, and I want to play the game and spend as little time in a city as possible. If I change my mind later on, so be it. I'll be quick to admit it. I mean I wrote that the Mists of Pandaria expansion was garbage when I returned to blogging just to say that I quit, but now i've turned a 180 degrees. Why? Because of the new information, the passion for blogging, the positive parts of the WoW community and thanks to Rich Fisher. I can't argue against the truth when I can see it so clearly.

Thanks a lot for recording the HFL podcast, bud! You managed to make me question my scepticism towards WoW, Blizzard/Activision and gaming in general.

I have no idea what Bronze Dragonflight's or Aggamagan's Trade channels look like when it comes to running old raids and instances, but there's no doubt in my mind that the amount of people running old raids has increased. And that increase is probably a lot more noticable than when the achievements were brought into the game. I could be wrong and "it's all about the server" (-Jokinee), but if a sceptic like me is willing to return for such a reason, simply because i've been dead bored of all grinds and the boring looks of my toons, then i'd guess that there's at least a couple of 100000 other players thinking the exact same thing.

Conclusion

• Using the Void storage frees up so much space so that players can use so many more slots for various things. Expensive? Probably. Especially with the enchants disappearing as soon as you deposit your gear and if you lack gold, but I don't so I don't care. All I want is the looks except for items like Earthwarden were the enchant means a lot because of the sentimental value; Remembering the TBC rep grind.

 

It's not the best looking Mace in the game, 

but it is the Earthwarden and to me that's enough.

• Ganking in the open world with transformed gear could be interesting.
• Gathering low level (8-14) gear just to look like a complete idiot and kill random players could also be something I could imagine doing every now and then. 
• Taking screens and using them in slideshows would be good for Misdirect if I ever record that audio show again, which I guess just is a matter of time any way.
• Doing BG's wearing gear that looks weak could be interesting when facing unaware opponents.
• Revisiting old content with a picture and thus a motive that is etched into the player's mind on a completely new level in WoW.
• The increased chances of looking the way You want to look and finally get rid of the"I look just like the other 100 level 85 muppets on my realm playing the same class and I feel like shit because of it". 

For more information on Transmogrification go to www.wowroleplaygear.com