Greatsword of Pride's Fall

Morning. Of course it's Tuesday. Time to myself, servers are down, let's make a blog post!! My most recent trasmog set is in fact one that I've mostly used before. I've changed a few key pieces and I'm very excited about it! I designed the transmog around a specific piece of gear, the Greatsword of Pride's Fall of course! When I first saw this sword before the patch hit I thought "Man...who wants a sword with a bunch of eye balls? eww!" When the time came around for the sword to drop for me, well I had had a change of heart.

I started SoO as a tank. I love tanking and it used to be my main spec. One of our super nice DK tanks, Erragal stepped aside and brought his lock instead. Yay for candy! And portals. Then our shaman had to step down from raiding for a while so we filled her spot with a warlock. Well no need for two warlocks. My pally pulls much more damage than his lock and a couple fights we shaved pretty close on the enrage timer so I went back to ret and he to tanking. Well, I'd been looking at tanking stuff and checking out the tank changes, and I haven't really been IN to ret to be honest. So it was with some uh...ill concealed grumpiness I started really looking into it.

I wasn't impressed with my dps. I had a nice 530 ilvl but my dps was still so-so. I double checked most of the guides I knew of to make sure I wasn't missing anything but I still wasn't quite pulling what I felt I should. So I asked my buddy Vy for a little help. He does some amazing pew pew on his pally (he's heals now) and I know he's pretty good at getting down to the nitty gritty. He verified my CD usage, stat priority and abilities. Then he asked "What weapon are you using?" And I said "A ToT LFR one." He said "You're gonna suck until you get a new weapon!" Well ok, he didn't tell me I sucked but he did tell me I needed a new weapon. Somehow I missed the run down on damage equations on Elitist Jerks. Is it just me or is the majority of our damage based on weapon damage? Ooops! Time for a new weapon!

I wasn't holding out much hope. I'd done a killer transmog for my Bo'Ris polearm (I'll have to post that too) but hadn't had much luck getting much more than some shoulders, trinket and ton of gold from LFR, flex and regular. Stupid coin rolls. A few days later I got my Greatsword of Pride's Fall in LFR. Even without reforges, enchants or gems (look at the crappy socket bonus tho! only 60 str? really? 60?!) it was HUGE jump in my dps. And I had been working on a killer green transmog for Garrosh slaying and the sword happened to match that as well. Better and better! Progression raid night rolls around and we get our first Sha of Pride kill. Go us! He even dropped things that could be used so we didn't have to DE anything. And I decided at the last minute to use my seal and I won it. Not just a regular greatsword but a warforged Greatsword of Pride Fall! Well dayum!! Made my day and then of course my xmoggy guildie call it ugly. (we'll ignore the fact that I did agree with him earlier) Well heck, them's fightin' words boy! I of course at the point HAD to transmog just for the sword! Muahahah!

I decided to run and just grab my Crystalforge set really quick during our break since it was the only purple I had on hand. Well I took a sec and just checkout a few other pieces I had in void storage and ended up swapping out a couple pieces.

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Slot	Name	Source
Shoulders	Crystalforge Pauldrons	Paladin Tier
Chest	Breastplate of Annihilation	Prophet Skeram in Ahn Qiraj
Belt	Royal Qiraji Belt	Vek'lor in Ahn Qiraj
Legs	Crystalforge Leggings	Paladin Tier
Boots	Boots of Courage Unending	Random mob drop - SSC
Hands	Crystalforge Gloves	Paladin Tier

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As you can see I switch out two pieces that are look alikes for the Warrior AQ set, Conqueror's Battlegear. I would LOVE to have a look alike helm as well but if I decide to do a helm, I usually don't, I'll just have to find something else. The Crystalforge one actually isn't too bad. I love the sea foam green details in the chest and belt. That little bit of contrast makes it stand out and keeps it from being too matchy matchy as tier sometimes gets. I plan to hit AQ for the Gauntlets of Annihilation since I like a sleeker, smaller glove graphic.

My Golem Shard Legging set, as mentioned in Go for the Gold! has been put on hold for now. I like the green set I was working better, so it will probably be finished sooner. My guildie is still farming for just the right boots for his set. Only one pair of boots has that graphic, it drops off a rare spawn that has a low spawn rate and the boots have a low drop rate to boot. Whew! Anyways...those shall be unveiled soon!! I hope....

Conqueror's Plate - Go For the Gold!

Morning ladies and gents. I've been meaning to get this posted for quite some time now. Somehow all of my plate wearers (sans DK who's leveling atm) ended up in variations of the Conqueror set. So why the Conqueror set? It's versatile!! It's excellent as a stand alone set, it's amazing as mix n match. It goes with a good many Paladin tier sets and many of the fiery red and gold Vanilla pieces. It's sexy, it's smooth, it's classy.

It all started way back when I was making this blog. You'll see a nice little human gal on the right hand side in all gold with a big flaming sword. When they brought back the Mastercraft Blacksmithing weapons in 5.2 I decided it was time to make that sword. And considering I had farmed for the pattern for those shoulders already I was set. Frankly those are some of the sexiest plate shoulders in game, the Swiftsteel Shoulders. I love, love, LOVE! these things. Did I mention I absolutely love them? I'm sure you've seen them used a few times. I ended up with a lot of Conqueror's Plate after some BT runs for miscellaneous pieces of gear. So after a month of crafting Lightning Steel Ingots for Blazefurythe set was made.

	This is the full Conqueror's set. I'm using Blazefury for my main hand which takes a minimum of a month to make if you're a blacksmith. Or you can hit the AH and pay anywhere from 20k to about 40k gold for it. The Swiftsteel Shoulders are BoP so you have to be a blacksmith in order to make them. I used the Skyking Bulwark . It's a nice BoE item so you should be able to find it on your AH for a decent amount. The best way to "farm" it would be to run ToT LFRs or farm Isle of Thunder mobs. It can drop other places but the majority of drops come from Isle of Thunder. The shield I would really like to use with this set I haven't tried farming for. Pyckles was collecting dust before they added the new loot spec option. The raid finder version of Twinned Despair just has some sexy colors in it.
Here's my orc. One of my favorite pieces of art in World of Warcraft:The Art of The Trading Card Game depicts a female guard in Org with nice abs. Plus I love the racials for my warrior. I was going to do the same shoulders on this character but decided to go with pieces of the Heroism set instead. Hey, the blue matched her eyes. I used the shoulders and then since I needed one more little piece to pull in some blue I used the belt as well. It was the last day of Darkmoon Fair for the month and I just happened to have enough tickets. After staring at her a few days I decided I did NOT like it! The Conqueror's Breastplate made the shape of her chest funny. I had already used my Glorious BP on the Blood Elf, so I hit Wowhead for look alikes. A quick series of quests later and she's rocking the Nether Protector's Chest. MUCH better! I stayed Titan's Grip for the Crystalforged Waraxe
	And here is the Glorious chest that I had already used. I got it for like 150g on the AH or something obscenely cheap. "Conqueror's again? Yep, looks good. Now for the shoulders...." after going through my void storage I chose the Glimmering Steel Mantle from Hyjal. I was farming for the Blood-Stained Pauldrons when these dropped. I wasn't excited about them but kept them anyway for "just in case". They don't match the Conqueror's Breastplate very well because of all the orange in chest piece but work wonderfully with the Glorious. I got all excited about the pinky purpley and pulled out my Crimson Beholder Eye and it was a lovely match! Add a Mystical Cape and you've got a nice taste of femininity to go with the big bad polearm. Oh yes, the polearm. Elementium Poleaxe. Where would you be without a pink weapon? Truth to tell it was the only polearm that really matched. The is an awesome big gold intimidating Mogu polearm but it's NPC only. Dang.
And the must have tank or healing set. I liked shields. And another pink weapon. There isn't much to use Netherbane with so I was excited to pull it out. I did give the Kingly Axe some consideration though. Now add in a Titansteel Shield Wall and you're good to go. The Light-Bearer's Faith Shield would also be a good match but the gold is slightly paler. Originally on my ret set I was using Soul Cleaver to transmog my Shin'Ka, Execution of Dominion until the polearm dropped from ToT. Well there goes nice big gold ax and I had a hard time finding a polearm to match. Most looked puny on a blood elf, were the wrong color or were held awkwardly. I must admit it's my pet peeve that two hand weapons are sooo tiny on Blood Elves. I know we're dainty but still, let us at swing something larger than a knitting needle!

So those are the current plate sets I'm sporting. I'm working on a special new set for Svarya atm for the express purpose of looking good while killing Garrosh. /wick grin I am so excited about that. Maybe the mamby pamby Thrall will get killed during the Siege of Org and he'll ankh himself and be the bad ass he was back in Hyjal. Yeah right...ok then. I was putting together a nice dark set with touches of gold and then guildie started working on a set along the same lines. His turned out pretty darn awesome. I'll be posting it next week. We still have to farm a few pieces though. I'll also post my "draft" set that I planned around the Golem Shard Leggings. I'm not sold on it yet though so we'll see.

Deathwing Xmoggers

Well folks, the servers are down. It always happens. I happen to have a nice quiet Tuesday morning to myself and the server's are down. Seriously, Blizzard manages to plan ahead just for me. I know it. I figured I might as well make a post here. I've been slacking. This summer has been amazingly and wonderfully busy. New horse, big garden, lots of time at the lake and the river, two raid groups, numerous 90's, and so on. Well fall has started, school is in session and I don't know what on earth I'll be doing once the cold weather hits! Oh wait...play WoW? I'm not an addict, I'm not an addict!

I've been working on a post that focuses on the Conqueror's set. I consider this set to be one of the most versatile plate sets in the game. You can use its pieces as mix-n-match fill-ins for many different sets or as a stand alone, it's easy to farm and it's usually reasonably priced on the auction house. Usually. I love it. I currently have all three plate wearers (sans DK) sporting variations of this set. While I plan on putting together a nice sinister for my ret pally this week, I haven't tackled that yet.

As I was sorting through my character screenshots this morning to work on that post, I crossed some pics of transmoggers from my Deathwing server. Sets that stood out to me and made pause long enough to get a screenie and send them a tell. "Awesome xmog!" I thought I'd just take a moment today and post some of those.

I saw a fun green set put together by Chocothundaa. He didn't utilize the full emerald set, instead he switched in some fel iron pieces and came out with a fairly fun unique look. He was of course wearing a new pair of pink boots that had just dropped. I made him run to the bank and xmog to the green. Love the AQ swords dude.

I ran across Uuku on my way to hit the engineering auctioneer in Twin Moons. No armory link. This character has been moved, renamed, deleted, who knows. She was using the Robes of Transcendence but no the full priest set. I couldn't recall what set the shoulders were from so I had to check WoW Roleplay Gear real quick. The shoulders are also priest only from the Vestments of Faith set.

Ok, here's a Kaylena set and another Kaylena set! Take a sec to check out her transmog album if you need some more inspiration. Her hunter (the purple and gold pic) is sporting the Netherstorm Greaves. Awesome pinky, purply mail boots and very hard to match! There is a whole netherstorm set, but the graphic and the colors are totally different. I love her rainbowy look. And Venomshroud Robes ftw! I love her use of green here. Yes, Kaylena, is awesome.

Gotta love the Vanilla plate sets! Tatiana does! I scored a screenshot of her near the beginning of the MoP when I was sporting my Jade set. Sistahs! Ok, that was cheesy but still kinda cool to see someone else in the same set with their own personal touches. And then ran into her later in the Glorious set. She tossed in some pieces from the paladin tiers 6 and 7.

Go Gygan. Don't know if many recall but Gygan was one of the winners at the Deathwing WoW Factor competition last year. This set that I recently screenied is based on the Shattrath Protector chest piece and uses some different pieces of the paladin tier look alikes. I love it. It's definately not a set you see everyday. I'm also partial to Gygan because he's been playing since Vanilla and he's a blacksmith. Can we say long lost plate patterns anyone?! He's made some unique pieces for me before so he's one of my preferred crafters.

And my favorite Wish. Absolutely b!tch*n set. Seriously. I know it's not hard to go get paladin tier pieces, but what really puts this set together is her selection of color. The icey blue of Hailstorm, the Lightbringer tabard, the Lost Pavise of the Blue Flight. It's hard to tell from this screenshot but she used Bubbling Anima Belt or something with the same graphic. I wasn't a fan of the glowy globe belts but this really goes very well with this set. And of course Heaving Plates of Protection. Absolutely stunning. I love it.

That is some Deathwing server transmogging fun! And hopefully a nice little taste of tranmogrifying goodness to inspire you for a new set for the Siege of Orgrimmar. Seriously. We get to go kill Garrosh. This is indeed a momentous time in World of Warcraft. Special occasions call for special outfits don't you think? Should I be a glowing gold avenging angel or go with a sinister and intimidating look? What about glorious, bloody red? For the Horde! Or is that too conflicting to wear red while killing a former faction leader? Maybe I should I trick myself out as a Stormwind guard since I'll be tanking next patch. Irony ftw! But yes, definately time for a new set!

What will YOU be wearing when it's time to down Garrosh?

Panda Plate Transmog

Alright, I know it's been mentioned but I do use a lot of Blood Elves. My main characters are Blood Elves. I do love Dwarves and I try to keep an open mind by throwing in a Tauren or two. Well...how about Panderans? Duh! They're the newest races and frankly they have a shape that is all their own. The differences in body shape, size and proportion can really skew a favorite transmog set into something....else. I just threw together a few sets that I felt looked good for both male and female pandas.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when transmogging your panda:

Gold line around the toes - All the pandas have panda sandals, with a little gold line around the toes. I personally prefer to have a little gold in the armor to bring that into the set so it's all together.

Big bellies - This can be an advantage and a drawback. The larger belly, especially on males, can show the detail of a chest piece very well. It also sags and can skew the graphic of some belts.

Color differences due to proportion - On multi-colored pieces the emphasis might be on different colors that they would be on a human or a troll. The panda legs are shorter, the bellies bigger, the boots lack toes and so on. So a set that might rock on blood elf may end up looking completely different on panda and the color may not match so well if you did a mix n match set.

Fur - That's right, pandas are furry. This can make a huge difference in some of the peekaboo armor pieces. Some of the grays, reds and blacks match armor or make it look like you're wearing funny underwear under that skimpy armor. Try to avoid pieces that expose skin (fur) in odd spots, basically no revealing legs unless it's a contrasting color.

Preview ALL helmets! - The male panda helm is like...squished. Some don't look so bad but most look like that panda sat on it before putting it on.

Here's the same set on both a male and female panda and a male worgen. The comparison can give you some idea of difference you might see in a set on different races. Better detail on the chest, squashed boots, compact legs and so on. I used the Emerald Legplates here. Interestingly enough, there is a different graphic for male and female, not just in pattern but in color as well. You rarely see that. So I have to admit this isn't the best comparison but it will give you a general idea.

The set here was made around the Ecclesiastical Curiass which shows very well on a male panda. I used the Glorious boots, gloves and shoulders. For the belt and legs I used pieces from the Emerald plate set. There are some variations of this set on WoW Roleplay Gear. For example, they use the Greaves of Pacification. While those legs might have been designed to go with that chest, they do NOT look like that on a panda. You see a lot of the aqua at the knee and not so much of the green or gold and that totally changes the flavor of the legs. Too bad I didn't look this up before making my screenie.

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Alrighty, for the ladies! I never thought that any of the Sexy Plate Transmog sets would look good on a panda. However, after flipping through the AH on my panda monk, I tried on the Emerald BP and it wasn't so bad. This lead me to experiment a little. In fact it was the inspiration for putting together some panda plate xmog. I tried to stay away from too much belly bearing (pardon the pun, I had to!) armor and I discovered those Wrath wrestling belts actually work well on the panda girls. And one last tip, a lot of the Paladin tier gear looks pretty darn good on female pandas. I doubt you could go wrong with any of the Paladin look alike sets.

Commander's Plate is the first set. While this is often consider a fairly skimpy set, it doesn't look half bad! I think I prefer this subdued color over some of the brighter colors. Pardon the lack of ears....WMV didn't like them. And yes, there are matching shoulders and belt even though they are not listed on Wowhead.

Emerald Plate looks pretty good despite the change in the torso proportions. There are several recolors for this set listed in my Sexy Plate post and the leg plates for these sets can have variations in model graphics. I used the Bog Pauldrons here.

Heroism and Valor used to be Warrior sets. With some of the changes to Darkmoon Faire, the replica items are now BoE and can be equipped by any class. You can earn the tickets your self or keep an eye on the AH. Wowhead's Darkmoon Faire Updated guide has all the replica sets listed under the Vendor section.

Pyrium Battlegear is one of those "check the contrasting color" sets. I LOVE the way it fits a female panda. However, I had to look up the set before I could tell if those legs were revealing or the reddish brown in the graphic just happened to match her fur! I put the Brackenshell Shoulderpads with the Verdigris Chain Belt to pull the gold toes into the armor. Plus, I do like the big belt on the panda girls!

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For the gentlemen I just did three sets. They're so wide another one wouldn't fit the screen! I think the helms and shoulders in each of these sets work well with the male panda model. Things to consdier on a male panda...only worry about hte color of the boots, the design won't show. While two of these sets are warrior tier, the Death Knight tier and look alike sets look very good on the male panda. Especially some of the pvp sets. Too bad pandas are warriors only. I also found that the Wrath "wrestling belts" did NOT do a thing for me when they were on a male panda. The belt droops down to accommodate the big belly and the graphic just looks....unappealing.

Conqueror's Siegebreaker is a very fun set on a male panda. You can see the details of the whole chest and I even like the way the helm fits. Bonus, it's warrior tier and mostly purchasable with Justice Points in Dalaran. One small problem, I lost my notes and I am not sure what boots I used with this set!

Battlegear of Wrath is one of original Warrior tier sets. There are no short cuts with this set. No Darkmoon Faire items or Justice Point tokens so be prepared to run the Vanilla raids. Good thing is you no longer need to be in a raid to enter a raid instance. There is also a green recolor of this set.

Gateshattering Battleplate is very easy to get and is one of the few sets where the male chest is skimpier than the female. I like the detail on this set but I usually don't use it because it is so fine. It does provide a very unique look for the male panda however.

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Hope this gives you a nice start if you're looking for a plate set that is flattering to your panderan. Of course you may not be as worried about "flattering" as I am. Silly me, I like my armor to match well, look good and fit my character's shape. Happy xmogging!

Jade Plate Epaulets

The Jade set is one of my favorites. I LOVE it. It's my standard set on Pycklès the paladin. Yes, I do have other Pyckles and other paladins. Check out the green set on my background (Yes, I know, the sword is Alliance only) or look it up in Sexy Plate Transmog. There is a set of shoulders Jade Epaulets that "go" with the set. I use the term "go" loosely. Many of the Vanilla recipe sets looked awesome and then had fail shoulders or helms that didn't quite match even though they were of the same level, name and theme. I have always loved these shoulders because of the color and lamented that there was no real set to match them.

Well I decided to make a set a few weeks ago while playing on the AH. One of my guildies, Glo, likes to sit at the AH with me when the day is done and go window shopping. We try on clothes in the dressing room, compare colors, discuss how something looks on a particular race and so on. And a little tip, if you're worried about discussing if a set of armor makes you butt look fat, make sure there are no guys in vent. You'll never hear the end of it. *coughLoflycough*

Anyways...came across these shoulders for 4k. Well I'm NOT going to pay 4000g for a transmog item. It was fun though to start making a set around the shoulders sticking to what I could find on the Auction House. This is what I've come up with. I did take the time to put it all in WoW Model Viewer and check out some weapons and a few peices that you can switch in out. The pale mint green of the shoulders matches the Battelgear of the Lost Catacombs, the DK tier gear. I used the look alike chest and legs and the switched out the belt, boots and gloves. I did find other legs that matched as well, but I like this chest the best and decided not to make it too mixed. I chose to keep the boots, gloves and belt purple to bring out the purple in the neck of the chest piece. However there are numerous options you can do with this set.

These easiest set to use with these chest and shoulders is the Revenant Plate set. There are actually a couple "revenant" sets in game, Wrath plate pieces, some mail, etc. However I'm talking about the purple Vanilla set. I originally just used the Revenant legs, but decided to go with legs that matched the chest to make the set more cohesive.

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Slot	Name	Source
Shoulders	Jade Epaulets	Random Vanilla Green
Chest	Ornate Battleplate of the Master	Blacksmithing
Belt	Symbolic Belt	Random Vanilla Green
Legs	Articulated Legplates	HoF - Imperial Vizier Zor'lok
Boots	Shalehusk Boots	BRD - Panzor
Hands	Revenant Gauntlets	Random Vanilla Green

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Remember when mixing and matching be careful of too many busy patterns. If you have one busy piece, match it or try to keep the other pieces simple. Too many patterns can confuse the eye. Sticking to a few simple single color pieces to bring to set together works very well. Some of the following sets match quite well with this chest and shoulders.

Symbolic - The green is brighter so it can be over powering, but the purple is the right shade.

Revenant - The Vanilla random drop set, NOT the Wrath set. the purple in this set goes very well with the purple in the chest piece.

Brick Battleplate - Very subtle silver and dark blueish gray.

Mountainscaler Battleplate - this grey and purple MoP set matches nicely, it's not too busy but does have a distinctive pattern.

Battleplate of the Lost Catacomb - This is where the chest and legs come from. Using Revenant legs and the Lost Catacomb belt is also a fun combo.

Scourgelord Battlegear - This is quite fun if you use the legs, boots, and gloves. All the purple glowy skulls add a nice touch.

Saltstone - Only a few of these pieces will match. Like the boots and gloves. The legs seem to be a slightly different shade. There's not much actual purple, just more of a purplish hue.

Here are a few individual pieces that go well that aren't part of a set.

Gauntlets of PurificationThese gloves are from the same "set" as the shoulders. They're the only two pieces in that color however.

Augustus Legguards - I like the way these legs look. They're from a quest that's open to Alliance or Horde so don't worry about getting them. Unless you've already done the quest!

Eastwall Gauntlets - Another EPL quest item. I think there might be a full "set" of the EPL quest gear that match but haven't taken the time to delve into that.

Boots of the Decimator - The simple grey and purple in these works.

Have fun mixing and matching. I did find a few helms that I liked with this set but I'll save those for later. I'll be posting matching weapons and accessories next time. If you do make this set and just want wait, try using Bryntroll or Gurthtalak.

Cloudkeepers: Two Handed Swords

This is another "By Request" post. A while back someone asked about cloaks to transmog with the Cloudkeeper set. More recently I had someone, Jedge, comment on the Cloudkeeper's Set asking for suggestions for two handed swords. I selected only six. There are quite a few that match and will work but I selected ones that I felt worked best with the set. Unique, intimidating, cool, whatever. I also tossed in a couple hammers and axes as well.

My mistake while doing all this? I didn't check availability and usability. Some of the swords are class and faction specific. Some are no longer available. So only a few are usable by a Blood Elf warrior. My bad. However there are still quite a few different options to choose from.

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Grand Marshall's Claymore	PvP - purchasable with honor points	Alliance only - Won't work for a Blood Elf.
Starshatter	Elegon in Mogu'shan Vaults	Both the LFR and the reg graphic work
Greatsword of the Ebon Blade	Purchased from Quatermaster Ozorg	DK only - Won't work for a warrior

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Unfortunately, of these three only Starshatter is "easy" to get and available to all who can use two handed sword. Quel'Delar would be another option, it's pretty and it's unique but it's annoyingly hard to get however. Batter Hilt questline anyone? I do have a friend who plans on using Lionheart once he finishes up his blacksmithing. While the Lionheart looks cool and mostly matches this set, it just didn't do much for me.

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X'caliboar	Ragglesnout in Razorfen Downs	He is a "rare" spawn. Used to have a silver nameplate, now it's gold but he's still not up every time you run.
Stormrune Edge	Assembly of Iron in Ulduar	This sword only drops in normal 25m but has a chance to drop off any of the three bosses.
Warblade of Caer Darrow	No longer available	Option: Deanship Claymore

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Here are some simple two handed swords. Well ok, so Stormrune is only simple in shape. But if you want a "classic" looking two handed sword to match this set, there are lots to choose from. Most match with a smooth blue/silver blade with the occasional gold hilt. One of the reasons I selected X'calidoar was because of the stylized hilt that sets it apart a bit from most basic two handed swords. I did an "Ooops" and didn't check availability before screenshotting and uploading. I should have learned to do that by now....You can no longer get the Warblade of Caer Darrow so I selected the Deanship Claymore as an option. The other "same model as" that matched nicely is also no longer available, Seraph's Strike.

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Bloodmoon	Blacksmithing: BC Mastercraft recipe, readded in 5.2.	It just looks so dang cool.
Captain Roger's Polite Knocking Stick	Quest: Unleash Hell	Alliance only. Again. Why does Alliance always get blue and gold?
Experimental Specimen Slicer	Yor'sahj in Dragon Soul	This color only drops in normal, 10 or 25.
Spiked Battle Axe	Random green drop	It's a green. Awesome, good luck finding it on your AH. Try grinding BC 5 mans.

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A few more options here if you get tired of a sword. I was thinking of Catastrophe when hammers came to mind. Darn my Alliance roots. It's a Trial of the Grand Crusader drop. Once the attempts counter was removed from the game, the items associated with it were also removed. Bummer. However, the Spiked Battle Axe is one of my picks for this group. I love that particular axe graphic and was actually wishing you could get in something other and than red and gold. Surprise! Here it is! This is an awesome axe that could go with a plethora of transmog sets.

My absolute favorite with this set is Stormrune Edge. I love it. I am partial to a lot of Uludar graphics. I also like the raid itself. If you do go farm for this sword and want a few quick achieves here are some tips.

Kill the council in a different order each time for the "I Choose You...." achievements.

Make sure to purchase an Iron Boot Flask with your Relic of Ulduar for the But I'm on Your Side! achieve.

Enjoy playing around with this set. It's fairly open to change, you can accent with more blue pieces or focus on the gold. Changing cloaks and weapons and a helm or a belt will personalize it more. Good luck.

Quick Guide: Blacksmithing in 5.2

Well folks I had planned to do a quick Blacksmithing guide once 5.2 went live and it's taken a bit more time than I expected. You see, in order to kill the guy who drops the item that starts the quest chain you have to open the fourth phase on Isle of Thunder. Basically your server better be grinding those dailies. It's like the Firelands Invasion sort of thing, only progress is server based like the opening of AQ.

So I finally get to the fourth phase, kill Itoka and no drop. I checked some of the comments on Wowhead and apparently he isn't always dropping it like he's supposed to. I'm not sure if that is because someone else pulled him first (he's a daily quest mob btw) or what. Perhaps he only drops one and another BS grabbed it. Anyways....quick run down here of how things go.

• Open fourth phase on Isle of Thunder and make sure you've done all the solo scenarios to that point.
• Kill Itoka.
• Loot Strange Metal Ingot and begin the quest, Lightning Steel.
• Go through the door just northish of you.
• Read the book and complete the quest.
• Win!

Special thanks to dlbert2000 for the screenies! They were better than mine.

Couple things about killing Itoka. That link takes you right to his abilities page. He's a nasty little mini boss so bring friends. He has an AE lightning attack called ring of Thunder with a pretty large radius, run out when you see the cast bar. Column of Thunder you can just step out of when he drops it on the ground. Pretty much you're going to be moving this whole fight, between avoid his sparks and running out of the other abilities. He'll pop a shield around himself himself during the fight, this a great time to heal up and get mana or whatever you need. Then you'll kill the little guys channeling the shield to break it. While I've never tried to solo him, people say it's possible but it's a super pain. So yeah....stick with the bring friends strategy for the easiest kill.

Once you complete the quest you'll get the Notes on Lightning Steel. The notes contain the plans for lightning steel bars as well as plans for a number of sexy weapons. These weapons are 463 and are "reborn" versions of Burning Crusade Mastersmith weapons. Once you make the ilvl 463 weapon you then learn the next level up. It will be ilvl 476, learn a new pattern and then the final weapon is 502. The down side? It will take a TON of mats and time to get all three weapons. Basically you'll get higher level weapons from Throne of Thunder raid long before finishing the final weapon. Lightning steel is a main ingredient and it's one bar every 24 hours and they're BoP, unlike living steel. So....It's only useful for transmog. And of course selling to people who transmog at extortionate prices.

Personally the work involved in crafting these means I'll be making them for myself only and maybe a few very close friends. If I'm still around once next xpac hits that might change but for now I'm hording my lightning steel. I certainly hope that Blizz might allow us to proc extra bars during. Aaahhh I can dream!

Cloaks for Cloudkeeper's Legplates

A comment was recently posted on Cloudkeepers Legplates asking about cloaks for that particular set. I thought of several blue cloaks with gold borders. Well after trying these cloaks on, I decided that most won't work. The blue is too bright. So I started from scratch and went through every cloak in the game. I found several types of cloaks that work well with this set. Yellow, Blue, White, Gray and Fancy. Might be a bit of information overload, on the other hand, I do want to offer a selection so that you can fit your own style.

Also some of the cloaks listed may be of different lengths. And you can't just pick a cloak, go to Wowhead and click "same model as" since you'll get a TON of cloaks in all different colors. I've tried to select the easiest of each cloak to acquire for either faction. One of the cloaks is Alliance though. Too bad Blood Elves can't wear Stormwind Capes!

From left to right:

The Vintage Satin Cloak is a random green drop which you should be able to find on the AH. Of for an eventual sure drop hit the Underbog for Cloak of Healing Rays

Blightcloth Cloak is made by tailors. If you prefer a short cloak try the Bright Cloak which can be found on the AH.

Insignia Cloak is another one of those wonderful and easy to acquire lowbie AH items. Or just farm Scarlet Halls and Scarlet Monastery.

My favorite of this grouping is Tapestry of the Frozen Throne. Good luck getting it. It has an extremely low drop rate from the Captains Chest at the end of Halls of Reflection. However, for a short version of this cloak you can look for Patched Cape which drops off high level 60's.

From left to right:

Suede Cloak is a nice handy green drop. If you are Alliance, you can get this in long, short and split depend on which version of the Caretaker's Cape you purchase from Illiyana Moonblaze in Ashenvale.

The Abjurer's Cloak is best found while farming rare spawns in Tanaris if you can't manage to find it on the AH.

The Shattershore Cloak is a quest reward. Luckily it has the same graphic for both Horde and Alliance.

And the PvP cloak! Pretty much go to a PvP vendor for you faction and dressing room his cloaks until you find this one. One set is season 11 Ruthless. Or you can just have a tailor make you a Vicisou Embersilk Cape. If you have points to spare I'd just buy one though.

From left to right:

This is my favorite of the white ones, the Bonelink Cape and it's easy to acquire of find on the AH. Run Dire Maul or Razorfen Downs and you should see one drop.

The Gossamer Cape is another easy green drop. I personally don't care much for the red in the border but it has a crisper appearance than the other cloaks.

Reanimator's Cloak drops of any number of mobs in Drak'Theron Keep. Since it is BoE you may also find it on the AH.

And of course the Cape of Stormwind is purchased from the Stormwind faction vendor in, you guessed it, Stormwind. WARNING: Taurens, do NOT attempt to purchase!! It is Alliance only.

From left to right:

My favorite of this set, there are only two cloaks with this graphic. Shroud of the Citadel from Sapphirion in 10m Naxx or Drape of Icy Intent in the Rare Cache of Winter from 25m Ulduar. In order to access the Rare Cache you need to burn Hodir down before he smashes it.

The easiest two of this cloak to get (no green AH one sorry!) are from Ebon Blade Faction or a Sholazar quest. Post-partum Aggression rewards Cloak of the Deadliest Game. Or you can purchase the Dark Soldiers Cape once you reach honored with Ebon Blade.

A Leatherworker can you make you the Shifting Cloak.

And the Opulent Cape is a nice AH green! Or a common drop in Zul'Farrak.

From left to right:

Ooops! Small problem. Wowhead doesn't have this particular cloak in it's database! /cry Going by it's item number, it is most likely a Cata item that was never used. However you can get close to the same effect with Dreamcrusher Drape, a split cloak with the same colors. I'm hoping that we might see this cloak later in MoP. I feel like I've seen it before but can't find another quite like it.

The Cloak of Tranquil Cloud drops of any of the rare spawns in Vale of Eternal Blossoms. You can purchase a pointy version of the cloak from the Shado Pan. The Sagewhisper's Wrap is available at honored.

My favorite. I might have to design a set specifically for this cloak. The Nanoprecise Cape is a Cataclysm cloak that can now be purchased with Justice points.

And last but not least Cloak of the Iron Council drop off the Iron Council (surprise surprise!) in 10m Ulduar. The other option would be the Shroud of Redeemed Souls from the nasty caster sisters in Sunwell Plateau.

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Well I hope this provides enough to get you started! While not all these cloaks are "perfect" most of them look decent with the set and if all else fails, use one until you can finally get that one raid drop cloak. I would personally probably go with the Cloak of the Iron Council with this set, although the Shroud of the Citadel would be a close second.

I also discovered some fun variations of this set posted on WoW Role Play Gear. I designed this set around the shoulders and legs for a friend of mine. Noelani designed her sets around the Truesilver Breastplate. She has some more ideas for shoulders, boots, etc.

Happy transmogging!

Transmog in Patch 5.2

There are some exciting changes coming up in Patch 5.2, rumored to be released March 5. Many of these center around the Blacksmithing tradeskill and weapon transmogrification. I am personally looking forward to these changes because some incredible new graphics will be made available once again and you will have greater options of weapon transmog to match your gear.

Speed level blacksmithing with current materials

Return of the Master Crafter weapons such as Blazefury /drool

Reclassification of one hand and two hand Weapons

Levling Blacksmithing

They plan on making it possible to level your craft using current materials, much the way you can now level cooking without having to go back and farm bear flanks and mystery meat. I discovered this while checking through Wowhead News for more information on the old BC Master Craft weapons. I recently dropped skinning on my paladin and have started leveling blacksmithing. It's a pain. I have to go back and farm copper, mithril, iron and so on. Once 5.2 hits you'll be able to level blacksmithing with just ghost iron. Here's a quick little video I found on YouTube that covers the gist of this change.

This video was made closer to the beginning of testing. I just checked PTR and there is no quest to pick up. You simply learn the training projects from the trainer. I'm working on a more in depth post for the whole blacksmithing thing in 5.2.

Alright, next question, how does this affect the Auction House? I know for a fact that there are people crying their eyes out that this will nerf their AHing profits. People who farm lowbie mats and then AH them. Well...IF this is available to 90's only then people who are leveling up their lowbies will still farm mats to level their tradeskills. Also this is for level purposes only. That Ornate Mithril set I want for my Death Knight? I'm still going to have to get the mats and pass them on to my favorite blacksmith. This change only covers leveling. It does not replace any of the old world recipes.

So to sum up, what do you want to do in prep for 5.2 and black smith leveling? FARM GHOST IRON!

Master Craft Weapons

Back in Burning Crusade, they added the Master Crafting. You could specialize in hammers or swords or maces and what you would get, is a freaking cool weapon. You could upgrade that weapon into an even cooler looking weapon and they were BoP so that you could be one of the few who had that weapon. Too bad you couldn't make a killing selling them on the AH however. Well those quest lines and the corresponding weapons were removed from the game some time ago. This caused a great weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth when transmog was introduced. There have been many requests on the forums, on Wowhead comments and in general for these item skins to be reintroduced to the game. Well wish granted!!

Wowhead gives a basic run down of all the weapons being "brought back" and how to obtain them. Blacksmithing will have its own discovery system much like Alchemy. Blacksmiths will create a Lightning Steel Ingot and in doing so have the chance to learn an unknown pattern, including some of the old Master Craft weapons. This item may or may not have a 24 CD. It most likely will (which will suck imo) but we can keep our fingers crossed until the patch comes out. These items will BoP so they will be for Blacksmiths only. Hooray for the new BS speed leveling option! I just dropped skinning on my pally and started leveling BS so she could make the Dawnsteel shoulders as shown in my Cloudkeeper Legs transmog post.

So once again to sum up, what do you want to do in prep for 5.2 and blacksmith crafting? FARM GHOST IRON!

And last but not least... Weapon RecLassification

On the PTR you can now transmog swords into axes, axes into maces and so on. You can do this for both one and two hand items. You of course can't transmog a one hand with a two hand items however. Many of the item that were classified specifically as main hand or off hand are now simply one hand. BRAVO!! I had a heck of a time in Cata farming for the right weapon so I could transmog it to match my gear. I'd find the perfect hammer and then an upgrade would drop, like Souldrinker. Then it was back to the drawing board to either find a new transmog set or a new weapon.

Here is my current two handed axe. On the PTR I transmogged it into The Oathkeeper a two handed hammer. I used The Oathkeeper with my Sapphirium pally tier set. All I can say is hoooray for this change!! I'm a fan to two handed swords personally, and I don't care to use a hammer or an axe usually. There are so many amazing two handed swords. The only problem is even if it is a two hander it still looks tiny on a Blood Elf.

Current in live the Bronze Mace is a main hand weapon. Well I transferred my Blacksmith to the PTR and made one. (Good luck finding a weapon on the PTR auction house, BTW) On the PTR it is now a one hand weapon. I also made it, equipped and transmogged it to a sword. So you CAN xmog maces into sowrds and vice versa etc. The main hand / off hand restrictions have been removed on many of the weapons.

So to sum up, farm a ton of ghost iron, level your Blacksmithing and dust off that sword you've been saving and be ready to change your axe!

Sexy Plate Transmog - Red & Gold

Well this is the last set of sexy (skimpy) transmog "recipe" sets - as they call them over at WoW Roleplay Gear. All of these sets are BoE greens than can be found grinding certain dungeons or zones. You can put together plenty of unique and individual sexy outfits but this covers the plate pieces that come in full sets. Some of these sets will have a single recolor that doesn't have a full set like the Warior's Embrace It's a black and gray recolor of the Glorious Breastplate.

	Warlords Iron This set is actually the same as the Warmaul set which is also plate. The recolors listed are all mail. I used the Brackenshell Shoulderplates and Belt of the Fallen Emperor with this set.	RECOLORS Radiant Mail - Orange Lord's Mail - Silver
	Glorious Plate this is one of the more sought after sets and can be difficult to acquire. Try farming Ahn Qiraj, Dire Maul and Silithus. I used the default shoulders this time instead of switching them.	RECOLORS Lofty - Gold & Green Vanguard - Blue & Gold
	Bloodfist Plate The two recolors for the set are the same. Both red/red set while this set is gold with red. I used the Drake Talon Pauldrons with this set instead of the default.	RECOLORS Darkcrest - Red Boulderfist - Red
	Shattered Hand Plate This set has a robotish feel to it and isn't as pretty as some others. However a lot of the pieces are good for mixing and matching.	RECOLORS Grimscale - Bluish gray

Oh yes, just an FYI, the chest pieces look a LOT different on males!! Happy transmogging!