My Cata Transmogrification Time Capsule - Paladin

Before my pretty transmog sets get ruined by all those MoP quest greens I decided to take a few pics to remember what my guys were rocking in the fashion department. For the most part I just used what I've held onto or could quickly acquire.

Valori - Blood Elf Paladin
*These caps kinda suck. I was going for a more cinematic shot vs. zooming in and showing off the good.
Starting off as a pretty straight forward "Blood Knight" set I swapped in a couple of non-tier warrior pieces during Dragon Soul to accent and update the look while staying in the black/red color scheme for a strong and bold look. Though the pixel resolution differences in mixing old and new armor models is very apparent I thought they complemented each other well enough and I was happy with the end result.
The best part about this set is it can be almost entirely put together through vendors! Everything on this paladin except for the iconic shield (quest) and boots (raid drop) can be bought with Justice Points. With MoP in full swing you're probably saving all your JP for lvl 90 gear, but soon enough after you've bought everything you'll be trying to figure out creative uses for that JP again and that's where our friendly old tier vendors come in.

• Shield: Bloodforged Guard (quest reward in Shadowmoon Valley) *don't bother farming Heroic Rampants, this is much quicker.
• Helm: Jaw of Repudiation (valor vendor)
• Boots: Stillheart Warboots (Dragon Soul - Ultraxion)

The "Blood Knight" pieces: Inferno Tempered (chest, legs, hands, boots) along with the matching belt Girdle of the Protector can all be bought with JP from G'eras in Shattrath City.

1-handed Weapon choices: Find something you like, you'll be happier. This one pictured is actually a random Wrath green boe drop that I got off the AH for pennies. It has a red ribbon tied around the hilt that I liked. I originally used a couple of the Dark Iron Blacksmith weapons: Ebon Hand and Blackguard. They're small, subtle and I like the classic vanilla models. Once I got an actual Souldrinker I left it as is for awhile.

 Make sure to match your transmog with your mount!

Shado-Pan Wallwatcher - FIXED

No Mammoths Allowed

I'm really liking the new stone form mounts

I honestly thought my graphics card was glitching out for a minute. Then I noticed my debuff Chastised. Applied when you steal/loot the tribute on the shrine just north of Paw-don Village. All the little randomness in MoP keeping things fun and interesting.

WoW Brilliant Idea #219 - Dynamic Quest Grouping

Cross-Realm Zones is now a part of the game, whether you like it or not. I'm not going to get into the merits and effects of CRZ, that's a whole other post, but it's here and seeing so many more players out and about in the world while leveling has gotten me thinking.

Have an option for auto-detection questing groups. If you're the kind of friendly player who likes grouping up with people have an option you can click somewhere that will make you 'available' for grouping. When you're in an area questing this feature will monitor those who also have it selected, check for matching player levels, zone quest progress and then have a pop-up list of potentials you can group with. This can be briefly utilized for those "have to kill 100 mobs on your way to the back of the cave to finally kill the actual quest mob, then fight your way back out", kind of quests. You know, for when that other guy is heading into the cave at the same time and then you're both rushing to get to the mob first. Or that group quest you've had in your log for an hour but can't complete because you keep keeping knocked back and falling to your death. I'm looking at you Yetimus! Whether grouping for a single quest or finding a questing partner, consider it a virtual ice-breaker.

Back in the old days I'd just hit up the general chat channel /1: "just starting out  in Tarren Mill, anyone want to group up for some questing?". This actually produced good results way back when. Seemed like I was often grouping up with random players just to quest, but that was a different time and sadly through the convenience of Dungeon Finder and easily solo-able questing there's not much need for actual player interaction these days. I think Dynamite Quest Grouping could really help with that. All the people I first added to my Friends List were unknowns I met through questing. Some of them never got much further than Hillsbrad Foothills, but 1 random player I met all those years ago is currently the GM of one of the largest guilds on my server. So you never know who you might bump into out there and any feature that could help interaction amongst players could only help to make things better overall.

Or if you're like me and rather not deal with another player most of the time, just keep the damn thing off.

Hey Dooker! Mind if I hang out while you play WoW?