The Forsaken in the Age of Transmog

I touched on this awhile back in a post, but apparently it's still on my mind.

I love my Undead, I have 4 of them including my main. I find the Forsaken lore and quest lines to be underlined with a tragic sadness. Former humans, raised up and enslaved through unholy and demonic powers to fight against their will for the very forces that killed and ripped their humanity from them in the first place. Finally after breaking free and trying to notch their own place in this world they are ultimately despised and hated by everyone, even their own Horde, not that they care about them too much either. Sylvannas has her own agenda, but I believe most of the Forsaken are rather just kinda "eh, whatever" about their afterlife. They're resilient, they press on and just keep "living".

But, in the age of transmog I feel penalized for playing this race. Their lack of elbows and knees really destroys the otherwise great looking armor sets available all throughout each expansion of WoW. I don't care for Human males either though. Their hips being so big and their overall straight and shapeless forms just leave a lot of gear looking unimpressive on them.

That being said, there's some sets that just look utterly badass on an Undead. I'm thinking specifically my locks T8 Deathbringer Garb and T10 Dark Coven's Regalia. Both seem tailor made for an Undead. Nobody wears those sets better than a Forsaken. Even our first sighting of the Deathbringer Garb a year before it was available in game for players was Grand Apothecary Putress at the Battle for Wrathgate.

But ya, with all the talk about updated character models I'd be easily placated if they'd simply add some knees and elbows to my Forsaken. They can leave the spine that pokes out, I don't mind that nearly as much.

The Trip Falls of Race in the Age of Transmogrification

Let it be said here and now, that NOT all races are created equal in the World of Warcraft, especially in regard to how well that epic armor set will look on them.

I have 1 toon of every class for both Horde and Alliance. Draenei shaman/Orc shaman, Undead warrior, Human warrior, Belf pally, Dwarf pally, etc... and so on. I love playing both sides, muhahaha.... I started out Horde and after reaching 8 85s I loaded up my heirlooms and realm/faction transferred one of them to start up my new stable of alts on the other side. Now that Transmogrification is here I'm being reminded about how some physical aspects of some races have always bothered me and that is not all races work well for dress up.

The undead faction are missing elbows and kneecaps and their spines split right though there armor and tabards on the back. Trolls, Taurens and Draenei go bare-foot (bear-foot lolz) leaving basically just a shinguard type piece visible from their foot armor. Goblins just like Gnomes are so small and squat that many armor sets look squished and diminished in their otherwise epicness. Orcs are blessed with godly like shoulders and practically look like bosses in some armor whereas Taurens and Worgens have long extending heads/necks that can really warp and skew the way a helm looks on them. Humans are often cited as the most balanced physique (and for the women I say hell ya!), but in my opinion the males hips are way too thick and straight and have always bothered me regardless of was class or armor they were. They're somewhat reality based, but perhaps human males in WoW would look cooler if they were modeled more after He-Man action figure versus G.I. Joes. Anyhow... things to consider while you while away the hours piecing together that perfect armor set for Transmogrification. Ultimately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder so if you're stoked that's all that matters, this is just my opinion.

Case in point The Deathbringer Garb warlock tier 8. First seen by players on Apothecary Putress in the cinematic for the Battle of Wrathgate. This set imo is one of the more awesome and iconic sets from all expansions and classes. Go figure it's looks perfect on an undead, with their rotting appendages only complementing the bird's skull helm and image of ritualized death. On my worgen though, it loses it's epicness due to their weird bodies, that tuff of fur sticking out of the back of it's stretched out helm. On a human or blood elf it looks more like a halloween costume than the demonic spine-chilling gothic garb as we first saw it on Putress. On a goblin or gnome all you can see is the big giant beak overpowering all the other aspect of the set. This specific set of warlock tier belongs to the Forsaken and nobody will be able to convince me otherwise.

Coming soon... My epic tale for putting together the perfect Blood Knight xmog set. Stay tuned!