So, I’ve had a lot of fun with the Alliance transmog from Arathi Highlands Warfront and what not.

With my Swift White Steed being aired and galloping free through ground only places (and also through areas where I forget that I can fly…) I’ve never felt more an Alliance hero rather than an ‘adventurer’.

These new gear models are undeniably awesome in comparison to older models. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve sat there looking (and longing) at the top tier helm in the wardrobe and twiddled my char around from side to side to just watch the physics of the plume at the back. Each piece from each tier looks great, not just a really shitty place holder. None of them have that vibe that they were an after thought and they don’t fall into the realm of ‘I bought it on a whim’ where you don’t want to wear while you work on getting the next ‘improved’ version.

Having said that, as a Hunter, there were some bits that I didn’t feel like they fit very well with the feel of ‘Alliance Hunter’ that I was going for.
Alliance for me is royal blue and gold. Yes the Stormwind guards are silver but they’re not an ‘in the field’ representation of the Alliance. It’s like having a dress uniform and a ‘on the beat’ uniform. I want the dress uniform so there were some bits I wanted to change up to get the colour scheme I wanted and the aesthetics that I loved.

• The boots for example were a bit off for me due to being so silver and I wasn’t overly convinced on the claws on the toes. But the legendary boots you could get from Legion were a great fit for a while and added in the gold blue touch that I felt was missing. That was until I finally crafted the Wayfaring Boots and upgraded them to get the blue and gold that matched the colour of the tunic. I have a thing about the boots with the kneepads on them after getting them in SoO. Basically, if it don’t have knee bits, knee off…
• Same with the shoulders, I didn’t feel they were ‘hench’ enough and the paws on the top tier ones made me feel bad, I kinda felt that I was running around with RaidWiper’s mums paws keeping my shoulders warm… Scanning thought however and it becomes apparent how different the gold tone is to anything they have done before. The closest match I could find was the mythic shoulders from SoO, the blue laser beam was a bonus even if they only matched the little bits of blue gem-like detailing on the original shoulders and cloak etc…
• The gloves were a bit brown. I loved the detail of the leather strapping but the silver wristguards kinda killed it. Again, it was a pain in the arse trying to find a similar blue. Even looking through the uncollected transmog options, I couldn’t see anything better than what options I already had so I picked out the closest matching ones I had.
• The helm is a stop-gap. I bloody love the top tier Alliance helm. As soon as I pick this up, my current one is going to be gone. In the mean time, I don’t think that the second tier tied up plume beats a mother fucking feather mohawk! So, I’m currently rocking the BfA normal dungeon helm (and the mythic one will be placed on my Hordie when I change her out of her slutmog!)
• The leggings were the final bit that I changed. I like the idea of the tunic being created by placing some of it on the legs part but the ‘trousers’ themselves were kinda meh. The sailor side of the Alliance army is well represented with the whole tunic/trousers thing but I wanted something that tied together a bit better with the chest (seeing as it has chainmail on it) and also looked a bit more ground based attack. So I had a choice to make. I’ve told you about the Wayfaring Boots that I used and there is also the Wayfaring Leggings. The blue is spot on. Literally identical. Buuuuttttt… the chainmail that the leggings are actually made out of is too dark compared to the chainmail of the Alliance chestpiece. The other option I had was the Travelling Leggings. The chainmail part was an identical match to the chest but the blue of the draping was too light. Fuck my mogging life. However, as the belt separates the blue of the tunic from the blue of the leggings, I went with the Travelling ones as the chain is the most prominent part and is going to be noticed more.

I might have lied. I changed the belt too. But that’s only because I wanted to show off how much time I haven’t spent revising and I use the ‘Waist of Time’. Sometimes I use the SoO Mythic girdle, other times I use the warfront one. Depends on my mood…

The swift white horse I mentioned before is dragged out of the stable because I am secretly super jealous of Anduin’s horse. I feel that I really should pull a Robin Hood and liberate that from him…

Alas, I can’t so this is as good as I’m going to get while keeping with the Alliance theme of horsey horsey.

 

Speaking of the Alliance transmog as a whole, their are some that are questionable. The cloth one looks insane for Alliance. You get the lovely (but unimaginative) nightdress and then you get the bear trap helm/shoulder combo that wouldn’t look out of place in a Saw film.

Blizz also seems to have forgotten that space goats and Nelf’s exist and have created this set based on what it looks like on a human. I dunno how a space goat is supposed to get the mail+ ones on without the helm splitting in half and then being able to be screwed on over their horns. And don’t get me started about the Nelf ears… ho-lee-shit… I’m not sure how much coding it would take to provide some cut outs for big ol’ ears and horns but it would be welcome. The current issue is that by just having them poke through, they end up poking through the detailing of the helms and look stupid… They can get a cloak to bend over goat tails, can’t they work something out for helms?
Yes, I am aware that Stormwind and the Alliance was founded by Humans but its been some time now! Anduin is actively looking for ‘allied races’ to march under the banner of the Alliance, so he should get his tailors/blacksmiths/leatherworkers is line. Make some ear/horn holes! #freetheholes

The colour scheme is kinda whack as well. You don’t look uniform. I know that they are going for an Alliance tint on the theme for what classes will be wearing it but the pure white of the cloth just seems wrong for Warlocks and the black of the leather seems a little too emo for the hippy Druids. While the plate wearers are in something that reminds me of the Lawbringer set in terms of colour and tone. Effectively, we have priest, rogue and paladin armour, and that’s it. Everyone else has to just make do.
The Horde versions look more unified even though they’re falling apart, ironically! With the cloth set being a bit lighter in colour (and a bit more Warlock looking) the rest are the same tint just with more metal added depending on what level of armour you wear. They are also more nondescript with any class attachment. It looks like mass produced Horde armour for their giant army and not in a bad way. Big ol’ uniform army compared to the runway specials of the Alliance.

While all this transmog was supposed to bring the faction war closer to home, with the Alliance and the Horde showing their allegiance in an easily recognisable way it seem the vast majority are still in love with their carefully put together transmogs that have taken time to collect. I don’t see many people actually using the faction mog over anything else (the Nelf warfront even less so (but that’s another story) and Boralus still looks like it’s been swarmed by adventurers rather than an Alliance fleet. Which is a shame as it could have gone so well, especially with all the sharding bollocks going on in the field and players supposedly running into ‘more’ people.

But, when your reputation as a wank proceeds you, I guess you want to hide that as much as possible…