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3 robeless transmogrification looks for the fashionable caster
Once upon a time, most of the gear a distinguishing caster had to choose from was robes. If you wanted to wear the best gear available to you, your choice was pretty much a robe and some sparkly shoulders. There are very, very few sets, if any at all, that are modeled around pants and tops. This eventually led to the creation of the infamous video above by Cranius. Forget classy pants -- if you want to fling fireballs, a dress is pretty much your only option. Or rather, it was your only option. With transmogrification, cloth-wearing casters suddenly have a whole host of options open to them that don't involve robes at all. Male characters who would like to look super-manly now have the opportunity to do so. And female casters who are tired of fighting dragons in skirts? Well, you've got plenty of options, too -- and today, we're highlighting three snazzy cloth looks with nary a robe in sight. My fellow casters, it's high time to drop your skirts and take a look at just a few of the looks out there to nab.
Layering a transmogrification look from the Darkmoon Faire
So maybe you don't want to wear one of the umpteen million tier sets or dungeon sets out there. You want to look different, unique, stand out in the crowd ... we get the picture. There's an art to putting together a transmogrified look without just picking up a labeled set, and it involves the careful use of layering. Check out the couple above, from poster fwerp on Reddit, who have taken layering and off-set pieces and turned out a couple of outfits that are sure to have them blending in with the Darkmoon Faire crowd. What's shown above is a set of roleplay outfits -- note the lack of spaulders -- but all it takes is a little creativity to toss together a look just like it, one that you can transmogrify for your own use. These are both cloth sets, so casters, if you're looking for something other than the usual robe and glowing shoulders getup, take a peek after the break and see how you can put this together for yourself!
WoW Moviewatch: Don't Make Me Get My Main
Mathew here, checking in on Moviewatch once again. Gray sent me a text ... something about a ransom and some Russian mobsters and maybe even a bank heist. Look, who do you think I am, Gray? The Monopoly Man? Scrooge McDuck? What am I, made of money? I am notoriously picky about WoW machinima -- ask anyone here at WoW Insider. The War Room is usually abuzz with machinima that I enjoy but never tout. Cranius' songs coupled with Legs' videos, however, are high points in WoW machinima for me, as they are excellently produced, they're visually fun, and the songs are engaging. Darrowshire is still my favorite Cranius song, but Don't Make Me Get My Main and ranks right up there. The song hurts my very soul, mostly because I started WoW as Horde on a server that was Alliance-dominated. Stranglethorn Vale was nothing more than an Alliance gank-fest, as dedicated Horde players would skulk in the shadows, waiting for just enough Alliance players to leave Hemet Nesingwary's camp so that they could turn in quests successfully. Dark days. Dark, dark days, that are happily behind me. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at machinima@wow.com.
WoW Moviewatch: I'm a Hunter
I'm a Hunter was created by Fruity Loops, Frostheim, and Mike Hallenbeck. The video was also made by Frostheim. When Frostheim dropped me a note about the video, he definitely seemed to think the overwhelming demand for a Hunter theme goes as far back as Big Blue Dress by Cranius. Whether or not I'm a Hunter stands up to being compared to that mage-themed masterpiece is up to each viewer. In my opinion, though, the song is still pretty catchy and amusing. The video does a great job of illustrating the facets of hunter life, as well as getting in some chuckles along the way. There's a lot of little loving touches that clearly shows the creators' love of the class, and I think it's suitable homage to the gun and bow toting crowd. Thanks to Frostheim for the heads up, and congratulations on a fun song. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
Cranius music available on Amazon
Cranius has built one heck of a reputation as a World of Warcraft fan songwriter. His music and video credits include Big Blue Dress and the incredibly moving Darrowshire. This year, he (and machinimator partner Legs) achieved the first place prize at the BlizzCon 2009 machinima contest for their every-man video, Don't Make Me Get My Main.All this background makes it awesome to point out that Cranius has released his music through Amazon, all collected on an album titled Big Blue Dress. The album is pretty cheap, coming in under $5.00. It includes downloads of Big Blue Dress, Darrowshire, and The Lament of Captain Placeholder, as well as his new pieces, Happy Place and Don't Make Me Get My Main. The only piece I felt was missing was Ulduar, but I can think of a few reasons it didn't appear.At the cheap price, it's nice to be able to throw a little support at an artist who's brought so much music to the community. He's not been alone in this, of course, as both Oxhorn and Myndflame have released their music in one form or another. I think it's a wonderful opportunity, and something I support wholeheartedly. I obviously have purchased it, and am playing it on my computer even now.
WoW Moviewatch special: 7 movies you should know
Machinima's a pretty big topic. Depending on who you talk to, "machinima" could include story-based movies, PvP footage, boss kills, music videos, and even videography of altered in-game landscapes. There are uncounted thousands of videos about World of Warcraft roaming the internet, so it can be very difficult to know where to start.In honor of the ticket queue for BlizzCon 2009, Moviewatch presents seven machinima movies and machinimators you should know. Certainly, these aren't the only 7 movies or authors you should know, but they do include some of the most popular staples of the art. If you find yourself chatting it up with a machinima enthusiast around the BlizzCon water cooler, you can probably be certain they've seen these shows.We went for variety in this selection, choosing videos with different styles and subjects. They certainly aren't listed in "countdown to the best" format, since trying to rate these videos like that would be dang near impossible. Instead, they are simply listed alphabetically, according to the creator of the movie.Check out the selection behind the cut.
WoW Moviewatch: Ulduar
This has been a week with lots of collaborative videos released. A new collaboration just hit the streets, and it's one that I was excited about the second I got the email from Cranius. Yeah, that Cranius. You know, Cranius of the Big Blue Dress? He's gotten together with Summergale and Legs to issue a new music video, called Ulduar. You should already know Summergale from her work in Hard Like Heroic, and Legs is the machinimator who created Route 440. I couldn't expect anything less than greatness from this crew, and greatness is exactly what they delivered.According to Cranius, the video is about a pair of genre-crossed lovers crossing playstyle boundaries in WoW. Summergale sings the part of a PvE raider who is well-geared, and highly skilled in her arena. Cranius sings as a PvP fighter, who not only enjoys the dark avenues of player combat, but is a little bit of a punk and rebel. They're each trying to draw one another across the fence to try "the other side."The music is excellent. Summergale's voice is gorgeous and compelling, while Cranius nails each lyric with convincing fervor. Legs built an energetic, riveting video for the song, creating a frenzied, hypnotic stage on which the singers perform. This is an incredibly professional piece, and one which I think sets a high standard for WoW music video.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
WoW Moviewatch: Yellow Grows the Grass
This is a tough review. I'm a fan of music, especially ballad-like songs. I've never felt we see enough original fan-made music about WoW, and I'm still known to hum the tune to Big Blue Dress from time to time. Yellow Grows the Grass is a great song with good lyrics. I really enjoy the subject matter, and I appreciate what Boreas was trying to do. Unfortunately, the production values fell short in this video. The animation itself is a relatively unmodified over-the-shoulder view of the game. The music track itself popped and cracked, sometimes even obscuring the words to the song. This kind of pained me, because I was really behind what the author was trying to do here. I hate to see a great effort plagued by production issues. I hope he can get some help with a better audio track, especially, because I thought the song was strong enough to carry the video if not for that issue. And though the animation, as I said, was relatively plain, the chosen imagery itself wasn't bad. It seemed to me like there was a very strong script, but the "camera-work" itself is what let the piece down. And like "Big Blue Dress," if the audio were clear and crisp, the video itself wouldn't really matter. [Via WarcraftMovies] If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
WoW Moviewatch: Big Blue Dress
The reception to Darrowshire has been so great that I wanted to highlight Big Blue Dress, the Warcraftmovies recommended film with over three million views on YouTube. Cranius didn't need a fancy Model or Map Viewer program. He was able to capture footage in-game that conveyed what he needed to for the scenes over two years ago, yet the movie is still popular to this day.If you liked this video, you can download it on Filefront or get the song from the Collective Order website. An interesting tidbit to note is that Olibith responded to this video with his first ever machinima, Olibith the Urban Spaceman![Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
Cinemassively: Big Blue Dress
Before there were the Baron Soosdons of the World of Warcraft machinima world, there was Cranius. When we'd ask WoW players what videos were in their top 10, Big Blue Dress came up quite often. He's back at it with his latest video, Darrowshire, but definitely download the high quality version of the video that started it all.Cranius wrote and sang the title song, which posed the question of why these manly men should have to wear dresses during their battles. You'll find PvP, singing gnomes, and plenty of nostalgia. You see, this machinima was made back in February 2006![Thanks, Cranius!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
WoW Moviewatch: Darrowshire
When I woke up today, I promised myself that I wouldn't practice sabotage, espionage, or anything ... "age." Therefore, I've decided to post something amazing in contrast to yesterday. Cranius, creator of the popular Big Blue Dress, has blessed us with a little musical ditty, called Darrowshire. One of the greatest things about this machinima is that he based it around a quest in the Eastern Plaguelands. It's not every day that you can actually relive the path of a machinima. If you'd like to know what Cranius is up to next, check out his blog. If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com. [Via Warcraftmovies.com] Previously on Moviewatch ...
Original WoW song for a lazy Sunday
World of Warcraft and machinima are pretty much hand and hand these days, so it can be tough to decipher the losers of the world from the Leeroy Jenkins' out there. Joystiq tipster Ahms sends us a golden nugget of a music video to perk everyone up on a slow news day. Set inside WoW, the song is written and performed by the very mage runnin' around blasting fools in his "dress." Called "Big Blue Dress," the artist Cranius has actually created and sung a decent offering here about a mage and his silly little outfits. Judge for yourself and see if it is indeed worthy of our precious Sunday time.[Thanks Ahms]
