WoW Insider announces Transmogrification Contest winners
Last week we showcased the runners-up for WoW Insider's first Transmogrification Contest. Today, we've got the winners to show you. As I said on Thursday, there were over 400 outfits submitted to the contest, with entrants aiming to create the best possible outfit using a single piece of gear as the central theme. Picking winners out of that lot was not easy!
Our first winner is Ranjiku from Daughters of the Horde (Bronzebeard-US). Here's what she had to say about her outfit.
Before mogging was even a glimmer, I won a roll for the Robes of Rhonin in an achievement guild run, and the robe was way too gorgeous to ever let go. So when [transmogrification] finally became a reality, I knew I'd use this robe first ... Then I found the [helm] pictured and BOOM, "Evil Queen from Snow White!"
Robes of Rhonin
Shoulders Mantle of Deceit
Chest Robes of Rhonin
Hands Deathsilk Gloves
Waist Lurker's Cord
Main-hand weapon Ebon Shiv
Off-hand weapon Fireproof Orb
I found Ranjiku's mage transmog impressive in a few ways. First, the diversity of the items she used to assemble one cohesive outfit shows a good eye for detail and color. Second, her ability to take a piece of gear that by itself isn't universally striking to most players and then create an eye-catching outfit with it is exemplary.
There are items in the game like the Vestments of Shifting Sands or the Cowl of Absolution that are impressive pieces of gear by themselves, so using them makes it easy to create a striking outfit. It's not so easy to do that with the Robes of Rhonin, though, since they are somewhat understated in color and very busy in design. The robes could easily be an eyesore with different accessories; the wrong helm or shoulders alone could leave the bottom of the robes looking heavy and cluttered. That Ranjiku found an additional theme in the outfit as she was making it is just icing on the cake.
Faceplate of the Impenetrable
Thasus (Outland-EU) is a death knight of few words but was kind enough to explain that when the Faceplate of the Impenetrable dropped a few months ago in Black Temple, he kept it solely because of how awesome it looked. After the release of patch 4.3, Thasus decided to put together an outfit to accompany the awesome helm.
Shoulders Titan-Forged Shoulderplates of Triumph
Back Dark Phantom Cape
Waist Dragonslayer's Brace
Main-hand weapon Hanzo Sword
Off-hand weapon Hanzo Sword
I like the fierceness this death knight-only transmog has to it. The spiky helm paired with the bulky pauldrons create an impressive and intimidating silhouette on the otherwise small frame of the male Forsaken.
The hardest part about plate, leather, and mail transmog is the fact that so much more of the outfit is visible than it is on characters who wear robes. Robes usually cover a character's pants and most of the boots, which means there is less to worry about from a transmogrification standpoint. The boney knees of Forsaken characters makes things even more difficult. Keeping that in mind, what I find most impressive about Thasus' outfit is that it looks so intentional on his character. It looks as if it was specifically designed for his character rather than for the game's large population of female blood elves. He could be an NPC.
Mooncloth Robe
The final winner is a priest-specific transmog from Aeliel of Reunion (Silvermoon-EU). Here's what she had to say about her transmog.
I somehow have this feeling I'm not the only one to pair these shoulders and helm with this robe - but the desire to be original was trumped by "ooh, pretty". Once I found the shoulders, the mace was an obvious match, as were the gloves, belt and helm. Matching boots were a bit harder to find, but the skirt part of robes hides many flaws and non-matching colors. The off-hand's easy to get... if you're Alliance. If you're a filthy Horde, Lantern of Enchanted Flame from a quest in Storm Peaks looks identical, as does the world-drop BoE Beacon of Hope and the Eerie Stable Lantern from Shadowfang Keep.
Shoulders Valorous Shoulderpads of Sanctification
Chest Mooncloth Robe
Feet Aurora Boots
Main-hand weapon Ice Spire Scepter
Off-hand weapon Nolkai's Lantern
The Mooncloth Robe is a remarkably difficult item to pair gear with. At first glance, it looks easy because the robes are almost entirely white, but once you start, you quickly find that very few items in the game share that cool, silvery white color. Aeliel's decision to play off the silver and blue accents of the dress instead of the white is very successful, and on the white skin of her draenei, her character appears haunting.
Her choice of shoulders and helm also work quite well with the robe. Most shoulder armor that appears attached to the body tends to odd on the delicate halter top of the Mooncloth Robe. Using two pieces of gear that appear to float around the character instead make the outfit look more magical and less like someone had the afterthought to fasten bulky armor to a fine cloth dress.
Well, that's it. Hopefully we'll be able to hold another transmogrification contest in the future. Until then, let's give congratulations to the winners!
Patch 4.3 lets you transmogrify your gear to look like any other gear your class can wear -- but you have to collect it first. Check out our coverage of transmogrification and start running those old dungeons!
