Dawn Moore
Articles by Dawn Moore
Remixing an Orgrimmar Guard transmogrification
Two weeks ago, we took the Stormwind Guard on a shopping trip and got them a whole new wardrobe. This week, we're giving the Orgrimmar Guard the same treatment and then stopping at Gallywix Pleasure Palace on the way back for mai tais. When I first started planning a new look for the Orgrimmar Guard, I thought I'd look to Garrosh Hellscream for inspiration. Both his outfits in Wrath of the Lich King at Warsong Hold and now in Cataclysm as the new warchief show off a darker look to the Horde that I wanted to capture. Walking through the streets of Orgrimmar these days, you see a city that has become more militaristic and uniform, and the old guard outfit doesn't quite fit in anymore. Even the Horde banners are a darker red than they once were, which doesn't match the red shoulders and accents of the old guards.
Which race has the creepiest-looking children?
In preparation for Friday night's raid testing, I started leveling a second character to 90 on the Mists of Pandaria beta yesterday evening. I had only progressed a couple of quests into Valley of the Four Winds when I noticed Chen Stormstout and his little niece Li Li were talking at me with recorded dialogue. When I had done these quests a few weeks earlier, neither NPC had made a peep, so the voices caught me off guard and quickly drew my attention and focus. This was when I realized for the first time that Li Li has been given a new character model. Previously, Li Li had been nothing more than a shrunken version of an adult female pandaren; now, she's taken on the form of a glossy-eyed, ever-smiling child. I immediately recoiled at the sight, shrank back in my chair, and clawed blindly at the keyboard in an effort to tab out of the game so I could console myself with pictures of kittens and Ryan Gosling's beard. I barely survived. So maybe it's just me, but nothing haunts me more than the soulless, unblinking eyes of Azerothian children. Anyone else share my sentiment? If so, which of the kids do you think are the creepiest? %Poll-75949%
Breakfast Topic: I met the critter guy
It was BlizzCon 2010. I was sitting outside the exhibit hall at the Anaheim Convention Center, pecking out a text message on my phone, when I heard someone say, "Oh hey! You work for WoW Insider!" His voice was so excited that I was a little surprised when I looked up and realized the young man in front of me wasn't just another general attendee of BlizzCon 2010 but an actual employee of Blizzard. "I love you guys!" He exclaimed as I boggled over his official staff shirt and badge. Was this really happening? Wasn't I the one who worked for a fan site? Shouldn't I be excited about him? He didn't notice my cognitive dissonance and motioned to the empty space on the bench next to me. "Can I sit down?"
Remixing the Stormwind Guard for transmogrification
There are few NPCs in WoW more iconic than the Stormwind Guard. Even if you're Horde, it's hard not to like the striking contrast of blue and silver metals paired with the golden lion's head emblem. OK, so maybe not if you're Horde, but I digress. I've always loved the look of the Stormwind Guard, yet when it comes to transmogrification, I find the look is a bit outdated for my own character. The older armor models just don't hold a candle to the new ones in the game, and I like for my character to keep up with the latest stuff coming out. So I thought to myself, "Why not mix it up and make an outfit inspired by the Stormwind Guard?" I imagine this is what it would look like if a member of the Stormwind Guard decided to become a PC instead of an NPC. Very breaking the fourth wall, right? OK, maybe no to that one too ...
Mists of Pandaria beta level cap raised to 90
If you have access to the Mists of Pandaria beta, you may want to log in and start leveling. Late yesterday evening, beta servers went offline for maintenance, and when they came back up, Quality Assurance Representative Sapperwix made the following announcement. Sapperwix -- Beta Server Maintenance - 6/1/12 Realms should be coming up momentarily. And as you will soon find out... LEVEL 90 CONTENT IS AVAILABLE! Go explore Dread Wastes and Vale of Eternal Blossoms! No raids, pet battles, and some scenarios and BGs are not yet available. source In addition to the two new questing zones, players will also finally be able to reach level 90 and play around with their new talents. If you don't have beta access, some game footage of the new zones and talents have already made their way online. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Diablo 3 Transmog Outfits for WoW: Monk, demon hunter, wizard
It's been two weeks since Diablo III was released, and if you've got some time to spare, I've got three new transmogrification outfits that might interest you. If you'll recall, two weeks ago we learned how to recreate the witch doctor, barbarian, Leah, and Deckard Cain in WoW. As promised, this week we'll be taking a stab at the monk, demon hunter, and wizard, starting with the wizard. Making a convincing wizard outfit in WoW is surprisingly easy, provided you keep a few things in mind. First off, you need to be very aware of your character's silhouette. Bulky gloves, spiky helms, and big shoulder armor are essential, and fortunately, they're all in ample supply on Azeroth. Knowing that, you just need to keep an eye on colors. If you look at the sample outfit, you should notice right off the colors don't quite match; the golds are different hues. Let that serve as a lesson on why it's important to leave yourself a lot of options when selecting the right piece for an outfit. Mismatched hues can sometimes break an outfit if it's not balanced right.
Spiritual Guidance: Shadow priest news bulletin (as narrated by a discipline priest)
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On alternate Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen comes from out of the shadows to bask in your loving adoration. I had just zoned into the instance when the rogue died. I was running Temple of the Jade Serpent on the Mists of Pandaria beta as a promise to a friend who hadn't had the foresight to invite a tank or DPS. We were two healers and an enhancement shaman, organized enough to be on Vent but still ultimately at the mercy of the Dungeon Finder. My expectations were low. All the same, six minutes later, we drew a warrior tank and a rogue. Now all we had to do was decide which healer was healing. The resto druid didn't want to DPS; rather, he "couldn't" because he only knew how to play feral and lacked a suitable weapon to actually do so. That meant by default I would have to go shadow, so I started readjusting my bars to do so. When the druid finished resurrecting the rogue, we set right to work on our next trash pack. I found myself fumbling about, unsure why Vampiric Embrace was on cooldown and where Devouring Plague had gone. My friend, the enhancement shaman, took notice. "When was the last time you played shadow?" he asked. "Well, I have my rotation written on the back of an envelope I had on my desk," I replied. Immediately he laughed, but from the way it awkwardly trailed off, I knew he was losing faith.
Breakfast Topic: This icon is making me hungry
I've been playing World of Warcraft since 2005 and one thing has always driven me absolutely insane ... The icon for Roasted Quail looks absolutely delicious! Every time I see it I find myself salivating, which is pretty frustrating when you consider that almost every innkeeper in Azeroth sells it. I don't even know why the image is so appealing to me either. When I examine the rendering critically nothing about it strikes me in the same way food photography does, and I've never eaten quail so it's not like I'm drawing from some point of reference. I just don't understand it! Of course, it could just be a general weakness of mine. The icons for Soft Banana Bread, Mok'Nathal Shortribs, Goldenbark Apple, Friendship Bread, and Sliced Raw Billfish have a similar affects on me, though none have as much power as Roasted Quail. So it made me wonder, am I the only one? Am I crazy, or are there any other players out there who crave a taste of Conjured Mana Pie or Winter Veil Cookies? If so, let's hear it.
Diablo 3 Transmog Outfits for WoW: Deckard Cain, Leah, Witch Doctor, Barbarian
In honor of the release of Diablo III earlier this week, I've decided to dedicate my next two transmogrification articles to recreating the cast of the game. We'll start with the barbarian first -- but before we dive in, I have to tell you a quick story. I used to know a mage who wore an enchanted Chef's Hat during raids. The first day he wore it to raid, someone asked him to take it off, but he wouldn't; it was his new favorite hat and he intended to wear it. This annoyed several people in the raid, who repeatedly told him to take the hat off, so the mage told them this: "When someone does more damage than me, I will put my other helm back on." That day never came, so the hat stayed until he got bored of it. I mention this story because you'd think with all the plate bikinis and mail hot pants in WoW, the task of assembling a barbarian's costume for a warrior or paladin would be simple. Alas, loincloths don't seem to be that popular with plate wearers, so you'll either have to put on some pants or convince your raid leader that you don't need pants to do your job.
Spiritual Guidance: Lightwell, Lightspring, and the latest on priest healing in Mists
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. Well, we got it. I never thought I'd see the day, but we finally got the Trial of the Crusader Lightwell that shoots heals at allied players instead of requiring them to click. Holy priests will gain access to the new Lightwell, called Lightspring, using a glyph of the same name. Before you get too excited, however, I should mention that there is a catch. Apparently, automatic Lightwells don't heal for nearly as much as a manual ones do, so depending on the fight and your raid members' ability to use the Lightwell in the first place, you may choose to skip the Glyph of Lightspring now and again. Good ol' Derevka has already written up a thorough first look at Lightspring in which he points out many of the spell's limitations. In the post, he points out that Lightspring only heals targets at less than 50% of their health, and it has a 5-second cooldown between heals to prevent it from being used as a raid cooldown. To read the rest of Derevka's write-up and see his comparisons on the numerical output of the two spells, head over to Tales of a Priest.
WoW Meets League of Legends: Transmogrify your hunter into an AD carry
As a raider, I've come to hate the MOBA genre over time. My guild was raiding Icecrown Citadel when Heroes of Newerth first came out, and within a few weeks, I quickly noticed the effect it had. Being in a progression guild, my guildmates were usually patient, focused, and committed when putting in the long hours needed to secure not just server firsts but the highest possible world rankings we could. After HoN came out, however, it all changed. Core members of the raid were frequently dodging raid nights, and a few times the raid leader even called the night early when progression on a boss fight wasn't up to his satisfaction. The reason? He and half the guild were more interested in playing HoN than raiding. In the past six months, I've noticed the same thing happening again with League of Legends -- only it's a hundred times worse, because it seems like everyone and their mother is playing this game. As such, I have developed a potential solution to dodgy guildmates. Using transmogrification, your guildies can now transform themselves into two of the most popular League of Legends characters, Graves and Ashe. Who knows? In doing so, maybe they'll actually work on last hitting the damned boss for a change.
Transmog Inspirations: WoW meets Nintendo, part 2
I give up. I can't for the life of me create a transmog for Princess Peach. I've tried and I've tried, but there just aren't enough pink clothes in the World of Warcraft to piece together a convincing Peach. I'm sorry, Mario, but you're going to have to settle for some other princess. Princess Poobah? Princess Theradras? Princess ... I can't think of any more. Someone call Anne! Anyway, this week I decided to put together a few more transmogs based on Nintendo characters. A lot of readers were asking for more, so I made one for Princess Zelda, Toad, and Roy (you know, from Fire Emblem and Super Smash Bros. -- everyone loves Roy!).
Spiritual Guidance: New priest talents in the Mists of Pandaria beta
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. Let's get the bad news out of the way first: We've already lost Path of the Devout on beta. The good news is that in its place, we now have Feathers From Heaven, a talent that allows priests to lay out a little track of speed-boosting feathers. Think of them as those little speed arrows in Mario Kart, only they're feathers, and you can put them wherever you please. The individual feathers have no expiration that I can tell, so you can lay them out in advance on one end of the room for special tactics in your raid encounters or PvP, if it suits your fancy. The ability has no mana cost at the moment. Instead, it is limited by charges: one feather per charge, and you can have three charges at a time. You can place one feather right after the other, but it takes 10 seconds to restore one charge. This allows you to spam three of them on the ground in succession if you like (something you can't do with Body and Soul) or spread them out gradually ahead of you in your path. They can be used by any friendly target, not just party members, so be mindful of people's stealing them if you're using them while leveling to snatch up quest items. Oh yeah, and the feathers can be used on top of water with Levitate. So, you're excited about Mists of Pandaria now, right?
Guide to transmogrification resources
You just spent 13,000 gold on a pair of purple boots. No, not purple quality -- purple as in the color. What? It matched the subtle detailing on your tier 2 shoulders perfectly. OK, maybe not perfectly, but it's close enough. Wait, maybe you can find something closer? Better go look again. We get it. You're addicted to transmogrification. Your void storage is packed full of gear that you haven't worn since level 9, and your friends are planning to stage an intervention. You want more -- no, you need more. Fortunately, we're here to help. Like a best friend who brings you a batch of her famous marshmallow chocolate chunk cookies two days after you start a diet, we've compiled a list of transmogrification resources you may find useful in getting your next fix -- I mean, outfit.
Spiritual Guidance: First impressions of the Mists of Pandaria beta from a healing priest
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. This past week, I finally got access to the Mists of Pandaria beta, which means I've had lots of shiny new stuff to play with recently. As a healing priest, I gave a thorough look at both holy and discipline priests and found a lot of things I felt I should report back. First, let's start with Chakra. Before I even finished downloading the beta client, I heard complaints from other priests saying that Chakra states had turned into stances (think warrior stances). The concept of this intrigued me, but when I finally got around to toying around with it, I didn't really know why anyone would think too much of it. The stances simplify Chakra, so rather than having to press two buttons to change to Chakra: Sanctuary, all you have to do is hit one. If you want to switch again, there is a 30-second cooldown before you can swap.
How to go tribal with transmogrification
Do you like hugging trees? Did you want to see more of D.E.H.T.A. in Wrath of the Lich King? If you answered yes to either of those questions, this week's transmogrification guide is for you. This week, we're going to be exploring that super-chic tribal look the tauren of Azeroth love so much. So if you happen to be a druid who wants to look more the part (or just want to be a rogue who inflicts cognitive dissonance), keep reading. First off, you should know that at the end of the day, there's a lot of flexibility to this outfit. Anything with wood, leaves, feathers, animal hide, fur, or antlers has the potential to be swapped in. Just be mindful of how you incorporate color. When using earthy-looking armor models, you want to try and keep the earth tones in the same color family. So for example, if your chestpiece is a mustard-colored brown, you may want to make sure most of your browns have a similar hue. When it comes to accents and contrasting color, try to make all of those little details match. So if you get a red headband, trying using a red belt or weapon to tie it all together.
Spiritual Guidance: Monk healing vs. priest healing in Mists of Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starting to feel pretty pumped up after Monday's release of the information from Blizzard's Mists of Pandaria press event. Some of the new zones are very striking, the pandaren ladies are absolutely adorable, and monks get an ability called Shuffle, which means we'll have an expansion full of Party Rock Anthem jokes to look forward to. Priests didn't see anything new on Monday, but with all the information released about mistweavers and monk healing in general, I thought I might make some comparisons to get a better idea about what priest healing is going to look like in MoP.
Spiritual Guidance: Prayer of Healing and secondary stats for Mists of Pandaria healers
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. I trust you all remember that three weeks ago, Blizzard developers stated that Prayer of Healing would no longer be available to priests of every spec. The spell was to become an ability exclusive to the holy tree, and in order to provide the discipline tree with adequate AoE healing, the developers were working on redesigning Holy Nova. Well, as of earlier this week, it looks like discipline will be keeping Prayer of Healing in Mists of Pandaria after all. The developers made this statement on Tuesday. Kaivax -- Talent update: Priests Prayer of Healing can be used by Holy and Discipline once again. We realized that the goal of making Holy Nova an effective AE healing tool was problematic. It meant that we would have to change Holy Nova so thoroughly, that it was becoming a second Prayer of Healing. Remember: we aren't even in beta yet, and we want to retain as much opportunity as possible to respond to player feedback throughout the rest of this process. Things will change for priests, and every other class, over the coming weeks. source
Does WoW need more minigames?
When I started playing WoW in 2006, I knew next to nothing about it. I had bought a copy to play with my boyfriend but did so while he was out of the country; it was my intent to surprise him with it when he got back. The unfortunate result of this was that I didn't really know what to do on my own and spent most of the time being eaten by murlocs. Back then, the multiplayer aspect of WoW wasn't apparent to me. I had only ever joined groups to complete a few quests and didn't know what dungeons, raids, or Battlegrounds were. Because of this, I often remember thinking WoW wasn't a very good game because it was missing all sorts of basic elements that other games had. For example, I remember jumping in a river and thinking "Awesome, this will be a quick way to get to the southern side of the zone," only to realize a moment later there was no water current in WoW like there is in Legend of Zelda. "This is so lame," I thought.
WoW Meets Nintendo: Make your group stand out with transmogrification
Back when I used to cosplay, I absolutely loved cosplaying in a group. Not only does it ensure you'll always have a friend to help you get through doors, but cosplay ensembles are guaranteed showstoppers. There's just something about strength in numbers that gets the one-up over even the most expertly crafted costume. So the other day I had this thought: Why not transmog as a group? With your guild or maybe just a few friends, you could pick out a transmogrification theme and then do some activities together -- maybe hit up the Raid Finder and carry the group with your sheer awesomeness. As for a theme, it could be anything that suits your fancy. Maybe a novel series, or a historical era. Hmm ... Maybe your favorite video game characters?