Transmog Addiction, the Dire State of Raiding, and Becoming a Real Writer

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Transmogrification Addiction:

My rogue in her first transmog setIt’s funny. When Blizzard announced transmogrification, I thought, “Well, that’s neat, but kind of pointless.” I figured I’d transmog my rogue and maybe my mage to their leftover Wrath of the Lich King gear and then forgot about it.

But then came the reaction from fans. People were more excited than I’d ever seen them about anything in the game. I saw people come up with dozens of clever, unique, and striking outfits, and then I got infected with the excitement.

Now, I’ve got more sets than I do characters. My paladin has one main set, with slight variations for tanking and healing.My paladin in her tanking transmog setThis is the tank version. The healing version is the same but with Lightbringer Greathelm and Lucky Old Sun.

I originally planned to mog my rogue into my beloved VanCleef’s Battlegear, as seen above, but then I got an idea for a lovely “ranger”-inspired look, focusing on green gear, and now I’m grinding Outland heroics for the pieces to it. I’ve already got Mantle of Autumn and the green weapons from Zul’Gurub, and now I just need some legs from Slave Pens and maybe a head piece (if you know of any rangery leather helms, let me know).

I’m torn for my mage, too. I made him a great vanity set back before transmog was even announced (he’s a Blood Elf; he needs to look good), but I also really love T11 and found that Keleseth’s Blade of Evocation matches it perfectly.My mage's transmog setMaybe I’ll just switch between sets, though that’d be a hassle and costly. Maybe I’ll have to pick and choose. On the plus side, it’s giving me something to do until 4.3 drops. I’m also working on sets for my warlock and shaman, which are still works in progress.

The Dire State of Raiding:

Calculatedly melodramatic title is calculated.

According to a new survey done by MMO-Champion of the number of characters clearing normal mode Firelands, very few people have beaten the Firelord, even weeks after the instance was given a brutal 25% across the board nerf.

You can click the link if you want the exact numbers, but to make a long story short, they estimate 5% of the game’s population has killed Ragnaros.

Now, take this with a grain of salt. They surveyed characters, not players, so the fact that many of the toons not completing it may have been glorified bank alts could mean more people have actually done Firelands, and the fact that many of those toons completing it could have been alts could mean that many fewer people have actually done Firelands.

That said, I think this is still strong — if not necessarily conclusive — evidence that Blizzard’s nerfs are not succeeding in getting people to see the content. Even if four times as many people have killed Ragnaros as this indicates, that would still leave a whopping 80% of players who haven’t.

These numbers don’t upset me, or even surprise me. It just proves what I already knew: the raiding system in this game is seriously screwed up. We can only hope the Raid Finder provides a lasting solution to the problem.

I’m a Real Writer Now:

I just got my first novel rejection letter from a major publisher. Yay me.

Review: Sanctuary, “Tempus” (Season Premiere)

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Review: Sanctuary, Tempus:

Warning: the following review contains vague spoilers.Watching Sanctuary is a bit like being friends with Doctor Jekyll (no pun intended considering most recent episodes have focused on that character). You never know what you’re getting: the good, the bad, or the ugly.

This episode, I’m pleased to report, falls under the “good” category.

The episode picks up immediately from where the last one left off, with Adam Worth (Dr. Jekyll) traveling back to the 19th century to attempt to cure his terminally daughter, and the series’ protagonist, the immortal Helen Magnus, following him to prevent corruption of the timeline.

“Tempus” has Magnus simultaneously struggling to stop Adam, who plans world conquest once his daughter is cured, and to prevent herself from contaminating the timeline while interacting with fellow Five members John Druitt and Detective Watson and the past version of Adam Worth.

Things are complicated by the fact that they have arrived during the height of Jack the Ripper’s killing spree, which, as any Sanctuary fan knows, were committed by Druitt, who was Magnus’s fiance at the time. So while all the craziness with Adam is going on, we’re also treated to many interesting little moments between Druitt and Magnus (both her past and future selves), which give some very interesting revelations into their past relationship. Druitt is easily the most interesting character on the show, so this was a very welcome addition, in my view.

The entire episode takes place in the past, with no mention of the other difficulties taking place in the future (or present, depending on your perspective), which is frankly welcome. This show is always at its best when focusing on Helen and the Five at the expense of its far less interesting modern characters.Adam Worth, AKA Doctor Jekyll, from Sanctuary

Ultimately, the struggle to preserve time is a very common one in sci-fi TV shows, but this episode managed to set itself away from the pack, at least a little bit. It felt a bit more edgy and dangerous (words I would generally never use to describe Sanctuary). Normally, these episodes end with all problems being solved and all time changes turning out to be what was supposed to happen anyway.

“Tempus” didn’t end nearly so neatly. While it’s true that Magnus achieved her goals, it ended up feeling like a Pyrrhic victory in my view, and I found the ending rather heartbreaking.

Furthermore, the events of the past did end up being changed significantly.  We’ll have to wait until future episodes to see if these changes have any lasting impact. Given this show’s spotty history, I find myself doubting the possibility, but there’s always hope. This show could really use an ongoing crisis to keep it interesting, and a world irreparably changed by time travel seems like just the thing.

If I have any complaint about this episode, it’s that I would have liked to see the Adam Worth arc drag out a bit longer. But at the same time, they couldn’t really have given it a better ending than this, and the door is left open for more appearances by the character.

Overall rating: 9.1/10 A good start to the season. Let’s hope they keep this level of quality consistent for once.

If you’d like to get caught up on Sanctuary, you can buy the DVDs on my Amazon Affiliate–now includes the third season.