How I Mog

Day 7: Yes!

It took me so long to figure out what to do for this screenshot. Nothing super exciting happened for me today so I went with a shot of Tai on the Twilight Drake. I'd wanted this mount for quite a while so it was exciting when finally at level 90 we could get a small group together to run for them until everybody had them. I was so happy when I finally got mine.

A gigantic ramble about transmog.

      Reading this post by the Godmother had me starting to make a comment and then realizing it was going to be long enough that I really might as well just make a post of my own. My thoughts are less about cosplay and more about mogs, but some of the thoughts are similar. If you've been reading this blog by now you've probably noticed I play mostly male characters, despite being a female in real life. There are several reasons for this, probably enough of them for an entire other blog post if I ever feel inclined to write it, but one of them is that I do not like when bits of my character's armor fall off for no apparent reason, leaving them mostly naked. This seems to happen a lot less to male characters.

     I don't like plate bikinis. They bother me a lot! They bother me even more because if I put that same exact piece of gear on a male character it magically transforms into actual armor. That said, I know a lot of people love them, and I have seen people mix and match some of the few sets in the game with some really creative things and make just amazing looking sets! I don't begrudge them that. In fact I'll take a second to be impressed when I see a particularly unique take on one. That said: I can't see myself ever mogging a character into one. For one thing... that would be so uncomfortable. Can't really imagine plate armor being  comfortable to begin with... but that? Ow.

     I like my characters to look like they are outfitted to do their job. I also like them to look neat. So I do love transmog! Most of the characters I play have a mog outfit designed for them, a lot of them a long time before they'll have leveled enough to equip or acquire it. And not only does it have to be something I like, something that looks practical for their job, it also has to fit the character. I'm a long time D&Der and a fiction writer and an RPer, so all of my characters have at least some developed personality and backstory, quite often before I ever even sit down at the character creation screen. None of my characters are mogged into anything I can't picture them being willing to put on.

     My paladins are in nice sturdy plate, pretty completely practical. (Except the circlet helms. I fudge on that and I freely admit it because I like seeing what they look like.) I've already done a full mog post for Seish  here. And Rim looks like this: 

     Both things I can picture them actually wearing. Rim's armor is really shiny, but then it's also his job to get the monster's attention so looking like a beacon probably helps. And up until Laen I had a raging hatred of 'plate dresses' but Laen insists that he likes them and is a blacksmith and can make it function, so I guess I'll have at least one paladin who runs around in metal skirts.

     Tai's another character I'm quirky about with mogs. He always has an eyepatch, because he only has one eye. I kind of wish that this was an option on the character creation screen so he could actually wear other helms and still have his eyepatch but since it's not I always mog him with one. He's had one since I could acquire one and it's the one piece of his gear I kept transmogged the entire time I was leveling him. (Yes, I'm ridiculous. But he doesn't look like Tai to me without the patch.) 

     This is the second set I've put together for him, but like the first it's something that I can picture him wearing, though this one would be only for when he's trying to be 'fancy'. Tai never wears leather skirts, not because skirts are girly, but because they bother the heck out of me for monks. They might be all well and good for caster druids, but leather is heavy! How is he supposed to kick in a leather skirt? His cloak is never displayed for the same reason. It just seems like it would tangle in his feet and get in the way. 

     When it comes to female characters I like them to have practical gear for their jobs too. Thera shows a little arm and her face and I think still looks very sexy. But then it's hard not to when you're a female blood elf. My night elf huntress wears a nice protective set of mail that I'm really happy with the looks of and that I can see her being very happy to wear. 

      I guess there's not really much point to this post except to talk a little bit about why I mog the way I do. For me it's partly a character driven exercise. But then I guess mogging is as individual a choice as character class and spec. (And I still don't like plate bikinis any more than I like playing rogues.) This is just how and why I mog. How about you?