About Blood Elves and New Models

     So the Blood Elf models got delayed. As someone who unashamedly plays hordes of male blood elves (Pun intended) I'm honestly more relieved that disappointed about this. I've not been happy with what I saw of new models in Beta when I tried to reconcile them with my own characters, and just the last couple of days I'd been saying that if this is what we get I'd honestly rather they left them alone altogether. And now they're delayed. Presumably while Blizzard works on this: Updated Facial Customization. And that's exactly how it should be.
     I'm looking forward to seeing new faces for the things that are finished. And hopefully they haven't forgotten the male Night Elves altogether. But MattyShaman asked me on her post what my personal wishes were for the Blood Elves. Rather than writing a page in her comments I thought I'd make my own post on it.
     I don't play many female Blood Elves. There are many things about them I just can't click with for most character ideas I have. Those things aren't likely to change with new models, and really they shouldn't. Because that would mean all the people who love their female Blood Elves as they are ended up disappointed. Still there are a couple things I'd like to see for them in general.

     This is Theralonia, the one and only female Blood Elf I've managed to get to 90 (or anywhere near it.) She's a rogue (In case the Bloodfang Armor wasn't a dead giveaway). Rogues don't suffer from some of the things that do bug me enough to wish they'd change them. My small wishlist for female Blood Elves is:
-Better weapon scaling. Weapons and Shields would look so much better on female Blood Elves if they were just a little bigger. Shields shouldn't look like some kind of weird bracelet and swords shouldn't look like toothpicks. They don't need to be huge, but a little bit bigger would be nice.
-A few expressions that are less bored and superior. Not necessarily a change to their resting faces, but I'd love to see some of the emotes produce say a very genuine looking smile.
-Maybe they could sigh just a little less often when they stand around?

     Surprisingly my wishes for Male Blood Elves are even less complicated.

This is Rim. He's a rather young and pretty idealistic Paladin.  To me he's the one of my paladins who most thoroughly lives up to the archetype. The perfect knight.

This is Tai. He's older than Rim, has seen more of the world and the hardness in it. He's a warrior turned monk, a tank turned healer. He's rough around the edges, scarred, and a little bit worn. He's got prejudices and faults but at the root is a good man.

    I feel that the faces I picked for them work pretty well at conveying their characters. I'm happy with those faces for the most part so my first wish for the Male Blood Elves is that when they do get around to updating them what I get is a higher definition version of the faces they have.
    That's really all I want, other than one thing which is less about new models and more about options. I'd love it if they could implement for all characters the option to give them an eyepatch (and maybe some other scars) as part of the creation process. I'd love it if Tai could wear helmets and still have an eyepatch. I still think free recustomizations might be in order when they're done. But even without them I would probably pay to give Tai an eyepatch if that were an option.
     What I hope we don't get is a really drastic change to my favorite models or an update that makes Tai look half... or twice... the age he is in my head. Or that makes him look goofy or silly. Or one that makes Rim look mean or supercilious. So I guess my main wish for the Blood Elves is what they promised us to begin with, a high quality update that keeps the spirit of the original character.
     I'm really looking forward to seeing new faces show up in Beta.

Disappointment.

     I've been so excited about the new models. I liked the new Night Elf females for the most part and I love the female draenei when I saw her in the artcraft post. Then today after the beta wipe I copied Ailuuya. I'm very much feeling Tome and MattyShaman here.

Current Ailuuya

New Beta Model Ailuuya

     The worst part is that I hadn't been worrying about this because before the wipe I hadn't copied her but had flipped through the models and saw a face that was very comfortably close to her current one, so I assumed that was it. It's not. Can we talk about those free re-customizations please?

     Now I know this isn't finished, so I hope it gets better. Some things are bound to change. I'm sure her legs won't look like jello when she runs in the final version, right? At least her hair looks really nice.

A few Achievements

     Managed to sneak in a little time with my little mage, Falsyr, and Os' priest today, working on leveling them some. Only one level but it was the last bit of experience needed to tip Tai and Os' guild over the mark to level 25!!

    Just in time for it not to matter when Guild Levels go away in WoD. Still it feels good to have managed it and now Tai, Laen, and Saelindir can enjoy having Mass Rez for the rest of the expansion.
    Rim has been slowly working on the valor for the Legendary quest and I'd managed to do enough to get it to 2800/3000 when MattyShaman was wonderful enough to remind me of something I'd entirely forgotten: That you can buy valor with Timeless Coins. Well, I had more than enough to buy the last 200 points so with that done Rim went off to try his luck in the battlegrounds.
    Horde is unquestionably the best thing to be for the PVP portion of the Legendary quest. I've done the pvp quest a total of four times now. Thrice on Horde and once on Alliance. For Horde I went into each required battleground once per character and waltzed out with the victory. Poor Tyl spent several hours in battlegrounds before Alliance managed to scrape up a victory.
     Here's what Rim's recent achievements look like after his brief foray into the world of PVP:

     He held one orb in Kotmogu for the entirety of the battle. The alliance finished with only 70 points. I'm still not really a fan of pvp (even if my main and several alts live on a pvp server) but I sure like it a lot more when I'm Horde.

ROYGBiV Transmog: Violet

     I debated for a while what I'd do for this one but in the end I've gone with a mog I've been poking at for Laen for a while now. He likes his plate dresses and there's a certain rather overused one I wanted to take a crack at personalizing. So here's a very very purple paladin transmog.

Head: Overlord's Crown
Shoulders: Replica Soulforge Spaulders
Chest: Replica Soulforge Breastplate
Shirt: Rich Purple Silk Shirt
Wrists: not shown
Hands: Life Bearer's Gauntlets
Waist: Revenant Girdle
Legs: Cassock of the Loyal
Feet: Fen Strider's Footguards
Back: Cloak of Subtle Light
Shield: Titansteel Shield Wall
Sword: Continuum Blade

Beta Invite!

     I am not sure that I am not the worst possible person to give a beta invite to. Yesterday when I got one I was thrilled and couldn't resist installing it right away but when it comes down to betas I am reluctant with this one, as I was with Mists, to actually step into the new continent.
     On the one hand I want to desperately, I want to go and see the new shiny zones and the critters and the quests so badly I can almost taste it. I want to help finding the bugs and things so that when it does go live it will be amazing.
     On the other hand I'll do all that content many times when it goes live and I am very reluctant to take that shiny newness away from myself before it actually launches. But I've played with it some, gone in and looked at the character creator for the models that have been updated, and made myself a few characters to try out.

     This is Kaarras. He's letting me see what the pared down retribution paladin plays like while also giving me a look at the new male draenei model in action. I like that he's less top heavy than they were before but still big, but looks wise there were a few things about the older model I liked better. As far as Retribution... I can already tell that I'm going to spend a lot of time looking for Inquisition at first. I keep trying to find it and hit it and then remember it's not there any more. I miss the Guardian too, but aside from that I don't think I'll be completely out of my depth when it's time to play Seish with his new abilities.

     Then because I also wanted a look at hunters I made Semariyan. And she needed a friend, so off to Northrend we went and surprisingly enough she flew right over to where Tyl had tamed Snowthorn and there was Loque'nahak, in the very same spot, waiting. Tamed, but it doesn't feel right for her to be running around with Tyl's kitty so she went off to find a friend of her own. Arcturis was waiting too.

     I've got mixed feelings about the new female Night Elves. Semariyan looks wonderful to me, fierce and tough, but then I designed her with the new models just as I wanted her. And even then looking over the faces they all look so very much alike to me. There was more variation in the old ones for sure and I can only hope that will still change. As for Beast Masters... they don't seem so bad to me as far as the abilities they've lost and the new glyph 'play dead' is wonderful! I already knew Tyl would be getting that as soon as he could, but now I'm doubly sure.
     And so far dipping my toes in that's all I've done: Taken Kaarras to the Timeless Isle to see how he stacks up against a much better geared ret paladin in live. (About like I'd expect, really, though without meters and with squished numbers I'm going purely on how it feels to kill things.) I'm still so tempted to look at the new things, just poke my head in the door. On the other hand once I see it I can't get the newness back. So just at the moment I'm seeing how many times I can crash the game by rearranging my action bars (twice so far).

13th 90!

     It's taken months longer than it should have, but switching from Feral to Balance for questing was definitely the right choice for Tiuli.

     She finally finished the last bit of questing to reach 90, collected her Timeless Isle gear from Quartermaster Zakuli and went of to try Ordos and the Celestials, where she mainly succeeded in reminding me that I haven't played Resto since a few feeble attempts in Cataclysm. Some time with the guides will be in order and so will more practice, but mostly I'm happy to have finally dragged one of the druids to 90. One more of my pre-Warlords goals checked off.
     Saelindir is next on the leveling list but he has a ways to go and I'm really not rushing it, just like I'm not rushing at Rim's cape. If I can finish the valor quest I think I might actually manage it. Ailuuya's seen a bit more play time since her boost, though mainly it's been squaring away her two sets of Timeless gear and mog hunting, there are definitely mogs planned even if she really seems to look pretty nice in anything she's worn so far. Even this combination of boosted and Timeless Isle gear:

     I'm very happy with my Alliance paladin. Don't think I could have picked a better thing to use my boost on. Those female draenei, they grow on you. 

Confidence and LFR

     My confidence is such a fragile, fickle sort of thing. It builds, like it is building now, with every LFR I tank. I can queue for some of them now without feeling almost sick with panic while I wait for the queue to pop. I feel almost relaxed, and that's nice. The ones I've tanked before aren't so scary now. I know the fights, I know my job and seeing them always helps so much more than reading any number of guides or watching hours of videos. I like feeling confident.
     But I also know that the first time I mess up and someone yells at me I'll feel like crawling into a hole and never trying again. Because my confidence is fickle. I wish it wasn't. I wish I was a little more like Rim. His confidence is like the rest of his personality, steady and unwavering. He knows what he's doing and he knows above all things what his job is. He is the paladin who faces the monsters head on and holds the line, keeping them away from people without heavy armor and giant shields and unwavering faith. And he loves that job.
     And so do I, while my confidence is good. I hope it can hold up, because it does feel good to be tanking again. Rim's collected all his sigils and is off for the Chimera of Fear later tonight. I'm very proud of myself for making it that far. I didn't think I would. I am not sure I'll make it any further. That valor grind gets more obnoxious every time, but we'll see. Rim wants to keep doing his job.

Minipost: Legendary Hunter Tyl

     I'm officially a Wingnut! Tyl got his last Runestone today and then the Thunder King's Heart and went off to try the challenges. I'd been curious about which challenge hunters did (turns out it's Yu'lon's.) and I'd expected it to be as hard as it had been for Seish. I was waiting for weeks of frustration, but as it turns out he and Snowthorn managed it quite handily on their second go. (Seems like I always need that one trial run.) Celestials were easy enough to manage on a Tuesday and that's the third guild I've nabbed the 'We are Legendary' achievement for.
     I'm so happy, though really it kind of seems to me like Snowthorn should get her own pair of shiny blue wings. After all, Tyl's a Beast Mastery hunter, so she more than pulls her own weight. In fact he'd be pretty much lost without her. And since now this is in very serious danger of turning into a post about 'why cant I transmog bits of armor onto my pets?'... I think I'll go see what Rim can do about his sigils.