Transmogrify Your Armor in WoW

[Greg Tito]

Transmogrify Your Armor in WoW

New feature for 4.3 will let you change appearance while keeping the same stats ... for some gold.

When a new expansion for World of Warcraft comes out, many of the veterans get a little chagrined that the fancy-looking armor they've been raiding three nights a week to get a matching set of is now going to be replaced. Players might be attached to a specific look from when they started playing back in 2005 but it would be silly to wear armor tuned for level 60. Blizzard is changing all that by implementing the Transmogrify feature in the next patch. All you have to do is pay an Ethereal some gold and he will transmogrify your armor to look like another piece in your inventory.

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"You can raid in your paladin tier 12 Immolation set, but look like you're wearing Lightbringer, while priests can bring Benediction back - at least in spirit. Hunters can once again roam the jungles of Stranglethorn Vale in their tier 2 Dragonstalker set," writes Community Manager Bashiok on the WoW blog. "You could even slip into the saucy tailored Black Mageweave set for that matter."

The price of switching appearance doesn't look cheap. The screenshots show an orc transmogrifying a piece of armor for almost 120 gold. Granted, that's piddling change to people who raid constantly but decking out your whole outfit will set you back a not insubstantial amount of gold.

It looks like this feature is what Blizzard was teasing with the photo placed on WoW's Facebook page last week. One result of Transmogrification is that not every class will look the same. In the late stages of an expansion's cycle, walking around the bank of Stormwind or Orgrimmar will hopefully not confront you with a chorus line of Paladins and Druids all wearing the exact same armor.

There are some restrictions. You can only transmogrify armor to look like stuff you can wear and it can't change plate armor to look like cloth robes. By doing so, Blizzard is trying to keep PvP clear of deception - thinking you are up against a Mage in a robe is a lot different if he's actually a Death Knight in disguise. But you will be able to switch out guns and bows, just in case you wanted to get your Dwarf Hunter's gun bonus without firing a god-damned hand cannon every two seconds.

Blizzard also expects Transmogrification will increase demand for bag space in banks and on your person because it will be necessary to keep all of the old items if you want your new stuff to be transmogrified to look like it. Bashiok promised this would be alleviate with another new feature - Void Storage - but we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out more about that.

Patch 4.3 isn't coming any time soon, but I expect to learn more at BlizzCon in October.

Source: WoW Blog [http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/3309048#blog]

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[FlameAx]

I think its also worth mentioning that 4.3 is the last patch of this expansions , as in the deathwing fight

 

[SomeBritishDude]

Should have been in the game years ago. Something I always hated when I played WoW; some of the best armour looked shit.

 

[XT inc]

Man, even before I quit wow I was saying they should let you customize the look of your gear so you could get it just right instead of just making you go with the new stuff, like making dks look like fish men.

But does this mean you can be in the best gear and look like a poor bummy begger, I hope so! for the lols at least.

 

[teebeeohh]

this is almost a reason to start the game and level a paladin just to run around in T2 again.

 

[MysticToast]

This is a great feature. LOTRO has it and it's one of the reasons I really liked that game

 

[toomuchnothing]

I wouldn't see myself using this all too much if I still played. By the looks of it you change a piece of armor to look like another vice the much better (imho) system of changing the armor slot to look like a piece of armor. So in its current form it'd be either pretty annoying constantly swapping the look of armor for what you want while leveling and that you'd have to change every upgrade you get to keep everything matching.

I don't understand how something like this has taken this long to make it into the game can be so much less than what other MMOs have been doing for some time. I liked RIfts appearance tabs and vanity customization a lot more than I think I ever would this.

Bashiok promised this would be alleviate with another new feature - Void Storage - but we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out more about that.

As for void storage other sites are already reporting from interviews that its gear storage for something like 100-150 slots of just armor. Removes gems and enchants but lets you essentially have a pool of gear to choose from for looks.

edit: although it would be cool to either have my worgen warrior running around in tier 6 again or permanently have my DK in his red tier 10.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Man I can remember people pissing and moaning for this feature going all the way back to vanilla WoW. Almost makes me want to go back so I can play my Shaman in the tier 5 armor and not in the god damned skirt they keep putting on their tier gear. (it works well for an ele or resto shaman but I fail to see the level badass it lends to an enhancement shaman)

 

[kouriichi]

You know, this is probably the the best thing to happen to WoW.
Now.... if i can just be allowed to be a Tauren Rouge, i'll be a happy camper.

 

[manythings]

If it's purely cosmetic why charge for it?

 

[Waaghpowa]

......

......./nerdgasm

My warrior is getting a tier 6 armour reskin.

 

[tehweave]

Should have been in the game years ago. Something I always hated when I played WoW; some of the best armour looked shit.

Beat me to it. I had the full T4 armor set from Burning Crusade and LOVED the way it looked. Come WOTLK, everything looked like crap. This is an amazing idea, Blizzard.

SO WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THIS TWO EXPANSIONS AGO? Everquest has had this for the longest time. My roommate in college used to play EQ2 and had two armor sets he switched between, visible armor and his armor stat.

Dammit, I may have to come back to WOW again.

 

[Sansha]

This is a good idea, although it seems to be copying Guild Wars 2's feature which is basically this, but Blizzard has always been quick to vacuum up ideas from other games.

The problem I have with it is personal, however, because I want to switch out my PvP gear to look like the Vengeful set - which is no longer attainable.

But I'm excited to switch out my PvE gear to T9, that being my favorite-looking set. It's so deliciously Hordey.

 

[Quaero]

If it's purely cosmetic why charge for it?

To add a new gold sink into the game.

Seriously, the inflation of WoW's economy is getting ridiculous.

 

[Petromir]

This is a great feature. LOTRO has it and it's one of the reasons I really liked that game

THe systems are very different, Lotro mearly allows you to have a cosmetic set of clothing, not weapons, and modifies no items really. This physically applies the atributes of one to another, and does include weapons, but limits it to equippible items, something that LOTRO does not really do that much with its cosmetics. LOTROs cosmetic system is disabled in PvP, but in PvE heavy armour classes can wear pretty much any outfit they damn well like, lights and mediums are on occasion restricted from cosmetic versions of some heavy pieces.

 

[Corven]

now all they have to do is add dyes so people don't look like they just jumped out of the 80's...or a bad jrpg.

 

[Yureina]

Fucking awesome.

Too bad I don't play WoW anymore. I'd deck out my Priest in full T6 and my warrior in full T3. ^_^

 

[synobal]

Heh Rift already has a feature, except it's wardrobe sets so you can change between like 5 different appearances with a click of a button and no need to change armor. You get 1 wardrobe set free, have to pay for the other 4. You can change the appearance of any of the wardrobe sets at any time. It's really quite neat.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

This is exactly what they are doing in GW2 and similar to stuff in other games good to see WoW catching up in this respect.