The proof of a very productive winter break.

Just in time for back-to-school, I got my fucking legendary yeaaaahhhhh!!!

I know I'm months behind, but by the time it was my turn for final stage quest items, it was already patch 4.3, and my guild needed to move onto wiping in a new instance. For the past month, I had to organize 10-man normals on the weekends and carry people's alts to victory while collecting smouldering essences at an agonizingly slow pace. But after calling in a bunch of favors and perhaps doing some things that I'm not too proud of, I finally own one of the ugliest staves in the game, and I can't even transmog it. T_T Oh my first world problems.

However, I did manage to build a pretty sweet outfit around it. Though it's a rather stark contrast to my priest look-alike set, it is now blatantly obvious what class I am when I step into an arena for nerd points. I'm hoping that in my quest to break 12k achievement points, it won't matter too much that I only have 2k resilience and use a PVE rotation as I work through the only achieves that I have left and have been ignoring as Eredar-US's carebear #1 since 2005.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the "if you give me what I want, I'll stop killing you" argument will be less effective when I'm talking to another player. On the other hand, it never really worked on any mob either. Oh well.

-Avia.

TRANSMOG SHOWCASE!

How does this match?

Patch 4.3 is finally live, and many players (including myself T_T) are finding out that what they had thought were amazing outfits for mogging are actually hideous to others. On Tuesday's raid, I got to see what my teammates considered high Azerothian fashion, and it led me to believe that much more than 8% of the human population is colorblind. Of course, fashion is subjective, and one can say that currently the whole WoW community is pushing the boundaries of avant-garde wearable art. Then again, some individuals are just in dire need of some womanly/metro assistance, like the "female" human mage who was trying desperately to wear Robes of the Guardian Saint in his main set but ended up the eyesore of Dragon Soul (see right). A member of Team Tits later helped him match his outfit appropriately, and now he looks pretty cute... or as cute as one can look in teal.

Unfortunately, I was not immune to the derision of such critics or, as I like to call them, "haters." A common comment that many moggers hear is that we look like low-level n00bs, but personally, I think my pally looks pretty "classic" in her recolored Valor. Besides, I would imagine this has high utility in a battleground since the enemy is unaware that the player coming at him/her in full Tier 1 is actually hiding full Vicious gear. That is... until s/he gets mysteriously roflpwn'd with what looks like an Arcanite Reaper.

For my druid's outfits, which I spent the last four months farming BC raids and 2-manning Ulduar to assemble, I received mixed reviews. My friend saw my "family-friendly" set and called me "Sailor Moon," which I took as a compliment. But then I showed him my "free-spirited/liberation of the female form" set, and he said I looked like a night elf hussy! I had to run BT every single week since news of transmog came out for that damn blindfold to even drop once, goddamnit!

So far, the only outfit that has gotten popular approval is my lock's "yup. that's a lock." set, complete with an actual Headmaster's Charge, the original "warlock" weapon! As my main, she has multiple outfits, which I'm a little hesitant to show off now that people have universally complimented the first one. I mean... my fragile ego might not be able to take a 25-man raid team making fun of the way I dress. I already get enough of that in real life...

For the record, I think I dress fine. >: (

-Avia.

NPCs have feelings too.

Lowbie gear farming in Scholo:

me: Wow! My gloves dropped! First try!
lock buddy: Lucky you. It's because Ras knew not to mess with you.
me: It's probably because of transmogrifying. These bosses are being overrun by high-levels, and they're getting their asses kicked all day.
locky lock: Yea, they're just giving up by now. They just want to be left alone.
me: Haha. "Take my loot! Just take it! Don't come back!"

I guess I'll leave BC bosses alone too. Because... you know... I GOT MY SWORD!!!

-Avia.

All I have is PvP achieves left now. :(

Dancing all day every day.

Some achievements are tough, and some of them take a long ass time, but last week I finally got an achievement that was practically a year in the making.

Gurubashi Arena Grand Master.

Yea, I know. It takes no skill and two days to accomplish. In theory. But if you're the kind of person who gets easily distracted jumping around Stormwind and then looks at the clock to realize that you missed the chest by thirty minutes AGAIN, two days potentially turns into months of cursing at yourself every three hours.

Eventually, I had to start recruiting people, not only to come with me to do the PvP nonsense, but also just to remind me that it was almost time to head to STV, to which I always responded, "OH YEA!!!" Because god forbid I ever remember on my own.

Aside from being an unforgivably (lol) inconvenient achievement, it got worse the closer I came to being done, because by the end, I had 11 of those non-stacking quest items taking up precious space in my bank. This is during all the hype about transmogrification when I'm scrambling to find empty bank slots for lowbie belts in five colors and trying to keep my inventory clear so I can do more BRD coffer runs without stopping at the vendor. I didn't get in-game rich by leaving trash items to rot!

But it's finally done. I swooped down on the Gurubashi Arena for the last time with a whole posse to protect me as I looted my final chest. Wearing my PvP gear from last season with a whole 2k resilience, I started the channel that would open the chest and lead me to 10 glorious achievement points...

And then I got backstabbed by a level 84 rogue.

We owned him.

-Avia.

Patch 4.3 is going to be so fab.

Outfits aren't just for ERP anymore.

Deathwing is coming, but nobody cares because everyone is busy pulling out the RP clothes they denied having all this time. The news of transmogrification has turned everyone in WoW metro, and it is highly amusing, at least for me. The typical vent chatter for my guild has veered away from vulgar yet clever threats on the integrity of people's sphincters to what instances someone has to run to get a matching belt and hat for his maroon robe. If only this was permanent. My GM is way too fond of assholes and vomit.

As for me, I of course already owned several sets of town clothes before the news hit though I do have to go back to BWL for all the Nemesis I vendored in Wrath. Also, since the items need to have some kind of stat to work, I'm on the lookout for a replacement for my Knitted Sandals that don't look like a fashion faux pas.

With my infinitely wise delegation of my free time, I composed a little wishlist of loot with the instances I need. Together with my guildies, I've run every BC raid for the week with moderate success. I'm growing slightly obsessed with the sword that drops off of M'uru because it'd be the perfect weapon for my priestly/Light-wielding, worgen persecutor set, and I want it sooo badly. My friend asked why I don't just buy the Season 4 rogue weapon with the same model for 200 honor, but the colors are all wrong. The COLORS!

I've never felt so in tune with well-groomed twenty-something heterosexual men before.

-Avia.