Now with pants! (sort of)

Finally found a transmog I like. I love the shoulders of this tier, but - as I've made clear - I hate kilts. Dresses. Skirts. So I mixed n' match to make it work for me.

Head, Wrist, Hands, and Shoulders: Tier 13
Chest, Waist, Boots: Hunters' look-alike from BC dungeons
Pants: Mail Combat Leggings (green drop in Scarlet Monastery)

Dragonsoul Gear

Head (Tier) or Head (Good Stats)

Neck

Back (but is the +10 agility really worth the loss of master if you have Heroic Dreadfire Drape?)

Shoulders

Chest

Wrist or Wrist

Hands

Waist

Legs

Feet

Ring 1

Ring 2

Axe

Trinket 1

Trinket 2

Tier 13 Set Bonus

Tier 13 set bonuses were announced yesterday. I admit I'm optimistic but slightly puzzled by ours. 2-piece looks good at first glance. Lightning bolt is one of our staple attacks, so increasing it's damage is nice. However, is the 20% increase uniform if it's 2 stacks of maelstrom or 5 stacks? Or do the number of stacks matter? The blue post reads like maelstrom stack numbers don't matter, in which case will we be changing when we shoot off lightning bolt?

Right now we shoot lightning bolt at maelstrom weapon x 5, it's the most damage efficent. However, with the 20% increase it might be more efficent to have a slight cast time and shoot at 3 or 4 stacks of maelstrom. Probably not, but the possibility exists.

4-piece seems kind of lame aesthetically but good damage-wise. We can only have our wolves up every two minutes, but they're out for 30 seconds at a time. More maelstrom stacks means more lightning bolts, and they'll be super-charged because of 2-piece.

I'm not really a get out the sim and go crunch numbers type of gal. If I get super bored at work, maybe. Until then I'll leave it to others to calculate exactly what effect these bonuses will have on our DPS. These are just my non-math-backed thoughts.

I don't know why but I have this expectation that 4-piece sets should have some sort of cool aesthetic bonus. Like my wolves come out on fire or something. Fwoosh.

Tier 13

My guide to Ragnaros is written and waiting to be posted, but my tablet is packed away, so I don't have any pictures for it yet. And I simply cannot post without pictures. Everything should be unpacked by Sunday. Hopefully.

But! I am alive. To prove it to you I've quickly compiled my thoughts on the newest shaman tier. Completely useless, but there you have it.

Tier 13 for shamans was revealed today. I like it - I think. The shoulders kind of remind me of Tier 2, if Tier 2 died. It's a good dead though, looks nice. Loving the fangs that hang down off of them.

 

It's also a kilt. Again. I suppose that's just one of the things I must accept as enhance shammy. Though if I squint hard enough they kind of look like samurai style pants under kilt-like armor. Squiiiiiiiint.

Oh well. We will fight in dresses and we will be awesome about it.  I'm on the fence with the helmet. I think the front part, with the fangs over face, is sweet - if even a little understated. MOAR FANGS *cough* ... but the top with the bones sticking out seems a little too cartoonish. Like Pebble Flinstone meets Shaman.

And is it just me or is the decoration at the bottom very horde symbol-ish? I guess it can also be seen as a shaman symbol, but with it extending towards the bottom it definitely looks more like the horde symbol. Not that that's a bad thing. My draenei can be horde at heart.

I'm looking forward to Tier 13, overall. It feels more bad ass than Tier 11 and Tier 12 (if only slightly). I was going to jump on the Transmorgify train, but I got too OCD about trying to create the MOST UNIQUE AND PERFECTLY MATCHING OUTFIT EVER!!!!111!! Thus, for mental health reasons, I'm going to stick with tier gear for now.

A Plea (for Pants)

I hate robes.

I mean really, really hate them. My favorite tier set for Shamans is tier 5. Why? It has pants. Glorious, glorious pants. I didn't even play WoW until Wrath and I still like tier 5 the best. My entire playable shaman existence has revolved around robes. Bah.

Shaman Tiers 1 - 12 (Note the distinct lack of PANTS)

I realize this is a contentious issue. My elemental and restoration brethren might feel that pants are beneath them.  They are world-class casters and healers, they deserve to wear the robes of their station. I get that.

I, however, am down in the trenches. With the paladins, rouges and the warriors and the bears and the kitties (who might be wearing robes, but you'd never know).We're moving about, running around, whacking big things with our bodies or sharp things attached to our bodies. How - I ask you - how can I effectively maneuver around Shannox's traps or dexterity shamble over Beth'tilac's web, if I am wearing a DRESS?!

Is that why my expertise rating has to be so high? It's not to learn how to hold an axe, it's to learn how to move around without tripping on the hem of my skirt.

I'd say ret paladins understand me, but it would be a lie. You guys got pants all the way until Tier 10. Tier 12 also gives you a robe, but that's 2 out of 12. My sympathy is slight.

Is it a coincidence that the best-in-slot legs for enhance shamans in 4.1 were pants? I think not! I once volunteered to sit out on a heroic Mamgaw run. "Sure, let some others in so they can get experience, we've got him on farm status," I said. Biggest. Mistake. Ever. The pants dropped. My beautiful beautiful pants. I could see them but I could not equip them, as my guildies reminded me over and over gleefully linking them in chat. They have never dropped again since.

Please Blizz, alleviate my pain (caused somewhat by constantly tripping over my robes and flat onto my face) and give enhancement shamans pants. 

Looking more closely I realize Tiers 1, 6, 8, and 12 also have pants. The only problem? They're hidden by robes. So it's as if there are no pants.