Monk Mog

I have to admit, I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been in a bit of a WoW slump. Breige is LFRing in current tier, but the only really exciting thing, to me, is getting to see the raids. I certainly don’t get a lot of time to poke about, but I’ve been having a whole lot of fun.

But, there’s a little side project I’ve been working on since I finished getting Muirri to level 85 for the Class Act achievement. Muirri is being promoted to bank toon from little-used alt. While I was in BC, I found a chestpiece I really liked, and so decided to make a mog around it.

I did have a few restrictions on this mog, though. The first was that I wanted Muirri to still have the feel of both a monk and  a dwarf.

Her back-story is that she is one of the few surviving Doyles because she’d already been sent to Ironforge to learn the ways of a Shaman when the Cataclysm hit.  With the Earthen Ring all sent off to rebuild the World Pillar, she stayed quietly in Ironforge, waiting for word from her family about whether they needed her at home. She made friends with Gryth Thurden, and helped with the Gryphons, watching as bedraggled heroes passed through on their way to Stormwind. It wasn’t a life she thought she wanted. Her idea of excitement was running errands for Innkeeper Firebrew, getting exotic items for his guests in trade for a room.

Then, a few years later, a bear of a man (or perhaps a man of a bear) showed up on the heels of news that there was another continent no-one knew about.  He took a room in the inn, and on his first night there, Muirri was sent off to find some of the more unusual ales in Dun Morogh and Loch Modan. The next evening the Pandaren, who called himself Liu, insisted that Muirri join him in sampling the brews she’d collected for him.

He was impressed with her ability to hold her ale, having not yet met any of the Wildhammers, he didn’t know that she was only an average drinker among her peers. They sat up long into the night, sharing the stories of their cultures, and what the two non-brewers knew about making ales.

When a fight broke out between some Dark Iron dwarves and Bronzebeards, the two were drawn in by collateral damage (Liu’s tankard got tipped over). When all was said and done, Muirri and Liu were the only two left standing.

Liu bowed to her, and asked where she’d learned to fight. She said she’d just picked it up. In wartime, everyone walks around armed, and the politics in Ironforge were not easily navigated all the time. In turn, she complimented his poise and control, and asked what it was that he’d been taught.

He briefly explained the slavery of the Pandaren, and how they’d trained for their escape. Then, he asked her if she’d like to learn the ways of his people. Surprised by the heartfelt offer, she agreed.

Her training seemed swift. Liu taught her very early to meditate, and join the monks in Kunlai Summit. Early in her training, he sent her on simple errands to help her people, then further and further out, encouraging her to help both the dwarves and the Alliance. During this time, she met a hunter who was also a Wildhammer. They became friends, and Breige asked her to join a guild with members from all across the Alliance.

Finally, Muirri decided she’d learned enough to go home. She wanted to know why she’d never heard from her family.  When she learned that her home was no more, her clan all but wiped out, she went to Liu and apologized to him. She could not go on with her training. If she and the others had never left, perhaps they would have been able to help.

Liu tried to dissuade her, but she would have nothing of it. She was done. She would use what she had learned to protect herself and the Wildhammers, but she would not go to Pandaria.

Her guild leader offered her the position of keeping the guild’s accounts in order while the rest of them were out fighting, and she accepted it without hesitation. In honor of the guild’s heritage of Alliance Paladins, Muirri went through her belongings, and visited the Warpweaver. This is how she would go about her official guild business:

Muirri is wearing: Spaulders of the Ring, Lo’ap’s Tunic of Muck Diving, Bloodcult Handwraps, Vermillion Belt, Spear-Impaled Leggings, Mud Encrusted Boots, and carrying the Decalcyfied Elven Spear.

A Shaman with an Idol

I’ve taken it upon myself to create spiffy outfits for all of the dwarves in the dwarven dungeon crawl, partially inspired by Cymre’s lovely outfits for Sruith.    The first for me to tackle is Kaide.    Here are the things I learned about Kaide, in order to design the perfect mog outfit:

Kaide today.

Kaide is a shaman who idolizes Stormcaller Mylra, but really, who wouldn’t want to grow up to be that spunky, daring, and able to take care of ogres?   Kaide is also a bit on the punk side. Now, when I think of “punk”, I think of lots of metal bits, not quite everything matching perfectly, and a little bit edgy. Kaide’s current boots and shoulders were the inspiration for that idea, but since the boots are leather, and I need them to be mail, I decided to take that punk theme and run with it.

Kaide doesn’t prefer helms or capes, so while I selected a helm for her, it’s more of a headband, which I think fits into her ideology nicely. I toned down the weapon and offhand because another thing I think of with the punk movement is not being wasteful; so the simpler, more functional style suited that ideal to me. I’ve chosen a shield and an offhand for this outfit, so that a Mog can be made regardless of the selected item.   Gurdrid is providing me with my model, though as you can see from the look on her face, she knows she’s doing a favor for a guild mate.

The Set

Kaide’s New Duds

Chest: Warmonger’s Chestpiece

Legs: Heavy Scorpid Leggings

Feet: Tough Scorpid Boots

Hands: Tough Scorpid Gloves

Waist: Veteran’s Mail Girdle

Shoulders: Ravager’s Mantle

Wrist: Bindings of Lightning Reflexes

Head: Radiant Circlet

Main Hand: Timeworn Mace

Offhand: Redbeard Crest or Venomous Tome

Timeworn Mace – Redbeard Crest – Venomous Tome

I purposely used the leggings that were a different color than the gloves and boots, while tying everything together with the look of the metal bits. I love the rivets on the shield, and the way the straps on the chest piece make the shoulders look more connected.  I also wanted the belt to look like a belt, not an extension of either the pants or the shirt, which I think came across well.

Kaide’s Impression

Kaide thinks the shield is awfully big, and she had a little buckler a while back that had nifty gears on it. Also, even though the shirt and shoulders go together well, that’s a lot of red all in one place and nowhere else. Maybe adjusting the pants would do it? She does adore the fingerless gloves and that she can get a more durable pair of her comfy boots, even if they are a slightly different shade. She’ll think about the circlet, too.

More Work

We tried to find shoulders that would tie everything together, but to no avail. Instead, we enlisted the help of the Amateur Azerothian, and he suggested we take a look at Liouxpold‘s mog page.  I wasn’t quite happy with the Brutal Gladiator’s Chain Leggings on a dwarf; but a few other suggestions were thrown around and we settled on Leggings of the Bloodless Knight.

Of course, this made the brighter red in the shoulders even more obvious; so we went to work on those, and Kaide actually suggested the Talhide Shoulderguards as a replacement; tying in the darker brownish tones of the gloves and boots.

Finally, we went to work on the shield. Kaide’s not an engineer, so there were a few options that just wouldn’t work for us – but JD came to our rescue once more with the suggestion of the Drillborer Disk. Kaide knew it was what she wanted the moment she saw it! But then, that made the mace look tiny and rather plain. No good there! More hunting and more help from JD, with a few false starts, gave us just what Kaide was after: the Bloodcrush Cudgel.  Sadly, we’re not sure Kaide is going to make it into 10-man Ulduar any time soon, so she wanted something stylish to hold her over for a bit.

The trouble with one-handed maces is that there aren’t many that have the metal tone of the spikes on Drillborer, so we had to make do with something a little bit shinier in the Hammer of the Penitent.   So here’s Kaide’s final outfit, with a little help from her friends:

The Final Mog Set, Drillborer
Bloodcrush, Hammer of the Penitent

Chest: Warmonger’s Chestpiece

Legs: Leggings of the Bloodless Knight

Feet: Tough Scorpid Boots

Hands: Tough Scorpid Gloves

Waist: Veteran’s Mail Girdle

Shoulders: Talhide Shoulderguards

Wrist: Bindings of Lightning Reflexes

Head: Radiant Circlet

Main Hand: Bloodcrush Cudgel (Alternate Hammer of the Penitent)

Offhand: Drillborer Disk

The start of a new chain challenge – Mog Busting

Here’s the challenge, it’s a pretty simple one:  Tag another blogger to create a mog outfit for one of your toons.  But that’s not all. To get a really good mog outfit, they’re going to need a little bit of background. So here’s what info you should provide:

Character name, race and gendger (and server, so they can go look at things like hair color and facial features!)

Character class (and spec, if you feel it’s important)

If desired, an item you’d like them to use in the outfit

A sentence or two about your character’s personality, or what you’re looking for in the outfit.

And here we go!

I’m going to tag Cymre of Bubbles of Mischief, with a request for help for Sruith!

Name: Sruith, a female dwarf (US-Ysera)

Class: Shadow Priest

Item: Whitemane’s Chapeau

Notes: Sruith wants to have a great silhouette in shadow form, so she’s particularly fond of gloves with a little flair; but she also wants to look good when she’s pinch healing!  (Also, she will do plenty of dungeons, but no raiding, so while you don’t need to limit her to gear she can wear today, it would be nice to not have gear that is only available to raiders.)

The Thread of Mog Busting Challenges:

Cymre created two looks for Sruith, and tagged Kamalia.

Kamalia created two looks with a few options for Tallys, and tagged Effraeti.

Effraeti has come up with a lovely ensemble for Tallys, with a few options for accessories, and tagged Erinys.

Erynis has provided not one but three looks for Effraeti; and tagged Chatmay.

Chatmay has weighed in with a lovely purple number for Twiceshy; and tagged Dizzy.

Since it’s been a while, and Dizzy hasn’t answered Chatmay’s challenge, Navimie has provided some frighteningly beautiful duds for the warlock Debutante; and tagged JD Kenada.

JD provided the perfect “warrior” tanking look for Navimie; and tagged Rhuanious.

Rhuanious has done three completely different frost mage sets for Elcombe, and has tagged me.