Look critique, thoughts welcome

Where to begin? I've gone through several transmog "sets" by now. My first can be found at Blizzard's Transmogrification Gallery however when my actual gear changed from the use of a staff, to a dagger and off-hand, I felt it was time to shift to another look. The staff helped make that set for me, plus is was rather loud in general. I wanted to tone it down for a change.

Enter Voidheart. Generally I don't typically think of it as the quintessential warlock set, but it would serve its purpose. I had a cloak (Zaetar's Deathshroud) that cannot be acquired anymore, and I wanted to revolve my look around that (Crazy huh? Around a cloak of all things.)

The set pieces are the given. However everything else is where I think the set has the capability to shine. Given that I'm now limited to a dagger, I went with Potentate's Letter Opener, and the reasoning behind that (and bear with me here) is that the top portion of the dagger almost exactly matches portions of the Voidheart shoulders in shape.

Offhand was another challenge. I decided I wanted to do something a bit different again, but wanted the off-hand to "hold up" to the size of the weapon. Too often I think most off-hands make the character look lop-sided. In order to achieve this, and still closely match the purple theme, I decided to go with Journeyman's Stave. It's a low level green, I know. But I think it does the set justice. The cloak even has a bit of brown to tie in the handle portion of the off-hand.

The belt I opted for Belt of Dark Mending over the Malefic Girdle that Wowhead suggests. I'd rather see a break at the waist and know that is the belt, rather than it flowing right into the tier gear and I can't tell where the chest stops being the chest.

The boots I went for Boots of the Pious as I think they're a bit lighter than the boots you most often see paired with the Voidheart set.

Here is the Wowhead item comparison of the set. And below are generated pictures of the set. I will try to post ingame pictures later. All in all I'm looking for any thoughts in general. Perhaps another direction with the weapon and off-hand that would work better? Let me know. I'm open for anything.





(Pardon the sloppy images. Let my time get away from me and had to rush.)

The dagger doesn't really match anything in color. The shape mirrors the bits above the shoulders quite well but only that isn't enough.

I'm lukewarm about the offhand as well , the brown does mirror hues in the cloak but it looks a bit disconnected from the front not only due to the brown but the roundness and simplistic shape compared to all other elements.

I think either the dagger or offhand could work in principle - the shape helps out the dagger and the color helps out the offhand but they should be matched better to each other especially as they both go away from the rest of the set stylistically in their own way. Get a more "broken"/jagged shaped greyish offhand or a (smoother) dagger with purple in it and it looks a lot more intentional.

Heck, my main hand weapon and offhand only pick up the hue used in a couple of details in my set but as they go so well together I get compliments on the look.

I agree - the dagger may be the right shape, but it's colour that people notice first and stands out the most.
I recommend:

Twisted Reflection (dagger) - has inherent glow so your enchant won't show, with Battle Tome (off-hand).
OR Curved Dagger with Thistlefur Branch off-hand, if you want to keep the similar look between both hands.

I contemplated Twisted Reflection for awhile, but the WotLK model I'm just not a huge fan of. Battle Tome I do like though. I've tossed around the idea of Blade of the Unrequited with Battle Tome, but I'm just unsure about the glowing white orb on the back.

Another weapon I like that matches the helm more than armor colors is Runesong Dagger. But getting an offhand to go with it is just ridiculous. The ones that do match are the round orbs that inevitably have some sort of sparkle or swirl about them.

I love that you're trying to generate this set by leaping from the cloak first. That's incredibly unique, I'm not sure I've even heard of anyone attempting to do that before. But so many of us have had something in our inventory that has either been very unique or special to us that we've wanted to construct a look around. Love this. Love it.

As for the armor and weapon selection, regardless of how well they match I think what's happening here is they're masking the glory of the cloak. I need to think on this one a bit. How do you take a look and really make the cloak a centerpiece for discussion? It might require a less recognizable set of armor and some very selective choices in weapons. Being pigeonholed into a dagger and off-hand is a challenge as well.

Great post, I'm going to think on this one a bit.

-Keel

Keelhaul wrote:As for the armor and weapon selection, regardless of how well they match I think what's happening here is they're masking the glory of the cloak. I need to think on this one a bit. How do you take a look and really make the cloak a centerpiece for discussion?

Very true. If you want the cloak to be your main feature, you may want to go with a much plainer look overall so the cloak really stands out. Cloaks tend to get lost in ornate armour looks. With that particular cloak also, there are so many colours in it that finding the perfect ornate look will be rather tricky.

Keelhaul wrote:I love that you're trying to generate this set by leaping from the cloak first. That's incredibly unique, I'm not sure I've even heard of anyone attempting to do that before. But so many of us have had something in our inventory that has either been very unique or special to us that we've wanted to construct a look around. Love this. Love it.

As for the armor and weapon selection, regardless of how well they match I think what's happening here is they're masking the glory of the cloak. I need to think on this one a bit. How do you take a look and really make the cloak a centerpiece for discussion? It might require a less recognizable set of armor and some very selective choices in weapons. Being pigeonholed into a dagger and off-hand is a challenge as well.

Great post, I'm going to think on this one a bit.

-Keel

So I've taken to heart redesigning the set. And honestly using Voidheart at the time was a "what do I have on hand that I can work with?" I've spent a little time here and there trying to make something work, and I've come up with a couple designs. I'm on the fence about them, but I figure I'd throw them out there for now. The weapons I'm not even venturing to bother with at the moment, given that once Hagara plays nice and drops the heroic staff, the weapons will change. So, getting down to it.

The first set is a mix of:
Bloodsoul Raiment (Heroic)
Zaetar's Deathshroud
Barbaric Cloth Boots
Gloves of Broken Fingers (Heroic)
Dark Coven Hood
Shoulders of Ruinous Senility (Heroic)
Cord of the Patronizing Practitioner (Heroic)





The second set is a mix of:
Robes of Smoldering Devastation (Heroic)
Zaetar's Deathshroud
Barbaric Cloth Boots
Barbaric Cloth Gloves
Flickering Cowl (Heroic)
Duskhallow Mantle
Vicious Gladiator's Cord of Accuracy (Season 10) [This might be an issue, realizing now its not actually in the game]




And here is the Wowhead comparison to both sets.

Edit: Forgot to mention, in the top set I was trying to match the brown in the cloak, and in the second set I was trying to match more of the tan/purple/black colors. I tried doing less elaborate armor, but it was hard to find colors that worked.

I do like the first one, it works surprisingly well together! The second doesn't look as striking.

ichi wrote:I do like the first one, it works surprisingly well together! The second doesn't look as striking.

The second set, I was trying to lower the shoulder silhouette. Orcs just wind up with massive shoulder models. It looked a bit better in the model viewer when it was animated, but stepping away from it for awhile and coming back to it, I'm not totally sure.

The first. Love how the set prompts you to take a second look at it after you turn and see the cape!

Oh I was afraid that the first set would win out. Those pieces are going to be an adventure to try and get. I want something that is (in the end) WoW Factor worthy.

Haha, yeah that first one the way the cape blends with the aesthetic of the rest of the set, mmmmmm! Love it.

Now to begin working on weapons. Let those opinions fly my way! I'd like to entertain both Dagger/Off-hand and Staves (just incase.)

Something I've been mulling over is whether or not to go for a weapon that overrides the applied enchant with its own...

Doing some tinkering, again...

Flesh-Carving Scalpel & Cataclysmic Gladiator's Reprieve


This combo may or may not work, depending on how you look at it. There are some blues in the cloak, as well as the head piece. Tie in opportunity for the weapons?


Scalpel of Unrelenting Agony & (The ever elusive) Dragonfire Orb


Others I am looking at are Blade of the Unmaker or Uhn'agh Fash, the Darkest Betrayal

I do like the slight blue touches with flesh makers scalpel and gladiators reprieve. As you mentioned the cloak does have some slight blue in it, and you already have a lot of purple in the outfit so I think the tinges of blue on the weapons really helps to bring the look alive. In the second screen shots the purple is a bit overpowering in my opinion.

Ok, catching up ...

The first set looks great, but I think the second set could look great too with a different shoulder piece. That one matches in no way whatsoever and really breaks the outfit. (Vicious Fireweave Shoulders looks perfect)

As for weapon choices with the first outfit, I like the Flesh-Carving Scalpel & Cataclysmic Gladiator's Reprieve pair. The bit of blue helps tie it in and not overwhelm - there's blue in the face.

Damnit. Now I see why you wanted to run ICC Heroics...Grrrrrr

Pote wrote:Damnit. Now I see why you wanted to run ICC Heroics...Grrrrrr

And you see exactly why its a good idea too! Clearly.

Glyph of Felguard: Your Felguard will equip a random two-handed axe, sword or polearm from your backpack.

Also now I have to start thinking about cool weapons for my pet.

Either dagger plus the Dragonfire Orb = WoW Factor.

Bravo, this one turned out brilliantly - loved seeing the progression!