Too cool to be forgotten
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Jan 29th 2007 at 4:27PM
My friend is a fairly ordinary resto shaman -- a little bit of Earthfury, a little bit of instance blues, a whole lot of enthusiasm for dropping totems and healing people. He did a bit of raiding last winter, but took a six-month break from WoW until the Burning Crusade lured him back in.
He jumped through the Dark Portal with all the enthusiasm of a reunited lover, ready to take on Outland and replace his gear. But he quickly noticed that people were pointing and laughing at him. Why? Are tauren shamans that unusual? No -- there was something wrong with his gear. But what was wrong? A couple of whispers later and he had his answer -- his Skullflame Shield.
The whisperers told him that the Skullflame Shield is not the best shield for a shaman. Actually, the Skullflame Shield really isn't the best shield for anyone (aside from someone tanking Nef, on which it actually worked pretty well for us.) The only stats are 10 fire resistance and 10 shadow resistance, along with a 3 percent proc to steal life and a 1 percent Thunderfury-like proc. Just what a healer needs -- more aggro.
My friend is smart enough to realize this, but he still refuses to replace his shield. "There is nothing in the game that looks as cool as this," he told me, "And I know it sucks but it's really awesome, and I'm not giving it up."
I know the feeling. I felt a little sad when I replaced my Bloodfang Spaulders -- yeah, they're pretty terrible, but they made me look all red and glowy. A warlock pal of mine who recently hit 70 said he'll be sorry to see his Plagueheart Helm go. He loves how it looks, plus he's the only person on our server who has it.
Do you have any pieces of gear you'll be sorry to replace? Something that looks undeniably cool or has good memories attached to it?
Filed under: Items, The Burning Crusade
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Seper Jan 29th 2007 4:37PM
soooo bank it?
I recently got a voodoo mask (which might not be extremely rare) but it looks cool! so i banked it and plan on putting it on when ive got downtime.
On my server I found a wizards hat also. It was my first head piece lol. I found it off a random drop that my friend looted. So i asked him for it. I was like lvl 26 at the time. I wore that hat til I was at least 35 before I got the wolf head thing.
I liked wearing my wizards hat because you never really saw druids wearing them on my server.
Matthew Park Jan 29th 2007 4:44PM
Hulking shield. When I was a lowly 20-something shaman, I loved this giant iron cross with spikes on it. I play with my gf, and every so often I'd exclaim "dammit, this shield looks so damn awesome!"
I was really sad when I had to let it go :-(
Choktzul Jan 29th 2007 4:35PM
My corpsemaker. I'll miss that when i toss it.
Theadrick Jan 29th 2007 4:45PM
Grand Marshal's Destroyer is what I will miss the most. It will forever stay in my bank!
Arras Jan 29th 2007 4:53PM
I'll miss my Judgement crown whenever I have to replace it - it makes my eyes look all glowy and spooky
A few other pallies in the guild are talking about getting a group of 70s together (when we all get there) and hitting BWL just to get our judgement set - it's really the best looking pally set out there
Sylythn Jan 30th 2007 11:04AM
I miss the Sageblade I never got - 2.5 months of hard work getting the mats...and BC comes out and ruins everything. To rub it in further, my guild got a second random drop from a lockbox of the recipe. I was going to have THE ultimate warlock sword...only it's not so ultimate anymore...sigh.
Night Rider Jan 29th 2007 5:16PM
I'm gonna miss my blood elf bandit mask, it's only 5 armor (dreanei) but it looks so awesome. I've already had about 15 people ask to buy it from me, and have gotten offers of up to 7g.
Tolento Jan 29th 2007 5:15PM
Once upon a time an alliance rogue named Tolento worked hard to become a Grand Marshal of Proudmoore realm (the old school way). He is level 67 now and while he has seen many weapons and pieces of armor that come close to replacing his rank 12-14 gear, he hasn't had to swap any of it out just yet.
When he does begin destroying the set (since honor rewards cannot be vendored) it will be with a twinge of genuine sadness...not because of all the wasted hours he spent killing horde after horde, but because he will no longer look cool in his matching set.
Occram Jan 29th 2007 5:39PM
It's not one piece in particular, but a whole set. I cringe when I see something approaching the quality of one of my pieces of Dragonstalker. The Dragonstalker set just looks so amazing altogether. I'm not going to DE it, It's just too awesome to be destroyed...
Lenny Jan 29th 2007 6:09PM
Since I’m not very raid inclined I was ecstatic the day I purchased an Elemental Attuned Blade (http://www.thottbot.com/?i=52169) off the Alliance for 1000g. I soon had it transferred to my Undead Mage where I had the materials ready to beg someone for a Spellpower enchant. This was long before the PVP revamp so I was sad when I picked up a HWL Spellblade since it just didn’t have the look to drive fear into my opponents. But I purchased it because the DPS was great. I still carry around my Elemental Attuned Blade when I want to do less damage and more mana regen, but I have found its true replacement…
The Continuum Blade! (http://www.thottbot.com/?i=54484)
If you get a chance to visit the Caverns of Time, talk to the vendor there who has it, Alurmi, and try it on.
loom001 Jan 29th 2007 5:55PM
My Bone Bow, man I hated giving that up, it looked really cool.
Slughorn Jan 29th 2007 10:46PM
For me...My Beaststalker Helm was a major trophy..It took me nearly 30 Scholo runs to get it. It made my Troll look like some kind of Beastlike Superhero ;) When i got my T2 Helm I lamented it's absence. However, i've sincve grown attached to my T2 Helm, and the Dragonslayer Hero Look it gives me. I'll be sad to see it go.
Michael Jardeen Jan 30th 2007 10:00AM
I for one will be sad when I replace my Quel in two more levels (66) with a sword I have sitting in my bank. I was so proud of the sword when I got it and got so many comliments. It's also one very cool quest to get it. Buying a sword off the AH to replace it just doesn't have the same kind of buzz.
Zandura Jan 29th 2007 6:43PM
I had the Sul'thraze sword from Zul'Farrak. It was hard to give up. It just looked so cool.
Narcisa Jan 29th 2007 6:56PM
I will always keep my Sageblade in the bank, just because of how long I farmed the mats for it, and had it lovingly crafted by my best friend in real life, who just happened to be a swordswmith. When I equipped it the second I hit 59, I felt so accomplished. Sadly, I recently had to replace it with the Battle Mages Baton, but it will always remain in my bank.
Becca Jan 29th 2007 8:22PM
I've always had a thing for polearms. My warrior in FFXI used polearms. My paladin in D&D used polearms. Sure, they might not be the best weapon for pallies, but they just look so cool!
Anyway, when my paladin was about level 25, someone linked the Ice-Barbed Spear in guild chat. I HAD to have that spear! I finally reached the level to get the quest, and it took me an entire day to get it (this was back when the Alliance on our server was just HORRIBLE at AV), but I got it alright!
It's still in my bank. I've had a few times where vendoring for 7g would be really handy, but I just can't bring myself to sell it.
Everett Jackson Jan 30th 2007 2:39AM
I'll definately miss my Hexxer's Cover. Not extremely rare, but extremely potent for its time and one badass looking helm. A bit of an odd considering it is a semi-rare drop off of Jin'do - so it took some work aquiring to boot.
Michael Jan 29th 2007 11:23PM
Ravager, something about 9 seconds of spinning gets to me.
mort Jan 30th 2007 5:01AM
felstriker on my rogue
100% crit 100% hit rate for 3 seconds?
beat that bc :P
Toolio Jan 30th 2007 9:09AM
Ancient Bone Bow will be missed. I still use it on occasion just to see those big crits, but most people never understand how hard it was to get that damn bow. On occasion I'll get flamed w/ jealousy, but mostly it's people telling me that my bow "sucks". Haha.