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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Do you enjoy using vanity items?
by Jake Evers 
Dec 5th 2011 at 8:00AM
People have been complaining about the lack of character customization in WoW for a long time now. I agree that the character creation screen in WoW does seem a bit limited when the customization options in other games can generate thousands of permutations, but for now, I'm content with the way things are. Why? Because a lot of the time, my character doesn't even look like himself.
I have some 30 vanity items that transform the appearance of my main character or the world around him, and I put them to good use. Whether it's clucking my way through city streets as an Arakkoa (via my Time-Lost Figurine), or popping my Iron Boot Flask and making everyone in the Auction House dance with me (via my Piccolo of the Flaming Fire, I love being able to change the way I look when I get sick of the same old character model. I've learned that dropping my Tol Barad Searchlight in a capital city almost always generates a party out of thin air as passersby use their Mylune's Call, throw down their Haunted War Drums, set out their Romantic Picnic Baskets, and decorate with their Guild Battle Standards.
But while I use them to escape the tedium of limited character customization, vanity items for some players serve loftier purposes. Back in Wrath, a guildie of mine would always use a Gordok Ogre Suit when he thought the next attempt would be the one in which we'd finally down the progression boss we had been working on all night. Whenever we saw that ogre, we knew things were getting serious and that a boss kill was imminent.
So how do you use vanity items? Which is your item of choice when transforming the appearance of your character?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Bended Dec 5th 2011 10:05AM
I would use them, but the cooldown and duration's of them are retardedly scaled.
There is nothing fun about scarabs following you around for 25 seconds once every 10 minutes.
Why not adjust transmog to only affect your character for 2 minutes out of every hour? Just gets me so excited thinking about it .......
Micheal Dec 5th 2011 10:15AM
Vanity items are my kryptonite. I will sacrifice my life to obtain them. MUST. SHAPESHIFT. MOAR!!! :x help me
all8280bcc Dec 5th 2011 10:16AM
I rock the live boat. You know the boat you get in what was thousand needles. I love that thing!
DarkWalker Dec 5th 2011 10:42AM
If they are easy to use, and I'm not having problems with bag space, then yeah, I love them.
First note: easy to use is different from easy to get. I can grind after one of those for a quite long time, as long as the item is not a random drop - I treat anything with too much RNG as if it doesn't exist at all.
Second note: I often have bag space problems, since I only play classes that can be all roles, and keep a full suite of PvE armor for each role at all times. This means I usually have only one or two "fun" items with me, the rest being stored in the bank; and I also refrain from getting any such vanity item unless I really want to have it.
On the other hand I prefer the way LotRO does: up to 7 cosmetic tabs for outfits per character (i.e., I can keep a festival, a formal, a seasonal, a professional, a casual, an adventuring, and a just for fun outfit at all times, without wasting bag space with them, and change between them easily), being able to re-color my gear, having quite a few really interesting emotes (some of which are as flashy as some WoW consumables), and allowing a lot of the just-for-fun items to be turned into skills (though doing that is a lot of work). I can look any way I want, change appearance between the stored ones at a whim, and use a lot of vanity skills/emotes, all of this without wasting a single inventory slot. If WoW copied LotRO in removing from our bags a huge chunk of vanity items / cosmetic gear, I would just love it, and use any such items way more.
Aristotle Dec 5th 2011 11:38AM
Long raid breaks and a bag full of blossoming branches = happy bear druid
Noyou Dec 5th 2011 12:04PM
Use them often but probably not often enough. Certain toons more than others. I would say my mage right now is most equipped to handle any situation. since he is human, he is the model I most frequently "need a break from". But it's not all about that, it's about the moment and who else is around. Sometimes it's fun to share some silly time with a friend or stranger. To paraphrase Ferris Bueller, "Life is short, you have to take time and smell the roses". Something like that ;)
Hairfish Dec 5th 2011 1:35PM
Most vanity items are fun, and I hoard those, but some are frustrating. I spent last night grinding 100 fossils in Archaeology only to receive an item that shrinks my character and encases her in "amber" (an orange Iceblock) for five minutes every half hour. All I can figure is that the person who designed that had a really, really bad hangover.
Hey, maybe that's an RP use for the thing...
jonblaze81 Dec 5th 2011 2:11PM
I have Leyara's (spelling?) Locket macro'ed so that whenever I pop it, my paladin yells "BY THE POWERS OF GREYSKULL!!"
Heman references ftw! Sad thing is, no one in my guild got it until I told them where it was from. Makes me feel like an old man for all of my 30 years.
RetPallyJil Dec 5th 2011 2:23PM
Q: Does it have a "Use" function? It does?
A: I have it and use it any damn time I feel like it.
Xwrath Dec 5th 2011 3:03PM
I dont like vanity items. I do not like the exclusionary rules of what can be transmogrified and what cannot. When Transmogrification was on the verge of becoming a reality I started leveling Blacksmithing on my DK who could not have had specialization patterns at the time they were out (i.e., StormHerald, Lionheart Executioner). I do not think there exists a well enough reason to have removed those items from game, at least in the sense of characters learning them from this point on.
Once I discovered that the Lionheart pattern was not to become trainable again; I decided not to spend my gold on transmogrification of any gear slot. Story of all WoW right? You can't make everyone happy. Except in this case I believe you can, put the patterns of the far outdated and non over powered weapons back into the basic pattern types trainable by any BS trainer. No harm, and only slight foul on Blizzard's part.
I will not adhere to the thought that weapon procs in level 70 arena are disbalancing and should not keep them from being trained now. Blizzard did a very good job to DESTROY twinking in lower level BattleGrounds but keep level 70 arena whole in tact. My brain is going to explode from this injustice. Blizzard may have bought Chuck Norris, but Batman still remains free, where is our savior now? Bring back the DAMN CRAFTED WEPAONS!!!
kworry Dec 5th 2011 3:58PM
Vanity Items are currently my favourite part of the game. The only issue is that I have so many, I could really use a Keychain of some sort for them. It feels like leaving them in the bank is the same as not having them.
Eyhk Dec 5th 2011 5:08PM
Remove all the stupid equip requirements like trinkets or hats or whatever, and make it be an item that teaches you a spell. The spell can have a cd, as long as it is available AT ALL TIMES without you having to stuff your bag full of items useless for 59 minutes to the hour. Blizz makes it seem like storage is such a big issue, but then they turn around and make a crap ton of items to stuff your storage with. If they stopped making so many things require storage, maybe we wouldn't need so much storage in the first place.
sylentjay Dec 5th 2011 4:52PM
I have, for the longest time, carried my brewfest pony keg with me on raids and drop it down for my guild so we can get smashed before clearing trashed. Nothing says fun like getting ripped from a keg before embarking on a killing spree.
goldeneye Dec 6th 2011 10:50AM
And when all else fails
/dance