With
Patch 4.3 up on the PTR
and therefore Deathwing’s ultimate demise edging ever closer,
there is a lot for a player to get excited about these days. One of the
things that I personally look forward to is revealing of the new armor
sets that accompany a new major dungeon release. And just in case you
didn’t know, Deathwing in a dungeon is kind of a big deal, so
it wasn’t surprising when recently Blizzard released to the
world the first glimpse of the Tier 13 armor sets.

If you were a lot like me, you
immediately clicked on the link and impatiently waited for the page to
load to see these new sets in all their glory only to stop cold once
you got your first glimpse. As my brain processed what was before me I
had a serious “WTF” Blizzard moment as my shock
slowly melted into utter dismay. I’ll be honest when I say I
haven’t been a fan of many of the Tier sets since T2, but
these sets were borderline ridiculous. I mean weren’t these
sets supposed to be amazingly awesome to help prevent the overuse of
transmogrification? Apparently not.

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alt="TukUI Screenshot"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/193873">

Mage T13...a Gnomish disaster?
( href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/3502705/Mage_Tier_13_and_Visual_Retrospective-9_15_2011"
target="_blank">Source)

Mages with goggles, Warriors
who resembled Vrykul, Druids with garish blue lights stamped across
their shoulders and heads, and Rogues with the awful green flames
protruding from what may have been a decent set. At least the Warlocks
still looked somewhat Warlocky in this fashion fiasco. What a mess and
judging by the comments on the page, I wasn’t the only player
dissatisfied with what I was seeing

After my initial disappointment
faded slightly, I settled into the age old mantra of “oh
well…maybe the next dungeon set” and consoled
myself with the fact that I wasn’t totally stuck with the
ugly like in days of old. Transmogrification would be there to save me
and take me back to a better time, when Druids donned moose antlers and
Mages didn’t look like something out a Gnomish wet dream.
Somewhat mollified my nerd outrage (which is pretty scary despite its
nerdiness) began to vanish and I resolved that I wouldn’t
think about Tier 13 until I was faced with it on the live servers.

Then something happened, a nerd
miracle you might call it. I saw an advertisement for the release of
another set of Tier 13 gear and despite my better judgment I went to
check it out. Not surprisingly I wasn’t impressed with what I
saw, and was ready to click away from the page never to look back
again. But something stopped me, call it divine intervention from the
gaming gods if you will, but the text below the picture caught my eye
and I began to read and as I began to read I began to understand and
bells rang out and epic loot fell from the skies…ok maybe
that didn’t happen but you get the picture.

Reading the designers notes on
each set let me for the first time since I had laid eyes on them
understand where the inspiration came from. Turns out that the gear
wasn’t just some random junk thrown together at a whim, but
well thought out and planned with almost all of it being pulled from
somewhere in the game world. And as I took a second look at the armor
piece by piece I began to think that perhaps all hope wasn’t
lost after all.

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alt="TukUI Screenshot"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/193872">

Rogue T13...Proof that green
and red together are only awesome at Christmas.
( href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/3516050/Rogue_Tier_13_and_Visual_Retrospective-9_20_2011"
target="_blank">Source)

The Warrior armor I detested so
much? Turned out to be a replica of the fearsome Deathwing. The blue
lights on the Druid armor? Inspiration taken directly from the mushroom
world of Zangermarsh. The awful green flames spewing from the Rogue
shoulders? Ok this was still awful, but finding out they were pouring
from a very scary bats head which in my eyes more than made up for the
clashing colors. My hate for the sets lessened and while I still
can’t claim that I’m 100% pleased with how the Tier
13 sets ultimately turned out, I can
say that I don’t totally
despise them and I’m even willing to give them a fighting
chance once they hit the game world.

That’s not to say
that I won’t be heading straight to the transmogrification
NPC to change into some T2 the second I get to try it on, because lets
face it T2 was some good stuff…but I will at least give it a
shot and wear it for at least a few moments before I decide if I love
it or hate it on my character. And even if I do decide to give my T13 a
retrograde, at the very least I’m content with the knowledge
that in my mind the designers are working hard to push out gear that is
not only good looking, but also relevant to the game and while it might
not always come out as planned, with designs like these at least there
is a definite hope for awesomeness in the future.

What do you think about the new
Tier 13 sets? Do you love them or have they sealed the deal for
transmogrification? And if so which Tier set will your toon be rocking
in game? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.


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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Amunet, also fondly known as Memtron, is an organic life form best known for its ongoing obsession with Blizzard Entertainment's numerous properties. To that end, Amu has authored hundreds (thousands?) of the most popular World of Warcraft guides, editorials, and Top 10 lists on the planet. When not gaming and writing, Amu is busy chasing after her three children in a perpetual loop of ongoing disaster.

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