World of Warcraft cosmetics finally delivers on style

Fashion is serious business World of Warcraft; players march off to delve into dungeons and slay bosses in the most fantastic fits possible. The game features a transmogrify system, which allows players to wear whatever they want. All you have to do is visit an Ethereal in a capital city, and they will allow you to overwrite a boring piece of equipment with a much nicer piece. Recent additions to World of Warcraft seem to be aimed at the transmogrify crowd, with dataminers discovering even more goodies along the way, and fashion fans are excited to see what dolly costume goodies they'll receive next.

In World of Warcraftplayers can get new gear by doing basically anything. Raiding, quests, increasing your reputation with factions, achievement hunting, and PvP all have the chance to reward new gear. Even if a piece's stats don't work for you, you might like its appearance, which will be added to your transmogrification library. This is why players have to endure old raids and solo bosses that are years out of date – they want to indulge in collecting old level sets and fancy weapons.

The problem is that most of the equipment is in World of Warcraft are designed to look cool and powerful. At first this seems like the right choice, because players naturally want to look cool. We take on the role of heroes who regularly find themselves in world-ending crises and even other realms. It makes sense to find elaborately carved pieces, often with some kind of unearthly glow or horrible face. But after almost twenty years, those paths are quite worn. People want something new, something stylish. That's why some of the new pieces are so exciting: they're nothing like anything we've seen before.

The good folks at Wowhead have collected data on some of the new items coming to the game: Floral crests and lavender dresses, beautiful butterfly wingsAnd a stylish magical girl outfit are some of the things they discovered. For possibly the first time, it feels like Blizzard is making a concerted effort to make gear for the girls, gays, and them. Not every equipment set has to be designed for a war front or an epic conflict; some players just want to look beautiful, and that's great.

Of course, there are still shortcomings in the transmog system. For example, some great outfits are locked in the cash register, which is a shame for a game that both sells expansions at full retail price and charges monthly subscription fees. The Trader's Post, which was praised by fans as a new way to interact World of Warcraft and earn rewards, has stealthily raised its prices in recent months. You can purchase the Post's currency, Trader's Tender, with certain bundles from the Blizzard store.

It's a shame that these new topics aren't more widely available. Transmogrification is the end game for many World of Warcraft players, who spend hours trying to fit their characters as best as possible. While the new variety of designs is fantastic, it's not always easy to get your hands on the new yarns. On the other hand, it's nice to finally have an influx of practical or cute clothes. Saving Azeroth is cool or whatever, but that's a secondary goal to my main quest to look great in the best dress possible.