Transmog turns 10 in 2021, and for its birthday why not drop holiday transmog restrictions, Blizzard?

When transmog was introduced to World of Warcraft back in Cataclysm’s patch 4.3, we were told that they were going to take it slow and cautiously and keep things restricted to start with. I think most players understood that idea — after all, it was a brand new feature being introduced to a long running game. Patch 4.3 came out seven years after the game launched, after all.

Happy 10th birthday, transmog!

Well, that was November 29, 2011, almost ten years ago. In that time, we’ve seen some transmog restrictions lifted — we can mog to our Legendary weapons now, for example, and our Artifacts are now available across spec so you can use the Fury Artifact as an Arms Warrior or the Unholy Artifact as a Frost Death Knight. We’ve seen fist weapons become available to use over swords or axes, while staffs and polearms have become available to mog over swords, axes and maces and vice-versa. We’ve seen the wardrobe system introduced so we don’t have to keep items to use them in transmog, freeing up a ton of space.

And all that progress makes me greedy for more. For example, the Mantle of the Fire Festival. Why are these shoulders and other holiday themed transmog items only available during the festival in question? We’ve seen Blizzard make it possible for the Flower Crowns to be permanently moggable — I think that’s a great change, and while we’re at it, there should be similar methods for all holiday only cosmetic items and transmog appearances in the game. The Gaudy Winter Veil Sweater deserves better. So do the stylish Bronze-Tinted Sunglasses, bafflingly restricted to WoW‘s formal anniversary celebration.

Honestly it just really feels like transmog restrictions like these are all part of that fear that transmog would radically transform the game and ruin the vibe for people if some players could mog their weapons to fish or wear holiday outfits like the Winter Veil hats, but it’s been ten years and the vast majority of World of Warcraft‘s players don’t mog in the first place. I seriously doubt that they’re going to abuse the system so drastically if you allow people to mog to a Winter Veil hat, the Mantle of Summer, and a couple of fish.

It’s time to really enshrine customization via transmog

The thing is, the whole reason I’m even mentioning this when I absolutely wouldn’t ever use most holiday transmog items is because the system isn’t even coherent. Why can we mog to the Headless Horseman’s hat anytime we want, but not the Gaudy Winter Veil Sweater? There’s a set of quests to permanently unlock the various flower crowns, but not the Winter Veil hats or the Midsummer Fire Festival set, why?

The fact is that as much as Blizzard can redesign character appearances and add more options, transmog is a far more effective means to allow players to have the most choice in terms of their character’s appearance. There are so many weapon and armor appearances in the game, it’s foolish not to allow all of them to be available to players via transmogrification — and yes, that includes holiday items. It’s simply a better option for the game in 2021, on the tenth year of transmog in World of Warcraft, if the restrictions are eased and holiday items are simply allowed to be used.

I mean, I can transmog my Draenei so that he’s standing around in nothing but a pair of pants. We’re well past the point of worrying about people using transmog in light hearted ways — that ship has sailed. It’s time to get fully on board. Let us wear Winter Veil hats, sweaters, mantles, whatever we want.

Originally published 9/27/2021. Updated 11/19/2021.