What’s your World of Warcraft transmog hot take?

You can talk about Mythic Raiding and Rated Arena all you want, but the real end game of World of Warcraft is a perfect transmog look — although we all have very different opinions on what matters when it comes to Azerothian fashion.

My take that’s most likely to get me booed off of the runways of Tazavesh is that I would delete the cloak slot, given the opportunity. We used to have the ability, deep inside the options menu, to permanently hide your character’s cloak and/or helm. At some point we lost that privilege, and now I need to click left on about 53 pages of capes in order to reach Hidden Cloak.

I just don’t like the way cloaks often take away from the overall look and vibe of an outfit. Perhaps this stems from playing a Mage and wanting to always see the full pattern of my magic dress. It could be that I simply don’t appreciate the modern selection of hi-res frocks, and my feelings are rooted in a time when obtaining a new cloak meant staring at a different colored rectangle bouncing behind your character for the next eight levels.

Our new Item of Temporarily Ridiculous Power, the Reshii Wraps cloak, actually did win me over for a hot minute. I really like the overall effect when paired with the questing armor (or its many recolors) or the hood/mantle combo you get from fully unlocking its potential. And yet, the next time I felt like a quick wardrobe change, I found myself searching for that Hidden Cloak cell before I even settled on a chest piece.

When I floated this personal axiom in the Blizzard Watch Staff Room, Red immediately pointed out that the cloak slot has evolved yet again in recent expansions. We’re past detailed textures and elaborate animations and have moved onto the “carry around wacky stuff” phase. Just in the last few months I have added a turtle shell, a bubbling cauldron, and a checkered racing pennant to the list of things I can attach to the rear of my characters. I guess it just proves that in a video game that is rapidly approaching its 21st anniversary, any sweeping declarations you make about some aspect of World of Warcraft are likely to be called into question eventually.

So what’s your transmog hot take? Will you only be caught by the Azeroth paparazzi in your preferred color armor? Do you scoff at guildmates who show up to raid in casual attire? Did you select a weapon appearance in Wrath of the Lich King and wield nothing else since?