Anybody else find it a little weird that some of the tier 10 armor kind of looks like you took a random Scourge into a back alley and beat the crap out of them for their gear? Blizzard is definitely getting pretty wild with some of the armor designs, and they’re hit-or-miss - there’s a lot of people who love one or two classes, but hate another (and rarely does anyone love their own). Here’s my thoughts (starting with the classes I consider my “mains” at the moment):
Scourgelord’s Battlegear/Plate (Death Knight): Before the preview I was finished, I was pretty unimpressed with this set. It had the same old “put a few spikes here, put a glowing skull there, voila, Death Knight tier gear.” However, the helmet kind of ties it all together. I love the appearance of this faceplate, and feel it’s a natural revolution from the T8 helm (we’re ignoring T9 here, since its design was wildly divergent - and I loved the fact that, on Alliance side at least, it looked like a darker paladin set).
Frost Witch’s Garb/Regalia/Battlegear (Shaman): Phantom shoveltusks! As Jezriyah pointed out, they’re clearly wearing an entire shoveltusk head on their head, and those are definitely phantom shoveltusks sticking out of the side. Also, it doesn’t appear to be quite done yet - the icicles on the horns are untextured, mostly. Was it worth the wait? In my opinion, yes. This really makes me want to push to get my shaman up to 80 so I can start working on this awesome set. (No offense to Nobundo, of course, but my elemental shaman is not a ninja. He is a pew pew lightning master.) Oh - and those phantom shoveltusks better pop out of the shoulders occasionally; rogues and warlocks can’t have all the fun.
Shadowblade’s Battlegear (Rogue): Ah, the rogue T10. I would say it’s divisive except that it’s pretty much all the rogues on one side, and me on the other. No, it’s not the most attractive set of armor in the world (frankly, I still like the face-on-your-head of the rogue T8. However, this does have an obvious awesome side to it: the Shadowblade’s Battlegear is very obviously a geist outfit. Compare it to our old friend The Leaper:
Sewn together bag-of-rags look? Check. One-eyed helmet? Check. Noose around the neck? Check. Strappy gloves? Check. Rogues, it’s time to start bounding around like it was going out of style, pushing gargoyles off of ledges with wild abandon.
Now, on to the others…
Lasherweave Garb/Regalia/Battlegear (Druid): Okay, so, I really don’t recall ever seeing any lashers that looked like a combination of a moose, a piece of wood, and the segmented eyeball of a bee. Frankly, the face scares the crap out of me. I guess the only comfort is that I’m rarely if ever going to see it.
Ahn’kahar Blood Hunter’s Battlegear (Hunter): What? Just to refresh everyone’s memories, this is what the Ahn’kahar look like. Spiders. Big ugly spiders. The hunter armor? Again with the wood. In fact, they kind of look like wooden moose (mooses? meese?).
Bloodmage’s Regalia (Mage): Well, the teeth kind of make me giggle, but I have to admit I like the look of this set. It has a very generic look to it, though. I don’t know if I could tell the mage T7-10 apart, to be honest with you. It’s also more obvious Scourge fashion: the mage gear is definitely an upgraded (fancier and less faded) version of the outfits worn by the San’layn.
Lightsworn Garb/Regalia/Battlegear (Paladin): Hey look, the paladins are cribbing from the Death Knights for ideas. And the shamans & warriors from a few tiers back. And - wuh oh, a plate skirt. Let the QQ begin… again.
Crimson Acolyte’s Raiment/Regalia (Priest): Not sure what Crimson Acolyte they’re talking about. Pretty generic, though. These (at least, the versions other than the white ones) kind of remind me of collarless Scourge necromancer duds. If only priests had gotten the dead-cow-skull helmet that seems to be a feature among the Scourge. Speaking of dead cow skulls…
Dark Coven’s Regalia (Warlock): Also nice! But unfortunately I don’t think anything will top the pseudo-Putress look of T8, at least in my mind. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this look on a Cult of the Damned member somewhere, but it escapes me at the moment.
And last but not least, Ymirjar Lord’s Battlegear/Plate (Warrior): A pretty awesome-looking tribute to all those ymirjar who’re now dead in our wake. Probably the closest anyone will get to looking like the king. I anticipate several screenshots of warriors in their T10 sitting on his throne just because they can.
And no, ladies, I haven’t forgotten about you. The T10 on females: death knight, rogue, druid, hunter, mage, paladin, priest, warlock, and warrior. As for the shaman T10… well, we only have a picture of it on a male human, so we don’t even have pictures of it on races that can actually be shamans yet, much less women. (An orc would totally rock the hell out of a shoveltusk helmet, and you know it.)
