I love WoW’s transmogrification system, but I find that the cost of switching appearances is restricting me (and I suspect many other players) from using the system to its full potential. At over 800 gold for a full set of gear, it feels quite steep. Which is a real shame for a system which allows for so much expression of creativity, identity, fantasy or just plain silliness. Since it’s not integrated into the Trading Post, it’s also difficult to see whether you can make a transmog that would fit a trading post item without spending a lot of gold to experiment (although perhaps the refund feature of the Trading Post allows for a cumbersome alternative).
While I understand the need to have gold-sinks in this game, I think the way it is currently done in the transmog system is perhaps not the best way. There’s a reason why gold cost was removed from the Barber system, and that same scrutiny should be brought upon the transmog system. Perhaps it would be better if we would only need to spend gold once to unlock transmogging for a particular item, rather than spending gold each and every time you change that item’s appearance. When you get a gear upgrade, it doesn’t feel so bad to spend gold to be able to match that piece with the rest of your set, because you already feel good about getting the new item and looking cool again. Other options could be reducing the costs by a large factor, or just selling more appearances for gold. And finally I can imagine the upcoming Player Housing system having lots of gold-sink potential.
I really hope this feedback will make its way back to the game directors at Blizzard, and I would also like to hear your opinions on the topic.
-Jed