The Well-Dressed Paladin: A Pugging Pally Contest!

As Vid leveled her way through Azeroth, Outland, and beyond, it’s no big secret that she hated the clothes she was wearing as she did it. (She did, I did, we all hated them). They were weenie roasting forks. They didn’t say “paladin.” They had no glorious golden light, no panache.

“When I am level 80,” I vowed, “I will have awesome paladin gear and it shall be grand.” I think I’ve fulfilled that, but it’s been floating around in my mind since then. Paladins are one of the most distinctive and interesting looking classes in the game. Think about it. You know when one goes by if you see that Charger (both Horde and Alliance versions). They’re wearing bananas, or they’re dressed like a Power Ranger, or they have skulls on their shoulders that look like a skeleton pope. Love ’em or hate ’em, you’ll usually recognize them.

I happen to be of the opinion that paladin fashion has so much potential, and that’s where you come in.

The Well-Dressed Paladin: The Contest

I want to see your best paladin fashion; whatever look you think is the best paladin gear ever. This doesn’t have to be gear specifically for paladins, although it can be. It doesn’t have to be a set, although again, it can be. It could also be any combination of plate, mail, even leather or cloth if you can justify it.

You don’t have to be a paladin to enter. You’re fully welcome to express your vision for paladin awesomeness, even if you don’t have the foresight to be playing one. I highly recommend the use of WoW Model Viewer. You can pose characters, look at all of the weapons/armour in the game, and even import your character or another from the armory. If you don’t have a paladin yourself, you can use Vidyala as a model. She won’t mind. (I’m not judging it, so I won’t be swayed by preference towards my own character, incidentally). If you do actually possess the in-game gear you want to use, by all means, in-game screen-shots are fine. Heck, if there isn’t anything in the game that epitomizes what you think the best paladin gear would look like, and you’re artistic – draw your own!

To enter, you will need:

• 1-3 full body screenshots or images in jpeg format of your paladin fashion, either in-game or from something external like WoW Model Viewer. If you’re using the model viewer, plain backgrounds (e.g. either black or white) are preferred. The blog, you’ll note, is white. Things that have white backgrounds look good on it.
• a short description, explanation or story about why your outfit is so awesome, what paladin specialization it’s for (if you like, e.g. “Best Paladin gear for smashing faces.” Be as creative or expansive as you like!
• a list of the actual gear items you used, so that 1) I can reproduce the outfit if I need to for blog material, or so people can actually re-create it in-game if they so wish. (We’re spreading paladin fashion one item at a time). Please use full and accurate item names so it’s easy to look up and find them, e.g. “Saronite Gargoyle Cloak,” or “Boots of the Divine Light.” Especially with tier gear, there’s a lot of naming overlap so exact item names helps avoid confusion.

That’s it! Entries should be sent to puggingpally AT gmail DOT com, with “The Well-Dressed Paladin” or some variation in the subject line. I don’t want to lose any entries to the spam folder.

The Well-Dressed Paladin: The Prizes

Yes, prizes! Depending on the number of entries I get, judging might occur on the blog (via voting polls) or super secret other blogger judges, or some combination of the two. Regardless, the top three entries will all be featured in a blog entry together so everyone can ooh and ah over them. Additionally and more importantly:

1st prize

I’ll do some art for the winner! If you’re a blogger, this could be a blog header, and even if you’re not a blogger, some full-colour character art for you.

2nd and 3rd prize

I’ll do art for you too! But a bit less elaborate, similar to Vid’s avatar in the right sidebar. It will be your own custom avatar of whatever character you might like!

Hey, I recognize that it’s not A NEWWWW CARRRR, but I hope it’s appropriate for a fun little contest.

All entries must be received by August 8th, after which the judging will take place. (If this doesn’t seem like enough time I’ll adjust it, but any changes to the contest will be posted here at Pugging Pally). I’m not going to commit to an exact date the results will be posted because it will depend on how many entries there are, but it should be sometime in August.

It was pointed out to me by a friend that I should state whether multiple entries are accepted. You can enter multiple times – but not more than three entries per person, I think that’s fair! If anyone is crazy enough to enter that many times…

If you have any comments, questions or clarifications you can post them here, e-mail, or tweet at me. If you have friends you think might be interested or want to post about this in your own blog, I won’t stop you. Otherwise, go forth, for GREAT FASHION!