Monday, July 31, 2017

The Continuing Hunt for Hidden Artifact Appearances

Artifact appearances are not that easy to unlock. The initial ones and then the "heroic" versions you get for finishing your class campaign are obtainable by practically anyone, but unlocking others requires either some dedicated non-LFR raiding, extensive PvP, or completing very difficult artifact challenges (to be fair, I haven't actually attempted any of the challenges yet, as I'm told that the one I most want, the Protection Paladin one, which is also for my main character, has a recommended item level of 915, which I'm 9 points short of.)

However, each artifact has a hidden appearance, and this can sometimes be the easiest to acquire. That being said, it's also sometimes infuriatingly difficult.

One of the major reasons for this is that almost every hidden appearance involves getting an item or items with an extremely low droprate.

Only two that I know of can be acquired with no real preparation or really luck. Beast Mastery Hunters simply buy it from a vendor, while Havoc Demon Hunters must fight a somewhat challenging enemy over Felsoul Hold in Suramar. Technically, Demon Hunters are supposed to acquire an item that has a low droprate within the Hold to give to an NPC who will fling you up to the flying enemy, but you can actually jump down from Obsidian Overlook in Highmountain and glide into the felbat's pocket of air.

A number require reputation, or a reputation in conjunction with a drop.

And some are either just a rare drop or an entire quasi-quest series that are all about rare drops.

The Corrupted Ashbringer look is the one I've done that was the most infuriating, requiring a number of rare drops (some but not all of which could be acquired on the Auction House) and then waiting for an extremely rare enemy to pop up in Western Plaguelands, and then having to fish potentially a thousand times out of the Throndoril River between WPL and EPL.

At the moment, I have the following hidden appearances acquired. Note that if you unlock alternate colors for one hidden appearance you actually get them for your other specs as well, meaning that only the "base" color truly requires you to get that hidden appearance item. I'm only listing the ones for which I have the base color.

Paladin: Protection, Retribution
Death Knight: Blood, Frost, Unholy
Warrior: Arms
Hunter: Beast Mastery
Shaman: Enhancement
Demon Hunter: Havoc
Rogue: Subtlety (just got this the other day.)
Druid: Restoration (likewise)
Monk: Brewmaster
Mage: Frost

As of yet, I don't have any for Priests or Warlocks, though for Warlocks I'm 2/6 skulls found for the Demonology appearance and I have the initial quest item for the Affliction item (obtained while farming Eredar skulls.)

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