One of the things about being friends with folks like Rades and Narci is that they have a lot of transmogrification gear. Like, a LOT a lot. More than you would think possible to have and still play a character as a raiding main.
“Oh, it’s so cute, you keep crafting mats on your main.”
The problem, of course, is that it’s hard to quantify just how bad someone’s mog space problem is. Some people look at it as a problem if they can’t have crafting gear, others need toys, others are engineers and need a bag space just for gadgets and teleports. Everyone’s got a different situation.
So I’d like to propose an objective measurement of how bad your transmog problem is: your Mogging Density Level.
The Mogging Density Level (MDL) is how much of your total storage space is taken up by transmogrification gear. This provides a fair metric for understanding just how bad your transmog problem is. To determine your MDL, take the number of transmog slots over the total number of possible slots, so you will end up with a percentage.
Technically there are two MDL scores: relative and absolute. Relative MDL is the amount of transmog gear over how much bag space you have right now. Absolute MDL is mog gear over the maximum amount of gear possible. When we talk about MDL we are normally talking about Absolute Mog Density, not Relative.
In Mists of Pandaria, Absolute MDL uses full Royal Satchels and Void Storage. That’s 16 slots in the backpack, 28 in the bank, 11 satchels at 28 each, and 80 slots of void storage, or 432 slots.
Some clarifications.
The rule of thumb is that you count items that are eligible for transmogrification that are stored on a given character. That means the following items count:
- Bind to Account heirloom gear.
- Gear in your void storage.
- Offspec gear.
- PvP gear.
- Armor types which you don’t normally wear.
- Weapon types which you could equip or use under any condition. (2H axes for Felguards, melee weapons for Hunters count.)
- Cloaks, Helms, Bracers all count, even if they cannot be seen.
And the following items do not count:
- Toys, trinkets, special effect items, teleports, holiday items.
- White-quality gear, soul bound or not.
- Holiday gear that cannot be mogged.
- Trinkets, rings, and necklaces in your bags.
- Tabards and shirts.
- Legendaries.
- Fish. Sadly.
- Any other gear that is ineligible for transmogrification.
- Gear that you, or your pets or controlled units, cannot equip or use in any manner.
- Items which transform your entire appearance into something else.
- BoE or BoA gear stored on other characters or guild banks.
- The gear actively being worn by your character is also not counted.
Basically, if you can mog it and it takes up space on a toon, it counts towards that toon. If you can’t, it doesn’t. The key to MDL is measuring how much space you have dedicated to transmogrification, not just fashion. (A fashion index would include shirts, tabards, and possibly even toys that transform the users.)
My personal goal is to keep my MDL down below 40%. Cynwise is floating right around there, and I’d like to keep her with enough space to pick up new things but not hold on to everything. But she has a problem with cloaks, and a knife collection that’s a little out of control.
There’s always room for improvement. Good luck managing your closet.
Go Mog Yourself 
I wonder if it should be Appearance Density Level, and tabards should count. In other words, measuring how much of your space is devoted to pure style/appearance. White items and non-moggable holiday items still wouldn’t count because we generally mean appearance that you can use while doing content (rather than RPing or styling about town). Many people collect tabards for the sake of augmenting transmog outfits, so they seem to me to be basically the same thing in spirit.
Ahahaha ❤ this post. My void storage for Anexxia = all full, and all transmog gear. And all her bank space that isn't tabards and toys is also transmog gear…I'm seriously out of room for more at this point. 😦
Let’s not forget the factor of BoE gear that is transmoggable, but is currently sitting in our alt bank waiting for a matching outfit. Because I’ve got one tab alone that’s full of that…come to think of it, I have that on two different servers. *facepalm*
I still maintain that intent should factor with the gear. If I have a pair of bracers because I need them to perform an offspec duty, but I will never mog to them because they are ugly and bracers then I would not count them as space taken for a moggable item. I’d lump them in with my offspec rings also taking up space. Once I don’t need their stats they will be DEd or vendored, they will not be stored indefinitely.
On the other hand the full set of white quality gear that I’m keeping, just in case they ever change their minds should count. I’m taking up 5 bags slots for transmog, even though I can’t mog it yet, but it’s pretty and I’m ever the optimist hoping that someday they will change their minds.
I think the challenge here is to create a measurement that is objective as possible. A bracer that might be for offspec now might turn into the perfect accent piece down the road; intent makes it too difficult to judge.
Keep in mind the goal is just to show how densely packed a character’s inventory is with potential transmog options. That metric allows comparison across class and playstyle – it’s just how much mog gear is in your bags. I’m wary of publishing guidelines, or saying go high or go low – your closet is personal space. There’s a lot of reasons to keep things, even easily replaceable things. Intent and purpose would muddy the water too much and make you have to think about every single piece.
Once you’re done with that gear, you vendor it and your level drops a bit. That kind of gear irritates me too. But while one person has a bracer or two, another might have 4-5 sets for different situations. (My warrior twink has 5 bracers, all bis in different conditions).
I guess that’s why I’m sticking to if you can mog it and it shows, it counts.
I think as the person who created this mess, that it is certainly your right to decide how and where the line gets drawn. 🙂 #blamecynwise
Oh dear god, for your own sanity please please check out ArkInventory. Automatic sorting is a lifechanging thing.
Nonsense… ArkInventory doesn’t sort by color. Useless.