What collects without effort

Forever's appearance rules do most of the collecting for you while you level. Blizzard's Deep Dive recap says Poor and Common items, the greys and whites, grant their appearance as soon as you loot them, with no need to bind or equip them. Bind-on-pickup Uncommon and Rare items that drop in a dungeon grant their appearance to all eligible looters when the item is looted, so you don't have to win an item to collect its look.

Epic raid drops are the exception: their appearance goes only to the player the item binds to. Collecting also continues with transmog switched off, including for players who chose Classic Mode at first launch, so you can gather appearances now and decide later.

Hand-inked illustration of a wooden mannequin in a green tunic and brown boots standing in front of an open wardrobe, with an arched standing mirror reflecting the look.
A leveling outfit assembled piece by piece; the garments are generic, not a verified in-game set.

What you can wear while leveling

Two rules shape a starter look. Transmog follows item type, so cloth goes on cloth and plate on plate; a Paladin in a cloth chest needs another cloth chest appearance for that slot. And low-level characters can't use high-level appearances until 60, when level restrictions lift for valid appearances in your collection. Cosmetic-only items are exempt, though Blizzard says they'll be rare in Forever.

In practice, an outfit you build before 60 comes from appearances your level already allows, in the armour type you're wearing in each slot. Dungeons in your level band are the richest source, because their bind-on-pickup greens and blues reach every eligible looter at once.

A simple collecting routine

None of this needs a set list to start:

  1. Loot the greys and whites you'd normally leave behind. Each adds its appearance on pickup.
  2. Run the dungeons in your level range and stay eligible for the loot. Whoever wins a bind-on-pickup green or blue, every eligible looter collects its look.
  3. Collect on the ruleset you plan to keep. Collections are account-wide across rulesets, but anything earned outside Hardcore doesn't flow into Hardcore, while Hardcore collections can carry out.
  4. Apply the outfit at a transmogrifier, which Blizzard says you'll find in certain cities.

Still to come

Not yet settled by our sources or tested in game:

  • Which cities have a transmogrifier.
  • The exact level rule that decides which appearances a character under 60 can use.
  • Whether you collect appearances for armour types your class can't wear.
  • Curated low-level outfits with item sources, checked in the live game.

Sources

Beta notes are dated because Forever is still changing.