WoW's pre-Midnight patch slams players with massive fashion costs as the overhauled transmog system makes outfitting your alts absurdly expensive: 'Feels like they hired a mobile game monetization consultant'

As anyone would tell you, fashion isn't free—but in World of Warcraft, it's suddenly feeling less free than ever. WoW's latest pre-expansion patch introduces a sweeping set of reworked systems ahead of Midnight's launch in March. Those changes included an overhaul to the armor transmog system, which is generating a lot of angst from players who are finding themselves forced to pay thousands of gold for the privilege of wearing outfits they'd already paid for.

While we were skeptical about the proposed transmog updates back in November...