Please Incorporate A "Dressing Room" with GU 34

[Ponos]

<p>The icons do not match up.  The names are a poor indicator (Cuirass of the Valewatcher and Legplates of the Valewatcher are non-matching armor pieces, for example).  Level requirements seem arbitrary at best. </p><p>Right now there is no way in-game to see what a piece of armor looks like <i>without first buying it</i>!</p><p>In an attempt to find matching armor sets, I am forced to spend vast amounts of coin.  This seems unusually cruel and difficult.  Do the designers <i>want </i>each piece to be a surprise?  </p><p>"Look!  Another piece that doesn't match with any other piece of armor in your collection!  Has weaker stats!  And now guess what -- you own it!"</p><p>I am pleading, please, correct this problem by either allowing us to try on the armor piece prior to purchase, or by providing a more detailed description using key words, names, part numbers or <i>something</i>.</p><p>A lot of players complain about the lack of variety in armor appearance.  I actually think there are a lot of different armor "sets" and am finding more and more types in my futile searchings for matching sets everyday.  </p><p>The problem is that there is no way for a player, at first glance, to see for himself.  </p>

[Elizabette]

I could not agree more

[Druisagoldengod]

People buy armor based on looks?  Well sure, an in game viewer or thumbnail of the piece would be easy to impliment. Amondus 70 Shadow Knight Ghosts of War Permafrost

[dlsknight]

<p>I would have to also agree.  That is one thing I did like about WOW over EQ2 is that when you were at the broker / auction house you could click on any weapon, armor, clothes or other item to see what it looked like on you.  It was a very helpful tool for any type of items.  Sometimes you have a few items with similar stats and only the appearance is the difference, if that is the case why not get something that looks good on your toon.</p><p> I first look for what has the best stats but I do really like having a matching set, if for no other reason to just run around looking good.  Example, at the start of each Tier I will purchase a full set of Vanguard usually a complete matching set, and then just replace as questing permits.  Most of the time I also carry a set of Luminous Vanguard I wear when I am not in battle or in groups, with the new macro system it is easy to swap back and forth.  It takes a little bit of room from your inventory but not that much, and it is worth it to me just because I like the way it looks on me.</p>

[Jenarie]

I was buying a new outfit today and this would have made it so much more fun.  Yes stats are important but finding an item that looks good is up there too.  It adds to the fun factor to pick an outfit you think your character would actually like to wear.

[liveja]

<p>As style-&-fashion conscious Swashy, this feature is highly important to me.</p><p><img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[JeffBship]

<p>I remember a discussion some friends and I had about tank classes wearing chain armor.  We were pretty confused and decided that maybe in a dps role (ie, not the MT) that you might want to maximize different stats so you'd wear non-standard armor pieces.</p><p>Then I got in a pick up group and a Palladin was tanking and wearing 3 or 4 pieces of chain...I inspected him and couldn't figure out why he'd want to wear them (poor stats all around).  So I asked if he wanted a piece of plate I had just looted to replace a chain piece, and he said no he liked what he was wearing because it matched and looked cool.  Everyone in the group was bewildered at this and needless to say there was a rash of "guild is calling me", "gotta go, time for dinner", and "sorry, my cat has a nasty hairball...gotta run". <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[janmystique]

I would love to be able to try on new armour before buying it. I tend to buy armour of the same type to get a match. Currently though, I look like I am wearing Joseph's technicolour dreamcoat with a yellow fabled top, green legs from a quest reward, a red cloak also a quest reward and bluish everything else from an armourer. Actually, for my warden I would like something a bit more like a mage's dress a I never wear trousers in RL (and no, I am not a man in either RL or EQII!). <img src="/smilies/49869fe8223507d7223db3451e5321aa.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> 

[Kaberu]

Here's my solution: Have a second set of slots for armor that you can equip for appearance alone. That lets you equip your functional set of gear while allowing you to customize your look without running into the problems you see when players are allowed to dye their own armor. The only problem with that is that with some unique armor sets that might be used for show (like my rare/hard-to-find full set of thulezite plate), it looks exactly like a lowbie set of armor. Maybe we should be allowed to raid the art department too <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Ganlu]

On a similar note, I'd like a way to see how it actually affects your overall stats as well, without buying/attuning it.  It would be nice to see if the +sta and +int on an item would provide more raw health/power than another item for example, and there's no easy way to tell without attuning it and actually seeing how it affects them.

[mellowknees72]

I'd love to not just see a "dressing room" but an entire preview feature where you could actually LOOK at something before you bought it.  This is important for house items, clothing...everything, really.  I know that items should be purchased for the stats, but not every piece of clothing in the game is purchased to be worn in battle.  We have decorative clothing now, so we should be able to SEE it before we buy.

[Armawk]

Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote: <blockquote><p> Having said that - the very solution to this dilemma is the one that many of us have wanted for some time. Armor Dyes. </p><p> Unfortuntely, and inexplicably the DEVs have, time and again, steadfastly refused to implement it - which would be almost ok if they would bother to engage in a frank and open discussion of WHY they wont add it - but all they ever say is "there are no plans to include it." and thats all we get. </p></blockquote><p> If its any help I can tell you that in my technical opinion armour dyes are effectively impossible to implement in a true next gen graphics engine like EQ2 which never intended to use such, without a fundamental restructure of the graphics engine. This is because of the non procedural nature of the full colour bitmap textures, and the use of extensive non procedural shaders. The costs of this kind of development would include:</p><p>Large development time.</p><p>Performance hit for players already struggling.</p><p>Poor visual end result/mismatch compared to existing graphics (this is the case with most existing dye systems in games)</p><p>Possibility of significant new  instabilities and uninteded consequences.</p><p>I cant see its even plausible as an addition.</p>

[madha]

<p>This is why i inspect each person befoe doing a pick up group.. You have crap gear my chnater is mezzng everything in site and my tank is going home.  I want armor die, but lets face it i can look at people and tell how much time they put in the game, and i can see new loot ive never seen becasue most might share armor models but every peace looks different. And knowing SOE they wont be chrafted and cost like 4pp a slot and not transfer to new gear, i know they where crafted in EQ1 this isnt EQ1.</p>

[Brigh]

<p>LOTRO has this feature.</p><p>You do something like Ctrl click and item and a window pops up showing you and what it looks like.</p>

[Ealthina]

Sign the wife and I up for this.  Love the idea of being able to see what you would look like.  My wife changes her hair color and feature when she gets a new set of armor to make sure she stays in style.  Can't go around not looking pretty now can we?

[Morgane]

<cite>Ponos wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>The icons do not match up.  The names are a poor indicator (Cuirass of the Valewatcher and Legplates of the Valewatcher are non-matching armor pieces, for example).  Level requirements seem arbitrary at best. </p><p>Right now there is no way in-game to see what a piece of armor looks like <i>without first buying it</i>!</p><p>In an attempt to find matching armor sets, I am forced to spend vast amounts of coin.  This seems unusually cruel and difficult.  Do the designers <i>want </i>each piece to be a surprise?  </p><p>"Look!  Another piece that doesn't match with any other piece of armor in your collection!  Has weaker stats!  And now guess what -- you own it!"</p><p>I am pleading, please, correct this problem by either allowing us to try on the armor piece prior to purchase, or by providing a more detailed description using key words, names, part numbers or <i>something</i>.</p><p>A lot of players complain about the lack of variety in armor appearance.  I actually think there are a lot of different armor "sets" and am finding more and more types in my futile searchings for matching sets everyday.  </p><p>The problem is that there is no way for a player, at first glance, to see for himself.  </p></blockquote><p>Amen, brother, amen.</p><p>I purchased a "Robe of Flowing Sewage" the other day for my wizzy because, well... how could one NOT? *L* It was simply a plain white robe. I was disappointed and put the robe back on the broker for aroudn the same price I paid and put on my old "Robe of the Specter", which is a lovely dark purple with yellow trim. Took me a few weeks to get my money back on that one, though.... a problem which could completely be avoided by giving us some sort of option to see what we're buying first. </p>

[Iseabeil]

<p>I got plenty of fabled on my swashie, but she matches real bad. If I were to raid with her (not happing often as she kinda retired tho) Ill live with it and look mismatched, same if Im goin with a group to a somewhat difficult place. If Im not out killing or if Im killing stuff in places that arent all that challenging wich is most areas today, Ill often toss on my relic peices and top it off with my lvl 20 swashie AQ pants as I never got the relics of that piece. Does this effect my efficieny? Ill lose a few attribute points, but toss in some str food and its barely noticable. My illusionist is fortunate enough to only have to worry bout her robe, and althou Gown of Glory still is one of the of the best ingame besides avatar stuff, its ugly as <beep>. If its raiding, castle or nizara or any challenging place, Ill be using it, if its not, Ill either use my class robe, Garb of Souls, or even my adorable level 37 robe of the surgeon and barely notice any differance. Keep in mind that you have 21 slots with charm included and only a few of those will have any big affect on your looks, so whilst those few might be used by lesser pieces, it will have minor effect as long as the rest are decent.</p><p>That bein said, Id love a pre-view feature, I cant comment on WoW's version, but as a former master tailor on SWG, I miss it badly, as well as the preview of furniture. If Im gonna decorate my house I shouldnt have to rely on outside sources to know what an Archaic Cedar Chair looks like. Sure, you can go look in others houses, especially with house lag improved, but that really isnt good enough and could take hours.</p>

[liveja]

<cite>Ganluan wrote:</cite><blockquote>On a similar note, I'd like a way to see how it actually affects your overall stats as well, without buying/attuning it.  It would be nice to see if the +sta and +int on an item would provide more raw health/power than another item for example, and there's no easy way to tell without attuning it and actually seeing how it affects them. </blockquote> <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> to this idea.

[Grimwell]

By request, let's try this again. I've removed most of the drama -- please don't continue it.

[Giland]

There is enough different types of armor to have 2 or more pieces that are pretty close with maybe 1 stat different, maybe different resists, and at that point, I am pretty much going for the look. I purchased a legendary hat and was disappointed. I gambled on the look and it was standard model. I remember when WoW added that feature, my wife spent hours on the broker going through different armor/weapons to find a look she liked. When all else is the comparible, looks can be the deciding factor. I would love the ability to see what an item looked like without buying it. Currently, I buy it, put it on, look around the atune box, and decide if I want to keep it or not.

[sundrop]

Ohh maybe like a dressing room, where you can fight a dressing room mob so you can test out the attributes of each piece. Ok, I understand that your aiming the game at raids so I guess make it to where if you have never seen/heard of the item. You cant try it on?

[Stormcrest]

<cite>sundrop wrote:</cite><blockquote>Ohh maybe like a dressing room, where you can fight a dressing room mob so you can test out the attributes of each piece. Ok, I understand that your aiming the game at raids so I guess make it to where if you have never seen/heard of the item. You cant try it on? </blockquote>Even though I enjoy sarcasm, I believe that this thread doesn't need this kind of tone. I do appreciate it being re-opened though. They already have a preview in place via guild cloaks... use it. I don't blame the playerbase for trying to not look like a clown. Most armor in this game causes players to look like crap due to the current policy of "I want that one bracer to look special". Well, that policy does more harm than good. Anyone can inspect anyone in this game without fear of notice... So they do. It is human nature to compare. Looks are only good in this game for knowing that "that poor raiding sap looks like a goober because he has decent stats".  Is that what the designers intended by unique look? I doubt it... you wanted your most dedicated raiders to look like morons before they completed their sets because of item identification through a visual means that the same people inspect because they care about stats? Even after completing sets, the min-max hardcore crowd look like blooming fashion failures. This much color in Norrath and there is no way to drop a temporary paint job on the armor? Dev's... Why not add in one more slot on gear. Call it an appearance slot. Similar to how clothes offset the rest of a persons fugly gear. This appearance slot is done by tradeskillers, and tailored through payer interaction. A Swash/Brig is not limited to looking like chain when they should be wearing something similar to T7 Woven leather armor in appearance with chain protection. I mean, you gave Swashies that look in both relic and class armor in the T3 AQ... but they suffer for looking the same with a different color in T7 mastercrafted? No sense in that. That kind of nukes that "unique look" attitude you force on your player base on a per item basis. Force Plate/Chain to visit an Armorer to get an alternate appearance per tier with a color selection that is deemed appropriate. Force Cloth/Leather folks to visit a Tailor to get the same. Once they interact with the tradeskiller for the appearance package that overwrites that craptastic color pallete they still have to repair it and can choose between using it or the kindergarten armor color from min-max'ing. It seems the developers wish to punish those that want to perform to the best and have the best gear in each slot. The armor set bonuses do not compensate for the lack of artistic development in gear for players wishing to imerse themselves in a Norrathian environment.

[Jenarie]

It makes sense to know what something looks like before you buy it (or loot it on a raid).  If you are out raiding and you kill a mob and discover his treasure chest, you will immediately know what color whatever is in there is.  It shouldn't be a surprise when you put it on unless it is named "rainbow chestplate of magical color shifting." If you are shopping at a broker, he's have the item to sell you so there is no reason you wouldn't be able to look at it.  Either way it just makes no sense not to know what something looks like before buying it. I chose my armor for the stats.  But usually there are two or even three choices that are similar and once I've picked the best 2-3 I'd definitely let looks make the final decision.  If there is one item that is clearly better I'd take the best item but if something is close and goes with my outfit then to me that's the way to go. I'd really love to hear from a dev if this idea is even possible... although as was mentioned above we already have something similar for the cloaks so maybe it wouldn't be that much harder to make it for all armor? And I totally agree with the person who said that we should be able to tell what furniture looks like before buying.  I think one reason people don't buy more furniture - especially the rares - is that they have no idea if that table is going to be really nice looking or ugly.  Is it going to be so tall they can't see over it or so short it looks more like a stool?  I think more people would get into decorating if they didn't need outside sources to be able to go shopping to equip the house with stuff that would be suitable for thier character. 

[Monkums]

<p>Amen to that!  Personally, I hate it when my armor doesn't match or at least coordinate between pieces.  When I briefly tried WoW this was one feature I definitely liked and wish EQ would implement.  Dye would be nice too some time in the future, but I can't say that I miss the Trolls wearing hot pink armor from EQ1... lol</p>

[mellowknees72]

I LOVE the idea of an "appearance slot". Not only could we better dictate how we look, but it would give tailors and armorers some more stuff to make and sell. As it is, my armorer is level 28 or so, and that's where she's staying. I don't see any economic benefit to grinding through levels at this point. But if there was armor that could be crafted strictly for appearance, maybe in several colors depending upon materials...she'd be back in business. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Appearance clothes should still look appropriate for the class and be made of appropriate materials (i.e. so that a plate wearer could not run around looking like he was wearing silk robe, or a mage in chain armor, etc)...one thing that this could do would be to eliminate monks looking like druids - we could still all wear the same armor, but the monk could have a gi look while the druid could have a leather/naturey armor appearance.

[Drewx]

<p>I agree with this thread.</p><p>A dressing room is a nessicessity! (I hope I spelled that right...I R intelligent...) Erhem! Nothing is worse than being a bad *bleep* Shadowknight equiping your awesome all black dark armor just for your pants to suddenly go bright luminous white...or teal blue.</p><p>Also this would make buying house items SO MUCH BETTER! I HATE buying a house item only for it to just not fit the style of my home at all. coughTeakbedscough</p><p>/Sign</p>

[vladsamier]

<p>Hrm, seems like more and more WoW features are being requested to be put into EQ2.</p><p>If I wanted to play a game where I tried to match my armor, play with hairstyles, and the lastest fashions, I'd go play with barbie dolls... err action figures.</p>

[liveja]

Slamdar@Oasis wrote: <blockquote><p>Hrm, seems like more and more WoW features are being requested to be put into EQ2.</p></blockquote>No, just the few that are actually worthwhile.

[selch]

<cite>Brigh wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>LOTRO has this feature.</p><p>You do something like Ctrl click and item and a window pops up showing you and what it looks like.</p></blockquote><p> Oh man, there has been a lot of "Wish that was in EQ2" features in that game during its beta. Not just that;</p><p>- Continious music that takes you into the world itself rather than silence after 30 seconds intro music in zones.</p><p>- Superbly designed air / weather / and clouds</p><p>- Massively nice water effect that takes color of air (aka not blue at nights)</p><p>- Making your own music and making orchestras</p><p>- "The Fars" , you could actually feel things from far, even blurred, even dashboard, they just don't pop... </p><p>- Something else to do beside combat</p><p>- Berzerkers (Champions) could not use shields, because they could duel wield </p><p>- Animals were not attacking like idiot to everyone passing by, they were threating first, </p><p>- Disproof of 'can't have fun after max level without raiding' ancient-urban-legend</p><p>[I cannot control my vocabulary]... EQ2 would be just too perfect with those...</p>

[selch]

Slamdar@Oasis wrote: <blockquote><p>Hrm, seems like more and more WoW features are being requested to be put into EQ2.</p><p>If I wanted to play a game where I tried to match my armor, play with hairstyles, and the lastest fashions, I'd go play with barbie dolls... err action figures.</p></blockquote> Er.. or you can just play any FPS where you don't see yourself or your appearance does not matter at all. Beside those features were already at a SOE game, SWG way before than WoW. Can we assume you just got T rating after WoW released?

[Jenarie]

Can we please discuss the <i><b>issues</b></i> and not each other?  Don't want Grim to have to lock this thread again. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Chay]

Seems like a reasonable nice feature that just about everyone wants. To me quality of appearance is important for immersion into the game (yes, I said this somewhere else but I'll repeat myself). If everything looks herky jerky then it distracts, detracts, and makes the game less desirable to play.

[Rheem]

<p>I would like to see an ingame mechanic to inspect what things would look like, both equipment and house items.</p><p> Equally, I would like to see an Equipment Dyer npc, that could change the color of one piece of equipment at a time, for about the cost that it would take to repair that item from 0% (That way, high end armor costs more and low end costs less, so low levels can do their armor cheaply but the amount isn't trivial for higher level characters who are possibly raid equipped.)</p>