Disappointing gear design.

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Atama said:

 TERA Online is really hard to enjoy when I can’t tell if the game is set in a legit fantasy world or a wacky anything-goes cartoon.

Well if that's true, then its better for the game, if you not play with it. Player of that quality only going to ruin it anyway. Complaining about 1000th rate problems is **** and shows childish thinking...

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I think we agree on this @Atama. I want an internal consistent logic to pervade in all areas of the game. I really think if they give that damn teddy bear mount a believable back story i can accept it, but i am afraid that it will open up all the silly french maid outfits and stupid pool toys that you see in games like Tera and Aion. 

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Xontian said:

I think we agree on this @Atama. I want an internal consistent logic to pervade in all areas of the game. I really think if they give that damn teddy bear mount a believable back story i can accept it, but i am afraid that it will open up all the silly french maid outfits and stupid pool toys that you see in games like Tera and Aion. 

Doesn't matter what backstory they give. If they put it into the game, then afterwards ANY kind of costume is lore friendly, and the immersion defenders lost any right to complain, as if a thing like that allowed, then pretty much anything else is also allowed by their immersion, including a maid uniform.

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Would i prefer that put more thought into the Cosmetics they are introducing? Yes i would but Teddy Ruxpin is already promised. It will happen so they should at least try to jam it into the lore and next time think harder about this kind of cutesy nonsense.

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I like the design alot, but could use more variety or something original

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Dream Outfit

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AutumnLeaf said:

Dream Outfit

if that you playing as a bard ^^

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I wish I could give a thumbs up to this post even more!

When I backed the game, I was under the assumption that this game would be more Witcher-esque and less Asian MMORPG as all of the early videos portrayed this. I know I would not have backed as high as I did had I known they were going with the art style that they are as it is a MASSIVE put off for me.

Hopefully the mechanics are good enough to keep me enthralled because this art style definitely doesn't do it.

I wish this thread would be more then just be a venting for our frustrations but I firmly believe that Steven is intent on creating ArcheAge 2 and thus this Western Asian MMORPG in art style.

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I definitely hope there are some simpler designs in the works for those who want to look less like a noble.  Actually I am hoping for a wide variety from simple to complicated, modest to skimpy, profession gear to leisure, so that everyone can get what makes them feel more "into" the story.

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We have seen like 5 Armors out of thousands of Armors available. And you guys snap because you don't like the look of one or two of those.
All Races are going to have different Armor.
So we have at least 9 Styles of Armor.
Don't like the Elven Armor? well then go Dwarf or Orc or etc.
Not all Races can look like Witcher gear.

I actually think the shown Ranger Armor would fit in the Witcher World and doesn't look like Asian MMORPG:


And i think somewhere was said that there will be options for dirty/used look armor. So you can decide if you have new shiny armor or used dirty armor.
Can't find the reference though... going to look look for it and add it here.
Maybe someone can help me out with this?

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I think if you look at all the available armor previews, we are looking at a pretty nice range. From something more "Earth Real" to something close but not quite "Asian Fantasy".  As shown by @Augentier The archer preview shows the former and the Alpha 1 armor and a few others lean more to the later.

Personally I don't mind armor that tends more to the fantastical, after all this world has materials unavailable in reality, not to mention magic.  What matters is that those armors are "real" for this world.  Running into battle half-naked (man or woman) doesn't make sense regardless but the idea that a prim and proper character would have overly ornate and magically up kept armor is perfectly reasonable.  As long as the range of armors gives us the abiity to reflect a certain functional reality for combat (coverage etc) and personality reality (plain, ornate, bright or subdued) then we really shouldn't have an issue. At least from what I have seen so far, I think we are on the path to getting those.

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@Augentier I agree and that ranger armor as well as the old soldier armor was amazing and what I personally looked for but here is the thing how many of those were just place holders? We already know that those armors were on the old character models so I highly doubt they will be updated to work with the new ones.

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@Aggelos I understand your concern. From the perspective of progress of the game and creating thousands of Armors it doesn't make sense to discard a finished design.

Even if they need to adapt the armor to the new character models. Thats easier than beginning from nothing an designing a new armor set. 

If they showed us a new mount next week would you assume that the previously shown mounts are not in the game? I don't think so.  So why assume that  for armor?

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Augentier said:

@Aggelos I understand your concern. From the perspective of progress of the game and creating thousands of Armors it doesn't make sense to discard a finished design.

Even if they need to adapt the armor to the new character models. Thats easier than beginning from nothing an designing a new armor set. 

If they showed us a new mount next week would you assume that the previously shown mounts are not in the game? I don't think so.  So why assume that  for armor?

For the exact reason you stated my friend. If adapting already created armor would be easier then creating new, why would they create all the new models without first adapting the ones that hey supposedly already had?

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I still wish there was no cash shop with it's "specialty" armor and skins. In order to make it worth paying for the developer needs to make each new skin more over-the-top than what's already in the game. Leading to ludicrous race to the bottom at the expense of immersion.

But I realize that ship has long since sailed, been attacked by a kraken, and sank to the bottom of the sea.

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nagash said:

AutumnLeaf said:

Dream Outfit

if that you playing as a bard ^^

It's a ninja outfit...duuuuuuuh

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You have outfits like this

and this

I would say there is a great deal of overall diversity at least from a concept art perspective

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And this ^^

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And this as Vek armor i think:

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Oh and i found the reference about dirty armor i was looking for, for all people complaining about the shiny armor:
https://aocwiki.net/Player_Customization

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Wow, that Vek armor looks like it'd be awful in a low-ceilinged dungeon. There's like 14 inches of crap on top of that helmet.

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danjohnson3141 said:

Wow, that Vek armor looks like it'd be awful in a low-ceilinged dungeon. There's like 14 inches of crap on top of that helmet.

well it is called stargazer for a reason ^^

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danjohnson3141 said:

I still wish there was no cash shop with it's "specialty" armor and skins. In order to make it worth paying for the developer needs to make each new skin more over-the-top than what's already in the game. Leading to ludicrous race to the bottom at the expense of immersion.

But I realize that ship has long since sailed, been attacked by a kraken, and sank to the bottom of the sea.

I don't think it will be a race to the bottom.  You can have designs continue to be unique and different and appeal to certain groups of players and have a fully functioning cash shop without everything being over the top.  I think if you look to most of the concept are for what is being offered in the shop now, it shows that range.  Its definitely possible but not a foregone conclusion. 

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danjohnson3141 said:

I still wish there was no cash shop with it's "specialty" armor and skins. In order to make it worth paying for the developer needs to make each new skin more over-the-top than what's already in the game. Leading to ludicrous race to the bottom at the expense of immersion.

But I realize that ship has long since sailed, been attacked by a kraken, and sank to the bottom of the sea.

I don't think it will be a race to the bottom.  You can have designs continue to be unique and different and appeal to certain groups of players and have a fully functioning cash shop without everything being over the top.  I think if you look to most of the concept are for what is being offered in the shop now, it shows that range.  Its definitely possible but not a foregone conclusion. 

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Nefelia said:

I'm working under the assumption that AoC is eventually going to have a large variety of designs to choose from. They did, after all, mention that each race will have its own aesthetic.

Rather than complaining about the look of the very limited options at the start of Alpha, we should be making suggestions as to what kind of designs we would like to see from the game at launch.

We could even include screenshots for clarity (and for the benefit of those who haven't played every game being mentioned).

I disagree. What they showed us is not only specific gear design but what is more important they showed us the artistic direction they take with gear design and it's important to discuss it. If what they are showing us is not what will end up in the final game then what they doing is plain and simple false advertising. If what they showed is true and this art style will end up influencing final design then we NEED TO discuss the validity of this art style especially since people already paid money for this unfinished game. 

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Augentier said:

Oh and i found the reference about dirty armor i was looking for, for all people complaining about the shiny armor:
https://aocwiki.net/Player_Customization

But it's not only about clean or dirty. What they showed us so far is over the top glamour designs which doesn't have anything to do with armour you would actually wear into the combat and that the main issue.  

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SaintJ said:

Elfs are not known for their gritty armor style, they tent to have highly stylized approach to clothing. 

Just because some game designers make elves look like drag queens it doesn't mean you can't make elven inspired armour set which is both aesthetically pleasing and practical at the same time. A good example of this type of design is elven armour set created by Bethesda for one of their ESO Sorcerer characters: 

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@JinxTheGamer I agree that the Armor you have shown is nice and would be good to see something like that in the game.
Why exatly do you think, that elves look like drag queens?
Especially this looks like normal elven Armor to me:

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Augentier said:

@JinxTheGamer I agree that the Armor you have shown is nice and would be good to see something like that in the game.
Why exatly do you think, that elves look like drag queens?
Especially this looks like normal elven Armor to me:

Yes, it looks like more "normal" elven design but someone said that elven gear is not known for gritty style while it's simply not true.  I've seen plenty of elven inspired gritty and rough looking content. 
A fundamental problem with any in-game gear design is that most people make armour to look a certain way and not do what it should do which is protecting the wearer.  That's why we end up with so many games where e.g elves wear tones of cloth and leather but hardly any plate armour and the same issue is with light classes in any RPG/MMORPG game. If you think mage, sorcerer, etc. you won't see any plating on their armour and that's a fatal flaw in any gear design.
A good example of how bad it can get is the modding community for Skyrim where pretty much entire modding community turned Skyrim in the sex game with slut gear behind every corner. The same thing happens to most MMORPGs and same things i can see in this game. 

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