Greetings, glorious adventurers! If you're joining in our Alpha One spot testing, please follow the steps here to see all the latest test info on our forums and Discord!
Options
Wardrobe: Transmogging in the Ashes Player Economy
Kesarakk
Member, Braver of Worlds, Alpha One
I saw a similar post to this and decided to write one of my own.
Transmog is an important part of the immersion, to which I think a majority of players can agree. We stare at our avatars for several hours a day and I don't think it's too much to ask to allow players to dress how they like. However, there should be restrictions and I'll go over those before we get to the fun, nerdy side of this post.
Restrictions: NO LEGENDARY ITEMS
One thing that killed World of Warcraft: Legion, for me, was the introduction of the Artifact system. For those that did not play Legion, players were taken through the introductory questline and sent to find a weapon of power to stop the demon invasion. As a holy paladin, I was excited for this because my weapon was The Silver Hand, a massive two-headed Warhammer. Given that this was my favorite weapon to use in games, I jumped all over it. This particular artifact isn't, or wasn't, very well known in the community and felt unique. After I achieved this weapon I was sent back to the Paladin Sanctuary where I could show off my new weapon. Then reality hit me. As I looked around half the other paladins had the exact weapon I did. The other half had one of the most legendary and well-known weapons in the entire game: The Ashbringer. This left a sour taste in my mouth. These iconic weapons in the WoW Lore had been given out like candy to every single player and for me that killed the whole experience.
If an item is of legendary quality, I don't believe players should be able to wear them once that item has been degraded beyond use. I do think we should have special racks placed inside player housing to showcase these achieved items, but players should not be able to wear them if they are not equipped.
The System: Player Economy First!
One thing that annoys me about other transmog systems is the gold sink. Players spend hundreds, sometimes thousands, of gold to change their appearance, and that gold is just deleted by the system. Fine, no issue with that. It's your gold, spend it how you want. However, I think we can make a stronger economy by keeping that gold in the market rather than having the system delete it after use. So, here is what I propose!
Carpenters - This artisan should be able to craft the Wardrobe with several enhancement slots. These slots could mean storage space, repair station, or weapon enchantment alterations. These Wardrobes can be placed inside an artisan kiosk that players can use for a flat fee (The fee going to the artisan that invested in the Wardrobe). The Wardrobe can also be placed inside all player housing including Guild Halls (Since it is the player's personal item there is no fee). To accompany the Wardrobe, Carpenters should also be able to make storage crates/suitcases for additional storage that can be attached to the Wardrobe.
Scribes- These guys specialize in inks and paper, so it only makes sense for them to be the ones to craft dyes. They should also be able to make Scrolls of Glamour to allow players to change the appearance of their gear.
Alchemists - These bad boys can craft the Aura Orb, which allows players to place spell animations of certain items (Weapon, Backpiece, Helm).
Smiths/Tailors (All Types) - Can make a toolbox (can't think of a cool name), which can be placed inside the Wardrobe to enable repairs. These toolboxes will require reagents of the item you wish to repair. This one will obviously be limited. After a certain point, you will probably have to go to these artisan players for a full repair or replacement, but this saves time if your raid is about to start and no artisan is online.
As you can see, this Wardrobe system touches most of the artisan classes and not just the crafters, but the gatherers and processers as well. When adding the ability for kiosks to hold the Wardrobe, you give access to players who are either the nomad type, so they aren't punished for their playstyle or the late raider who needs to run in and out for repairs. Further, having a Wardrobe inside a kiosk will also trigger the buyer's curiosity, as they will most likely see what items that player has to sell in order to enhance their own collection. And if that artisan player doesn't have an item, the player might ask them and now the player who was just stopping by to mog now becomes a valued patron of the artisan.
A system similar to this would, in my opinion, add to the game. Not only are you bringing the community together with the various parts for one station, but you're engaging with these players over and over again, especially the scribes, and more importantly the dedicated kiosk owners who spend their time making the items for us to explore, raid, and defend our nodes.
Transmog is an important part of the immersion, to which I think a majority of players can agree. We stare at our avatars for several hours a day and I don't think it's too much to ask to allow players to dress how they like. However, there should be restrictions and I'll go over those before we get to the fun, nerdy side of this post.
Restrictions: NO LEGENDARY ITEMS
One thing that killed World of Warcraft: Legion, for me, was the introduction of the Artifact system. For those that did not play Legion, players were taken through the introductory questline and sent to find a weapon of power to stop the demon invasion. As a holy paladin, I was excited for this because my weapon was The Silver Hand, a massive two-headed Warhammer. Given that this was my favorite weapon to use in games, I jumped all over it. This particular artifact isn't, or wasn't, very well known in the community and felt unique. After I achieved this weapon I was sent back to the Paladin Sanctuary where I could show off my new weapon. Then reality hit me. As I looked around half the other paladins had the exact weapon I did. The other half had one of the most legendary and well-known weapons in the entire game: The Ashbringer. This left a sour taste in my mouth. These iconic weapons in the WoW Lore had been given out like candy to every single player and for me that killed the whole experience.
If an item is of legendary quality, I don't believe players should be able to wear them once that item has been degraded beyond use. I do think we should have special racks placed inside player housing to showcase these achieved items, but players should not be able to wear them if they are not equipped.
The System: Player Economy First!
One thing that annoys me about other transmog systems is the gold sink. Players spend hundreds, sometimes thousands, of gold to change their appearance, and that gold is just deleted by the system. Fine, no issue with that. It's your gold, spend it how you want. However, I think we can make a stronger economy by keeping that gold in the market rather than having the system delete it after use. So, here is what I propose!
Carpenters - This artisan should be able to craft the Wardrobe with several enhancement slots. These slots could mean storage space, repair station, or weapon enchantment alterations. These Wardrobes can be placed inside an artisan kiosk that players can use for a flat fee (The fee going to the artisan that invested in the Wardrobe). The Wardrobe can also be placed inside all player housing including Guild Halls (Since it is the player's personal item there is no fee). To accompany the Wardrobe, Carpenters should also be able to make storage crates/suitcases for additional storage that can be attached to the Wardrobe.
Scribes- These guys specialize in inks and paper, so it only makes sense for them to be the ones to craft dyes. They should also be able to make Scrolls of Glamour to allow players to change the appearance of their gear.
Alchemists - These bad boys can craft the Aura Orb, which allows players to place spell animations of certain items (Weapon, Backpiece, Helm).
Smiths/Tailors (All Types) - Can make a toolbox (can't think of a cool name), which can be placed inside the Wardrobe to enable repairs. These toolboxes will require reagents of the item you wish to repair. This one will obviously be limited. After a certain point, you will probably have to go to these artisan players for a full repair or replacement, but this saves time if your raid is about to start and no artisan is online.
As you can see, this Wardrobe system touches most of the artisan classes and not just the crafters, but the gatherers and processers as well. When adding the ability for kiosks to hold the Wardrobe, you give access to players who are either the nomad type, so they aren't punished for their playstyle or the late raider who needs to run in and out for repairs. Further, having a Wardrobe inside a kiosk will also trigger the buyer's curiosity, as they will most likely see what items that player has to sell in order to enhance their own collection. And if that artisan player doesn't have an item, the player might ask them and now the player who was just stopping by to mog now becomes a valued patron of the artisan.
A system similar to this would, in my opinion, add to the game. Not only are you bringing the community together with the various parts for one station, but you're engaging with these players over and over again, especially the scribes, and more importantly the dedicated kiosk owners who spend their time making the items for us to explore, raid, and defend our nodes.
1
Comments
Basically a player will be able to "sacrifice" an item to this glamour dresser, permanently making it unusable. In exchange you will now be able to swap to that cosmetic look from any glamour dresser in the game, regardless of location. This allows players to collect without the issue of storage space, but also makes sure this system cannot be used to teleport items across the world.
Also, since the item is gone completely this becomes an actual material and gold sink that will impact the economy, though some could argue this might be a bad thing. A possible solution for this would be to make the transmog cost similar to repairing an item. A percentage of the materials used for the crafting of the original item will be needed to transmog it onto a piece of gear. I would start with making this a 2 to 5% cost, and see how that feels.