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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Disable Transmog/Cosmetics
Zeterium
Member, Alpha Two
I think it would be very cool if there was an option for individual accounts to disable the transmog/cosmetics. That way the player can make their character look however they want but other players have the option to just view the real art of the gear.
One of my favorite aspects of MMOs in the past was visual progression, finding that upgrade that makes your character look that little bit cooler. Knowing if you stand a chance in PVP when you see someone coming towards you based on their gear.
I also find that transmog/cosmetic heavy MMOs tend to lack interesting gear throughout the leveling process. Oftentimes new pieces of gear are just a different color of the same model.
I feel like if players have the option to wear fake gear to add to their role play immersion I should have the option to turn it off for mine.
One of my favorite aspects of MMOs in the past was visual progression, finding that upgrade that makes your character look that little bit cooler. Knowing if you stand a chance in PVP when you see someone coming towards you based on their gear.
I also find that transmog/cosmetic heavy MMOs tend to lack interesting gear throughout the leveling process. Oftentimes new pieces of gear are just a different color of the same model.
I feel like if players have the option to wear fake gear to add to their role play immersion I should have the option to turn it off for mine.
7
Comments
The only place that should turn off cosmetics is the large scale events like sieges where there’s a reason for more anonymity as a baseline. Very simply, you can’t sell someone something that others can turn off.
I guess my main argument is that cosmetics and transmog take away from the enjoyment of gear progression (for me) and takes away from the immersion of the individual gear pieces having their own unique appearances with meaning other than cosmetics. You can visually see a piece of armor and know if it’s got high stamina or strength or if it’s more for mana or mage builds. While a cosmetic skin or transmog is strictly visual with no indication of the stats applied to the character.
I love seeing a big axe and knowing it’s powerful instead of the (I would say rare exceptions) that like to transmog their gear to look incredibly weak or funny to hide their power level.
Just a thought and an idea to leave more options to allow players to play the way that they prefer.
You've tried to make it look that way, but I imagine the actual main argument boils down to this bit:
"Knowing if you stand a chance in PVP when you see someone coming towards you based on their gear.
Intrepid have said that there will be inspection tools, so you'll still be able to pick your gank-targets. And, once you're attacking them, they likely won't have time to inspect your own gear, so you'll still have the advantage you want.
I had already suggested this back then at another time, right ? It should indeed be an Option if some People are so inclined to have it. Make it so that People - (who have most likely not bought any Pre-Order Cosmetics) - can decide for themself if they want to be able to "see" the Comsetics of other Players.
Then we will have most likely salty Topics like " Look here !! Dygz's/Hinotories/Aszkalons/etc.'s true Looks of their Characters " or so : when they make Screenshots of whatever Cosmetics our Characters wore at the time being deactivated.
Because i have truly the impression of these slightly bitter and salty Vibes here. No Gen-Z-pun intended. Maybe if that Option would be withheld, it should be withheld only so to increase the butthurt more of everyone who would hate to see Cosmetics on someone else.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Guild is " Balderag's Garde " for now. (German)
Well it is prety bad ass i will give you that.
But i do agree with OP.
If not then I think it's fine. I just want the build and class to somewhat match the apperance, atleast with armor type. If someone wants to transmog their gear to lvl 1 cloth on a lvl 50 mage it's all good. I still know it's a lvl 50 mage i'm fighting.
I think it's a good part of the game that you can appear weak when you are strong. It adds an extra layer of mindgames and roleplay.
I do not like the idea of some people seeing version A and others see version B.
I apologize I didn’t mean to make it appear I had sinister intentions hidden behind other reasons. But no, PVP is not what I’m looking forward to in Ashes. Haven’t PVPd in an MMO since 2014 and I just remember that aspect of transmog being an annoyance so I added it to the list. It really just ruins immersion running around questing low level zones and someone in the same gear looks like a fully kitted legendary end game character while I am wearing rags.
You kidding they not going to kill their cash cow!
Some games I'm familiar with would lose players without being able to disable some of the immersion-breaking cosmetics (World of Warships for example) and others have decided cosmetics affect PVP negatively (Albion Online) but for a game like this I think it is important that players be able to make their player look how they like.
What if I said it ruins my immersion when players aren't allowed their full bandwidth of expression when creating their character ... regardless of what level they are?
The whole point of cosmetics is to be seen by other players.
Allowing the option to "turn off" your appearance devalues the in-game achievement (or cash shop purchase).
Whatever term is given for the cash shop, I think most agree that it's not unique to Ashes of Creation. It's a trend amongst many MMOs that isn't going away anytime soon.
Fortunately, the devs have promised many in-game achievables that will be similar (or in some instances better) to what's in the cash shop.
That said. I do want an option to toggle it off. I'll write down some quick bullet points. I could elaborate on each one. But I'm sure it'll be easy to follow. These are reasons why I would be against a transmog system
Class Identification
Gear Level Assessment
Consistency with Lore and World-Building
Visual Representation of Achievements
Gear as a Status Symbol
Fairness in PvP by Reducing Deception
Skill vs. Appearance
Visual Consistency
Earning Your Look
These are all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there's others. But all these things, in one way or another, have been very important to me in the past, most of them still are.
Ah yes, so they can disable /spit emotes
Also most of the cosmetics they sold are NPC gear. To me it sounds like the player wearing said gear would want an NPC nameplate if they intended to use the cosmetics to role play or are using it as a disguise to infiltrate a node. I think the novelty of the cosmetic wears off pretty quickly, especially if there’s better gear to be acquired in game. All it really says is “I bought this limited time cosmetic” or “I paid real money for this rather than earn it through gameplay”.
Class is going to show on the player's name plate. There's no hiding that. Weapons are going to be visible no matter what the costume. Armor type?...we don't know.
I believe IS wants some level of deception. Hence hiding exact health amount or %. They want you to be unsure if you overgear someone before you attack them. Using D&D terms: is that a +1 longsword or a +5 longsword? You don't know, and that's the point. Mess with them if you really want to find out.
If someone is ganking (by tricking others to go purple, not getting corruption), then I think there should be a way for another player to pretend to be weak and try to turn the tables on them.
At the endgame you'll learn who matters and who doesn't by their name anyway.