Personally I wouldnt mind seeing a few more eastern inspired armor modles, im not saying that they need to go all crazy with it but a lot of the armor in this game has been getting quite boring and straping on big sholder pads with spikes comming out of it isnt making it any more intersting. I think what I would really like to see at this point would be more creative uses of the 1 piece appearence clothing type armor, somehting simular to the city armor formal ensemble but not just the recolor of that same modle we keep seeing but something all new. As far as new armor comming into the game with the expansion, I expect most of it to be little more than a new texture pasted on some little patterns running through the pieces and the such, oh yeah and more big sholder stuff and fluff hats *shrug*
shaunfletcher wrote: The reason they focused on shoulders, helms and 'back items' is because they can do them quickly. New legs and BPs, along with gloves, are what take the lions share of development time. These items all have large amounts of movements that need to be accounted for, while helms and 'back items' have none. The items for these slots are static. Shoulders are a little different. The way they do shoulders is a result of the system they implemented instead of teh model upgrades. They basically take an existing shoulder design, 'snap-on' a graphic to the shoulder area (skulls, as an example), color it and call it a day. If they are making new legs and BPs, they may we well make entire new appearances.
Sennyu wrote: I would not be too surprised to see just that. Have you seen the panda people at the SOE Art Portal? I'm hoping that similarly eastern-inspired gear will find its way into the loot tables.
Ke'la, I understand the dev spoke of new items. The comments you highlighted were in response to feldon and lethe, who specifically said models, not items. As for modifying existing stuff to create new models, i would agree as long as they are changing the original geometry of the item, for instance adding pauldrons. Reskinning a model does not equate to a "change" however.
Vulkoor@Antonia Bayle wrote: I agree that reskining while it is a new item, and more of a new item then recoloring, it is not a new model. That is why I have said all along that the current model count is around 100ish, including every differant armor piece from Launch until june. With snap-ons and things like Asemetric armor I can see them changing the shape of around 100 models, and that would infact double the number of models from 100ish to 200ish. I am not saying this is a panacia and suddenly we will have as many armor options as a game like WoW or Aion, I am just saying we will have many more models then we had befor. Now think of all the differant armor looks(reskins, recolors, and models) we can get now with only about 100 models...I think we might see some really cool stuff in the future, or perhaps not, depending on how easy the newer stuff is to reskin/color. All the above said we this won't end until the NDA is lifted so until then everything is moot.
Sigrdrifa@Lucan DLere wrote: Sigrdrifa, I honor you about your attempt to capture the spirit or feel of some outfits from other games. Your examples are very similar to the armors which I quoted. But sadly I can't help but saying.... Almost of them are repaints of old armors. There isn't enough variety of armors in this game. You showed that we can get the armors similar to armors of other MMOs by combining existing armors of EQ2. But it's the same thing every time. That is, repaints of same armor. But I honor you.
You know its funny you mention recolors... All the old armor (TSO release and older) was able to be recolored by the client. Most pieces had two color arrays associated with it so they could color the two parts seperately- ie: armor trim and plate colors. This allowed for a large variety with few textures. From what I have seen since TSO, the devs seem to be going the opposite direction now. Almost all the new armor sets (the 65 I spoke of earlier) are not recolorable at all... instead they are just adding lots of new textures. I think this will definately help with variety in armors as now we won't look like different painted clones of each other.
kela wrote: Adding snap ons to existing armor models does not count as a new model, it counts as a pathetic try to make something look new by making it look rediculous instead of just making a new model.
Lethe5683 wrote: Im sorry but a new helmet and shoulders is a new model of a helmet and shoulders. Believe me when I say i dont like it much either, and indeed as you mentioned its done because those are the easy ones to add (helmets are now they cheat by making them so big hey cover all races heads that is, and shoulders now they moved the attachment point outwards so they dont have to sort out mesh conflicts.) It IS shortcutting and avoiding the hard stuff.. but a new model is a new model no matter how you spin it.
shaunfletcher wrote: I said snap ons are not new models. New models are new models. Snap ons are adding things to existing models, like the stipid big shoulders that most of th TSO armor has.
Nero wrote: Look closely at a lot of games with 'variety'. Aion for example. I once saw a SS where someone was touting their large variety of armor. Almost all of the female armors on the page (there were probably at least 15 sets they showed) could be broken down into 3-4 basic models recolored with horns/spikes/feathers stuck in different places. Feathers in a different spot in a different shade does not true variety make. They were all far skimpier than the male versions (which annoys me, personally. I don't mind skimpy but I hate when they look so much different on males than females). I am NOT saying I don't want EQ2 to make more models and offer a wider variety (I've been asking for that since release =) ) but what a lot of people see as variety is really the same basic thing we see in EQ2 just with a different style of armor. Somehow the recolors and snap ons are more accepted as "variety" when the armors are more fanciful than when it has a realistic lean. I'm not sure why. One thing that could be interesting is if they added in racial styles of armor. They wouldn't need to restrict them to any particular race but just have sets that could be made in say Feir'Dal style decorated in a style that lends itself to the forest. Oggokian or Grobbian looking more rough and fierce, spikes and skulls perhaps (remembering the skulls on the ogre armor in Eq1). I'd be pleased as punch if they added in new helms. I rather miss the human dragon head/wing helm my ranger had back during Velious in Eq1, the antlered helm of the woodelves, the cat looking one the highelves had etc. You can even see helms that look much like these in the concept loading art you see when you zone in game.
Lethe5683 wrote: If you strip-off the Texture map and the coloring, and it is still differant then the item it was based on, then it is infact a new item... unless your saying Orinal armor is exsactly the same as european armor, cause it is the "Snap-on" bits that make up the differance between the two styles.
Snap-ons are not used to modify armor. The only "snap-ons" currently in game are the backpacks and armbands (which haven't been released yet, to my knowledge) Pauldrons are modified versions of other arm model geometries, and are therefore new models.
The nitty gritty details of what a snapon is or isn't seem like something that you might profitably direct to the art team. The SOE Art Portal has a Facebook and Twitter page also.
Lethe5683 wrote: So you are saying that Asian and European Mid-evil armor both are the same cause, the only real differances are the "Snap-On" bits.
Lethe5683 wrote: Yep, totaly rediculous: Reproduction of the Last Samurai Armor Bertus Medieval Scottish Armor ::EDIT:: BTW, those pictures took about 30sec to find.
