Guild Wars 2

Crafted armor all looks the same. This is the largest disappointment I have with the game since it released last year. You have 5 tiers, each with 3 sub tiers. I understand it could have been several more months of development, but I would like to see more choices of EASILY crafted armor.

I had hoped some of GW1 armor, or similar, would make its way in, and I believe it would be nice to see it make its way in the game through this. I would like to see the second fine and (or at least) the masterwork sub tiers swapped out with different styles that lean more towards GW1 (this would also provide the balance of attractive/sexy armors- cough GW1 elementalist cough- compared to the bland/practical ones you can already craft).

I understand why the armor went this way (to cater to the naysayers for the chainmail bikini of other games, something I never felt actually applied to GW1- except maybe some of the light armor which I liked anyway). But when learning about the game I was told there would be a balance, as it stands I don’t see this balance. There’s about 7 times as many visually bulky/busy ‘light’, 10 times as many bulky/busy ‘medium’, and 5 times as many bulky/busy ‘heavy’ armor pieces compared to slimming ones and even fewer evocative ones. Don’t believe me? Wiki the armor sets for light human female versus elementalist/necromancer of GW1. This was NEVER a problem in GW1. I usually mix and match, but I don’t like ‘bulky’ so I’m left with little options. The actual character models are so much better than GW1, I just don’t understand why the armor consistently hides that on all armor groups. I long for GW1 armors, but prefer the gameplay of GW2…

It would be nice to see more armor variety, but I disagree on some points. In Guild Wars 1, it was virtually impossible to get a modest or practical set of light female armor. ALL the light armor was sexualized, except for obsidian and ancient—both of which were expensive and hard to get. As for the medium and heavy armor, even the sets that didn’t show a lot of flesh still molded to the shape of the woman’s breasts and butt to sexualize her.
Guild Wars 2 is lacking in armor design—especially medium armor, which is all coats. And yes, I would love to see some Guild Wars 1 armors come back—they were classics. But, as a whole, I would prefer if they put out a good deal of modest/practical armor as well as sexy gear.
Honestly, I think the ideal would be that, of all the new armor they release, 50% is sexy and 50% is not—divided evenly across the classes. And a sexy outfit should be sexy on both genders… none of this 100% covering robes for a man=a string bikini for a woman. If the lady gets the string bikini, her male equivalent needs a codpiece and vise versa.
But yeah, overall, the armor designers need to branch out and incorporate new styles and feels to what they release. I would love to see stuff like the elite tattoo, obsidian, and starter armor for GW1 necromancers. And scar patterns for faces!

I agree with you mostly, (mainly the elementalist as the biggest offender), but monks/necros/mesmers (the other original ‘light’ armor wearers) had plenty of more or less modest attire (even if it did accentuate the female form, I actually think Mesmer was the flip side to balance the elementalists). And I’m not advocating more super short skirts (though some other than the starter would be nice since it’s dying is funky), but pants. I’m really tired of the only way to see my characters legs is from the front view (men and women). And I do agree that some of the heavy sets were top heavy (like elite Templar or was it knight?) on women since they had no leg coverings even though they should have. Kurzik and Sunspear showed very little actual flesh but looked good. I was just expecting more of that, especially for medium armor, based on the styles in GW1.

I also think with future expansions GW1 was getting it right. The ritualists (I remember) had pretty similar armor for men and women for each set. Same with paragons (in fact theirs was pretty much identical). And I also completely agree that the medium armor is TOO full of trench coats. Too many skirts in heavy/light too many coats in medium. 50/50 was, I thought, how it was going to be when they talked about a balance to style preference. So far it isn’t. The heavy armor especially disgusted me as I crafted through it, it all looked like tubes of metal on the chest and most actually fit men’s physique better than women’s.

From here on out it would be nice to be 50/50, preferably two sets released each time for each type (even if that means they come out twice as slow). But unfortunately the only way new sets are being released is through the gem store or as the next tier of armor (which is annoying and unnecessary).

I also know that a lot of the classes in GW1 did have that one or two for females that were over the top, and (not surprisingly) popular. But where GW2 all share the same styles across the professions, it leaves a stale ‘been there done that’ look across my characters.

I really think that scanty armor on both genders is how it should go.

More diversity in general would be really great.
I don’t have a problem with sexualized armor and use it exclusively for my light armor characters. I definitely think that the player should be able to choose to have classy/modest/beautiful armor which aren’t garbage types.