Guild Wars 2

How to improve models/graphics to make them more visually interesting and have a ‘OMG’ factor.

First, I want to clarify that I think the graphics in GW2 are AMAZING. The environments and towns, cities, places, etc are breathtaking. The character models are great and even most of the weapons are armors are great…

…but…

I have to say, I feel something is ‘lacking’ in terms of the visuals and overall design of the armors and weapons.

Most to myself and my friends I play with feel very ‘underwhelmed’ when we look at them. We feel that the armor sets and weapons pretty much are one reason many people aren’t trying for them at 80 and have put down the game.

They just aren’t that ‘stunning’ or ‘amazing’ to grind, farm or attempt to acquire. We were talking about this last night on skype while in LA and looking at a lot of max level players. The general consensus was ‘meh’.

I think it comes down to the over-use of hyper-realism on the models/armors and the color schemes, etc…and also..even color scheme/dyes.

One thing that World of Warcraft has always done is a good job of making Tier Armor sets and weapons VERY nice looking over the last 3+ years and making them not only stand out but also making the weapons stand out more even though they have ‘less’ to work with in their engine.

Right now, in GW2, I’ve looked at most of the armor sets and weapons and honestly the weapons just look bland and plain for the most part. Take for example all of the shots from this site

http://dulfy.net/2012/07/21/gw2-armor-previews/

and then lets take WoW’s Tier 14….even though it’s opinion, to my friends and I (and none of us are playing WoW but we still follow it), these WoW sets stand out over anything in GW2. Even has commented on how good the T14 sets look and that they wish GW2 armors and weapons were better looking.

Armors
http://www.wowhead.com/news=203825/mists-of-pandaria-build-15739-tier-14-tons-of-items-loading-screens-and-more

Weapons
http://deazeroth.blogspot.com/2012/03/mists-of-pandaria-beta-new-weapon.html

Obviously WoW is working with less polygons but somehow they make their gear just better looking overall…it’s actually their strength.

Take for example the GW2 Nightmare 2H sword. It’s not only a very badly done model, but the texture and skin on it is god awful.

I think farming out a lot of the ‘art’ and ‘modeling’ to various 3d designers that they did created very different qualities and looks in armor and weapons and the cohesive work of a dedicate group would have been better….more like what WoW has.

I hope GW2 artists don’t take offense, but I think they could do a better job with the armors and weapons. They just are not on par with the environment teams work.

Make them more unique and less ‘average’ looking and spruce up the armors. Underwhelmed is an understatement when you look at say the human cultural weapons, etc.

Don’t go overboard on the poly counts and focus more on the ‘oh my god that is sooo amazing looking’ factor.

Lastly, we need enchantments and glow effects on our gear. That always helps make things look awesome.

Honestly, most of this boils down to personal preference and taste. I love most of the armour models, really, and I think most of it looks far better (and in tune with the GW universe) than WoW’s armour models.

Don’t go overboard on the poly counts and focus more on the ‘oh my god that is sooo amazing looking’ factor.

I get this feeling with a lot of armour sets. Again, personal preference and taste.

Lastly, we need enchantments and glow effects on our gear. That always helps make things look awesome.

I disagree heartily. To me, enchantment/glow effects end up making gear look bloated, especially when they’re just heaped on for the “cool” factor. Perhaps a toggle option would be best, if more wish to see it. Something akin to hiding armour, but hiding the effects instead.

That’s a highly subjective viewpoint, I fear. I myself am head over heels in love with the realistic designs. I played WoW for 7 years (only just stopped) and when I see the horrible who-would-wear-that-socially-let-alone-in-a-FIGHT? stuff I have to avert my eyes and zoom my camera out.

I don’t want everything glowing and huge and impossible to actually use or even stand up in. While I won’t say I like every set of GW2 armor or weapons (not at all psyched for Twilight or Furnace gear, and those green twiny bramble things that claim to be useful swords can take a hike), I like a much higher percentage of them than I do in what WoW has to offer. I am drooling for the chance to get every single Seraph cultural weapon because I’d add them to a RL collection in a heartbeat.

One person’s awesome is another person’s dull (as you find realism) or tacky (as I find huge things that glow), I’m afraid. The aesthetic of the game is what it is. As well stated as your post is, I hope they don’t listen to you -smiles-.

Like you said, all art is opinion/personal taste Donari…and let me say there are many ‘cool’ sets in the game, I don’t disagree with you there.

I remember when WoW came out, many people didn’t like it compared to EQ2 but overall, the art grew on people because it had it’s own unique look and style an the ‘mannequin’ look for EQ2 really showed how bad it was.

Luckily GW2 isn’t mannequin like, but it is lacking some in more ‘oomph’ factor.

BUT there is definitely a ‘lack’ of cohesive art design or direction on the armors/weapons. They all look like they were made by various people with various ideas or directions with no overall art lead/direction.

The world and environments all work very well because they were done by the world team. The armors and weapons on the other hand were farmed out to various freelancers and you can see the issues…no direction, no cohesive look and a hodgepodge mess.

I’m not saying I want WoW looking graphics that look like a F2P kids MMO at times…but GW2 needs to up their game some.

Lets take TERA…their game in terms of graphics engine and realism falls in line with GW2, BUT their weapons and armors are much more interesting and unique then GW2s…and have better modeling/skins/textures on them. There is a cohesive direction that works.

If you want possibly apply a scale, where 10 is WoW and that is over the top with big shoulders, colors, effects, etc…and GW2 is a 1 where that is hyper realism, not a lot of big things or items, etc…I think they need to move the slider a little towards the #5.

They also should look at Blade and Soul…one of their other properties coming over/out. It has high end graphics but does a nice job blending hyper realism and making very cool weapons and armors that stand out.

i dont really want to play blade and soul, i was amazed by the graphics but the content of china is not my thing, i like phantasy and not samurais meh
i want to see them working on the game which was promised to be revolutionary!

That’s exactly the issue here. Taste. When it comes to taste with aesthetics, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are in the eye of the beholder. Some people prefer the look of a supercar over a muscle car. That’s not to say that I don’t feel that there are bad skins (Profane makes you look like a Power Ranger / anime villain, and Krytan just looks meh compared to their GW1 counterparts).

In terms of the Dungeon and Cultural Armours and Weapons, however, I feel they tie in nicely to the theme of the dungeons themselves:

In that sense, I feel they done a good job making the armour and weapons represent the dungeon.

Crafted armour and weapons, however, I do wish there were a few more skins at each level, and a lot more at crafting cap, as well as the option to have profession-specific armour like in GW1.