Guild Wars 2

So im a fairly new player to guild wars 2, definitely not new to mmos and not to the franchise as i have played the first guild wars and i had one level 20 that i played with very casually back in highschool. Now, im an ex hardcore WoW Raider, ive been playing that way since vanilla up until Wotlk, then just very casually from CaTa -WoD currently. i was in a realm first progression raiding guild called fusion on the alliance side on a server called kul tiras that i gave up a few years of my late teens to raid with, i ate slept drank WoW nothing else.
Anyway the reason im mentioning this is to make my mmo history relevant because i can factually say that i have literally seen hundreds if not thousands of armor and weapons pieces throughout my mmo carreer and i think anyone can say its painfully obvious that world of warcraft and guild wars are the biggest competition towards eachother. when it comes to WoW, i have seen or had at one point tier 1-17, regular 10 man through 25 man heroic, crafted, raid finder-lfg, mythic, token, dropped, pvp gladiator, you name it ive most likely laid my eyes upon it once.

Now when it comes to guild wars 2, it seems like a majority of gear is either:

A. Lacking in variety for different builds, you only have specific dungeon gear which is essentially token gear from 8 dungeons, (please correct me if i missed any) that you need to specifically spam to get that set in particular for the stats.

B. Lacking in art design. I know there are some cool looking weapon and armorsets but still it seems like the general consensus is very very ugly vs out of only a handful of good looking skins.

Maybe its because i rolled a charr warrior which 95% of any armor looks ugly on the charr but even on other races theres a small handful of skins that i personally think only look good on norns or humans mostly. I know this is all subjective but am i the only one that feels anet has either slacked or ignored the skins in this game? Dont get me wrong there are some really awesome looking skins, Bolt for one and the effects of all 3 legendary GS’s are stellar but then ascended armor just looks really really bland and boring which i think is kinda stupid especially since the amount of mats, gold and time it takes to make them. I do realize gw2 is still a very young mmo so comparing it to the beast that is WoW might not be fair but still i feel the ingame art and effects of the weapons should match the concept art.

Aesthetics has and always will be personal opinion. (Note that this applies to the fashion inside Guild Wars 2. Do not go off topic.)

If I remember my days in WoW, then GW2 has probably 20x the amount of armor/weapon skins as WoW does even w/ their latest expansion. And you basically can change the look of your armor for free by getting transmutation stones from doing the dailies.

http://youtu.be/UYjIUC9Ppu4

These things are subjective.

Frankly, coming off of WOW, I’m just glad the armor isn’t on an engine that’s over 10 years old.

GiraffeRampage.6420:

Maybe its because i rolled a charr warrior

Well there’s your problem.

Well, good armor skins are mostly a matter of opinion but personally I think GW2 has a good ranger. Admittedly charr in heavy armor have less variety than some other race/profession combos, but IMO there’s still some nice ones.

Draconic is my personal favourite, but you can see the full selection here:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Charr_heavy_armor

GiraffeRampage.6420:

A. Lacking in variety for different builds, you only have specific dungeon gear which is essentially token gear from 8 dungeons, (please correct me if i missed any) that you need to specifically spam to get that set in particular for the stats.

I may be misunderstanding but this makes it sound like you’ve missed a key part of GW2’s equipment system: the stats and the skins are pretty much unrelated.

With one or two exceptions you can get every stat combo from a few different places. Dungeons are one option, crafting or Orrian temples, or WvW or simply buying it are others. There’s a full list here:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Equipment_acquisition_by_stats

Once you’ve got the stats you want you can use the wardrobe to apply any skin of the same type to that item. So for example you could get the Flame Legion Breastplate from the Citadel of Flame to have exotic beserker stats, and then if you don’t like the look of it apply the Pit Fighter (low level karma) skin, whilst keeping the good stats.

This greatly increases the customisation options because it means you can freely mix and match any skins you like without worrying about whether they have the stats you want.

Finally remember that dyes can make a huge difference. I’m sometimes surprised to realise people are wearing the same armor as me because different dye combinations can make it look completely different. I’m also always a bit disappointed when I see someone in ascended armor who has dyed it entirely black because IMO the detailing is what makes it look good and when it’s black on black it doesn’t show up.

Never played that game but one thing I’ve read about the armor in it, is that WoW armor is “painted on” to the character model. If true, I would think that would make WoW armor inferior in looks. Also, maybe these are old complaints and it’s different now, but I also read you can’t dye your armor. Dying can completely change the looks of an armor set.

@ OP, dont use full set’s, mix match armor and you will get a awesome results.

Galphar.3901:

If I remember my days in WoW, then GW2 has probably 20x the amount of armor/weapon skins as WoW does even w/ their latest expansion. And you basically can change the look of your armor for free by getting transmutation stones from doing the dailies.

I can say with 100% unbiased confidence that this without a doubt is completely false. gw2 has a fraction of the total amount of armor sets that WoW has.

Galphar.3901:

If I remember my days in WoW, then GW2 has probably 20x the amount of armor/weapon skins as WoW does even w/ their latest expansion. And you basically can change the look of your armor for free by getting transmutation stones from doing the dailies.

http://www.wowhead.com/transmog-sets

1,787 armor sets.

I believe GW2 has 54 per armor type, and though it looks different on each race and gender, there are also a rather significant amount that aren’t regularly available, whether from gem store, living story rewards, or even a game mode you don’t play like PvP for a PvE player or vice versa.

I think the biggest problem with GW2’s sets though is that they are so backloaded. There might be 5 different armor sets per type buyable off the marketplace from level 1-79, as while there are 10 crafted and 6 drop sets, a number of them are only available on exotics.

Well, that is totally your opinion. i find quite a few armor pieces to like nice, even on my charr. its a bit harder to find armors that look nice i will say, but you can still get some nice looking armor.

yanipheonu.5798:

http://youtu.be/UYjIUC9Ppu4

These things are subjective.

Frankly, coming off of WOW, I’m just glad the armor isn’t on an engine that’s over 10 years old.

That’s a misleading statement. Try running WoD on the same machine Vanilla WoW ran on 10 years ago. It won’t happen. Every expansion they release adds more polygons and increases textures. You may not like the style and that’s totally fine, but it has less to do with the engine and more about a conscious design choice Blizzard makes.

Well the argument was that there were more, not that the way they did it was better and even then, i’d say there are some pretty great armor sets for the limitations of the engine.

The most glaring issue of WoW’s is that because they use texture replacement instead of actual armor meshes, it can never have skirts or really, any kind of 3D modelling other than shoulders and helmets.

Talking about ugly armor in GW2 and then compare it with WoW .. im speechless.

I could understand if you compare it maybe with AION … but WoW .. really ?

Personal opinion is a grand old thing.

Beldin.5498:

Talking about ugly armor in GW2 and then compare it with WoW .. im speechless.

I could understand if you compare it maybe with AION … but WoW .. really ?

Lol im not sure if troll or serious….for real, you need to go take a long hard look at all the tier death knight armor and early tier paladin armor then comeback to this post with an opinion.

Getting a nice dye can help make an outfit pop, especially the right metallics for heavy armour.

I find the armor in GW2 to be one of the best in all mmorpgs I played. Especially since not all caster-armor looks like it’s stolen from the Princess in Star Wars Episode 1.
Well, there are exceptions, the ascended armor with it’s design based on the carnival of venice is one of my least favourite.

I agree with OP that too many armors have been tailored to asura and charr pretty badly. The lack of female versions of armors for both races is widely spread and the QA- and design-department don’t give a crap about clipping ears, horns and toes, as I had to experience on too many occasions to count them anymore.
I find that really sad since a lot of the armors really show how much heart the designer put into the design, only for it to be crappily resized to asura and charr.

I have to agree with OP on the ugly armour skins. It shouldn’t be compared to the likes of WoW, since that’s another topic. From a stand alone perspective, GW2 may have a large variety of armour skins BUT majority of them is designed upon repeated themes.

For female characters, these are all I see when trying to find a good look.
Light: Filled with Bikini + Skirt, lack of “elegant/casual” designs.
Medium: Trench coats everywhere, and those hideous pants/jeans.
Heavy: Chainmail + Battle skirt

GiraffeRampage.6420:

B. Lacking in art design. I know there are some cool looking weapon and armorsets but still it seems like the general consensus is very very ugly vs out of only a handful of good looking skins

Perhaps. But even if such a consensus exists, you’ll find that which of the skins fall into the “good looking” category differs significantly from person to person.

Which is basically the point.

Olvendred.3027:

GiraffeRampage.6420:

B. Lacking in art design. I know there are some cool looking weapon and armorsets but still it seems like the general consensus is very very ugly vs out of only a handful of good looking skins

Perhaps. But even if such a consensus exists, you’ll find that which of the skins fall into the “good looking” category differs significantly from person to person.

Which is basically the point.

i do agree but again i did say this is subjective. Wirh that being said, alot of my guildies and people i have happened to strike up a conversation with in game have mostly agreed the skins arent in quantity and alot arent particularly interesting looking. But again its subjective to each individual.

WoW armor sets look like they came out of a child’s cartoon. GW2 armors look realistic.

yea man , someone at anet has a fetish for creepy crawlies, most of the weapons and armor are slimey style…

Have to say that i agree with the op, much of the design seems outsourced to asia, very reminiscent of crap like lineage and the sort.

Aesthetic sense is very personal.

I dislike many of the GW2 armor designs but i can still find some mix and match looks cool. Compare to Elder scroll series, which i love their system but without armor mod, i can’t even play to mid game, because all their mid to high tier armor design are…. well… extremely ugly.

Glad i am able to live with the armor design in GW2 as they really don’t allow “mod”.

I’ve seen a lot of very cool combinations. I’m not convinced that the skins look bad, especially the skins that you don’t get just from casual gameplay.

World of Warcraft has terrible armour and weapon design, though.

I enjoyed WoW skins for my time playing Vanilla-end of Wrath, Raid and PvP, but I enjoy GW2 armor also. If I could frown upon any would be medium, and light. My Ranger main I mix&match, and my two light armor mules sit in The Ruined City of Arah gear since launch pretty much.

But mix&match is the way to go in this game, check out this thread it has been going for awhile, I know I have posted a few times over its duration.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Post-a-pic-of-your-character-only-if-your-armor-is-mix-n-match/first

GiraffeRampage.6420:

Beldin.5498:

Talking about ugly armor in GW2 and then compare it with WoW .. im speechless.

I could understand if you compare it maybe with AION … but WoW .. really ?

Lol im not sure if troll or serious….for real, you need to go take a long hard look at all the tier death knight armor and early tier paladin armor then comeback to this post with an opinion.

And you should just try to compare the difference in detail of the armor in GW2
against the flat textures that they have in WoW.

Beldin.5498:

And you should just try to compare the difference in detail of the armor in GW2
against the flat textures that they have in WoW.

Not only that Beldin but have a look at those 3d models on the gloves and boots. Those 3d models were around in vanilla, and they are still using it all through tbc, wotlk, cata, mop and now wod. When you recycle 3d models that much it kinda frees up time for other things. About the only unique thing with WoW armor is shoulders and helms. Though they have been known to recycle those too. For example tier 1 and tier 2 gear for just about every class. A lot of it made a comeback in TBC and they put it on quest gear, dungeon gear and non-tier raid gear. It made a comeback in WOTLK too but that was because they re-released Naxx40 as a 10/25 man version and then later Onyxia was rereleased as well.

Aeolus.3615:

@ OP, dont use full set’s, mix match armor and you will get a awesome results.

He plays charr heavy, so I’d have to say awesome probably means painful to view clipping and depending on preference limited options.

Here is what I tried with a charr warrior. but 100% of aesthetics are opinion.

Lazaar.9123:

Aesthetics has and always will be personal opinion.

Ehhhhuh… no.

Read up on the golden section. And that is just one small piece of literally thousands of years of evidence. There is in fact quantifiable preferences preprogrammed not only in to the human psyche but all through the natural world. That isn’t to say people don’t defy those natural preferences, but that is exactly what it is, defiance; a willful, deliberate, and conscious decision to go against what feels natural, the psychological result of counterculturalism.

I think 85% of all skins are great in this game.

I can’t help but wonder what type of person would really want to a thread with such a rude subject. You do know that it’s actual human beings with real thoughts and emotions that designed those skins, right?

Conncept.7638:

Lazaar.9123:

Aesthetics has and always will be personal opinion.

Ehhhhuh… no.

Read up on the golden section. And that is just one small piece of literally thousands of years of evidence. There is in fact quantifiable preferences preprogrammed not only in to the human psyche but all through the natural world. That isn’t to say people don’t defy those natural preferences, but that is exactly what it is, defiance; a willful, deliberate, and conscious decision to go against what feels natural, the psychological result of counterculturalism.

Considering that is actually something based on surveys (the modern theory), there is no way to actually define it as fact. Some groups of people are attracted to the same thing, while other groups of people are attracted to other features. It certainly isn’t a hard theory to defy, which is why so many people do defy it. (This is purely based upon the fashion in Guild Wars 2.)

Lazaar.9123:

Conncept.7638:

Lazaar.9123:

Aesthetics has and always will be personal opinion.

Ehhhhuh… no.

Read up on the golden section. And that is just one small piece of literally thousands of years of evidence. There is in fact quantifiable preferences preprogrammed not only in to the human psyche but all through the natural world. That isn’t to say people don’t defy those natural preferences, but that is exactly what it is, defiance; a willful, deliberate, and conscious decision to go against what feels natural, the psychological result of counterculturalism.

Considering that is actually something based on surveys, there is no way to actually define it as fact. Some groups of people are attracted to the same thing, while other groups of people are attracted to other features. It certainly isn’t a hard theory to defy, which is why so many people do defy it.

You didn’t actually read up on what I said did you? None of it is based on surveys, none of it is even so modern as surveys, the principles of art and aesthetics I’m talking about began as studies in early Rome, and are observable all throughout nature. And I don’t just mean human behavior, but literally visible in things like cellular division, growth of plant and animal systems, attraction and imprinting, even the rotation of planets.

My problem with the skins is that generally, the more prestigious a skin is supposed to be, the more it is likely to be horribly exaggerated, grotesque and overdone.

I’d say that 100% of WoW armor/weapons (that Ive seen) are ugly. I guess its all a matter of opinion.

Armour on a char and asura is not my taste, I hate them all. That is why I was hoping for a race changer(that will never come). And that is why I never want Anet to add any other races because chances are I find all of the armour on them ugly.

Actually, out of any set of cosmetic goodies designed for sale to MILLIONS of different players, I’m a little stunned the original poster likes 15%.

That’s a pretty good hit rate in my mind.

I disagree quite a bit, but when it comes to these kinds of things it’s personal opinion, nothing more nothing less.

If you like 15% out of the skins, then between light, medium and heavy there are 214 pieces that you like, I’m fairly certain that you can make quite some characters with this, and this is excluding outfits

Frankly, if you acknowledge most the skins are junk and you acknowledge it’s subjective, then why should anyone care what you think? Troll thread.

Grandmarshall set from WoW is better than any plate armor in GW2.

Varrg.2704:

Grandmarshall set from WoW is better than any plate armor in GW2.

Ok .. so its 85% that is ugly in GW2 .. and only 99,9% is ugly in WoW

My personal vote for still goes AION with the lowest percentage of ugly armor.

Edit :
ok .. must have googled it .. really ? Are you WoW players blind or what the heck is the problem ? That wasn’t even good 10 years ago .. take a look at Lineage 2 armor maybe.

The skins are not mostly bad in technical detail, as in number of polygons, texture resolution and volume effects and so on.

However, I do agree that the aestetic design is sorely lacking in gw2. Most of the armors look bland and uninspired, or overly exaggerated with plethora of jagged blades protruding from every joint. It’s banal, overused and not even interesting to begin with.

The armors are also far too similar to each other. Leather armor? You’ve got like 50 trenchcoats and one or two divergent option that will likely not even be great. Plate? You will either look like a space marine or some beggar in ragtag pieces of chain. Cloth? Skirts for everyone!

Don’t even get me started on the shoulderpads, as they are afflicted by the same hideous disease from LoL as in unsymmetrical shoulder armor. This doesn’t look interesting, it looks forced and inconvenient.

Now WoW armor are nothing to write home about, either, but at least they have far more diversity.

Tevesh.1265:

Now WoW armor are nothing to write home about, either, but at least they have far more diversity.

Did they also had more diversity before the first expansion ?

For a good while, it seemed like if it didn’t have spikes or fire on it, Anet wouldn’t add it to the game. Granted, it’s been a while since that was the standard, but they still seem to have this mentality that things need to look truly epic in order to be worth adding. Some players aren’t looking for massively complex designs, and would simply like to dress up in some somewhat standard fantasy clothes.

I’d personally like to dress my Mesmer up like a Bard, complete with a wide brimmed hat with a feather in it, while still letting my hair show. Unfortunately, I’m limited to light armor, which has no hats and only uses hoods and silly looking masks that look nothing like what I want to. When a simple, yet attractive rapier was finally added to the game, I’d thought that maybe they were finally done trying to make everything look complex and silly. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like they’re anywhere near done with it and every additional gemstore armor/weapon set seems like it needs to try and outdue the previous one in terms of complexity.

A little simplicity in some newer designs would go a long way.

You mean the fact that 90% of all drops wand wise early on are all the same ugly stick is not appealing OP? You have some kitten high expectations from your games.

Oops sorry, I had my sarcasm volume at full.

Since the forums are borked I guess I’ll have to make a second post.

The one thing I loved about the Torchlight games was that every drop I got along the way felt and looked different. In GW2 I’ve ran toons with under levelled armour of up to 20 levels because of the pitiful drop rates, the terrible diversity of skins and armour and the fact that there is no oomph factor in any not on the TP.

Varrg.2704:

Grandmarshall set from WoW is better than any plate armor in GW2.

Looool!

The cultural armour of ANY race in this game beats that set by a million times.