Guild Wars 2

I have to say, it is incredibly difficult for me to create a medium armor-wearing Sylvari toon because of how much medium armor clashes with the overall aesthetics of the race. Most light armor works quite well. But medium armor…

Main reason why I am bringing this up: I am tempted to create a Sylvari Ranger, as I think that, being a part of nature and all, they make an appropriate class for the role. However, I never seem to be able to create a good skin+hair+marking+glow color combination that then looks good with varying combinations of dyes on medium armor. Actually, it’s the other way around: No dyes on medium armor look good or “right” with the color of my Sylvari, regardless of how many color combinations I try. I have a few select skin and hair and glow colors that I would love to use, but it just doesn’t look right with the way the armor “takes” the dyes. And the last thing I’d want to do is make a black+accent color outfit, as that just doesn’t look appropriate for a Sylvari Ranger, in my opinion.

Anyway, back to the discussion: How have the rest of you dealt with medium armor classes on Sylvari? What skin, etc., combinations did you do, and what colors on armor ended up working well? Whenever I try to look up images on Google of Sylvari in medium armor for inspiration, most of the results are the cultural armor, but 90% of gameplay will have me wearing the standard armor, which is where the main issue is at.

My male Sylvari ranger ended up in cultural armor because most of the non cultural armor doesn’t fit well on Sylvari. It balloons out in an odd manner. My female Sylvari thief has the Carapace armor.

You might want to use an outfit while leveling. Many people got a free one and outfits solve the annoyance of ugly, mismatched leveling armors.

For me it’s all about the cultural armor. Nothing seems to look as good on them as that.

~EW

Just a flesh wound.3589:

My male Sylvari ranger ended up in cultural armor because most of the non cultural armor doesn’t fit well on Sylvari. It balloons out in an odd manner. My female Sylvari thief has the Carapace armor.

You might want to use an outfit while leveling. Many people got a free one and outfits solve the annoyance of ugly, mismatched leveling armors.

I only have three outfits (two of which I actually bought gems for, and the one free heavy armor outfit), and none of them look good on Sylvari.

I think the problem with medium armor is not necessarily the fit (IMO), but the way the colors look, and how they don’t blend as well with the colors of Sylvari. Also, it just doesn’t look right with their leafy appearance; really clashes, unlike some light armor (I am overall happy with the look of my Sylvari Mesmer, but struggle with creating a Ranger).

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

For me it’s all about the cultural armor. Nothing seems to look as good on them as that.

~EW

I’m still on the fence on how I feel about Sylvari medium cultural armor. Light armor has got to be my favorite on a Sylvari overall. But also, if I tried to keep the cultural armor on, I would need to use the transmutation charges every single time I get a new piece of armor, and that would be a waste (even if I’ve been building up my collection). I only worry about using the charges once I get to level 80 and have no more good-looking armor to acquire.

I use a somewhat light blue and white (Celestial) armor on my Sylvari medium-armor wearer (wearing that no-trenchcoat/no-rear flap armor). She has blue skin, as well. I have the Zephyrite headpiece with the blue accents and the Zephyrite backpack that swirls blue around the character, as well. Looks nice, to me, anyway. =)

Another Sylvari medium-armor wearing is in pink and chartreuse. She has pink skin, and wears the Heritage armor. I use the pink and chartreuse Crafting backpack (I think it’s the Artificer one), as well. She displays the Christmas Toy Griffin mini-pet to match the color scheme. Again, I think she looks nice. Oh! I also used the Make-over kit to give her some lovely chartreuse hair.

My apologies, I never pay attention to Armor names.

Is the problem with the look on the initial character creation? I avoided medium Sylvari for the longest time, because it just looked off putting on the creation screen, no matter the profession. Once you create the toon, unlock different armor / outfit skins and change the dyes (because base creation dyes are limited), medium Sylvari look much better.

You get to level 80 fast enough, so just bear with it until then and transmute to cultural. Or use an outfit to hide it until then.

My female engineer uses cultural and I like it. My other sylvari are on alt accounts and I don’t care to invest in anything fancy for them. They grumble, but I just ignore them.

I love the Sylvari cultural armour. I got the lot. Light and medium armors can always be problematic for me because they all seem to have long swishy coats, but that fits I guess with the lore and that’s what outfits are for, right?! Just a shame there weren’t more armour sets available rather than pure full on outfits where you have to go with the entire piece.

Nightmare court armour I like too, on most of the races for that matter.

Good luck in your quest. This is one of my Sylvari’s in medium cultural.

My Daredevil is dark with iris as her glow and purpleish hair. I was planning on having her wear t3 cultural armor but my friend wanted to be “twins” and Storm Shadow (GI Joe reference for the youngins). I think it turned out very pretty and cool looking. Anyway, pic below.

HazyDaisy.4107:

Is the problem with the look on the initial character creation? I avoided medium Sylvari for the longest time, because it just looked off putting on the creation screen, no matter the profession. Once you create the toon, unlock different armor / outfit skins and change the dyes (because base creation dyes are limited), medium Sylvari look much better.

I have tried creating a character and before running off into the intro, I always go into Wardrobe and see what each of my unlocked armor sets look like before going any further, in case I am unhappy with my choice. So far, I have not liked any color combinations on medium armor. Nothing matches the colors I want my Sylvari to be. A lot of colors like down-right garish on medium armor, whereas they look perfectly fine on light and heavy. Very odd…

Sylvari ranger is my third ever created and favorite character. I’ve spent the longest time and a good amount of fortune (at each time) to outfit her right. The challenge for me has been how few of cultural armors I can use for an outfit. If you browse Gw2style others have presented many brilliant ideas for their sylvari in all class weights. For example: make your sylvari looks like a Harpy with the help of the Hawk wings!!!

Back to my ranger, these three are the current armors which I’m the most satisfied with; from semi-T2 cultural to 1-piece cultural to modern geeking. In my opinion, color makes the look for my sylvari; once I decided on the color palette suitable for a certain theme I’m going for, the rest is just looking for a suitable armor piece with the right texture and silhouette. Most of the out-of-place details can be simply “fixed” with the right dyes.

For additional information, my preferred color combination for a Sylvari Ranger is this:

Skin: Sea Breeze or Spring Green
Glow: a purple/magenta color
Hair: the peachy-pink color or Grapefruit
Eyes: maybe yellow or Wintergreen

I already have a Sylvari Mesmer that has blue skin, purple hair, light purple eyes, and wears armor that’s dark blue, purple, and white.

Moyayuki.3619:

For additional information, my preferred color combination for a Sylvari Ranger is this:

Skin: Sea Breeze or Spring Green
Glow: a purple/magenta color
Hair: the peachy-pink color or Grapefruit
Eyes: maybe yellow or Wintergreen

I already have a Sylvari Mesmer that has blue skin, purple hair, light purple eyes, and wears armor that’s dark blue, purple, and white.

My experience told me that the simpler you go with the base color of your sylvari, the more variety of look (and armor color) will be available for you. And vice versa.

It will be increasingly more difficult to dye armors the more contrast and out-of-tone colors you use on your sylvari. If you want to create such explosive colorful impact, pick the armor and color first, then adjust the sylvari later with the total makeover kit or so.

I’ve had good luck with my Sylvari ranger’s armor and outfit choices.

Iris Ng.9845:

Moyayuki.3619:

For additional information, my preferred color combination for a Sylvari Ranger is this:

Skin: Sea Breeze or Spring Green
Glow: a purple/magenta color
Hair: the peachy-pink color or Grapefruit
Eyes: maybe yellow or Wintergreen

I already have a Sylvari Mesmer that has blue skin, purple hair, light purple eyes, and wears armor that’s dark blue, purple, and white.

My experience told me that the simpler you go with the base color of your sylvari, the more variety of look (and armor color) will be available for you. And vice versa.

It will be increasingly more difficult to dye armors the more contrast and out-of-tone colors you use on your sylvari. If you want to create such explosive colorful impact, pick the armor and color first, then adjust the sylvari later with the total makeover kit or so.

Yeah, but then I’d be stuck with colors I really don’t want to stare at for 80 levels. XD
I really believe that standard medium armor does not portray non-dull colors well.

I make a lot of temporary characters and most of them are sylvari rangers (simply because sylvari are my favourite race and ranger is my favourite profession so unless I need something else I default to that). I’ve never felt like I had trouble getting a good look for them.

But it does depend on what you want to achieve. You need to play around with the dyes a bit because the material a dye is applied to makes a big difference and that’s probably most noticeable on leather (which most medium armour is made from).

I think it helps that I like bright colours so I tend to go for brightly coloured sylvari in matching armour. It might be harder to make ‘realistic’ or dark themed ones. But I’ve thrown together some examples below to show you combinations I think work.

Danikat.8537:

I make a lot of temporary characters and most of them are sylvari rangers (simply because sylvari are my favourite race and ranger is my favourite profession so unless I need something else I default to that). I’ve never felt like I had trouble getting a good look for them.

But it does depend on what you want to achieve. You need to play around with the dyes a bit because the material a dye is applied to makes a big difference and that’s probably most noticeable on leather (which most medium armour is made from).

I think it helps that I like bright colours so I tend to go for brightly coloured sylvari in matching armour. It might be harder to make ‘realistic’ or dark themed ones. But I’ve thrown together some examples below to show you combinations I think work.

Wow, those all look really good! I think what also affects my impression of dyes on medium armor is that I have my graphics at a lower setting (given that I’m playing on a non-gaming laptop), so the material isn’t quite accurate, and therefore affects the dyes. I also don’t have every dye, so that also limits my options.

What armor colors would you say a Sea Breeze Sylvari with peachy colored hair would benefit from? You seem quite experienced at this!

Update: I created a new Sylvari Ranger, gave her Sea Breeze skin and Peach Sunset hair…and still no dyes look good on the leather material with her color combinations. As I am not willing atm to spend $ on gems to buy Total Makeover Kits, I may need to reroll until I get a good combo. Medium armor is making the task of having a Sylvari Ranger (favorite race + favorite class) nearly impossible without going to over-used color combinations (such as armor that’s black with accent colors. Boring!).

Still looking for opinions, and tips and tricks, concerning this topic, but I’m not wanting to make a new thread just for that. :P

If I recall there was an outfit or armour that came into the game where I could swear Anet made a mistake. That being that the medium armour looked more like Light armour to me (looked like a set a mage would use) and the Light armour looked more correct for Medium. To this day I swear they have yet to see their mistake. I can’t recall the name yet or if it is still in the game atm but I will log in soon and have a quick check. This could be an option for you if it is still available.

Edit: I can’t see it in the gem store currently so it may come back sometime. Also has to be an armour set as outfits can be worn by any weight class. Sorry my reply was no help in the log run.

Moyayuki.3619:

Update: I created a new Sylvari Ranger, gave her Sea Breeze skin and Peach Sunset hair…and still no dyes look good on the leather material with her color combinations. As I am not willing atm to spend $ on gems to buy Total Makeover Kits, I may need to reroll until I get a good combo. Medium armor is making the task of having a Sylvari Ranger (favorite race + favorite class) nearly impossible without going to over-used color combinations (such as armor that’s black with accent colors. Boring!).

Still looking for opinions, and tips and tricks, concerning this topic, but I’m not wanting to make a new thread just for that. :P

Why don’t you try a dark color, such as mahogany for the skin. The other colors are good if you can find a set of armor and dyes to put it together but the dark skin looks good with a far wider range.

Alternatively you could try going with birch or the like for skin color on a Sylvari. This also works with more colors.

I’m not sure what you mean by the no dyes look good on leather with her skin tone though.

My Sylvari thief (Blue skin, not sure what color exactly, but definitely blue) looks completely fine in regular(Non-cultural) medium armor dyed a mixture of red’s/browns/greens/etc.

I found what it was in the wardrobe bank tab – Zodiac. Not the best armour in general and it is a gem purchase. But I still swear they got the light and medium mixed up. Either that or they intended for both medium and light classes to have at least 1 option to look like a different weight class.

Also I have to repeat what a few others have said. Try some different colours. Sometimes on some materials you need to use a different colour to match what you are using on a different material (or in this case on your char’s skin colour). You may just find the right colours if you try this.

Most of my sylvari are skinned with TA and cultural armour- I find mixing and matching TA + cultural armour can give pleasing results (full cultural armour/TA is too mainstream because there are very few pieces that match the sylvari aesthetic).

I also enjoy the chef’s/cooks outfit (whatever it is called) and the wedding outfit on female sylvari. Just gives more options and I think they’re especially fun whilst levelling.

There are a few gem-store skins that also work well:
Toxic (Gloves, Shoulders)
Shadow of the Dragon (Head, Shoulders, Gloves)
Wreath of Co-operation

There are other more surprising options too. I found that phalanx armour (legs and chest) also appeared quite plant-like in a scaly, thorny way. On its own, it appears like most other “human” armour, but paired with other planty items (e.g. TA shoulders and gloves) it all comes together.

Look for shapes and patterns that remind you of petals, leaves and sticks. Try and find a hairstyle that incorporates similar shapes- perhaps a pattern style/body style that does that too. Dye the armour to try and build upon the plant-aesthetic.

Looking at medium armour now that has a natural, planty vibe:
Carapace, Luminescent
Arah armour (the coat totally looks like a venus fly trap)
Leystone armour (if you can dye the rocks, perhaps you could make it look like bark or wood)

I really believe that mixing and matching is the way to go- it’s easier to break up “unnatural” patterns this way and also select the most planty parts from different sets to combine together. Just remember that different materials dye differently, so you might have to try similar but different dyes on parts from different sets to make it all come together.

Choosing a defined colour palette also helps- especially with a specific detail colour which you can carry throughout your armour choices and maybe through the character design too. Using dyes that closely match the skin colour of your Sylvari might help, too.

Ykfox.3825:

Alternatively you could try going with birch or the like for skin color on a Sylvari. This also works with more colors.

I’m not sure what you mean by the no dyes look good on leather with her skin tone though.

My Sylvari thief (Blue skin, not sure what color exactly, but definitely blue) looks completely fine in regular(Non-cultural) medium armor dyed a mixture of red’s/browns/greens/etc.

There’s just something about the leather material that makes many colorful or light-colored dyes (such as pinks and minty colors, for example) look very odd, too garish, whereas they look just right on light armor. It’s how the material itself makes the dye look. Colors that do look good on medium armor, however, tend to be darker colors, and more natural dyes (for example, on a Norn Ranger I have used Antique Olive and Tea Jeans together and it looks great). But since Sylvari can be colorful, I would like for once to use colorful dyes, if only they actually looked good.

I do have a Sylvari Mesmer with blue skin and purple hair, and most dyes look great on her. However, I’d like to not have my Ranger be a copy of my Mesmer, appearance-wise. :P

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Moyayuki.3619:

Update: I created a new Sylvari Ranger, gave her Sea Breeze skin and Peach Sunset hair…and still no dyes look good on the leather material with her color combinations. As I am not willing atm to spend $ on gems to buy Total Makeover Kits, I may need to reroll until I get a good combo. Medium armor is making the task of having a Sylvari Ranger (favorite race + favorite class) nearly impossible without going to over-used color combinations (such as armor that’s black with accent colors. Boring!).

Still looking for opinions, and tips and tricks, concerning this topic, but I’m not wanting to make a new thread just for that. :P

Why don’t you try a dark color, such as mahogany for the skin. The other colors are good if you can find a set of armor and dyes to put it together but the dark skin looks good with a far wider range.

I guess it is personal taste. Whenever I try a dark skin color for Sylvari on character creation, I am never happy with the look, and then feel too “emo” or “mysterious”; like a dark skin color would work better for other classes, like a Necro. But that’s just me. I want to go for greens or teals on my Ranger, due to the connection to nature.

For Sylvari, I definitely feel an overwhelming desire to only use cultural armor as the other skins just don’t fit well.

Of course, that could also be related to the trench coat fetish ArenaNet’s medium armor people clearly have…

mtpelion.4562:

For Sylvari, I definitely feel an overwhelming desire to only use cultural armor as the other skins just don’t fit well.

Of course, that could also be related to the trench coat fetish ArenaNet’s medium armor people clearly have…

I personally have nothing wrong with trenchcoats as long as they are done properly. Some of them are, yes, quite horrendous (my Human male Engi looked downright FAT in certain coats, whereas female toons or other races did not). The Noble medium armor looks pretty nice, though.

But I will say that most light armor looks just fine on Sylvari.

I don’t know as I’d worry that much about leveling armor (which is why I suggested using an outfit while leveling). Unless you have a large stockpile of T charges to waste on leveling you get new armor to fast to make it worthwhile to customize your looks until 80.

If it were me, I’d go through the the wardrobe first and pick out a nice set of armor for my level 80 and the dyes I want on it, and then chose the skin and hair color of my new Sylvari to match by deleting and remaking the char. If you have enough T charges then you can use this set all the time you’re leveling.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

I don’t know as I’d worry that much about leveling armor (which is why I suggested using an outfit while leveling). Unless you have a large stockpile of T charges to waste on leveling you get new armor to fast to make it worthwhile to customize your looks until 80.

If it were me, I’d go through the the wardrobe first and pick out a nice set of armor for my level 80 and the dyes I want on it, and then chose the skin and hair color of my new Sylvari to match by deleting and remaking the char. If you have enough T charges then you can use this set all the time you’re leveling.

I have over 100 charges, I believe, but I’d rather not burn through them. Also don’t necessarily want to spend real money to buy gems to get a good outfit for a Sylvari. Don’t even have enough gold to comfortably exchange for gems. It’s a tricky situation. Just wish that medium armor worked well on Sylvari, with their variety of skin+hair colors and so forth.

Moyayuki.3619:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

I don’t know as I’d worry that much about leveling armor (which is why I suggested using an outfit while leveling). Unless you have a large stockpile of T charges to waste on leveling you get new armor to fast to make it worthwhile to customize your looks until 80.

If it were me, I’d go through the the wardrobe first and pick out a nice set of armor for my level 80 and the dyes I want on it, and then chose the skin and hair color of my new Sylvari to match by deleting and remaking the char. If you have enough T charges then you can use this set all the time you’re leveling.

I have over 100 charges, I believe, but I’d rather not burn through them. Also don’t necessarily want to spend real money to buy gems to get a good outfit for a Sylvari. Don’t even have enough gold to comfortably exchange for gems. (Snip)

Well don’t then.

Leveling armor is something you get and replace every few levels till you’re 80 and then you get your level 80 looks. You outlevel armor to fast to worry about keeping an appearance and in the life of a char, the time the char is below level 80 is insignificant. Slap on any outfit you have, level to 80, then worry about armor and dyes.

What are your options
Burn through a lot of T changes while leveling
Buy an outfit
Use an outfit you have
Don’t use an outfit or use T charges. Just wear whatever you get.

You’ll need to pick one.

I’ve found leather armour to be excellent on sylvari, though it tends to be a gemstore jerkin and leggings combo as the base. I’ve uploaded 3 images (front/back) that I’m going to talk about.

The first one is Krytan jerkin & leggings with Evergreen shoulders (cultural t1), Rogue gloves and Stalker boots (boots skin bought in WvW for 15 badges, called “Warden Shoes Skin”, no transmute charge required). My hidden headgear is the Aviator Sunglasses.

The second and third images feature the Strider’s set, which I bought just for my sylvari specifically for the tunic and leggings. The mesh windows let the glows through (3rd image) on your arms, legs and back. I’m still using the Evergreen shoulders (my favourite by far), this time with Prowler gloves and Magitech boots. My hidden headgear is the Panscopic Monocle.

Here’s my submission. Sylvari ranger, went for classic cultural with greens and browns because it felt right for druid.

I forget what dyes I used, but I can find out when I get home tonight if anyone wants to know.

Aer.3970:

Here’s my submission. Sylvari ranger, went for classic cultural with greens and browns because it felt right for druid.

I forget what dyes I used, but I can find out when I get home tonight if anyone wants to know.

Pretty.

Really wish I could wear the cultural armor all the time, but, as discussed earlier, that would be a waste of transmutation charges given the fact that one toon goes through a lot of armor throughout leveling.

Cultural armor all the way… Maybe a poly-Luminescence too.

Both Rangers and a Thief next to me in bottom pic.

Sylvari ranger from my corner.

The armour is a mix of Leystone and Carapace, plus Gem Store sunglasses and T2 Sylvari leggings (plus Mawdrey on the back, which isn’t seen here. Mawdrey seems to go well with Electro Purple).
The colours used are Electo Purple, Glint’s Crystal, Amenity and Enameled Solitude.
The "hair" is a makeover kit style and colour (can’t remember which it is!).

It’s hard to look good whilst levelling without transmutes, but that can be said for any profession and race. So it’s not worth worrying about a look during levelling if you don’t want to transmute (I personally use free-to-apply stuff, gained from a few GW1 points and then the achievement skins in GW2). You might also discover cool pieces along the way. Some dyes are very expensive, but there’s often cheaper dyes that come close, and that’s more than good enough until you’re in your BiS gear.

In short, don’t worry about your look until you’re level 80 - and check the wardrobe and dye options at the bank. You don’t need to own the stuff to preview the gear and the dye (although you’ll have to suss the dye channels out in a quick trial-and-error).

(Edited to add another pic)

I have to agree with you that I’m not crazy about medium armor on a Sylvari. I’m my case, I went with the Daydreamer outfit that really works on my Druid, Frosty Nightmare.

Sounds like if I want to wear an outfit until I get good-looking armor, I will need to spend real money to buy gems (I have the gold to get some gems, but then I’ll be back at square one and I don’t earn gold fast enough due to how casually I play. :P ) The three outfits I do have don’t look good on Sylvari.

At the very least, I may spend money to get a Total Makeover Kit. Sort of happy with the most recent attempt at making a Sylvari Ranger, but I may wish to change her hair and maybe eye color. For only 100 gems more, I find the TMK to be the better deal over the hair style kit.

Right now she is Sage skin with Grapefruit hair. Wanted to at least give her a skin color that is more “nature”-themed, being a Ranger and all. No purples and blues for this one! (Though that color combo, blue and purple, works amazingly for my Mesmer.)

Cultural and non uniform pieces are my go to.