Guild Wars 2

There is almost always a lot of talk about armor, armor skins, weapon skins and so forth. Luckily there are many options in this game to customize your look. It’s one of the things I like and as a casual player, thanks to transmutation stones, I can do things like buy armor or weapons with stats I don’t like but keep the look.

One thing I have noticed though, is that I very rarely stop to look at others. In crowded areas I almost never pause to look around unless I’m RP. During events, world bosses, WvW everything is flying around so fast, mix in weapon/aoe effects and I can’t see anything anyway. Weapons, aside from greatswords and longbows I almost never notice.

So for me I change the appearance of my characters because I want something I like to look at. I suppose this is because if I’m going to be looking at my character for a few hours at a time I want it to look appealing. I think most players get the best look at me due to them having a few moments to look at my gear while they are rezing me.

So anyway do you, as a player, often stop to look at other’s gear? If so in what situations?

On a side note, what’s the deal with everyone using black, grey or white dye all the time?

JustTrogdor.7892:

So anyway do you, as a player, often stop to look at other’s gear? If so in what situations?

Nope.

As you said, I try to get a look for my characters that I enjoy, regardless of what others would think. Which means, I don’t care about rarity – I laugh at the idea that using armor that is more time consuming to acquire comes with some kind of prestige.

Unfortunatelly, kids often think that having something expensive is a symbol of status, so it’s not uncommon to see them asking for a new skin to be added to the game with some insane time requirement or with an extreme degree of rarity. Considering how there is nothing in GW2 that actually rewards skill, just multiple rewards for time spent, I hope ArenaNet just ignores the kids and makes content for everyone.

Nope, my beautiful necro is the only thing I need to look at and therefore, I could care less what others wear.

If some people only get armor/weapons to impress other regardless of cost/time, well, that’s their problem, it doesn’t affect me in any way.

I generally take the time to check others out when waiting for a world event, pausing at a vista, or sorting through the bank.
It’s pretty amazing the variety of costumes available; with all the dyes possible I rarely see duplicates and most I can never figure out what combo.
It’s also sad to see so many with the basic Pearl weps (unless it matches the outfit); I won’t equip them until I have the skin I want to transmute to.

Not really, one in a about 30 of the GW2 armor sets looks good, most just look like everyone else (which isn’t bad to me just so many sets look terrible) i just focus my own gears, i’m not into prestige junk i just can only take so many trench coats at a time..

Prefer Tera armor etc..

Asura player…

I look at other characters all the time. Waiting for an event to start or standing around in LA, checking out what other character’s are using for dyes/armors/weapons is fun to me. I like taking the time to really look and see all the different choices people made. I’m also always on the look out for another character that looks just like mine, which I luckily haven’t run into yet.

Yes I do.

I don’t exactly go out of my way to do it but sometimes a particular character will catch my eye if they’ve done something unusual with their armor and sometimes if I’m waiting for something or other I’ll have a look just to see what people are wearing. Especially if they’re wearing bright or interesting colours, especially when I saw a huge male norn in bright pink town clothes and boxing gloves riding a broom stick.

I have to admit I still don’t know what most of the armor sets are though. I can recognise a few, the TA one is fairly distinctive, but a lot of them I couldn’t tell you what it’s called or where it’s from.

Edit: I should also mention that IMO caring about what your armor, or other peoples armor, looks like is totally separate to wanting to show off. If anything people who want to show off are less likely to care what it actually looks like because having a rare set will be more important. Whereas people who are interested in the looks are likely to do things like finally get a full set of exotics and then transmute it to look like mid-level crafted gear because the temple armor is so bulky.

I don’t usually look at other people’s armor unless I’m standing by them and something about it catches my eye. Otherwise no. Most armor looks so similar to one another that most don’t stand out.

The last time I actually paid much attention to others’ armour was in vanilla WoW and during The Burning Crusade when epic gear was epic. I remember the first time I saw someone with Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros, and I couldn’t believe my own eyes.

Now I just glance at peoples’ armour and go:“Eh, nice”.
But perhaps that’s because in GWII there are no items to show off any kind of skill, you just farm for it.

In fact the only reason I don’t concider legendaries in GWII as legendary is because everyone could just whip out their wallet and get it.

Although I do value the temporary weapons much higher than other weapons, because so few people have them.

But I do spend a ton of time on my own looks.

I dress to please myself but I look at other player’s gear all the time.

Waiting for world events, at skill points, crafting, just running around- everywhere
I am a total skin/dye addict

I have made many friends just asking about some piece and complimenting the players- or from people asking me about a dye colour.

I have no idea why people dress in black/white/grey/red either but hey- it must suit what look they are going for.

I have also had a few laughs at players in “prestige gear” and the combination of their names and titles

I’ll check out the looks of some folk’s armor if I’m near.
I had one person compliment mine, which was nice.

I do. Some people really mix their armor really nice. But I have lately not seen a good male mix match and there were a plethora of extremely revealing almost naked light female armor.

I did see someone mix the HotW heavy body armor with others, and it looked nice on a guy

not anymore… And why? I know what everyone has… 80% of this games population has full CoF zerker gear.. Hate it, i had the CoF gloves before, now.. Whenever i use them i feel ashamed, so therefor.. i dont use them anymore

I do, frequently in fact. And I’ve had many people comment on mine.

Though I must admit most of the time people’s armor combinations are unimpressive, so many just go with the most popular set for their profession, I swear 99% of thieves wear the exact same armor. And then the worst are the ‘elitists’ who merely wear the most ‘difficult’ to obtain pieces they have, dyed with the most expensive dyes they have- even if it looks absolutely hideous.

daimasei.4091:

If some people only get armor/weapons to impress other regardless of cost/time, well, that’s their problem, it doesn’t affect me in any way.

Agreed.

Sometimes I’ll pause to look at something that’s especially pleasing to my eyes, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a level 10 set coloured unusually or a level 80 set .. certainly I’m not going be admiring something simply because it has certain colour pixels making up its name.

Conncept.7638:

I swear 99% of thieves wear the exact same armor.

Most of whom will at this very moment be re-dying that armour with the new black.

Kraggy.4169:

Conncept.7638:

I swear 99% of thieves wear the exact same armor.

Most of whom will at this very moment be re-dying that armour with the new black.

The colours are what separate nice armour for me. I have some transformed low level armour because I like the look and how it can be dyed. A lot of people think everything looks good in either black or white. Sorry to say this but those are incredibly boring colour combinations to me.

yes, but, most of the people have cof full set… and yeah, I hate people who dye their armor just black and white, I mean, be creative…

Yea, I enjoy looking at what other people wear. Most of the time I myself try and coincide with the weapons I use or make/buy certain weapons that go well with the look I have going for me. I even try and incorporate the eye/hair color to match my look. The color scheme can play apart of that but it’s not detrimental to the look they may be going for for me.

I am always looking at what other people are wearing because some people just look plain cool, haha.

Whether they spent hours grinding every day tasks or ran a trillion dungeons doesn’t matter, just how if I admire someone’s clothes in real life, I’m not specifically judging how they got them. I just like the look. Sometimes, I’ll ask them about it, and if it’s something that I think I can work towards, I will. If not, I’ll just go on my way and compliment them again on achieving a great look.

I do – but as has been said, not going out of my way to stop and look at every player’s armour you run into.

But if standing around I do like to see what other people have created – if I particularly like it I may compliment them on their taste.

Only if it catches my eye, which is more or less of a compliment.

Sometimes I just sit in LA and look at everyone’s outfits going in and outta the bank. Its amazing what some peole can come up with and look good. I get a lot of ideas from basing my set off of what I see others with.

I don’t do a lot of armor mixing or what-not because I actually really like the fluidity of the T3 armors. My Sylvari is in T3 medium and looks gorgeous with her colors, my Charr is in T3 heavy and looks great, my Norn is in T3 medium and I love it, and so on. I mean, for my “second” armor sets I usually get creative, but I really love the way the T3 armor sets look, and I feel almost compelled to use them after spending 120g on the set!

That said, I don’t go for the all black/white dye look, but sometimes those colors really help bring out what you want to communicate with a dye setup. Ultimately, I just use what I think is ideal for the character I’m on and for that armor set.

Rising Dusk.2408:

That said, I don’t go for the all black/white dye look, but sometimes those colors really help bring out what you want to communicate with a dye setup. Ultimately, I just use what I think is ideal for the character I’m on and for that armor set.

I messed around with some brighter colors on some male heavy armor and it looked like some kind of transformer lol. Then again I’m color blind so even though the dyes have names it doesn’t mean much to me aside from the more bright colors. I try to avoid all black or all white or a mix between the two. I usually add some more subtle color to the mix. I like Sylvari cultural armors because the colors kind of blend together instead of having distinct lines between them.

I would if there was an inspect&preview function. As it is now, armor being cross-class and cross-race, there is no point other than passing time.

No. Only if there are naked human mesmer girls(or other naked human girls).
Most of the people wear ugly dungeon armor(I don’t like most of the dungeon armor… especially for medium armor).

No need to look at that.

No, because I am tired of seeing:

1. Altair copies.
2. Firey everything.
3. Emo Necros

I look at other characters’ armor all the time. I tend to look a little closer if it’s glowing with fire or shiny, but I still throw a quick glance at different types of armor people are wearing. It’s gotten to the point now where I can name off any level 80 armor type and where they got it from. Now I just need to do that with weapons.

Alacrity.4312:

It’s also sad to see so many with the basic Pearl weps (unless it matches the outfit); I won’t equip them until I have the skin I want to transmute to.

I have 7 level 80 characters with only 3 level 80 transmutation stones left and at this point I’m wondering where did the ones I have come from? Because I haven’t seen any drop in ages.

In reply to the OP, yes, I do often look at the armor on other characters, especially if something stands out from the norm. Not only that, I often take screenshots of characters that I think look really good. Like this asura I saw several times while I was doing the gator circuit at Southsun.

I’m a huge fan of having the right armor look for every character and put a lot of time in to achieve just that. As it is something I love, I do take the time to see what other people come up with as their special “look.”

I play a warrior only, and sometimes due to others playing like they have no weapon to dps with, i asked a few zerk geared warriors what armor they use, on linking i find 99 % of zerk looking geared warriors are mostly knights gear transmuted, even had a few who stacked vitality link their gear.

But the worst must be ones with transmuted magic find gear, doing no damage and reaping max rewards.

Warriors pretending to play zerker and hitting like they are 20 lvls lower as they fail bad at zerk war and transmute it to look like they are, this makes me laugh really.

Other than stated i only notice armor by color really, what combinations peeps have used and how pretty or ugly it looks.

In a large group of people, there is one or two that will stand out while the rest are in “stock sets” with different dyes…

The biggest problem with the armors in this game (not talking about beauty or ugliness) is that for a given level, type, and rarity, they’re ALL THE SAME. Light Female 42K Karma armor looks the same no matter if you get it from Melandru, Balthazar, or Grenth. I would rather see something like in GW1, where the stats are the same, but the look is different. Maybe something with a nature theme for Melandru, Death for Grenth, and actual battle armor for Balthazar.

So as long as there are some who put together combos that are outstanding, then yes, I will look.

Occasionally I stop to inspect some person who looks really good in their armor, either from a really good mix and match or from a really good dye job

Ashabhi.1365:

In a large group of people, there is one or two that will stand out while the rest are in “stock sets” with different dyes…

The biggest problem with the armors in this game (not talking about beauty or ugliness) is that for a given level, type, and rarity, they’re ALL THE SAME. Light Female 42K Karma armor looks the same no matter if you get it from Melandru, Balthazar, or Grenth. I would rather see something like in GW1, where the stats are the same, but the look is different. Maybe something with a nature theme for Melandru, Death for Grenth, and actual battle armor for Balthazar.

So as long as there are some who put together combos that are outstanding, then yes, I will look.

I totally support this idea- when I turned 80, I was extremely disappointed to find that all the Temple Armors are the same.
I was really expecting that not to be the case.

I think temple armor is intended to be (and pretty much used as) a first set of exotics you get early on, and then you go for dungeon or racial armor to get a more varied/interesting look. Kind of like getting regular armor in GW1 to use while you saved for a 15k set.

Haven’t really taken the time to look at anyone else honestly, haven’t seen anyone with an outfit or model that was just “woah, that is awesome!” yet.

One of my beef with this game is it has too many races and so armor selection got sacrificed to the Kormir so that Trahearne can live another day.

But I do what I do with the armor I have.

I do, but I find the others’ armor rarely worth looking at. There’s FAR too much CoF armor, Abyss Dye, and Celestial Dye being used in this game. But I do stop to look at, and at times ever screen-shot, guild looking setups when I see them.

Being the kind that can spend hours customizing, deleting and recustomizing a character until s/he looks perfect, and then spend hours farming the exact piece of armor I want, I can totally stop to look at other people’s armors when I find a character that looks good.

But to me, a good armor is one that looks unique, and being unique means mix-matching armors and using a nice dye palette. I don’t care how hard you worked to get that CoF set or the skimpy human medium set because everyone has that so I’m not going to stop looking at your gear if your character wears that.

I never really look at what armor people wear. I never got into the whole “dress up Barbie” aspect of the game.

Ayrilana.1396:

I never really look at what armor people wear. I never got into the whole “dress up Barbie” aspect of the game.

Probably because there isn’t really one. It was suppose to be, but 5 races took old yellow and shot it.

sometimes I run around LA and see what people have come up with. I’ve seen everything from amazing to wanting to rip my eyes out.

I’ve had multiple people ask me what dye combos I use, I generally change weekly though almost always use my T3 these days.

Only if they look too simliar to me… then I give them the evil eye for a while.

heh, seriously though I do “people watch” now and then.

I’m always taking screenshots of peoples armor because I’m creepy like that. I really wish I could figure out what things are named, sometimes.

JustTrogdor.7892:

On a side note, what’s the deal with everyone using black, grey or white dye all the time?

Black is overwhelmingly the most popular color in (western) fashion, With white as a popular second. They are credited with so much symbolism and meaning that we wear them for statements as much as for looks. Not only this but as the saying goes they both “go with everything.”

I think this just bleeds into the game, look at GW1 or any other game with a dye system and you will see that the most popular dye is always black with other blacks or whites coming right behind them.

As for looking at other people’s characters… I do from time to time. but I see a lot of the same outfits over and over again on female characters. Especially on medium armor human females.

I often check out what armours and dyes people are sporting and judge ’em on it, usually I judge them based off their dyes.
Full Abyss = No imagination whatsoever. Same with Celestial.
One dye = Next to no imagination, just enough to pick something other than Abyss. If that one non-abyss dye it black/pitch/midnight ice/midnight fire though…
Two dyes = Better, but come on. A bit of heirloom or burgundy there, maybe some iron or blue tint there.. midnight rust on that bit….
Three dyes or more that look good = You know what you are doing my good sir! Tip of the perfectly dyed hat to you!

I look at other people ALL THE TIME. The dye system is the sole reason I am still playing the game. My alt army looks absolutely wonderful. White and black dye? I never use the un-creative junk. >.>

I will easily spend an evening getting the perfect colors on my armor

The level of customization in this game is fantastic with all the transmutation stones. I know my alt army has room to grow (nine characters and counting).

Tyrannus Blade.3408:

I often check out what armours and dyes people are sporting and judge ’em on it, usually I judge them based off their dyes.

I recruit based on looks. People that care a lot for their characters usually are involved and fun people to play with as well as longer term players than your typical player.

Bearhugger.4326:

But to me, a good armor is one that looks unique, and being unique means mix-matching armors and using a nice dye palette. I don’t care how hard you worked to get that CoF set or the skimpy human medium set because everyone has that so I’m not going to stop looking at your gear if your character wears that.

This, and as someone else said these people lack imagination!

^^^ or some people just aren’t into that stuff. Just because someone wants to dress their Thief all in black doesn’t at all indicate they don’t care about their character. And maybe they wanted that all-black look because they were going for Ninja or whatever.

Honestly, I love looking at some of the creative ways people use/colour their armour, but I don’t judge on it. You can’t really tell anything about anyone by that standard. Just equipping a bit of armour because it’s better than the rest you have even if it doesn’t go … doesn’t make you uncreative. Just means you care about something other than having a perfectly matched set of painstakingly tinted armour.

I myself often look at other players and if someone realy looks cool I usually ask what equipment skins they have and ofcourse I tell them that it’s cool.

There are things that I reject and not even bother to look any closely on.
Players with; Legendary GS, full black gear, full white gear, full other expensive colour gear and CoF gear… Okay some full black and white gear combinations can look realy neat but mostly no imo.