@Fiontar
For every 100 people I see wanting female armour to show more skin, I see the same number of people saying female armour shows way too much skin and cleavage. It’s an impossible battle for Anet to win.
However, in the case of this particular set of armours, I would say that Steampunk themes often (not always) take cues from the Victorian era in history. Not necessarily a period famed for it’s revealing clothes (though, there were plenty of them if you actually study the period). So to me it’s no surprise that a Steampunk set of skins covers up the ladies a bit.
The one aspect I do object to slightly with your post, is that you seem to suggest that NOT revealing skin is in some way de-feminising? This may not be what you intended, but it does sort of come across that way. I would think there may be people who take issue with this.
Been around the genre forever and that’s not really my experience at all. The “puritans” tend to be a vocal minority, but I see a lot more people complain about plain/ugly armors than complain about “sexy” armors. I’d make a distinction between sexy and crass, or even sexy and a requirement for more skin. The new heavy armor doesn’t show skin, but it does accentuate the female form very nicely.
I take GW2 to task because there does seem to be a concerted effort to de-feminize and de-sensualize female armor designs. Cover cleavage, obscure curves, nix bare legs or arms, etc… There are some sexy/revealing armors in the game. However, they make up a tiny percentage of those available. There are some armors in the game were ANet has gone to absurd lengths to cover skin. There are a couple stunning light armor gowns that would tastefully show some leg if they hadn’t added bell bottom pants under the gown. Who the heck wears pants under a dress? There are skirts paired with the ugliest stockings possible, some that look like they have stuffing in them to make the legs look bulky.
I googled steam punk armor and fashions and almost universally the look features a bare cleavage or otherwise accentuates the chest. These “bibs” aren’t associated with steampunk fashion, they appear to just be a deliberate element meant to de-feminize a-net’s take on steampunk fashion. Almost like someone decided, “Ok, we want steam-punk inspired armor, but not with cleavage. Find any way possible to do steampunk with no cleavage. Oh and no curves either”.
With skirts and dresses, they could just offer shear stockings with out the wrinkles, texture and embroidery so that people who want a more sensual look can dye them to appear bare or look like nylons, while those who don’t want that can just dye them colors that make them look like tight pants or non-shear stockings. However, they go out of their way to make sure you can’t have that diversity.
I’m not asking for the game to start offering fashion in the vein of what can be found in TERA online, but armor that is feminine, sensual or shows more skin in a non-crass manner are much needed for this game and would likely sell a lot better than armors like the current new set.
What makes things worse is that many of the armors in the game avoid being feminine or sensual just by instead being ugly, which leaves a lot of players with more modest taste also feeling like their options are limited.
