Guild Wars 2

I spent all this time trying to figure out how the wardrobe system works. Continuing to be told by certain players for an hour to just hit apply, and that will equip a wardrobe item to a certain slot. Not doing it because it didn’t look like it would work that way. It looked like hitting apply would only apply the look of the wardrobe item to what I’m wearing underneath. But then players telling me a multitude of different things.

Other games do it extremely simple. In fact I was surprised to not see a wardrobe section in GW2 when it released. Now that it has a wardrobe system, it’s completely different and way more complicated that how other games work.

In other games, your main armor section and your wardrobe section are identical. There’s no list or anything of gear you have acquired in the past. Just like in the main armor section, as long as you’re at the proper level for a piece of equipment, any gear you find can be equipped into the wardrobe section. Meaning it actually gets equipped out of your inventory, and put the relevant slot in the wardrobe section.

If you wardrobe section is empty, whatever you have equipped in the main armor section will show. Now if you equip something in a slot in your wardrobe section, that is what will appear on your character in place of whatever you have on in the armor section. For example, if you have a lvl50 helmet on in your main armor section, simply equip a town hat in the wardrobe section, and that town hat is what will show on your character. Equip a lvl10 helmet into the wardrobe section, and that is what will show on your character. But the lvl 50 helmet that you have on in your armor section is what is actually giving your character your stats.

Quite simple. The whole point is that nothing you do one section will have an effect on anything in the other section. You can equip ANYTHING in the wardrobe section. Various armor, town clothes, various looks that are sold in the cash shop. Whatever it is, it has no dependency on what you’re wearing in your armor section.

For example, put on a full set of town clothes on in your wardrobe section at lvl 1. Continue to change armor in your main armor section as you level up. Even take off all your armor if you want. As long as you have the town clothes equipped, that is what will always show no matter what you do in the main armor section. You don’t even need to have anything equipped in the main armor section in order to equip gear in the wardrobe section.

You equip and remove various gear in your main armor section. Whatever you have equipped in your wardrobe section will always show. You can equip and remove various gear in your wardrobe section. Whatever you have equipped in your armor section isn’t affected.

It’s extremely simple. Whatever items I want to apply to my character stats, I equip into the armor section. If my wardrobe section is empty, whatever is in the armor section is what will show. Whatever I items I want to appear on my character, I equip in my wardrobe section. And neither section has any effect on the other.

GW2 seems to do it completely way more complicated than other games, and not really explaining certain things. For one, there is a list of gear on the left of the wardrobe section as well as a new section in your bank for item skins. Whatever you equip in the wardrobe section doesn’t actually get equipped in the same way as other games.

It gets fused to whatever piece of armor you have equipped underneath. So it’s not like other games where you can be naked underneath with nothing equipped in your main armor section, and still be able equip whatever the hell you want in your wardrobe.

In GW2, you have to put something on in the main armor slot if you want to equip something into that slot in the wardrobe section. When you do equip something into that slot, you have to use some kind of item spell. Not sure what it is. But you’re not actually equipping it. You’re changing the look of the piece of armor you’re wearing underneath. It’s totally confusing.

For example, if you want a lvl15 helmet to appear on your character. You cannot just equip that lvl15 helmet into your wardrobe section. Nor can you do anything in your main armor section without it having an effect on what you have equipped in the wardrobe section.

For example, you have a lvl20 helmet on in your main armor section. You equip a lvl15 helmet in the wardrobe section. That lvl15 helmet you have on gets fused to the lvl20 helmet you’re wearing underneath. Now you get to lvl25, and want to change the helmet in your main armor. So you take off the lvl20 helmet. As soon as you do, the lvl15 helmet you have equipped in the wardrobe section will no longer appear because it’s attached to the lvl20 helmet. Equipping the lvl25 helmet in your main armor section will not even make that lvl15 armor show up on your character like it’s supposed to because of being equipped in the wardrobe section. Instead it’s still no longer equipped. Therefore, the lvl25 helmet is what will show on your character.

I don’t know why this game has to make it so complicated. Why not just equip whatever you want in the wardrobe section, and that is what will show on your character regardless of what you do in your main armor section?

Also don’t listen to players who keep telling you to just hit apply as if it will work to equip something in your wardrobe regardless of what you do with your armor underneath. It won’t work. Once you hit apply, it only affects the piece of armor you’re currently wearing.

ANet never said it would be any different. Anyone saying that the skin is always visible, no matter if you change gear, are just not reading correctly.

Vanity slots would be much easier for us, but not as easy to make money off of as selling transmutation charges and upgrade removers.

I do think a lot of the initial backlash has come as a result of not understanding the new system. It’s taken me a while to get to grips with it. It would be useful for Anet to publish a bit more guidance around e.g. the difference between the vault and the hero panel wardrobe, the difference between using a skin and adding it to the vault etc.