Why the transmutation system needs a revamp
Once the item is in the wardrobe, do you need a transmutation crystal (or six) each time you want to wear it? If not, that is where the money loss comes in.
I am not saying I am not all for a wardrobe-type function. But this is where ArenaNet might see a loss of income.
If there were an achivement-panel-style appearance unlock area, where you could withdraw any number of skins at the cost of transmutation stones, I would buy MORE transmutation stones. Ditto if I could fight in town clothes. As it is, the use of cosmetic skins and town gear is so limited that I bother less than i would.
Once the item is in the wardrobe, do you need a transmutation crystal (or six) each time you want to wear it? If not, that is where the money loss comes in.
I am not saying I am not all for a wardrobe-type function. But this is where ArenaNet might see a loss of income.
No. You won’t exactly constantly split and re-transmute to repeatedly change your looks back and forth anyways. That would be a mammoth waste of gold (yes gold because gems have an in-game value) which you may as well just solve by having 2 sets of gear, which would be the same thing as this wardrobe system but minus the need to buy an entire new gear set just to play with looks.
Transmutation stones are probably Anet’s biggest profit, unfortunately. I found myself buying transmutation stones every single time I wanted a new set of armor, which was about every 4 weeks. Right about there is when I lost interest in the game and decided to renew my WoW subscription, but then I came across Rift and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it recently.
If Anet ever gets rid of the transmutation stones altogether, then I may come back and have some fun…. but for now, I’m content with Rift.
In GW2, cosmetics are being asked to be both endgame progression and cash store draw (whether through skins you purchase or transformation crystals). The current system fosters the thought process of getting one look and sticking to it, which defeats the idea of endless endgame progression that an MMO depends on to retain players. For cosmetics to truly be the endgame, there would need to be more prestige skins to hunt and a wardrobe system to allow players to have multiple looks, as Xae suggests.
I generally like the OP’s thoughts. A one-time transmutation stone purchase for each appearance. Swapping between say three different sets of armor would require one transmutation stone for each and every piece of armor totally eighteen (twenty-one if including backpacks).
As it stands now my level 80 toons pretty much stick with the same set of armor.
Personally, I never use the skin system when it’s implemented like it is in GW2, because I don’t want to lose something and I don’t really care enough about how I look. Unless the original skin is absolutely terrible, yet required, like the incoming ascended gear. I much prefer it when you’re allowed to equip 1 set for stats and 1 for cosmetics.
What they should do is implement a collection system for skins that are like achievements. Once you’ve obtained a unique skin, you could learn it to permanently add it to your collection. To keep the price of transmutation crystals, they could either introduce a skin salvager, which would add a cost to “learning” skins but allow you to use them for free, or allow learning them to be free, but use crystals to allow you to wear them. They could even do both, by just having a special 1g salvage kit. Instead of transmuting the skins to your armor, you would equip them like a secondary set.