Guild Wars 2

First, let me start by saying that I am so head over heels in love with the new armor sets. The attention to detail is stunning and the luminescent upgrade effect is really cool. I’ve been waiting for this set to come out ever since that_shaman datamined it.

I want every weight class of female; they are simply gorgeous.

That said, I am going to be a broken record and say what I say almost every time a cool new armor set comes out: why isn’t it more similar between men and women? In this case, it’s my men that are being shortchanged.

I’m really disappointed for my male mesmer that there are no actual butterflies on any of the male versions, yet they’re present on every single female version. It would also be nice for the light and medium armor men to be showing a little skin like their female counterparts (shoulders, back, upper arms, in some cases upper leg and midriff). Wonderful to see coverage parity on the heavies, so a big thumbs up for them.

…of course one of the first comments on Dulfy’s site is expressing the exact opposite sentiment (the butterflies “ruin it” and the person wants them gone from the female versions). To me, this reinforces that they could, as many have suggested of armor sets going forward, have been two different sets (m+f with butterfly parts and actual butterflies vs m+f made of dragonfly parts but no actual insects). The pushback is that it’s a lot of extra work and the ratio of “armor with butterflies” to “armor without butterflies” is heavily skewed toward the latter, so in this case I’d lean into the former’s unique embellishment.

If there’s a locust set in the future, will only the men get the cool bugs on their armor? Are the male versions of the Carapace and Luminescent simply previewing wrong? Will Asura and Charr be butterfly-less forever because they are forced into the male version of armor?

Thank you for your time, and for the lovely humanoid female armor.

As a mesmer, I second this. I need my butterflies, man.

I agree (and countered that post on Dulfy you mentioned with my own as well). I want the butterflies on the male sets.

The female sets actually seem to have a distinct theme to them. Butterflies. You’ve got the butterfly wing pattern “skirts” and the butterflies themselves on the shoulders and legs as well as flowers and some generally insect-like patterns on the metalwork. It ties the whole set together and gives it a unique flair.

The male set? I don’t even know. There’s maybe a little bit of beetle in there perhaps, but on the whole it just seems much less interesting and thematic.

At the very least you could have given the male sets more of a bug theme. Fine, butterflies are “too feminine” or whatever (I’d argue against that all day, but regardless). Then make it a beetle or something instead. Don’t give the female sets a nice theme and then just say “Welp, butterflies don’t work so just do whatever with the male set”.

Oh nooo, that probably means my asura won’t get them, asura females nearly always get the male versions of everything

And they’d be so perfect for her as a necro, she could have the whole dark fairy thing going in, that was my first thought when I saw the datamined pics of the armour

Greyhound.2058:

Oh nooo, that probably means my asura won’t get them, asura females nearly always get the male versions of everything

And they’d be so perfect for her as a necro, she could have the whole dark fairy thing going in, that was my first thought when I saw the datamined pics of the armour

Yep, Asura get the male version as usual. Sorry.

At first I was annoyed about the male / female difference in the light armor tops. (Decent shirt on the guy, glorified bra on the ladies), but no butterflies for guys, or charr/asura at all? This is starting to get ridiculous. :s

We live in the year 2014. Guys these days aren’t so macho anymore. We embrace the color pink!

I still feel that all armor should have an additional checkbox added to them which allows the ‘extra detail/artistic flair’ elements of an armor’s appearance to be toggled off/on. This way the extra elements can be offered on both gender’s versions of the armors and players can then choose to display them or not.

There’s probably some subtle homophobia and sexism with this. No butterflies for guys (cause apparently it’s too feminine – much like how colors belong to specific genders, apparently)… Armor looking completely different on each gender, despite being the same skins… Tower in EOTM called ‘Stonegaze’ – why not ‘Stonehetroze’. I already hear it enough from the Westboro Baptist Church and others, I don’t need it from GW2.

I think what annoys me the most about asura/charr armor is the inconsistency of male v female. Why does some armor retain the androgynous factor even to the point of looking slightly ESRB risque…yes I am talking about you Raiment of the Lich. Asura females might have nothing to show, doesn’t mean we want to. My husband bought his Hex Outfit first and I immediately got my cobbs and bought one as well, relishing the idea I was going to be a lil evil monster……I got a Witch’s reskin. If Anet insist on not doing two versions of gear for asura/charr based on the fact those two races do not place emphasis on gender appropriate armor, then please make the rule stand across the board for all armor. That’s just my two pence.

kimeekat.2548:

First, let me start by saying that I am so head over heels in love with the new armor sets. The attention to detail is stunning and the luminescent upgrade effect is really cool.

I’d like to offer support to the old saying, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Carapace armor is indeed beautiful (the female version, male is generally okay but toning it down, replacing “butterfly themes” with more drab and common ones, made the medium and light versions only average instead of stunning). Luminescent on the other hand… what the kitten? It’s effect is actually a massive downgrade to the base version. Painting over a good armor with a semi-translucent bleach will not make the result better. All it does is making the details less visible and the colorings ugly regardless of the dyes chosen (i checked, i haven’t found so far even one dye combination i’d consider bearable on that armor set).
On the one hand, i find it good, that i won’t have to put effort into getting that set. On the other, i cannot think about it as anything but an opportunity lost. We could have had two nice armor sets, but one of them got wasted.

Well, that’s a good thing honestly. They’ve kinda cracked up the female version for me because of those butterflies and totally different style.

Personally, I’d like to give medium male version more “aztek” vibe to it, as shoulderpads and couple other details are already cool and strike this theme a bit.

Electro.4173:

Greyhound.2058:

Oh nooo, that probably means my asura won’t get them, asura females nearly always get the male versions of everything

And they’d be so perfect for her as a necro, she could have the whole dark fairy thing going in, that was my first thought when I saw the datamined pics of the armour

Yep, Asura get the male version as usual. Sorry.

There is no ‘nearly always’.

Charr and Asura always get the male versions, regardless of gender.

Outfits are an exception, as they’ve been kind enough to at least try there.

Ehhh, all of them don’t really appeal to me, but I’m always happy for more cosmetic choices for players.

I’m still waiting for one single pair of pants for female light armour. One… surely that’s not too much to ask, but oh no lets make another set of booby armour to pander to the male gaze.

+1 I concurr. I also wanted butterflies on the male armor.

My wife’s pretty frustrated over the female asura getting the male skin. It’s true, honestly, the male skins are pretty lackluster in comparison to the female skins. If it’s gender equality that’s supposed to be expressed for asura, why is it always the male skin that’s the default and not the female? I think asura and charr should either have female skins for females and male skins for males, or they should be able to pick which one they want.

Suddenly I understand why I was supposed to get excited about the armor someone linked in chat. I was on a male character, and they clearly were not. I would prefer butterflies for everyone too.

rfdarko.4639:

At first I was annoyed about the male / female difference in the light armor tops. (Decent shirt on the guy, glorified bra on the ladies), but no butterflies for guys, or charr/asura at all? This is starting to get ridiculous. :s

Personally, this is the side of it that frustrates me. I’ve been generally looking for good battlemage-esque skins for my female mesmer (currently using a hodgepodge of acolytes – which gives a light breastplate look if dyed appropriately – and a few other pieces to give the look of light greaves and bracers) and this is yet another case where the male light armour makes for a decent battlemage look, while the female version? As you say, glorified underwear.

I feel the male medium and especially the light designs are a wee bit on the weak side, anyhow.

They are needlessly solid, looking more like lvl20-30 armour than some lvl80 design. The female design is good, though it could be a bit less skimpy, the male design needs a) butterflies and b) more skin!