Guild Wars 2

Let’s get this out of the way first. This is not a flame thread on the new application of the “glow” in the sylvari cultural armor. This is not going to be a place to flame those who believe the above should happen. This is not an attack on Anet. This is a place for constructive criticism and expressing one’s opinion and attempt the above title.

I’d like to thank ya’ll for taking the time to read this thread especially those of you that work for Anet who’ve taken time from your busy day to read our gripes with what I assume is a side of alcohol, or coffee. And I ask that you please consider what is said in this thread carefully.

I’d like to thank those in Anet for their attempt at bettering the customization of the sylvari armor, particularly the Tier 3 and make it more unique, however the execution of this idea was ultimately wrought with error and lacked advanced warning on their part. I don’t even see the sylvari armor change in the patch notes. An oversight that, in my opinion, should’ve immediately voided this plan until such a notice was given with possibly even a chance to critique it. However I do understand that isn’t always possible and the idea of such maybe unusual for most.

But you see, while I am not against having more glowing sylvari armor, I do understand that there are many out there that do not like the idea of having our sylvari looks like a christmas tree especially when the implementation of this “glow” factor ultimately disrupts the overal dyes, textures/details, and general flow of the armor itself, especially if we mixed and matched our sylvan armors like I did. Let’s get to the dye problem, the implementation of this patch update seems to have made our armors, Tier 3 especially, far more vibrant which some may consider a good thing, but when you prefer teh subtle, more natural look and to match the armor with the character’s leaf-hair and/or skin that becomes a problem, more so when coupled with the lack of texture/details to the point where it looks painted, or plastic. Two things you do not want on a botanical lifeform.

Case in point my sylvari’s hair is that kelly color and the first thing I did after finding that the armor was ultimately changed and now imbalanced was acquire this dye and see about using it on the gloves and boots, but this did not help. The green was far from the dark green color of his hair and none of the darker greens seem to help in this either.

I also think this is largely due to the now lack of texture on the armors for instance the tier 3 gloves and boots for the medium sylvari when colored evening green or any green to dark green shade always had this dark layering or pattern, it was almost black if not so and looked rather nice when coupled with the Twilight Arbor armor in similar or the same colors, in fact it matched quite well. And without this and hte addition of this glow there’s quite a bit of difference and now the armor has a very apparent yellow-hue from the green that Im using to hide the glow, or trying to anyways in an attempt to “fix” the problem and it now looks more like plastic than plant and even seems to have lost some of the lining of the leaves and what not that added to its appeal. I can also say Im not a fan of hte bleeding of the colors into each other the way they do now which I assume is because of the added glow. In fact I’ve found that a lot of people think as I do and really seem to dislike this change with the only ones seeming to like it being the very, very vibrant sylvari that you already needed sunglasses to just look a glance at them, or the very, very dark colored sylvari that now have some contrast to their utter darkness.

I understand that this addition was vehemently requested by quite a few people, but should we all have to endure just to please to make this possible? Many of your customers, myself included, have worked quite hard to get the pieces of the armor we wanted and spent quite a bit of gold on these pieces, some even spending real world money for gems to trade in for the gold. And then there was the process of scowering the trade post for dyes for said armor, even spending hours in this process alone trying to find the perfect combination to blend with teh armor pieces and our skin/hair. Should we have to sacrifice this to make these other people looks more bright and overly shiny in a layer of plastic? In fact this brings me to a time where people vehemently requested that ya’ll make our hairs colors and skin more vibrant, not adding the dyes mind you, but changing the existing look overall and ya’ll said that you wouldn’t on account that it would disrupt/alienate the overall community. Why is this suddenly different and without warning? In fact quite a few people, both those that have full tier 3 and those that mixed and matched, are now riddled with buyer’s remorse exclaiming that had they known that this would happen they never would’ve bothered putting in the effort to acquire the 120 gold for the armor. Some even hating the Tier 1’s glowing jewelry for women and the supposed changes to teh Twilight Arbor armor (light). Which makes me very nervous about my own as well as uninterested in acquiring the rest of the firstborn armor all together.

To put things into perspective this is pretty similar to taking the painting of a famous artist, like Leonardo’s Monalisa and, in front of him, adding a brighter more colorful tint to the painting as well as some neon paint, thus destroying it’s rustic appeal and any personalization of the artist himself and pretty much ruining the image he had for the masterpiece.

Also surprisingly enough this patch does not only affect the armors, but our characters as well, making some of our glows far too bright/brighter in general, and changing our eyes from orange/red to utter blackness. However I greatly assume and hope that this is a graphical glitch. But what about the rest? I know a lot of people that worked to make their sylvari armor perfect and blended quite well with their sylvari bodies and now that’s just been destroyed and many cannot seem to find a proper combination of dyes to make up for it and even if we “fix” our armors it’s not what we had, in fact it cannot even compare to its former glory. In fact if this hadn’t been changed Im very certain that the people who screamed to have more glowing armor wouldn’t still acquired the pieces and colored them in the many very vibration/neon colors that exist in the game and the rest of us wouldn’t remained happy with our more reserved or natural colors, or however you describe your sylvari’s colors. And to quote someone whom I spoke with about this subject, “Why fix what isn’t broken?”

Now as I said Im not against sylvan armor that has more of a glow, but I don’t believe we should all suffer to make hte few happy. In fact I’ve thought of ways to implement this addition without stepping on the toes of those that didn’t want this glow. One way is a toggle option to turn the armor’s glow addition off and change it back to its former state, texture and all, another way is to implement it as a alternative armor in either the cultural venders, or gem store, or as a new skin in well…the gem store or some where else. This way they can acquire their glow armor and we can remain happy with our own armor. Either way a step back is greatly is greatly wanted here since just coloring the glow in the same as your armor doens’t seem to hide it at all rather leaving a vibrant glow of the color which in my case is a yellow-hue even though the dye is a green shade.

In fact fortunatly enough I took screenshots just before the change was implemented and after to show to ya’ll. I apologize for the lack of clarity in the screenies I didn’t know that I would be displaying them in this manner, plus my graphics aren’t the greatest, but I put ’em on high max to help.

Before (close up, close up without helmet, zoomed out)

http://s898.photobucket.com/user/abelkmr1992/media/GW2%20Screenshots/gw249_zps84870f86.jpg.html

http://s898.photobucket.com/user/abelkmr1992/media/GW2%20Screenshots/gw251_zps15f35984.jpg.html

http://s898.photobucket.com/user/abelkmr1992/media/GW2%20Screenshots/gw252_zpsb9d3160d.jpg.html

After (close up and zoomed out and with the same dyes as the before)

http://s898.photobucket.com/user/abelkmr1992/media/GW2%20Screenshots/gw255_zps462c1c0c.jpg.html

http://s898.photobucket.com/user/abelkmr1992/media/GW2%20Screenshots/gw254_zpsf4799128.jpg.html

As you can see the changed armor pieces have lost a lot of their texture/detail (among them that darker layering that blended very well with the overall armor and Eidolen himself), the added glow to the gloves and boots even when colored hte same is still very apparent and with the same color as their pieces looks yellow and disrupting the sublty to his design. This also makes the armor looks plastic and thus loses its natural coloring and look as I’ve stated, among other things. I greatly miss the way it looks in the before photos.

I’ve also found places with similar opinions and contrasting….warning some of it is pretty hostile-sounding/flamey

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/races/sylvari/Sylvari-Cultural-armor-change/first#post3123241

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/races/sylvari/My-T3-Armor-Glows-now/first#post3121421

This one is actually pretty tame if not totally tame.
http://guildwars2roleplayers.com/forum/page/1/m/2737230/viewthread/9329273-sylvari-dyes-after-patch

How many feel as I do? Do you have contrasting opinions? Do you have anotehr way for this to be better implemented into the game? Screenshots of your armor before and after if you have them would also help, I feel. Do you, employees of Anet, have questions for me, or have a way for me to change this back? Do I need to voice this with someone specific? Tell me who and how and I’ll get about doing that. Thank you for your time.

Sorry for the length, but Im quite the chatterbox and I couldn’t for hte life of me find a way to shorten it enough and still hit the points.

It’s different. I see what you mean about the textures… I am not sure I dislike it. The amount of glow is awkward, and I am not sure… I am just not sure. I might end up liking it. I need a week.

FYI, petitions go directly against ANet’s forum Code of Conduct. You might want to rethink that title, OP.

You all can word my issues with the sylvari dye changes a lot more descriptively than I can. I too prefer the natural look, to the bright light-up look. My sylvari has a very subdued glow (from the character creation) that blends with her skin color. I prefer to make her look like an old tree as opposed to a mystical/magical plant.

It’s really distressing to read that there are plans to change all the sylvari armors this way when I strongly prefer for them not to have this glow, especially when the armor appeared perfectly fine to me the way it was over the course of the year the game has been out.

I’m a sylvari. And I want to be able to wear sylvari clothes without glowing.

I agree that the existing racial armors should not be changed. Now players who already were comfortable with their outfits have been forced to glow, even though they don’t want to.

I lead a long-time sylvari guild on Piken Square, and the changes are disliked by generally everyone of us I’ve spoken with. We would like to see the old armor colors return.

If you want to provide us glowing armor, please add new armor skins of sylvari armor into the game, WITH the glow. Do not change already made armors.

Best regards,

Storyteller

As said by many others: Don’t touch what people already bought. If they didn’t like it, they wouldn’t have bought it. They did, so why change it? This is actually what was said by Arenanet, basically. Don’t change when people have already bought it for what it looks like, because you will alienate people. You can’t make everyone happy, I understand that. But the people that bought it were already happy and the people who would’ve liked more glow most likely already bought it, too, regardless of the glow being present or not.

I, too, want this change to be reverted entirely. I want my secondary colour in my medium tier 3 back, in the inner back leaves, the lower arms and the heels of my boots. I want my character to look alive and not painted on, and most of all, if I’m forced to have my gear glow, I want it in my own glow. Yellow. Do I want to use yellow dye to make it glow yellow? No. Absolutely not. I’m really trying to remain civil here while making clear that I strongly disagree with this change and that my character is effectively ruined when wearing T3.

The gear was perfectly fine how it was, as said by so many other people and I agree with the suggestion of making a secondary set that glows, while the current sets will be reverted to what they were. Don’t make changes, don’t make solutions. Revert it. Undo every single change that was made, that is my request.

Maybe it’s the dark color scheme, but I really don’t see a HUGE difference. I see a bit, but I don’t think it looks plastic. o.o Maybe someone can point out the exact differences in the screenies that were posted? I looked at them side by side and they just look really similar to me.

The only thing I see in some of these glow related pictures is a texture change but that seem’s more like a change in texture than related the glow specifically.

Unfortunately my graphics aren’t the greatest and it is hard to tell in those pictures, but on my ordinary settings the different pretty much stares me in the face like a giant neon sign. Sadly though I didn’t take screenies of my armor before with said graphics. But from what I’ve personally noted and others have too on both my sylvari and theirs is these armors have lost a lot of that natural alive feel. We didn’t have to be shiny, I don’t even know anyone that wanted that “glow” factor. Who complained about there not being a glow? Now you are a giant neon sign whether you want to be or not and we lost a lot of details and are now plastic toy soldiers. That makes me sad. Very bad move, Anet. Bad move indeed. Seriously I checked my sylvari in full tier 3 and when before I wanted it and it was my goal to transition him from the tier one set and eventually into the tier three. Now I just don’t want anything to do with the armor at all. Even if I make the armor the same color as his hair it looks hidious and it doesn’t even match his hair…have I said it looks plastic as all get out and not at all plant-like at all. We went from living armor…to action figures….lovely. I really hate this change.

And a update from Kristen Perry

Here’s the link if you want to read through

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/My-dyes-have-changed/page/4#post3131463

“I originally started typing up a big post about explanations and reasons and theories, but I think that they’d get in the way of the point I’m trying to make, so I’ll keep it as concise as I can.

What is:
Glow mask areas remove the shiny effect beneath them in the current system.

The armor glow and skin glow are two different systems. The only control currently possible is through the armor dye of that area.

What will be:
Textures: I’ll get the textures to work like they used to. By this, I mean they can go back to darker and have their gradients as much as I can while keeping the glow.

Dye Masks: I will get them to behave more like the old shapes, but you’ll still see some tweaks because of the glow. I see a couple folks mentioning dye masks being removed. This was unintentional and I’ll look into it.

Glow Shape: I can minimize some of the glow layer shape in the texture so it doesn’t affect the broadness of specular as much. You’ll get most of your shiny leaves back.

What I’m working on:
The glow isn’t as rich and saturated as one would predict. This wasn’t touched and is not a part of the texture or dye files, even though the dye shape is now controllable. There may be a way to get this changed on the shader, but it would only affect cultural armor and nightmare court stuff, not any clothing.

The glow can get to be more aligned to the color. If you dye the shape blood red, it will glow like a traffic light. If you dye it dark red, it’ll glow dark red. If you dye it pink, it will glow pink. If you dye it white, it will blow out so bright. …if you dye it black or dark dark dark, it’ll barely glow if at all.

By dying it dark, you can effectively artificially “mostly turn off” the glow. This is the biggest middle ground while still giving the people who love the glow their choice as well.

Thanks everyone for your feedback on this change. I tried my best to explain this system and what I’m working on, but there are technical elements and nuances that are fairly complex to describe. Note that any changes I could make will not get into the game the next build release. But they may get into the build after that. Now back to work for me. :}”

I actually like the glow effects and I think the designer of the Sylvari armor is the best in the game. There isn’t a weak armor set in all the tiers. But whatever. Can’t please everyone, and some people will complain about anything.

Im getting informed that the dye channels are now screwed up and that’s the result of this. if that is true, can we focus on fixing that?

I am glad we have gotten a response and that she is looking into it, but this sudden switch in attitude about changing things people have already bought has hurt my trust in Anet very, very much. I also wish they could have rolled the change back while they work on the tweaks since it will take a very long time to fix this and a lot of outfits are ruined (honestly, I wish they would just make two separate sets, one with texture and one with glow, but I can see why they would not), but at least something is happening. I am especially saddened by what this change has done to light coloured outfits, and based on her statement I worry they will never look good again. The lack of texture in the T3 light skirt is especially apparent; part of it still retains the old leaf texture, but the front is completely flat and dyes like cloth so there is no way to get a uniform look with a light colour. I miss my bright pink fairy mesmer and how his skirt used to look the same as his hair/petals. It used to look like it was all growing out of him, and now it looks like he is wearing and oddly shaped plastic apron over it.

Combination NC.9813:

I am glad we have gotten a response and that she is looking into it, but this sudden switch in attitude about changing things people have already bought has hurt my trust in Anet very, very much. I also wish they could have rolled the change back while they work on the tweaks since it will take a very long time to fix this and a lot of outfits are ruined (honestly, I wish they would just make two separate sets, one with texture and one with glow, but I can see why they would not), but at least something is happening. I am especially saddened by what this change has done to light coloured outfits, and based on her statement I worry they will never look good again. The lack of texture in the T3 light skirt is especially apparent; part of it still retains the old leaf texture, but the front is completely flat and dyes like cloth so there is no way to get a uniform look with a light colour. I miss my bright pink fairy mesmer and how his skirt used to look the same as his hair/petals. It used to look like it was all growing out of him, and now it looks like he is wearing and oddly shaped plastic apron over it.

This is actually a good idea and his pic demonstrates the problem.

Right now I want to switch back yes, after seeing what ANet thought was an ok change to the armour I’m sceptical about the next change.

I wish they would add a toggle to select original or glow versions and that way surely everyone would be happy? That would allow ANet to modify the armour all they want while people who have been happy with their armour for months (8 in my case) can continue to have the armour and look they spend hundreds of gold perfecting depending on chosen dyes.

abelkmr.1549:

Unfortunately my graphics aren’t the greatest and it is hard to tell in those pictures, but on my ordinary settings the different pretty much stares me in the face like a giant neon sign. Sadly though I didn’t take screenies of my armor before with said graphics. But from what I’ve personally noted and others have too on both my sylvari and theirs is these armors have lost a lot of that natural alive feel. We didn’t have to be shiny, I don’t even know anyone that wanted that “glow” factor. Who complained about there not being a glow? Now you are a giant neon sign whether you want to be or not and we lost a lot of details and are now plastic toy soldiers. That makes me sad. Very bad move, Anet. Bad move indeed. Seriously I checked my sylvari in full tier 3 and when before I wanted it and it was my goal to transition him from the tier one set and eventually into the tier three. Now I just don’t want anything to do with the armor at all. Even if I make the armor the same color as his hair it looks hidious and it doesn’t even match his hair…have I said it looks plastic as all get out and not at all plant-like at all. We went from living armor…to action figures….lovely. I really hate this change.

I wanted the glow…..but not the obvious texture change that has occurred. Not sure why adding a colour channel (so glow colour can be “controlled”…even though that colour still shows during the day…seems fishy to me considering the naked glow doesn’t discolour the whole sylvari body during the day) and mapping that to glow in appropiate places resulted in such a huge texture change to the point that things look like plastic now (that and dyes now often show as completely different….I have a lot of green dyes…a lot of them are very brown or very yellow but not very green like their square preview)

A glow slider solves the problem for those who don’t want to glow and for those who want to shine