Armor & Weapon designs are boring

demonaffinity

Greetings everyone

I want to discuss the gear designs. First of all, I know the designs has to be lore friendly, and this is not Aion.

Aion armor:

But even when keeping the fine balance between lore friendly and good looking gear, I think most the designs are on the low end. Each race has certain "traits" about their designs that fits their lore which is great. But I personally think it could be improved.

Example with Dwemer staff:

What exactly screams "dwemer" about this staff design? It looks utter plain. I saw a video about the "Clockwork city", which is suppossedly dwemer inspired? So, clockwork? There is nothing clockwork about the dwemer gear at all.

Take a look at the "Aetherized Staff" from Guild Wars 2:

This staff has significant details that emphasize it's theme, just like the rest of the Aetherized Weapons.

Example with Ancient Elf Light Armor:

Sorry but this one makes me laugh. "ANCIENT ELF", and the armor looks like something a starter mage would wear. Nothing about this design is impressive or emphasize the theme at all. For the price people pay for these mortifs, I have to say the designs are extremely poor and lazy.

I personally would like to see gear design stay "simple" but at the same time have more emphasize on the different themes. Dwemer should be more mechanic and "clockwork?" and ancient elf should stand out for the rest in their own way. Sure if you focus on looking at every detail of course you can see a difference, but it's just not enough in my eyes.

I would like to mention that this is 100% my opinion. These designs could be AMAZING in some peoples eyes, which I respect.


Tell me what you think!

EDIT: It has come to my attention that people are missing the point. I did not include the Aion armor because I think it fits ESO, or because I like it etc, I did it because I knew someone would give me the "ESO is not Aion". Aion is "famous" for "over the top" armor designs. I am NOT suggesting flashy armor designs, simply more details to emphasize the theme of each set.

AlienSlof

And always with the hideous hip flaps. Why do ZOS insist on keeping the hip flaps, even as they know we hate the things?

Speaking as an armour and clothes modder for 10+ years, I agree with you entirely. The armour styles are too sameish and uninspired. I'm not saying make it skimpy (like I know a lot of my designs were!), but put some IMAGINATION into the designs.

And do away with the £$£$%@ hip flaps!

baron.kreighteb17_ESO

I'm not a programmer but maybe these hip flaps are somehow related to game engine and character modelling? Developers are somehow tied to use them.
Or maybe its their generally approved art direction. And they are not inclined to change it unless they will have a significant feedback from players.
Maybe they will introduce new styles in future updates.

Zershar_Vemod

Good grief, those examples from the other games are ugly as sin!

AlnilamE

Zershar_Vemod wrote: »

Good grief, those examples from the other games are ugly as sin!

That's exactly what I thought when I saw them!

OP, if those are your idea of improvement, please stay away from armor/weapon design...

bertenburnyb16_ESO

demonaffinity wrote: »

Greetings everyone

I want to discuss the gear designs. First of all, I know the designs has to be lore friendly, and this is not Aion.

Aion armor:

But even when keeping the fine balance between lore friendly and good looking gear, I think most the designs are on the low end. Each race has certain "traits" about their designs that fits their lore which is great. But I personally think it could be improved.

Example with Dwemer staff:

What exactly screams "dwemer" about this staff design? It looks utter plain. I saw a video about the "Clockwork city", which is suppossedly dwemer inspired? So, clockwork? There is nothing clockwork about the dwemer gear at all.

Take a look at the "Aetherized Staff" from Guild Wars 2:

This staff has significant details that emphasize it's theme, just like the rest of the Aetherized Weapons.

Example with Ancient Elf Light Armor:

Sorry but this one makes me laugh. "ANCIENT ELF", and the armor looks like something a starter mage would wear. Nothing about this design is impressive or emphasize the theme at all. For the price people pay for these mortifs, I have to say the designs are extremely poor and lazy.

I personally would like to see gear design stay "simple" but at the same time have more emphasize on the different themes. Dwemer should be more mechanic and "clockwork?" and ancient elf should stand out for the rest in their own way. Sure if you focus on looking at every detail of course you can see a difference, but it's just not enough in my eyes.

I would like to mention that this is 100% my opinion. These designs could be AMAZING in some peoples eyes, which I respect.


Tell me what you think!

agreed, compared to other games, it all look very plain and uninspirational,
and I dont mean it needs to look cartoonish, hell no, but more detail, more volume,.... just more
even compared to the previews they showed on the site before the game released, the armor ingame looks nothing like those drawings, (I remember thinking wow that Dark elf armor s dope when I saw the drawings, untill I tested it ingame....)

ItsGlaive

I love the ancient elf stuff for it's simplicity.

The only reason I could think of as to why they might not be able to remove the flaps is that perhaps each armor piece uses the same wire frame and just gets a reskin? Maybe the flaps are part of the frame? Although tbh, if they float in midair, we should be able to get a "hide flappy bits" option (and another for shoulders).

In general though, I'm in agreement that most of the armour is awful. I like simple and understated, but not at the expense of losing detail. It seems the simple pieces in ESO are very basic indeed, and the "better" higher tier stuff is just as simple but with extra lumps and blocks stuck on.

But yeah, ancient elf rocks, as does my Crafty Lerisa outfit!

Erotes

I really like the simple, realistic designs but I do see what you mean. A lot of them look exactly the same...kind of like how all bosses Look exactly the same...but I prefer the current designs to over the top, extra shiny, and extra large designs of other games. Please never make them ridiculous and cartoonish!!

Breg_Magol

i play GW2 as well .. I really hope that ESO design doesn't go the way of GW2. It's utter rubbish (GW2 design ... just to make sure that's clear).

Simple and realistic-ish is good. Garish and over the top, especially the awful oversize shoulder pad thingy's in GW2 is NOT!
Even Darkelf shoulder pads are bloomin fugly!

demonaffinity

AlnilamE wrote: »

Zershar_Vemod wrote: »

Good grief, those examples from the other games are ugly as sin!

That's exactly what I thought when I saw them!

OP, if those are your idea of improvement, please stay away from armor/weapon design...

To each our own. We all have different taste. I respect yours, so I would appreciate if you would respect mine.

Also, I didnt attach those pictures because I thought they belonged in the game, I did so to make a point.

Loony1979

I would like to see the option to disable the visibility of certain items, mainly shoulders.
This game has some very strong immersion selling points and shoulders just dont fit a lot of roles.
I can see how they fit a warrior type, but in a lot of cases it just looks cooler without the shoulders.
Hope to see more customization in the near future, can say I am very happy with the dye system tho

frould

Yesh, we live in fantasy world. But i do not like if any armor contain unnecessary part or missing something that make the armor look ineffective. I'm Sorry OP but those armors look like kid's plastic toy.

Belrim

Have to agree to a certain degree .. most armor designs are boring, but yet, they are somewhat realistic. Mostly i'd like to disable visuals on shoulders too, my nightblades vr3 gears shoulders are silly big, looks like aerofoils.

Im sure that the crown store will have more and more of these circus-clown flashy-flashy bling-bling designs in the future, if someone really likes looking like a christmas tree.

Endurance

demonaffinity wrote: »

Greetings everyone

I want to discuss the gear designs. First of all, I know the designs has to be lore friendly, and this is not Aion.

Aion armor:

But even when keeping the fine balance between lore friendly and good looking gear, I think most the designs are on the low end. Each race has certain "traits" about their designs that fits their lore which is great. But I personally think it could be improved.

Example with Dwemer staff:

What exactly screams "dwemer" about this staff design? It looks utter plain. I saw a video about the "Clockwork city", which is suppossedly dwemer inspired? So, clockwork? There is nothing clockwork about the dwemer gear at all.

Take a look at the "Aetherized Staff" from Guild Wars 2:

This staff has significant details that emphasize it's theme, just like the rest of the Aetherized Weapons.

Example with Ancient Elf Light Armor:

Sorry but this one makes me laugh. "ANCIENT ELF", and the armor looks like something a starter mage would wear. Nothing about this design is impressive or emphasize the theme at all. For the price people pay for these mortifs, I have to say the designs are extremely poor and lazy.

I personally would like to see gear design stay "simple" but at the same time have more emphasize on the different themes. Dwemer should be more mechanic and "clockwork?" and ancient elf should stand out for the rest in their own way. Sure if you focus on looking at every detail of course you can see a difference, but it's just not enough in my eyes.

I would like to mention that this is 100% my opinion. These designs could be AMAZING in some peoples eyes, which I respect.


Tell me what you think!

INB4 Better Armor & Weapon Sets hits ESO Nexus..

demonaffinity

frould wrote: »

Yesh, we live in fantasy world. But i do not like if any armor contain unnecessary part or missing something that make the armor look ineffective. I'm Sorry OP but those armors look like kid's plastic toy.

What are you talking about? The Aion armor? I only made the "This is not Aion" statement, because I didn't want people to give me the "THIS IS NOT AION, WE DONT WANT OVER THE TOP ARMOR DESIGNS". You obviously failed to see that.

Belrim wrote: »

Have to agree to a certain degree .. most armor designs are boring, but yet, they are somewhat realistic. Mostly i'd like to disable visuals on shoulders too, my nightblades vr3 gears shoulders are silly big, looks like aerofoils.

Im sure that the crown store will have more and more of these circus-clown flashy-flashy bling-bling designs in the future, if someone really likes looking like a christmas tree.

I'm not suggesting huge fancy armor designs, I just think the current designs lack details that emphasize their theme.

Vaerth

I agree they need to add many more weapon and armor styles. Expect to see them in MANY months though since console has all the focus now.

Robbmrp

The Battleaxe needs to be increased in size by 25%. They shouldn't look like a smaller version 5% bigger. The ones in the game now look like they would be perfect size for a 14 year old not a V14....

ZigoSid

You'll have your fancy armors (that's from the "Classes" section here http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/esotu)
Don't know if it'll be a motif or the new skin for PVP armors only.

http://files.elderscrollsonline.com/img/marketing/classes_Dragonknight.jpg
http://files.elderscrollsonline.com/img/marketing/classes_Templar.jpg
http://files.elderscrollsonline.com/img/marketing/classes_Nightblade.jpg
http://files.elderscrollsonline.com/img/marketing/classes_Sorcerer.jpg

Genomic

Robbmrp wrote: »

The Battleaxe needs to be increased in size by 25%. They shouldn't look like a smaller version 5% bigger. The ones in the game now look like they would be perfect size for a 14 year old not a V14....

Hmm, I agree. I'd go further and while I wouldn't exactly say the armour and weapons in ESO are boring, they just seem ... insubstantial. I dunno, they sort of look and 'feel' like they're made of cardboard, rather than iron, ebony, etc.

Ffastyl

This is armor I find cool.

Through mixing and matching, I can get close in ESO but not there. Breton is a nice choice, but still has some unnecessary flair to it (helm fin).
I would rather have plainer, more boring arms/armor if it looks like it put function over form.

ZigoSid

Robbmrp wrote: »

The Battleaxe needs to be increased in size by 25%. They shouldn't look like a smaller version 5% bigger. The ones in the game now look like they would be perfect size for a 14 year old not a V14....

What they need first is real colours, same for all other weapons/shields.

demonaffinity

ZigoSid wrote: »

You'll have your fancy armors (that's from the "Classes" section here http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/esotu)
Don't know if it'll be a motif or the new skin for PVP armors only.

http://files.elderscrollsonline.com/img/marketing/classes_Dragonknight.jpg
http://files.elderscrollsonline.com/img/marketing/classes_Templar.jpg
http://files.elderscrollsonline.com/img/marketing/classes_Nightblade.jpg
http://files.elderscrollsonline.com/img/marketing/classes_Sorcerer.jpg

Beside the Sorcerer helmet, what really stands out with that set? Absolutely nothing.

Mettaricana

AlienSlof wrote: »

And always with the hideous hip flaps. Why do ZOS insist on keeping the hip flaps, even as they know we hate the things?

Speaking as an armour and clothes modder for 10+ years, I agree with you entirely. The armour styles are too sameish and uninspired. I'm not saying make it skimpy (like I know a lot of my designs were!), but put some IMAGINATION into the designs.

And do away with the £$£$%@ hip flaps!

most high elf and ancient look too similar as does primal and barbaric stuff look too similar. i'd be happy with the orc guys in one of the daggerfall dungeons it looked soooo badass.

Gix

While the armor design is not the most diverse I've seen in games, I think they're going about it the smart way.

Think about it; it's an MMO. Two years down the line they're (hopefully) going to start pumping out epic-looking equipment and it's really a challenge as a designer when your starting point is already flamboyant.

Look at what happened with WoW.

Obscure

You used GW2 as an example?

A game with a bow that literally fires rainbow unicorns!?

...I'm going to disregard aesthetic recommendations for ESO based on anything that comes out of GW2... Don't get me wrong, I like GW2 in its own right, but it's a far cry from the design intent of ESO.

Sure sure, ESO's armour and weapon styles aren't flashy like Aion where every one is a walking laser light glow stick rave party. That's actually kinda the point in Elder Scrolls. Weapons and Armor in ESO aren't intended to be decorative for the most part, just functional. Simplicity in the designs however doesn't need to equate to ugly or boring designs, of which I will agree there are a few in ESO, but generally speaking the art direction in ESO is commendable. I rarely throw a compliment in ZOS' direction, but in this instance they've done a good job making most armour and weapons look interesting without embedding disco balls and glow sticks in them. Granted how aesthetically pleasing a given asset is boils down to personal taste, I personally don't find a great deal of examples that are remarkably poor. Just my opinion of course.

The_Drexill

I like simple and realistic, but I also play fantasy games not medieval sims... there has to be some middle ground.

Female armor is awful in eso, and all armor is lazy... there needs to be geometry, everything is spandex.

ThirtySevenCoins

If most of the gear in the game is dull, bland, universal and lacks variety then it encourages players that wish to have a modicum of individuality to buy costumes from the crown store, so I don't know if we will see any changes if we keep that fact in mind. I would like a cloak though, nothing fancy.

zeuseason

I don't agree. Done.

demonaffinity

Obscure wrote: »

You used GW2 as an example?

A game with a bow that literally fires rainbow unicorns!?

...I'm going to disregard aesthetic recommendations for ESO based on anything that comes out of GW2... Don't get me wrong, I like GW2 in its own right, but it's a far cry from the design intent of ESO.

Sure sure, ESO's armour and weapon styles aren't flashy like Aion where every one is a walking laser light glow stick rave party. That's actually kinda the point in Elder Scrolls. Weapons and Armor in ESO aren't intended to be decorative for the most part, just functional. Simplicity in the designs however doesn't need to equate to ugly or boring designs, of which I will agree there are a few in ESO, but generally speaking the art direction in ESO is commendable. I rarely throw a compliment in ZOS' direction, but in this instance they've done a good job making most armour and weapons look interesting without embedding disco balls and glow sticks in them. Granted how aesthetically pleasing a given asset is boils down to personal taste, I personally don't find a great deal of examples that are remarkably poor. Just my opinion of course.

There's a reason why I didn't use the bow as an example. [snip] hate that weapon

The reason why I used GW2 as an example was because of the Aetherized themed weapons. The Aetherized is a mechanic/steampunk like theme, that was introduced about the same time as the Villain "Scarlet Briar", who created the Twisted clockwork.

I was talking about the dwemer staff, dwemer are mechanic creatures, and suppossedly clockwork. Aetherized Staff is mechanic and somewhat clockwork.

So, I used the Aetherized Staff to show how you can give a piece of gear character and emphasize it's theme. I like the Aetherized gear so I used that as an example.

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Cursing & Profanity]

amasuriel

Obscure wrote: »

You used GW2 as an example?

A game with a bow that literally fires rainbow unicorns!?

...I'm going to disregard aesthetic recommendations for ESO based on anything that comes out of GW2... Don't get me wrong, I like GW2 in its own right, but it's a far cry from the design intent of ESO.

Sure sure, ESO's armour and weapon styles aren't flashy like Aion where every one is a walking laser light glow stick rave party. That's actually kinda the point in Elder Scrolls. Weapons and Armor in ESO aren't intended to be decorative for the most part, just functional. Simplicity in the designs however doesn't need to equate to ugly or boring designs, of which I will agree there are a few in ESO, but generally speaking the art direction in ESO is commendable. I rarely throw a compliment in ZOS' direction, but in this instance they've done a good job making most armour and weapons look interesting without embedding disco balls and glow sticks in them. Granted how aesthetically pleasing a given asset is boils down to personal taste, I personally don't find a great deal of examples that are remarkably poor. Just my opinion of course.

I think you are missing the OPs point a little. I also hate the mega-shouldered anime armors, but ESOs realistic designs are lacking.

The Dwemer armor and weapons are a prime example. Look at ESO vs Skyrim. In Skyrim the dwemer armor looks better. Better lines, better color saturation etc.

I like ESO for its realistic style as well, but realistic doesn't mean it can't look awesome and crisp. I actually fine ESO armor and weapons both more cartoony and less cool than Skyrim or Oblivion equivalents.

Turelus

I think they're trying to stay in style with previous TES games.

They have shown of concept for new motifs, sets etc. in the past which are a bit more extreme but for the most part they have kept it simple inside the lore.

I have to laugh how here the community wants more extremes but back in SWTOR everyone was angry there was nothing normal or bland to use.