Armour colour - level based or craft location based?

AlexJFox · April 2014

Sorry for the newb question, I've googled this but to no avail. I made an altmer set of heavy armour at about level 28 with orichalcum, it was silver when crafted. I made the same set with the same mats but at a different location and its now gold, as is any weapon/shield I craft. Is this level based or because I used a different location? Thanks

Sergeant_Novak · April 2014

It's level and quality based. Like from 1-13 the light armor will be a lightish green but if it's superior(blue) quality it will appear as a darker shade of green.

Your situation perplexes me unless you were crafting a higher level set, though I'm fairly sure location doesn't matter, not even in the set bonus crafting areas. Not from my experience at the very least.

Dragonheart013 · April 2014

If you upgraded the quality, that also changes the appearance of it, not just the level.

Randazzo · April 2014

At level 26, I crafted myself a set of Ashen Grip armor (plus the extra non-set parts) out of Orichalcum and enchanted it all in various ways (Mostly stamina and magicka), then improved it all to Blue quality. The armor came out with a green sheen to it.

At level 36 I crafted 3 pieces of Torugs Pact armor out of Dwarven ingots (didn't have enough for all the parts), enchanted it, improved it to Blue, and it has the same green appearance, albeit somewhat more detailed due to the upgrade from ori -> dwarven.

To offer a bit more insight, I mixed various racial styles to get the look I liked, such as I have an Altmer Dwarven Cuirass but Orcish Dwarven Greaves. Regardless, they all came out greenish (and matching!).

Nasuradin_ESO · April 2014

Yes, the level of the item, and the quality of the item, will dictate the color it comes out as. I have also noticed that a set that is using the same material will change color around the 18/28/38/48 levels to match the color scheme of the next tier o armor that uses different materials. I could be wrong about the exact level in each level range, but I do remember it being the 2nd to last or last set you can make before jumping material tiers.

I have also noticed that increasing an item to blue quality is a good indicator on what the next tier's colors will be for a white quality item. For example, the VR1 armor will be light gray with light gray trim with white quality, if upgraded to blue quality, it will be light gray with a brighter silver trim. When crafting white quality VR2 armor, it will come out as light gray with silver trim.

Dragonheart013 · April 2014

Nasuradin_ESO wrote: »

Yes, the level of the item, and the quality of the item, will dictate the color it comes out as. I have also noticed that a set that is using the same material will change color around the 18/28/38/48 levels to match the color scheme of the next tier o armor that uses different materials. I could be wrong about the exact level in each level range, but I do remember it being the 2nd to last or last set you can make before jumping material tiers.

I have also noticed that increasing an item to blue quality is a good indicator on what the next tier's colors will be for a white quality item. For example, the VR1 armor will be light gray with light gray trim with white quality, if upgraded to blue quality, it will be light gray with a brighter silver trim. When crafting white quality VR2 armor, it will come out as light gray with silver trim.

Roughly every 2nd crafting level (so every 4 levels you go up) changes looks, i.e. level 1, 4, and 6 all look the same, while 8 and 10 do as well, then finally 12 and 14 are the 'final' stages of the first tier equipment, and that pattern repeats through each tier (non veteran anyway, no idea what the veteran ones do...).

Then you have to factor in the quality, usually better quality looks nicer, shiner, more desirable. However, it seems some armors are getting the wrong textures when you increase quality, because a white quality leather jack in Khajit style is a brown colour with gold edging, but when I upgraded it to green, it looked like a white quality Hide Jack....

Randazzo · April 2014

I also neglected to mention Traits.

Traited armor looks different than it's standard counterparts.

Septimus_Magna · April 2014

It's always a gamble how your crafted item will look..
As far as I have heard these factors affect the appearance:
-Racial Motif (duh)
-Class
-Material
-Level
-Trait
-Quality
-Set Bonus/Special Crafting Location?
-Enchantment?
I'm not sure about the last two but there are quite a few factors that contribute to the looks of a crafted item.

rtx · April 2014

Definitely not enchant.

Pendrillion · April 2014

May I ask you the question what it is that enables one at the special Crafting Locations... I ran into several. But so far I wasn't able to craft anything. Even with one or two researched traits... What am I missing?

rtx · April 2014

Checked it today and trait doesn't change appearance [tested on lvl 1 breton epaluets with infused].

huntgod_ESO · April 2014

The set crafting areas have a 3 trait requirement and that goes all the way up to 8 for the higher sets.

So to craft a piece of armor or weapon, you must have researched at least 3 traits for it, if you look it will tell you the trait requirement.

garrodben_ESO · April 2014

We should not consider the material as being a determining factor in appearance, at least as far as any item levels 1-50.

This is because materials all have a level range that do not overlap with other materials (pre Veteran at least). We can consider just the level as a factor.

I have not hit veteran levels yet, so I am unsure if there is any overlap or not in material/level of the gear.

Beryl · April 2014

rtx wrote: »

Definitely not enchant.

Not for armour, but for weapons enchants add a glow of a corresponding colour. And weapons also do not always look as one could expect... an ancient elf staff is completely different from it's small image at the crafting section. And a staff also changes colour and shape of the top (slightly) when you improve the quality.

rtx · April 2014

It's good that ancient elf staff looks different than on icon, because its icon looks like a ***.

Septimus_Magna · May 2014

I crafted a level 46 ebonthread altmer light armor set with the Torug's Pact bonus last night. It turned out green with brown/gold but when I improved the quality to green the appearance didn't change. So the quality doesn't always change the appearance or it was such a small change that I didn't notice.

Does anyone know what caused it not to change, could it be because of the set bonus? I've seen quite a few examples of changing colors after upgrading so I'm kinda confused..

Audigy · May 2014

Septimus_Magna wrote: »

I crafted a level 46 ebonthread altmer light armor set with the Torug's Pact bonus last night. It turned out green with brown/gold but when I improved the quality to green the appearance didn't change. So the quality doesn't always change the appearance or it was such a small change that I didn't notice.

Does anyone know what caused it not to change, could it be because of the set bonus? I've seen quite a few examples of changing colors after upgrading so I'm kinda confused..

I asked this at another thread but got no answer.

In the past upping the quality always changed the color, but since 1.06 it doesn't. I believe its a bug, maybe some of the forum mods can check back with the Dev´s as it seems to affect at least both of us it seems.

Zakua · May 2014

Interesting thread, I think Garrodben nailed it...

Upping qual on pieces adds subtle changes....I notice it mostly on the trim of the clothing/armor. I've never seen a total color value change by just improving a piece but with out a clear and complete explanation from some one more informed then I...anythings possible hah.

SadisticSavior · May 2014

Randazzo wrote: »

I also neglected to mention Traits.

Traited armor looks different than it's standard counterparts.

How so? All my traited armor looks exactly the same to me.

SadisticSavior · May 2014

Septimus_Magna wrote: »

It's always a gamble how your crafted item will look..
As far as I have heard these factors affect the appearance:
-Racial Motif (duh)
-Class
-Material
-Level
-Trait
-Quality
-Set Bonus/Special Crafting Location?
-Enchantment?
I'm not sure about the last two but there are quite a few factors that contribute to the looks of a crafted item.

I have crafted 2 sets of Ashen Grip...they have no unique look that I can tell. The look defaults to whatever motif you use when crafting them (in my case Imperial). So Crafted sets don't appear to affect looks. Set bonuses affect performance, but not looks.

Traits do not affect looks that I can see, and I have tested several.

Quality definitely affects looks, though it is often very very subtle.

Enchantment affects looks only for weapons.

Material and level are kinda the same thing. There are slight changes in looks ever few levels for the same item.

Have been told Class affects looks, but have not tested myself...I might do that tonight. Have a Sorcerer and Templar alt.

Sakiri · May 2014

Trait does change things. Gem in imperial shields and bosmer bows for example(quiver has a gem in it)

huntgod_ESO · May 2014

The only thing that impacts appearance, outside of the style/racial gem, is the quality.

Set group does not affect the look, if I craft a ebon BP it looks the same whether it's normal, ashen grip or another.

Improving the quality will change the color (usually making it darker) and possibly add a sharper map.

Now the dropped sets, like Warlock and such do have separate looks from other cloth/metals, and also darken if you improve them.

Audigy · May 2014

Improving the quality will change the color (usually making it darker) and possibly add a sharper map.

Still with 1.06?

I crafted three items, but they don't look like those I crafted last week. (same item type, quality, trait´s and enchants). In fact those newly crafted look exactly as a blank white item type.

bloodenragedb14_ESO · May 2014

this will soon no longer be an issue, one of the upcoming features will be dyes for armor.

huntgod_ESO · May 2014

I did not realize they had changed it recently, all the VR1-3 gears looks the same, so it's been awhile since I've crafted and improved anything under VR1.

Hessen · May 2014

So much misinformation in this thread it's hilarious