Preserving Lower Level LOOKS on Armor

Sorpaijen_ESO · May 2014

Most of the armor I have looted or crafted has been ~okay~ but last night I started looting some pieces of Darkstrider armor (requires five pieces for a 20% cost reduction in sneaking and sprinting).

I don't really care about the set bonus, nice as it is for my Nightblade, but I ~love~ the LOOK of the armor. I've looted four pieces so far --- not enough for a set --- and yet I'm already looting ~better~ armor (stat wise). It seems to happen often that I FINALLY get a set of armor complete and it's almost immediately obsolete.

So I guess my question is... are there higher level versions of these lower-level armors, or is there any way to upgrade the armors or preserve/copy their appearance onto higher level armor?

The Darkstrider set, for example, has pieces that range over several levels in the mid-30s but by the time I get to level 45 or so, I will doubtless have replaced all that armor with statistically bettter, but uglier, mis-matching armor.

I know you can't please everyone all the time, but one of the things I like about other games is the ability to look like how you WANT to look. I am not talking about looking like you're wearing uber-best armor, but rather, the option to look like you're wearing lower level armor (that looks better than the usually-over-decorated high level armor).

The Costume slot is a minor step in the right direction but (a) there aren't many costume options, (b) they replace your ENTIRE look --- although usually keeping it consistent and visually coherent, at least ---- and (c) you cannot really choose what the costume looks like.

RIFT has a neat "wardrobe" feature that lets you place any item --- with or without stats --- in the various armor slots and choose whether that item is displayed or the actual high-stat item you use for it's numerical value is displayed.

I suppose there might be some PvP issue with people not being able to identify the gear-status or class of a foe if they were allowed to appear however they wanted.... but we can already do that with Costumes.

For now, I will enjoy the few pieces of cool-looking armor I have until, probably, tomorrow, when I'll loot better (statistical) items to replace them. I suppose that's one advantage of crafted armors --- you can craft newer, better versions of them as you level.

Hateborn · May 2014

If you like the Darkstride armor set (I know I did, my archer used it clear into her mid 40s because I didn't want to lose the set bonus), you'd like the Bosmer motif - that armor set uses it. Get a Bosmer motif (if you don't have one) and craft a level appropriate version of the set of your choice if none of the looted ones suit you - with the Bosmer motif on medium armor, it will look like a higher level version of that Darkstride set.

Also, armor sets repeat in VR levels, so you'll come across it again later.

AlexDougherty · May 2014

Dyes are on their way, so you will be able to choose and preserve the colours you want.

Carnage2K4 · May 2014

It would be nice to be able to level up the item in the same way you craft, maybe it costs more mats to do it... I'l like to have a set form more then 1/2 a level... why even bother with the uncreatable sets if this is all they are.

Amsel_McKay · May 2014

AlexDougherty wrote: »

Dyes are on their way, so you will be able to choose and preserve the colours you want.

So much pink armor will be incoming...

AlexDougherty · May 2014

Amsel_McKay wrote: »

AlexDougherty wrote: »

Dyes are on their way, so you will be able to choose and preserve the colours you want.

So much pink armor will be incoming...

Well probably, I said we could choose are colours, I didn't say that any of us had any style. XD

Asasinka · May 2014

And yes, there are more versions of the same set, depends on location/your level.
You can find the same set parts with different level rating.

temjiu · May 2014

AlexDougherty wrote: »

Dyes are on their way, so you will be able to choose and preserve the colours you want.

This will be a nice feature. unfortunately, the gear design changes as you level as well. so if you like the look of the design of armor, say, bosmer mid-30's, your pretty much SoL by the time you hit your 40's.

outside of a full customization option (like LotRO's), an easier option would just be to allow people to set a gear set and toggle it as their "costume". It could be as simple as a toggle box in the options menu under "costumes > ( ) use current gear as costume" or something like that. a hotkey would make it even faster.

if you want to motivate the economy, you could allow crafts to craft costumes in a similar way. course, this would probably require a "dressing room" so you could see the costumes, but the game really needs one of those anyways.

either way OP, I hear your frustration and completely agree with it. It's IMO a much needed and much wanted feature. I think the amount of people that would love a dressing room and customization feature like this would suprise most.