This is just pure speculation, I don't have any insight into what the actual decision making process in the development team was but I can only imagine 3 possible reasons why they decided to make new armor styles different:
1. For PR reasons:
Since one of the cornerstones in ESO development is not to lower the value of the Elder Scrolls brand in any way, it could be either of the following two:
a) Ideological reasons: Someone thought the old costumes were sexist so ZOS decided to change it to something they felt was less sexist.
b) Aesthetic reasons: Someone didn't like ESO's costume/armor design style so ZOS decided to change it to something they felt looked better/more Elder Scrolls-like.
2. For (other) business reasons (to save money or get new content out faster):
The prerequisite for this is that the new simplified female armor styles save the costume designers some work.
So this would obviously reduce the amount of paid working hours per costume and allow ZOS to save some money or they could put more armor styles/costumes in the game in the same amount of time (which potentially could also create more income from crown store sales).
It's also possible that ZOS wanted to release new armor styles at a faster pace to give long-term players something to do in the game that doesn't create a power gap (new armor style motifs to farm for) but couldn't/didn't want to spend more money/time on developing new armor styles (the costume designer or designers simply couldn't make them fast enough with the old quality and ZOS didn't want to/couldn't assign new people to that task).
In either case, if it's for these reasons then ZOS basically decided to go with quantity over quality (and accepted the fact that they were going to put new armor styles into the game whose quality was inferior to the quality of the existing armor styles).
3. For technical reasons:
Having lots of different costumes and armor styles in the game could affect the game client's or the servers' performance in a negative way and the simplified armor models may simply be a measure ZOS took to limit the negative impact on the client's or the server's performance.
There could also be other more complex technical problems that come with having too many armor styles and costumes in the game and the new simplified armor styles could reduce/avoid those problems.
Edit: Or the simplified female armor gives the costume designer(s) more versatility and possibly causes less clipping problems.
(4. Any combination of 1-3).
As to why they're sticking to the new armor styles: They're probably just sticking to them because of reasons 1, 2, or 3 and are hoping that the protest will quiet down over time and that the player base will eventually learn to accept the change or forget about it.
OR future armor styles will be like the original ones again but at this point they don't want to invest the money/time needed into changing existing armor styles (too much work time that's better spent on developing new content/designing new armor styles instead from a business perspective).
Pact medium armor does the same thing to male characters. Haven't checked other weights.
I must admit i don't really see the problem.... robes not being skin tight to show the female form in full detail?
Same here I don't see a problem with "genderless" armor. IM unpopular opinion, I think that they are overeacting because you know how gaming community can be touchy with some aspects, like women breasts for example. I even readed a comment suggesting that this was a work of "sjw" hahaha.
Well armor don't actually needs to be thighed to the body, especially that ones that are hardened like platemail. But if the fix will please the community, why not. xD
MornaBaine wrote: »
But they seem to have touched nothing else and they refuse to comment about what they are doing as far as fixes go. They didn't even announce that they HAD fixed the Trinimac. Which seems really weird to me. I'd like a listing of everything they think they have fixed and the order in which they are goig to fix the rest. I suppose an ETA would be asking too much though. But SOMETHING ZOS.... throw us a bone!
KoshkaMurka wrote: »New costume on female char, if anyones wondering.
Char without a costume, for comparison:Spoiler
Lieblingsjunge wrote: »I'll just copy my post from my thread, that got closed before I found this one lel. Pictures can be provided if necessary.
Okay so. The Breton Hero costume looks amazing. I really like it. But... So My main is an Altmer templar, she doesn't have the biggest boobs. But. It looks... dead. MY BOOBS ARE DEAD! (For te record, it looks as boob-less on a Breton with maximum boob-size, as it does on a Altmer).
Seriously. I understand that it's supposed to be armour, so I'm nt expecting Elven- Hero-costume-cleavage, but... Boobs? I can't decide whether t looks like a balloon - or one very fluffy boob.
Can I please have my boobs back? It makes me look like a man viewing it from the side/back. Can I haz my boobs back? q.q
Idolove the costume though. It looks amazing. The details, it looks sweeeeet. But.. Boobs. I'm a proud woman. I love my boobs. My boobs that's been so brutally taken from me(reference, any1?)
GreenhaloX wrote: »Ok.. where's more of those boobs conversation from @Lieblingsjunge' recent post that was locked and told we had to come here to continue the topic. I'm waiting.. I have my popcorn out and the younger Michael Jackson in the theater grin. Lol!
EstelioVeleth wrote: »It makes me so sad that the noble dress looks so funny... today I finally made a pretty imperial girl, and this dress would match her completely, but I am not paying for that strange shape...SpoilerSpoiler
Do you guys know if ZOS will also fix this besides the craftable armor?
andreasranasen wrote: »Is it just me but why is everything so skintight looking in this game? I agree with the the person starting this thread about chest area looking awful with some armors on females. But with is everything so tight looking? Can we please have some flowing robes that feel light and silky?
Mettaricana wrote: »
Whatvstrange shape its a corset its supposed to pack you tight and hour glass like
KoshkaMurka wrote: »
Because many clothing and armor items are just painted on char's model.
Its not really related to the issue we discuss in this thread since there are some costumes that arent skin tight but dont change characters shape. For example, this one:Spoiler
GreenhaloX wrote: »
I am for having them to bring your boobs back. Where's the petition? I'll sign. Lol!