Hmm. I am personally against the "show more skin" idea for either male or female models. The point of armor is to be protective, and not covering vital body areas is a pretty dumb idea in combat.
If you want to show of your muscles, take off your chest plate. Now, you might argue "but that makes me weaker!" Yes, it does. What you want is not actually more skin, but to have exposing armor AND have it be effective (correct me if I am wrong here). I am not a fan of this for reasons I already laid out.
Constructively though, there are some armors that are a bit more exposing than others. The one that comes to mind most recently (but still is pretty protective) is the flanking set. The chest piece reveals your arms, so if you have biceps big enough to crush a truck, you could show them off with that set. I bet you it will be a motif next update as well.
We certainly are seeing a trend of more costumes designed for females that show off a bit of skin. Why not do the same for male characters? (Off the top of my head, we have the pirate outfit which is fairly masculine/unisex to the Redguard and Bosmer outfits which are both traditionally feminine attire.) I say sexy outfits for everyone, and also power fantasy outfits for everyone!
I'll just be over here in my corner, sensibly dressed as always. :P
Hmm. I am personally against the "show more skin" idea for either male or female models. The point of armor is to be protective, and not covering vital body areas is a pretty dumb idea in combat.
If you want to show of your muscles, take off your chest plate. Now, you might argue "but that makes me weaker!" Yes, it does. What you want is not actually more skin, but to have exposing armor AND have it be effective (correct me if I am wrong here). I am not a fan of this for reasons I already laid out.
Constructively though, there are some armors that are a bit more exposing than others. The one that comes to mind most recently (but still is pretty protective) is the flanking set. The chest piece reveals your arms, so if you have biceps big enough to crush a truck, you could show them off with that set. I bet you it will be a motif next update as well.
I was going to put in a caveat arguing against this very nonsensical argument but I was hoping I wouldn't have to.
Okay: You go to Shalidor/Vanus/Other Powerful Wizard and have them enchant your armor with "SteelSkin" which makes all exposed flesh areas when struck as hard as your current armor, thus protecting your exposed vitals with MAGIC. *Does not protect against soul-eating Worm Cultist who just rip your soul out of your body via Drain Life.
Please don't use real world logic for a fantasy/high magic game. I'll just teleport you to oblivion m8.
Essentially when it comes to a magic-laden world like this all armor is cosmetic. It doesn't protect you from the ability for the bad guys to melt you with their mind leaving your huge/full body covering plate-mail to clunk uselessly to the floor.
As it turns out, ZOS has planned ahead and are already putting this in, though in glorious ZOS fashion it's not Male armor it's just Armor, and anyone can wear it. Behold!!
...I don't feel like it fits the lore and feel of the Elder Scrolls series.
Leaving armor slots empty, especially the chest slot, isn't viable in any portion of the game other than walking around town. Not every armor slot is created equal. The chest slot in particular has roughly 15% more defense rating on it than the next nearest pieces of armor. The chest piece is also one of four armor slots that gets the strongest benefit from stat boosting enchantments (the others being head, legs, and shield). Not to mention the benefits you get from armor skill lines that scales with how many pieces of armor you're wearing (and the Undaunted passive).I actually just had an idea for the look you want without really giving much up. You know how a lot of gear set ups end up with a dead item slot (aka one that doesn't have a set bonus)? While some players are able to fill this with a maelstrom weapon, but a lot of people don't have those. You could make that dead slot your chest piece, and have you weapon be part of a set instead. Then you just don't wear the chest piece. You lose out on some stuff, but at least you keep the set bonus.
Also to clarify, I have no problem with costumes and the like that show off more skin. Just "functional" armor pieces.
Aemon_Isklexi wrote: »Leaving armor slots empty, especially the chest slot, isn't viable in any portion of the game other than walking around town. Not every armor slot is created equal. The chest slot in particular has roughly 15% more defense rating on it than the next nearest pieces of armor. The chest piece is also one of four armor slots that gets the strongest benefit from stat boosting enchantments (the others being head, legs, and shield). Not to mention the benefits you get from armor skill lines that scales with how many pieces of armor you're wearing (and the Undaunted passive).I actually just had an idea for the look you want without really giving much up. You know how a lot of gear set ups end up with a dead item slot (aka one that doesn't have a set bonus)? While some players are able to fill this with a maelstrom weapon, but a lot of people don't have those. You could make that dead slot your chest piece, and have you weapon be part of a set instead. Then you just don't wear the chest piece. You lose out on some stuff, but at least you keep the set bonus.
Also to clarify, I have no problem with costumes and the like that show off more skin. Just "functional" armor pieces.
Your argument for verisimilitude is already undermined by the costumes available in the Crown Store. I've seen plenty of male Nord warriors running around in wedding dresses or Bosmeri women's fashion. One route that Zenimax could take to fulfill this demand is with Crown Store costumes. That seems the most likely way to me too because it takes less planning than a new motif (where the style chapters would drop, how to tie it in to a new area, etc.), and it would mean more revenue from the Crown Store.
Aemon_Isklexi wrote: »Leaving armor slots empty, especially the chest slot, isn't viable in any portion of the game other than walking around town. Not every armor slot is created equal. The chest slot in particular has roughly 15% more defense rating on it than the next nearest pieces of armor. The chest piece is also one of four armor slots that gets the strongest benefit from stat boosting enchantments (the others being head, legs, and shield). Not to mention the benefits you get from armor skill lines that scales with how many pieces of armor you're wearing (and the Undaunted passive).I actually just had an idea for the look you want without really giving much up. You know how a lot of gear set ups end up with a dead item slot (aka one that doesn't have a set bonus)? While some players are able to fill this with a maelstrom weapon, but a lot of people don't have those. You could make that dead slot your chest piece, and have you weapon be part of a set instead. Then you just don't wear the chest piece. You lose out on some stuff, but at least you keep the set bonus.
Also to clarify, I have no problem with costumes and the like that show off more skin. Just "functional" armor pieces.
Your argument for verisimilitude is already undermined by the costumes available in the Crown Store. I've seen plenty of male Nord warriors running around in wedding dresses or Bosmeri women's fashion. One route that Zenimax could take to fulfill this demand is with Crown Store costumes. That seems the most likely way to me too because it takes less planning than a new motif (where the style chapters would drop, how to tie it in to a new area, etc.), and it would mean more revenue from the Crown Store.
Aemon_Isklexi wrote: »The new Argonian themed DLC is up on the PTS and people are datamining away. One of the datamined images reminded me of this thread.
It will likely be a new costume on the crown store. Combined with the hide helmet option, I think it will look quite nice.
CokeVoAYCE wrote: »quit sexually objectifying men