Restyling Masterpost

Recremen

Restyling gear, a purely cosmetic feature that is essential for character customization, must be brought into The Elder Scrolls Online. The following serves to highlight exactly what restyling should entail, to detail a couple of different possible implementations, to explain the arguments in favor of implementation, to counter the arguments against, and to offer suggestions for monetization that are in line with current or previewed systems. By the end, you will no longer by asking "why restyling?", you will be asking "WHEN restyling??"

The Restyling System (or the same system by any other name) aims to address one of the final frontiers in character customization that has heretofore been neglected. Currently we have armor dyes to meet our needs for alternate color palettes, we have costumes for specific premade outfits, and in the upcoming DLC we have dyes for these as well. On top of that, we have character recustomization tokens coming, as well as all manner of cosmetic packs so that we can change our body markings, hair, and accessories for free (once purchased) and at our whim. While there are still a small number of systems to finish this trend towards gloriously decadent recustomization, by far the most important is to restyle armor and weapons.

But what should such a system entail? The following are all absolutely essential core mechanics.

• Restyle individual armor/weapon pieces to any motif known by that character/account (see monetization)
• Restyle armor/weapon to any material grade (for motifs that have more than one appearance for certain material grades. For instance, all of the basic racial motifs have four different appearances based on the level of material they are made from. All of these must be part of the restyling choices for gear of any level)
• Restyle armor to any material type. NOTE: this is a purely cosmetic change and is not meant to allow switching between actual armor types. Thus, your Heavy Armor shoulder pieces could be made to appear as if they were Medium Armor shoulder pieces, but they would not actually change in armor value, nor count as Medium Armor for the purpose of skill line passives and Champion System passives, etc.
• Items from all sources must be candidates for restlying. This includes dropped set items, purchased set items, Undaunted Monster Helms and Shoulders, etc.
• Weapons and shields must also be restylable, in case that has not been clear. I don't expect a sword to be restlyable to an axe (though that would be cool too), but at least swapping between known motifs is essential. Again, this must include dropped set items, including Master and Maelstrom weapons, as well as all future unique weapons.

There are two main ways I can see this being implemented. The first is a system similar to the current Convert To Imperial Style option available to players who have purchased the Imperial Edition. For this system, players would right-click an item, select "Restyle" from the drop-down list, and the Restyling UI would open. I'm no UI expert but I imagine a separate widget, perhaps with previews, would be far better than a series of nested drop-down menus.

The second option, and the one I currently endorse, would not rely on converting individual items. That sounds like a coding nightmare waiting to happen. Instead, it would look similar to the following image.



Those who have played other MMO's may have seen a similar UI before, but we can improve greatly on those archaic designs. These other systems had you craft pieces of armor to place into these slots, but can you imagine carrying around all that spare gear, either on your person or in your bank, just so you can change your looks around? Preposterous! And think of the damage to the economy. Buy one piece of gear and never have to find a crafter for that style again? Nooo thank you.

Rather, these slots function based on your motifs known. You do not craft a piece of gear to fill the slot, you simply select the style you know, the material type (heavy, medium, light), and the gear level (for styles that have different looks based on their level). Note that this doesn't change the piece of gear you own, merely its appearance. Your light Molag Kena helm is still a light Molag Kena helm. But now it looks like a glorious level 36+ Khajiit heavy helm, its Cheshire grin and flamboyant hairpiece flapping in the breeze while you slay your enemies in style.
So why base it on motifs known? Why use a slot system? Several reasons!!

• Easy to check : It's easy for a player to look in their achievements and see what they can craft.
• Easier to program : This is a bit of an assumption on my part but I'll kick a cinderblock barefoot before believing that keeping track of hundreds of thousands of individually-restyled items would be easier than tracking a player's current appearance, which they need to hold on to anyway.
• Better for the economy : Keeps motif sales high and keeps a market for crafters who already know a motif. Some people aren't going to want to change looks all that much and so wouldn't spend gold/Crowns on a motif, but they would spend a little extra for their favorite crafter to make it in the style they like. The only thing that might suffer here is style material sales, but I'll get into that later.
• Lets us actually use the motifs we know : Within a couple of weeks after every DLC I make sure to learn all the new styles. I've currently got 100% traits, styles, recipes, etc. known on my main crafter across every single crafting profession. You'd think I'd be changing up my gear all the time, right? Ha ha, no. It is absolutely not economical to try out new looks when you're clad in full Legendary gear. New sets? Sure. But nobody is carrying around 5 different sets of Legedary Hunding's Rage in different motifs. Even with crafting bags, that would be hell on your bank. And what if you want medium armor for the stats but light armor for the looks? This system would solve that problem.
• Lets us use dropped sets without compromising style : I love Abah's Watch style, but I wouldn't want to wear it every day. Yet everything in PvP reward bags uses this motif!! For fashion-conscious RP scrublords who like to do hardcore PvP and PvE, this style limitation forces us to choose only craftable sets. This also limits how much we are able to play with new builds since new crafted sets only come out with certain new DLC. I may not run an MMO, but there seems to be an industry-wide focus on encouraging players to try new things and shake up the meta. It's not hard to see how the current state of affairs impedes that.
• Encourages participation in crafting : Many motifs require a player to have a certain level of skill in at least one crafting profession before they can be learned. While Crown Store motifs (if I recall correctly) bypass this restriction, anyone buying motifs for in-game gold or farming them up on their own will be needing to do at least some bare-bones crafting grinding. And hey, maybe the high level in the skill will encourage them to explore it more! As for the Crown Store motifs... well, I doubt anyone will complain about a lack of systems exploration with all that cold hard cash coming in.

Now, there are always naysayers to any proposal, so I'd like to take the time to address a few common concerns, complaints, and misconceptions.

"But Men'Do, won't this ruin the economy?"

As stated previously, no! Motifs sales would be just as high, if not higher, and crafters would still be sought after for their knowledge of traits. Moreover, there would still be plenty of demand for individual items crafted in a certain style, as it may be more efficient for some to shell out a few extra gold to a respected crafter than to go out and buy the motif themselves.

The only way this could hurt the economy in a significant way is if people were honestly spending a boatload of expensive materials for a new piece of gear in the same set but in a different style. This system would make it so that, if they knew the motif for the style they wanted, they would not have to create a whole new piece. This sounds incredibly unlikely, and I have certainly not seen it myself. It doubtless accounts for only a fraction of a fraction of total new gear sales.

"But Men'Do, we won't be able to tell when people are wearing certain sets/monster masks/armor types!"

We can't even now! Thanks to our beautiful (and soon to be dyeable!!) costume system, everything is a mystery and no one can discover. Here are just a few examples.

What is Men'Do wearing? Light armor, yes? No! It was heavy all along.






What armor has Khajiit donned now? Medium? Yes! But also an Undaunted monster set! And no kitten was the wiser.






Ah, and surely he now dons the heaviest of armors. It is known.



It is false!! He was naked all the time!!




Clearly a restyling system isn't going to break competitive play. Besides, the signature ability of item sets is usually pretty obvious once it procs. The designers have done a good job giving everything a very unique animation, particle effect, etc. to let us know what's going on, regardless of what the user is wearing. Unless you think this Dwemer Sphere popped out from under my dress. Can we file that one under an l2p issue?

"But Men'Do, shouldn't the programmers be focusing on fixing bugs?"

Much like the armor type under a costume, we don't really know anything about ZOS' internal structure, who works on what, how many people they can dedicate to a task, etc. The only thing we know is that they have a roadmap of development and only a certain number of things can get on it. Maybe they have a whole team dedicated just to fixing bugs. Or maybe every team is responsible for fixing the bugs in their own system. It's impossible to tell if there's any overlap between the people who could develop this system and the people who are responsible for cleaning up the code. In either case, though, ZOS is the only one who could decide if this is worth development time/can fit on the roadmap. With that said, there isn't really a reason not to at least bring it up, is there?

"But Men'Do, it breaks my immersion!!"

I'm like three seconds away from just reposting the image of being naked under a costume of heavy armor. Please to stop.

"But Men'Do, what about the sense of accomplishment you get from obtaining a new piece of gear?"

You still get that exactly as often as you were before. The thing is, nobody is crafting a whole new set of gear just for looks except in a rare instance when a new motif comes out. I don't have any hard stats to back that up other than countless player conversations, but I'm quite confident any ZOS employee who feels otherwise can just go to the business intelligence folks and ask. Look for gear that gets upgraded to legendary, look how often that happens, and see if it's the same set or not. Odds are it's something new for that player, not a repeat of an old set in a new style. Adding a restyling system should only encourage more participation in crafting, since folks will be looking to learn new motifs and will be less reluctant to try crafting new sets since they know they aren't stuck with the look forever. Further, this line of thinking completely ignores the problem with dropped sets. Exactly what options do a PvPer or PvEer have when they want to run Malubeth or Vicious Death or Viper or any other set that only comes in one motif? It's great to want to instill a sense of accomplishment for players who put in the time to get new gear, it's dreadful to force us into either aesthetic limbo or an aesthetic wasteland for it. Let's keep the freedom to change appearance uncoupled from gear progression, which by all rights are already halfway to being separate systems thanks to existing costuming systems.


Now comes the juicy part, monetization. There are lots of ways to monetize this system, some of which even have the benefit of synergizing with already-existing Crown Store offerings! Here are a few possible solutions, their pros, their cons, and my personal take on it.

• Just Motif Sales : Maybe you adjust when motifs hit the Crown Store so that people can restyle their gear sooner rather than later. Just look at all the styles that STILL haven't hit the Crown Store. Malacath, Trinimac, Outlaw, Asassin's League, the Alliance War styles, so many!! Surely some folk would be more willing to buy from the Crown Store if they haven't got their hands on it already. And if it's based on achievements, which are character-locked, some folks would surely be willing to dish out a few Crowns here and there for their favorite styles. Mind you, I personally think it should be account-wide (it's not like your main crafter wouldn't just make a regular armor piece for your noncrafters anyway), but that's for your marketing team to mull over.
• Crappy Mimic Stone Plan : In this version, it required one style item of the style you want to use per change. This is astoundingly horrible and leaves some issues. How would you "unstyle" yourself, for instance? Would you be wasting the material just to go back to your regular look? Awful. I can't imagine this would see a lot of use, and highly doubt it would drive Mimic Stone sales. People would just use it as a one-off system, find something they like, and never change. Heck, they'd probably not even use a Mimic Stone for it at that point. Not recommended, but that's for you to decide.
• Better Mimic Stone Plan : Investiture. Permanently use up (X) number of style materials (including Mimic Stones) to permanently unlock restyling in that motif, and again this could be per-character or account-wide. Would still need to know the motif in this plan, this would simply be an additional layer to monetization. At this point, given the in-game cost of some of the rarer style materials, Mimic Stone sales would probably increase as long as players didn't need to invest too many materials to unlock it. I'm sure someone could mock up a spreadsheet for that, but it's way above my pay grade. This would also have the benefit of being a perpetual potential source of Mimic Stone sales, since each DLC seems to bring a host of delightful new motifs to try. While I don't like this system per-se, it's a far more tolerable idea than the previously-suggested one.
• ESO Plus Exclusive : Now, I've been subscribed since launch and don't plan on changing that any time soon, so perhaps I'm not the best judge, but I don't see this as being a good idea. I feel that there's already a decent number of things ESO Plus has going for it and even if it's just customization and cosmetics, it feels too important to be completely exclusive.
• ESO Plus-Gated Easement : A more toned-down version along a similar vein to the new costume dyeing system. Rather than it being completely exclusive to ESO Plus members, you could make it semi-gated so that non-subscribers can still use the system, but at a cost, such as needing to use the Investiture system. Might be more coding than it's worth, but I'm sure you can use the dye stamp sales as a guiding light on that matter.
• Any Combination : I mean, the increased Crown Store motif sales you get pretty much for free in any version of this system, so it's really just a matter of seeing what else on the list (or not on the list) you can get away with. Just please be gentle, this is a really important and desirable system and I'd hate to see it underutilized due to prohibitive costs. I would like to stress the importance of parallels in the current systems such as dyes, costumes, and all the features of the style parlor. They all have an initial up-front cost, but then we are free to change them across all our characters and as often as we like without incurring additional expenditures. I believe such systems encourage people to buy and invest much more than if there were a smaller price and the need for repurchasing. This is because it allows the customer more freedom to enjoy the product as soon as they can afford it, rather than risking not being able to afford a change later.

I hope this has been enough to convince anyone on the fence about the importance, usefulness, and profitability of a restyling system. If anyone has any questions, comments, concerns, or commendations, please leave them here! I've talked with a great many people about this before but I'd love to see what my darling fellow forum trolls think of it.

heystreethawk

I am left to assume that the only reason this doesn't have replies yet is that every possible consideration has already been considered by the original poster. Excellent write-up; this is something that I had not even thought about wanting, but now I am like: yes, please, I would like to have a lot of this. Tips self upside down, crowns come tumbling from own pockets, etc.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_KaiSchober please to pass onward to team of utmost appropriateness!

(See, you even have me talking in broken RP. If I can think of an unconsidered angle or quandary, I will certainly chime in with said angle/quandary)

vyndral13preub18_ESO

This is a different kind of MMO. We don't need no stinking features or options here.

nimander99

I've always wanted something like this as well, my only concern is if it will have a negative impact on the game's economic health.

rhapsodious

Recremen wrote: »

"But Men'Do, it breaks my immersion!!"

I'm like three seconds away from just reposting the image of being naked under a costume of heavy armor. Please to stop.

Go on...

I'd love gear restyling. I really dig the Xivkyn light jerkin but am not a big fan of robes. Yet my jerkin is infused and my robe is divines. Feh. Just let me chop some of it off. Please. I need to look stylish in SPC.

I hope this makes its way into a future QoL update.

Abeille

I think we should all listen to Grand Official Men'Do, for he obviously knows style.

Defeatist

I agree with Men'Do I think there should be pet skins available for sorcerers in the crown store.

S'yn

While I don't agree with everything, I FULLY support this as a concept. I would certainly love to be able to restyle gear to achieve that perfect look.

I would add one feature that was overlooked by OP- the ability to change the look of monster sets to another monster set already in the wearer's possession. Having Kena's looks with say Engine Guardian's actual functionality would be pro- the caveat is that in order to pull this off, you would have to own both full sets. With this ability, people might run more vet dungeons just for the cosmetic effects, which would decrease queue times and increase player happiness. What do you think?

Nomad79

Guild Wars 2 did this since launch. I would love it if ESO did the same thing.

LadyLethalla

THIS

I have all RG style in Medium but I would prefer Covenant. And probably the look of Covenant Heavy. But, I don't really want to go grind for a crapton of Rubedo scraps in order to change it all - or pay for stacks either, given that I will also have to spend a fair amount of gold on getting the Covenant pages I'm missing, which is most of them. And just maybe I might want to try Daedric as well.


Most excellent post, OP.

Recremen

S'yn wrote: »

While I don't agree with everything, I FULLY support this as a concept. I would certainly love to be able to restyle gear to achieve that perfect look.

I would add one feature that was overlooked by OP- the ability to change the look of monster sets to another monster set already in the wearer's possession. Having Kena's looks with say Engine Guardian's actual functionality would be pro- the caveat is that in order to pull this off, you would have to own both full sets. With this ability, people might run more vet dungeons just for the cosmetic effects, which would decrease queue times and increase player happiness. What do you think?

I had actually figured they'd just come out with motifs for the Undaunted monster sets at some point, but yeah, whatever works! And while we're at it, a similar concept would totally work for those unique Dolmen drops, like Volar's Crescent Dagger, Hopesfire, and Trueflame!

Recremen

LadyLethalla wrote: »

THIS

I have all RG style in Medium but I would prefer Covenant. And probably the look of Covenant Heavy. But, I don't really want to go grind for a crapton of Rubedo scraps in order to change it all - or pay for stacks either, given that I will also have to spend a fair amount of gold on getting the Covenant pages I'm missing, which is most of them. And just maybe I might want to try Daedric as well.


Most excellent post, OP.

Well, you'd still have to spend gold on the Covenant motif under this model, but then you'd have access to the style forever! It is a delight to all!!

Preyfar

This would be one of the single greatest ESO Plus perks you could have. Period. I'd freakin LOVE this.

khele23eb17_ESO

A vanity tab system like this would be great... however Im pretty sure this would negatively impact costume sales and as such its not likely to happen.

Zuuda

I find ESO's cosmetic system so poor. On the surface its great (especially for those like me who just came from BDO). While we're low level or we're RPing we certainly can switch to lowbie gear and keep a certain look going, but once we reach max level and upgrading to gold we had better choose well and never again want to change styles due to the costs in crating and upgrading a different armor.

And then comes monster helms and shoulder who tend to clash with whatever we had picked before, and do not even boast of a GW2 hide-the-shoulders (also hiding gloves). Or dropped sets which we will have to sport the look, willing or not, because we cannot change it or craft them in a different motif.

A bit like the choice of native ESO not having a mini map or only being able to craft one item at a time I am left wondering why and how a MMO limits cosmetics in 2016.

My hearty yes to this suggestion!

Recremen

khele23eb17_ESO wrote: »

A vanity tab system like this would be great... however Im pretty sure this would negatively impact costume sales and as such its not likely to happen.

That's an interesting point! I'd say that nearly all the costumes provide a rather unique look that can't be copied via any motif, however. They're even removing huge swaths of costumes from the crown store soon that are just armor duplicates. In addition, they could likely break up the costumes into their own components for use in the vanity tabs, where owning the costume counts as "knowing the motif" for the purposes of restyling. It would be a clipping nightmare in some instances, but I imagine it could still pass under a "use at your own risk" clause. I mean heck, the shirt alone on some of the Orsinium costumes would be GREAT for a hefty mage look when combined with other items.

InfaM

That would be a good implementation to ESO

khele23eb17_ESO

Recremen wrote: »

khele23eb17_ESO wrote: »

A vanity tab system like this would be great... however Im pretty sure this would negatively impact costume sales and as such its not likely to happen.

That's an interesting point! I'd say that nearly all the costumes provide a rather unique look that can't be copied via any motif, however.

Thats not exactly what I mean. Thing is, even if costumes are 100% unique, the fact there is a free alternative to make your character look the way you want with little to no effort (obtaining a motif is quite easy) diminishes their value significantly. Yea, that new costume might be cool, but how many players will fork over $10-20 to buy it when they can just mix and match unlocked motif pieces to get a unique look for free?

Recremen

khele23eb17_ESO wrote: »

Recremen wrote: »

khele23eb17_ESO wrote: »

A vanity tab system like this would be great... however Im pretty sure this would negatively impact costume sales and as such its not likely to happen.

That's an interesting point! I'd say that nearly all the costumes provide a rather unique look that can't be copied via any motif, however.

Thats not exactly what I mean. Thing is, even if costumes are 100% unique, the fact there is a free alternative to make your character look the way you want with little to no effort (obtaining a motif is quite easy) diminishes their value significantly. Yea, that new costume might be cool, but how many players will fork over $10-20 to buy it when they can just mix and match unlocked motif pieces to get a unique look for free?

I totes see where you're coming from, but I'm of the belief that people really will spend however many Crowns for costumes they believe are cool enough. I mean, I have the sublime fortune of being a stam build with all my armor in easy-to-get motifs, max crafting and traits, etc., and I love the look of my regular armor, but I still buy all kinds of costumes. I've got the Noble's Suit, Wedding Suit, Whisperweft, all the Orsinium garb, and more. I mean, just look at all that high-quality fabric. It's gorgeous! If folks are willing to farm up new motifs/buy them in the Crown Store, then I have no doubts they'll still buy costumes, most especially if the costume parts could be used in vanity slots. Just imagine those bracelets from the Whisperweft outfit paired with a luxurious Khajiit robe. It would be absolutely decadent.

Recremen

@ZOS_RichLambert can I get a witness? Or at least a /lurk? Please to help a Khajiit out.

khele23eb17_ESO

Recremen wrote: »

khele23eb17_ESO wrote: »

Recremen wrote: »

khele23eb17_ESO wrote: »

A vanity tab system like this would be great... however Im pretty sure this would negatively impact costume sales and as such its not likely to happen.

That's an interesting point! I'd say that nearly all the costumes provide a rather unique look that can't be copied via any motif, however.

Thats not exactly what I mean. Thing is, even if costumes are 100% unique, the fact there is a free alternative to make your character look the way you want with little to no effort (obtaining a motif is quite easy) diminishes their value significantly. Yea, that new costume might be cool, but how many players will fork over $10-20 to buy it when they can just mix and match unlocked motif pieces to get a unique look for free?

I totes see where you're coming from, but I'm of the belief that people really will spend however many Crowns for costumes they believe are cool enough. I mean, I have the sublime fortune of being a stam build with all my armor in easy-to-get motifs, max crafting and traits, etc., and I love the look of my regular armor, but I still buy all kinds of costumes. I've got the Noble's Suit, Wedding Suit, Whisperweft, all the Orsinium garb, and more. I mean, just look at all that high-quality fabric. It's gorgeous! If folks are willing to farm up new motifs/buy them in the Crown Store, then I have no doubts they'll still buy costumes, most especially if the costume parts could be used in vanity slots. Just imagine those bracelets from the Whisperweft outfit paired with a luxurious Khajiit robe. It would be absolutely decadent.

Im not sure most players think like that. But OK, lets say a vast majority of 80% think like you do... thats still a 20% reduction in people interested in buying costumes if a vanity tab was introduced. Again, Id love to have the feature implemented, its something that I feel needs to be a part of every MMO, but unless ZOS can monetize this new form of customization somehow, I dont see it actually happening.

BruhItsOver9000

khele23eb17_ESO wrote: »

A vanity tab system like this would be great... however Im pretty sure this would negatively impact costume sales and as such its not likely to happen.

No if they keep releasing unique costumes people would still buy them.

Majeure

Something like this is something I've been wishing for since the game was released, and it might actually motivate someone like me to spend more crowns to unlock the motifs early, were they made available closer to the release of the chapters, whereas now I don't see much of any value buying something I don't get to make much of any use of. I'd still buy the costumes I like, especially now with the hats and the coming of the costume dyes, but maybe that's just me.

Currently it's just not really feasible to wear what looks best regarding armor if you want to be effective, essentially wasting all these styles we have readily available to us.

I'd even be glad with a system where we can only make items look like what another style of the same armor weight would, though I don't see why not allow restyling of different weights as costumes effectively do that already, though that could potentially remain a trait unique to costumes.

darkgrinch

signed and push

Woeler

Great post!

Jeremiah87

Signed. I'm in favor of the single costume slot per equipped item.
How about you start a petition or poll for this? I've been wanting exactly what you suggested for so long.

theivorykitty

ZOS make it happen ASAP!

ItsGlaive

A million times this! You have my awesome, fantastic work!

khele23eb17_ESO

BruhItsOver9000 wrote: »

khele23eb17_ESO wrote: »

A vanity tab system like this would be great... however Im pretty sure this would negatively impact costume sales and as such its not likely to happen.

No if they keep releasing unique costumes people would still buy them.

Significantly fewer people would throw $10-20 at the game for a costume if they could put together their own unique look for free with little to no effort in game. This would have to be monetized somehow for ZOS to consider it. Like 50 crowns for swapping an item in a vanity slot.

VizigothAlaric

Awesome post!

I do have 3 different hundings set cuz of this and still need to change some other armor styles. Hope they will do this but even they do probally gonna happen next year or something, sad...

willymchilybily

UI for consoles makes this slightly more challenging. but Id welcome being able to make use of more of my styles i have learnt.

i did skim read but didnt see how you address multiple characters? are my styles to chose from per character or per account.

Eg. my new character level 3 knows no styles. so this isn't for them. but my main who knows many styles can now outfit himself with said styles?