Dragonguard - Motif vs Outfit Style

lethality_ESO

So, I am a relatively new player trying to figure all of this out

I understand that the tier of materials you use when crafting determines the "look" within the motif (i.e. if I choose Nord, then depending on the material I use, I get any one of the 4 options for that armor piece).

With a motif like the Dragonguard, there is only one "look" (per armor type, light/heavy/medium).

When I go to craft Dragonguard stuff, I expected it to look like the picture on the Motif I purchased.. the actual dragonguard look we see in-game. But, every one of them crafts into some weird type of "grey" material.

Can anyone explain this to me? I guess I am ok with whatever the answer is (though, I would be slightly upset if I have to use the highest materials and have the highest crafting skill to get what I want, because that will be months away at least!)

I know I can try to dye things, use the included styles, etc. but I want to understand why crafting is working this way

Thanks!

Taleof2Cities

lethality_ESO wrote: »

I understand that the tier of materials you use when crafting determines the "look" within the motif (i.e. if I choose Nord, then depending on the material I use, I get any one of the 4 options for that armor piece).

^ The answer is surprisingly close to your statement here above, @lethality_ESO.

When you craft any gear or weapons, the crafted pieces also take on the materials tier color at that level.

To give you an example, if you craft a level 46-50 Yew Bow (first screenshot below; requires Woodworking passive level 5), the color of the crafted bow is a Rank 5 Materials color ... or a dark "Coldharbour" feel.

Another example is the max level (CP150-CP160) Rank 10 Materials "Red" ... as seen in the Greatsword and robe trim of the second screenshot below.

But if you want the Dragonguard look, it's way easier to just craft whatever and then apply your known Dragonguard outfit style over it through the outfit overlay.

Then, leave the dye channels blank (not dyed) on the outfit style ... so that classic Dragonguard off-Red shows through. See third screenshot below in the light armor robes. (In the third screenshot I did apply the Motif Master Brown dye to the leather sections and the Elsweyr Blood Gold dye to the plates.)

Hopefully, you're OK with the small cost in gold or outfit token to save an outfit slot at the station.

I'm hoping this helps ... but feel free to post more questions if you have them.

lethality_ESO

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

lethality_ESO wrote: »

I understand that the tier of materials you use when crafting determines the "look" within the motif (i.e. if I choose Nord, then depending on the material I use, I get any one of the 4 options for that armor piece).

^ The answer is surprisingly close to your statement here above, @lethality_ESO.

When you craft any gear or weapons, the crafted pieces also take on the materials tier color at that level.

Hey there @Taleof2Cities - thank you for your response! I do have a couple more questions as I come to understand how the design of this system all works.

Based on your answer, and continuing the Dragonguard motif as the example...

- Do you know if any material tier produces the coloration as depicted in-game an in the Crown store imagery? In other words, can it be crafted that way at all?
- If not, do you know if there is a dye or set of dyes that can be used? Does ZOS publish those kind of Outfit style dye colors?
- Finally,

I feel like effectively, the Outfit style is acting as a pre-coded "dye stamp" to match what we see in-game... which is fine. Though the issue I have is if that same exact coloration cannot be achieved solely through crafting and dyes.

Mainly I am just trying to understand how this all works... I do feel like the Outfit styles devalued crafting and crafters quite a bit, but, I can also see why they would want to do it.

Thanks again for any help!

Taleof2Cities

lethality_ESO wrote: »

- Do you know if any material tier produces the coloration as depicted in-game an in the Crown store imagery? In other words, can it be crafted that way at all?

No, unfortunately not, @lethality_ESO. The coloration of crafted gear always takes on the materials tier color when freshly crafted (undyed).

lethality_ESO wrote: »

- If not, do you know if there is a dye or set of dyes that can be used? Does ZOS publish those kind of Outfit style dye colors?

As explained above, the only way to achieve the default coloration of the style is to use the outfit overlay and then leave the dye channels undyed or "blank". ZOS unfortunately does not publish the dye colors with new motifs or outfits.

Moreover, the default coloration for a motif or outfit style can often be a color that's neither available as an outfit station dye nor as a dye stamp.

lethality_ESO wrote: »

- Finally, I feel like effectively, the Outfit style is acting as a pre-coded "dye stamp" to match what we see in-game... which is fine. Though the issue I have is if that same exact coloration cannot be achieved solely through crafting and dyes.

Mainly I am just trying to understand how this all works... I do feel like the Outfit styles devalued crafting and crafters quite a bit, but, I can also see why they would want to do it.

Correct. I did try using my existing unlocked reds and oranges to mimic the Dragonguard coloration. But none of them came close to the classic off-Red by just leaving the dye channel blank.

Don't get me wrong, the outfit overlay revolutionized a player's freedom of choice for creating unique style and color combinations.

But in that process, the need for specific crafted styles and the need for specific style stones was lost. Style stones in particular are now worthless except for the handful that can be used in furniture crafting.

All of that, coupled with crafted 5-piece sets being inferior to regular dropped sets, devalued Master Crafters a lot since October 2016 (when OneTamriel and the outfit overlay were released).