I really like the premise of the costumes in the Crown store, but I think the execution needs some work! If the point is customization, it would be grand to let players go full out with it, "buying" pieces of armor to add to a costume dynamically.

So rather than buy the Shaman pack, for example, let people buy the individual leather or cloth pieces of those armor types as costuming components, complete with dying compatibility.

Example: I have a gorgeous Khajiit hearthrob and really like to show off his arms for my RP guild. A Khajiit leather chest with Imperial leather shoulders does that really well! In this scenario, I buy said pieces as costuming components in the Crown store, open some costume UI, slap 'em together along with whatever other components I have, and voila! I can PVP with my guild in Industry Standard Cloth Armor, or whatever set gear happens to be good, while still looking faboo in my signature leathers. Right now I'm stuck with a Nord jerkin, which is pretty good, but fur on fur is generally considered a fashion faux pas.

Now, I could totally see the need for certain limitations in such a system. For instance, it would seem fair to me (and easier to program, I'm sure) if you had to have a full set of gear in the form of costume components before you could create a costume out of them. It also stands to reason that you would need to be able to craft said item on at least one of your characters, or otherwise own it if it's uncraftable. This way, you could keep the crafting economy alive and ensure there's a reason to come back to old content. Those fancy Undaunted helms will disappear completely once something new comes out unless this kind of a system is in place!

Back before the b2p news, I'd always hoped for a system of Alteration (the tailoring skill, not the school of magic), where you could change the look of your gear. The crown store, however, has the potential to offer even more variety than that, since armor types don't need to factor into it! If you really want to bleed us RPers dry offer the most competitive customization suite on the MMOMarket, you should totally take full advantage of your existing armor options.


Also, while we're on the topic of character appearance, let me hijack my own thread to mention: boots! I don't mean these skinny tapered things, either, I mean good, thick cloth and leather boots. Something to fill out the bottom part of the character model for the strong athletic types. Dunmer medium is the best example I can find of what is (close to) what I mean.


Pictures for everyone:
light armor, an example of the dreadful tapered boot.
Most light armor is even worse than that, being completely skin-tight. Not good for this look!
Medium armor. Much better, but needs work!
See how the thicker boot fills out the bottom of the character? Makes his legs look strong and athletic!
Medium Armor again.
Here we see that, from a different angle, there's still this unfortunate and prominent taper. We also see the model's dissatisfaction with the state of affairs. Won't you help a friendly Khajiit out?