I would like to take a moment and attempt a constructive argument for the introduction of a mechanic to reskin an armor or weapon appearance (commonly called transmogrification or “transmog") into ESO and provide a much needed alternative motivation for collecting motifs. I'm a fairly new ESO player with less than a year of play time and I have been told by veteran players that transmog has been shot down before, as it would be “lore breaking”. I find this reason lacking for such a heavily requested and common feature across so many major MMO titles.

I'm happy with my dyes and costume selection, but my top complaint in this fantastic game is that I continually feel the need to hide my armor appearance behind a costume, a sentiment frequently expressed by many guild mates. While I’m sure this boosts the sale of cosmetic items, it’s a shame to consider the efforts made by Zenimax to create many unique, interesting, and pleasing armor appearances with each new DLC and expansion. There are so many armor and weapons appearances that I would love to enjoy, but won't as my armor is dictated by the set bonuses my playstyle requires.

This availability of so many set bonuses should be embraced and considered a strength. In my 15 years of MMO’s, I have rarely had this much freedom to custom tailor stats to match my content, role and playstyle. I'm not advocating any change to the procurement methods for any gear, it already works well. However, the current item set system significantly diminishes from the crafting system, motif system, and a player’s ability to determine their appearance. I would love to run around in the new Morag Tong armor and weapons, but instead my Orc is trapped in Bosmer medium armor and Primal weapons (Not a great look, but great stats). This armor has taken me weeks to farm and I now want to hide it instead of show off and be proud to wear it.

Now, for your lore breaking argument: I’m a skilled master tailor and master blacksmith who has taken journeys across Tamriel in search of DOZENS of tomes, with the specific purpose of learning an armor design. Yet I'm somehow unable to grind or melt down my sword and recast the metal? Or take the stitching out of my leather and recut it’s shape and fit? I can deconstruct it and reuse the scraps, but I can't actually tailor or make alterations to anything. The only use for my extensive knowledge in crafting the Morag Tong style will be to craft a sealed writ, if I ever get one in that style.

For example: I have an epic quality Spriggans Jack, Divines that has the Bosmer appearance. And I have 50 in tailoring, learned the style motif for medium Morag Tong chest armor, I possess the required material to craft a piece of armor, and I have even taken the time to specifically learn how to work with the Divines trait. Then I should be able to convert the appearance of the item and be left with an epic quality Spriggans Jack, Divines in the Morag Tong style. What’s lore breaking is to suggest that my crafter lacks the requisite skill to make an alteration, when everything in your crafting system suggests that I should be adept at making changes.

I can understand how a paid service for every player to magically alter an items appearance may break lore. Fine, make us earn it; but don’t deny us the option entirely. Allow a master crafter to alter the appearance of an item (Cosmetic only) to another motif that they have collected (keeping the same stats, set bonus, quality, weight and body piece). This benefit is three fold: 1. It reinforces that you are in fact a master craftsman. 2. It adds a substantial reasons to hunt, buy and sell motifs. 3. You’re allowing players to decide how they should look, which can be as important to some players as their armor stats.

Not restrictive enough? Add an item similar to a mimic stone that drops at the end of challenging content and use it as the required material for transmogrification. Or make it require a mimic stone. Players will buy the stone to reskin there appearance over and over again as we get bored of our look, adding revenue through micro transactions. Titles like Guild Wars 2 have used this model to great effect already. Over my three years as a GW2 player I purchased perhaps a dozen cosmetic items, but I purchased 200-300 transmog charges (multiple characters with multiple armor sets, 1 charge per item reskin).

As it stands now, I can't help but to feel that the crafting and armor system is incomplete, with current players frequently asking for the point in their effort to collect motifs and complaining about their appearance. Transmog would be a natural extension of the well-designed mechanics already in place, add to a crafters repertoire, and it would further validate motifs. This concept can also add to ZOS’s micro transaction profits and help support development costs. And add hours of enjoyment into the player experience by letting players like me ditch skins that we find ugly, but to “good” to put down.

I also can’t claim that the concept is without flaws, two issues come to mind. First, could players sell items that have been reskined and thus attempt to increase item value with more cosmetic appeal? I think the answer should be yes. They have a 1 in 60 or so chance on getting the correct appearance and likely wasting the reskin material, as the buyer will reskin it again. However, this could also create an environment where crafters could purchase mimic’s and charge gold to reskin other player’s armor and weapons (creating a small, undesirable P2W market and mitigated by an account bound mechanic). The second wrinkle is concerning unique item appearances such as monster set items. My suggestion is that a unique set should be reskinable to any appearance that you have a motif for (in the same armor weight). But, no other armor should be allowed to take the unique set appearance, as there is no motif for it. Ultimately these design decisions will rest with a development team, should ZOS decide to undertake the mechanic.

Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter. I welcome any constructive feedback, comments or criticism from the player community.