Slate-Gray Summoned Bear in Specials and not a Skill Style, why?

Alp · June 8

I might be a bit late with the pts being over but why was the Slate-Gray Summoned Bear "Ability Skin" that has its own exclusive Special menu:

and not in the new Skill Styles section and system at all?

It seems like it was just kinda forgotten about.

LunaFlora · June 8

maybe it will be in the future

Alp · June 8

LunaFlora wrote: »

maybe it will be in the future

At least if they plan on letting people skin other combat pets it should.

Treeshka · June 9

I think this will go to Skill Styles once class skills starts to get styles.

freespirit · June 9

Maybe because it's a very old skin, that was released not long after or at the same time as the Warden Class?

It has no relevence to Scribing.

LunaFlora · June 9

freespirit wrote: »

Maybe because it's a very old skin, that was released not long after or at the same time as the Warden Class?

It has no relevence to Scribing.

Skill Styles have no relevance to Scribing either

virtus753 · June 9

LunaFlora wrote: »

freespirit wrote: »

Maybe because it's a very old skin, that was released not long after or at the same time as the Warden Class?

It has no relevence to Scribing.

Skill Styles have no relevance to Scribing either

Except they were both released together in the same DLC and often presented adjacently in the same ads, spotlights, discussions, etc., even if their functionality doesn't overlap. They are bought together. They are related by association as part of the same expansion as well as by their nature as customization of skills, whereas Morrowind's bear skin is now 7 years old and from a set of extra collectibles from a different DLC. It may be the precursor functionally to Skill Styling, but it isn't formally part of the system and doesn't come with the purchase of Gold Road/West Weald.

I could have understood it if they moved the bear into Skill Styling like they moved Imperial and Morag Tong conversion into the Outfit system when that was available (even though that actually removed a lot of functionality and offered something different in its place). I wouldn't really be surprised if they did so in the future. But I can also see a distinction in keeping it separate if they don't want to give people the expectation that they can unlock the bear skin like Skill Styles can be unlocked (none of those is for sale currently outside of purchasing the new DLC). It would be confusing to say "yes, the bear skin is part of Skill Styling, but no, you don't get it with the rest of Skill Styling with West Weald - you need to buy extra collectibles from a 7-year-old DLC." Maybe if they start selling styles in the future from other sources they may be able to incorporate it in a more natural way, but for now it is very much an odd duck.

Erickson9610 · June 9

In my own thread on the subject, I made a mock-up of what this would look like as a Skill Style:

Erickson9610 wrote: »

I've made a few mock-ups of what the Slate-Gray Summoned Bear collectible might look like if it was implemented as a Skill Style. As you know, Skill Styles use the icon of the base morph of the skill, which is recolored to match what the Skill Style looks like.

For instance, here's how I think it might look like in the menu, compared to the Regeneration skill with the "Regeneration, Azure Blue" Skill Style equipped:

Then, keeping in mind that Skill Style icons continue to use the recolored icon of the base morph of the skill, here is what Wild Guardian with Slate-Gray Summoned Bear might look like, compared to Combat Prayer with the "Blessing of Protection, Sky Blue" Skill Style:

Here's what it might look like in the menu for applying the Slate-Gray Summoned Bear skin on Feral Guardian and its morphs:

And here's how it might look in the Skill Styles section of the Appearance Menu, with the name changed to "Feral Guardian, Slate Gray" to match the naming convention:

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Kevin Was Slate-Gray Summoned Bear considered at all when developing the Skill Styling system, and is there a chance that it will be integrated into the Skill Styling system?

Pelanora · June 19

freespirit wrote: »

Maybe because it's a very old skin, that was released not long after or at the same time as the Warden Class?

It has no relevence to Scribing.

They've said the tools they've built to enable scribing could do skins for combat pets too and they will get to that, although they said they don't know when (I hope someone knows lol)

Araneae6537 · June 20

I really hope that skill styling includes more than just recolors (nice to be one option but sad if the only option). I don’t want a bear of any color. I hope we eventually get other creatures as spirit guardian options.

tomofhyrule · July 4

I'd actually rather they used this area to give more options for pet colors. And, of course, werewolf colors.

The one thing I'm wondering with Skill Styles is if they'd end up making multiple alternate colors of them. If so - yeah, you have two choices, but you may not like either so you're still not happy with it.

But yes, I'm a bit salty that my werewolf (who is supposed to be a rusty greyish-brown) has to keep his werewolf unmorphed since he is not supposed to be black or white. Let us choose our color, please!