Request for an Item Remodelling Feature

This is a feature I would like to see in FFXIV:

Item Remodelling / Display Slots

It is becoming a standard feature in mmo's and proven to be very well enjoyed by thier player base. It's also very easy to implement. Basically allows you to customize the appearance of your character with gear.

Example:

Have 2 equip windows a normal one for stats, other for display. Gear placed in the display one is what appears visualy on your character on screen. Same equip requirements would remain for the display ones so you need to be able to equip it in order to display it. (Therefore no mages running around in plate armor or a level 10 with a level 50 weapon, that would not be possible)

Here are just some of the advantages:

-Allows players to customize their appearance. In a game like FFXIV where gear models are highly detailed it would be nice if players can look how they want and be different then other players.

-No more sacrificing appearance for performance. Based on what players like they can foccus on stats instead of worrying about how it looks. This makes you do content that you normally would not bother to do.

-Keeps old content usefull. This has been proven to be very effective in other mmo's where once implemented players were spending alot of time doing older content to acquire thier gear model.

-Avoids players from looking the same, eliminates player clones. This is becoming a bigger problem everyday.

-Removes money from economy. (depending how it's implemented)

-Content can be added that is required to "unlock" various gear slots. An mmo can always use more content.

-Feature that can be added to crafters.

FFXIV has some of the highest quality gear graphics in mmo's, it's the one mmo where such a feature would stand out the most, yet it's the mmo's that does not have it.

This one feature adds ALOT of positive things to the game and no negatives, it's a proven feature enjoyed greatly in other mmo's. Character appearance and immersion is important to those who play role-playing games.

** Please also visit these other similar threads:

Display slots in UI Forums
Vanity Slots in General Forums
A World of Individuals in General Forums

This is always a fun feature in any MMO and it has its merits, but I feel that this should be put at the bottom of the stack of things to do right now.

Sure not a priority but want to make sure that the 2.0 engine/item structure can handle such features. Now would be time since it's under construction.

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Originally Posted by Heaven

Another feature would be to allow us to "upgrade" gear to a higher level. For example let's say job af gear is level 50, then they raise the cap to 55 making your af gear useless. Can offer the ability to upgrade it to equal level 55 gear.

Alot of content can be added with such features thru quests, drops etc..

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Thats not a bad Idea, sounds alot like the Moogle Trials from FFXI, where certain pieces of gear can be upgraded to a higher level :P

It also makes that outdated gear that just becomes a waste of game space, now something to seek after, if you personally like the way it looks.

not sure the best way to go about implementing this, but i definitely agree that it would be a good idea to have imo.

The only downside, is a subjective one, some developers like the idea that you can tell how good a persons gear is just by seeing them, but i dont think its worth what you lose.

should definately make the gear have the same name and look like whatever it really is in the /check though.

I personally never like this in MMO's, and think it would be even worse here. You can turn head display off, which is the big one, but if you can put any appearance on any armor, then you'll have a bunch of mages running around in heavy armor, or other such things. To me it kind of ruins the feel and immersion of the game. Also as you said, being able to quickly discern a player, not so much how "good" their gear is but more, *what* they are is more important to me. It's the same reason explained why Team Fortress 2 only allows small modifications of appearance.

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Originally Posted by silverdragontyr

I personally never like this in MMO's, and think it would be even worse here. You can turn head display off, which is the big one, but if you can put any appearance on any armor, then you'll have a bunch of mages running around in heavy armor, or other such things. To me it kind of ruins the feel and immersion of the game. Also as you said, being able to quickly discern a player, not so much how "good" their gear is but more, *what* they are is more important to me. It's the same reason explained why Team Fortress 2 only allows small modifications of appearance.

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This has been the most common respectful response I've seen to this.
Over all I personally disagree with it, as the more creative freedom people are given, the more a game rakes in the cash.
But the more middle ground to this, would be, limiting it to armor types and etc, based on what that class would wear.

Example, if someone wears the Lv50 PLD AF and later down the road, mixes it with PLD Lv70+ AF, it doesn't make you wonder what class they are.

similar to robes and plate, corresponding to their class.

people can already equip stuff that doesn't favor their class, but now it's a matter of allowing them to do it where it matters.

For the middle ground route as well, I would still say, applications of this, will be limited based on what that class has "required/favored" and wont be allowed for non favored class gear.

(Though I still personally say the weapon attached to a person is a big give away, along with the fact you know what they were, when you invited them to the group, and worst case scenario, you might need to talk to that person to find out what class they are.)

Thanks for the response Claire :)

I would like to add that the way item remodelling works is that you can only take the skin from the same type of gear ex: robe ---> robe, plate ---> plate. Therefore it would be impossible to have a mage running around in plate armor since you can only use a skin for something that the class would normally be able to wear in the 1st place. It adds immersion since it avoids everyone running around in the same gear.

Also it has a level requirement, so you can't have a level 10 running around with a level 50+ model.

How many times does a patch come out in a mmo and makes older gear and it's associated content useless? with this feature nothing becomes obselete since you can still go after the gear for it's skin to customize your apperence. This makes you do content that you normally would not bother to do.

Any image you could share to illustrate this feature? I'm not sure I understand correctly.

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Any image you could share to illustrate this feature? I'm not sure I understand correctly.

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I do not have any of pictures personally, as every game to have it, I didn't play, or didn't add the feature till after I quit. (WoW being one of them.)

If you have a WoW account, I'd say check it out, if not, maybe jump on a free 10 day trial.
(not sure if you can do it at low Lv.)

EDIT: I take it back, I did play Aion, which had it, but you originally had to be Lv30 to do it, and I stopped playing at Lv28 or 29. (Woulda loved to mix some armors together I really liked.)

/support .

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Originally Posted by Claire_Pendragon

I do not have any of pictures personally, as every game to have it, I didn't play, or didn't add the feature till after I quit. (WoW being one of them.)

If you have a WoW account, I'd say check it out, if not, maybe jump on a free 10 day trial.
(not sure if you can do it at low Lv.)

EDIT: I take it back, I did play Aion, which had it, but you originally had to be Lv30 to do it, and I stopped playing at Lv28 or 29. (Woulda loved to mix some armors together I really liked.)

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I don't have WoW, don't intend to play WoW just to see what it is all about (which I'm not sure I understand to begin with). That's why I asked for an image to illustrate it (make a collage with paint, I don't mind). :s

Is it like having a level 1 weapon with the skin of the best weapon of the game?

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Originally Posted by Nakiamiie

I don't have WoW, don't intend to play WoW just to see what it is all about (which I'm not sure I understand to begin with). That's why I asked for an image to illustrate it (make a collage with paint, I don't mind). :s

Is it like having a level 1 weapon with the skin of the best weapon of the game?

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More so reverse.

My example would be, I loved these leggings which looked like tattered cloth over chain mail. They were only Lv25.
The rest of my armor was Lv40, and I was really wearing Lv50 armor.
I made the Lv50 armor look like Lv40 and 25 armor.
The over all combination looked nice together.

In FFXI an example would be, I loved Irn. Msk. armor set more than any other armor for PLD, but it was only Lv50, so there's no point in wearing my favorite armor after I upgrade to PLD AF.
I would loved to have had PLD AF head, Irn Msk body/hands/feet, and different leggings as my endgame outfit "look"
(I like cloth over top of plate looking outfits, and FFXI lacked such a look, so I would have loved a white version of hamam pants. other wise just any white slacks)

I'm personally someone who hates wearing most endgame armor, or if i do like it, usually i would love to mix something from another set with it.

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Originally Posted by Claire_Pendragon

More so reverse.

My example would be, I loved these leggings which looked like tattered cloth over chain mail. They were only Lv25.
The rest of my armor was Lv40, and I was really wearing Lv50 armor.
I made the Lv50 armor look like Lv40 and 25 armor.
The over all combination looked nice together.

In FFXI an example would be, I loved Irn. Msk. armor set more than any other armor for PLD, but it was only Lv50, so there's no point in wearing my favorite armor after I upgrade to PLD AF.
I would loved to have had PLD AF head, Irn Msk body/hands/feet, and different leggings as my endgame outfit "look"
(I like cloth over top of plate looking outfits, and FFXI lacked such a look, so I would have loved a white version of hamam pants. other wise just any white slacks)

I'm personally someone who hates wearing most endgame armor, or if i do like it, usually i would love to mix something from another set with it.

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Oh~ I see! Sounds fun. :D
And definitely less clones wandering around while still being at full power.

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Originally Posted by Nakiamiie

Oh~ I see! Sounds fun. :D
And definitely less clones wandering around while still being at full power.

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This would be one of the reasons people would like this (Since ideally the "best gear" is what you will need, and therefor everyone looks the same) but it's actually one of the reasons some DEVs in other MMOs don't want this.
Running events with large groups, who all wear different armor can be taxing on peoples PCs, and if they all wear the same armor, then it only needs to load the same models/skins.

As to how FFXIVs devs feel, idk. (idk if it is all preloaded or what, but I'd assume it's the same.)

I like the idea, but I think I prefer the idea of just having 2 sets of gear on your character, one that gives stats, and another that gives the look of your character, that way you dont need to worry about story loads of data for everyones gear.

/support.

I like this idea because some of the best armor in the game looks ridiculous.

/support

I'll set up a set of optimal cobalt full plate D: just let me make it look like a sentinel set.

I don't see the benefit to it. If you want to go around town in your old gear, then so be it. We called that town gear in FFXI. If you want to actually come to combat with gear that looks like older/weaker/outdated gear but actually be wearing something else entirely, then no thank you. What this takes away from MMOs is the sense of class. Meaning "What is that guy? A Wizard? A Knight? An Archer?" Even if you allowed it only in the same category as they do in WoW, aka leather/cloth/plate, then you run into people with silly looking outfits downing these powerful looking monsters. It ruins the, god forbid I bring up something that has been making video games a medium for interactive art, immersion of the game world and everything around it.

The benefit is less clones. The different armors for one class follow the principle of replacing one material with another as the gear gets higher level (cotton->canvas->velveteen->wool->felt, to give an example)

Keeping the limits on "fashion" gear the same as when being equipped as normal gear doesn't break immersion at all. For mages, all type of cloth offer same protection against damage, for battle classes it's mostly cloth and leather mixed independent on their level, for the heavy ones it's different metals. And that's the only part where you could argue "it doesn't make sense since bone is "softer" than bronze and bronze is "softer" than steel".

I personally don't see a problem.

I'd prefer to have a separate slots for "fashion" gear over having to meld the stats from one item to another.

ya i don't see how it breaks immersion, think of it similar to dress spheres or whatever. You don't see hundreds of people around wearing identical clothes, tapping them on there back and going "oops wrong guy, this is the 50th person today"

Thanks for the replies everyone, i've updated the OP with more info and better clarification.

Always liked skin swaps for armors. I seem to always like the look of the worst optimized armor in games.

I would also like to see my dye color options. Some things can only be dyed say green, yet i'd like a purple version.

Color choices for "all-purpose" dyes seems extreamly limited :(