Let's stop all the bad gear design SE.

[Gehena]

I actually really like the caster and healer gear from Syrcus Tower. The daystar stuff is nice too but the evenstar outfit is my least favorite of anything, especially on Miqo'tes, so it's nice to have an alternative.

Evenstar is also poorly designed.

[Mugiawara]

Healer gear is some of my favorite looking gear, actually. :x

Allagan, White Mage, Scylla, High Allagan all look awesome to me, and the scholar coat is neat in its own way.

WHM, SCH, High Allagan are fine...w/e the CT gear one is called that makes me look like a damn Zebra is not lol.
I got the hell out of that clothes so quick lol.
Asides the end-game gear. The road to 50 had a lot of re-hash hemp cloth.... -.-
Hate those hemps!

[LunarEmerald]

Stop treating your opinion as fact please.

[Skivvy]

OP complains.....a lot. For what it's worth, I think the NPC's top that you posted is hideous. That's the joy of opinions. While you may think a lot of the new stuff is ugly, and lacking in one way or another, I personally enjoy quite a lot of it.

[Cyrus-Wallace]

It isn't about making people happy, but being a better game in general.

Sorry, I'm failing to understand your point. You're saying that the new designs are "horrendous", or "lazy", yet you're talking about improvement and showed one mere example. Instead of repeating myself or other's comments saying "hey, but I like xxx" (which is a proof that the design being "horrendous" or "lazy" are appealing to some players), I would have to ask you to make a solid suggestion, with more examples, more observations on the current gear, more examples and suggestions about your ideas and how they're going to "improve" the current gear's look. Your initial message was way too empty, not enough material to work on.

Stop treating your opinion as fact please.

And this. Remember you're talking about tastes, and most people don't share the same tastes than others. What would you think if the dev team introduces gear that it's appealing to you, yet, it's awful of the other half of the playerbase? then you come to the boards and you see people complaining about that! How dare they! After all, it's the gear YOU like.

[Enkidoh]

Complain at Akihiko Yoshida. These are his designs. Personally, I love them. They're unique.

Akihiko Yoshida left Square Enix though last year so these latest designs would probably have been done by other artists on the FFXIV Art Team.

As for the original topic, sure a lot of the latest gear is getting increasingly... well... odd... in design, but really, we have the glamour system now. If we happen to not like a piece of armour's design we can just glamour something else onto it, solving the problem. Also the CT (Syrcus Tower) gear is actually based on the appearance of the FFIII bosses that feature inside it, which are based on Yoshitaka Amano's original artwork for FFIII, so you can guarantee there would be very abstract and surreal designs for equipment as a result.

[Vahlnir]

As for the original topic, sure a lot of the latest gear is getting increasingly... well... odd... in design, but really, we have the glamour system now. If we happen to not like a piece of armour's design we can just glamour something else onto it, solving the problem.

Pretty much this. There's certain gear sets I would rather glamour over, but there's also plenty I really like. It has been said before me that everyone's tastes are different...and that's 100% correct. I hope they keep bringing unique armor sets into the game because variety is a very good thing in an MMO. To the OP, I might not always find what they create visually pleasing, but there's always going to be someone that does. It all comes down to personal preference so everyone has a different opinion...

Evenstar is also poorly designed.

...and you are no exception.

[Cyrus-Wallace]

Akihiko Yoshida left Square Enix though last year so these latest designs would probably have been done by other artists on the FFXIV Art Team.

Well, as far as I know, he's still working on that:

http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/12/...will-continue/

Also this quote:

Greetings,

Many of you have already been commenting on the news as well as sharing the details from various sources about Akihiko Yoshida leaving Square Enix.

Don't worry, however! Even though he will be leaving Square Enix, he will still continue to work on FFXIV as usual, and you can expect the same great illustrations in the future.

If you're the type to shout out "pics or it didn't happen!" well... pics! Here's everyone checking out a new illustration by him. I wonder what it will be!



Akihiko Yoshida also sketched a picture with a message to everyone.

"Thank you for your continued support <3"

[AnnaMolly]

I think what FFXIV really needs is more zippers and Disney characters.

[Jinrya-Geki]

Just cause you have a vanity system, doesn't mean you can make crappy gear. Syrcus Tower gear is terrible looking.