So uh... whats up with the end game gear designs lately?

[Jybril]

Depends on what you mean by unisex. I've not once posted advocating for boring shapeless armor. I just want the different armor styles to be equal-opportunity.

Why did you assume " sexy/revealing/skirts" because we're female...Us girls can look nice w/o looking
"thots" like that one guy said...that was actually a silly comment on his end lol.
How about gear that doesn't look like the same junk we've been wearing. @_@;
I just want better looking gear!

[Serilda]

When you argue against 'unisex' you effectively argue in favour of the current status quo where female characters sometimes get given extra special 'feminine' gear and guys get...well, nothing, because the designers only seem to have time to do half the work these days and they all prefer cute catgirls. Unisex doesn't always mean shapeless, drab gear. If we're getting too much of that, it's a separate problem which is best addressed directly instead of conflating it with the contentious genderlocking issue.

In any case, a character's sex is a relatively tiny piece of the puzzle. A male Lalafell and a male Au Ra have completely different physical shapes, to the point where gear which looks good on one will often look terrible on the other and vice versa. My maximum height Elezen looks amazing in long boots, heels and jewellery but terrible in some of the so-called 'masculine' garb because it doesn't flatter his shape. While a male Lalafell and female Lalafell are effectively identical for glamour purposes, and locking the boys out from certain gear is indefensible (they're only locked out so that they can enforce this strict male/female divide in the first place, the models don't need any reworking).

Yes to more feminine gear. Yes to more masculine gear. Yes to more unisex gear too, and for goodness sake, whatever the design, please let everyone wear everything and leave it to the player to pick out something that properly suits the character they made rather than presenting the illusion of choice to fit a completely arbitrary definition of what people are able to wear. Even if it means a few more dresses for men and a few more pairs of pants for women (I think a number of female characters actually want that...), the full sets still mean more options for mixing and matching.

[ErryK]

Why is a dislike of something automatically assumed people just want lewd outfits? How about many simply want something that isn't ugly?

It's assumed because look at how well received the Shisui gear is. Though that may be just because it's as equally lewd on males as it is females.

[Kazrah]

From my perspective, I think the issue stems from taking one armor set like the tank contest winner or some of the genji armor and trying to expand that design theme to other armor types only for it to look either drab or just unimpressive.

Wouldn't be so bad though if some of the best glamours in the game right now weren't DoH/DoL-locked. Kinda makes sense for endgame crafting and gathering gear, but I felt that offering them dyeable versions of some leveling gear that isn't dyeable for combat jobs was just a slap in the face.

[Remus]

I like the current end-game gear design... That lost allagan set is just..

[Serilda]

Wouldn't be so bad though if some of the best glamours in the game right now weren't DoH/DoL-locked. Kinda makes sense for endgame crafting and gathering gear, but I felt that offering them dyeable versions of some leveling gear that isn't dyeable for combat jobs was just a slap in the face.

Yeah, this is annoying. The DoH/DoL items have better dye patterns than the generic versions (or straight up look better because the model is improved), yet they're locked due to a tiny minority of abuse cases which could have been easily resolved with a party kick. And that's not even starting on how amazing it would be to dress as a combat chef in battle. I hate being babied when it comes to fashion; I levelled all of those DoH jobs, it would be nice to display my profession proudly outside of Limsa Lominsa sometimes.

[Reinha]

When you argue against 'unisex' you effectively argue in favour of the current status quo where female characters sometimes get given extra special 'feminine' gear and guys get...well, nothing, because the designers only seem to have time to do half the work these days and they all prefer cute catgirls.

I reject the idea that being against unisex gear (= gear worn by both in-game sexes that looks the same on both) is the same thing as being in favor of uneven amounts of glamour gear for the sexes. The latter does not follow from the former and you don't have to claim so if you have an actual good reason to think unisex gear is better. It's possible that someone might prefer sex-locked gear because its design more often matches one's cosmetic taste than unisex gear does. Unisex doesn't always look bad, but sometimes it does, and it's ok to find that wasteful and unfavorable if sex-locked gear always looks good in one's eyes.

I'm in favor of having an equal number of glamour gear items for both sexes (and also in favor of any means to reach that state). Sex-locked gear almost always matches my personal taste. I also like the gear that changes appearance based on the wearer's sex because it doesn't hurt inventory as much as separate items.






I'm against getting only new unisex gear (and hair) and no new sex-locked gear (and hair) because too often unisex doesn't match my taste. I'll leave out all the bland tin can armor and shapeless robes and just show the worst offender. Looks great on guys, but I would have wanted any female-only hairstyle in place of this because it would have looked better.

[DamianFatale]

Imo I love the creation healer gear. I just think the caster colors are better, which usually seems to be the case. As soon as SE let's me upgrade, I'm dying it another color. Most likely pure black.

[Serilda]

I'm against getting only new unisex gear (and hair) and no new sex-locked gear (and hair) because too often unisex doesn't match my taste. I'll leave out all the bland tin can armor and shapeless robes and just show the worst offender. Looks great on guys, but I would have wanted any female-only hairstyle in place of this because it would have looked better.

The problem is that there are two definitions of 'unisex' used interchangeably, making debates confusing. Please note that I don't think you're wrong and don't intend to come across as attacking your opinion; you made many valid points. However, whether we agree ultimately depends on the definition of unisex:

1. Unisex in terms of design, as in androgynous gear (e.g. the Extreme Survival Shirt, stuff which looks the same on anyone). I think this kind of 'unisex' is fine. A lot of people like gear which doesn't attempt to highlight the wearer's gender. And some people prefer overtly gendered gear. That's also fine, in my opinion. Variety is the spice of life.

2. Unisex in terms of practicality, as in gear which can be equipped by both genders, whether it looks the same on both like the Taoist set or whether it's tailored to suit each gender differently like the Ao Dai. I cannot see anything bad about this from any perspective, other than a minority of female characters used to getting two items (the female and unisex versions) who seem to worry that supporting everything being unisex means having to get fewer items to wear (like the dudes). The Thav Bolero and its derivatives are still obviously masculine, but still 'unisex' in a practical sense. Some reciprocation would be nice.

I don't think that #2 necessarily means that #1 is enforced at the same time. Just because everyone can wear something doesn't mean it can't be fabulous (e.g. the Hailstorm set, the Demon skirt of casting) or traditionally manly (e.g. all of the tin can armour sets). But there's a lot of overlap during discussions and people end up arguing against points that I don't think they're actually against at all just because of the way 'unisex' is a key issue in two completely separate ongoing forum debates.

Personally, I don't mind not having access to the female idol costume or the female variant of the Ao Dai, because I like the male-only equivalents and feel they had the same amount of effort put into them. Like you, I think it's much better when they are the exact same item which changes appearance depending on the user because the amount of unnecessary bloat and confusion from having separate gear is a waste of time and space. Having said that, if they also want to release variants with the other gender's textures and flourishes as new items one day, I support that too because it means more clothes for everyone. The team has proven it can make fantastic similar-but-optimised unisex gear which isn't a bland grey robe when they put enough energy into the design work.

(Incidentally I see more women with the Stormblood hair you showed than men on my server. Agree it looks pretty bad on a lot of people though - I had high hopes but the end results were not favourable on my male Elezen. I'd kill for more long styles because the only real options at the moment have annoying accessories stuck to them - so the prospect of more genderlocked hair is really depressing for me! I don't want my dapper Elezen to look like he's enlisting in the army.)

[Kazrah]

Yeah, this is annoying. The DoH/DoL items have better dye patterns than the generic versions (or straight up look better because the model is improved), yet they're locked due to a tiny minority of abuse cases which could have been easily resolved with a party kick. And that's not even starting on how amazing it would be to dress as a combat chef in battle. I hate being babied when it comes to fashion; I levelled all of those DoH jobs, it would be nice to display my profession proudly outside of Limsa Lominsa sometimes.

Although that wasn't really the gear I meant, it would be nice to get glamour sets from crafter and gatherer sets, especially when we know for a fact those already exist in other versions of the game. Still not as depressing as the people trying to argue against having those sets because of either a lousy excuse about distraction (because those Shisui outfits aren't distracting at all..../sarcasm) or some nonsense about immersion.

The sets I was referring to in particular were the level 65 sets. Crafters and gatherers can get dyeable versions of gear pieces that have fixed coloration setups for combat jobs and then arbitrarily locking them to crafters and gatherers only for seemingly no possible reason other than idiotproofing. Again, I could understand it for endgame DoH/DoL gear like the class-exclusive gear since there was some achievement that came with having it, but not so much for leveling gear and even for the Ironworks DoH/DoL gear.