[Suggestion] Fashion/Vanity Slots.

[rekijitsu]

I want this to happen. So bad.

That being said, you should only be able to equip that which is in your Vanity slots that you can already equip (DRGs shouldn't look like WHMs, but they should be able to look like LNCs). Also, might be fun to have an option for nothing at all, but then every female would be an axe-wielding Bikini Mongrel XD... Maybe have a "Town" vanity selection, with no restrictions, and an out of town vanity slot, with certain restrictions. Dunno, but I would love to see this come to pass given a lot of great armor artwork that just won't be used.

[Velhart]

Great job on getting past 200 everyone. Lets continue to get that number as high as we can and hope we get a response soon regarding this.

[Tonkra]

In AION it was a part of crafting.

you could combine 2 items via NPC and then you could decide from which item you want to keep the appearance and from which you want to keep the stats of.


well in that case you "lose" one item to create that new one. success rate 100%


vanity slots.. dont know.. well that means that you have to carry double of items with you.. one for appearance and one for the stats. hum

[Zantetsuken]

Vanity slot (While it seems like a nice idea on the surface) actually defeats the need for gear altogether as we know it. Should future MMO's eliminate all gear and instead have 'Costumes' (cosmetic trimmings that have no stats at all) and 'Stat bonus' slots?

But on the OP's Suggestion...

There are some upsides:

• You get to look uniform/cute/cool/etc and still keep your best mix and match gear
• It makes older/weaker gear (Silver Tricorne, Templar set, etc..) more popular

But there are some big downsides and unintended consequences as well:

• It diminishes the collectibility aspect of gear.
• It incentivises players to copy what everyone else is wearing (stat-wise) and removes any incentive for being creative or different with your stat setup.
• It eliminates any drawbacks that Multi-melded gear have (Now I can have the best stat stuff AND the best looking stuff)
• It gives players no external indicator of a another player's achievements/power/play-style/etc. (can't trust what you see)
• It eats up increasingly short inventory space. (Not a big drawback, but it will impact those those that don't carry around cosmetic gear currently)
• The novelty of lesser seen gear is diminished -- now EVERY item can have any stat bonus
• It reduces the need for Devs to create new styles of gear (after all, once people have their preferred look they will likely just want to max it out with the best stats)
  

Now I'm sure many of you will think that these 'downsides' are actually perks (zOMG, I can wear my 4x Melded Cobalt Elmo AND have it displayed as a Templar Chain Coif!??!! WIN x1bazillion!!) but cosmetics plays a large part of the gear selection process in the game... It's why some people wear Darklight instead of multi-melded, or a Silver Tricorne instead of an Achievement Crown.

For many people (myself included) cosmetics forces some tough decisions in balancing out looks vs power.. individuality vs. max performance. The amount of attention this thread has received shows the impact that cosmetics has on gear choice. But asking for an easy-out in your internal struggle to be either an MMO fashionista or a power gamer might not be the best thing... It's the decisions that arise from that silent debate that ends up defining your character really.

Yeah, it would be cool to have your gear cake and eat it too, but it diminishes the value of gear itself when cosmetics become detached from utility. I just don't think players would be well served by removing this subtle, yet significant aspect of the game.

[Duelle]

Vanity slot (While it seems like a nice idea on the surface) actually defeats the need for gear altogether as we know it.

Not really. Gear can still be put into the game, the people who don't want to use vanity slots will wear it without issue and the people who want to choose their own look will use vanity slots and continue going on. Neither side loses anything. It was the single most significant addition to WoW and pretty much every other game that used something similar, so its not like we're treading on uncharted waters here. If past experience is any indication, it's a feature the playerbases have taken to quite readily.

vanity slots.. dont know.. well that means that you have to carry double of items with you.. one for appearance and one for the stats. hum

Remember that in 2.0 equipped gear won't take up inventory space. Vanity slot gear could and probably should follow the same principle.

[Eruantien]

Ya I definitely don't agree zantetsuken, most people in the game will be pressured into wearing the best stuff anyway, to me it just makes the game look stupid, people wearing such mismatched gear all over the place, you shouldn't need to comprimise on gear looks and stats. You say it incentivises people wearing all the same stats, well they already do so this will just add the to the amount people will look like, whereas now everyone looks the same

[Velhart]

Vanity slot (While it seems like a nice idea on the surface) actually defeats the need for gear altogether as we know it. Should future MMO's eliminate all gear and instead have 'Costumes' (cosmetic trimmings that have no stats at all) and 'Stat bonus' slots?

You bring up a fair argument, however, this concept was highly successful in WoW and Rift and it did not deter players from getting end game gear. New gear sets most of the time look good enough that people want to be in it, or still show off they have it. The designers do a top notch job on making cool looking gear.

Vanity slot should be looked at as a way to not look like you are a mismatched looking character. Final Fantasy focuses a lot on character. FFXIV should be no different in this. I want everyone to feel like they are a unique character, that they stand out from everyone else. Something as simple as vanity slot gives this. Honestly, in FFXI, I hated that everyone DPS-wise in my party all wore Haubergeons. My character did not feel unique at all. I wore a Haubergeon and Optical Hat like everyone else, making my character feel like only an avatar and nothing else.

The argument of if one should be in or not is pretty even, but I would really love to see how the developers feel about this.

[Eruantien]

Yoshi has said on several interviews that your avatar is you in game and should be unique, this IMO is a great way of doing it

[Anapingofness]

omg! Yes! Thank you for making this suggestion! Vashion and Vanity ftw! I've been wanting fashion/vanity gear in this game for soooo long. Hell, I wanted it in FFXI!

Needless to say, liked and if I could like it a thousand times more I would!

The fashion/vanity gear should be separate from normal gear. So you could basically have an inventory for fashion/vanity gear only. That would eliminate the need to carry it in the main inventory.
This gear wouldn't have stats, it would only be for show.
That's why it is fashion/vanity and it would certainly give us an individual look, especially when coupled with a barbershop option. ^_^

Personally, I'd like to see some clothing that is traditional to the races and regions, that not only that race can wear but that the others can try out too. Or just traditional clothing for that specific race- something that is iconic of them. For example, the kimino and samurai are symbolic of Japan. So in FFXIV we could have clothing that is traditional worn by the taru's or the elvaan.

(yes i know the races have different names but I'm still stuck to the FFXI naming convention)

[lshumaker]

Vanity slots for any gear your class/job can wear is needed, so you can look how you want with the stats that the community will force you to have (if you want to participate in content). This game doesn't need to turn into the clone wars that other games become at endgame. Let us not forget that they are trying to get Final Fantasy fans to play this game, not just MMO gamers. SE uses screenshots of the jobs in classic AF gear to get those fans to think about joining, but how do you think these fans would respond when they find out, that in order to participate in content, they had to dress like a clown?

To those against it because it would be unrealistic, since when has Final Fantasy ever have realistic gear? Does Squall really look like he could take a blow from a sword or stand up to missiles?

To those against it because they want to know what they are up against in PvP, if you see someone in full AF and think that they'll be an easy target, you deserve to loose to them.