[Suggestion] Revamp mage gear please

[CreedFallenwing]

I originally placed this in the wrong forum and looks like not a lot of threads are being moved around much so i decided to remake it here. and im sorry for the wall of text but i tried to simplify it.

This has probably poped up in a few threads already but i dont believe that there is a thread devoted directly to it.

If you look at any gear for mages and compare it to one made of a lower quality materiel it looks exactly the same, other than a slight change in hue/color and a different accessory on the neck. EX: Cotton robes shouldn't have the same texture as velveteen. Compare it to any other gear and it falls flat on its face. The only thing that looks like its heading in the right direction is the dungeon gear with the embroidering on its back (not much but it makes it stand out a little more)

do i think that the gear should be completely reconstructed? no, that would take forever and be cruel to the designers, but i think adding to the existing designs would be something nice.

[SIZE="5"]some examples (ill add to the list as other people add ideas):[/SIZE]

• adding an archaic design to the body
• added headgear (like the seer's cowl)
• accessories hanging off the sleeves or body
• slight changes as to how it fits to a character (like hemp looks really loose on a chacter while velveteen is more form fitting).
• brighter colors or higher contrast (sounds simple but would make a huge difference)
• visual effects- like a light glow / flames / elements / etc. (if overdone could be bad)
• armored parts like shoulder guards

i guess what I'm trying to get out is i feel like the mage gear wasn't given much thought in appearances and looks bland in comparison to most of the other gear. I dont want to ask myself "why do i look like i belong in a monastery every time i wear a cowl regardless of its material and optimum rank?"

one of the things i've always loved about final fantasy games is how much SE puts into designing everything and making it unique, cool, beautiful, and appealing to look at. i just dont get the same feel when i look at the gear for disciples of magic in this game.

[Mikita]

I do trust that SE will be releasing more and more clothing, weapons, and armor as time goes on.

I also feel that what we have now is very well designed, but sadly lacking in flair and variety.
I was looking at old screenshots the other day and realized that I've been wearing the same basic outfit since last November because there simply isn't anything I want to upgrade to yet. ^^;

I think Yoshi P said in a letter that it takes about 6 months for them to design a new set of gear -- from concept drawings, to modeling, and race adjustments, to roll out. So it sounds like it is quite an involved process for them, but the quality does show through in the end.

Perhaps SE thought they would have much more time to develop new content and items after FFXIV was released -- but due to the incredible bashing the game has received, most of their energy is now focused on revamping the game's fundamental systems, and so items are relegated to back burner status.

I think they are referred to as "evil armor" and "black mage" gear that Yoshi P showed us concept art for much earlier this year. While neither of those particularly appeal to me, it did seem to indicate that they are looking to add a little more flair -- a little more "fantasy" to Final Fantasy XIV. ^^

[tymora]

Bland? I got a clown hat (sugarloaf) and a jester hat. What more would I want?

(Yeah, the looks needs to be improved...)

[syntaxlies]

i could do without so much frilly french Renaissance gear.

[Zenaku]

This look very nice Black mage AF for ffxiv.
"http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/5/59/FFXIV_Black_Mage_Gear_Concept.jpg"

The mage gear don't look that bad i enjoy seeing them. They don't need a full revamp they look fine too me.


But i can understand how most of the gear do look the same each level it's the same for DD it the same .dat use many time over with diff color. If you look at the youtube video SE show how the crystal tool can use the same .dat over and over again but make it look diff and make 500 gear within the same .dat file

i hope they can make better looking gear that not copy /paste.

[CreedFallenwing]

looking at those concept designs i agree there will hopefully be more flare and fantasy to the gear but look at what we have now. Take the hemp cowl and compare it to the velveteen one. they look almost exactly the same. even the texture look of the cloth is the same.

Compare that to the ones you find in the thaumaturge guild and you feel like you've entered a whole new world. The colors are brighter, the cloth texture looks as smooth as silk/satin/real velveteen, and even have designs on them. The best part is that these items technically exist in the game already. they just dont have stats on them.

so this brings me to another question. if the cool looking gear already exists in rendering and just dont have stats applied to them yet, why cant the players have access to them?

[Zenaku]

looking at those concept designs i agree there will hopefully be more flare and fantasy to the gear but look at what we have now. Take the hemp cowl and compare it to the velveteen one. they look almost exactly the same. even the texture look of the cloth is the same.

Compare that to the ones you find in the thaumaturge guild and you feel like you've entered a whole new world. The colors are brighter, the cloth texture looks as smooth as silk/satin/real velveteen, and even have designs on them. The best part is that these items technically exist in the game already. they just dont have stats on them.

so this brings me to another question. if the cool looking gear already exists in rendering and just dont have stats applied to them yet, why cant the players have access to them?

That gear you see there is for Black Mage job which mean only job can wear it like in FFXI AF i agree half of the gear are the same but that because it the same .dat i think if they did not do this copy/paste it would take more HDD room because SE just don't know how to make files more small.

The gear look good it just to much copy/paste on the same type of gear with diff colors.

[CreedFallenwing]

i can agree with that, but the whole point of the crystal tool was to be able to take existing gear and change them to make more unique gear. so shouldn't it be easy to revamp the existing gear rather than designing and making new stuff?

[Zenaku]

This is what they can do with crystal tools http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc0ilSksWBQ

I think the point of the mage gear looking like that was to make it more real like. I think the reason why some gear have the same type of look was because in a way it was it's the same type of look. Like how in FFXI you see the level 8 monk,nin,sam gear many time over but at the end it the same .dat but in ffxiv they can change part of it and even change the color but it still the same type of gear in the way of texture look of the cloth and so on.

Top of that none of the gear in FFXI 1-50 did not look anything cool like. But 50+ is when only one of a kind gear start poping up like AF and kirin body and haubergeon .

So there no need for a revamp of 1-50 when i'm sure they have some good looking gear for 50+ and type of item that there only .dat for like the haubergeon in ffxi and such.

Think of the gear now like the gear in ffxi that are the same with diff names

Solid Mail/Scale Mail
Leather Vest and many other that look the same.

But at least in ffxiv using the crystal tool they can make it look 100% diff or change a few part of it meaning that it's still the same type of gear but this version they added something on it which make it a better version then the low level one.

Like when you upgrade a gun with a scope it still the same gun right? but now it have the scope. So this is the idea i'm getting at why they look the same.

i'm sure they be one of a kind gear that you wont see used again like the haubergeon"in ffxi". But not yet due to the lack of HDD room they having for items in the game to they upgrade the core/server system we wont see a lot of that it take to much room to make that type of gear for every race/height,

so for now all we can do is wait

[CreedFallenwing]

i get what you are saying and yes if you look well enough you can find find slight to drastic differences for gear of the same make. What I'm trying to say is that this is less evident in the mage gear. is the mage gear more realistic looking? yes, definitely. does that mean it can't have a little flare? hell no.

they don't need to make new dat. files to make slight changes to something that already exists, they just would have to edit the existing ones. and like you said, they can change the texture and color with the crystal tool, and they can add new things to make the items different. Yet, if you look at a velveteen cowl, and a hemp cowl you will see two very small differences. 1. the material texture looks slightly less grainy (smoother) but you have to look really hard to see it. 2. there is a small pendent hanging off of the front. that's it

as for XI i actually liked how a lot of the gear looked at the lower levels too, granted the higher level ones looked way cooler, but that doesnt mean good looking equipment can only be for high levels. i do expect that once they do raise the level cap, we'll get even cooler looking gear but you can expect that of any game. In my opinion, and i stress opinion, the gear for mages doesn't look half as visually appealing nor has as many visual differences as any of the other gears.

is this something that needs to be an urgent matter? no. i just want the devs and anyone else to take a moment and see if they see the same thing im seeing. if my opinion is a minority then oh well i can live with that. if this is something that they decide to not change or leave on a back burner that's fine to.