Suggestion "Cosmetic/Costume" Slots

[Darry]

Now I'll try to make this fairly short, seeing as the title should be a huge hint at what I'm about to talk about, and that is cosmetic "Statless" slots, slots that, when equipped with a certain equipment, would replace the armor visuals of your character model.

Basically, a few games I've played had this feature, one of which was Spiral Knights. The feature in Spiral Knights did basically what I just mentioned. You could equip any sort of armor in the slot, and it would appear as your main armor on your character model, while keeping the stats of your "normal" equip slots. Now, this actually seems to have little importance now (it does have little importance now compared to current tasks), however, I could see it being a very big feature later on.

One thing I disliked about FFXI was the difficulty(not actual difficulty, just pure time spent sitting at HNMs and other things of the sort, the actual battles did not seem difficult at the time) to get certain NEEDED armors, such as Salvage armor and HNM kings drops(both pre-level 80 update). I'm not saying getting useful gear should be a walk in the park, but it should not be totally ridiculous to obtain job/class changing armors... However, it wouldn't be so bad if it was difficult to get certain cosmetic armors, right? And they would still be valuable if you could actually wear them without a stat loss, I'd assume.

I think everyone knows where I'm going with this at this point. Sorry if some things don't make sense, I'm rather out of it right now, feel free to post suggestions/thoughts/whatever. Sorry if this has already been suggested.

tl;dr add cosmetic slots/armors to wear over your current armor(as well as making it possible to wear non cosmetic armors in the cosmetic slot, just with no stat gain, stats only come form the current slots provided).

[Engineer]

I would love this idea. Players would look unique.

I think there needs to be a restriction in place tho. I'm thinking your equipment restricts what can have in your cosmetic slot, sooooooooo if you have heavy armor equiped on your chest, you only can have heavy armor in your cosmetic, and likewise with medium and light ETC.

[Dranio]

I like the idea, though I don't think the restrictions mentioned by Engineer should apply. As taboo as it is to mention other games, Guild Wars has a separate slot for costumes which I personally like, 1 for the costume, and 1 slot for a costume hat. Though it's not like the Spiral Knights example in that any armor can be placed in it. They have clothes that are specifically for the costume slot/event hats for the head slot.

[Tsukino]

I have mixed feelings about this whenever it's used or mentioned.

On the one hand, it's nice to have good stats and not look like a clown. I remember thieves in FFXI wearing the uglical hat, bright red scorpion harness, and green AF shorts. It was highly offensive to everyone's sense of fashion. It would be great to continue to look good in complete sets even after certain pieces are replaced by better things (or sucked from the start).

However, it's also immensely illogical and maintains no sense of purpose for changing armor models in the first place. Logically speaking, we should appear to wear what we actually are wearing. As far as the sense of purpose, if we're going to just pick our own looks anyway why don't we do so during character creation and then not add any models for new equipment like a console RPG where outfits are part of the character design?

I never can decide which is the lesser of two evils.

[Geesus]

Meh I think it's kind of cool. Usually I'm not into all the cosmetic stuff that seems to be such a hit with other MMOs. I started with XI and loved the gfx and the gear and thought it was really well done. Played another MMO that allowed you to change color of your gear and it was neat I guess but was very disappointed in the overall "look" of the game compared to XI eventhough this game launched a year before 14 lol. So here we are at 14. Again, great gfx and gear...for the most part. So I'll say this, as long as the "slots" are specific to those items and it doesn't affect my regular slots OR my inventory; I'd probably give it a whirl. As those 2 things, especially the loss of inv space for silly non useful stuff, are my biggest peeves about MMOs.

[Engineer]

I like the idea, though I don't think the restrictions mentioned by Engineer should apply. As taboo as it is to mention other games, Guild Wars has a separate slot for costumes which I personally like, 1 for the costume, and 1 slot for a costume hat. Though it's not like the Spiral Knights example in that any armor can be placed in it. They have clothes that are specifically for the costume slot/event hats for the head slot.

I like the costume idea as well, like the costumes will be totally diffrent from what the actual gear is.

But if you can equip regular equipment into cosmetic slots, i think the restrictions should apply.

[Geesus]

I have to say I agree with both of you to an extent. Engineer, I like the idea from your other MMO as to me it keeps people from doing a little of what Tsukino mentioned at that's boneheads from looking like tools in their gear. If you're going wear plate underneath don't wear cloth over top; dumb. And why would you do that anyway.

However, I do agree and KNOW first hand what Tsukino is speaking of from XI. I use to laugh at my ex-wife who played and all she cared about were looks of her character. So stuff HAD to match. I just told her she would DEFINITELY look good. ....KO'd LMAO! But it is one of those human things to want to impress and still not be gimped.

Tsukino? You scare me. lol

[ShinChuck]

I love having costume/wardobe options, like in PSU, Rift or Guild Wars. I like that my characters can still wear a style resembling something I/they'd wear without being utterly useless. Wardrobe options are a great way to allow players to enjoy their character while still participating in the world around them.

Anyway, TL;DR below. Sorry, it's late and I'm bored!

However, it's also immensely illogical and maintains no sense of purpose for changing armor models in the first place. Logically speaking, we should appear to wear what we actually are wearing. As far as the sense of purpose, if we're going to just pick our own looks anyway why don't we do so during character creation and then not add any models for new equipment like a console RPG where outfits are part of the character design?

I'm just not personally concerned about "logic" or "realism" in an MMO of this nature. Logically speaking, most of our clothing makes no sense. Harnesses should offer little or no protection, with my chest and back almost entirely bare, and yet, the one I'm wearing is vastly superior to earlier stuff that covered my entire body and was made from similar materials. There's absolutely no logic there.

We're also raising the dead, teleporting, playing as girls with tails, magically healing life-threatening wounds, looking at a UI, having our health measured strictly and specifically in numbers, riding airships that couldn't possibly fly, repeating random quests with arbitrary time limits, waiting in queues for dungeons, assigning specific levels to our individual talents, randomly and illogically being held back from assisting soldiers who are begging for our help because we did another Behest too recently, able to hold literally thousands of items in our packs, and... well, you get the point. Logic went out the window a long time ago, so I just don't find it a compelling reason to limit something significantly less illogical like a wardobe/costume option (which isn't even illogical in many cases - a long robe in a costume slot would fit fine over my current armor, and a platemail top in my wardobe would certainly fit over a leather jerkin - while many of the things I mentioned are *always* illogical and/or unrealistic, yet accepted MMO practice).

As for your second point about just doing it all at creation, there's two reasons why wardrobes are better than that. First, nobody wants a static character. Wardobes allow you to change outfits depending on mood or style. Especially if you play an MMO for multiple years, you might not want the same outfit at 24 as you did at 19. Or you may want play clothes for the city, and tough clothing for questing, and swimwear for the beach. This isn't just limited to RPers, either, I know lots of people who despise RP but still enjoy being able to customize their character.

Second, it's another carrot to dangle in front of players and keep them chasing. Whereas, without a wardobe/costume option, players are strictly hunting gear based on stats, with a costume option, many players are hunting both gear based on stats *and* gear based on look. It can be pretty thrilling to come across a new piece of armor or get a rare drop and see it looks really cool and would go well with your outfit, or as part of something new and original. More carrots to keep people playing tend to be a good thing from a developer's perspective, and players are always looking for another reason to keep going and another way to customize.

[Darry]

I like the costume idea as well, like the costumes will be totally diffrent from what the actual gear is.

But if you can equip regular equipment into cosmetic slots, i think the restrictions should apply.

I had actually given this thought, but until they add class uniqueness(aka jobs) you can still wear any gear that you can find, regardless of class. I think it should apply the same way for the cosmetic slots.

I've always had a thing for soft armor, like doublets and robes, yet I'm forced to look like some sort of stripper with the current "best" PUG gear (harnesses, etc).

As for inventory, they're making something to hold your swimsuits, right? I cannot see why they cannot make something to hold your pure cosmetic equipment, and maybe a 5 extra slot boost simply for the cosmetic area. I'm thinking that your cosmetics would be, head/body/glove/pants/feet. Possibly belt, but it doesn't seem as important. Hell, even body and legs would be good enough for me.

Additionally, While I'll agree it would be strange seeing Knights in jesters hats, it's already strange seeing people in jesters hats as is(as far as being able to equip normal armor in cosmetic slots).

[Esk]

While I'm not totally for or against this I do agree with the direction.
I just think they have faster ways to get to a more diverse look for the game then this.

This system unless its really strict (which removes the point of it in some ways) could mean we have tanks in gear that well just dosnt look like it'd keep them alive in the rain, let alone against a huge mob with teeth as big as a Lala.
While a lot of people wont care long as they look col, i like a little immersion/reality effect in games.

Id prefer at least atm if they worked on adding colour options to the gear, giving us dye choices post/during production.
(Body/trim/main/subext. keeping it related to the rank/material/colour system for some parts they used up till now.)

Then add variations on each item:
- Dodoskin jerkin without the arms,
- Different style/shape to the front and shoulders on scale male,
- Variations on each type of weapon.
- Hi rank/class/+1,2,3 versions having a bit more decoration maybe..
(small ribbon's off the handle of a +3 sword and so on).