To The Devs: A World of Individuals

[Akumu]

I kinda like the idea, but I think there would have to be more restrictions. It'd be very confusing to me in a party if all the melee's looked like mages and vice versa. But I think the idea is somewhere on the right track.

Yea I decided to cut that part out. The system is still great even with DoW/DoM appearances being kept divided.

[nibelunc]

So you want your character to put clothes over its gear... A bit too hot, isnt it? Get some nuts, its just a game. Makes it complicated for nothing. But I dont mind.

Doesnt gear have a physical aspect in this game? Why should you be able to walk around in your swimming suit and have top stats?

[Kyra]

ive had this idea before, only difference is the style equipment slots would be for event gear only and you can toggle if you want them to show in place of your main gear or not.

[Akumu]

So you want your character to put clothes over its gear... A bit too hot, isnt it? Get some nuts, its just a game. Makes it complicated for nothing. But I dont mind.

Huh?

If this is complicated concept to anyone please explain how.

Doesnt gear have a physical aspect in this game? Why should you be able to walk around in your swimming suit and have top stats?

Why does it matter if someone walks around in a swinsuit with top stats? The only thing a party leader cares about is do you have the stats to get the job done. If you were checked by another player only the Equip Tab would be shown, so you would still know if the player is geared.

However, If a swimsuit is such an issue SE could prevent Event items from being used if that's the case. This is just an idea that I hope SE grasp the main concept of and place it in game. This by no means is an idea that must go exactly as I have written. More restrictions can be applied to such a system to prevent the game from gaining the wrong image.

The main concept is to allow starting players as well as Endgamers to achieve a desired look without the sacrifice of stats. As long as this is added to the game, Yoshi-P can add/erase/etc whatever he desires to fit his vision of FFXIV.

Why should FFXIV continue the "Endgame Clone Wars" during its life span? It's old, dull, and should be abolished. More MMOs are picking up different ways to stop the endgame cloning. I have yet to see issues arise from people complaining about how someone looked during a battle.

[casker]

The gear gives the world a sense of cohesiveness and style it's own. The crafters wear crafter gear, the fighters wear fighter gear, etc.

As much as I would like this idea of customization on paper, the way I see it, Eorzea is the main character of the game. When you start having bards running around in dragoon gear or people running around in their underwear, things get a little dumb, and it cheapens the awesome armor system and world cohesiveness they've got.

It is a little troubling that everyone will end up in the same job gear, but I agree with Areeya Jaidee, if anything I'd rather they work within the framework of the armor system, if possible, or at at least confine what you can customize to armor that works only for your class.

[nibelunc]

Huh?
If this is complicated concept to anyone please explain how.

Hm just as I understood it but I didnt fully read. Its okay for me, but I dont understand the point of it. There is a lot of cool looking gear with good stats out there and I prefer to see the gear with the stats on it while I am fighting because thats the reason why they create bigger and harder gear for us to fight :/ as long as I dont have to use it, it is not a problem for me.

Oh as my preposter perfectly explained

[Xoo]

Akumu, did you delete your Lodestone profile or something? Just asking..

[Akumu]

The gear gives the world a sense of cohesiveness and style it's own. The crafters wear crafter gear, the fighters wear fighter gear, etc.

That's why I said it could be limited to ONLY gear you can equip.

As much as I would like this idea of customization on paper, the way I see it, Eorzea is the main character of the game. When you start having bards running around in dragoon gear or people running around in their underwear, things get a little dumb, and it cheapens the awesome armor system and world cohesiveness they've got.

If you read my post you would know a BRD or even a GLA would not be able to equip anothers AF. For example a GLA CANNOT add PLD AF to its Style Tab. I also did not state you could run in your underwear. By default you gain the appearance of what's in your equip tab.

I don't see how doing battles with a wider range of styles "cheapens the awesome armor system and world cohesiveness". Have you now seen the NPCs that look how they want? The Paladin quest giver is suppose to be high rank and doesn't even wear the entire PLD AF set. If anything it would enrich the world by being more diverse.

Being a clone does not enrich anything. They might as well say we are not adventures, force us into a Grand Company at lv 1, and make us wear uniform gear like we are in the military.

It is a little troubling that everyone will end up in the same job gear, but I agree with Areeya Jaidee, if anything I'd rather they work within the framework of the armor system, if possible, or at at least confine what you can customize to armor that works only for your class.

This does work within the armory system and the ideal of being an adventurer. Having a few trims here and a Dye there does not kill the Clone War issue. So what I have a gold trim and another person has a Red trim... Guess what we still look the same.

[Vaen]

They should really make it like Aion's "reskinning" system. It's really a genius system.

First off, this system has several important restrictions to preserve the immersion: Plate/metal armor can only be given the skin/appearance of other plate armor, leather armor can only have the appearance of other leather, and cloth can only look like other cloth. Plus, weapons can only be reskinned with their exact same type; so if you wanted to change the appearance of your two-handed THM staff, for example, you could only give it other two-handed THM staff skins. This allows us more freedom of customization and to not look like "clones" while still making us look like our job is supposed to make us look.

Secondly, Aion's reskinning system has beneficial effects for the player economy: The way that reskinning worked in Aion allowed people to sell and buy more. When you reskin an item, there's the "target" item which is the item with the good stats you want to actually use in battle, and there's the "appearance" item which has the look you want to put on the "target" item. When you reskin things, the "appearance" item gets destroyed and you keep the target item with it's old stats and new appearance. This makes items with weak stats but good/unique appearance much more valuable, since they are consumed to customize other equipment. In Aion, they added uniquely skinned items in low-level instances that low level players can acquire and sell to others, and they added hard-to-find NPCs that sold weak armor with amazing looking skins that players could sell. These are just a few examples of how reskinning can make a player economy way better.

Last, a reskinning system makes more sense in the game and lore than an appearance tab: How would you explain an appearance tab in-game? How do you have two actual items equipped for the same slot at once? It doesn't make sense on that level. Reskinning is a process where an NPC skilled in the "spirits" of items (makes sense with Gridania and CNJ lore) transfers the "essence" (aka stats) of one item to another item, so that you keep the stats of the powerful item and the appearance of the item with the appearance you want.

[Akumu]

Akumu, did you delete your Lodestone profile or something? Just asking..

I deleted my character a few days ago but kept the same exact name. On the forums it says I'm GLA 15 but I don't know why it won't update.