The Unofficial Appearance Customization Thread

[Darcor]

Signed and I'd sign it a thousand times or more if I thought it'd help.. Sadly.. I have little hope.. *sigh*

[Treedjak]

This Is needed

[Tersiel]

Coming from City of Heroes I find customizing my characters appearance to have a huge influence on my enjoyment of the game. I'm under no illusion that BW would even dream of having even 10% of CoH's options, but I would dearly love to even just revisit the choices I made at creation.

 

Twenty-something levels into play I find the look I picked for my Juggernaut just doesn't fit anymore but at present I suck it up and grind on in hopes I can change one day, or I start all over again. And don't get me started on finding pants for my Sorcerer!

 

Have the devs even commented on this issue?

[Kurfer]

We need to make sure they keep up with this, bump.

[Kurfer]

^^^ This.

 

You're asking for a customization system in this game that you have seen in other games, while this game already has a great customization system. Apologies that robe wearers can't wear heavy armor for...whatever reason. Asking for an alt appearance tab is going nowhere.

 

The question you should be asking is this:

 

Can we have the light/medium/heavy attribute tied to an armor mod, and not the piece of armor we place it in. Such that you will still be wearing light armor, it will just appear as heavy. This solves your issue and uses the current system.

 

You are wrong.

 

We need moddable options post 50.

 

Right now, we can't get 56+ rated armor or expertise/set bonuses.

 

IF we earn the gear I don't see why we can't mod it to orange gear. It's not like it's hurting the game in any way shape or form? We still need to work for the gear.

 

LET ME RIP ALL ATTRIBUTES IF I EARN IT. Plain and simple, too easy. NO balance issues, if anything it makes the game less bland at level 50. Everyone in level 50 raid/pvp wont look the damn same.

[magnuskn]

I think we just got a quite important supporter for more character customization.

 

This may be my last post for a while, btw., my sub runs out tomorrow. I'll reconnect with you guys when my RL stuff I have to take care off is over and I get time to play again. Keep up the good fight!

[corakil]

Sith Juggernaut here who is stuck looking like a spandex covered robot. Armor models in this game are hideous.

 

 

All I really want is a hood up heavy armor and some bad *** helmet or something that disfigures my face and all I get is a scuba mask and spandex chest pieces.

 

 

I'm only level 24 so I know I have a lot to see but what I have seen so far on my toon and others has been hideous.

[osuaaron]

I have never seen an MMO actually overhaul its models and character creation options. I've never seen an MMO put even a little emphasis on anything deemed "social".

 

Every MMO I've played has stuck me with whatever you get at launch.

 

Given the myriad of things that they are working on for this game, I doubt we will ever see any substantial changes.

 

But yes, aliens need to be more alien, outfits need to be better (especially on the dark side) the character creation process more or less needs an overhaul i.e. sliders - didn't you guys figure that out in Mass Effect?

 

It really doesn't matter. Outside of possibly - and it's a big "possibly" - some new emote animations, I'm pretty sure we'll be looking at exactly the same menu of creation options 2-3 years from now.

 

Seriously: Once you realize 'aliens' are just alien heads stuck to the spine of a human body, it cannot be unseen.

Edited January 17, 2012 by osuaaron

[Jiraiya_Goketsu]

I'd like to see it implemented much the way DCUO has done it.

Every piece of gear you collect that you equip, you catalog in your "Style Tab," and from there you can then choose to use the look of an item from any set and or level cosmetically, while retaining the stats of the actual item you have equipped at the time.

Same concept for colors but also crafting "color modules" could become viable, both for gear and starships, droids, etc.

[MandelynRain]

Here's to hoping but not gonna hold my breath.

[illgot]

like World of Warcraft, the devs may only take this seriously when they start losing 30% of their subscriptions.

[Caligari]

I wish they would add a second tab like they did with Age of Conan. It's a very easy to use and intuitive interface. One tab has all of your stat gear items, and the second tab is the items that others see. Each slot also has a display checkbox, so you can essentially hide all your armor if you wanted to for some reason.

[Matte_Black]

Here's to hoping but not gonna hold my breath.

 

BioWare is still talking about tweaking the mod system in future patches. They'd have to try that and have it fail in their eyes before they'd consider another system. If you are holding your breath for appearance tabs, you'd better bring some scuba tanks.

[Vodalus]

BioWare is still talking about tweaking the mod system in future patches. They'd have to try that and have it fail in their eyes before they'd consider another system. If you are holding your breath for appearance tabs, you'd better bring some scuba tanks.

 

I think you are probably right. The difference is that I find that to be unfortunate, while I don't believe that you do. Sure, if I thought "tweaking" the mod system would be enough, I'd be fine with that. Unfortunately, while tweaking would have worked in the non-orange item versions of the mod system where everything had the potential to be modable, it won't work in this one.

 

Simply put, there are two different gear systems in this game. There is modable gear- orange and purple- and non-modable gear- white, green, and blue. So long as the game has two completely separate gearing systems, customization simply cannot be sufficient.

[Ethern]

The appearance tab would fix the Marauders' issue right now, since the mod system is unable to do so.

Currently we do not have hood up robe armor, while juggernaut and jedi knights do (go figure that one, but we got trolled hard by Bioware artists - I hate them)

Some marauders use light armour of custom quality and put mods in them, however there is still a loss of mitigation, which is unacceptable.

 

Unacceptable. Works as intended? I don't think so. Flawed system? Certainly.

[illgot]

I wish they would add a second tab like they did with Age of Conan. It's a very easy to use and intuitive interface. One tab has all of your stat gear items, and the second tab is the items that others see. Each slot also has a display checkbox, so you can essentially hide all your armor if you wanted to for some reason.

 

There is one sith marauder on my server that just runs around without a chest piece on because he likes the look.

 

It works for him, looks great, his red chest and skirt with dual light sabers.

 

The ability to turn off the graphic for any piece of armour would be a nice addition.

[Matte_Black]

The appearance tab would fix the Marauders' issue right now, since the mod system is unable to do so.

Currently we do not have hood up robe armor, while juggernaut and jedi knights do (go figure that one, but we got trolled hard by Bioware artists - I hate them)

Some marauders use light armour of custom quality and put mods in them, however there is still a loss of mitigation, which is unacceptable.

 

Unacceptable. Works as intended? I don't think so. Flawed system? Certainly.

 

I, and apparently a few marauders on your server, seem to disagree with your definition of unacceptable. And that really is the crux of the issue. I know alot of players who readily accept a little fall off in statting for the look we want. I actually like that it keeps some of my looks more exclusive as you need to play a little harder or make some sacrifice for it.

 

I understand how it does not work for your goals but, they do seem to be looking to narrow that gap for you and others of the same mind. That said, I think their philosophy is more about offering alot of customization while remaining viable as opposed to being optimized in all possible looks. If it really is unacceptable, I think you may have picked the wrong game.

[andrantos]

I can see why the opted with the current modding system as opposed to the typical "appearance tab".

 

1 - The appearance tab has always been a "tacky" solution for a problem that is innate to the nature of this type of MMO. Items are designed to have an appearance. Characters are supposed to display what they're equipped with. But at the same time, players want the ability to control how they appear. While I very much appreciated this feature in LotRO, it always felt "hacky" as items in the appearance tabs were essentially proxies. They were there in a slot, but in actuality the item itself could be anywhere (bank, auction, inventory, storage, sold to another player...).

 

2. - The modding system fits into the "rules" of the game world. It plays a bit into the economy and other systems into the game. It lets players have better control over their appearance albeit with a bit of work and $$ (having to acquire level appropriate mods and the expense of having to switch them out)

 

Unfortunately, most of the gear I wanted to keep for looks are green/blue/purple unmoddable gear. There also appears to be a small selection of moddable gear as opposed to the full gamut of aesthetic possibilities currently in the game. So the choices are quite limited.

 

The first step is to allow us to convert non-moddable gear into moddable gear. Or even better, allow crafters to RE an item to learn its moddable equivalent recipe. Introduce set bonuses for mods. CoX does this with enhancements and it adds just an additional level of stat tweaking and customization.

 

Edit: I was also guilty of wearing "out-leveled" gear for a while because I liked the look a whole lot. You can only do that for so long before it really hinders your progress

Edited January 18, 2012 by andrantos

[Trucegore]

Open LOTRO.

 

Copy Appearances tabs features.

 

Profit.

[Jairec]

If we can't have an appearance tab, then all gear should run on mods so I can rip and upgrade immediately as necessary. In my experience, keeping up appearances in TOR is not possible while keeping up with stats. Why should looking good be an agonizing process?

 

As pointed out on Penny Arcade, especially in TOR, which runs off cinematic scale and characterization, appearance is vitally important. The mod system, as presently implemented, isn't cutting it. I shouldn't have to wait and save up for mods while a random ugly green drop would be an upgrade.

[dutch_gamer]

If we can't have an appearance tab, then all gear should run on mods so I can rip and upgrade immediately as necessary. In my experience, keeping up appearances in TOR is not possible while keeping up with stats. Why should looking good be an agonizing process?

 

Currently appearance customization takes way too much effort. It seems that most gear isn't even around as orange gear.

 

It is also way too difficult to keep wearing pants as a Consular or Sorcerer. I don't care there are some pants when you will suffer in stats for way too long just because you absolutely don't want your character to be wearing a robe.

 

I find it rather unfortunate, to put it mildly that Bioware has seemingly ignored the issue of appearance customization for so long. During beta there were enough good ideas brought forward instead of them having to split the system in two with moddable item and non-moddable items. If all items all drop with mods you can still act as if there is no modding but with the way the system works now the people pro-customization lose out.

 

As pointed out on Penny Arcade, especially in TOR, which runs off cinematic scale and characterization, appearance is vitally important. The mod system, as presently implemented, isn't cutting it. I shouldn't have to wait and save up for mods while a random ugly green drop would be an upgrade.

 

Having to save up money to upgrade your armor to be on par with what should in fact be worse, a green item, shows one of the weaknesses of what is a dual system when it should have been one system, aka all items should be moddable.

 

Your character's appearance is especially important in cinematics which also shows the weakness of the argument concerning the removal of color matching. When so many people in beta support something, almost unanimously, the last thing you should do is remove it for something "better", especially when that new feature is still a long ways off.

 

It is good to know Bioware wants to make some changes but those changes wouldn't even have been needed if Bioware had just actually listened to feedback. Bioware constantly pride themselves on customer driven development and I believe that should have also applied to deafening feedback during beta on and outside of the beta forums. Some of us have debated for appearance customization for over year but all we got was silence.

[georgelue]

I wish that they would allow a bit more customization too!

 

 

I wish they made it so you can customize your lips, head shape, height, width, eyes, ears etc.

 

They should also add barber shops where you can do new hairstyles for your character (these new hairstyles are not in character creation)

 

I hope Bioware reads this.

 

Thanks!

[AlyaFawn]

Im playing a twi'lek and apparently they can not wear hood, because of their "Head Tresses". BUT that would be fine what ever, however when i wear a robe that has a hood, the outfit take away my head band and leaves me with a very large bare forehead. Something needs to be worked out with twi'lek head gear. Its not fair

[Ethern]

I, and apparently a few marauders on your server, seem to disagree with your definition of unacceptable. And that really is the crux of the issue. I know alot of players who readily accept a little fall off in statting for the look we want. I actually like that it keeps some of my looks more exclusive as you need to play a little harder or make some sacrifice for it.

 

I understand how it does not work for your goals but, they do seem to be looking to narrow that gap for you and others of the same mind. That said, I think their philosophy is more about offering alot of customization while remaining viable as opposed to being optimized in all possible looks. If it really is unacceptable, I think you may have picked the wrong game.

1- How do you know which server I am?

2- Check the marauder subforum and the numerous complaining about the gear art. The gear seen in our video progression is NOT available.

3- It's unacceptable regarding themepark standards: being suboptimal is not a goal that players should tend to in order to enjoy a good customization.

4- you don't know anything about their philosophy and you seem to have missed Emmanuel Lusinchi's post talking about transferring bonus sets to custom quality gear. So you're wrong.

5- You're wrong and thus your statement about TOR not being the game for me is wrong.

However, this thread's sake is being "optimal" (note: not just viable) and benefiting from a chosen appearance. Since you're definitely not arguing this anymore, this thread is the wrong thread for you.

[Pattypuppet]

I am in 100% agreement with the OP.

 

Also we need more hairstyles and facial options, as well as an ingame character editor. Please put these in Bioware.