Two words come to mind. Uninspired and anticlimactic. It's not that they look bad per se on their own, it's just that for something that is supposed to be the spoils of the final epic battle, they just fall sorta short of looking epic. What's even worse is that we're all going to look like an uninspired army of clones as we wait it out for Cata to arrive.

I think the time has come to implement a way to customize the appearance of our gear. If MMOs such as LotRO, EQ2 and Aion can do it, then surely Blizzard can toss a developer or two at it, no?

Originally posted by coffee

To be fair since wow's launch blizzard has had to create far more armor than any other MMO.

22 armor sets x 9 classes = 198 sets

but wait there 10 classes with the DK in TBC well I have left those numbers out to account for the times when blizzard sometimes recolours or makes minor changes to set and calls it a PVP sets. cheeky.

198 different sets of armour (8 peices a sets 1584 peices)... THATS A LOT DONT YA THINK in 5 years.  We then have to add in the 100's of peices of gear added in the expansions and content patches.

I think the new sets look realy nice, note sure about the horn on the hunters helm or the palladin neck brace though, but he warlock look like kinda mean.

 

Ya but they are all low poly much less effort goes into those sets.Even the F2P games put a lot more effort into gear,of course they forget to put any effort into the game world :P.

Those sets are like 3 day effort.Blizzard probably has 5 people dedicated to it,at 200 days worked a year that is 65 sets x5 people=330 sets a year.5 years later that is 1650?pretty much right on target ,as i only said 200 days worked.Where as you take a game like UT they can spend 2 weeks or more on one weapon of high poly content.

Detail and separation in the gear is VERY noticeable,a low poly compared to a high poly object is like night and day,WOW is full of cheap looking objects.

It is still a cheap gimmick,tier 1-10 ...what is to follow? more carrots? 11/12/13/14...ect ect.They keep throwing out the bait and the fish keep biting,where is Blizzards creativity?it is a never ending cyccle of cheap content,make new tier,make new instances,zero creativity and very cheap content.

Originally posted by Faelan

Two words come to mind. Uninspired and anticlimactic. It's not that they look bad per se on their own, it's just that for something that is supposed to be the spoils of the final epic battle, they just fall sorta short of looking epic. What's even worse is that we're all going to look like an uninspired army of clones as we wait it out for Cata to arrive.

I think the time has come to implement a way to customize the appearance of our gear. If MMOs such as LotRO, EQ2 and Aion can do it, then surely Blizzard can toss a developer or two at it, no?

heres a video showing some of the sets in action, a single screen shot does not tell the whole story, all the effects are not present: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrHvaK1sNGk do note some sets have changed a little since this was made and at the time some peices were not yet in the game.

As to customization Blizzard have been asked many times about dyes etc but they say its not possible without a huge overhaul of the system which they say in the long run would not be worth the time/effort.

Originally posted by Wizardry

Originally posted by coffee

To be fair since wow's launch blizzard has had to create far more armor than any other MMO.

22 armor sets x 9 classes = 198 sets

but wait there 10 classes with the DK in TBC well I have left those numbers out to account for the times when blizzard sometimes recolours or makes minor changes to set and calls it a PVP sets. cheeky.

198 different sets of armour (8 peices a sets 1584 peices)... THATS A LOT DONT YA THINK in 5 years.  We then have to add in the 100's of peices of gear added in the expansions and content patches.

I think the new sets look realy nice, note sure about the horn on the hunters helm or the palladin neck brace though, but he warlock look like kinda mean.

 

Ya but they are all low poly much less effort goes into those sets.Even the F2P games put a lot more effort into gear,of course they forget to put any effort into the game world :P.

It is still a cheap gimmick,tier 1-10 ...what is to follow? more carrots? 11/12/13/14...ect ect.They keep throwing out the bait and the fish keep biting,where is Blizzards creativity?it is a never ending cyccle of cheap content,make new tier,make new instances,zero creativity and very cheap content.

Poly count does not equal quality.. its sad how many people will play a game just for the poly count.  And I respect but dont agree with your opinon on Blizzards methods or creativity.

Originally posted by Wizardry

Originally posted by coffee

To be fair since wow's launch blizzard has had to create far more armor than any other MMO.

22 armor sets x 9 classes = 198 sets

but wait there 10 classes with the DK in TBC well I have left those numbers out to account for the times when blizzard sometimes recolours or makes minor changes to set and calls it a PVP sets. cheeky.

198 different sets of armour (8 peices a sets 1584 peices)... THATS A LOT DONT YA THINK in 5 years.  We then have to add in the 100's of peices of gear added in the expansions and content patches.

I think the new sets look realy nice, note sure about the horn on the hunters helm or the palladin neck brace though, but he warlock look like kinda mean.

 

Ya but they are all low poly much less effort goes into those sets.Even the F2P games put a lot more effort into gear,of course they forget to put any effort into the game world :P.

It is still a cheap gimmick,tier 1-10 ...what is to follow? more carrots? 11/12/13/14...ect ect.They keep throwing out the bait and the fish keep biting,where is Blizzards creativity?it is a never ending cyccle of cheap content,make new tier,make new instances,zero creativity and very cheap content.

The sad part is your right, the new Tier, new raids, new arena gear, it's all just a roll over from the last update and will be rolled over on the next update. It's what angers some (who hate to repeat themselves over and over and over), and motives others to keep playing (used to call this 'keeping up with the Jones').

One thing you can count on though, is no matter what new Tier they come out with here, it will only be worth your effort until the next dungeon comes out and the next set arrives. Of those approximate 200 armor sets, how many of them are actually usable still? And how many of them are even worth the time to try and get anymore?

The only point to the Tier sets is motivation to do the dungeons in the first place. That's why they are there, to get you to go back into the same dungeon how ever many times it takes you to fill out the set that drops there for you. That's why they split them up over multiple dungeons too, to keep you going into different ones until you get that piece. It's the WoW player retention model. It's what makes you stay, and pay, to play (collect your set - collect your set), month after month after month after month.

It certainly looks as though they have given up trying to wow, sorry for the pun, people anymore. I'm done with wow till Cat for sure now. Nothing but a raid grind for the best gear and it's mediocre looking at best. Thanks but no thanks team blizzard.

@ coffee

Thanks for compiling set comparisions. It only further proves my point from earlier about how Blizzard copies the (key word here) architecture from one suit to the next, blandly applying new trim and frills.

Note the similarities to T3 that the majority of druid suits have. I'm going to isolate on the shoulders because they are the most defining part of WoW armor (blizzard states as much, with shoulders being the most sought after pvp item due to immediate recognition). Could go through each item slot but time contraint due to work. What I say here is highly objective in nature, and would love to see legitimately argued to the contrary:

Note, again, the similarities to T3. The 'bulb' shoulder that finishes in a pointlike apex at both the neck, and where the shoulder muscle meets the bi/tricepts of the avatars. I will identify them based on their location in your jpeg, rather than by name, to be more universally identifiable.

first row, 3rd place
second row, 2nd place
second row, 3rd place
second row, 4th place
third row, 1st place
third row, 3rd place
-third row, 4th place LOL PALLY SHOULDERS MUCH?

This doesn't include the fact that they got off 'free' with T3~>T7.

This is without comparing these sets to other class sets, this is internal only. Now let's look at just D1, T1,2,3 and look at how remarkably unique these sets are compared not only to each other, not only within the class suits, but any other armor set out there.

D1 ~> owls! Nature setting. Fits. No other shoulder like it. (Can we count hunter sets with beasts on them? Perhaps, the theme might be borrowed, but the architecture is unique, of this there is no dispute)

T1 ~> twigs and leaves and grass. Nature setting. And twigs that *are* antlers? Genius!

T2 ~> moose. Kinda odd, but still fits the lore. Completely unique architecture again, not just a simple new texturing application.

T3 ~> polished but does indeed deviate from any sort of lore identification. Other than being green (huge effort, blah), nothing recognizable here. This architectural theme is then copied throughout many successive armor suits.

PvP suit is a clear cut copy from the rogue suit. However many classes had this done (mage/priest/lock), but does show corners being cut.

The comment on needing to see them 'in action' because there are animations at play... is irrelivant. To take a skin and apply a new animation only further illustrates a carbon copied template with modifications rather than a new design.

Endstate: completely disappointing. There's really no objective nor subjective redemption here. And knowing how Blizzard has been seriously going through recycling content (and gear design), what are we to expect from cata? Revamped BRM with 'revamped' tier a la Naxx1.0~>2.0? Come on, clearly even a fan must admit there is lack of effort here. Not because I'm a hardliner, but because it's objective truth.

I can see im banging my head against a wall here, my personal opinion is Blizzard does a great job with these sets.

Trying to make each and every set look 100% unique with no similarity to previous sets is impossible when there were currently close to 200 sets (incuding crafted sets) in the game at present, they also need to work within engine constraints, probably poly count targets (to keep it running smoth for all players) and clipping issues with other gear.  

Others disagree and think blizzrad are lazy and knock these sets and textures up over a long weekend...but again there is no correct answer just opinions.

Originally posted by Dyner
 

Hmm, I was under the impression that Blizzard passed up the opportunity to do a Warhammer game and went and made their own 'version'. Then again I think Starcraft and Warcraft (the RTSs) came out before Blizzard lost it's path so WC / SC could be tributes to the games the original devs loved.

Close, the word is that the owners of the Warhammer franchise decided the finished product didn't meet their standards, then Blizzard decided to do a little renaming, remapping, and reskinning; thus, Warcraft was born.

Why do shaman and paladin need dresses?  Why do rogues and hunters glow?  Fancy, glowy crap ftw.

 Meh, I ain't so hot-to-troot with this set. It's boring & the pally set is totally lame!

Originally posted by Dyner

Originally posted by Malickie

What I find funny is people are making claims that blizzard was ever at some point "creative". Warcraft= Warhammer, Starcraft= 40k not much of an argument to make against this.

I'll give you that diablo for its time was an accomplishment. Outside of their gameplay not much was creative, tales on swords and sorcery are centuries old.

 WOW of course really didn't do anything new, they just had more money to throw in the pot. As well as a popular Warhammer ripoff to boot.

No I am not making a claim that GW (games workshop) was in some way more creative, though they did develop their own vision of those old fantasy worlds. You can not say that about blizzard.

Before the commment is made that I am a WOW hater, nope have nothing against the game or the company, remember this is my opinion feel free to disagree.

 

Hmm, I was under the impression that Blizzard passed up the opportunity to do a Warhammer game and went and made their own 'version'. Then again I think Starcraft and Warcraft (the RTSs) came out before Blizzard lost it's path so WC / SC could be tributes to the games the original devs loved.

actuall Bizz was grearing up for Warhammer/40k Rts but the deal fell though so they "crafted" their own version

The rogue armor looks cool (although same design but black + green colors would be better), but everything else is totally generic and suckish

The designs are crappy. Visually they look like a downgrade.

Originally posted by coffee

I can see im banging my head against a wall here, my personal opinion is Blizzard does a great job with these sets.

Trying to make each and every set look 100% unique with no similarity to previous sets is impossible when there were currently close to 200 sets (incuding crafted sets) in the game at present, they also need to work within engine constraints, probably poly count targets (to keep it running smoth for all players) and clipping issues with other gear.  

Others disagree and think blizzrad are lazy and knock these sets and textures up over a long weekend...but again there is no correct answer just opinions.

 

I think some don't know blizzard's armor follow a theme now, that why they look the way they do, teir 10 looks all scourge like because of this, while i don't mind them wanting to do theme armor i wish they would just make cool looking armor, some of the best designs as far as i'm concerned are from pvp sets.