I like the option to use either. I know other games have done it but my own personal experience is DCUO's costume feature. Its great being able to change my look any time i want, and i certainly dont mind that theres a requirement of getting gear drops to get cooler looking costumes.

I dont mind if im locked into the games costumes and armor looks as long as the game is fun. Of course i prefer to have my armor all cool and awesome looking tho.

If I can decide how my character look I think that is better to me. I hate if I have to wear ugly armor. Sometimes if armor is too ugly I dont like to wear even if it is better. 2 different kind of armor is OK. 1 kind for bonus and 1 kind for look.

Originally posted by csthao

Originally posted by yewsef

 

I think something like the approach Aion did would be good.

You only can put on what you already looted. Let's say you have a complete set of Dark Armor but the stats is not good. You save this armor and then use it on your current gear to make you current gear looks like the Dark Armor. The process costs money AND consumes the armor you had. Which means 1 Armor = 1 Use. The skin remains on the armor and not the character, meaning if you upgrade your armor then you don't keep the Dark Armor look.

You can still have your Dark Armor look. Just reskin your new armor again.

So for example, when you skin your good gear with the original dark armor, it replaces your good gear witht hat look permanently. So when you upgrade your good gear with better ones, the good gear you had on before retains the graphic still and just reskin your better gear with it, if you still wanna keep your Dark Armor set.

I know that, otherwise I'd be broke. But that's something I dont want to include in my system hence I didn't mention it. I want a system that doesn't let you re-skin an armor once skinned. Exactly like some items in Aion that only allow 1-reskin (that hat from the summer event). Having to reskin one armor for infinite amount of time is not a good idea.

I like how LOTRO has appearance gear.  They way not everyone looks exactly alike.

Every MMO should come standard with an appearance tab no question.

Everyone has had that feeling when you loot a new, really cool looking peice of gear(that also has good stats), thinking "Wow, that looks nice", checking out the stats and the appearance in your inventory, then quickly rushing to to equip it and see how it looks.."Yeah I look awesome"

C'mon, you know you all do it! ;)

Thats part of the fun of MMOs which is why I think your gear should determine how you look. Its more realistic too, and gives you something to work towards. It should be customisable though, so you can dye your armour and possibly do things like add designs to capes, glowy effect runes on armour etc. People like to look individual.

Gear isnt everything though, you also need a good character designer to make a character look how you want, and individual but looking that same way all the time is just dull.

So to answer the question - a bit of both.