I have a Republic Armortech who was crafting the Vagabonds Helmet for a BH character.

 

I don't think I need to explain how gawdawful ugly a great many BH helmets are, especially at lower levels and when I saw the graphic for this I was somewhat relieved that I could finally get a helmet that looked, if not good, then at least halfway decent.

 

Imagine my surprise when I saw the helmet in my BH's inventory and saw that it looked exactly like the ugly helmet I had just gotten from a Heroic daily on Nar Shaddaa.

 

What makes this even more surprising is that this helmet is specifically labeled for use by BH's and Sith Warriors only...which makes me wonder why in the heck it would have two different looks dependent on which faction is doing the looking.

 

At no point should their be two different styles of the same item. The item needs to look exactly like the item will be regardless of who is wearing it. How in the heck are we supposed to craft graphically appealing items for ourselves if we have no way of knowing if the item will look exactly as pictured when it gets shipped over to the other faction?

 

The game is designed so that players play both factions, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't extend to having the same Crafting skill on two separate factions so I have to ask why this exists. Is it a feature or a bug? If it is a feature, it needs to go away quickly and if it is a bug it needs to be placed in the queue for bug fixes (which means I probably won't see a fix in this lifetime).

Sadly, if items had the same appearance for both factions, there would be very little visual/stylistic difference between Jedi and Sith, or between Republic Troopers and Bounty Hunters. What WOULD be a nice addition is the option to toggle Republic and Imperial item appearances in the item preview. I would like that addition.

Sadly, if items had the same appearance for both factions, there would be very little visual/stylistic difference between Jedi and Sith, or between Republic Troopers and Bounty Hunters. What WOULD be a nice addition is the option to toggle Republic and Imperial item appearances in the item preview. I would like that addition.

 

I doubt that adding more options for all players will result in less diversity. I don't think the statistics works out. As an example I would point to the introduction of the Cartel Market.

 

While there are new items that have become popular, replacing old ones, you still have characters in the pre CM gear.

 

In short, you will always have favorites, but increasing choices will have a greater chance of creating diversity.

 

 

Edit:

If I had to pick an exception I think it would be giving sages the option to switch their pebble animation with lightening. Then there would be almost no more pebbles and everyone could stop wearing safety glasses without having the fear of getting rocks in their eyes.

Edited December 4, 2012 by jolleebindu

Sadly, if items had the same appearance for both factions, there would be very little visual/stylistic difference between Jedi and Sith, or between Republic Troopers and Bounty Hunters. What WOULD be a nice addition is the option to toggle Republic and Imperial item appearances in the item preview. I would like that addition.

 

And now with the cartel market, all that visual/stylistic difference is gone anyway...

And now with the cartel market, all that visual/stylistic difference is gone anyway...

 

Not so. The stuff that ANYONE can wear (cartel market items) is a tiny fraction of the total number of looks out there.

People, stop arguing that because some stuff (social gear and cartel market items) have the same appearance on both sides, that all items should or need to.

The issue the OP is complaining about is not merely that some items are exclusive to one faction or another.

 

The problem is that when you're crafting or purchasing an item for another character, that item changes appearance. The helmet she's discussing is limited to Imperials only ALREADY, so why should it look different when your Republic player is looking at it? That's ridiculous, and it just causes confusion and annoys the people who encounter it.

the issue the op is complaining about is not merely that some items are exclusive to one faction or another.

 

The problem is that when you're crafting or purchasing an item for another character, that item changes appearance. The helmet she's discussing is limited to imperials only already, so why should it look different when your republic player is looking at it? That's ridiculous, and it just causes confusion and annoys the people who encounter it.

 

fact!!

I should add that Synthweaving has the same stupid problem.

By way of specifics, in case anyone is curious... you can go on to the GTN and check out the medium armor "Warrior's Vest", usable only by Imperial classes, and compare it to the medium armor, "Aspiring Knight's Vest", limited to Republic classes. Both will appear identical.

 

Now change to a character of a different faction, and look at the same two armors. They will both still look like one another, but now both look like completely different than they appeared from the other faction character. To the Sith, both appear to be a gray shirt with a silvery metal collar, and to the Jedi both seem like a brownish robe top with dangly bits.

What WOULD be a nice addition is the option to toggle Republic and Imperial item appearances in the item preview. I would like that addition.

 

I strongly support that suggestion, and I created a new Suggestion Box thread for it:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=713404

May I suggest those suffering hard with this issue head here as this site lists all of the crafted armours and has pics of what they look like, if all else fails - set the item crafting, check the site while it's being made and stop the craft if needed?