PvP and PvE Armor Design: Why Bioware's Design Aesthetic is Fundamentally Flawed

A well written post, OP - you pretty much nail it all and with the words of Lucas himself.

BioWare have failed but I know they have the means to correct it. I hope they pay attention to all the posts about this topic that are flooding the forums.

This is correct in part, but not entirely.

First, while you do have the option to put end-game mods in customizable gear, it's tremendously expensive, severely limiting that option for many players. While I may be able to afford it, many will be waiting a considerable amount of time to be able to do so.

Second, the best gear in the game right now is actually augmented customizable armorning, but unfortunately the selection of this is relatively limited. There are not nearly as many options as there are for either regular green/blue/purple gear or for the customizable (orange) items which drop from mobs and as quest rewards.

The framework is there to eliminate this problem, but it requires some more work on BW part to make it a reality.

I definitely agree with the OP. Some of the outfits look like they ported the style directly from fantasy type games like WoW, and others look like a guy saw something cool at Party City for Halloween. It wouldn't be such an issue if we could extract all the bonuses from the sets ( 2/4 piece bonus) and use them in oranges.

TLR

In a nutshell though, the armour is ridiculously ugly.

I support this thread.

EA let them go.

+1 to this whole thread really

Hello,

What a fantastic OP and I really agree with it.

Bioware have the core of a great game on their hands but they have made a few worrying/baffling decisions - launching without a LFG, a world design that's a bit 'corridor-y', no macros and of course, the gear issue that the OP so eloquently posted about. Plus name your 'must have' feature of choice!!!

BW when they were talking about the game, pre-launch said that it was an attempt to allow players to live their SW fantasy i.e. they could be a bounty hunter, a smuggler, a jedi etc. etc. All well and good - and the storyline for these classes is fantastic and really evocative of the character archetypes in the movies that we all know and love.

However, as the OP put so well, most players expect these archetypes to look a certain way - that is to say, 'Star Warsy' i.e. futuristic, 'weathered' (mostly) and very importantly, based on the iconic look of the character archetypes that these classes are based on.

It's really worrying when the designers seem to be applying the OTT look of something like WoW to TOR - it simply isn't working doesn't feel right. I don't know how or why Lucas Arts signed off these designs or what BW was thinking.

Suffice to say, I'm expecting throughout the game to outfit my characters from 1-50 & endgame something like this:

Jedi Knight
An understated look. The iconic brown robes with subtle armour underneath it. I don't want my Jedi Guardian to look like a Trooper. The armour should almost be unnoticeable & hidden by a robe. Same for sentinels. The Jedi are meant to act through their actions and words - not try to impress people with OTT armour.

Jedi Consular
Again, I should be able to see this class dressed in simple robes i.e. like Ben Kenobi - not looking like a member of the Galactic Senate. The Jedi are meant to be monks... simple cloth, leather and robes, please

Trooper
Again, variations on the troopers that we see in the movies. Battle damaged armour, too. It's a war and the Troopers have to make do with what they have. Ideally the trooper receives different equipment sets for different environments as they get assigned to different planets and can update them - this is a soldier who prizes their trusty (hopefully) equipment, maintains it and patches it up.

Smuggler
The iconic Han Solo look and variations. Flight jackets etc. A little bit flamboyant, but not too much. And please ditch the cowboy look for gunslingers. And capes? Nooo....!

Bounty Hunter
Again, I want to have the Boba Fett look - or the look displayed by the Bounty Hunters on Darth Vader's Star destroyer in Empire. These people have battle damaged, modded equipment, custom made - or stolen - to their needs. The bounty hunter's armour is almost part of their personality. Imagine if in ROTJ if Boba Fett turned up with a new look. Boba Fett's armour is iconic and an important part of the character.

Sith Warrior
Simple. Variations of the Darth Vader look for the Juggernaut, with lighter armour for the Marauder. The Sith should be able to terrify people just by their presence - not by looking like strange mechanical monsters. Though I'll admit for this class you could push the envelope a little. And I mean 'a little'!

Sith Inquisitor
Again, simple. The Darth Maul/Kendo look for Assassins and variations on the Palpatine look for Sorcerers. Again, the SI should terrify through their presence and actions. The Emperor in ROTJ was a terrifying figure although he was dressed in a simple grey robe. Why in this game do SI's look like they are Warlocks escaped from WoW?

Agents
OK, there isn't really an archetype for the agent in the original movie. But I'd have thought that an imperial agent using cover and sniping people would want to look as unobtrusive as possible!

OK, having said all of this - if BW still feel that a certain amount of their player base are gear focussed and want the latest and greatest. Well OK. Just please could they ground it in the looks seen in the movies, a little more.

But for those of us who want to have the 'quintessential' looks - please provide the ability to retain a certain 'look' i.e. have a character that looks like Obi-Wan, The Emperor, Boba Fett etc. etc. fairly early on in the game and to keep that look to end-game. It would be nice to get variations and end-game but subtle updates of these looks. Not the OTT craziness that we see in the game at the moment.

I hope that BW are listening - fingers crossed...

I'm pretty sure no one is against having options, the issue as I see it is what those options currently entail.

The point many seem to make is that they'd like to have the option to look plain or more "bling bling" if they want to. Problem is, the "bling bling" currently available does not fit the IP.

As many have already explained, the plain robes look is cool and should be possible to obtain by modding orange gear. However, when it comes to end-game gear, look at how some of the high level NPC's look...check out the designs used in the TOR CGI trailers etc...there's so much already available material to pull and expand upon.

This is Star Wars, and any options available should fit within that IP. The original movies all portrayed aliens, planets and different cultures, yet it was recognizable as Star Wars. Many of the 1.2 designs would fit perfectly in a Cthulu environment so that option would make sense in a Cthulu game, but not one set in the Star Wars universe.

As for the possible comic book influence; anyone who is familiar with the EU can probably agree that a lot of the designs and concepts are not exactly tasteful or even good, sad but true. So using "it's in the EU" is not always a valid argument...at least not when it comes to designs.

SE

Again, you are incorrect. For instance, the new Assassin/Sorcer PvP model draws clear inspiration from Darth Bane's orbalisk armor. And for all you say about only finding isolated examples, I can continue to list visual complements for other gearsets as well if you really wish.

Whether or not this makes the armor design palatable is another matter alltogether but it goes a great length to answering the question of whether or not they fit into the Star Wars universe. Simply put, of course they do. The Star Wars universe, by and large (and chiefly due to the type of material is was inspired from to begin with), is pretty stupid.

I again invoke my previous point. As we move further along in time, the degree of visual styles increases in a directly proportional manner. Such that the current styles that people might not enjoy become one of a diverse pool.