Project Lore

I don't know how 'easy' it'd be to make parts of a texture or skin show up as 'Be color X, unless a Player applies a dye' with WoW's current code. Warhammer has it built into their code (and I think is a nod to the miniatures game, which has an entire line of paints made by the company to go along with their mdoels) However other games which impliment it are either -all- about character customization (City of Heroes) or wipe away your customization with your first gear upgrades (Tabula Raza)

i like to dress up my bank chars but thats it, rest of time i dont really care about gear looks, but im a fanatic about moun looks and some really awesome non-combat pets, ig uess because having them doesn't reduce my damage (except for my disgusting oozeling, heh)

Some of the shields out of Naxx are just horribly ugly (the lower end ones). And some of the swords out of Ulduar just look like large daggers instead of a true sword.

In the end, I'll always take functionality over beauty.

I don't let fashion be the final factor in my decisions over whether piece A is better than piece B. For me, it's all about the stats and equip effects. If the one I judge to be better also looks nice, it's an added bonus.

Haha, as a druid I never see what my gear looks like anyways, so style doesn't matter to me. But for a long time my priest had this ugly S&M like head piece (Hide Helm FTW)

The beauty is in the eye of the beholder. (Stats matter!)

@Shala At least you get new druid forms soon :-p

Some items are just annoyingly ugly in WoW. For a while as a BS I was walking around in the Cobalt def. set, and it made me look like something out of Star Trek. Seriously these supposed "plate" items which stick to your skin like lycra and have a bright purple color. Yah..that is what I REALLY want to be tanking in :S. I also get annoyed when I get an epic item, equip it, and it looks like crap. Seriously if you are going to make an item have "Epic" status, at least make it look good. A perfect example are the Boots of Avoidance (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=14549#comments) these items are very good for the level they can be worn at, but that whole tight-plate boot look really just does not do it for me. I prefer the look of boots such as the Savage Saronite Walkers (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41348#.) where they sort of bulge out from your feet. To sum up, I obviously will go for stats before looks, but I really do like it when my character looks good. If I get a piece of gear that looks crappy but is otherwise awesome, I will just hope that I replace it soon and live with it until then.

I say that stats are more important purely because, 1. Being in the top 3 DPS is pretty awsome
2. Stats over style could meen the diference between a boss wipe and success
3.And last but not least the new tier 8 and 8.5 armor sets look and are pretty awsome anyways (exept for the druid shoulders :)

My bank character is in a lovely tuxedo. Everyone else is in the best gear they can get, either from instances runs, the AH or whatever is available to the character.

I will wear the better gear BUT I will keep the cool looking gear in the bank. Like the DK gear, the lvl 58 gear, I still have in the bank. Why because it looks so cool and because i prob won't lvl my DK to 80.

on my hunter, I have the tier 8 helm but I wear my engineering goggles while I'm not raiding.

I just like the look of them better

Yeah, I'm all about the character vanity. I really wish there was a better way to personalize gear. Or at least make it not so mis-matched when you're not in sets. But I guess that's something you have to work up toward.

Yeah i am one for the gear looking nice. The Tier 8 hunter set looks better than the Tier.8.5 gear in my opinion. But its stats that matter ( not that gear changes in hunters really gives us any changes to stats that make a sizable difference)

The Hunter helm and shoulder at tier 8 level looks awesome, though I do like the whole gear set tbh.

But Blizzard have failed i think in giving us really nice looking gear like they did in BC.. And the rogues tier 8 helm? Freaky as hell, but sort of suits there class i suppose :)

Well, the real suckers in all this is druids. I don't like having to become a moonkin all the bloody time. They look lite fat turds. When i had just dinged 80 it was nice, mainly because i could hide all my crappy gear behind those hairy arms, but now, when i have mostly t.7.5 gear (witch is cool as hell) i wan't ppl to see it and think "nice".
But then again, i might care about looking cool in WoW to much, i ran WC today just to get the viper pants to my fishingset.

Looks isnt everything but I do like to be able to look at my character after 2 years of play and say "wow i look bad ass"

I do agree it would be nice to be able to dye or change the color on gear that was one thing i really miss from my Guild Wars days was the color customization and the gear customization.

For those of you that don't know in GW there were tiers of gear that you would collect crafting materials for and then bring them to armor crafters. each tier up required more mats and more expensive mats. The upside was that you had choices with most every tier (the highest ones having the most 2-3 choices generally) each set was basically the same stat wise but looked vastly different from the next, and ontop of it all you could collect, buy and mix dyes to give yourself the look you wanted. It was nice to look around a town and not see 20 identical warriors lol.

I do love my WoW and think that alot of the tier sets look really cool but it would be nice to change things up every once in awhile.

I leveled in whatever was prettiest, almost completely regardless of function. I'd purchase a new matching set every couple of levels. After all, I wasn't 80 yet and it's not like I was missing anything that wouldn't be made up simply by gaining levels. But once I hit 80, the grind ended and all my colorful sets were gone.

Aside from generally looking like a hobo or someone who got dressed in the dark, almost every piece of functional armor I have is some indistinguishable shade of DARK. It's ugly and I hate it. One thing I miss from my Guild Wars days, was being able to make my armor match with dyes and being able to find something I liked without worrying over whether or not it was a protective as wearing a towel.

I'll occasionally bust out my lv 40ish? Blood Knight set for the lulz, and get tons of compliments. I suppose there's an advantage in not being able to tell exactly what spec or gear or even class someone is by looking because of the WotLK gear, but this is WoW. Outrageous and over the top weapons and armor are part of its distinct charm.

Like Sala, im a druid n spend a lot of my playing time as a tree. I am currently fit with heroic Naxx gear, but the boots stand out so horrible. Dont have the T7.5 gloves yet, but at least the currend gloves don't look much out of place.
Aadjed
Resto druid
Azjol Nerub

throughout all of WOTLK i have yet to have gear that didnt match....as i was leveling, all my gear matched and even with me in mixed tier 7 and 8 gear i still match....in BC on the other hand....i looked like a clown...only gear i had that matched was my tier 4 of course and my cape and staff from karazhan...i think they did a good job with making sure all of the gear goes together in one way or another but i do agree that it would be really nice if we did have some customization options....doesnt really bother me either way....doesnt effect the way i play...

Does anyone remember back when the first pieces of raid armor started coming out with glowing effects and floating thingamajigs on them? People were like, "OMG That's so cool!!1!" Now it's par for the course. I don't even care that my gear matches anymore, I just want more spellpower. And crit - that's important, too.

You know, i don't really bother about what an item looks like, however i will have my doubts and in my opinion think an item is ugly cool looking, but i never choose looks over stats, and if that item is ugly but has the best stats in the game, you would still wear it because people would look pass the visual aspects and concentrate more on how awe-inspiring the item looks.

There has been some amazing gear in WoW over the years , many of times I wish I could replace the look of my new weapon/gear to match the old one it replaced...

*Other MMO take on style and customization
Aion the new NCSoft MMO has some really interesting style idea's. You can swap skins of armor and weapons and the end game Epic sets change color/shape/sparkles as you fight as once you complete the set.

Community forum discussion;
http://www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/9372-obt-members-armor-weapon-appearance-swapping.html

Video below shows one of the epic set before and during combat looks, (shown 36 seconds in).
http://www.jeuxonline.info/video/1184/presentation-aion-festival-jeu-video-2008

Whiskeyd:

"many of times I wish I could replace the look of my new weapon/gear to match the old one it replaced…"

I feel the same way!!

If the stats are almost the same, but one is only every so slightly better, I go for the cooler looking one.

I'm all for the customization of color. It's annoyed me how ragtag some of my armor has been most of the time. It's gotten better in Wotlk because everything looks like a cross between old leather and a wood pile, but i think one of the under utilized or neglected professions should get the plans or ability to generate non BoE scrolls of customization. It's vain, i know.. but it really matters to some ppl.