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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe nipples of dragons
by Zach Yonzon 
Dec 20th 2008 at 7:00PM
The lackluster designs came under fire on the forums a few days back, and Zarhym was quick to defend the art team, saying that "the looks of the sets will improve as the seasons continue," and that if Blizzard had started the first sets with awesome designs, the latter seasons might see Thrall being worn around players' heads. It's a pretty funny joke, but I'm not quite sure it holds water. Zarhym continues to say that the design philosophy is that "in PvE you're killing very rare and challenging creatures of Azeroth, while in PvP you're receiving gear from the crafters (so to speak) of your faction to get you battle-ready."
He goes on to make a truly memorable line, "chances are you're going to be given the gear that'll get the job done rather than the gear that has to be constructed entirely out of the nipples of a 7,000 year-old dragon." Now that's pretty clever. It makes a lot of sense, too. Except, my question is, why can't 'crafted' gear that 'gets the job done' be, well, badass? Remember the Level 60 PvP sets? Now those were totally badass.
Who can forget the Horde Warrior plate shoulders? Or the truly noble and Paladin-perfect Alliance plate? In the new world of Wrath homogeneity, there isn't even any more faction-specific armor. Don't get me wrong, the new PvE armor designs are nice. In fact, it seems like Blizzard loved the Death Knight starting armor so much that they rehashed it for the new raid plate. But ever since Burning Crusade, there hasn't been any faction-specific armor sets.I don't think there's been any fantastic-looking PvP sets since the Warlord and Field Marshal days. In that respect, I think the designers have sort of slacked off. No, I don't want the nipples of 7,000-year old dragons, either, but are badass spikes and valorous eagles-on-shoulders really that hard to conceptualize? I think I'll side with the forum posters on this one and hope that something more interesting shows up in the future.
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Humor, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Madrox Dec 21st 2008 4:14AM
You sir,
got trolled
Debesun Dec 21st 2008 3:42AM
Although I do agree that the armour sets are a bit lacklustre I also agree with what blizzard is trying to approach the choice of progressive armour design. If Blizzard had begun the first of the three Tier/PvP armour set series (looking back as the previous 2 versions of WoW had separate 3 tier sets) with absolute face melting awesomeness then we would be expecting to see druids with world trees sprouting out of their shoulders and warriors with their personal little castles complete with archers.
As said by the blue, it is somewhat expected to make the earlier sets to set the baseline and improve upon that. If you were to reverse the graphical models of S1 - S4 then you would clearly see a difference in the quality and it is definitely not a new design plan that Blizzard introduced for Wrath.
I still remember the article referring the S4 gear as "Brutally Ugly" and although it did seem to come lacking artistic flare, the psychological effect knowing that the warrior fully decked out in S4, cutting down waves of your own faction in AV did promote a sense of fear to those who would wear the items knowing that they somewhat have a idea of how to turn your body into a fine red paste.
Just wait a few more seasons where we can see a proper distinction between a players skill/determination in PvP where you will see the people with the current gear recognised as the beginners and inexperienced and those with the higher season sets as the grizzled veterans (and yeah, the cookie cutters...)
Just look at how some people see tanks and war machines. The Challenger II tank doesn't possess any sizable breasts and tanned skin but would be perceived as 'beautiful' just by the sheer bad arsery that comes with it.
Sl0th Dec 21st 2008 4:32AM
I like most of the new PvP gear. For most of the classes, it looks pretty good... Except maybe the shaman armor. But hey, turtle shells aren't so bad, I guess.
As a hunter, I can't wait to get my first hooded PvP helmet. The hoods and the T7 Crypt Stalker helmet have restored my faith that Blizzard can indeed make good looking hunter headwear. As a hunter who spent the majority of the Burning Crusade with their helmet display turned off, I find it a refreshing change that there are helmets out there I will actually want to show. Not like my old Vengeful helmet.
But with all that said, I would love to see the return of faction sets. In a game like this, it is inevitable that people will start to look the same as time goes on. At least the two factions shouldn't look like they're shopping off the same racks.
sZimm Dec 21st 2008 5:37AM
"Remember the Level 60 PvP sets? Now those were totally badass."
tbh, i dont think the old lvl 60 pvp sets looked all that great. the warrior one was decent, but the rest were just kinda meh. the druid gear looked like rogue gear, the warlock and mage gear were just boring, monocolour sets with a lot of spikes attached. anyone can do spikes - its unoriginal and doesnt make for cool design in my opinion.
the new pvp sets are cool in the respect that they actually look like something you would wear to war... the main design problem with them lies in the colouring i think, and its an unfortunate byproduct of having three separate recoulours of each and every set. i dont wanna drop into a bg in my quest greens and come out three hours later wearing "shoulders with orbiting asteroids". that would deflate the epicness and leave nothing for later.
while i think the epic gear of outland was some of the best design ever in wow, i do appreciate a more neutral and subdued design philosophy for northrend. it only makes sense. and im happy to see the "recoloured pve sets for pvp" go the way of the dodo.
Kaizen Dec 21st 2008 5:40AM
I agree
nWARN Dec 21st 2008 5:47AM
I find it hard to believe that everyone thinks blizz has been slacking since BC...Teir 3-6 did look pretty badass. I mean no question if you rolled a lock!
Elhannan Dec 21st 2008 6:20AM
Umm. What?
When I came into Icecrown, I saw these kinda awesome looking Argent Crusade members in simple yet elegant, realistic and understated plate armour that looked frackin' awesome to me. I -knew- Blizzard had to be taunting me, saying: "Look at this stuff! Don't worry, it'll turn up as some armor set or another soon..."
And I was right, and lo and behold, it pops up as pretty-comfortable-to-obtain PvP gear. Doubly awesome, I have an excuse to do lots of the new fun PvP stuff, like Wintergrasp and Strand of the Ancients.
Hell, even my -wife-, the biggest PvP hater I've ever known, has taken one look at the new Mage Season 5 gear and thought: Crap, I might actually have to PvP some for that...
I haven't read all the comments here, but the overall opinion seems to be down on the new sets.
Sorry. I do not agree, at all. Not a chance.
More sets like these, please!
lerina Dec 21st 2008 7:23AM
QQ moar imo.
engine Dec 21st 2008 7:50AM
This is all your fault, I hope you all realize. Wrath is this way because of you, specifically, the players. People complained that end game BC was too hard, so wrath is easy-peasy. People hated clown suits so now we all look the same. PvE players complained that Arenas were too hard to break into with PvE gear, so now it drops in raids.
A compromise is the only true way to make sure that no one is completely happy. You idiots are never pleased with the end result no matter what it is, so Blizz tries to make everyone happy and we end up with what we have.
Deal with it, it's your fault.
Suggestion Forums.
dotorion Dec 21st 2008 8:16AM
"Vanilla WoW was so awesome" whining is so TBC.
thrashnak Dec 21st 2008 8:33AM
I like the new armor sets actually. At least the Mail armor. The hunter set is one of my favorite sets since vanilla. More hoods for hunters please, thank you.
The Shaman set as well, I think I may be the only one, but the Savage set looks great. Admittedly I have no idea how Tauren see out of the helm....but I still like the set. The Savage is the best looking of the three followed by the red "Deadly" set. The purple variant (hateful) not so much.
I like the cloth sets as well. The Warlock isn't as over the top as they usually are, but they look great. The Priest set looks good, as does the mage set.
Not a fan of either leather sets, nor the plate sets though.
And of the three sets per type, I think the Savage is the best looking set for most, followed by the deadly. Nothing against purple, but it just doesn't fit the designs.
And when you compare them to the vanilla PvP sets, for every badass looking horde warrior or Shaman/hunter set you had the hideous looking ally hunter set. Or Horde leather sets. And I always hated the Ally Pally/warrior sets.
buckpinne Dec 21st 2008 8:38AM
I don't really agree that the Blizzard Art Team has slacked off at all. I have been a huge fan of the Arena Gear esp. seasons 1 -3 . S2 Shaman shoulders / S3 Priest Helm were especially badass. There have been some pieces here and there that I wasn't crazy about sure, but I think Zarhym is right, and I trust that Blizzard will be releasing more gear that will surely appeal more to some of the folks who don't like the current new sets.
Turtlehead Dec 21st 2008 11:41AM
WoW gear has always been ugly. It looks like it was doodled by a bored twelve year old in the back of class. Skulls, spikes. Cooool. Hmm, something is missing. I know! Skulls ON spikes. AWESOME! Fangs on skulls on spikes! ZOMG!
Most toons don't look fearsome, they look like they're trying out for GWAR.
[shrugs]
Marluxia.Kyoshu Dec 21st 2008 1:58PM
TBH, That's pretty much what 'epic gear' was in the medieval days...
What better way to make someone fear you than 'I'M GOING TO KILL YOU WITH MY HELMET AND SHOULDERS' because although it may look childish, don't you think if you lived back then you would be scared for you life if you saw half the shit people in WoW wear?
zugthu Dec 21st 2008 2:09PM
60s were the best times in WOW and the cool faction armor was just another of the awsome things of 60.
Right now the WRATH PVE is awsome and thats what I am enjoying.
The PVP is on stand-by until blizz releases the Battleground update.
New battleground system is nice but what will really matter is that Battlegrounds will reward real gear now. Maybe, faction gear again.
Burzum Dec 21st 2008 2:38PM
oh wow.. i was thinking this the other day too. im glad others think like i do.. this new set art is awful..
sorry blizzard.. big fail fo u
WoWie Zowie Dec 24th 2008 9:47AM
i'll still play wow, but its not because of their designs.
i'm thinking that they must be pushed to get arthas on his throne rather than design happenstance gear that you'll likely replace next month.
still, i'm still qq about the lvl 71-79 craftable BS gear looking all the same.
bliz, if you're reading this, the look of the gear is a part of the game. a big part. and it matters A LOT.