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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Not my rainbow gear!
by Nico Deyo 
Dec 8th 2010 at 8:00AM
Blizzard attempted to change the leveling process on many fronts -- easier XP, quests for dungeons at the beginning of said dungeon, and better quest flow. One of the more lively changes was quest loot being given more useful stats -- and more importantly, being made part of an overall more "matching" set. This meant that people who predominantly quest will find themselves looking put together, rather than wearing whatever scraps of material they roll over while trying to collect 20 bear bottoms. The sets may not always work with random "- of the X" drops, but overall, they look nicer and have a easily identifiable style and color scheme.
I'm quite impressed with this change. The strange mish-mash of leveling gear from questing was not only hideous to look at, it never matched and often had really terrible models with garish textures. The new questing gear looks regal and not prone to as much strange skin-baring, either. It looks like you're moving up the ranks of badassery as you are leveling up. This is a good feature! For those who are more inclined to roleplay, it gives you access to some easy outfits that you can wear around Stormwind or Ogrimmar and look trendy.
While I know this trend is going to stop dead in its tracks at Outland (which I will overcome by putting my heirloom gear back on), it is fun to see it present in the Azeroth leveling experience and further on in Cataclysm content. Are you happy about this change, or do you feel that the garish clown vomit outfits of years past were essential to people's game before the level cap?
| No, absolutely not. | |
|---|---|
| Yes, I liked the nutty factor. | |
| Yes, I liked having a progression into high-end sets. |
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Zhev Dec 8th 2010 9:48AM
The real cool thing is that they both 3 stars. First time I've seen a double post that good.
Gendou Dec 8th 2010 8:19AM
No no no no no no NO! /XT
...
Ahem. No, I will not miss the clown suits.
Indeed, I dread setting foot into Outland with my new characters, as the shift from shiny new Azerothian questing and rewards to tired old Outland questing and rewards is rather sharp at this point. I do hope they're serious about updating Outland and the Blood Elf and Draenei starter zones (and Northrend) to match the feel of New Azeroth.
Tabasa Dec 8th 2010 9:33AM
Totally. I was holding out hope to the very end that we'd find out last second that they'd updated the Belf and Draenei starting areas, but no dice.
On the topic of the gear, I love the new sets. It gives incentive to finish out the zone (and thus the story going on in said zone) entirely, and having sets that not only look gorgeous, but look like they actually fit together without having to go hunting for them is a huge plus as an RPer.
The only problem is that now I feel absolutely no incentive to give any new character a crafting profession, since I probably wouldn't use the gear they made for themselves while leveling.
Chetti Dec 8th 2010 10:11AM
@Tabasa - those colorful linen shirts that have no other use than to accent chest gear? :) I don't RP but each of my tailors always makes at least one of every color to store in the bank.
I do see what you mean though, my baby mage has tailoring and skinning (for money), but has not worn crafted gear for very long (if at all, aside from previously mentioned shirts). My priest (born during the lull before the shattering) wore crafted gear more often.
uncaringbear Dec 8th 2010 8:25AM
The problem isn't so much garish colours and mismatched looking gear - it's having everyone wear the same looking model for what seems like forever. The first culprit that comes to mind is the heirloom chest and shoulders. Gawd, how many casters do you see leveling up in that? And then in Northrend, you got the leveling gear and new-80 gear that all used the same models. Ugh.
I really hope it's not like this in Cataclysm. I would rather have variety even if it's somewhat clown-looking.
Drakkenfyre Dec 8th 2010 9:27AM
I can't even tell what a caster is in instances anymore at first glance because they are all wearing the Tattered Dreadmist chest, the Tattered Dreadmist Mantle, and the Dignified Headmasters Charge.
I am so sick of seeing Heirlooms becaue everybody's wearing them. I wish they would have at least added a few models for each one, so you could pick the one you liked. Then we wouldn't be seeing the exact same ones over and over depending on class.
Maribel Dec 8th 2010 5:29PM
I flatly refuse to get the Dreadmist heirlooms. My casters can just level slower. Why should my holy priest cover herself in skulls? I mean, I can think of ideas: "These are all the dps who INSISTED ON PULLING AFTER THE TANK SAID NOT TO mwahahaha!" But I still don't want skulls on everything.
Marlhammer Dec 8th 2010 8:31AM
A huge amen to this! One of the best changes in the Shattering in my opinion...
KenMo Dec 8th 2010 8:33AM
Orgrimmar, Not Ogrimmar
Ice Dec 8th 2010 8:38AM
To be fair my male troll shaman looked horrible in quest gear (looked, because its now goblin and thousand times more prettier even with that change).
Most of the caster (leveling ele/resto) looks horrible mismatch because most of the mail gear is freaking AGILITY gear so I end up picking cloth pieces AND mail pieces all around. It looks like abomination of mage and shaman with pants and vest and there seems to be no "mail equilevants of same cloth caster/spirit gear"
Atleast its not pink tho! but more variety to brown would be nice.
Peepers Dec 8th 2010 8:45AM
Initially the BC clown suits didn't really bother me. I was probably just ready for a change in gear after being in the same vanilla pvp set for so long.
Then Wrath hit and the first time my DK had to swap a piece of his totally sweet gear for a rainbow colored pair of panties I wanted to cry.
Carly Dec 8th 2010 8:52AM
Yessss. This change was huge for me. No more looking like I rolled out of a lost and found box! ;)
JT Dec 8th 2010 8:55AM
Would that they'd take it a step past that and give us appearance slots.
Ronin Dec 8th 2010 9:22AM
I agree! While at least we have better looking armor now, it's more of the problem that we have at end-game: everyone looks the same! You can tell how long someone has been leveling in X zone, by how many pieces of their armor match that zone's theme.
It'd be nice to be able to keep some of the stuff from certain zones, and mix-and-match to create your own unique look.
Mitawa Dec 8th 2010 2:09PM
Definitely agreed. The ability to save your "appearance" gear over the top of your actual gear would be amazing.
The only problem would be all the people who decide to run around "naked" simply because they can.
pedge Dec 8th 2010 8:20PM
If ppl decide to be naked and nothing in the appearance slots implement a streaking debuff.
"Damn Hippies"
Couvs Dec 8th 2010 9:11AM
Now if only they had done a little more clear thinking on some of the tier 11 raid set models/textures.. rogues at least are going to be going from looking badass to looking like we should be in a gay pride parade.
at least our pvp set is looking good.
Tyr Dec 8th 2010 9:13AM
I'm gonna miss it, because it made low-level characters look much less powerful than a max-level character. It made me feel like my character was growing with each level, because the higher I got, the more detailed and less mismatched my clothes looked. I think I would've liked it more if only the stats were adjusted and not the textures.
Boom Dec 8th 2010 9:14AM
Honestly never even noticed my characters armor enough to worry about it. Leveling goes so fast that you're in and out of armor constantly.
Jack Spicer Dec 8th 2010 9:23AM
I think that beautifully matching sets should be limited to people at max level. Having a matching set should be a goal, not a gift.