Agreed - I'm also a female, and I'm currently collecting pieces for a mail bikini set for my female shaman. She's going to look ~awesome~. I honestly do wish they had a few more sexy male pieces - the best you can usually do is have a chest piece that doesn't actually cover much of the chest. Or something that looks ridiculous like the Embersilk Dress thing.

Just because you're a woman who doesn't feel upset by it doesn't mean those of us that DO are wrong to feel upset.

@Xantenise - okay, but I guess my response to that would be there's lots of pieces that DO cover females. The actual problem I have with the bikini situation is not that the pieces don't cover women, but that they DO cover men. If the armorkinis were equally exposing across the gender-scape, I'd be a happy camper.

I wonder if anyone else still remembers FFXI and the vaunted Subligar. Yes, friends, Final Fantasy offered gender equality, in the form of a metal bikini bottom for both men and women. It really drew the community together, with players and characters of both genders racing to reach something a little less exposing. I still remember my first time putting on a pair of pants, and thinking "merciful heavens, finally."

If anybody has a petition to extend the benefits of exposing gear to male characters, I'll sign - nothing to grant insight (and respect) like a little experience.

I wouldn't care about the armor-kinis so much if the differences weren't so drastic for what's supposed to be the same item. The Black mageweave pants are a nice set of pants on men. We all know what they look like on women. I've seen fully-covering breastplates suddenly turn into 2 cups barely covering nipples when put on a different toon (one from the Satyr boss in Dire Maul comes to mind).

So yeah. Make more armor equally covering, or equally baring. The same item shouldn't have such drastically different appearances, in my mind. It's just ridiculous--though it *has* gotten better in more recent patches and expacs. Now my paladin just puts up with belly-baring tanking gear now and then. Yeah, I could "just transmog it away" now, but have you seen the most recent paladin tier? How pretty it is? I like the design, and half the chestpiece is missing because my tummy *has* to be shown compared to my raid lead's male protadin. So now I just cover it up with my guild tabard--which also defeats the purpose.

My mage and rogue may wear more revealing gear, but it should be just as revealing on their male counterparts.

As an aside since I'm already here: Ji Firepaw's line can be taken as "different races have different standards of beauty" and this is a strong reminder. But...it IS really just out of the blue on first meeting. I think maybe a few quests in commenting about the character's strength *and beauty* would be less problematic; then he knows and admires the character, and players have a better idea of his personality (it also makes sense for his "HEY BRO!" reaction to males, but if he had a similar reaction "Hey tough girl, we'll get along well!" it may work). Yeah, there are gregarious, blunt people in real life. But it was just...startling. Not so much offensive to me, but...definitely off, it seemed. Even more so than the random comments from other NPCs (for rep, greeting/exiting dialogue boxes) have been over the years.

Don't get me wrong, I agree 100% with this article. While the comment made my the Pandaren wouldn't have made me bat an eyelash, having it pointed out like it is in this is good for everyone. It helps improve the game. (Mr. Myers.. you did place feedback about this directly to Blizz, right?)

It needs to be okay for female players to want to wear both sexy armor or to have armor equality (either no platekinis for anyone or for everyone).

I stuck my druid in the replica version of Feralheart Raiment (http://www.wowhead.com/transmog-set=530) because I like it. I've received a couple of eyerolls from my own guildies because of it. I've also gotten a few wink wink hint hint comments from random puggers. Usually, I stick the really obvious pigs on ignore, but remain slightly unhappy at my guildies.

That's the wonderful thing about transmog. I can have my sexy armor and you can have your more practical armor too. Just don't judge me for wanting a sexy night elf. (And don't anyone dare tell me I deserve the comments from the pigs because of it.)

@Xan - Neither of them said it was wrong for you feel upset, just that they don't agree.

I'm male, I play mostly female characters and I see both sides of the fence on this argument.
The NPC/PC relations should not be gender specific, and I think it's a little creepy.
And I do agree some female armor is absolutely ridiculous.
At the same time, I'm glad the armor is still in the game to give players the option of wearing it if they choose

"Maybe instead, think of it as an inequality because male characters can't wear it and still look good."

Most (but not all) of my characters are male. I would honestly love it if I could get some chainmail underwear or something else equally risque for some of my plate-wearing men. There are some leather short shorts I've seen, but they're just kinda meh.

@Saeadame "The actual problem I have with the bikini situation is not that the pieces don't cover women, but that they DO cover men."

Don't worry -- I have absolutely no problem with men or women who want to decorate their avatars to show some skin. I'm not a slut shamer. I have a few characters that I like to have wear mageweave pants myself. ;) I was more pointing out that someone who is upset by these pieces has a right to be upset. And thanks for being understanding of that.

I agree. Don't take away the skimpy armour, just make them EQUAL. Truly equal.

I, for one, would love to see a male tauren priest in the same mageweave leggings the ladies have. *Cackles*

@Xantenise:
"Don't worry -- I have absolutely no problem with men or women who want to decorate their avatars to show some skin. I'm not a slut shamer. "

What.
That's about all my brain could say about this sentence for a while. And it is still struggling to make any sense of it.

--I'm not a slut shamer. --

Uh ... so you think that it's ok for people to use the less-modest armor in the name of equality, but then you turn around and call them sluts?

Can you really be that oblivious to your own idiocy?

It was an issue in Vanilla, yes, but as far as I can see Blizz have kept away from the same piece of armor being more revealing on one sex than the other - BC had the fel iron armor and everything based off that model, equally revealing on males, and Wrath had only like 3 armor models outside of tier gear anyway :p

RetPallyJill, I believe that Xantenise is using the term "slut shamer" to describe the sort of people who call anyone who wears supposedly skimpy clothing a slut. "Slut shaming" is a term used in feminism to indicate that type of shaming. Xantenise is most likely not describing anyone whose avatar wears a bikini as a slut. They are trying to say that they do not see anything wrong with wearing a chainmail bikini.

Ditto. Im a female gamer, and I don't -always- like the skimpy clothing, but with transmog my flirtatious huntress can be in a bikini while my gruff and grumpy warrior can be completely covered. The fact that they have both types of clothing, giving female players honestly more choice than men, makes me think that it's almost less equal for the men!

I think it would be an issue if every single piece of gear were designed to be a bikini, and not just a few pieces. You don't really see that differential in the tier pieces, which people have lauded as the best and most attractive gear in the game, the changes between the bikini/not-bikini are in green, blue, and more random pieces. This meant that in the past before mogging, people wouldn't be forced into skimply clothing while wearing the best gear they can get a hold of.

I...honestly don't see much of a problem with the few pieces.

Now when it comes to the NPC interactions...if they're going with creepy old man, make him creepy toward both males and females, or tone it down with the lecherousness toward a woman.

I appreciate all the 'rage' about it, especially coming from the guys. But it might be a little more kneejerk than needed.

Maybe female plate armor should be cheaper to repair because its skimpier!

@Marco & @Retpally:

"Slut-shamer" is the term used to describe someone who bashes someone else for sleeping around and/or dressing in revealing armour.

So yes, the term is correct. I am not one.

@Xant: Some people take offense on the word slut being thrown around. I'm no expert on feminism, in fact I don't know much about it all besides that supposed bra-burning stuff whathaveyoupassingmentioninhistoryclass... So I wasn't sure what slut shaming meant. I thought you were calling those who want to wear skimpy clothing, sluts.