Given the recent...showcase, if you will, of the art style change, what is everyones taste in armor and weapon art? Still seems a little too soon to judge the games art direction as far as gear, so I'm not sure what to expect.
I know I'm in the minority, but I do like when armor and weapons are somewhat exaggerated. A little extra flare and/or particle effects, especially in more epic pieces. Even if it wouldn't truly be "functional" in realism. Now I don't necessarily mean giant shoulderpads like in WoW, though I must admit I didn't hate them, but gear that is visually provoking as opposed to just a smooth metal finish. This is excluding low level or basic and poor quality gear, of course.
I like it when truly epic gear looks... truly epic. But I also want lower level gear to look kind of cool, since leveling will probably take a while so we'll be wearing a lot of it.
I think the new art style gives a lot more options as to what weapons and armor can look like. I'll be curious to see what that high level shaman set that Joppa showed off in the streamer livestream is going to look like in painted style.
I also agree with a little bit of exaggeration being nice. Not over the top, but especially with painted art, "normal" gear is just going to look bad now.
Differentiation of gear by level and progression is important. To add on to what you said in terms of WoW, I agree in the sense that gear should be recognizeable. I'll use WoW: The Burning Crusade for my example; from a distance you could tell if a player was in leveling gear, dungeon gear, pre-raid best-in-slot, raiding gear, or even PvP gear. Having visual progression for you and others around you to see is kind of part of the magic growing up as a kid. I recall seeing people in awesome gear and looking at them in awe. This was also a common occurence in other MMOs at the time as well, but I thought using WoW as an example would be easiest.
In terms of style, I'm not sure. We have literally only seen a handful of work-in-progress art assets in this new style which I guess polarizing to some (not me, in fact I'm happy they decided to find a stylized choice they can later improve when they have an established IP). People have stated it looks too light and needs some grit. This is probably true, but again the area they showed us was clearly not meant to be dark and gloomy. I'm hoping they can show us some of their more mysterious areas like caves, cold climates, and so on -- so we can get a real feel for it.
I want individuality. I want my characters to be a reflection of me, not cookie cutouts all looking alike. I also do not want another WOW clone. Rather that exagerrated or over the top armour and weapons, I would prefer lots of different styles and incarnations. Although that seems to be a distant dream now.
I would agree the use of particle effects should be used sparingly, for really special pieces. A subtle soft glow of a sword, maybe a little twighlight effect at the head of a really special staff. Gear doesn't have the have particle effects as opposed to something like vines hanging/growing from it or very intricate robe pattern.
I would also agree with not using ridiculous proportions for things. I just enjoy more of a mystical fictional amount of extra flair, nothing too crazy. Individuality is a good way of putting it, or better yet, synonymous.
I'm very curious to see how VR is going to create the weapon and armor design. Being that the change is pretty fresh, perhaps now is the perfect time to try and inspire what the people may have in mind as far as contributions and ideas.
Ranarius said:I am in the minority, but I like low level gear to look boring and weak. I like when the progression of armor leads to progression in visuals at a similar pace (which is likely impossible to do perfectly since we all have different ideas of what looks cool).
I'm in agreement with you. Low level gear should look plain, but not ratty, not you looking like you're wearing rags. Simple and plain is not the same as wearing dregs. But too often low level gear is made to look like you're a homeless person who's been scrouging clothing out of dumpsters. Sure, that BP might not be shiny, could have a few dings and some rust spots here and there but it should not look like you've just wrapped yourself in a rusty barrel.
By starting off with gear being plain and unadorned, as you replace it with higher quality gear you do get that sense of 'graduating' into better gear. Your personal sense of pride and accomplishment goes up. Details can get more ornate, weapons can have more distinct and unique shapes (think Short Sword of the Ykesha where, just by the shape, you knew what it was). Then, lastly, you add in some particle effects for those items where it makes the most sense.
I'm in the low level gear should be boring and weak camp.
I'm also in the armor should look like armor camp. I don't mind decorations, embellishments, and particle effects. But I think it should cover what it's supposed to cover and look like you can move around in it. Start with real midieval armor and embellish from there. There is a ton of variety in medieval armor accross different time periods and regions to take inspiration from. But I think I'm in a minority there.
Agreed, low level gear should look plain and homely. However, when I am at the highest level, I want to look like I got my gear from the knights of the round table, which I assume would be pretty cool.
In a perfect world, the high end gear would still have a realistic look (even if slightly exaggerated). But that's obviously not possible with the ugly new art style.
All armor in the new art style will look like its made out of cardboard.
Theres just no way to make it look like actual metal with the "hand painted" style.
And you can already see the direction they want to go in with the exaggerated shoulder pads etc in the art reveal video. On a mission to emulate WoW.
They think "big glowing weapons" and "big armor" are what made WoW popular (spoiler alert, it was the smooth gameplay and popularity of the IP).
As long as it doesn't appeal to Asmongold, I'm good with whatever. The guy is pure cancer to video games and hopefully he and his gang of 12 year olds steer clear of Pantheon.
Prevenge said:As long as it doesn't appeal to Asmongold, I'm good with whatever. The guy is pure cancer to video games and hopefully he and his gang of 12 year olds steer clear of Pantheon.
I hate to tell you this, but that is Exactly the demographic that VR is purposefully courting with this change in art style.
Its now looking exactly like the type of games they gravitate towards.
Its no accident.
The art change is enough to be a red line with me (will no longer play this game after release), but its also just the start. Other changes are incoming for sure.
I'd be interested in seeing the new materials that the gear is made from. Silver longswords shouldn't look exactly like Mithral longswords in a different shade of painted grey.
SilkyWhip said:I'd be interested in seeing the new materials that the gear is made from. Silver longswords shouldn't look exactly like Mithral longswords in a different shade of painted grey.
Ranarius said:I am in the minority, but I like low level gear to look boring and weak. I like when the progression of armor leads to progression in visuals at a similar pace (which is likely impossible to do perfectly since we all have different ideas of what looks cool).
I feel you and I share many of the same thoughts. And thank you for your contributions here and in Discord, I personally enjoy reading your comments.
lotuss79 said:All armor in the new art style will look like its made out of cardboard.
Theres just no way to make it look like actual metal with the "hand painted" style.
You can make a hand painted texture looks like metal. It depends on your material propierties, and has nothing to do with the style of paint.
This is just a good example: https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/max_1200/92674434065930.56c3094b10eba.jpg
We did not see this yet on the trailer, but I'm sure they will work on all kind of materials for their assets.
Isvrada said:lotuss79 said:All armor in the new art style will look like its made out of cardboard.
Theres just no way to make it look like actual metal with the "hand painted" style.
You can make a hand painted texture looks like metal. It depends on your material propierties, and has nothing to do with the style of paint.
This is just a good example: https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/max_1200/92674434065930.56c3094b10eba.jpg
We did not see this yet on the trailer, but I'm sure they will work on all kind of materials for their assets.
It certainly does look better. And thanks for the link.
Isvrada said:lotuss79 said:All armor in the new art style will look like its made out of cardboard.
Theres just no way to make it look like actual metal with the "hand painted" style.
You can make a hand painted texture looks like metal. It depends on your material propierties, and has nothing to do with the style of paint.
This is just a good example: https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/max_1200/92674434065930.56c3094b10eba.jpg
We did not see this yet on the trailer, but I'm sure they will work on all kind of materials for their assets.
Mmmm, those look nice.
