Liav said:The issue with that is the extreme burden it puts on the art team having to make these armor pieces fit every single race that can possibly drop them. It also basically annexes non-humanoid NPCs from being able to drop the armor pieces. As for bags, I doubt it. Severe clipping issues with the armor/model of NPCs that can drop them as well as player models.
I'm not sure we're there yet. Not without an astronomical budget and a lot of time.
Not that PROTF should do it this way, but one of my most cherished memories from the early days of EQ, when we were all perpetually flat broke, was when we all lusted after fine steel weapons and bronze armor (to sell AND wear). Case in point, Runnyeye. When a goblin had bronze armor, the part of his anatomy with the armor would have a golden tinge to it. They didn't change the entire model, but definitely gave you what you needed to see. When we saw one with a golden belly, we all got really excited for sure!