Cosmetic system disassociation, plus Cosmetic suggestions.

[bobjones17]

If you are interested in the general cosmetic suggestions jump to the "ADITIONAL COSMETIC SUGGESTIONS" part of this post. In fact, if you're a dev and are reading these, I'd say that the additional suggestions at the end is the most relevant and possible achievable part of these two suggestions, for there i gather all the suggestion i posted on the old forum.


COSMETIC SYSTEM DISASSOCIATION
I propose a complete disassociation of the cosmetic system from the race system.

How to disassociate the cosmetic system from the race system?

Introduce an item that function similar to a Mirror of glammering. Placeholder name = Mirror of Ilusion. Functionality: save racial appearance. Example: i create a human with face 1, nose 1, eyes 1, skin color x, hair color y. After i use the Mirror of Ilusion on that created character, the item will generate an appearance item holding a character's body/face model equal to that of the character ive used the mirron on . Every time i equipe that appearance item my character will have its model changed to that of the appearance collected, just like a mirror of glammering does for a weapon but for body/face models. This way the cosmetic system and the racial system no longer affect each other in any way. I can choose whatever race is best for a particular build and, at the same time, look the way i want. Obs.: once used, cosmetic information would be displayed on character info for everyone to see, something like "race: gnome. Ilusion: human.".​

Why disassociate the cosmetic system from the race system?

I firmly believe that being able to immerse yourself by making your character look the way you like is a crucial part of online games, specially one such as DDO, in fact i argue that some players give more valor to their look than to their atributes and reaper points. Having both systems attached to each other hurts the cosmetic part of the game. DDO, different from most games, have a deep mathematical system attached to character development. Race and racial past lives can make a huge different in one's build, especially in end game, therefore not having the character look attached to the mathematical system would allow for both systems (cosmetic and mathematical) to coexist in perfect harmony.​

What about whish for memories and hearts of wood? Can't i achieve the same result using those?

Wishes can take care of the racial past life points and hearts can help when aiming for class's completionist, but there is no palliative for iconic life's, you will need to look like a gnome and a shifter, and a giant cat to get all the iconic past lives. Ive also would like to point out that the cost in ddo-points to be able to racial tr without having to change whatever race you like the look of is huge. about 15x3x995 = 44775 DDO points for all the wishes. Then there is the build situation: even if i get every single past life, that will not change the fact that there are races whose enhancement options fit certain builds better others, and if i intend on having the best numbers there is no way around it.​

In case this suggestion gets implemented, how would affect players that disagree with the idea?

Would not. Just don't use the item, totally optional.​

Conclusion regarding disassociation suggestion.

Even if i had about 50k ddo-points, i would still have to go out of my way, appearance wise, to accommodate whatever build i decide to play. I believe that separating both systems would just bring quality of life for all types of players: people who just care about numbers would feel no difference and cosmetic aficionados would love the possibilities.​

ADITIONAL COSMETIC SUGGESTIONS
Here i add all the cosmetic ideas i suggested on the old forum. Even if you disagree with the disassociation idea i recommend check these out.

1. -Add eldritch knight's 'Knight's Transformation' and possible 'Spellsword' vfx to the "disable full character overlay effects" option.
2. -Link the butterflies from 'crow of summer' to the item itself. This way ppl who likes the butterflies can mirror the item and ppl who don't like it can just throw some cosmetic over it.
3. -Add a in game option to disable the appearance of buffs on oneself, effects like Tenser transformation and stone skin are ugly as hell, but the buffs themselves are useful.
4. -Add tabards to the cloak slot. Check that other mmo to see what I'm talking about, the one that makes a craft out of war.
5. -Add back cosmetic slot. This way i may have a cloak and, at the same time, appearances like a backpack, crossed swords stuff like that. In fact there is another threat giving some itdeas that could be used in this slot, here is the link: https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/new-cosmetic-ideas.238/
6. -Allow warforged to use non-warforged armor cosmetics. Docents look changing according to feat is just bad.
7. -Give us character body archetypes. PDK is a human, but a human cannot look buffed like a pdk, why?

Thats all i can thing of right now. Would love some feedback, specially from devs. I heard some talk about changig character models a while ago so maybe fit some of these in that work pipeline..., just a suggestion. Thanks in advance for the attention, amazing game.

 

[The Blonde]

I respectfully disagree.

With that said, I fully support points 1-3 in the "ADITIONAL COSMETIC SUGGESTIONS" section.