The aesthetic of GW2 has become compromised/let us turn off flashy armor

[Bellbirds.1679]

One of the biggest draw for me in terms of the first Guild Wars games was how even the prestigious items in the game were still in line with the medieval aesthetic. Rare weapons did not glow, they were just well ornamented and appeared well maintained. Rare armor was detailed and appeared crafted with immense skill. Anything glowy was few and far between, with only I think one weapon set and a pair of gloves.

GW2 started off fairly similar, with muted but interesting armour design, and any glow or effects on armour or weaponry were fairly tame and in line with what NPCs were wearing (example: CoF armor which includes some flame effects which have been previously built up to by Flame Legion shamans also possessing similar effects.) It was generally sensible, and spoke more of a lore friendly magical 'infusion' through Flame magics or ghost magics and again, these were prestigious skins and were few and far between. Dyes were generally toned down also, with some brighter dyes which made sense for ornamental cloth pieces on armor/light armored characters where brightly coloured cloth made sense.

However, over the years, we have had far too many flashy prestige symbols added. The once rare fractal capacitor backpieces turned into huge obnoxious wings, infusions allow players to turn their charactes in glowing balls of light with snowflakes falling all around, you can't take two steps in DR before bumping into a human female in hotshorts with cat ears and angel wings. GW2 now looks like every other MMO on the market.

GW2 is an MMORPG, and at launch, the RPG part was comparatively pronounced, with the muted aesthetic, somewhat customised personal story, and the personality system. Now, I can't enter any major cities or explore areas at any medium-traffic time without being pulled from my immersion and hence my enjoyment of the game within half an hour.

I play the game to explore the world, to suspend my disbelief, to care about the lore and the story and take it at least somewhat seriously for the duration of my playtime. During the past few years, that has become outright impossible, unless I play very late at night when other plays are scarce (which I do enjoy, however I would like to not be so restricted?)

Now, do I think this should be removed? No! Of course not! The people who make their characters this way obviously enjoy it to some extent, and it would be cruel to both takeaway what was once given and to do it to please another part of the playerbase. Instead, I would like an option to customise one's expereince, perhaps in gardes of severity, with grade 1 hiding only backpacks, grade 2 hiding infusions and special effects on armor and weaponry, grade 3 hiding neon hair colours and particularly vibrant dyes, grade 4 hiding mount skins , and so on and so on, allowing a player to choose an experience that suits their tastes. If a person finds flashy armor and infusions and weapons annoying and unapealling they won't be awed by them anyway, and those who will will not choose to turn them off, so players who use them as prestige symbols will not be affected by such an option.

I don't know how possible this would be, but consiering how the aesthetics of the game used to be a major draw and now GW2 looks like 99% of MMOs on the market, and I think it would be a smart choice on Anets part to bring back that part of the games individuality.

[Randulf.7614]

A toggle or better filtering for flashy effects has been asked a thousand times for years. It's either something Anet can't add in or feel is detriment to further gem sales.

I don't think we'll ever get anything close to the level of detail you are requesting, but for me, the game's over the top flashing effects detract from the game world they have made

[Fueki.4753]

I despise these glowing balls of light.I also detest the visual effects of passive skills and talents like Signet of Rage or Soldier's focus. This visual punishment is the reason I can't stomach playing with tactics.Arenanet needs to give us option to disable these displeasing effects.

That aside, particle effects also tend to make the game lag more, thus making them quite detrimental to performance (especially for people with weaker computers).

[kharmin.7683]

Flashiness is free advertising for Anet. The probably have some marketing data to support it.

[BlueJin.4127]

Yeah... GW2's weapon and armor designs are very shallow. Especially when compared to other games, they're ugly and unimaginative skins just bathed in Christmas lights. :(

[AgentMoore.9453]

It's gotten to the point where legitimately nice designs are getting hidden under particle effects that render them ugly and game performance is visibly dropping when certain infusions and backpieces approach. I knew when they added angel wings to the game that we were in for a wild fashion ride (think TF2 before and after the hats started rolling in), but I think I would have been a lot more okay with it if we could toggle the flashy visuals in our settings.

Cut forward a few years and our options for dealing with the glitz, audio spam, and obstructive visual noise are still extremely limited (and feeling moreso all the time). And that's not even going into things like ally skills looking like enemy AOEs, stutterstep performance issues, inability to disable ally portals/novelties to circumvent abuse, and other problems being brought on by all the flash.

Let people have their sparkly things, I'm not opposed to that, but also please let me see the game I'm playing and do so without lagging off a cliff.

[Yggranya.5201]

@Randulf.7614 said:It's either something Anet can't add in

I'm sure, considering how many people despise the blinding light show, that if anet wanted to do it, they could and should. But then we get...

feel is detriment to further gem sales.

...this. In other words: They could and should, but won't.

@BlueJin.4127 said:Yeah... GW2's weapon and armor designs are very shallow. Especially when compared to other games, they're ugly and unimaginative skins just bathed in Christmas lights. :(

In reality, it's mostly the same in all MMOs/multiplayer games. Even if the game starts with more(or less) rational looking equipment, as soon as they realize that some people with lots of money will buy every gaudy piece of crap, it almost becomes exclusively that and nothing else. I mean, it MUST be popular considering how it's mostly the same. Maybe not in every game, but in most for sure.

[JTGuevara.9018]

Yes! Finally someone said it!

The lighting in this game is very oppressing at times. My eyes get tired after a while. The flashiness in some of these skins is so gaudy and over the top, it's ridiculous. Ad Infinitum is the most obnoxious and my most hated back item in this game.

[Redfeather.6401]

I get headaches from the gaudiness of it all.

[Touchme.1097]

If you care about immersion in GW2 then you have to accept the fact that every piece of equipment, skin and infusion is canon, including fractal, Inquest and super adventure box skins. They are all part of the lore, feel free to use them

[SexyMofo.8923]

I got the infusion from 100CM. Now My end game character looks like a black trash bag.

[Darketh.2304]

Nothing is worse than WoW when it comes to flashy crazy armor. 80+% of the high level players are like neon signs walking around and then you have the weapons that look like you have a Lightsaber.

[Touchme.1097]

@Darketh.2304 said:Nothing is worse than WoW when it comes to flashy crazy armor. 80+% of the high level players are like neon signs walking around and then you have the weapons that look like you have a Lightsaber.

Yep, Holosmith's sword is totally canon and I love that one in particular as it fits my Star Wars cosplay characters, also glyphic and Inquest skins are awesome

[Bellbirds.1679]

@Touchme.1097 No one is saying they aren't canon, but you must agree that they aren't exactly rich with lore, even if they do technically exist in the world. I think you're defensive because you want some flashy skins (and for the record, I have no issue with inquest/glyphic skins. This IS a world with a rich lore foundation for some degree of magitech, and these skins aren't oppresive.) but what you need to realise is no one is trying to TAKE them from you. We just want the choice to customise our game for ourselves.

[Funky.4861]

Turn down the number of players visible under your graphics settings. You can also reduce the level of detail on player textures which strips away some of the pizzazz.

[Farohna.6247]

Agreed that many are over the top, too flashy, but that's a matter of styling. Some people apparently have the I want to blind every one with my brilliance theme going. However, if we bring up things that pull you out of immersion, how about not only armor and weapons, but the cosplaying doesn't always fit in when you see a superhero go past in the middle of Orr. Also character names....if you want to get into lore or staying with the game's theme....

Yes, for those that do not like all the sparkles and spangles, a feature would be nice. Unlikely however, and more likely it will continue to be over the top. People, try to be tasteful with styling not an eye sore.

[ugrakarma.9416]

i have alts with "glow/maggic" and alts with "no glow" themed, i like both.

the carnival effect on this game has not to do with amount of glow, but 'options', its shot to all sides, steampunk, medieval, futuristic.a zerg in gw2 seems more like a carnival parade.

but this a game the LACK of any prestige stuff, if they remove cosmetic pretige stuff, theres nothing more left, any character become just a human controlled NPC.

[Konrad Curze.5130]

@Funky.4861 said:Turn down the number of players visible under your graphics settings. You can also reduce the level of detail on player textures which strips away some of the pizzazz.

That options are way more likely to hide mobs right next to you killing you, or the big boss's red circle under you feet, than disco ball players 50ft away.ANet's incompetence knows no bounds

[Touchme.1097]

As I do understand the point made by those who don't like flashy infusions (I don't either :D ), I suggest ArenaNet to add a feature in the setting menu to turn off infusion visualization. I admit sometime these infusions are so bright that they hurt my eyes and too bright is too much.

[Bellbirds.1679]

@Funky.4861 I have tried that and it wasn't any better.

[Bellbirds.1679]

@ugrakarma.9416 Perhaps instead of glowy uninspired tat they could add well designed armor and weapon skins instead, you know, like in GW1.

[Bellbirds.1679]

@kharmin.7683 Who ever decided that making GW2 look like every other MMO out there instead of nurturing the unique aesthetic of the world should be fired. GW2 MARKETED itself as an MMO that is DIFFERENT from all other MMOs. Betraying that and turning into a clone like the rest of MMOS will ultimately kill the game, as if it isn't fairly comatose as is.

[ShadowCatz.8437]

@JTGuevara.9018 said:Yes! Finally someone said it!

The lighting in this game is very oppressing at times. My eyes get tired after a while. The flashiness in some of these skins is so gaudy and over the top, it's ridiculous. Ad Infinitum is the most obnoxious and my most hated back item in this game.

Have you disabled postprocessing? Try it in off and you will have less impact of all particle effects including how it handle lights and things like fog, clouds, smoke etc which can become annoying with small snowflakes or ash particles that move around in screen.

The major issue isn't as much as player gear that have some shine on it, but the environment (effects) that add a lot moving object on screen that over time can become tiring on eye and brain.

[Oxstar.7643]

I doubt ANet will do anything to curb all these shallow people who sunk ungodly amounts of time and or money into the game. Take whatever solace you can in knowing that all the flash and glitz is not communicating anything but being a tryhard.

[Fallesafe.5932]

@"Bellbirds.1679" said:GW2 now looks like every other MMO on the market.

Wow, it's almost like they're marketing to MMO players.

Consider the fact that this game provides no meaningful goals. After about the first six months of focused play, you're never going to get another piece of equipment that improves your stats or abilities. And there's literally nothing left to do in the game, from that point forward, but peacock around in the latest "look at me" skins. Consider also that the majority of gw2 players are fine with this sorry state of the game and even have a pet name for it ("fashion wars"). Lol, you're fighting a losing battle here.