Standard mount- and glider skins

[Erasculio.2914]

I would kill for a way to get standard mounts, backpacks, gliders and weapons.

 

Not because they're ugly (a lot are, for the records), but because of the performance improvement those would bring. I play with the standard models, and it's amazing how performance drops whenever I go to the Heart of the Mists (where the standard models don't work, and instead we see characters' real appearance). Considering how each new addition to the game has a lot of particle effets, being able to remove them would make the game run significantly better.

 

> @Walewyn.2875 said:

> I agree. This option would be very nice.

> Although, they would just bloody monetize it, 5 bucks for it to show up in your options. Anet is capable of doing that.

No, it would be behind a RNG wall where you have a chance to get it, or to get an option to turn your own character invisible (but only for yourself) :expressionless:

 

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

> @Erasculio.2914 said:

> I would kill for a way to get standard mounts, backpacks, gliders and weapons.

>

> Not because they're ugly (a lot are, for the records), but because of the performance improvement those would bring. I play with the standard models, and it's amazing how performance drops whenever I go to the Heart of the Mists (where the standard models don't work, and instead we see characters' real appearance). Considering how each new addition to the game has a lot of particle effets, being able to remove them would make the game run significantly better.

>

> > @Walewyn.2875 said:

> > I agree. This option would be very nice.

> > Although, they would just bloody monetize it, 5 bucks for it to show up in your options. Anet is capable of doing that.

> No, it would be behind a RNG wall where you have a chance to get it, or to get an option to turn your own character invisible (but only for yourself) :expressionless:

>

 

It's 5:30 in the morning right now. Don't make me laugh so hard.

[Kidel.2057]

> @Yasi.9065 said:

> Hey :)

>

> I was seeing a LOT of new mountskins today in LA, and on Xera I had - again - someone with that obnoxious pink colored ravenglider blinding me on every leyline passage... thats when I thought:

>

> Cant we PLEASE have the option to display glider and mounts clientside standard model for others?

>

> Like we can limit the amount of charactermodels and then get standardmodels instead of fancy fashion wars?

>

> I really dont have anything against personal choices, and if you like your pink raven glider, then imo... you should be able to enjoy it. And Im okay with people being able to display their legendaries with all the bling, dang and ta-dam.

>

> BUT... the mountskins and gliderskins are getting out of hand. In some raids or openworld squads GW2 starts to resemble a badly colored 90s website instead of the stylish graphics I bought this game for.

 

Yes please, new mount skins are terrible and completely ruin the game settings for me.

[Veprovina.4876]

> @"Ayumi Spender.1082" said:

> > @Veprovina.4876 said:

> > I'd like this as well but this won't happen because Anet wants you to see all the fancy skins and entice you to buy them. If you only saw the default mounts and gliders, everyone would be just fine with their own basic skin.

> >

> > So yeah... Dream on. :tongue:

>

> It doesn't entice me to want them as I don't like flashy things.

> I'm as people label as goth. I like plain, boring, decomposing stuff. Not stuff that blinds me.

 

Well you're not the target audience then, are you? Because as seen from the screenshots, there are people who like flashy stuff. Besides, that's not the point

 

> @Zeivu.3615 said:

> > @Veprovina.4876 said:

> > I'd like this as well but this won't happen because Anet wants you to see all the fancy skins and entice you to buy them. If you only saw the default mounts and gliders, everyone would be just fine with their own basic skin.

> >

> > So yeah... Dream on. :tongue:

>

> That is like saying using the standard placeholders for users will stop people from transmuting their armor. Default mounts and gliders won't stop people from wanting to customize their mounts and gliders for their own purposes. Previewing Mounts, outfits, armor combos and gliders in the UI that is currently available does that job well enough to create hype (or lack of if it's terrible) in the userbase without seeing them on another user. There is no reason not to have placeholders. The place holders do well on computers that cannot handle Gw2 on max settings. Since you probably can't tell, gw2 is far from optimized graphic wise. Allowing users to play the game they paid for is a smart business model.

 

Well stop for a bit and think about it. If players could only see their own armor and everyone else was a placeholder then no, it won't stop them transmuting their armor. But it would alienate the people who want to show off their character, and people would transmute their armor *less*. Which is a hit to the wallet to Anet. Look at events like Halloween just now. A lot of people wanted to "dress up" as something scary and Halloweeny, not necesarrily the lunatic armor, but i've seen a lot of people change their look for Halloween, not just for themselves, but to show to others and be a part of a group event and the "group fun".

 

Previewing armors and mounts is nowhere near enough to sell gems. Especially because, if everyone else is a placeholder character, you are one to everyone else. So you're only transmuting and buying skins for yourself.

 

Then, it completely erases one important aspect of skin sales... Envy. And that's actually what sells most skins because if people don't see something cool on others, they won't know it exists. It's not like the gem store is all up in your face when you're playing, you see a second of it when opening TP and switching to the sell tab and that's it, people don't extensively browse skins if they don't specifically want to. If no one saw a unique skin on others then there would be no incentive to search for skins cause most people would just play the game and not be aware skins exist. Everyone has the same armor and mounts, remember? :wink:

 

Also, what kind of a sentence is "SInce you probably can't tell... "? When did i ever indicate any type of information that would allow you to extrapolate that kind of conclusion. That i can't tell? Please get off your high horse. For your accurate information this time, for you to draw conclusions from; I run GW2 on a potato PC, i'm happy it it reaches 30-40 FPS in empty low effects areas, but mostly it plays at around 20 FPS in LA, or 25-35 FPS everywhere else. Don't you think i'd like the option to turn down the lazors?

 

As i said in my post. I'd like the option tu turn off the bling, but that's just not going to sell mount and character skins as much so pink permafrost mounts with red glow that leave green footprints while their character has a glider that takes up half of the screen is something we have to live with for now.

 

If there's an option to instead convert the special mount skins to a corresponding base mount colored with whatever that person uses, i'd be ok with that. It wouldn't make the game look dull because i wouldn't be seeing identical mounts everywhere, and i wouldn't have to look at permafrost griffons and bunnies.

[Irreverent.3594]

Good thing i finished all bounties.

 

 

Imagine bounty trains now...

in desert maps with over the top contrast visuals they have...

[Erasculio.2914]

> @Veprovina.4876 said:

> Well stop for a bit and think about it. If players could only see their own armor and everyone else was a placeholder then no, it won't stop them transmuting their armor. But it would alienate the people who want to show off their character, and people would transmute their armor *less*. Which is a hit to the wallet to Anet.

This is already in the game. You can already see only your own armor and everyone else as a placeholder. In fact, not only it hides everyone's armors, but also their facial appearance, hair, and etc.

 

If the economic impact were as big as you speculate it would be, this would lead to less sales of transmutation charges and make over kits. Which still see very strong sales. Even if only because new players don't really know about those options.

 

> @Veprovina.4876 said:

> Then, it completely erases one important aspect of skin sales... Envy.

 

That's a very poor generalization.

 

[Svartwolf.3729]

maybe.... just maybe.... you can set the ticket so it only display friend's mounts in your friend-list?

That way, people still have the incentive to show stuff to their friends, and is more acceptable if little timmy wants to show their shining toy if you know beforehand that timmy is a cool guy and you aren't forced to see every random stranger early christmas special making the game a galactic color fest.

[Dashiva.6149]

> @"Ayumi Spender.1082" said:

> > @"Changer the Elder.2948" said:

> > I do get the dreading feeling this won't happen as well, but I would, very, very much appreciate if it did.

> > We had about a month when we had nice, gorgeously designed and well-blended mounts in the world. Now?

> >

> > I bought the game because its design was grounded and down-to-earth (... or down-to-tyria, I don't know). Over years, it eroded away. First by wing skins, which went from a simple hologram to a giant set of flabby wings blocking half my screen, to gliders, which went from a parachute to a giant glowing neon-colored raven, to infusions, which people mix and match with no abandon, to now, giant neon fourlegged pidgeons blocking all of my screen in the middle of nowhere.

> >

> > There's really nothing that says "immersion" like a BDSM-armored kitten-stached giant norn in a bright pink top hat, infused with Aurora AND several ghostly infusions on top, Warbringer or White wings on their back. Except now the same norn has a giant neon-glowing beast to stuff into my screen.

> >

> > Case in point, this was literally the first thing I saw when I loaded not into LA, but into the Middle of Nowhere, Desert Riverlands, CA:

> > 

> >

> > I get different tastes and all. I don't mind people beaming themselves blind with bling if that's what they want. But this... this is just too much.

>

> Imagine this, but billion times more the eyesore.

> Now you have Lion's Arch.

 


 

 

[Changer the Elder.2948]

> @Svartwolf.3729 said:

> maybe.... just maybe.... you can set the ticket so it only display friend's mounts in your friend-list?

> That way, people still have the incentive to show stuff to their friends, and is more acceptable if little timmy wants to show their shining toy if you know beforehand that timmy is a cool guy and you aren't forced to see every random stranger early christmas special making the game a galactic color fest.

 

This. **Please.** Make this happen. I'm fine seeing my friends' legendaries, my friends' horrible infusions (... true, mostly because my friends don't have any) and my friends' mounts, so I can still play and roleplay with my guildies and pals without having to constantly toggle pink dummies on and off when swapping instances.

[ovinnik.9216]

Would the existence of checkboxes truly prevent anyone from purchasing their preferred variant of sparkles and bling? I think that to be discouraged, buyers would have to assume that a relatively large part of the playerbase makes use of the option to hide skins and the like, rather than a few disgruntled spoilsports. If they enjoy what the Gem Store offers, what reason have they to believe most others don't?

 

Granted, I don't truly expect cash shop features to ever be allowed to disappear from our fields of view. I'd be delighted, but I'm afraid that's not how any of this works.

[Veprovina.4876]

> @Erasculio.2914 said:

> > @Veprovina.4876 said:

> > Well stop for a bit and think about it. If players could only see their own armor and everyone else was a placeholder then no, it won't stop them transmuting their armor. But it would alienate the people who want to show off their character, and people would transmute their armor *less*. Which is a hit to the wallet to Anet.

> This is already in the game. You can already see only your own armor and everyone else as a placeholder. In fact, not only it hides everyone's armors, but also their facial appearance, hair, and etc.

>

> If the economic impact were as big as you speculate it would be, this would lead to less sales of transmutation charges and make over kits. Which still see very strong sales. Even if only because new players don't really know about those options.

>

> > @Veprovina.4876 said:

> > Then, it completely erases one important aspect of skin sales... Envy.

>

> That's a very poor generalization.

>

 

Yes but, how many people use that? Do you have any data? Statistics? Because neither you or i work for Anet and know how many people are actually using this.

Because as far as i know, that's a low quality graphics option, normal graphics show all, and usually in games, people don't want everything to look the same. Otherwise Anet would make no money on skins if everyone was ok with placeholders, yet here we are.

 

And envy is not a poor generalization because i never said it's the only reason why people buy skins, only that *this particular aspect of why people buy skins* dissapears when you see everyone as placeholders. Which is true. It's a standard marketing practice among a lot of companies, they won't call it that of course, but you can't deny that, if you see something that appeals to you, you want it. That's how advertising works, that's how anyone sells you clothes, image, various products, and in guild wars 2, it's how arena net sells skins. Not the only way, but a big part of it.

[Biff.5312]

This is a good idea. I've had situations where I literally can't see past people's vanity items. I like to see all the various customized looks on display when in the city, but during a group event that stuff just gets in the way.

[Biff.5312]

> @Rawr.9467 said:

> The thing is, if you can just standardise everyone's gliders and mounts you would be reducing some of the incentive to buy them. I'm sure many people get them because they want to be seen using them by other people. If everyone sees you with the standard skin what would be the point of buying the fancy one?

>

> Another way of looking at it is like this: If I have the money to buy a fancy car but people have the option of seeing my fancy car as a standard vehicle, would I still buy the fancy car? Why fork out the extra cash if nobody is going to see it?

>

> That's my line of thinking at least.

 

I seriously doubt that most people would opt to see the generic models. You'd still get to show off. But those who it DOES bother could filter it out.

[Erasculio.2914]

> @Veprovina.4876 said:

> Yes but, how many people use that? Do you have any data? Statistics? Because neither you or i work for Anet and know how many people are actually using this.

> Because as far as i know, that's a low quality graphics option, normal graphics show all, and usually in games, people don't want everything to look the same. Otherwise Anet would make no money on skins if everyone was ok with placeholders, yet here we are.

So if you're claiming few people use that option and thus it has no economic impact, then the idea from the OP here would likely be used by few people, and thus have little economic impact.

 

It's not a matter of low quality graphics option - it's a different setting from graphic quality. Hence how my graphics are setting to very high, with no player character being displayed properly other than mine.

 

And there's, of course, the matter of how you are claiming that ArenaNet would make no money from skins if everyone were ok with placeholders. That goes against your own statemente here...

 

> @Veprovina.4876 said:

> And envy is not a poor generalization because i never said it's the only reason why people buy skins, only that *this particular aspect of why people buy skins* dissapears when you see everyone as placeholders. Which is true. It's a standard marketing practice among a lot of companies, they won't call it that of course, but you can't deny that, if you see something that appeals to you, you want it. That's how advertising works, that's how anyone sells you clothes, image, various products, and in guild wars 2, it's how arena net sells skins. Not the only way, but a big part of it.

 

...Since you are saying this is "not the only way" ArenaNet sells skins, after just claiming that ArenaNet would make "no money" on skins with people using the placeholders.

 

The contradiction points that you are, simply, wrong.

 

The OP is asking ArenaNet to expand a functionality already in the game - replacing player characters' models by a placeholder - so it includes mounts and gliders. You have said yourself that few people use said functionality, and that seeing other players' skins isn't the only way ArenaNet sells skins. Therefore, by your own words, your argument against the OP's suggestion is void.

[Veprovina.4876]

> @Erasculio.2914 said:

> > @Veprovina.4876 said:

> > Yes but, how many people use that? Do you have any data? Statistics? Because neither you or i work for Anet and know how many people are actually using this.

> > Because as far as i know, that's a low quality graphics option, normal graphics show all, and usually in games, people don't want everything to look the same. Otherwise Anet would make no money on skins if everyone was ok with placeholders, yet here we are.

> So if you're claiming few people use that option and thus it has no economic impact, then the idea from the OP here would likely be used by few people, and thus have little economic impact.

>

> It's not a matter of low quality graphics option - it's a different setting from graphic quality. Hence how my graphics are setting to very high, with no player character being displayed properly other than mine.

>

> And there's, of course, the matter of how you are claiming that ArenaNet would make no money from skins if everyone were ok with placeholders. That goes against your own statemente here...

>

> > @Veprovina.4876 said:

> > And envy is not a poor generalization because i never said it's the only reason why people buy skins, only that *this particular aspect of why people buy skins* dissapears when you see everyone as placeholders. Which is true. It's a standard marketing practice among a lot of companies, they won't call it that of course, but you can't deny that, if you see something that appeals to you, you want it. That's how advertising works, that's how anyone sells you clothes, image, various products, and in guild wars 2, it's how arena net sells skins. Not the only way, but a big part of it.

>

> ...Since you are saying this is "not the only way" ArenaNet sells skins, after just claiming that ArenaNet would make "no money" on skins with people using the placeholders.

>

> The contradiction points that you are, simply, wrong.

>

> The OP is asking ArenaNet to expand a functionality already in the game - replacing player characters' models by a placeholder - so it includes mounts and gliders. You have said yourself that few people use said functionality, and that seeing other players' skins isn't the only way ArenaNet sells skins. Therefore, by your own words, your argument against the OP's suggestion is void.

 

Look, you are the one here that's generalizing here and you obviously didn't read what i wrote, so either read what i wrote in it's context, or stop extrapolating what fits your logic from my posts. And since you're generalizing what i said, of course it contradicts with each other. Do you want me to do the same with your posts? Cause i can probably string a few quotes from your posts and say how they generally don't make sense.

 

With that said, this conversation is over. You can feel like you "won" if it appeals to you, but what i wrote isn't exactly rocket science to understand, but if you only ever look at the entire generalization of the statement, you'll never understand the point someone is trying to make, and this conversation cannot go anywhere constructive like that. Good day.

[Erasculio.2914]

> @Veprovina.4876 said:

> With that said, this conversation is over. You can feel like you "won" if it appeals to you

 

So you're saying I'm generally correct? ;)

 

I understand your point - the feature the OP is asking for would reduce how players see each other, players seeing each other less would lead to less players being envious of each other, and less envious players would lead to less sales in the game store. The thing is, those are all pretty much horrible generalizations. There's the fact that a very similar feature is already in the game, and yet we still see a lot of outfits being sold (outfits that are hidden by said feature), which is a simple way of proving your argument to be invalid in this discussion. One could also point how players that actually know how to use this feature are likely those who have other ways of knowing about new skins than seeing other players with them.

 

More importantly, though, the idea that "envy" is such an incentive to people buying skins is really a horrible, horrible generalization. You can want something because you like how it looks, not because you're envious of someone else.

[Yasi.9065]

> @Veprovina.4876 said:

>[...]

> And envy is not a poor generalization because i never said it's the only reason why people buy skins, only that *this particular aspect of why people buy skins* dissapears when you see everyone as placeholders. Which is true. It's a standard marketing practice among a lot of companies, they won't call it that of course, but you can't deny that, if you see something that appeals to you, you want it. That's how advertising works, that's how anyone sells you clothes, image, various products, and in guild wars 2, it's how arena net sells skins. Not the only way, but a big part of it.

 

See, the thing is, such an option exists already for gemstore only items, namely instruments. I have player instruments usually muted, doesnt keep people from buying the instruments and playing them.

And Im not comparing apple and cheese with that even. Auditory, player instruments had as much of an impact as mountskins and some gliderskins do visually.

 

Also, I buy quite a lot of gemstore skins - mostly armors, weapons and gliders, and I did that knowing very well, that some or even most people couldnt see how stylish my character looked (I played quite a bit of PvP and WvW, where most have standard models due to less visual clutter). But who cares anyway. I customize my character for me. And if I want to show off a good look, I post a screenshot.

 

I dont run around, having to constantly shove my customization down others throats, far from it. So I really cant understand your point, and I honestly think its quite a minority point since in all my hours spent in gw2, I never met someone with that kind of... need for admiration.