[Suggestion] Improve the Item Preview Window

[Erasculio.2914]

The item preview window is a great opportunity for ArenaNet. It's a way to entice players to get new item skins, be it by buying them from the Gem Store (which means direct profit for ArenaNet), or by playing the game (in which ArenaNet also gains, by having more people active while they try to get the items they want).

 

With that in mind, let's take a look at the item preview window...

 


 

:s :s :s

 

There's **a lot** of room for improvement there. So here are some suggestions:

 

1. **Increase the size of the window**. As you can see above in my example (a Charr previewing a greatsword), it's simply too small. It could be far larger than it is today so we can fully see our characters and whatever weapon they are holding.

 

2. **Give us full dye control**. Right now, it's a very big pain to preview dyes: we have to right click the dyes, from inventory (but really, who has a lot of dye vials in the inventory?), or from the Trading Post, and then click on "preview". But we cannot easily select which channel we want to preview the dyes in, nor can we preview different dyes for each armor piece. I suggest retooling this entire interface and just giving us the same interface we use when dying our armor:

 


 

3. **Allow us to preview weapons in both hands**. Right now, one handed weapons can only be previewed one at a time, and weapons that can be used in both hand may only be previewed in the main hand. I suggest improving this so we can equipe two one handed weapons at the same time; and, when we click on a weapon, allow us to choose the option "Preview in the Off Hand" when applicable, or at least allow us to click and drag a weapon skin to the off hand slot.

 

4. **Change the background color**. The weird brow to black background may work for other menus (I'm not really fond of it, but whatever), but it's too strong for the item preview window. Give us a more neutral, lighter and cleaner background.

 

5. **Move the Wardrobe to the Hero pannel**. Again, we **want** players to browse the wardrobe - it's both a catalog of the Gem Store and a way for players to set new goals for themselves. Allowing the wardrobe to be accessed from anywhere, as opposed to just the crafting stations, would be good for both the players and for ArenaNet.

 

6. **Add a link to the Gem Store** from the item preview window. For outfits, ideally we would be able to buy the outfits directly from the preview window, but for everything else, there should be a way to open the Gem Store. Add a link close to the "Clear Preview" prompt.

 

What do you think? Any other suggestion?