Why do all book back pieces look the same?

[Ashantara.8731]

They have different inventory icons, but once equipped, they all look the same:

 

* [Koss on Koss](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/3/3b/Koss_on_Koss.jpg "Koss on Koss")

* There with Yakkington: A Traveler's Tale

* Book of Secrets

* Tome of Rubicon

* Symon's History of Ascalon

* etc.

 

The only books that don't are the Mad King ones (which, then again, all share the same skin as well among themselves, only in different colors).

 

How about some variety? How about making those legendary tomes actually look like on their beautifully designed item images?

[notebene.3190]

The last one in the Mad King series is a translucent looking book. I have a character that uses that and some mist (?) weapons and a ghost cat. Looks great. At least I think I got that book in the last MK collection that was added? Maybe it came from some place else?

 

Though that is only one example, so you have s point. Just wasn’t sure you knew of the inviso-book. ?

 

A talking book would be cool. Like whatever that robot voice thing is that some people have (“where were you hiding that?).

[Ashantara.8731]

> @"notebene.3190" said:

> The last one in the Mad King series is a translucent looking book.

 

I only mentioned the MK's back items so that people won't start, "But the Mad King books look different than the item you posted!"

 

They are not the point of this topic.

 

> A talking book would be cool.

 

Also not what this thread is about. I simply wish to have the actual skins for those books (as seen in their icon images) implemented in the game instead of the generic same one for all of them:

* Koss on Koss

* There with Yakkington: A Traveler's Tale

* Book of Secrets

* Tome of Rubicon

* Symon's History of Ascalon

* etc.

[zenleto.6179]

I've never tried to get these for this very reason. In this Game of Skins its almost mind-boggling that they all look the same. Why, Anet, why?

[Chay.7852]

> @"zenleto.6179" said:

> I've never tried to get these for this very reason. In this Game of Skins its almost mind-boggling that they all look the same. Why, Anet, why?

 

This and then their color... Why can't they be for example black? I don't have any character where they would fit.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

The OP forgets that when the game launched, there were next to no back item skins at all. Being able to get a book or quiver was huge. Backs were treated more as trinkets than as armor, as far as skins go. (Likewise, _Sam_ has an awesome icon, but cannot be seen in game.)

 

So think of _Koss on Koss_ and _Tome of Rubicon_ as a single back item with selectable stats.

 

Over the years, ANet's added a lot of new back skins, but they have never gone back and retrofitted old skins just for the sake of consistency with the icon (icons being trivial to design relative to rendering a skin for us in the open world).

 

tl;dr they look the same because every back piece looked the same when they were added

[Danikat.8537]

It would be nice if they could be updated to have different skins, based on the icons. I'm not sure how much work it would be for Anet to do that, but I know I'd be much more likely to get one/some if there were more appearances to choose from.

[Jojo.6140]

Last time i was looking through the back-items in the wardrobe i was wondering why the same book skin has different entries. I could understand if all those items unlocked the same skin, but they have different unlocks. A bit variation would be nice, at least a few different colors of the same book shouldnt be too hard to realize.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

> It would be nice if they could be updated to have different skins, based on the icons. I'm not sure how much work it would be for Anet to do that, but I know I'd be much more likely to get one/some if there were more appearances to choose from.

 

I thought of that after reading the original post and then I realized: I think what we already get is a lot more interesting. Since the original launch (when we hardly got any back skins), ANet's been releasing new ones regularly. We have the god-themed ones from Siren's Landing, Luminates & Order packs from HoT, banners from PoF and Kourna.

 

I might not love all the designs (then again, probably no one loves even most). What I like is that there are lots of kinds that get released. And I like that better than worrying about a couple of skins from the ancient past of the game that happen to not match their icons.

 

 

[Ashantara.8731]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> The OP forgets that when the game launched, there were next to no back item skins at all. Being able to get a book or quiver was huge. Backs were treated more as trinkets than as armor, as far as skins go. (Likewise, _Sam_ has an awesome icon, but cannot be seen in game.)

 

I am not forgetting about it, I'd just like to see this corrected, since it's 2018 and no longer 2012. ;) I'd craft all those items only to be able to use their skin. :)