I'd like to help provide constructive feedback to what I believe is one of the most overlooked issues with Destiny 2 - Armor aesthetics. Hopefully I can provide some insight to the 3D artists and designers as I highlight precisely what the issues are as I see them.
Throughout Destiny 2's lifetime, many fans (including community leaders/content creators) have at some point taken issue with the armor selection in Destiny 2 in different ways. However, when comparing these issues to the bigger picture, they become complaints that are often overlooked or regarded as less important compared to, say, endgame activities. But the urgency of these issues shouldn't negate them from Bungie's improvements list. This is a collective issue, with many smaller points that contribute, such as:
- The lack of unique, aesthetically-pleasing looking armor
- The underwhelming designs and themes
- The lack of variety in armor sizes (i.e Titan/Hunter Shoulders)
- The blurred line between male/female Guardians
- Dull and limited color variety in shaders
Let's expand:
[Variety] People often feel disappointed by most (not all) of the designs they come across. After a while, armor has started to look quite frankly generic and underwhelming. Guardians don't stand out as uniquely as they did in Destiny 1, I personally never stop and look at specific players in the Tower anymore because nothing catches the eye. I hardly ever see another player and think 'I wish my Guardian looked like that'. Ornaments aren't the answer as they only alter existing designs, players crave new ones altogether.
[Themes] This has been somewhat achieved in Destiny 2, but in no way to its fullest extent; there's so much potential here. There aren't enough uniquely looking sets of armor that greatly differ from others. Re-skinning Raid armor throws massive opportunities for themes away. Themes regarding genre, world history & cultures is massively more appealing. Quick theme examples off the top of my mind include: Demonic/Dark magic, Racing (Like SRL), Wizardry/Witches, Fallen-inspired, Renaissance, Sci-Fi/High-Tech, Celtic, Barbaric/Brutish, Royal/Lavish. It only takes a quick internet search of fan-made armor design concepts to find appealing, truly unique looking designs.
[Sizes] There's a lack of small/medium/large sized sets of armor. This causes a lack of variety on offer to the player. As a Titan, I feel very frustrated by imposed restrictions on small/light gear. For example, I love the small-sized Lost Pacific Greaves, but I struggle to find small-sized Chest & Leg armor I like the look of to match the arms- This creates an imbalance. This is very noticeable on all classes in fact, where you'll see top-heavy or bottom-heavy Guardians. It looks bad, but more importantly, it frustrates creativity. Want to equip this nice, small-looking Chest piece? Too bad, the rest of your big, bulky armor doesn't compliment it. Destiny 1's vast amount of small/medium/large armor sizes allowed for this mix-and-match creativity that Guardians are looking for. Undo the creative restrictions of armor sizes you have imposed on yourselves and give players the variety they'd like. Small Titan shoulders or large ones, let the player decide. Don't force every new set of armor you create to be the same size as everything else, it's incredibly restrictive. Design/Create something on what looks aesthetically pleasing, not what plays by the rules.
[Imbalance] This leads on from the last point. Very often you'll see Guardians with top-heavy or bottom-heavy armor designs and it looks very, very odd (Titans need to stop skipping leg day). Why does this happen? Two reasons: Because players enjoy mix-and-matching armor, and because Exotics are fixed designs that can't be scaled up or down. How can this be corrected? Ideally, by giving us the option to manually adjust the scale of our armor, but I know that's a big ask. It could therefore also be corrected by simply giving players more variety in small/medium/large-sized armor. As an artist, I can't help but see body/muscle proportions of Hunters and Titans also causing these issues.
[Gender] The line between Males and Females in Destiny 2 (Unlike D1) has become blurred, and often I find myself struggling at a first glance to determine whether or not the Guardian standing in front of me is a male or a female. I don't think this was intentional by the designers, but it's a major problem now. Male Hunters often look too scrawny, and female Titans often look too masculine. The cause is armor variation, however I also believe the body/muscle proportions are to blame as well. You can't get that sleek, slim-looking Titan from Destiny 1, because the default body-sizes of males and females can't be altered. Players shouldn't have to feel like they need to create a male or female equivalent because they don't like the size of their Guardian. I've seen so many times people admit they created a female Titan because they dislike the size of the default male. Personally, I dislike the way my female Titan is left to feel masculine/mannish, whereas in D1 she was small but uncompromising. Personality and uniqueness comes into play here, because we all want our Guardians to be individuals with their own unique tones and stories. I don't know how else to fix this other than artificially altering the body sizes of Guardians via equipped armor, because you never gave us the option to change the default body/muscle proportions in the creation screen (September DLC, please?). Often overlooked here is also the way our Guardians pose in the Guardian/Equipment screen. Give us the option to change the way our Guardians present themselves - Standing to attention, looking intimidating, inspecting their weapon etc. But it's important to note that you don't need to sexualize something to determine gender, you just have to make them look more aesthetically pleasing. Give us that diversity between genders, and let us choose if we want our male/female Guardian to look masculine or feminine, dominant or sleek.
[Shaders] What's a badass-looking set of armor without the appropriate shaders to truly make your Guardian stand out from the rest? Shader colour variety is incredibly limited when you want them to contain certain characteristics. Light, bright, dark or dull - These should all be attainable for every colour of the spectrum. How to correct this? Just double down. Don't give us 6 new Legendary shaders in a seasonal event, give us 12!
Hopefully this breakdown can make it clearer to the team(s) responsible which areas are in need of improvement. We fully value your contributions and hard work as you continue to work through the areas of Destiny 2 we take issue with and want to help all we can.
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Bump for later. Sounds like a good idea though.