Gearing up. Looks or stats?
Posted by Jen
Reading Sirg’s post and looking at the GM’s less than impressive clothes, I remembered my own beautiful red-and-white robe. And then I remembered the awful truth: last night I got a better drop… which looks so ugly.
Let’s compare.
First, the Robe of Power, lovingly crafted by myself.
55 Armor
+12 Intellect
+8 Spirit
Requires Level 33
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 14.
Then there’s the Silksand Tunic.
58 Armor
+5 Spirit
+16 Intellect
Requires Level 39
Can you see the problem here? I like that extra intellect on the tunic, but oh my God it’s ugly! I look like a naked draenei, everything is brownish and you can see that space goats weren’t made to ride a tiger because their posture is awkward when mounted (the robe hides that pretty well).
I never had this problem on my warrior. All plate gear is more of less the same, no pretty colors or patterns or anything. But it looks there’s more issues with playing a caster than I imagined…
So, how important should fashion be in-game? It’s clear the developers thought about it, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many pointless items like different colored shirts or a wedding dress. But should it influence gearing or not? Is that 0.2% extra stat worth it or not?
So far, my answer is “no, it isn’t”. I’m sticking with the robe. I have to look at my mage all day and I’d rather see something I like.
(And no, it’s not a girly thing, I have male guildies who agree with me.)
September 5th, 2008 at 8:35 am
I have the usual clown clothes for grinding and leveling, but I also have several fancy outfits in the bank which make my char stand out. The latest addition is my Haliscan set + Sombrero.
At the moment I’m farming lvl 60 instances for my dungeon 1(2) set with 2 chars, because it looks so awsome.
September 5th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Hm, I hadn’t thought of that… but I want my grinding clothes to be pretty too. Or at least not brown and ugly.
Btw, thanks for the tip on the Haliscan, I’m going to get the pattern and get rich selling mariachi clothes!
September 5th, 2008 at 10:59 am
even if my gear is mismatched i don`t care since i`m in bear or cat form all the time.
September 6th, 2008 at 1:35 am
2nd one looks nicer if you ask me … it takes advantage of the draenei looks. The dress is just covering everything and makes you look “10 years” older :D
Anyway, while leveling is no big deal to sacrifice stats for fashion … but once you get to 70 and start doing raids and heroics, dont even think about it.
September 6th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Luckily, lvl 70 stuff looks better… Although I’ve seen some dark blue robes that are ugly, but I think they were warlock gear.
September 8th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Since all the clothes at lvls 1-60 are damn ugly, I only level at night, avoiding the looks/stats choice.
My worst experience with this was when I leveled my warlock and had a pink robe, green shoulders, blue gloves and some god-awful yellow staff on me. Made me look like a fucking parrot rather than a fearsome bringer of death and all things outworldly :)
September 9th, 2008 at 12:07 am
My warrior looked pretty… colorful too back in the day. The guy who made the tabard asked me how I wanted it and I said “pink and with a cat”… so they took me seriously.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Spell power > int for what stats you get there, imo. :D So keep the robe anyway. :p
September 18th, 2008 at 12:20 am
I did anyway :P Screw ugly gear.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Well, the robe of power is better, actually. So you should be using it anyway. The 4 int is not worth the spell damage, especially while leveling, where you can drink whenever you need to and have mana gems, etc.
Spell damage > Int.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Well you can tell I’m a noob mage, yeah… But those certain two items were just an excuse for this fashion problem :)
October 16th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Robe of Power is better than Silksand Tunic. 14 spell damage is a lot better than 4 int. You get about 11 more damage to your frostbolts from 14 spell damage (~80% that is) whereas int does not give you any damage, it just gives you a bit more mana and a tinier bit more spell crit.
October 16th, 2008 at 11:40 am
*sigh* I knew this was going to happen. Yes, I’m a noob, but the *items* weren’t the point. I should replace the tunic with the better & still ugly chest I have now so that people can get the point.
(But I wouldn’t mind a detailed explanation about why my spec is bad and what I should go with :D)
October 28th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Nym, I think you can theorycraft even your birthday cake. 2% syrup means 0.4% spellp.. oh wait