I want rare/unique Armor drops. More Variety!

Even with 20+ armor designs for most classes, it feels like I've seen every armor design a million times before. Sure, each campaign adds a few more, but it is never enough for me to go "ooh, what is that" more than once or twice.

It never feels like your armor is rare or special; you always feel like just another ranger (or whatever). In other games, rare armor drops from enemies, but the crafting mechanic in GW prevents this. There is already a vastly greater number of weapon appearances than armor, and it seems ridiculous that making your character look unique lies mainly in his weaponry, not his armor (weaponry which isn't even displayed in town).

What I suggest is something that ANet seems to already have paved the way for: unique rare insignias. Insignias that apply not only their bonus but also magically change the appearance of the armor they are placed on. This adds the chance to find super-rare unique "armor" via drops without having tradable armor and offsetting the armor crafting mechanic. Even the bonuses from the insignas could be special and not just the standard ones. I think we would all enjoy this added dimension of random drops.

As for what appearances they would provide, perhaps there should be some class-specific and some cross-class unique insignias, just like regular insignias. For once your monk wouldn't have to look like a generic monk, it could have some cool looking unique armor appearance that any class could have. Also, perhaps applying these insignias to prestige armor would provide an enchanced version of the unique appearance. Maybe tiered appearances for the armor they're placed on, standard, 15k, or >15k. This would give someone who payed for Vabbian or Fissure armor a reason to upgrade the appearance those already very prestigious sets.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but I just think this is a fantastic idea. It can't be that ANet doesn't want to do all the art, because they're already pumping out tons of weapon designs. You know you'd be stoked if you found a super-rare insignia that will ensure that you will truly look unique when running around Lion's Arch.

I like the idea of universal armors, as long as max AL doesn't change per profession.....does change?

Ergh, Casters don't get more armor by wearing it, and Warriors don't get less, etc.

There was a thread or two on green armor drops, quite flooded with suggestions and different systems for putting it into effect, do a search for green armor maybe, i'm do lazy to find them atm.

But the special unique insignia for changing appearance is, i believe, a unique idea.

/sign on the rough idea so far, but needs much work before I get enthused about it. As long as it doesn't throw PvP into imbalance(differing stats or higher stats..)

/notsigned

-for the appearance part
I think we have enough variety with more skins every campaign; too many and the elitism will get out of hand.

/notsigned
wgtjhjtyjtj

"OMGZ NUBZ I GOTS TEH UPGRADED FOW SO I PWN JOO GTFO!!111one+shft!11"

No thank you.

/notsigned

I can't believe you guys don't want more variety. Nobody is complaining about hundreds of weapon skins.

I'm not too certain about armor drops ... but it would be nice to have more variety of armor art for non-core professions (A, Rt, D, and P). I think it would be quite nice to see Seitung Armor for a Paragon, or maybe Sunspear Armor for Ritualist. Who knows! I just think there should be more options for the non-core professions.

it's nice to have unique or rare armor in this game.. (gw only have obsidian armor so far...)
but armor drops? noo......!!!!

just more variety of armor will do...

/notsigned
I know what you mean about the armor being the same. That's the player's fault, nothing more. Every warrior I see has Kuzick armor or 15k NF endgame. Players gravate towards the "l33t" looking armor. I'm happy looking unique and different from everybody else.

Try mixing armor it makes things alot more intrsting

/signed - more choice and variety is good in MMOs.

No. Consider The Following:

1 Set of Obsidian Armor
5 Vials Of Black Dye
5 of the most expensive "customize" insignia
Tormented weapon set

I don't want to see that giant spikey glowey dark monstrosity running around town screaming "I PWN YOU ALL!"

/notsigned

Someone explain to me the reason for this resistance to a rare armor drops idea? I could understand the need to preserve the mechanic of armor crafting and preventing low-level chars from having access to buying max armor in LA or wherever, but that isn't an issue here. These unique insignia drops wouldn't be the armor, they would just modify its appearance. They would still have to get to Drok's (or the equivalent) to get max armor.

I don't get the disagreement here. More armor variety is better, I think nearly everyone will agree. This is just an additional way to get those new armor appearances. Maybe it SHOULDN'T have an upgraded appearance for prestige armor sets, so FoW armor would still be as 1337 as armor comes.

When i read the thread title i thort you meant unique green armor drops which contain Green MEGA Runes lol. which imo would rock ( but aint gonna happen )

but more variety is need as far as armor goes, being an armor collector of sorts i love getting new armors so this imo would be sweet. However just more variety of craftable armors would suffice.

So /half-signed here