Armor effects?

[F0rd]

For once, I'm not going to write paragraphs, and just ask a simple question:

Should armor be allowed to become large, spiky, and dark?

If so, should bulkier armor affect game play? How so?

[The Last Spartan]

Heavier armour = slow while wearing for the first time, gradually you become stronger and it's easier to us. Simple.:P

[Doomtrain]

Bulky heavy armor= More weight,slower speed(mount to),less dexterity,no swim
and thats all i think .
And the armor in teaser was cool it shouldn't be any more bulkier (well maybe a little)

[Jusik]

Armor should look cool but not be huge and disproportional. Bulky armor should slow you down and effect how you use magic

[Sorjak]

I don't think armor should have restrictions beside just how hard it would be to realistically wear, depending of course on your character's stats and skills.

Like they say in the faq, we'll be raising our stats while we raise our skills, so maybe a heavy armor skill would be linked to stamina gain, and so they would complement each other well, allowing someone who always wore full plate with spikes to do fairly well in it.

[F0rd]

Originally Posted by Sorjak

I don't think armor should have restrictions beside just how hard it would be to realistically wear, depending of course on your character's stats and skills.

Like they say in the faq, we'll be raising our stats while we raise our skills, so maybe a heavy armor skill would be linked to stamina gain, and so they would complement each other well, allowing someone who always wore full plate with spikes to do fairly well in it.

That's a good point Sorjak, I honestly haven't put much thought into what a skill based game would mean for simple things like wearing armor. If wearing heavier armor a lot raised your endurance, that could be ported to a universal mechanic, which is what I think quite a few people are already expecting with MO. If swinging a sword increases my strength and wearing heavy armor increases my endurance; if casting harder spells increased my intellect and learning new spells actually increased my wisdom; if shooting a bow or sprinting increased your perception and agility, respectively, this game could be something incredible.

I have a bad habit of taking good ideas and running them into the ground, but you get my point (and hopefully I understood yours).

Coupled with that, however, is another question: what should a high skill in heavy (plate) armors give you? Should it increase your defense, or should defense be static and the amount of stamina required to act in your armor be reduced.

[Sorjak]

You got my point well enough f0rd, and i expect you to, since you're one of the smarter people on here.

I think a high skill level in anything should be just like what it would be in reality... Meaning, you get more used to it, and thus know its intricacies and how to move around in it and such. In terms of the game, this would probably mean something like faster run speed with full plate, or more damage mitigation (since you'd be toughened up in the spots where you're most likely to get hit). This would be hard to implement, but there could be a lot of different branches in armor, and anything else. Like, i could be really comfortable in standard full human plate, but in full orcish plate, i'd have almost no skill. (but more than someone who has no plate skill whatsoever).

[F0rd]

Originally Posted by Sorjak

You got my point well enough f0rd, and i expect you to, since you're one of the smarter people on here.

I think a high skill level in anything should be just like what it would be in reality... Meaning, you get more used to it, and thus know its intricacies and how to move around in it and such. In terms of the game, this would probably mean something like faster run speed with full plate, or more damage mitigation (since you'd be toughened up in the spots where you're most likely to get hit). This would be hard to implement, but there could be a lot of different branches in armor, and anything else. Like, i could be really comfortable in standard full human plate, but in full orcish plate, i'd have almost no skill. (but more than someone who has no plate skill whatsoever).

Well, the defining factor of which armors work best for you could be as simple as your race. If I'm a human orc armor shouldn't fit well, though half-orc armor should fit me, a human, better sense a half-orc is half human. Humans and elves are also very similar in shape, so perhaps if there are elves, humans and elves have minimal "fitting" issues.

[Shinzon]

That brings another aspect; should armors be race specific or even gender specific? You are essentialy doubling and tripeling the items that are needed to be crafted that way...

[F0rd]

While I have no problem with armors being race specific, it's done in many games, though not that game, I do have a problem with the items being gender-specific just because of the ratio of males to females in most MMOs, though some manage to attract a large female crowd. A lack of females is fairly common in MMOs, regardless of how many G.I.R.L.s are playing female characters, and an under-representation of a certain gender could lead to a lack of equipment for that gender. Of course the fact that females are often treated more kindly than the men in MMOs means there may actually be too much female armor floating around for too cheap, and not enough male armor, as people try to impress all the lady-folk online by making them "1337 h4x" armor. It's all pure speculation, but an imbalance in armor/players would probably be less likely if you included crafting bonuses for racial armors in their respective races and made all armors unisex.

[Shinzon]

That is actualy so true; nearly for every MMO I have played, there is an obscene amount of "High quality" female armor avalalble, while the male avatars are beating eacother up for a simple loincloth...

[OMGPIE]

Heavy armor should make you heavier therefore making you slow and even make your mount slower from the weight as well as make your swimming ability go down. One thing this has led me to think about is, if you swim a lot in big metal plate armor will it rust?
Will armor be affected by environment like water and dirt etc? Would like to know if they decide to put weather into the game.

[ravage]

I hope we will have practical looking armor,not armor with shoulders bigger then the chest piece obscuring your view yet you can run and move freely with them on.

[Bulveigh]

I think a problem is, that the most people forgett how cool an armor without spikes and dragon skales on it can look. There are other ways to let them look cool.

http://www.clansas.de/images/paladin1.gif

And dont forget. When its possible to wear clothing over the armor, there are more and more ways to look really cool without spikes and dead squirrels on your shoulders.

i wanna look like this!
http://www2.fileplanet.com/images/11...3550ss_sm2.jpg

[ludde]

you dont want another shoulderpad online?! why?! shoulderpads make the character!

[Aryev]

I want my shoulder pad to be so big that my characters will become wider than they are taller. I want the shoulder pads to look so big you must always ask how the character can keep his balance while fighting. I want the shoulder pads to be so big that they clip through my head and eventually each other. I want my shoulder pads become bigger and glowier when they are more powerful to reflect the power status of my character. I want the glowing juices in my shoulderpads to be magical beer.

Oh wait... there is a game like that... nvm.

[Ravenwoods]

Spikes are overdone imo...so is the big and bulky...not my preference really. If it will be bulky then it needs to be heavy.

[G.I. Joe]

Originally Posted by Shinzon

That is actualy so true; nearly for every MMO I have played, there is an obscene amount of "High quality" female armor avalalble, while the male avatars are beating eacother up for a simple loincloth...

IMA get a camoflouge loin cloth and hide in bushes and kill horses all day and night!

[Doomtrain]

Originally Posted by G.I. Joe

IMA get a camoflouge loin cloth and hide in bushes and kill horses all day and night!

You really have one track mind dude , can't you give it a rest ??
Or it hit you to hard in that other thread?

[G.I. Joe]

*Jumps from bushes. kills dumbtrains mount. Jumps back in bushes and waits with a grin*

[Aireus]

The issue of the speed a character has being dependant on what type of armor is used is a rather complex problem, in my eyes.
What's been said is that a player who wears plate all of the time can get used to the weight and move about better and faster in it with time (to a certain extent of course), from being stronger and maybe a little more agile.
A player who uses cloth/leather all the time would subsequently have to be faster than ANY person wearing plate by that logical reasoning.

If you agree with the above points, here's the kicker.
A person who get's used to wearing heavy clothing and such, to an extent where the reflexes and movement are maybe at 90% of what they were before the weight was added (i.e. being naked/cloth would be 100% of speed and movement). If a player achieved a 90% movement/speed/agility rating when wearing heavy armor coupled with a big sword and a shield, then it would make sense that this player would have a rating well above 100% when they equip cloth/leather and use two light swords (for example).

Via that reasoning, this player would subsequently have more health (if that was a factor from gaining points in strength), be able to hit harder with any given weapon (as their strength would increase from wearing such armor) and actually be quicker than most others due to the fact that their bodies adjusted to the weight.
If the above isn't true, i.e. that a player would slowly adjust to the extra weight and gain extra strength and agility to be able to wield weapon and armor at a "close to normal" level, then it would mean that there would be very little incentive for players to wear heavy armor.

Might have gotten a bit blurry at the end, but I hope I got the point across.

[Sorjak]

I don't see the problem with being well above normal strength when someone with high heavy armor skill takes it off. Speed, not so much. He would be at nearly as good running speed with the armor on, but i don't see why he'd be that much faster with it off.

[Aireus]

As I see it, it's a consequence of having gotten used to heavy armor.
It's the same principal as lifting weights to gain strength and running to gain extra stamina, IRL of course.
As a consequence of having less weight on when wearing leather (in comparison with players who've have always worn leather) they should feel both lighter and quicker. That might just be my wicked reasoning though.

I'm only talking about personal experience from having used weights sometimes when running. I do notice a small temporary increase when having trained with light weights on my wrists and feet, and I know that I'm just that little bit faster than I was before. The body feels lighter, and thus I might be able to move a little faster.

Sure enough, that increase would be rather small I guess, even for a longer term, but I still thinks that the point holds true.