The balance between vanity items and Planetside's signature visual style

[LZachariah]

This will be a very tricky line to walk, but I believe that the SOE artists can manage it. However, I'm bringing it up for discussion (and so that the topic gets addressed).

One thing that I loved about Planetside was the VERY homogeneous (but still diverse) art style of each faction. Not only could you easily recognize which faction a person was, each faction had distinct threads of style that echoed from one unit type to the next; Terrans were almost classical and warrior-like, NC were industrial and almost minimalist, and the Vanu were sleek and alien.

With the introduction of vanity items for sale, I have a slight worry that the factions might be blurred somewhat. What I do NOT wish to happen would be the game degenerating into Global Agenda, which has a marvelous art style, but is COMPLETELY heterogeneous; there is NOTHING unifying units with the most basic of exceptions (Robotics agents each have a servo-arm, Assault agents each wear heavy armor, etc). For instance, will our color palettes be restricted to certain factions? I definitely hope so; Vanu will be restricted to Purples/Blues/Blacks, NC will be restricted to Greys/Urban Camo/Blues/Yellows, and Terrans be restricted to Reds/Greys/Blacks, etc. Even "if" the basic model of a character were to remain within the standard color palette, a mostly-purple Vanu with bright green gloves and boots would start taking dangerous steps toward Global Agenda.

Conversely, if the SOE art team pulls this off, and gives us variety while still absolutely capturing the visual style of each faction, they will make eleventy-hojillion dollars on vanity items, and I will be RIGHT there, outfitting my Special Ops combat demolition soldier exactly how I want him. The image of the NC infantrywoman on this new GameInformer article gives me hope; the surgical mask and the helmet look fantastic, and are absolutely in keeping with the NC style.

I think I have conveyed my concerns pretty well; vanity items, if done poorly, could disrupt the visual cohesiveness of the three individual factions, but if done right, it would be absolutely amazing.

Thoughts?

~Zachariah

[Crator]

Good points. I agree totally. You gave me an idea too. What if they offered high priced vanity items that could only be used by someone who's gone far into the cloakers cert tree that would allow them to disguise themselves as the other empire. There would need to be ways that other certs give the ability to figure out they are from the other empire but this would be cool for espionage!

[NCLynx]

I would assume there will be color restrictions as in "What character are you buying this for?" so when it appears in the inventory of the character you bought it for it'll be the colors it needs to be (faction colors).

But there's also a lot of items that could be neutral but still not ruin the game. The earpiece, beret, hat, and sunglasses were awesome in the first one and it never once took away who was who.

[Death2All]

I agree with this completely. Vanity items should fit within the style of the game.

Global Agenda was a good example. Some of their vanity items include a giant dinosaur hat. It really diminished any seriousness of the game when you see a whole team of dinosaurs attacking you.

I don't want any retarded, over the top hats or anything that takes away the seriousness of the game. If you want ridiculous hats then you can play TF2. But please stay the fuck away from my game.

[LZachariah]

I definitely agree with alot of comments on here. I don't want silliness in Planetside; it fits very well with WoW or League of Legends (which can blend silliness and awesomeness) but Planetside is serious and it is FANTASTIC. If they must add funny little quirks (like Christmas hats during holiday time), please give us the option to toggle these features to invisible.

[DOUBLEXBAUGH]

Only things I've seen them give examples of (again examples, NOT what they are/will do) is reskins for weapons, and putting outfit emblem/tags on the side of your vehicle. Nothing has been said about changing colors/shape of armor/vehicles... yet.

[Goku]

Originally Posted by DeeTwoEh

I agree with this completely. Vanity items should fit within the style of the game.

Global Agenda was a good example. Some of their vanity items include a giant dinosaur hat. It really diminished any seriousness of the game when you see a whole team of dinosaurs attacking you.

I don't want any retarded, over the top hats or anything that takes away the seriousness of the game. If you want ridiculous hats then you can play TF2. But please stay the fuck away from my game.

This! Please no fire work/rainbow hats in PS2.

[Traak]

Yeah, for some, there is no occasion where silliness is not welcome. I am not one of those. It's like wearing a clown suit into combat... I mean, your own guys might want to shoot you in Planetside if you showed up looking like Bozo the Clown.

[Scow2]

But... Green (Or at least teal) is one of the colors of the Vanu Sovereignty...

[Brusi]

i like how GA limited the use of halween items to the month of haloween (mostly)