Which is more important - armor appearance or stats?

for pvp : stats and stats only

for pve : both, although i usually go for stats before i go for looks (therefor, fissure armor is cool cause you can blend stats without looking like some warrior who bought his armor on a scrapyard )

I usually mix armor, to grab stats from one set and stats from another.
I just make sure I dont look like a goof ball doing it though.

(God I spend alot of money on dye)

My playstyle - 95% PvE 5% PvP
Factors in my choice - 60% looks 40% stats

Depends how vital the stats are to running a build.

I can't imagine less than 26-27 energy on most of my warrior builds. So I always go glads.

On the other hand, -2 energy doesn't make much difference on my mesmer so I wear the rogue boots there becuase I like the look.

This is true for both PvE and PvP.

By the time you get to Droknars, all your armor should have the same stats (AL60+) anyway.

After that, looks and usability come into play.

Of course, a pumpkin head looks great but is usless, so... it'll get worn for the hell of it, but, I will swap that out just before the first battle of the quest/mission or upon entering an arena.

And for some reason, my chars all have 2-3 sets of armor...

Weapons on the other hand, I'd go for stats over looks and customising weapons to look good and have the right stats.

Since it depends on what I am playing. . .

PvE: I will choose the armor I like the looks of. Since I can get (almost) any armor appearance with max armor levels, this matters a much smaller amount than people think. Sure, the collectors armor my ranger sometimes uses is not as good stat-wise as a droks armor set (less energy than druids, no extra armor against a specific element) but it is, in the end, PvE. I do not need to squeeze every ounce of power out of my character then.

PvP: Stats, hands down. If I am spending time admiring my character, I am not doing my job. I'll take whatever provides the best combination of armor, no matter what it looks like.

I am sorry PvE is so challenging for you that you need to kick those all-knights armor people In PvP, all-knights is the equivalent of a mending+watchful spirit warrior (read: useless) but if said warrior does his job in PvE, why should I kick him?

I have never said that people CAN'T argue about it.
All I'm saying is that it's pointless. What will you get out of it? Free pepsi and cola taste.

ok... lets say you like ranger pre searing armor, go into underworld with it. JUST ONE TIME DO IT, see if you still like the looks over stats

Why the heck is there even debate over this?

Folks, there's a reason why soldiers have dress uniforms.

I say both appearance and stats. Though I think the scar patterns look pretty damned cool (although some of the armor looks cool as well) so it's a matter of prefrence... which you should keep in mind if you favor appearance.

One of the downfalls of having limited armor styles is not being able to customise for vanity purposes. cough......

Honestly in GW I can't really see the merit of some of the armor/weapons over another....so yes whichever I like staring at more I'll wear.

..and your point is what? This ain't the military son...if I want my Necro to look hot, dammit she'll look hot.
But to answer the question, why not debate it? What the heck else is there to do /sarcasm

Of course I am not going to wear pre-sear armor of anytype during battle...duh. I'm not so into looks I lose common sense. I'm talking stats regarding it's plus or minuses. Thing's like energy, what type of damage it is resistant to, damage recieved & so on. Not about it's AC. And just for your information....I wore desert armor long after I completed the game. It was 10 AC less than Droknar's armor but yet I wore it anyway. I was just more careful that's all.

I try to squeeze as much energy out of the armors, so I'm stuck with the ugly over-exposed armors.

Yep, this is my gripe with the armours exactly (I am talking about female armours here, but some of this is true for male armours as well). For some reason, most of the +energy armours are rather scantly and often not especially nice.

Monks: tattoos (with some very unflattering underwear), same for 15K.
Necro's: tattoos (with kinky underwear, not all that stylish). Same for 15K.
Mesmers: A dress that looks like a nighty or something. Same for 15K.
Ranger: A lambada dancers bikini or something when it comes to the 15K.
Warrior: Gladiators armour, the 15K especially (not ugly though).

This is a great pitty, as I play pvp mostly (and, trust me, extra energy is important in PvP) but do care about how I look (I admit to being shallow).

and also the pre-sear armor looks kinda crappy anyway

my warrior wears full Knights armour, my monk wears full Saintly armour. For all my PvE characters i go for looks.

the way i see it is that i have a choice. My character can be more prone to dying in missions and quests, or my character can be more prone to being deleted because i just hate their look.

I'd prefer to stop them from being deleted personally.

PvP chars though? stats all the way

With the 15K armor Rangers can finally get some outerwear that looks as good as it plays. I was wearing Druid armor for the stats but felt pretty silly having plants tied all over me.
And yes, I choose my car based on looks.

I think what would be best is to have a plethora of armors accessible to players, and then we just buy the stat upgrades (like runes). That'd be scandalous!

Like FoW armour actually does...

Usually I wear 15k rogue top, FoW enchanter skirt, Virtuoso boots, enchanter gloves (in summer settings like Kryta, Desert).
Some extra energy, bonus from the virtuoso, most armour where I get hit most and .. by chance it's the prettiest looking combination, what a coincidence!

I would never walk around in that tasteless tattoo stuff and underwear. Yes, I'm mainly PvE and I have to say: cooperation and a decent skillset really more than make up for that 5% more or less damage.

Fortunately, I'm PvE, but also interested in maximizing stats. But I have to admit: when I have to choose, I'll err on the side of looks. For example:

Female Ranger: I liked the Druid's armor, but I missed the skirt from my early Ascalon look. Bought the leather leggings, but didn't like that either. Have now switched to the Studded Leather leggings and like them much better. Didn't seem like much of a sacrifice (only 1 point of energy).

Male War: Made him just to farm. Bought ugly, ugly, Drok's Glads and Knights boots. Even though I never used him other than farming, I just couldn't stand it and had to pony up for the 15K Glads (setting my farming back a bit). Although from the back, he still looks like he's wearing a bra.. (I still don't know why didn't I just go with a female char -- just felt like the male character fit the big, dumb fighter mold a bit better <j/k>)

Male monk: Seems like everyone likes to make pale, microscopic female monks, so I went dark-skinned male just to be different. Bought him tats, but I got so tired of watching him run around in a diaper that I had to buy him wanderer pants. Like my ranger, I felt like it was worth the 2 energy it cost to avoid being constantly flashed.

Female Mesmer: This one was a little different. I decided very early that Doyle would have Fissure Armor. Why? Purely cosmetic - no status or desire to mix and match. If 1.5K looked like fissure, I would saved myself a million plus gold. I don't know how much of my stats I would have been willing to sacrifice, but of course, I didn't have to. But I'm sure I would've been willing to.

Female Necro (new char): Going all collectors here except, once again, I really prefer a skirt/dress instead of pants, so I'll probably go cultist leggings. Collectors dyes differently from other sets, so I'd mix and match even more if it didn't look strange. I think this might be the biggest sacrifice of stats, so I'll have to see how it goes as I get further into the game (she's only at Nolani now).

@ Siren Danica : Thanks so much for that info! My necro will file this away for future reference.

Stats, then looks.

If there are two armors that are the same armor rating, then looks comes into play. However, I won't wear (for example)the coolest 59 when I can have the 80/85. No matter how good it may look. Same with any profession.

Appearance without a doubt, to within reasonable limits. For me anyway. This is also a PvE orientation. PvP I'd prefer to be best outfitted to serve a particular build with precisely that which best supports it. Period. PvE is all about vanity lol.

Granted, I make some logical choices that might sometimes endanger style. I prefer Pavia in Gladiators but toss on the Ascalon Helm for DR, or sometimes Knight gauntlets. Funny though, the Ascalon Helm is also what I would choose for looks sans stats with Gladiator armor anyway.

Monks though I have to agree with what somone else said. Stats might say go with tatoos but I really dont like that look. I instead chose a mix of things with Wanderer's arms and legs. I'm missing a few points of energy but far happier with the look.

Hmm. Actually, all about style. Lol. I am so shallow.

Well, is caring about how you look really more shallow than caring about having one stat one or two points higher?

On a random and completely unrealated note, I think we need 15k Starter armor.


If I'm one of those people chilling in the back, then I'd go for style. My necromancer does't like to be smited, but at least he dies in style.

STATS FIRST!!!
If you have too much money, keep it to create a new character and get him good weaps at the beginning... And why spending 15k for a piece that got the same armor level than a 1.5k one? Useless in my opinion... It's true some look good, but is it really worth it? I may consider buying it if it had an armor bonus...

Female Ranger - where do you get the studded leggings, and what stats?

Male Monk - flashed.

Female Mesmer - got any screenshots? sounds hot.

Female Necro - yes, agree that skirt is hotter than the pant-style leggings. The full collector's set looks like a female business suit - it's elegant and sexy, but maybe not flashy enough for the red carpet until you swap the pants for a skirt. Heels would be nice too, like the female eles wear.

dfscott: np on the info - I'll refer to it myself when I get my second female necro to the desert.

For my PvE characters, I went completely with the looks (PvE is too easy to make me want to stare at an armor I don't like). I picked the type of 15k armor & dye mix that I thought looked best on them, no other considerations involved. The only exception could be the gladiator's for warrior, because the energy bonus really makes a difference. However it also obliges to buy the 15k set, since the plain one is extremely ugly (especially on males).

For PvP of course it's just stats - you don't have time to admire your armor much in tombs anyway. Although, I do have to admit I spend the biggest portion of time while creating a PvP character on the looks screen .

If it wasn't for the pretty graphics, we'd all be still playing text-based games, wouldn't we ...

I think studded leather first becomes available in the jungle somewhere (Quarrel Falls?). The only difference between Druid's and Studded Leather leggings is that Druid's has +1 Energy, while Studded has +15 AL vs lightning.

Happy to oblige! Note: only the top and leggings are fissure, boots are 1.5K Performers, gloves are 1.5K Enchanters (not that there's much difference in the gloves anyway).



@Gwenhywar: I agree about the warriors and glads -- it's tough to make any choice other than glads or plate.

The problem with wearing better looking armours around town and battling in the silly looking stuff is that I tend to forget to switch them until aftert the battle.

If looks werent greater than stats then people wouldn't be as picky as I am. My warrior has the 15k Gladiators chestpiece, gloves, and boots, but not the skirt-leg wrap thing. I kept the desert armor for that. I picked it solely on looks. I tried a warrior in beta and didnt like being up in the face of the battle so I deleted it. About 3 weeks ago while the hubby was gone to England, I made a warrior. Ran with some guildies that were in a hurry, ascended at level 13(by default thanks to sever artery), made it to level 20 in less than 7 days and within that same 7 days had my 15 armor. If it wasn't about the looks for some people, then there would be no 15k armor. The hubby afore mentioned has the full 15k glad set, guess I was envious and made the warrior just for the armor. Laugh if you want, but when my friend that just started playing needs to go somewhere fast, there I am to run and look great doing it.

Hmmm... Thought I was a stats person myself, only getting new armour if they were better than the one I'm currently wearing... But how wrong was I? Tis strange what seeing a good looking set of armour does to you...

Got to Post-Searing and whilst in Ascalon City, I bought my necro the good Bonelace Armor (30 AL, +15 AL vs Piercing, etc). I had the funds from all the Charr hunting in Pre-Searing, so why not indulge myself. And seeing that there were 4 different sets available, I felt that rather than upgrade in Ascalon as I progressed in the game, I'll go for the best now and it should see me through for a long time (until the next upgrade to something greater than 30 AL).

During a night of exploration, I ended up in Yak's Bend... and what do I see? Yup, a new set of armour. The Fanatic's Armor, same AL as the Bonelace, so no advantage in getting it... but... but... it looks soooo nice! A quick pros and cons assessment showed that the cons (unnecessary waste of gold, unnecessary waste of materials, and possible lost of runes) outweighed the pro (good looking armour)... And what do I do? Yup, I left Yak's Bend in my new Fanatic's Armor.

And not only that, the dyes I used on it could have put a few 100g in my pocket... *sigh* Vanity is an evil (and costly) thing!

Going slightly off topic: Have any of the warriors got the Soldier's armour set that is only avaliable from Anmoon Oasis? If you have, I would like to see a screenshot of that. It's only 71 AL, but you'll look very unique! As no one buys that set as it costs the same as the non-cheap set, but the stats are exactly the same as the cheap sets!

Stats for me. I got the gear I wanted in Droknars and have been giving away my ecto's to friends ever since. I'll never buy gear for looks.

I think it's Brilliant of GW to do this the way they did though. It answers so many of the problem a game like this could have. It gives a huge huge time sink to the people who need to be sinked the most.

I'm mainly PvP, to keep me around for chapter 2 they need to keep PvP good and balanced, which I think they did. PvE characters on the other hand can get the game done in a week. Getting the coolest looking armor on 3 characters might take a while.

Appearance ftw.