Apparently in China a MMO called Dungeon and Fighter is 20% more popular than World of Warcraft. In itself not all that surprising until you watch a video of actual gameplay. It looks and plays like side scrolling beat-em-up from the earl '90s. I liked those games just fine...18 years ago. The appeal of an MMO with that playstyle completely eludes me. This is a clear case of different strokes for different folks.
To me this is also a good illustration of why it's idiotic to argue that one MMO is "better" than another MMO in any sort of objective sense. To (minimally) several million gamers Dungeon and Fighter, an MMO with almost laughably archaic gameplay by our standards, is more fun than any western MMO available.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
"Gateway" MMOs
A lot of industry insiders have argued that World of Warcraft has been good for the MMO industry because it expanded the overall market. The idea is that players start with WoW, and eventually get bored with it and start looking for a new MMO fix. In other words, WoW is a"gateway" MMO. On the surface this seems pretty reasonable. Certainly WoW has a much higher profile than any previous MMO. And the market has clearly grown in the past four years.
At the height of the "golden age" of MMOs, EQ had roughly 500K subs and DAoC (the most successful competitor of the day) had roughly 250K subs. I'll be generous and pretend that UO had 200K subs at that time. So that gives us a total market of around a million subscribers in mainstream MMOs when EQ was king. In the post WoW era, there are very clearly more MMO gamers. EVE and WAR have roughly 300K subs these days, and FFXI is still hanging tough at 500K subs (amazing). Those three alone have more than a million players. Even without doing any ass math (i.e., math using numbers pulled out your butt), I think any reasonably informed observer would agree that the total non-WoW MMO market is at least several times bigger than it was before WoW launched.
However, I think we would have gotten here with or without WoW. The Korean market and the explosion of micro transaction MMOs have obviously been huge boosts to the industry. Even ignoring those factors, I think there have been several other "gateway" MMOs over the years that haven't gotten much credit. MMOs that reached out to new markets and have a gentle initial learning curve.
Everquest Online Adventures never had many subs, but it was a first MMO for a very high proportion of users. When Sony shipped the modem for the original PS2 it came with a demo of EQOA. That got a lot of console gamers to try an MMO for the first time. City of Heroes likely expanded the market by moving out of the fantasy genre. It also remains much more rewarding at low levels than is typical for an MMO, you will feel like a badass within the first hour of play. This has to be better for new users than the tepid starting pace of most MMOs. More recently, LoTRO seems to have attracted a lot of new MMO fans due largely to the IP. Almost everyone I meet in game is either a EQ era MMO vet or a new MMO user. Those who cut their teeth on WoW almost always seem to revile it.
Which brings me to my last point in this rambling post. I find Syncaine's ongoing tirade against "WoW tourists" more than a bit pretentious. However, I think he is right about one main point. The majority of WoW players that try other MMOs don't like them as much as WoW. The vast majority of MMOs aren't as fast paced as WoW, have much steeper learning curves than WoW, and don't run as smoothly on a low end PC. While I have zero hard data to back this up, I strongly suspect that the bulk of players that get bored with WoW leave the MMO market altogether. Assuming that's true, WoW isn't really a gateway to other MMOs. It's more of a separate market from other MMOs operating in a vacuum. WoW is neither helping nor hurting the industy at large. I suspect that the real "gateway" MMOs are modestly successful MMOs that appeal to previously untapped markets (e.g., LoTRO and CoH) and ftp MMOs with a lot of younger users (e.g., Runescape and Club Penguin).
At the height of the "golden age" of MMOs, EQ had roughly 500K subs and DAoC (the most successful competitor of the day) had roughly 250K subs. I'll be generous and pretend that UO had 200K subs at that time. So that gives us a total market of around a million subscribers in mainstream MMOs when EQ was king. In the post WoW era, there are very clearly more MMO gamers. EVE and WAR have roughly 300K subs these days, and FFXI is still hanging tough at 500K subs (amazing). Those three alone have more than a million players. Even without doing any ass math (i.e., math using numbers pulled out your butt), I think any reasonably informed observer would agree that the total non-WoW MMO market is at least several times bigger than it was before WoW launched.
However, I think we would have gotten here with or without WoW. The Korean market and the explosion of micro transaction MMOs have obviously been huge boosts to the industry. Even ignoring those factors, I think there have been several other "gateway" MMOs over the years that haven't gotten much credit. MMOs that reached out to new markets and have a gentle initial learning curve.
Everquest Online Adventures never had many subs, but it was a first MMO for a very high proportion of users. When Sony shipped the modem for the original PS2 it came with a demo of EQOA. That got a lot of console gamers to try an MMO for the first time. City of Heroes likely expanded the market by moving out of the fantasy genre. It also remains much more rewarding at low levels than is typical for an MMO, you will feel like a badass within the first hour of play. This has to be better for new users than the tepid starting pace of most MMOs. More recently, LoTRO seems to have attracted a lot of new MMO fans due largely to the IP. Almost everyone I meet in game is either a EQ era MMO vet or a new MMO user. Those who cut their teeth on WoW almost always seem to revile it.
Which brings me to my last point in this rambling post. I find Syncaine's ongoing tirade against "WoW tourists" more than a bit pretentious. However, I think he is right about one main point. The majority of WoW players that try other MMOs don't like them as much as WoW. The vast majority of MMOs aren't as fast paced as WoW, have much steeper learning curves than WoW, and don't run as smoothly on a low end PC. While I have zero hard data to back this up, I strongly suspect that the bulk of players that get bored with WoW leave the MMO market altogether. Assuming that's true, WoW isn't really a gateway to other MMOs. It's more of a separate market from other MMOs operating in a vacuum. WoW is neither helping nor hurting the industy at large. I suspect that the real "gateway" MMOs are modestly successful MMOs that appeal to previously untapped markets (e.g., LoTRO and CoH) and ftp MMOs with a lot of younger users (e.g., Runescape and Club Penguin).
Thursday, April 2, 2009
April 1 in LoTRO
For April fool's day Turbine added a new chicken play quest. In this quest you actually have to run across the moors (the PvP zone of LoTRO) as a chicken to get a new title. As you can imagine, chickens don't hold up well when attacked by level 60 creeps. This led to fun side games emerging on some servers, where freeps took it upon them selves to defend the chickens from creeps. All in all a brilliant April fool's event from Turbine.
Unfortunately, the quest proved so popular that the last "gag" for the day wasn't too funny. The servers crashed and were offline for something like 12 hours. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the forums.
I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to try out the new quest when I got home from work. However, in the grand scheme of things I don't think it's that big of a deal. Hell, there are some MMOs that get taken down for half a day every week just for maintenance. I suspect that the main reason the unexpected downtime was so apocalyptic to some players is that LoTRO has such a good track record with stability so far. We've gotten spoiled.
Unfortunately, the quest proved so popular that the last "gag" for the day wasn't too funny. The servers crashed and were offline for something like 12 hours. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the forums.
I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to try out the new quest when I got home from work. However, in the grand scheme of things I don't think it's that big of a deal. Hell, there are some MMOs that get taken down for half a day every week just for maintenance. I suspect that the main reason the unexpected downtime was so apocalyptic to some players is that LoTRO has such a good track record with stability so far. We've gotten spoiled.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Hunter Nerfs in LoTRO
Along with a lot of kickass new content, the latest patch in LoTRO had some major nerfs for the most popular class in the game: Hunters.
I've always been a fan of ranged DPS classes in MMOs (i.e., nukers), and the Hunter is by far my favorite of the bunch (though Engineers in WAR and certain Blaster comboes in CoH are also way up there). They do a screaming ton of damage to single targets, are far from helpless in melee range, have pretty good crowd control if you specialize for it, and get fantastic travel abilities. A group runspeed buff in the teens, and then a series of group teleports. By the time you reach 60, you can teleport to nearly every zone in the game. As "taxi cabs with machine guns" they have no parallel. My main has been a hunter since the open beta, and I've rarely been as happy with a character as I am with her.
All that is why I saw the coming of the last update with a bit of dread. The primary role of Hunters, ranged DPS, got a huge nerf in the last patch. As nearly as I can tell something like a 25% damage reduction, perhaps more. At first I was horrified. However, now that I've had a couple of weeks playtime post nerf I have come to the conclusion that it's not that big a deal. I can still do everything solo I used to, and I still do very noticeable DPS in a party.
If I have any lasting complaint, it's that our stances outside of the high damage/ high threat stance have been rendered pretty borderline. A guardian that is on the ball can now hold aggro against a hunter going all out in their highest damage stance. Save for a long boss fight where power management might be an issue, there's not much reason to ever drop out of strength stance now. It seems a bit silly, and reduces the dimensionality of the class. However, on the whole still one of the most enjoyable classes in any MMO to my tastes.
I've always been a fan of ranged DPS classes in MMOs (i.e., nukers), and the Hunter is by far my favorite of the bunch (though Engineers in WAR and certain Blaster comboes in CoH are also way up there). They do a screaming ton of damage to single targets, are far from helpless in melee range, have pretty good crowd control if you specialize for it, and get fantastic travel abilities. A group runspeed buff in the teens, and then a series of group teleports. By the time you reach 60, you can teleport to nearly every zone in the game. As "taxi cabs with machine guns" they have no parallel. My main has been a hunter since the open beta, and I've rarely been as happy with a character as I am with her.
All that is why I saw the coming of the last update with a bit of dread. The primary role of Hunters, ranged DPS, got a huge nerf in the last patch. As nearly as I can tell something like a 25% damage reduction, perhaps more. At first I was horrified. However, now that I've had a couple of weeks playtime post nerf I have come to the conclusion that it's not that big a deal. I can still do everything solo I used to, and I still do very noticeable DPS in a party.
If I have any lasting complaint, it's that our stances outside of the high damage/ high threat stance have been rendered pretty borderline. A guardian that is on the ball can now hold aggro against a hunter going all out in their highest damage stance. Save for a long boss fight where power management might be an issue, there's not much reason to ever drop out of strength stance now. It seems a bit silly, and reduces the dimensionality of the class. However, on the whole still one of the most enjoyable classes in any MMO to my tastes.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Most MMO gamers like WoW more than your MMO: Deal with it
A lot of MMO commentators seem pretty hostile to World of Warcraft and the players that dig it. For example, Syncaine's popularization of the term "WoW tourist" to describe former WoW players that try out new MMOs, and then leave when they decide they don't like them as much as WoW. It sometimes feels as if the hardcore enthusiasts that have been playing since the glory days of EQ are at war those that came in on WoW and prefer it to other MMOs (newer or older). If there is indeed a war being waged, I would suggest that it is a futile one. The "sheep" have spoken, and they have won.
You can rant and rave and call WoW the "McDonald's/ Brittany Spears" of the MMO genre as much as you like. The fact of the matter is that the bulk of gamers that are willing to play $15 a month for a game like WoW better than any other MMO they've tried. The masses have spoken, and they like their MMOs easy, fast paced, relatively shallow, and with a very over the top design aesthetic. They don't care about the prose in quest text, they don't care about cohesive lore, they don't care how useful the crafting system is, and they don't care whether any attempt is made to blend zones together into a cohesive world.
What really brought this home to me was actually the most recent NPD chart. The number two selling MMO in North America in January was Warhammer Online, hanging in tough at number 14 more than two months after release. If these sales keep up, WAR will quite likely be the next sub based MMO to cross the 1 million threshold. Among the features it shares with WoW are (1) an over the top design aesthetic, (2) easy questing (red blobs on the map for cris sakes!), (3) fast paced leveling, (4) crafting system that yields many borderline useless items, (5) quest text that is (for the most part) utterly forgettable, (6) a world that sacrifices cohesion for playability.
I'm not saying that WoW or WAR bite (far from it), or that WAR is a clone of WoW (WAR actually has far superior PvP and very different class designs). What I'm saying is the features that they have in common seemingly embody what most MMO players want, at least based on sales. And I think it's about time we (i.e., the crusty MMO enthusiasts that have been playing since the glory days of EQ) all got over it and moved on. I'm really starting to get tired of MMO commentators that rail against the "mindless WoW masses" whenever the moderately-successful-to-niche MMOs they happen to like prove unappealling to the bulk of MMO gamers.
Most MMO players just don't like the same things as you. Deal with it.
You can rant and rave and call WoW the "McDonald's/ Brittany Spears" of the MMO genre as much as you like. The fact of the matter is that the bulk of gamers that are willing to play $15 a month for a game like WoW better than any other MMO they've tried. The masses have spoken, and they like their MMOs easy, fast paced, relatively shallow, and with a very over the top design aesthetic. They don't care about the prose in quest text, they don't care about cohesive lore, they don't care how useful the crafting system is, and they don't care whether any attempt is made to blend zones together into a cohesive world.
What really brought this home to me was actually the most recent NPD chart. The number two selling MMO in North America in January was Warhammer Online, hanging in tough at number 14 more than two months after release. If these sales keep up, WAR will quite likely be the next sub based MMO to cross the 1 million threshold. Among the features it shares with WoW are (1) an over the top design aesthetic, (2) easy questing (red blobs on the map for cris sakes!), (3) fast paced leveling, (4) crafting system that yields many borderline useless items, (5) quest text that is (for the most part) utterly forgettable, (6) a world that sacrifices cohesion for playability.
I'm not saying that WoW or WAR bite (far from it), or that WAR is a clone of WoW (WAR actually has far superior PvP and very different class designs). What I'm saying is the features that they have in common seemingly embody what most MMO players want, at least based on sales. And I think it's about time we (i.e., the crusty MMO enthusiasts that have been playing since the glory days of EQ) all got over it and moved on. I'm really starting to get tired of MMO commentators that rail against the "mindless WoW masses" whenever the moderately-successful-to-niche MMOs they happen to like prove unappealling to the bulk of MMO gamers.
Most MMO players just don't like the same things as you. Deal with it.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Thoughts on book seven
Major changes coming down the pipe in book seven. Not going to do anything like a comprehensive review, but there are a few highlights that stick out in my mind.
1. Lothlorian.
All I can really say is hell yes. I also think that this content will be an important test case for Turbine. Until some time next fall we are all going to be sitting at 60. Even slow ass casuals like me that started when MoM launched have at least one 60 by now. Will this area be fun for us even though we won't be getting any XP? Since I went through Foreschel for the first time at 50 and had a blast, signs point to yes for me. However, I'll be interested in seeing how the community reacts.
2. Faster leveling.
To me the current pace of leveling in LoTRO seems to be about right, with the exception of the 30-42 or so doldrums. I have two alts that have stalled out in the mid 30s, one of which I actually enjoy playing quite a bit. If this will help me get over that hump with alts, I'm all for it.
I just hope that Turbine hasn't overdone things in other level ranges. Leveling to 25 or so flies by as it is, I don't think it needs to be any faster. For me 42-50 also seems to fly. 50 to 60 was a lot slower, but since that's the last ten levels I think it should happen at a measured pace. In addition, after hitting 60 with my first toon over the weekend I seem to have done far fewer than half of the quests in MoM. Especially with Lothlorian coming in, there really will be a lot more 50-60 content than any three characters could do and get Xp from.
3. Quest radar.
Some commentators are enthused about this feature. In other communities, it's less popular. I have to admit, I'm having a cranky old man reaction to this feature. One of the great things about LoTRO is the stories that emerge from the quest chains. If you simply follow little arrows around your map, you are going to completely miss out on that. Further, the kinds of players that a feature like this will appeal to are also players that I simply don't think are patient enough to get LoTRO. I'd really just assume most of them lose patience and move on by level ten or so. I'm enjoying the (by and large) mature and helpful community that inhabits LoTRO.
That said, clearly I am in the minority on this issue. The red blobs in WAR absolutely hammered my sense of immersion (of course the fact that most of the quet text was so poorly written didn't help much either), but most players seemed to like them. Quest Helper, which adds the same feature to WoW, is an extremely popular add-on.
And don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we should go back to the dark days of launch EQ. However, I personally feel that LoTRO has always nailed the balance between a sense of discovery and lack of frustration. Clearly Turbine does not agree, and has decided to move things more in the direction of WAR and WoW.
4. Creep enhancements.
The final big news as far as I was concerned is that creeps are starting stronger, it will now be easier to level them, and cheaper to buy new abilities. I think this is absolutely a needed change. It is currently a serious six month grind to max out a creep. There is no way it should take longer to max out a creep than it takes to run a new freep from one to the cap. Considering that the entire horrific grind has to be done in the same zone, the current requirements are insane. If Turbine really wants creep play to be a fun "RvR light" experience, then they need to make it easier to progress. Easier progression lures more players to try creeps, which leads to much more fun for all involved (warm bodies on the field makes PvP happen).
Now if only the PvP gear were on par with the Radiance gear, Turbine would have something really great going. The exact same stats, save without radiance, would be a good start. PvMP has always been a hell of a lot of fun. The problem with it currently is that you earn rewards steadily for about a month, and then your progress completely stalls out. Over and over again I have seen players lose their minds in the moors for around a month, and then get completely burned out on it when they stop making reasonable progress for the time they put in.
1. Lothlorian.
All I can really say is hell yes. I also think that this content will be an important test case for Turbine. Until some time next fall we are all going to be sitting at 60. Even slow ass casuals like me that started when MoM launched have at least one 60 by now. Will this area be fun for us even though we won't be getting any XP? Since I went through Foreschel for the first time at 50 and had a blast, signs point to yes for me. However, I'll be interested in seeing how the community reacts.
2. Faster leveling.
To me the current pace of leveling in LoTRO seems to be about right, with the exception of the 30-42 or so doldrums. I have two alts that have stalled out in the mid 30s, one of which I actually enjoy playing quite a bit. If this will help me get over that hump with alts, I'm all for it.
I just hope that Turbine hasn't overdone things in other level ranges. Leveling to 25 or so flies by as it is, I don't think it needs to be any faster. For me 42-50 also seems to fly. 50 to 60 was a lot slower, but since that's the last ten levels I think it should happen at a measured pace. In addition, after hitting 60 with my first toon over the weekend I seem to have done far fewer than half of the quests in MoM. Especially with Lothlorian coming in, there really will be a lot more 50-60 content than any three characters could do and get Xp from.
3. Quest radar.
Some commentators are enthused about this feature. In other communities, it's less popular. I have to admit, I'm having a cranky old man reaction to this feature. One of the great things about LoTRO is the stories that emerge from the quest chains. If you simply follow little arrows around your map, you are going to completely miss out on that. Further, the kinds of players that a feature like this will appeal to are also players that I simply don't think are patient enough to get LoTRO. I'd really just assume most of them lose patience and move on by level ten or so. I'm enjoying the (by and large) mature and helpful community that inhabits LoTRO.
That said, clearly I am in the minority on this issue. The red blobs in WAR absolutely hammered my sense of immersion (of course the fact that most of the quet text was so poorly written didn't help much either), but most players seemed to like them. Quest Helper, which adds the same feature to WoW, is an extremely popular add-on.
And don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we should go back to the dark days of launch EQ. However, I personally feel that LoTRO has always nailed the balance between a sense of discovery and lack of frustration. Clearly Turbine does not agree, and has decided to move things more in the direction of WAR and WoW.
4. Creep enhancements.
The final big news as far as I was concerned is that creeps are starting stronger, it will now be easier to level them, and cheaper to buy new abilities. I think this is absolutely a needed change. It is currently a serious six month grind to max out a creep. There is no way it should take longer to max out a creep than it takes to run a new freep from one to the cap. Considering that the entire horrific grind has to be done in the same zone, the current requirements are insane. If Turbine really wants creep play to be a fun "RvR light" experience, then they need to make it easier to progress. Easier progression lures more players to try creeps, which leads to much more fun for all involved (warm bodies on the field makes PvP happen).
Now if only the PvP gear were on par with the Radiance gear, Turbine would have something really great going. The exact same stats, save without radiance, would be a good start. PvMP has always been a hell of a lot of fun. The problem with it currently is that you earn rewards steadily for about a month, and then your progress completely stalls out. Over and over again I have seen players lose their minds in the moors for around a month, and then get completely burned out on it when they stop making reasonable progress for the time they put in.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
A guide to the better looking headgear of LoTRO
Between the appearance slots and the dye system, it's possible to get some very nice looking outfits together in LoTRO. However, one of the biggest challenges can be finding a hat or helmet that doesn't look dumb. For whatever insane reason, LoTRO has the the overall worst headgear designs I've encountered in an MMO. I thought I'd show off some of the better headgear I've stumbled across, and give hints on how to find it.
Also, please excuse the compression and lighting on some of the shots. This is my first attempt at posting screenshots here, some turned out much better than others. Expect improvements in any future "photo essay" style piece. This post was inspired by the conversation here at Wilhelm's. Ok, on to the gear.
For cloth wearers, my favorite is this guy:
It's a brimmed hat with a feather. Here is a close-up:
Hats that use this model come as rewards from a handful of quests, including a quest in the elf starter instance. However the most reliable way to find them is to check monster drops. It's actually fairly common to find hats that use this model as drops on humanoids.
For heavy wearers, so far this is my personal favorite:
On a close-up you can see it has some nice details:
So far as I know the only way to get this helmet is by searching the bodies of your foes. I found it on a random goblin in the North Downs. It does not appear to be part of any normal armor set, crafted or otherwise.
For a leather wearer, it's hard to go wrong with these mid level crafted helmets, seen here with the outrider's armor set as depicted at Darzil's equipment guide:
Pretty much any tailor can make them. It's the model used for teirs II-IV of crafted leather gear, with only minor changes between tiers. Until you get to the "bunny ears" in teir V the differences in decoration are pretty subtle. While arguably a bit boring, it at least looks functional and won't disrupt your outfit.
The Lossoth helmets, also look very nice if paired with Lossoth gear. You can see the cloth, leather, and heavy variants at Darzil's excellent website. Admittedly they can look odd in non Lossoth outfits.
Another thing to keep in mind is that no headpiece looks good with every outfit. For example, I have a dwarven runekeeper that I conceived of as being a bit of a fop (well, for a dwarf anyhow). The hat that he is using doesn't look good with most outfits. However, dyed correctly I feel that it really brings together his current outfit:
My main character has been using an admixture of dwarven and elven style armor for quite some time now. While I don't normally go for the "bunny ears" helmet, the plain leather helmet above just didn't fit in well with the rest of her intricately detailed gear. In her outfit, the bunny ears seem to fit right in:
Seen here again in a higher rez screenshot and an earlier outfit:
Finally, if all else fails, there is always the ever popular hooded cloak. There are actually some very nice ones to pick from. Even if you don't have founder's bonus gear or the like to pick from, any tailor can very likely make you something much more interesting than the two tone cloaks you get from quests. For example, this is one of the eight or so hooded cloaks my tailor can make:
If you are at least 35, a tailor can hook you up with something you'll probably like well enough to wear until you start finding rare cloaks in high level (48+ for the most part) and epic quests. For that matter, if you don't want a hooded cloak a tailor can make you an interesting cloak that dyes well at almost any level . . .but now I'm starting to ramble. Happy hunting!
Also, please excuse the compression and lighting on some of the shots. This is my first attempt at posting screenshots here, some turned out much better than others. Expect improvements in any future "photo essay" style piece. This post was inspired by the conversation here at Wilhelm's. Ok, on to the gear.
For cloth wearers, my favorite is this guy:
It's a brimmed hat with a feather. Here is a close-up:
Hats that use this model come as rewards from a handful of quests, including a quest in the elf starter instance. However the most reliable way to find them is to check monster drops. It's actually fairly common to find hats that use this model as drops on humanoids.
For heavy wearers, so far this is my personal favorite:
On a close-up you can see it has some nice details:
So far as I know the only way to get this helmet is by searching the bodies of your foes. I found it on a random goblin in the North Downs. It does not appear to be part of any normal armor set, crafted or otherwise.
For a leather wearer, it's hard to go wrong with these mid level crafted helmets, seen here with the outrider's armor set as depicted at Darzil's equipment guide:
Pretty much any tailor can make them. It's the model used for teirs II-IV of crafted leather gear, with only minor changes between tiers. Until you get to the "bunny ears" in teir V the differences in decoration are pretty subtle. While arguably a bit boring, it at least looks functional and won't disrupt your outfit.
The Lossoth helmets, also look very nice if paired with Lossoth gear. You can see the cloth, leather, and heavy variants at Darzil's excellent website. Admittedly they can look odd in non Lossoth outfits.
Another thing to keep in mind is that no headpiece looks good with every outfit. For example, I have a dwarven runekeeper that I conceived of as being a bit of a fop (well, for a dwarf anyhow). The hat that he is using doesn't look good with most outfits. However, dyed correctly I feel that it really brings together his current outfit:
My main character has been using an admixture of dwarven and elven style armor for quite some time now. While I don't normally go for the "bunny ears" helmet, the plain leather helmet above just didn't fit in well with the rest of her intricately detailed gear. In her outfit, the bunny ears seem to fit right in:
Seen here again in a higher rez screenshot and an earlier outfit:
Finally, if all else fails, there is always the ever popular hooded cloak. There are actually some very nice ones to pick from. Even if you don't have founder's bonus gear or the like to pick from, any tailor can very likely make you something much more interesting than the two tone cloaks you get from quests. For example, this is one of the eight or so hooded cloaks my tailor can make:
If you are at least 35, a tailor can hook you up with something you'll probably like well enough to wear until you start finding rare cloaks in high level (48+ for the most part) and epic quests. For that matter, if you don't want a hooded cloak a tailor can make you an interesting cloak that dyes well at almost any level . . .but now I'm starting to ramble. Happy hunting!
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