Tier 9 Armor Sets - HD Model Preview (Final Version)

[s_bushido]

I can't believe people think 20 unique armor sets for a content patch is "too much" for Blizzard.

Even if they had assigned 230498577209 artists to make 798723409823 sets, the internet community would still bitch constantly that X class from Y faction's armor doesn't look as good as another set or that Z's armor "is clearly just a reskin of..."

[danawhitaker]

I'm really beginning to wish they'd add a "hide shoulders" option in the game. Those shoulders look like they could take an eye out - as do every set of plate shoulders I've seen pretty much from BC on up. Just what exactly is my female Draenei supposed to be overcompensating for? Everything else about the sets looks pretty cool (I love the colors for the warriors). Well, okay, not everything. I also think that all the cloth and leather sets look like they're made from platemail too, but that's something I can overlook. Having to wear gargantuan shoulders just irks me. I always have my helm and cloak hidden - most of those are incredibly fugly too, or in the case of the cloaks, have fugly animation/movement associated with them. If they added the option for shoulders, I'd turn it on in a second.

There's only one guy in my guild that doesn't use the "hide helm" option. I'm sure many other people are in a similar boat. What does it tell Blizzard when people say that a particular piece of gear is so obtrusively ugly they don't want to see it on their character (or have anyone *else* see it on their character) ever? Shouldn't it encourage them to design pieces of gear (especially for the tier sets, which people work *hard* for) that players *want* to show off? Or is it perhaps just an issue on my server that I notice with people hiding helms?

[Yizren]

i could prolly design better tier models in a day to what they spend weeks on....seriously... and btw recycling is good....but not in this situation

[shaffnaha1]

I play a human paladin and for so long all of our armor (except T2 which looks amazing IMO) has made us look like power rangers...untill now THE ALLIANCE PALADIN GEAR LOOKS AMAZING AND NOT LIKE A POWER RANGER!!!! but the horde sadly...lost cause belf paladins are weak, humans are better, Dreni and dwarves are fine i just rolled humans, Now they just better give us some nice looking weapons to go along with them ;D

[Qamar]

Something about that purple glowing gems on the Druid set that really gets me. I like it. The corset will look so much easier on the eyes if you wear a belt with it, me thinks.

Now, wish I rolled a female toon.

[scotty104j]

What is really funny about people asking for more sets for each individual class is the simple fact that if blizzard did this the WoW player base would expect an individual tier set for every class on each faction for the rest of the game... yeah I'm not happy with the way that we all get to look like lil green men running around in the same gear, but it's an interesting concept making tier gear full of uniformity hopefully just for this patch.

Blizzard designers have to live by the old adage of "give an inch, the WoW player base will try to take over your company."

[Dalanos]

horde cloth looks like shit

You are fucking smoking dope. That shit is godly!

[bbr]

I can't help but keep laughing at how ridiculous the alliance leather looks xD

[Deleted]

The armour sets look interesting...there certainly is uniformity between the armour sets and i'm disgustedly jealous with the Horde plate armour compared with the Alliance but...the sets certainly differ from the current tiered 8 armour pieces and since some of us will be enjoying the new content release its going to be one heck of a scene with 25 raiders ripping through the Colisuem looking like an army of raiders...rather than the 'jumble sale' array of clothing scenes we're use to. Lets see if it gets the reception it deserves.

Oh lets not forget some of the item stats on the armour and weapons....things couldn't be even more sexier.

[Qamar]

I can't help but keep laughing at how ridiculous the alliance leather looks xD

I can't help but keep yawning at how dull the horde leather looks ~o~

Yes, I went there.

No but seriously. The level of detail in the Alliance set is ridiculously high. Too bad they think the "penguin mask" looks good (because I don't either), but the "corset" matches those old school outfits they wear in like Shakespearean plays. It wouldn't look so obvious anyway when a belt is worn across it. The shoulders (minus the pouches--I think this is geared towards Rogues) though and the color scheme itself looks amazing. The level of detail on the Druid kilt is awesome, though I am not a fun as much of the Rogue pants.

The Horde leather, on the other hand, looks too much of a leather, it looks like it drops from a mob you kill from Outlands. It looks very generic and bland, and the yellow light bulb does not help either. As a Druid myself, I feel sorry for the Tauren who have to wear that gear, which clearly is designed with Rogues in mind.

That's the design just by itself. Now slap that on say, a gnome, and everything just blows up. Even the Alliance cloth just does not match the gnomes' huge heads at all. It seems like they never took the races into account when designing the gears. -.-

[Jon The Wizard]

Let me have a go at berating these getups...

Alliance Plate - Okay, this I actually don't hate. I'm not a fan of the head blades, but it looks pretty good.
Alliance Mail - Ehh, nothing spectacular.
Alliance Leather - Let me just say, this is my favorite of the Alliance sets. Especially on Druids. The "bird mask" and shoulders fit perfectly with the Druids. That said, I'm kinda split between the Druid and Rogue versions of this set, since the Rogue version looks kinda stupid by comparison. Except on Night Elves for obvious reasons. As a final thought, what's with the female versions showing off cleavage? Yeah, THAT'S really practical in a fight, exposed breasts. Why not just say, "here, stab me in the heart."
Alliance Cloth - Good for what it's worth, but kinda bland.

Horde Plate (not including Paladin) - Same as Alliance plate. Fits really well with the Horde.
Horde Paladin - This is by far my favorite T9 set. I'm not a big fan of the spikes on the head, but the set is undeniably Blood Elven and undeniably great. This is exactly why blood elves should've gotten access to the Onslaught warrior set.
Horde Mail - Another nice look, but I can't help but hope the Shaman versions have robes.
Horde Leather - It's okay. Nothing spectacular, nothing boring, just kinda in the middle.
Horde Cloth - MUCH better than the Alliance cloth sets. By a considerable margin. It's not as good as, say, Tirisfal, Tempest, Aldor, Voidheart, Corruptor, Avatar, Incarnate or Absolution (yeah, I have a thing for the BC cloth sets) but it's really good. Might be the best cloth stuff of WotLK, despite how good Sanctification looks.

[Redbeard41]

I thing i have noticed between the two faction set is, if you have stuff glow or smoking coming out of your shoulders the set has little detail. All of the set without glowing shoulders have high levels of detail, with few exceptions (Horde Cloth).

[stoise]

yes ofc...we gotta wear that frigging gay kilt again...cheers

[KilgoreTrout]

I want to see a profile of that human rogue's beak-face. Maybe it doesn't stick out quite as far as it seems it would from the front view. And of course I may not manage to get my hands on the helm anyway.

[Profyrion]

Alliance: Shaman looks completely stupid. Thanks for the rainbow palette. Rogues are doing a nice BIRDMAN impression. The rest of them are passable, but I hate the retarded fins on the plate sets.

Horde: WTF? These are awesome.

[Xeh.-]

Ugly as hell!

[sardokar]

How many male alliance rogues are gonna get a sex change with this patch? :P

[Geranguas]

I'm hoping that this is not the last update for the Horde plate, I'll be obscenely agitated with Blizz if it is. The one major thing about the stuff that is getting on my nerves every time I glance at it... There's so much bare flesh exposed when you apparently wear this stuff. It's the part where I kinda mentally scream "WHY?!".

Don't get me wrong, the Horde plate sets look good, but that detail is just annoying, imo. /shrug

[TyrasNova]

I thing i have noticed between the two faction set is, if you have stuff glow or smoking coming out of your shoulders the set has little detail. All of the set without glowing shoulders have high levels of detail, with few exceptions (Horde Cloth).

Obviously this was going on at Blizz HQ

"Hey guys, you know what would make everyone happy? Particle effects on shoulders!" "Oh, but we've already made the Horde Cloth set..." "We'll keep it, but the rest we can relax on, particles will make everyone go "WOAH LOOK AT THOSE SHOULDERS", we'll be loved."

<Later after much Datamining in PTRs of 3.2>

NEW T9 FOUND!

Comments:

"Oh my, it doesn't look so good so far..." "What's this? All the same? Gah.."

Back at HQ:

"Guys, what were you thinking?! Particle effects and relax on the design?! I should have you guys fired..." "But this was all your idea!" "OH BLAMING ME ARE WE?!"

My story is awesome.

[LonezWulf]

I look at T9 and find that blizzard is half-azzing it, which i can see why all thier new games coming up, especially that new MMO.

Kinda sad though I mean t9 compared with t6 and t3 is a huge dissapointment imo