Have you seen some of the female armors in GW2 and Tera? This is pretty tame compared to that.

Like I said earlier in this thread I have played MMO's since Ultima Online back in the late 90's and pretty much every single female I have played MMO's with have always thought like you do, so I would not worry too much because there will be plenty of good nice looking armor for you to wear and same for all the guys who like to play as girls...after all you guy/girls, it is so the adolescent boys give you all free stuff right? and the prettier you look the more free stuff you get...hehe j/k

THE ARMOR IS NOT SKIMPY!!!

Show me one shot FROM THE GAME that has skimpy armor. You won't find it.

That is concept art.

You know... it may be entirely beside the debate... but regarding 'skimpy' armours, for much of human history they're actually the norm. The 'high' middle-ages, with the plate and what-have-you, or the present "Age of Kevlar" are actually the exception... historically, when going into battle, the tendency of most people has been more towards the "stripping entirely naked and painting yourself blue" end of the modesty spectrum. This holds true for the trouserless (and skirtless!) Greek Hoplite, to the Papua New-Guinean Warrior in his [censored]-sheath, to the soldier of the Sikh Khalsa in his un-restrictive shorts, or even the First World War Squaddie who, as opposed to his civilian self, was not expected to wear a necktie and often left his top shirt button undone. If, to be "realistic", the world of the Elder Scrolls Online is taken to be an anologue of our own, and lady-warriors are a feature of same, then realistically it would be more likely same would opt to go completely topless, possibly with the addition of some chilling artwork... the better to terrify their foes. In conclusion, I think perhaps the problem with the art/armours so far revealed, is more a tendency towards the aesthetically 'sixy', instead of the more realistic "eff me, run... they're bollock-naked and completely mad" look the more hyper-violent among us have striven to achieve down the ages.

Dark Seducer armour. So-called skimpy heavy armour is already in the lore.

Right.

Its totally silly to expect all battle attire to follow a christian world view image.

I don't understand why people are so okay with violence and so freaked out by six and nudity.

I game sitting about 2 feet from my wife. We have played mmo's like this for many many years.
She ALWAYS hunts down the skimpiest sixiest armor she can find. Some times at the expense of stats. She claims looking good trumps performance anyday.

All these people that think sixy armor is put into games because of boys/men wanting it there are totally off base.
I would be willing to bet that the devs know that most women prefer those types of armor.
Some people seem to think that us men force women into these looks be it irl or in game.
Yet many women freely shop for sixy cloths all on their own.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Golden_Saint_Armor

This heavy armor from the Shivering Isles Oblivion DLC would, in my opinion, qualify as high-tier... And it looks more like metallic lingerie than proper armor.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Ancient_Nord_Armor

A more recent example. This us some upper-mid-tier armor added in official Skyrim DLC. Notice how the men get a big, thick chestplate while the women have a leather tunic-thing covering their torso which allows for gratuitous sideboob. There is also an enchanted variant of this armor which could be considered high-tier.

My point is that these things are pretty much a convention of fantasy media in general, which in turn arises from the ages-old convention of men socially suppressing the female six. As I have shown, even official content in single-player TES games isn't immune to the influence of these trends.

I think it will change... Gradually. Certainly not with this game. MMOs are THE genre of mass appeal when it comes to gaming, and I'm sure Zenimax will pull every demographic-pleasing trick in the book to make their game competitive with other big-name MMOs. That includes undermining lore and the proper physics of warfare so that the randy, young male portion of the playerbase can have eye candy.

That male Nord armor is just as "skimpy."

I didn't think either of those was the least bit unrealistic though....

Especially not the armor of a Daedra servant to the Mad God.

it's just a game.. if the game was based off of realism and physics etc etc then maybe armor coverage would matter but i mean you get hit in the arm with a sword and your arm is still there lol. i don't think it really matters.. they just want to make the chars look good. i mean who would play a 300 lb obese club wielding sweat stained peasant charging down a field all courageous like. or a 300 lb grimey woman with a mustache casting spells with a throaty rasp voice ? haha

The ancient nord armor was my "impractical" example, while the Golden Saints' armor is the "skimpy" example.

So, though the ancient nord armor has some sideboob, that isn't the main issue with it. The main issue is that the most important part of the body to cover with heavy armor, the torso, is covered by only two slips of leather in the female variant. The male gets a thick-looking metal chestplate... And both armor sets somehow offer the same overall protection. How is that realistic?

As for the Saints' armor, I'm perfectly fine with the idea of the daedric god of madness' servants having quality armor that looks like lingerie from a lore standpoint. This example was mostly in response to the first person I replied to, who couldn't recall armors with boob-windows from the last 3 TES games.

Female armors don't need to be "sixified" in order for them to be notably female and attractive. Obviously there will be some crucial design variations compared to male armors of the same design, but a female can still be attractive and identifiable as a female even in full plate mail armor head-to-toe.

http://madartlab.com/files/2011/12/hildelarge.jpg
http://www.kekaiart.com/uploads/5/4/7/6/5476798/6540425_orig.jpg
http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-17/art/es5s-steel-armor-female.jpg
http://digital-art-gallery.com/oid/19/640x923_5049_Fnpc_2d_knight_warrior_girl_woman_fantasy_armor_picture_image_digital_art.jpg
http://studioeingana.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/mass_effect_3__female_shepard_n7_armour_reference__by_troodon80-d4ubrle.jpg

All perfect examples of attractive female armor.

Just because TESO is an MMO, doesn't mean it should join the stereotype of female armor in fantasy MMOs. It's stupid. If some players have to get off on something, they're already connected to the Internet. There's thousands of websites for that sort of thing. We don't need chain mail bikinis and belly dancer steel plate armor.

TES is pretty good when it comes to depicting females in armor. Rarely is there the stereotypical fantasy female armor showing off cleavage and belly and thigh dangerously close to the groin. TESO shouldn't be exempt just because it is an MMO.

That's not to say TESO can't or shouldn't have "sixy" outfits. Just that those outfits should make sense. Heavy armor for females shouldn't be "sixified" for the sake of being "sixified" when the male version looks like a tank.

"sixified?" Not sure what you guys are seeing, but the armor posted in the OP isn't skimpy at all. It looks perfectly fine to me. Tera and Guild Wars 2 had much, much more "sixified" armors.

This is a fantasy game. Don't like it, don't wear it.

You have a very excellent point actually. Although for the most part those almost naked warriors with very light armor were mostly around when the technology of fullplated armors wasnt really around, after the 1400th century and before the 1700th century most people that come to my mind used good protective armors- there could definitely be exceptions of this.

The latter part of your post is really what people are complaining about here. Even if a say, archer, is wearing light armor to move around a lot, there's no reason to reveal her cleavage just for the sake of revealing the cleavage. I want a good warrior beside me, not some fancy prancy "oh im so beautiful when im fighting, look at my sixy revealing perfectly shaped thighs, oooh Kiss me!". IT'S A WAR, be brutal.
Luckily, as for the gameplay we've seen, they seem to have balanced female/male armors pretty well, even body shapes, at least relative to most fantasy games out there.



Can people stop saying this? It being fantasy has no relevance to this discussion, or it might, but it's not an excuse for designing a game in a way that doesnt make sense. But as I said above, they're doing pretty good with it.

While it would be nice to have a wide variety of options for character clothing, I support realistic (read: functional) armor for all sixes. Armor doesn't need "flesh windows" to look attractive, but it does need to cover all vital areas in order to be, well, armor.

Come to think of it, the only thing I really hate about some female attire in MMOs are battle-high-heels. But I don't suspect to see them in ESO.

Come on, girls. At least put some real shoes on.

Oh don't get me started on those. My feet hurt just from playing.

I can only repeat that ZOS should offer sixy as well as practical armor ingame, for both men and women.

But they shouldn't put the sixy armor on NPCs who are about to go into battle, especially not if said NPCs are rather important, like Queen Ayrenn. She is supposed to have character that isn't narrowed down to "glorified cleavage", nor should any other female NPC that isn't supposed to be a six worker.

When outfitting your own character, do what you want and ZOS should supply a diverse collection of armor for yout o choose from, but when designing NPCs, ZOS should ask themselves "Why would he/she dress like this?"

Big assumption there. I just want world consistency. That is it. I am not going to RP that I am in the medieval times. Though I do RP as a form of escapism from time to time. Just like you pseudo RP when you want your character to look good. You do have a point about leveling. However, reactionism aside, I just find it incredibly stupid to have those big gaps in armor. I really do not care about form fitting armor. So long as there is no pointless boob window. That honestly irks me (keep in mind this is relative, I am not actually foaming at the mouth or anything) more than full-on blatant skimpy armor. That complete armor except for some stupid window to see cleavage and leave the womens heart exposed. Getting rid of boob windows would go a LONG way towards appeasing myself tbh. Boob windows seem gratuitous to me. Where a normally pseudo-functional piece of armor becomes non-functional because of something that is obvious pandering. If there was an option to swap that armor type for one without the boob window I would.
I haven't dicated a single thing to you. I was trying to explain how it is innappropriate for this game's lore. As far as I am concerned. Lore > Anything else. That is where my interest in this series lies. I also haven't asked you to cover up more. Not sure if I would want you to or not because I don't know you lol. Just want your character to cover up while in full battle dress. I could give two [censored] if you were walking around in clothing. I don't get off on video game characters.
Not really applicable at all to this scenario. Skimpy armors are not people bereft of armor. Skimpy Armors are armor sets with pointless holes in them. There were never boob windows in any armor. It would get you killed. Those skimpy armors were also not providing any protection. Historically they existed for a few purposes. They couldn't get their hands on better armor. They used it as a psycologically damaging tool. It was ritualistic. They needed mobilty or the environment was innappropriate for better armors.
That was made and worn by a Daedra. It was more ceremonial than anything. I wouldn't expect Immortal beings that get reborn and are far stronger than most mortals to have the same concern for armor as a mortal and much weaker in comparison being.
Again, Daedric armor. Different rules apply.

As for the Nordic Armor? That was hardly skimpy. The plates were in appropriate spots, they may have been missing a few spots but most of the vital organs were covered and if they wanted to stay agile many armors forego some pieces so they can maintain mobility. Looking at the lines of attack(I did mention I have a history of martial arts correct?), the armor provided decent protection against most areas that would be attacked.

The female version is pretty terrible though. At least it isn't pointless weight on her torso. But that isn't a high tier armor in any case. Though it does not deserve it's armor level as it is. I would classify that as skimpy-ish.

Long boots and panties, its like coolest thing ever currently (for devs..) I simply dont know why devs likes to use those. Doesnt look so bad yet TBH. At least that chick is quite muscular.

That's one of my greates grudges with skimpy armor. The male and female versions are often so different, they could be different sets of armor THUS BARRING ONE six FROM EVER WEARING IT. Why exactly can't I have the nordic helmet with the big horns on a female character? For no xuthing reason. Same thing with skirts. Redoran guards looked awesome in Morrowidn and I ovent emulated their style. Then Oblivion came and all skirts became trousers once my male character put them on. This is an RPG, no one should be barred from wearing what they want.

I think the orkish armor in the picture linked a few pages back was even worse. If one race values battle prowess over [censored]'n'ass, it's the orcs. I'm dreading having to equip my muscle-bound orc warrioress with unneccessarily revealing armor because I want her to wear the traditional armor of her people...

They should keep the skimpy armor because sixy women sell games, and provide bulkier ones too for the ones who like them. Maybe they can do better than the people @ Bethesda who design ugly women (just look at the "sixy" faces of Lydia, Aela, Mjoll and many others... men in disguise!) in ugly armor, walking and running like men. Honestly, Lydia in heavy is like a mummy running around wrapped in a sarcophagus. They should draw inspiration from Jade Empire: sixy body, sixy walk animation.

The only reason I include the Saint armor is because you stated that there have been no boob-windows and the like in armor found in the last 3 TES games, and this armor's existence in Oblivion contradicts that statement.

It also shows that, if Zenimax does include skimpy armor in TESO, it wouldn't exactly be a first for the IP.

I did not specifically state that the ancient nord armor is skimpy; simply that it is impractical as armor in the female's case, and offers no substantial torso protection as the male variant does, presumably for uniquely six-related aesthetic reasons, (ie. sideboob).

Also, I feel like you're splitting hairs with the high-tier thing. Every armor in every TES game is just as viable when it comes to examining how it looks on different genders, and whether those aesthetic choices are fair and/or realistic.

six sells, pretty simple. Most gamers are guys and guys want to see scantily clad women. Many guys also play female toons because of the whole "if I have to stare at an ass all day while I play it might as well be a females" angle. However those players want to justify it is fine. Just because the armour may not be practical in real life does not mean no one would wear it in real life. Besides... this is a game and people need to find the difference between real life and a virtual game. Difficult concept to fathom for some apprently.

Have to agree on this one - high heeled shoes/boots look ridiculous. Can make good stompy attractive boots for us to wear.