Am I the only one who likes the shoulder armor?

[sicilian]

Shoulder armor was actually one of the things I really liked about WoW... not so much that it had them, but that you couldn't wear them until you hit a certain level. It became an unofficial status symbol, so you knew just by looking at someone that they were at least level 20 (just like a mount would tell you they were 40+).

I don't want level requirements for them in D3, but maybe make the strength requires high enough that you wouldn't be able to wear them right away. It's a visible way to make your character "grow" as it gets higher in level.

I like having more options for equipment slots, and legs and shoulders were really the only ones left, unless you add forearms.

Plus, D2 had shoulder armor too, it was just less defined and was part of the Body armor graphic.

Am I the only one that actually enjoys having this added? It seems like most people hate them, and I'm just curious why.

[MadGas]

I hope D3 will introduce more items than D2, and I would love shoulder armour. Items were a big part of the replayability of D2, and should be increased in D3 in all aspects.

Sincerely

MadGas

[Angel_of_Wrath]

Am I the only one that actually enjoys having this added? It seems like most people hate them, and I'm just curious why.

Quite possibly... but I would guess there could be up to 10 million other people that like it too! :whistling:

Seriously, though, I think it's the look of it people don't like (barbs are not orcs). Personally, I like the extra armor slots... that means there's MOAR ITAM. I like itam.

[AxlStrife]

I love the concept, but I hate how high they sit on the Barbarian's shoulders. (IIRC they're the only class previewed that actually wore shoulder armor)

[konfeta]

I have a question. If I post a screenshot of how the original Blizzard team envisioned shoulder pads, do the Diablo 3 visual haters cry in their corner?

http://www.geocities.com/gemstone01us/diepicts/warrior.JPG

http://www.geocities.com/gemstone01us/diepicts/sorcerer.jpg

For the record, the shoulder pads in both the Diablo 3 gameplay movie and these concept art pieces are... exaggerated.

LE GASP! DIABLO 3 TEAM MADE THE SHOULDER PADS 10% BIGGER! THE VILLAINS! THE TREACHEROUS DOGS! HOW DARE THEY BETRAY THE DARK AND GOTHIC VISION OF DIABLO 1!

Granted, the rogue's shoulder pads aren't as big, but the Sorceror/Warrior ones are definitely up there.

[Jcakes]

I like the idea of shoulder pads, the only problem with them as far as I can see is the size of them ... I think they are a bit oversized.

[ArielJade]

Flip the shoulder pads over and you got yourself a plate/bowl for dinner after a hard days killing... :p

[JunkStory]

would be cool if we could wear knee plates, thigh plates, one ring on each finger, and ear rings. BLING BLING!

[Hodl Pu]

Yeah I dont care much for concept art. They never match ANYTHING. I swear, zerglings never look the same in starcraft games, cinematics, and art. I still dont like the way the shoulder pads look in the game though, haha. But overall, I dont mind having shoulder pads in the game.

We should be able to equip socks!
Stockings of Anti Fungus - 27% poison resist + 10% chance to inflict athletes foot

[WickedNasty]

Stockings of Anti Fungus - 27% poison resist + 10% chance to inflict athletes foot

That is Hilarious!, except they should boost your poison res!
How about Arch Mages Tighty Whitey's +1 to white magic skills -25 to personality.

[Chard]

Ha ha I am dumb. The addition of more armor types is odd but as long as it doesn't look like you are playing a game of abomination creation with your armor pieces like in WoW I won't care.

[5zigen]

I like it, sort of.

As long as it doesnt get into the giant unrealistic view obstructing area, i think it's kinda cool to have extra armor. On the other hand I think it could easily be part of the body armor.

[Krishh]

I very much liked the oversized shoulders in WoW for some strange reason.

[MooCQ]

You know.. football shoulderpads are larger than anything I've seen the Barbarian wearing.. so geesh, quit whining, about realism!! BIGGER = BETTER!!

[Nightswipe]

I want to be able to fight with a spoon. dmg 1-1.

[Sein Schatten]

You know.. football shoulderpads are larger than anything I've seen the Barbarian wearing.. so geesh, quit whining, about realism!! BIGGER = BETTER!!

But it still should be somewhat "realistic". I don't want to fight with skyscrappers on my shoulders. ;)

[Cynt]

Technically you don't want armor plate right next to the skin. You want padding between body and metal plates that are getting hit hard with other metal objects.

I.E. http://youtube.com/watch?v=mbTmukmrpw0

[Mizantrop]

was that time-wasting link to youcube really necessery?

[Cynt]

I think it illustrates the point humorously, whereas your post was worthless to both the thread topic and the content of my post.
However I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble in you're very busy schedule, that is trolling diablo 3 forums. :thumbup:

Force is transferred. That's the point.

[Pitboss_2000]

I have a question. If I post a screenshot of how the original Blizzard team envisioned shoulder pads, do the Diablo 3 visual haters cry in their corner?

*images here*

For the record, the shoulder pads in both the Diablo 3 gameplay movie and these concept art pieces are... exaggerated.

LE GASP! DIABLO 3 TEAM MADE THE SHOULDER PADS 10% BIGGER! THE VILLAINS! THE TREACHEROUS DOGS! HOW DARE THEY BETRAY THE DARK AND GOTHIC VISION OF DIABLO 1!

Granted, the rogue's shoulder pads aren't as big, but the Sorceror/Warrior ones are definitely up there.

Haha, pwned! Good find, too!

[Flux]

i can honestly say I hadn't noticed the shoulder armor one way or the other, before people started complaining about it. I never played wow though, so perhaps my pump wasn't sufficiently primed on that aspect of things.

[Grawner]

i can honestly say I hadn't noticed the shoulder armor one way or the other, before people started complaining about it. I never played wow though, so perhaps my pump wasn't sufficiently primed on that aspect of things.

i did not notice the shoulder armor either, same reason.
i like it, it looks really cool.. i dont know, if it would be nice, if only the barbarian could wear it, She/He is, after all, the strongest one and most fighterly like class; that's right, a barbarian..
it would make the class more unique, but i dont really know, if i actually like the idea.:scratchchin:

[Funkopotamus]

I'm all for shoulder armor. Like what was mentioned earlier, more slots = more items and I like items. I just don't like THAT shoulder armor.
You know.. football shoulderpads are larger than anything I've seen the Barbarian wearing.. so geesh, quit whining, about realism!! BIGGER = BETTER!!
That motto didn't hold true the last time our cats got fleas. Or the last time I had blood drawn.

I have a question. If I post a screenshot of how the original Blizzard team envisioned shoulder pads, do the Diablo 3 visual haters cry in their corner?



[IMG]

For the record, the shoulder pads in both the Diablo 3 gameplay movie and these concept art pieces are... exaggerated.

[I]LE GASP! DIABLO 3 TEAM MADE THE SHOULDER PADS 10% BIGGER! THE VILLAINS! THE TREACHEROUS DOGS! HOW DARE THEY BETRAY THE DARK AND GOTHIC VISION OF DIABLO 1!

Granted, the rogue's shoulder pads aren't as big, but the Sorceror/Warrior ones are definitely up there.
More like 100% bigger. The d1 concepts look fine to me. In my book, wizards are allowed to look stupid, that's know you know they're magical. That shoulder armor is just long.

The warrior's shoulder armor is pretty big and sits kinda high, but he can clearly see over it as you can see in the picture, he's looking over it.

[ThulRasha]

Forget the shoulderpads. Look at that warrior his kneepads.
Quick Blizzard, add in a new item slot for kneepads.

[Funkopotamus]

Crap yes. More item slots!

[konfeta]

The warrior's shoulder armor is pretty big and sits kinda high, but he can clearly see over it as you can see in the picture, he's looking over it.

So can the barbarian in the gameplay video. The only reason it looks like he can't is because he is hunched over and is tucking his head in. The Warrior in the art piece is standing upright and stretching his neck.

In fact, if you look at the high definition video, when he equips the shoulder pads, his eye level is at the exact same position over the shoulderpad's highest point as for the picture I provided.

Diablo 3's shoulder pads are well within Diablo's scope and vision. They are within Blizzard's art style. They look fine. And most importantly, they are there to stay.

[slickr]

I think we should all be careful at what we say.
Having small, normal and big shoulderpads just adds to the diversity to the armor types and looks.
I think you should not expect all shoulderpads to be big, its likely there will be several sizes of them. To confirm what I am saying, I will ask you if you saw the witch doctor wearing huge shouldepads? - Of course not so its reasonable to expect different sizes, shapes and types that will improve the overall diversion, quality and quantity of armor.

[Funkopotamus]

I think we should all be careful at what we say.
Having small, normal and big shoulderpads just adds to the diversity to the armor types and looks.
I think you should not expect all shoulderpads to be big, its likely there will be several sizes of them. To confirm what I am saying, I will ask you if you saw the witch doctor wearing huge shouldepads? - Of course not so its reasonable to expect different sizes, shapes and types that will improve the overall diversion, quality and quantity of armor.
The Witchdoctor isn't the Barbarian. If you saw screenshots of the Barbarian with small shoulder pads, which I think there might be, but we don't know what the deal is with that, then that'd be confirmation. What the Witchdoctor is wearing confirms baloney.


So can the barbarian in the gameplay video. The only reason it looks like he can't is because he is hunched over and is tucking his head in. The Warrior in the art piece is standing upright and stretching his neck.

In fact, if you look at the high definition video, when he equips the shoulder pads, his eye level is at the exact same position over the shoulderpad's highest point as for the picture I provided.

Diablo 3's shoulder pads are well within Diablo's scope and vision. They are within Blizzard's art style. They look fine. And most importantly, they are there to stay.

The warrior in the picture clearly has awesome posture. That was a feature back in the day, and also his greatest flaw as a fighter.

The hunched over barbarian has the same eye position as the straight standing warrior? Sounds painful.

I'm looking at the screenshots in the video analysis thread and his vision still looks blocked by his enormous helmet and his shoulder armor walled up right next to his face.

[konfeta]

Try watching the video in high definition for yourself. You are seriously just looking for things to whine about at this point.


The hunched over barbarian has the same eye position as the straight standing warrior? Sounds painful.

Or you, know, you could read that again and stop picking at my wording. You know what I mean, and are just trolling at this point. Since you are trolling, actually, no point in arguing with you any further.

[slickr]

The Witchdoctor isn't the Barbarian. If you saw screenshots of the Barbarian with small shoulder pads, which I think there might be, but we don't know what the deal is with that, then that'd be confirmation. What the Witchdoctor is wearing confirms baloney.


That's my exact point and neither are all the shoulderpads the same.
There are different types, sizes and shapes of all armor, basing your opinion on 1 shoulderpad you saw for the barbarian is error.

If D3 was to have all big shoulderpads the witch doctor would have had ...well big shoulderpads.

Its reasonable and I don't see where is the uncertainty that shoulderpads would not come at all sizes and shapes!?

[Funkopotamus]

That's my exact point and neither are all the shoulderpads the same.
There are different types, sizes and shapes of all armor, basing your opinion on 1 shoulderpad you saw for the barbarian is error.

If D3 was to have all big shoulderpads the witch doctor would have had ...well big shoulderpads.

Its reasonable and I don't see where is the uncertainty that shoulderpads would not come at all sizes and shapes!?
It's two out of three. The whole point is the line has been crossed. The worst case is the render on the website, which I know isn't in-game graphics and I hope is the worst of it.


Try watching the video in high definition for yourself. You are seriously just looking for things to whine about at this point.
It's a 500~mb video and I was going to pause at the same point as the screenshot, which is in high definition. The point of me downloading the video is null.

And I've been against the shoulder armor since the restart of me posting here. Don't pretend like I'm just bringin' it up.

[b]Or you, know, you could read that again and stop picking at my wording. You know what I mean, and are just trolling at this point. Since you are trolling, actually, no point in arguing with you any further.
Trolling? You mistake me for someone who likes doing pointless things.

It's hard to not notice things like you pointing out the different postures between the two characters then claiming their eye levels are at the "exact same position", two contradictory claims. I expect people to say what they mean and if you didn't mean the exact same position, ie, up to the mouth/nose area then you shouldn't of said "exact same position".

I know it's a silly thing to call but it's a silly claim to make. I probably could of done without the sarcasm, it's just the way it flows out my pen, so to speak, my bad.

[GUFF]

I am not a fan of the shoulder armour at all! Sorry but I feel it is abit to much, as is the belt.

I like the extra slot though, infact the more the better! :thumbup:

However, I prefer a more realistic weapon/armour models for my character. If there are more realistic pieces of armours in game that won't limit my effectiveness then I would wear those first and give the Wow Orc crap to Gheed for free....Assuming I have the choice with the Barb of course.

I hope I do as I like how they made him appear older, wiser, basically the same Barb we all liked in D2.

I am also eager to find out the other classes....:jig:

P.S. Didn't like the small cut scene with Cain, felt like WOW with the character movements and those ugly ugly shoulder pads....yuck....

[5zigen]

I like the idea I'm not so hot on the implementation. IMO the shoulder pieces should ride a little lower on the barbs shoulders and be a tad bit smaller.

No male orc shoulderpads

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/items/armorsets/images/tier6raid/shaman/orc-male.jpg

[stillman]

Put some tea on everyone...

First, a bit of history: As pointed out in an above post, the warrior in d1 had a fairly big shoulder plate. Now, this was actually a reasonable size. If you look up some suit of armor pictures on the web, you will find that soldiers in history did employ a single, large shoulder plate on some of their suits of armor while the other side of their armor had a much smaller shoulder plate.

In Dark Sun, a D&D world that takes place in a vast desert where armor is scarce, there is a skill that involves using what little armor your chr has by, for example, letting attacks hit the piece you're wearing or by positioning your body such that an attack hits the shoulder plate instead of the face. The chr basically thrusts the shoulder out and the plate collects the incoming blow. In the movie First Knight, the knights are wearing these large shoulder plates on one side as their standard issue armor.

The portrait of the warrior in d1 when you select a chr looks very nice with his large shoulder plate. But if he had been designed with 2 of these plates, he would look silly and hard pressed to squeeze throught the cathedral door. The large shoulder plate on one side matches the warrior's fighting style. He walks like a profesional with his weapon raised behind him ready for a swing while his shield is carried out in front. His large shoulder plate could be thought of as contributing to his stance which is a turned stance (sideways approach); he is not fully facing monsters as this would increase his available surface area making him more of a target. The large plate could help stop the blows from the side of his body he may be most vulnerable to. I don't remeber exactly if the palte size diffence was even shown in his animation, but the plate could be on his sword arm to make up for a lack of shield protection there, or it could be on his shield arm to complement his blocking side. Either way, it makes sense to have just one of these large plates as they were used in history and because of the hero's boxer-like stance. Yeah yeah, "what does history matter, it's a video game"--I'll get to that in a bit.

In d2, things started to get a little out of hand. When the necro gets his first quilted armor, he bundles up the whole thing and places it on his shoulder. He is now half a football player. The druid had this huge stack of furs piled up on his shoulder with a small plate on top of that. If you look carefully at him in the character selection screen, you'll notice the brass colored shoulder plate is about a foot away from where his actual shoulder would be. A monster would have to go out of it's way to actually hit the plate. In contrast, the paladin's armor looks great imo.

Now, one concern with d3 is the huge shoulder plates on the barb. One thing no one here has mentioned yet is that the barb's plates aren't just enormous; they are actually a replacement for the breastplate. They consume so much space that they cover a good portion of his chest. For those of you who want more armor items, you may be losing one of the most familiar ones (breast plate). If you look at the 20 or so pictures in the photo gallery on the Blizzard website, you'll see some progressive armor designs for the male barb. They show that instead of a breast plate, he wears a round disk of metal over his abdomen with the shoulder plates providing the sole protection for his upper torso. In fact, his heart is completely exposed. Is he showing off his chest muscles, or is he so fearless he doesn't care to protect the most aimed-for organ of all time?

His most armored design picture shows him looking a bit like either Samus Aran from Super Metroid or the predator (from the Predator movies) or some other alien figgure. Again, he is mostly composed of shoulder plates--shoulder paltes that completely cover his head. IIRC, the shoulder plates are sort of incorperated into the helmet. He no longer has an obvious head in that picture.
Isn't that taking the shoulder plate obsession a little too far?

I am in favor of new armor designs for the barbarian. We can't expect a barbarian to roam the lands wearing a knight's suit of armor. He needs some flexibility and exposure, if just to allow sweat to evaporate. Plus we can't expect tribal men to have the best armorsmith technology. The d3 armor does look like something a barbarian would envy. That said, the shoulder plates are ridiculously big. As noted in other posts, it is hard to imagine how the barb can lift a two handed axe over his head without those huge things on his shoulders pinching his head. Also, they would weigh too heavily and slow down his arm movements, but I suppose we can just ignore that sinse he's a big strong savage.

The loss of flexibility form such large plates is an issue though. The barb from d2 is known for his wildness--his frenzy and whirling attacks. The d3 armor shown looks like it would interfere with something as simple as rotating his shoulder to hit something behind him like we see in some movies. Those 2 big horns on his belt are also so large he could rest his voulge on them horizontally if he wanted to. Won't those things prevent him from certain manouvers? Surey, his own weapon woud bang into those in the heat of battle.

Now, many people say "who cares about history; this is a fantasy game." Well almost every item in fantasy games is based on history. They do this because we are familiar with stories and objects from real life. There is also immersion to think about. Would you want to see Luke Skywalker in d3? Why not? It is fantasy; it's not supposed to be reality. A line needs to be drawn somewhere. When the barbarian looks more like a modern NFL football player, that kind of makes me think of football games and not of a fantasy epic story from a period that is meant to resemble the dark ages or whater ancient era diablo is set in.

We should also consider how small the barb will be on our screens. It won't look right if let's say, 30% of our hero characer is composed of shoulders. Again, in real life, we are all used to seeing regular size shoulders. I know, I know, it's a fantasy game, but there are more suitable ways to blow our minds with fantasy than to put "skyscrapers" on a chr's shoulders, as someone above mentioned which I think is an appropriate depiction. Why not make the fireball bigger if they want to go big? No one can say "the fireball doesn't look right" because none of us encounter sorcery and fireballs in real life. In fact, they can design ALL the spells in any crazy way they feel, and it would still make sense to our visual systems because we know it is magic. But the normal (white item) shoulder plates are not magic. They should look feasable.

Looks are important because we will be spending hundreds of hours looking at the barb (if we play him). He can't look stupid. It's Ok if some of the background stuff looks bad because we're not focusing on it. When things are too out of wack, like when the earth heals itself after cracking, or when shoulder plates become impossibly big, a lot of us notice.

The WD envokes a problem with our visual systems as well. The mask and feathers are so big, and with the way he is hunched, when I look at him I have trouble discerning his anatomy. I can't really tell he is human unless I look very hard. His "armor" takes up so much space we have a geometric object on our screen that doesn't match the human from we are used to seeing. I'd like to see the hero instead of a favored piece of his armor hogging the show.

Well, I think I'll go check out the gameplay video again and I'll look at where the tip of the feathers end and follow that distance down to where the bottom of the mask begins. I'm guesing the total height of the mask will be approaching 40% of the WD. I want to play the WD, not his mask.

[Funkopotamus]

I like the idea I'm not so hot on the implementation. IMO the shoulder pieces should ride a little lower on the barbs shoulders and be a tad bit smaller.

No male orc shoulderpads

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/items/armorsets/images/tier6raid/shaman/orc-male.jpg
What is that? Can it detect cloaked enemy ghosts?

[CaptainDingo]

I do think a lot of people who hate WoW do go out of their way to find a link, and then say "This is like WoW, thus I hate it!"

Anyways, big shoulders aren't going to hurt anyone. I mean, come on, they're not THAT big. Ever seen an Orc wearing plate? He puts the Barbarian's manly shoulders to shame.

I like big shoulder armor. It's just aesthetically pleasing to me, and there's something inherent about large shoulders that signifies power, which is probably why business suits are made the way they are.

Not that I expect to totally dissuade anyone here who hates these large shoulders with every ounce of their angst, but I'm just trying to put it into perspective to show that large shoulders aren't an idea born from Warcraft.

[Sein Schatten]

Most of the WoW T armor looks pretty cool. Especially if you see it ingame and watch people run around with it. Yeah, some of the stuff is a bit stupid, like the bananas or the axe on the helmet and some shoulders look a bit out of place and way too big. But a lot of stuff looks awesome. If D3 armor is anything like WoW T sets I would be happy.

[shadowofvong]

this may comeoff as rude but will people stop saying "i really liked this in WoW" This is not WoW this is Diablo. They're completly different. Diablo came out before WORLD of warcraft (not warcraft itself) As far as the shoulder armor... Its an interesting Idea but could just make completling sets (if they're in the game i havn't really searched up on it) even longer and more expensive. On the other hand you're character has a more unique look when different types of armor.