I just wanted to see some different views on this.
I find the transmog restrictions as they are to be pretty absurd. For me personally, the process of leveling would be made infinitely more enjoyable if I could outfit a character using gear I’ve already earned from early levels (and I’m talking high-end gear that actually fits the HD version of our character models).
In my opinion, the restrictions behind transmog in general are too strict compared to other MMOs. In SWTOR, I can buy moddable gear–which almost all cosmetic gear is in that game–which can then be worn by a level 1 and placed into an outfit slot. In GW2, I can transmute low level items that can then be shared with every character who shares the same armor class. Once again, I have the ability to accessorize my character from an early level, which makes exploring the world and immersing myself in the quests a lot easier.
Moreover, I think that the restrictions for low-level characters in particular are clearer now than ever because of the time and effort it now takes to level compared to previous expansions. For people who only occasionally make an alt, this isn’t really a glaring issue.
To highlight my personal experience here, it goes something like this: I want to make an alt and find that I hate the 1-60 quest items I’m able to pick from to begin with. I realize that to get an appearance I actually enjoy, I’ll need to level to 90-110 at the very least. This makes me perceive leveling as a hurdle to jump over to achieve that goal, and I find myself wanting to rush through it without taking the time to enjoy the quests or exploration like I would otherwise. In short, the transmog restriction deincentivizes leveling for me.
If I could personally tweak the transmog system to my preferences, any gear you’ve earned across any class (excluding class-specific gear/armor sets) would be transmoggable by any character. With cosmetic items like the Stormwind Guard set or the Gilnean dress, we can already dress a warrior in cloth or a mage in plate. Class flavor no longer holds water, IMHO. However, the more neutral approach would be this:
- Make any previously obtained gear moggable by new characters of the same armor class regardless of level. Race/Faction/Class restrictions still apply.
- Make the armor class directly below yours moggable, or in the case of clothies the armor class directly above yours. Mages can wear mail, hunters can wear leather, etc.
- Allow an option that permanently mogs an item to a specific slot at a greatly increased cost. For example, bracers that would cost 1g to mog at level 10 will now cost 1k to retain that look permanently.
But in the event that seems a bit too liberal, another idea I had would be to give us an option to turn an armor piece of any level into a cosmetic item at a reasonable cost with a strictly imposed limit on how often this can be done–say, an account-wide cosmetic window where we apply items to a set that are then dubbed cosmetic and can be worn by any character, and which will have to be traded out with other items if the player wants to use another look for a low level character taking advantage of higher level items.
Sorry for the length of the post. I want to reiterate how important the transmog restrictions are to me on a personal level. I make alts like CRAZY, but appearance is extremely important to me in any game. The fact I have to climb to the higher levels to outfit my characters for adventuring and RP when I constantly have so many ideas for new alts makes the entire leveling process too boring and tedious for me to even consider. For those that don’t care about how your character looks or are content with the current system because you don’t make alts, these changes would not negatively impact you anyway. I think it would, however, be very positive for dedicated altoholic players who have already earned the gear they want to use on their alts.
Thanks for reading and/or skimming! Feel free to add your own ideas and criticisms.