Fancy Armor: For the Upper Crust Only?

[Fragmented]

Just looking for the opinion of players. I myself believe that anyone who can afford that nice suit of silt horror should be able to purchase, and wear it, but I'm sure there are some who believe that only the important should wear such rare and magnificent armor. Vote!

[Hexxaex]

If somebody can afford it, than by all means they should be allowed to wear it.  I'd rather see more ragged or bad condition armor in public shops, and only those who have the obsidian for it can order good armor sets.

[RunningMountain]

Fancy? Elaborate a bit. Most expensive armor is not fancy. It's heavy and very very thick, that's why it costs so much.

Fancy armor is like in my opinion a leather cuirass with blue and purple streamers and a kanks head embroidered into the chest and a mekillots head embroidered onto the back. You really don't see Fancy armor on armageddon that often unless a Falish warrior is accepted.

[Fragmented]

Well, by fancy, I meant badass. Silt horror battle plating. Not necessarily pretty, but expensive. I'm basically wondering if the playerbase thinks rare materials, silt horror specifically, but other shell like kryl and ankheg and stuff like that should only be worn by the social elite, or any Joe Common who can afford it?

[RunningMountain]

If you can afford it wear it. I know plenty of independants that wore that crap and still died, so it doesnt' matter. heh.

[Manhattan]

omg MORE animals? what is an ankheg ?
I thought I knew all the wildlife, but obviously I don't.

[Jherlen]

I voted no, but thinking about this, I think my problem is that most independent nobodies shouldn't be able to afford stuff like that in the first place. It should take lots of time to get along with being expensive.

When I think of the ubar fancy armors, I think of House guard captains, templars, militia officers, and so on. Not the latest guy who's made himself a pile of sid from hunting npcs. To me it's related to arguments about the economy being broken and average commoners not wearing all silk just because they can. But I don't want to derail.

[Maybe42or54]

I will vote no, because just because you can doesn't mean you should.

If you are working for anyone and they wear fancier armor than you and you can afford something more expensive than theirs, you should be thinking, "Will this piss my employer off if I make him look like a beggar? Will they think I have side jobs, like informant and spice smuggler?"

If you are independant and can afford silk or any other expensive material then you should be thinking, "If I wear this, will I have problems with making family members of merchant and noble houses jealous? Do I want to make them jealous, or make other merchants greedy? Will they think I am getting too important and knock me off?"

If you -want- to look important, looks important, but you should be thinking about something else besides "I can afford that! Awesome. Do you accept mastercard?"

You could be getting unwanted attention.

In the case of an obsidian/silt horror breastplate, It weighs more than most dwarves/rinthers/elves, and if you are southern, you know light armor is the way to go, because:
A. It's hot.
B. It'll tire out your lizard when you ride it, making raiders spot you from miles away with a broken backed lizard.
c. It is massive.

[Rindan]

If you live in Allanak or Tuluk, you live in a place where at any time someone more powerful then you can take whatever it is you own.  I would have absolutely no problem with a Lord Tor sending his servant over to chat with silk clad independent for a few moments to gleam the details of his wealth.  Once it is apparent that said is an independent nobody, I think it would be completely appropriate for Lord Tor's servant to compliment some expensive article of clothing, say that the Lord Tor admires it greatly, and would like to receive it as a present, now.

Now, there is nothing wrong with dressing in silks or expensive armor, you just need to either keep it toned down or have the connections to protect yourself.  I could see a very well off commoner dressing himself in silk, it just can't get too fancy.  Personally, I think that most independent commoners of wealth would shoot for some vibrant clothing, but probably avoid any fabric that is too fine.  The point is to show you are wealthy and respectable, but you don't want to look above your station.  Further, people who are above your station should actively seek to knock down commoners that are acting a little too high and might.

All of that said, I think it is the responsibility of the upper class, templars, and occasionally militia to knock such people down a peg.  Hire thugs to beat said person up and steal their stuff and promise not have the law get involved, have servants ask for gifts for their lords, charge them taxes... you get the idea.

[Armaddict]

Once it is apparent that said is an independent nobody, I think it would be completely appropriate for Lord Tor's servant to compliment some expensive article of clothing, say that the Lord Tor admires it greatly, and would like to receive it as a present, now

I always thought the same thing, and even had it happen with a character of mine.  Maybe it was your templar  Pointed at something I had, said they liked it, and said they would allow me to give it to them as a gift.  So I did.

The problem is...a lot of people, when that happens, start ooc thoughts on the player of that noble.  They're abusing their power.  They're purposely pissing people off just because they have guards.  They're twinks who just like having the best gear and decided to take away my one piece of badass gear.

I dunno.  It may not be as prevalent of an idea as I'm making it, but that would be a worry of mine just because I've been guilty of having the same thoughts before.

[Rindan]

The problem is...a lot of people, when that happens, start ooc thoughts on the player of that noble.  They're abusing their power.  They're purposely pissing people off just because they have guards.  They're twinks who just like having the best gear and decided to take away my one piece of badass gear.

I dunno.  It may not be as prevalent of an idea as I'm making it, but that would be a worry of mine just because I've been guilty of having the same thoughts before.

Well, there are two pieces to that.  

First, in that position I would be inclined to find a way to explain the actions as a manner of teaching.  A Templar shouldn't explain to a rich commoner the finer details of acting their status, but a templar might very well send out a lackey to do it for them.  Now, the 'teaching' might depend upon the Templar's style.  Some templars might just hire some thugs to explain the ins and outs of politics as they beat the shit out of him.  Some templars might send an aid to explain in greater detail what it means to not go above their class through a more polite and verbal way.

Second, teaching is nice and it makes people feel warm and fuzzy about why you were mean to them, but, well, fuck 'em.  Who really cares what other people think OOCly?  I would explain your actions to the imms and that is about it.  Explaining them in game is far more a matter of the templar's style.  Some templars might not even give an explanation, and that is a-okay.  Don't tell people what character you are playing and that OOC hate is only going to last for one templar.

I think so long as the Templar is taking something of true value that is above a commoner's class, anyone who questions it as being OOCly driven is just an idiot.  Now, if you take someone's cheap empty backpack because it is worn on the neck wear location instead of the usual back wear location, then you are probably just being a dick.  If you can report it to the clan imm in full detail and have no fear of them slapping you upside the head, screw what everyone else thinks.  If it is any consolation, everyone probably already thinks that you are a warped and twisted and individual who gets off on torture OOCly already.

[Nao]

hmm, commoners in silk. I can see that, commoners that can afford it in -all- fancy clothing, but only at special occasions, not all the time. Let me explain.
Your commoner has some kind of job, that most likely will include going outiside, doing this and that, running around in a sandstorm, moving through smelly, filöthy crowds and all that. Now silk isn't exactly the most robust material, it would wear off pretty quickly. And get all dirty and stained, maybe even ripped. at least it would get all thin very quickly, and it would be a pain to clean... you can't do the regular stuff, you need to be very careful with a material like silk.

I kind of see silk for commoners like a nice suit for real life guys... wear them when you want to look exspecially nice, at feast days or when you meet someone important. I mean, why wear it for everyday stuff when you'd be just as fine in your usual linen/sandcloth/cotton stuff, it is such a pain to take care of and you would most important ruin those fancy clothes that you spent that much money on in the first place and then not have anything nice when you really need it?

[Armaddict]

I mean, why wear it for everyday stuff when you'd be just as fine in your usual linen/sandcloth/cotton stuff, it is such a pain to take care of and you would most important ruin those fancy clothes that you spent that much money on in the first place and then not have anything nice when you really need it?

My guess?  Because it shows they have money, it's nicer and makes them more presentable, and more importantly...it's fairly hard to get 'wear and tear' on your silks codedly, and it's -more- of a pain to go somewhere and change clothes several times every time you log in than it is to roleplay 'taking care of it' (that means dusting it off, heh).  It really -is- a pain to change clothes, which is why you don't see too many (there are the exceptions) people with multiple outfits who change their appearance fairly consistently.

f it is any consolation, everyone probably already thinks that you are a warped and twisted and individual who gets off on torture OOCly already.

You give me warm fuzzies, Rindan.  Would you mind meeting my templar IC, so that I can try out these new chains and stuff?  mmkaythanks.

[SewerRat_inTheOpen]

Well, if you can afford it, buy it, and if you want to, wear it. Just don't come back to the forums bitching about it when the bad-ass armour gets taken from you, or if everyone starts looking at you funny or people starts targeting you because of what you look like you have -money-

when it comes down to it, money isn't really a problem here. I can spam money from somewhere IG easily. Which means probably everyone who played it longer than me can as well, but don't do it just because you need that shining helm that guides one in the night. But if your pc has means to big money and wants to show it, show it.

All I can say is, when sometimes one is meant to die... no amount of armour can help

It might be that moment when you think I can tank that bahamet/silt horror or that moment when you decided to sneer at the templar's guards and the templar got in the way. You know, foolish OOC moments.

see: "you/your" here is used collectively, not targetting it at anyone

You can always use macros if changing is too much of a pain, emote then macro. Or just macro.