Alternative Player Skin Ideas

Hello, I have about 60 hours invested into PoE and I absolutely loved every minute of it so far. I am now on my 3rd character on my 3rd playthough. I wanted to address a few things that I feel will improve the game, and just a few unique item ideas. Scroll down to TL:DR if you do not want to read my wall of suggestions.

One of the few things that bothered me when I first started this game was the unappealing design of the starting classes themselves. Yes, I understand that they are exiles and outcasts. That is why I think most new players pick Duelist by default, because the other characters do not look appealing to begin with. So to bypass the whole "Don't judge a book by it's cover" syndrome, why doesn't Grinding Gears add alternative player skins for purchase?

I would love to see the option to change from male/female. If one argues that this is a rip off from Diablo 3, then add other skin variations for players to pick from. If the Voice acting is an issue for genders (You don't want the Marauder's Voice Actor for a female counterpart afterall), just hire unique voice actors/actresses for the skin alterations. The money you could make from this idea would pay itself off. If finding new VA's isn't a option, I'll suggest other skin ideas that fit the current VA's themselves.

Templar: Why not add a younger version of the Templar himself? His VA also sounds Scottish, so why not add a "William Wallace" looking Scotsman for extra variety? I feel that the base Templar in Path of Exile has alot of versatility in this department. Make his younger appearance more defined and less aged, while giving him long brown hair and a few battle scars. I would like to see at least two skin options for this class. A Scotsman and a younger aged Templar with divine wisdom.

Marauder: A Native American "Apache" looking warrior and/or a Shaka Zulu warrior. Give him some warpaint around the eye region. Throw some amaShoba (The bushy things around the arms/legs of Zulu warriors) and headbands/feathers to decorate the Marauder to give him more of a "tribal" appearance. I feel that this class will be the easiest to modify, since tribal warriors were limited in appearance.

Duelist: I would love to see a musketeer/man at arm's look for this character. Since he specializes in rapiers/fencing foils, give him white undergarments with a blue surcoat/tunic for his musketeer counterpart. I would also like to see a more traditional leathery brigandine/tunic for his man at arm's skin. Traditional men at arm's varied in appearance so this department can be explored.

Shadow: He's called "shadow", so make his appearance more shady/mysterious in nature. How do you do this from his base model? Give him more of a bandit appeal. Dress him in complete black garb with the classical "princess bride" face mask that shrouds his identity. I really cant think of much that you can do with this character. This will be up to Grinding Gears/fans for idea generation.

Witch: A necromancer based appearance. White hair with bone type dressings on her default model. "But doesn't that look too similar to the default character from diablo 2?" You already have a female necromancer npc in the game. Use inspiration from that. Since PoE has already drawn many ideas from the classic diablo franchise, expand on the idea more. I would actually love to see more homage to classic diablo 2 since I'm a old school diablo 2 veteran myself.

Ranger: Her base character is straightforward to begin with. I want to see more of a druid/woodsman appearance for her. Give her some animal pelts and dress her with a leathery archer tunic. The rouge from the diablo series is another good source to draw inspiration from, minus the skimpy clothing. Throw together some leather/animal pelts/nature inspiration and you got yourself the ranger.

Scion: She really has that "Game of Thrones" look to her. Since she is coming from high nobility, dress her in rich colors while giving her that certain "threatening" look that the HBO series pulls off so well. Another idea (that really doesn't fit her backstory) would be a Valkyrie/shield maiden look. She has similar traits to a viking woman, so make her into one!

TL:DR

Templar : Scotsman/War scarred young man

Marauder : Native American/Zulu Warrior

Duelist : Musketeer/English Man at Arm's

Shadow : Bandit/Highway robber

Witch : Necromancer/Voodoo Witchdoctor "appearance"

Ranger : Druid/Woodsman

Scion : GoT/Valkyrie/Shield Maiden

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strengthof10kbabies wrote:

I would love to see the option to change from male/female. [...] If the Voice acting is an issue for genders (You don't want the Marauder's Voice Actor for a female counterpart afterall), just hire unique voice actors/actresses for the skin alterations.

There could be a fan contest where players submit their voice auditions (instead of hiring actors). There've got to be a nice handful of people who'd be able to do a stand-up job.

C'mon, how cool would that be?

It costs millions to create a new character, I believe we've been told. But voice acting is certainly a part of that.

It would be interesting if we could through various MTX's choose different skins and voices (such as even just the different current ones skinned over the various different starting positions.)

It would also be interesting if we could even just have different skins, even with the same voices.


That being said, many MTXs, through armor and head changes, already have a pretty significantly larger impact on how you look. (Or, Does it really matter that you skinned something that isn't visible after all the other MTX's come into play?)



Interesting thoughts, and interesting questions.