Well-dressed Exile Competition Highlights

Speaking as someone who used to own pretty much every mtx for years, I've always found the natural look far better -- mtx transfer remains the best fashion tool in PoE. That and I feel a lot of armour mtxes in PoE are sort of like the poor man's idea of rich IRL: gaudy, overdone, tacky. So I suppose there is some skill in making it look good, but it's hard to look at these and not think, 'pretty much any game with a fashion meta out there lets you look a LOT better, and for far cheaper'.

Anyway, this ensemble's the only one that stood out to me:



I've honestly seen nothing like it in all my years Ruling Wraeclast. It's got a unique feel to it. A mood even. I look at all the others and I see various flavour of Power Fantasy. I look at this and I think, I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS CHARACTER.

And that is the heart of a game's fashion meta, whether it's For Fashion, Final Fashion XIV, WarFashion, or whatever. It's not just about looking 'good'; it's about visual semiotics. Tell us through the overall costume what this character is like. And if the message is 'just another power fantasy character demon angel glowing eyes BADAAASSSS', Well...we've all seen that before a hundred times.

But this dude here? I don't know if he's an average Joe or some sort of super skilled assassin. He could blend into the crowd, or draw one by standing still for hours.

And the owner's choice to take the photo in a banal setting like a library? *FUCKING CHEF'S KISS* Sets the understated tone perfectly.

The other pictures? They're just vainglorious poses of Exiles who let the power go to their heads (something the Witch reminds us we should never do). This guy? He is a mystery. He's the quiet one. And you know what they say about those.

lu1z is the lolozori of Path of Fashion. The Chris Kluwe. Whoever they are, they just *get* it.

Spoiler
And I didn't even notice it uses the skin of one of the most interesting uniques ever made for PoE, the Infernal Mantle by an old pal named NuclearRaven...bonus points for that.
https://linktr.ee/wjameschan -- everything I've ever done worth talking about, and even that is debatable.
Last edited by Foreverhappychan#4626 on Jun 17, 2022, 10:00:42 PM
"
Foreverhappychan wrote:
Speaking as someone who used to own pretty much every mtx for years, I've always found the natural look far better -- mtx transfer remains the best fashion tool in PoE. That and I feel a lot of armour mtxes in PoE are sort of like the poor man's idea of rich IRL: gaudy, overdone, tacky. So I suppose there is some skill in making it look good, but it's hard to look at these and not think, 'pretty much any game with a fashion meta out there lets you look a LOT better, and for far cheaper'.

Anyway, this ensemble's the only one that stood out to me:



I've honestly seen nothing like it in all my years Ruling Wraeclast. It's got a unique feel to it. A mood even. I look at all the others and I see various flavour of Power Fantasy. I look at this and I think, I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS CHARACTER.

And that is the heart of a game's fashion meta, whether it's For Fashion, Final Fashion XIV, WarFashion, or whatever. It's not just about looking 'good'; it's about visual semiotics. Tell us through the overall costume what this character is like. And if the message is 'just another power fantasy character demon angel glowing eyes BADAAASSSS', Well...we've all seen that before a hundred times.

But this dude here? I don't know if he's an average Joe or some sort of super skilled assassin. He could blend into the crowd, or draw one by standing still for hours.

And the owner's choice to take the photo in a banal setting like a library? *FUCKING CHEF'S KISS* Sets the understated tone perfectly.

The other pictures? They're just vainglorious poses of Exiles who let the power go to their heads (something the Witch reminds us we should never do). This guy? He is a mystery. He's the quiet one. And you know what they say about those.

lu1z is the lolozori of Path of Fashion. The Chris Kluwe. Whoever they are, they just *get* it.

Spoiler
And I didn't even notice it uses the skin of one of the most interesting uniques ever made for PoE, the Infernal Mantle by an old pal named NuclearRaven...bonus points for that.


I agree with this so much. It might be personal preference but I personally don't like all this overly glowy stuff. A little bit of glow on a magic weapon is fine but these overboarding disco balls with wings and all that is not for me.
At least it works in the lore of this game. Have been catching up on lore recently and knowing more about it actually makes all those overdone outfits a bit less immersion breaking.

However, I think we are in the minority. Seeing how the skins in shops have become more and more flashy, that certainly seems to be the way to make money. If this contest was decided by popular opinion, it would be pay to win. :P
Awesome
oGsShadow (absolutely epic demon)
DrSoprano (for a throwback to Conan and King Zad from Dar, the Beastmaster TV series)

Honorable mention
Sorastae, ideally without weapon effect, which looks cheap
nice
"
Foreverhappychan wrote:
Tell us through the overall costume what this character is like. And if the message is 'just another power fantasy character demon angel glowing eyes BADAAASSSS', Well...we've all seen that before a hundred times.

No idea how many people they have judging, but I hope at least one of them thinks like this as that is the only way I will get noticed :)
Other than that one exception (which is so obvious I don't even need to specify which one I am talking about) these are all pretty awful.

And the poses make them even worse.

To be fair to the people entering, "Give us your best MTX-fueled generic power fantasy" was never going to be the most compelling set of parameters.

I think "Create a theme, the more unusual the better, and then use your MTXs to meet it" would be a much more interesting one. Do that next time.

@GGG You're welcome.
Wash your hands, Exile!
panem et circenses
“Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.”
― Christopher Hitchens
My QoL List: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3279646
links, they're confusing.
Last edited by MaJoStRdeRaN#6048 on Jun 19, 2022, 4:31:37 PM
"
Antigegner wrote:
panem et circenses


This is a big part of a community team's job.
I wrote another book. It's better than the first one, and those who liked the first so far agree. Can't really ask for much more than that.
.
Last edited by ponchoking#1265 on Jun 21, 2022, 5:15:21 PM

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