Helms vs Shoulders as the 'icon' of sets
Posted 11-04-2008 at 04:22 PM by Tonypablos
I was thinking about this today and I'd like to know either Blizzard's thoughts or even your own thoughts to this question: Why is it that Blizzard stated in the past that the shoulders were really the 'iconic' look to the set? My argument against this is the fact that the helm, in my opinion, is clearly a bigger iconic moment of the set than the shoulders are and thus should be viewed as that. This is not a post about saying you should have a rating on the helm, but more of musings of my own that I'd like to share with the Community.
As we all are aware, Blizzard stated a while back about how the shoulders of a set were the iconic part of any set they created. This is why a lot of them had agreed that the shoulders would have the highest rating. But really, is this true? When I look at a set, my first reaction is immediately to the helm, and shoulders possibly second. I will use for example the Season 3/Tier 6 warlock helm.
Looking at the helm, I immediately noticed the shape. It was a pretty demonic looking helm with some weird colors I have to admit. I was torn between loving the helm due to the fact it kinda represented the class: Demon sacraficing and demon using individuals. Satanic, demonic in their own form. But the colors were off. This definately made me pause...until I saw those wings come out of nowhere.
Now THAT alone made me go..omfg nerf locks. That was such a cool addon to their helms that I was jealous. At this time, I was playing a warrior and the warrior helm kinda looked silly due to the fact the whole set made you look like a giant human snow plow. Dwarves looked funnier in it too. But it wasn't the shoulders, which I do admit, were cool looking for each class, that caught my eye. That single trait with the helm is what did it and for every class, I seem to have my eyes aesthetically deviate to the helm first.
Maybe it's because of my nature to notice the face first before anything, but I think the helm is far more iconic.
So my question is this: Do you think that the shoulders are iconic? Or can it be another piece of gear you think is better? Also, why did Blizzard think of it as more iconic than any other set? Was it the stats? The looks?
As we all are aware, Blizzard stated a while back about how the shoulders of a set were the iconic part of any set they created. This is why a lot of them had agreed that the shoulders would have the highest rating. But really, is this true? When I look at a set, my first reaction is immediately to the helm, and shoulders possibly second. I will use for example the Season 3/Tier 6 warlock helm.
Looking at the helm, I immediately noticed the shape. It was a pretty demonic looking helm with some weird colors I have to admit. I was torn between loving the helm due to the fact it kinda represented the class: Demon sacraficing and demon using individuals. Satanic, demonic in their own form. But the colors were off. This definately made me pause...until I saw those wings come out of nowhere.
Now THAT alone made me go..omfg nerf locks. That was such a cool addon to their helms that I was jealous. At this time, I was playing a warrior and the warrior helm kinda looked silly due to the fact the whole set made you look like a giant human snow plow. Dwarves looked funnier in it too. But it wasn't the shoulders, which I do admit, were cool looking for each class, that caught my eye. That single trait with the helm is what did it and for every class, I seem to have my eyes aesthetically deviate to the helm first.
Maybe it's because of my nature to notice the face first before anything, but I think the helm is far more iconic.
So my question is this: Do you think that the shoulders are iconic? Or can it be another piece of gear you think is better? Also, why did Blizzard think of it as more iconic than any other set? Was it the stats? The looks?
Total Comments 13
Comments
 | They made the shoulders the highest rating b/c, aside from how iconic they are, they also offered the a smaller benefit stat-wise. So not having shoulders would not put you at a significant disadvantage. |
Posted 11-04-2008 at 04:39 PM by Caudates  |
| | My thought on why they chose the shoulders over the helm as iconic is the fact that people can and do turn off the display of the helm graphic. Which of course reduces the value of the helm as a visual reference to the player's gear. |
Posted 11-04-2008 at 05:06 PM by Tredivh  |
| | As a prot warrior, it's all about the shield. First time I saw a rival warrior pass me in Shatt with the Bulwark I was almost giddy.. The lock T6 wings are cool but they annoyed me after about 2 days (My raiding main is a lock), so I turned them off. |
| Posted 11-04-2008 at 05:32 PM by Vistigoth |
| |  Paladin T6 shoulders are far more iconic than its helm. |
| Posted 11-05-2008 at 01:31 AM by Klimpen |
| | maybe also because you will see your own character for like 90% of time from behind and therefore you can see the shoulder much better than the helm, legs, chest or gloves. |
| Posted 11-05-2008 at 03:41 AM by blackNess |
| | to be honest - I _allways_ disable the helm... I want my character to look like my character. Most helms look completely, totally, utterly awful (in my opinion, mind you!) Give me Iconic shoulders every day of the week. I remember getting the merciless gladiator's shoulders as an addition to my starting to tank kit and I said... Finally I look like a tank! Just my two cents anyway... |
| Posted 11-05-2008 at 07:37 AM by Aethelas |
| | shoulders ftw. and you can hide a helm you cant hide shoulders. plus T6 tanking shoulders tower over the helm  |
| Posted 11-05-2008 at 07:53 AM by hbombs |
| | Shoulder armor proportion is exaggerated in a lot of artwork and games because it gives a more muscular, intimidating look to the character portrayed. In contrast, exaggerating the head size usually has the opposite effect- think caricatures, bobbleheads, etc. The result is that shoulders comprise a bigger portion of a character, so more unique detail can be fit onto them and they're more visible to other players, therefore more "iconic". |
| Posted 11-05-2008 at 11:11 AM by phenk |
| | you can't turn your shoulder graphics off |
| Posted 11-05-2008 at 11:34 AM by bludwork |
| |  I like to turn off my pants graphic by putting them in my bags - now THATS iconic! |
| Posted 11-05-2008 at 11:46 AM by loquatious |
| | point that hasn't been brought up yet: gender bias. Male models have WAY bigger shoulder pads... especially draenei. So if your toon is a girl tank, then the helm probably looks more epic. Finally, the Shoulders do change the silhouette of the character a lot. |
| Posted 11-05-2008 at 04:05 PM by hanago |
| | Ever look at an orc in s2 shoulders? Mine looks about 7ft wide. Shoulders def stand out on orcs the most. Its really fun when I get on the Ram mount. |
| Posted 11-11-2008 at 09:00 AM by shanogre |
| |  remember the summer of '07 when they nerfed the size of the shoulders graphics? if I remember right I was playing my 44 orc warrior at the time and it really ticked me off. I think they put it back close to what it was before they nerfed it though. |
| Posted 11-18-2008 at 08:40 PM by Halandir |
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