Official Blizzard Quote:
Diablo: @bbcmilk We're focusing on customization through items as they can be seen better from how far away the camera is from the character.
Of course, the lack of facial customization is not new to the series, nor is the focus on armor customization. In both Diablo I and II, characters could not be customized outside of the 3 tiers of armor visuals. In Diablo I, this was very fixed, with light medium and heavy armor each featuring a fixed look. In Diablo II, this was expanded to have each limb change based on what armor was worn, in addition to the helmet changing based on what characters chose to fill that slot.
But, to compare what seems to be in place for Diablo III with the rest of the series, would put the past two titles to shame.
If we can recall from the original gameplay video, the Barbarian got an armor upgrade at roughly 5:20. Six pieces of armor drop, and each piece of armor is equipped to a specific slot. Each piece of armor also affects the look of the Barbarian. In Diablo II when a character equipped gloves or boots, they did not actually show up on the character, instead the chest plate determined the entire look of the armor (outside of the helmet and shield, of course). However, from the gameplay video we can see that even the boots and gloves, and a new slot reserved for leggings each fill a unique slot in the visual representation of the characters armor. Equip gloves, and it affects how your hands look, boots affect your feet, leggings affect your legs, and so on.
One more thing to consider, is unique armor. Simply put, will unique armor look like it's base item, or will it look like something else entirely? Now of course, this could result in a lack of diversity due to customization, since most people would deck their characters out with the most powerful unique items and leave it at that. Yet, unique items in the past games have all featured unique inventory sprites, as well as often applying a unique coloration to the armor representation on the character. I see no reason why this would be changed with Diablo III.
Which, brings me to my next point of speculation; armor and weapon dyes. Once more, I see no reason why these would not or could not be implemented. Back in Diablo II, magical properties and rare items would both affect the coloration of the base item. To put this into the hands of the player as a freely customizable option would be a wise, and undoubtedly welcome mechanic. Players would be able to not only choose the look of their armor through the base item, but further customize by way of dye.
Of course, the latter portion of this article is only speculation, but knowing Blizzard, they're cooking something up far beyond our expectations.
Anyways love Ophions idea of flaming gear. I think elemental effects will look sweet. Also very curious to see what the "animal armor" will look like and how it will function.
I hope there are dyes you can find or buy that will allow to change the color of the armor or weapon. I have a feeling if that is implemented then I think Blizzard may charge a micro-transaction for it since it is minor issue.
I have a feeling that uniques and if sets are in the game that they will have a unique look or add something that is unique to that items look.
Well we don't have to speculate on all of this. The barbs weapon appearance reflects the type of damage it does. the axe that causes lightning damage has electricity running through it, and the cold wep has frost on it. Hopefully they will do the same thing with the armors too. The thorns suffix (attacker takes damage) could also look really cool if this is the case.
Ha, right, I meant to say, "We don't have to speculate on ALL of it, since we know that it will exist on the weapons..."
Much like the item system of previous games, where you take a base item (sword) and apply modifiers to it:
With 3D, versus the 2D sprites of DI and DII, I would imagine you could do the same thing visually.
This concept allows them to create massive amounts of item, by creating base models, and applying effects that both modify the model itself, as well as visual effects.
With 3D, the artists no longer have to physically create actual images of every item they want to appear, so I would imagine the amount of items will be far larger and more unique.
e.g.:
Super Rare Epic Chest Piece (normal look)
Super Rare Epic Chest Piece of Flame (has a red texture applied)
Super Rare Epic Chest Piece of Frost (a part of it may glow blue)
Super Rare Epic Chest Piece of Pain (has some 3D spikes added to your back)
etc.
All of these modifiers could be allied other sets of armor.. etc.
~Mike~
Which is why rare and crafted items should be more powerful than uniques in some cases, so you always have a random item to look forwards to, and to search for.
And if something like what nalberg threw in for speculation (badass idea btw dude, I like it :D), we'd have a pretty solid amount of customization and variability between characters.
Personally, I think it would be much easier on the eyes to just give the armor a red tint (as nalberg suggested), same with electricity (yellow), and cold (blue).
Though, then with that you've gotta consider just how much the don't shot it button would have control over.
that's confirmed to be this way. the ones they showed on the barbarian was the highest damage value on the elements they showed on lower tier weapons. the first weapons (without glow effects) were higher tier items (did almost the same damage like the shiny ones overall).
on the armor part i'm pretty sure that the uniques and sets will have their own unique models/glow effects. color dyes would be a great way to make all of us hoarders that work on getting those items to make our characters look a bit different than the each other. perhaps the things we add in the sockets will make a difference on the visuals of the item too?
Imagine a barbarian wearing a "Vampiric Gloves" for life leech, "Emerald Armor" for poison resist, "Frost Crown" helm for cold resist/damage, etc... You will have each armor piece with glowing effects, spikes, skulls, rainbows, etc... You will be a mass of visual effecta and in the end, when you see that barbarian art work and see your high end gear you will find nothing in common.
Imo they should put more effort on pure armor models instead of add all this fancy stuff. I don't care if i can't visually see the magical enchancement of my armor.
Also I really hope they add some dye system. One problem i foresee is that, since every armor piece shows a unique graphic, your character will end up with a bunch of armors of different style/color. The dye could at least put all your gear in the same color pattern.
weapons with glow effects are good, though.
*edit*
i hadnt seen the previous post so i'll have to edit now to reply to it.
its all in the gameplay video. the only part that's not there is the highest effect that i read on an interview somewhere and i cant find it (been a while).
anyway, check the gameplay video 2:13 and you'll see the names of the weapons.
you remember the item Spitze, right? was tier 2 pickaxe if i remember right. also check the dps of those non-shiny weapons and the one with the elemental damage on it. the magic item (heavy axe - tier 1) has 27.6 while the white one has double - 56.4! both weapons did almost the same damage, only the glowing ones were used to show the glow effects.
what i ment was that they wanted the weapons to do overall the same damage. so they used better white weapons at first and changed them to lower tier weapons with added elemental effects to show what the engine can do.
it was a staged performance but not in matter of damage and such. the skills were actually working, just as the gamage calculations. only the item drops were fixed.
also what you said about how big the flames/glows etc are on the weapon, is what they said will be in the game. its just that the items in the gameplay video had the biggest glow you could have.
what i ment by "that's confirmed to be this way" was that the higher quality the enchantment is (frost, fire etc) the more impressive the glow will be. then i mentioned that the gameplay vid had the highest quality enchantments (in appearance) to show how the most impressive glow effects on weapons will be. at least when it comes to elemental damage anyway
you'll have to wait up and see for your self on release or just do some research yourself
still, we're getting news about more things, soon we'll get more news inc about character looks, itemization etc
but lowbies will get their goodies too