http://twitpic.com/2xlsfg

...What?

Really Blizzard?

That helmet looks like something the Witch Doctor would wear.

I mean... Geez! I don't care if you're 50 feet in the air, that thing still won't look right.

I think it looks sweet.

I understand the scrutiny of these things, like, what else are you supposed to do? And we're showing them off like this so we totally expect it. I sort of wish we had also included shots of what they actually look like in-game though, because there's literally no time where you'll be looking at a character head-on like this at such a close distance. (although likely in a character selection screen which doesn't exist yet...)

All development is done for game-cam. We play to game-cam, because that's what you're going to see things from. We could have a ton of varying circlets with different jewel arrangements. We could do a head piece that's a sort of small cap, or a dozen different types of small caps. But it would most likely be be wasted effort as you'd never be able to tell what they were. So there tends to be fewer, but bolder colors. There tends to be more pronounced sections of the armor, and a bit less minute detail. The sets also tend to be very bold and have a unique look, but (and maybe most importantly) maintain a coherent silhouette and look throughout all the items. The wizard in particular tends to have larger headdresses.

I also saw that fan edit of the female witch doctor, and it was pretty cool. Kudos to that guy for some nice shop'in. In my personal opinion I think that it was a bit too busy, a lot of that's going to be lost and just make the character look messy from a distance. It's also a bit too much. Remember these are very early sets. You get too crazy early on and you're making the later items not look as awesome.

Funny enough, art is subjective.

We aren't looking for suggestions or feedback in this case though, we've completed all male and female wizard armor and don't intend to go back. Forward! Onward! Upward!

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Q u o t e:
Yes art is subjective, but if more people dislike it than like it after we see it in game and you dont alter it then that is just arrogant.

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Well when you're wearing it for only a few levels, or maybe not even at all if a helm in that level range doesn't drop for you, I'm not sure it's as big a deal as you think it is.

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Q u o t e:
*cracks a joke*
You think that hats bad, just wait till you see the fifth class!

Photoshopped the helm ingame:
http://i53.tinypic.com/10s81w2.jpg

Dunno bashiok, still looks a bit....... Kingdom hearts?

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This is getting really nitpicky now, but the angle isn't what you'd see in-game. The render is head-on. Game cam is not.

Anyway, this has turned into a rather nasty fight, which tells me that there are enough people that like it that we're doing ok. I'm locking this thread, anyway.

In general though, the helmet and shoulders are the places where there's a lot of space to get the look "out". To spread out and show big shapes and designs and really communicate what the set is about. So for all classes, the shoulders and helmets are where you're going to see the biggest shapes. That's also reinforced by the fact that makes sense due to the top-down nature of the camera angle.