Talk: Skins

Okay, I added templates and pages to the skins that were already uploaded.

I'm not in the beta, so that's as far as I can get on with it.

Awesome work, I have some screens, so I'll do what I can to crop them and upload asap (probs monday)! Thanks a bunch, looks great! --Z3ther (talk) 20:59, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

Sorry for all the spam-edits lately, I was just doing minor tweaks to most of the skin pages. Later I plan to separate the qualities in rows in the skins templates. As for the broken links, as I said, I can't upload'em myself.
Speaking of which, does anyone have a link to some gallery with all the skins in high resolution? I could try to upload them from that.
Krupam (talk)

Exactly How Many Skins?

The page notes that there's currently "253 non-default skins" and "32 skins that can not be obtained in loot boxes" and I'm having trouble figuring out how they arrived at this number.

As of 14 January 2017, we've got 23 heroes, each with at least 4 Rares, 2 Epics, and 4 Legendaries. So that's 230 non-default skins. Additionally, each hero has a few extras from event skins:

• Ghoul Ana (1)
• Tombstone, Overgrown, & BlizzCon 2016 Bastion (3)
• Taegeuki D.Va (1)
• Nihon & Oni Genji (2)
• Demon Hanzo (1)
• Dr. Junkenstein Junkrat (1)
• Andes, Selecao, & Striker Lucio (3)
• American & Scrooge McCree (2)
• Mei-rry Mei (1)
• Eidgenossin & Witch Mercy (2)
• Possessed, Frostbite, & Security Chief Pharah (3)
• Shiver, Pumpkin, & Blackwatch Reyes Reaper (3)
• Coldhardt, Balderich, & Greifhardt Reinhardt (3)
• Rudolph & Junkenstein's Monster Roadhog (2)
• Immortal & Strike Commander Morrison Soldier: 76 (2)
• Peppermint Sombra (1)
• Vampire Symmetra (1)
• Tre Kronor & Santaclad Torbjorn (2)
• Slipstream, Sprinter, Track and Field, & Jingle Tracer (4)
• Tricolore & Noire Widowmaker (2)
• Yeti Winston (1)
• Frosted, Champion, & Weightlifter Zarya (3)
• Skullyatta & Nutcracker Zenyatta (2)

Which brings my count to 46 and our total non-default skins to 276. Did I screw up my math somewhere? I didn't want to just jump in and make an edit without getting someone else to double-check my math, as I did only just sign up to join this wiki today. --JonnySplat (talk) 17:24, 14 Jan 2017 (UTC)

If your observation of each character having 4 rares, 2 epics, and 4 legendary each, then adding the special skins, you should have 276 non-default skins, yes. Which if we include default skins, comes up to 299 skins in total. --Gills97 (talk) 19:02, 14 January 2017 (UTC)

Yep, 276 total non-default is correct. The only off thing I noticed in your event-skin list is that Greifhardt and Balderich are included. They're regular cosmetics, so Reinhardt has 2 more legendaries than everyone else. That makes 232 non-event skins and 44 event skins. Looks like the page's total hasn't been updated since October which is why it's off by so much. - TheModster (talk) 19:16, 14 January 2017 (UTC)

So JonnySplat, if you were wanting to, you can freely do the edit, so you can get Wiki Points or whatever, unless you wanted somebody else to do it. I believe most edits can be made anytime, and if they are incorrect, another user usually follows up and clears it. But it's still good to verify like the way you did, because numbers can get confusing sometimes :b --Gills97 (talk) 19:25, 14 January 2017 (UTC)

Good to hear. Thanks everyone! --JonnySplat (talk) 02:12, 17 Jan 2017 (UTC)

Collapsed

Is there a reason the skin templates have to be collapsed? I think it makes it really cumbersome to browse all the different skins. --Doomsmurf (talk) 18:59, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Because I used the same templates on hero pages, I thought it felt a bit obtrusive. Could be just me, though, might change it later. --Krupam (talk)--

Ok, that's fair. Not a big deal but I just think when I click on a skin to see a larger image, I typically will go back and look at another one. The problem is when you go back to the previous page. The section will re-collapse after loading the page. This is what makes it really cumbersome. So unless there is a way to remember the client's collapsed/expanded state for each section, I really think we should default them to be expanded. I would be happy to make the change in the 21 templates. --Doomsmurf (talk) 19:44, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Ideally I'd like to make it pop in the same window that you're in with the ability to browse through all pictures on the page, kinda like it is for example on Wikipedia, but, surprisingly, I have no idea how to do that.
I'm also considering kicking out all the skin-specific pages, 'cause they're kinda obsolete anyway and just clog up the wiki, but eh, it was like that when I started taking care of cataloguing the skins and just rolled with it. If I knew how to remove pages, I'd probably do it, though. --Krupam (talk)--

I noticed on my phone that it did allow me to navigate to the next and previous picture of the skins for a certain hero. Doomsmurf (talk) 16:10, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Redesigned Lúcio skins

Heard Lúcio's rare skins have been redesigned in recent patches, anyone got 1920x1080 screenshots? --Krupam (talk)--

I can try to get those tonight. I'm not sure how to crop properly though. I put in the new Soldier:76 ones last night but I'm not sure if they're ok. If you want I could just upload the whole screenshot. Doomsmurf (talk) 16:10, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

For cropping, for most heroes I simply overlay the full screenshot with this in Gimp and cut out all that is covered by the black area. Only for Winston I flip the overlay upside-down, 'cause it cuts off his feet otherwise.
Anyway, I updated those two skins with screenshots from Overpwn, just to remove the UI bit. I took all the other skins from there as well. I think all of the "1st generation" skins still have UI bits in them and m'pretty sure they're in a slightly worse quality than the newer ones, but I'll take care of that once I get to the game, not sooner than in Open Beta. Maybe. It'd be quite a tedious task, so I'd rather do it myself. --Krupam (talk)--

Lucio skins with links on reddit

Page deletion

I've been thinking, should we just delete all the skin-specific pages? I've been making those because that's the way it was started at the time, but now I kinda feel like they're kind of redundant, considering that all the relevant information is contained in the templates anyway. Personally, I think it's best to just make the thumbnails link directly to the picture (instead of the file page) and boot out all the small pages altogether. Anyway, I'll leave the decision to someone who actually has the ability to do that. --Krupam (talk)--

Skin-Specific Quotes

This section is missing a LOT of them. Isn't there exhaustive list? For example, I know that Cruiser d.Va will sometimes say "cruisin for a bruisin'" and "get bent". - 68.190.118.115 22:58, 1 February 2022 (UTC)

Template include size is exceeded

The number of templates that can be included in the heroes skin page is exceeded, so now it doesn't show Zenyatta and Zarya's skins :( . How can we change that ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ana s second daughter (talk • contribs)

I don't know there's much we can do without reworking the skin templates, maybe using cargo. We could try to make them lighter, but I don't think we'll be able to shave that much off and it will eventually hit the same issue with more skins being released. On the other hand though, is it necessary in the first place to have a page that lists all skins? It might be better to just do away with it and improve the navigation between the cosmetic pages. In my opinion, the page is not very user friendly, due to being so long, and I doubt it is used that often. — taQtaQ (talk) 19:35, 13 March 2023 (UTC)

Which skins belong in the "limited-time event" category?

Right now the category has all the OW1 skins that were unlocked after winning 9 arcade game while the event was going on but only a couple skins from OW2 that were only available for purchase (Pink Mercy and LE SSERAFIM SKINS)

I think the category should only include the skins that were unlocked after winning arcade games.

If we want to go the direction of adding the OW2 skins that could be purchased, we also need to add the Cowboy Bebop, Transformers, WoW, and Porche skins. I think this would be a bad idea because that's a slippery slope. Including all skins that were technically part of the events would also include Valentines Day 2023, Thai New Year, Starwatch, Questwatch, Mirrowatch, and much much more to the point that it would drown out the important part of this category which was the arcade exclusive skins.

Heck, most seasonal shop exclusive skins are not too different from those event skins because they were all purchasable for just a limited time. Plus, we've already seen the Porche and LE SSERAFIM skins return, so they are not any more exclusive either.

Alternatively, we could separate the two into different categories if that makes the most sense.

Thoughts? Tagging User:Cheekynando since you are the only other main contributor to this page besides myself that I've noticed. Anybody can chime in of course.

--Mrmuffins951 (talk) 17:22, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

Just to note, I don't like this section of this page. It's a bit bland and the information is up for interpretation, especially with which OW2 skins should and shouldn't be here.

I can agree to some extent. This section is mostly to list any skins obtained through Limited-time events, but lately all skins associated to such events have been only available through the Shop, and as you stated, differing between what's a shop skin or event skin can become vague if the event in question was season-themed, as it was with Cosmic Crisis.

Limiting this section to only OW1 skins would require it to be specifically labelled or specified somewhere that it's only for OW1 skins, but as an Overwatch wiki, we should consider OW2 skins too, even if it's under a separate header. Trouble with OW2 limited events, a lot of the cosmetics could just be viewed as typical Shop cosmetics for that season, such as with the Cosmic Crisis event in S9 being the season's theme.

That being said, despite OW2 shop skins being essentially as rare as these limited-time skins, it's noticeably different in that the limited-time ones are linked to a one-off event that usually isn't seasonal-themed, which is only really Collab skins.

If, for OW2 skins, you limit this section to only the ones achievable through challenges, that greatly reduces the amount obtainable and removed a lot of the collaboration skins. You could have the collab skins be exceptions, given they're usually required to be sold in the Shop to generate a profit for both Blizzard and their collab partner, but that's pushing it a bit.

I personally think this section definitely needs a re-do or made into a separate page altogether. If a separate page, you can do something similar to the Themed skins page, where it shows the skins image, rarity, etc, to clearly show the skins. Either way, splitting the section into OW1 and OW2 is a good idea, but it'd be worth noting which OW1-exclusive skins have returned in OW2 (like Pink Mercy).

Also, limited-time skins that reappear in the shop are still considered limited-time, so long as it's not a frequently appearing cosmetic or one that becomes available through other means (I.e, Twitch drops), but in the case of shop skins, just listed the collab ones would be best.

I'd suggest do doing what feels right, so long as it doesn't remove any of the information but rather reorganise it into some better format. Worst comes to worst, an admin disagrees and reverts it.

--Cheekynando (talk) 22:58, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

Are we running out of space here???

Hi User:Cheekynando,

Why do you keep removing my edits to the section about starter pack and ultimate battle pass skins under Obsolete Methods? Are we running out of space on this page? Are you worried about it becoming outdated? I'm perfectly fine with updating that each season like I already did for the current season and all the other seasons.

It kinda feels like vandalism the way you keep purging all my edits. Your most recent edit on 10/15 is the third time you've removed an edit I made. You did the same thing on 6/17 and 8/15.

Also, please stop adding the part season 8 onwards starter pack and ultimate battle pass skins being available for purchase with coins because that is factually incorrect. That change was reverted at the start of Season 11, so it only applies for seasons 8-10

--Mrmuffins951 (talk) 21:27, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

Hi. So, it's more so a factor of what this means in the long run. The game is only 13 seasons in, which in fairness is a considerable long time, but if the game continues to run for 30+ seasons (aka, like ~2 more years), and they continue to add 2 seasonal packs each season, with ~6 seasons a year, it'll take a bunch of space on the page that's essentially repetitive data saying the same thing: ultimate pass bundles and starter bundles are seasonal, shop exclusive bundles that don't come back after their season passes.

I mean, having 21 bullet points to specify which skins go with which season, seems more to show which skins are exclusive rather than just saying the method itself is obsolete. Updating sections for seasonal content is fine, I'm just considering how this'll look once season 20 hits (in literally like, 1 year) and it's up to ~33 bullet points (and that's not counting the sub-points of when the skins were available again). I'm not worried about it being outdated, just that it's unnecessary work that you could simplify to 2 or 3 points, that don't need consistent updating.

Also, I didn't know about the coins thing being discontinued in S11, sorry. And sry for undoing your edits on this section multiple times, I more than likely just forgot about removing them previously and just thought it was deja vu or something, mb. And my edit on 6/17 was just to remove the invasion bundle & Vigilante skin from the section since they're not obsolete (and still in-game).

Regardless, I'm not that intensely passionate about saving this one page's space, nor do I want to argue over it, so I won't undo your edits on this section again (again, sry for it happening multiple times). But do consider saving yourself work and just simplifying this section, because sooner or later it'll take up the majority of the page.

--Cheekynando (talk) 22:57, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for taking the time to reply and explaining your thoughts here. I see what you're saying about the way it'll look long term, but I'm okay with updating this until Blizzard officially makes those skins available permanently. I know the information is important to some people based on how often people talk about those $40 skins on Reddit. Plus, the page will need to be continually updated as more BlizzCon and collab skins are released.

I'll definitely consider reformatting it to save space if I have the time, so thank you for the suggestion.

--Mrmuffins951 (talk) 21:14, 23 October 2024 (UTC)