I don't think it's crazy to say that the current way apparel is categorized isn't very effective. This is really expanding on the Neck apparel category thread, but I didn't want to bombard them with this wall of text!
Body Part Categories are Often Useless or Incorrect
Items that are on a dragon's neck are classified as head items or body items randomly (which was addressed in another thread), but the problems branch out from there. Many of the items in the "extras" category are necklaces, bags, and books, which should obviously fit into other categories, but are lumped there seemingly randomly.
It doesn't help that the Extras slot isn't really defined. I thought it was for items that change places on different breeds and poses(animals) or aren't attached to the dragon(flowerfalls), but it's hard to tell with the item clutter.
I can only guess picking the slot is done by AI, since some of the choices couldn't have been made by a person with human eyes looking at all poses:
(v Head Apparel, Probably Should be Extra v)
Database items can have changes suggested, but in the time the database has existed there are still multiple inconsistencies. Unless there are no players at all reporting incorrect slots, glaring issues (ex: Autumn Breeze being a head item while other seasonal breezes are extras) should really have been fixed by now.
Incorrect apparel slot types make finding apparel for certain parts of the body unnecessarily difficult.
Apparel Lines and Sets with Confusing Naming
This problem was expressed by a Tumblr post, but here's the gist of it:
1. Chitinous Armor was released as Chitinous Armor, but only 3 apparel pieces in the apparel line have the word "chitin" in the name, and only 4/6 of the line has "chitin" in the description. There is no way to go into the database and see all of the Chitinous Armor at once.
2. All of the recolors of a line have unique and creative names that often have nothing to do with the actual color. Trying to find the color chitin you want requires either knowing the set name off the top of your head, or having to use color searching.
3. Items in lines can have completely different names than apparel in other lines, despite being almost exactly the same item. Mage's Socks and Adjudicator Footies are very similar apparel items in design, but one can only be found by searching for "footies" and the other for "socks." They're both socks. Combine this problem with incorrect body categories and you can see how people get frustrated.
Trying to find apparel items on the spot in the dressing room is frustratingly difficult due to naming inconsistencies.
Potential Solutions
It would be a huge endeavor, but adding item lines to the descriptions would be a huge help. Ex., everything released as Chitinous Armor has "Item Line: Chitinous Armor" in the description. No more item hopping in the database!
The suggest a change button in the database already exists, but I can still hope for more responsive, simple(?) category swaps. A polling system on the page probably wouldn't work, but it's an idea.
Have more, and more specific body slots. You don't need to get too specific, but including Necks, Hands, Feet, etc. would help defeat that "socks aren't called socks" problem while letting staff keep their funny apparel names.
It'd be nice to get a proper definition of what the Extras slot is for. Is it just some necklaces or just some rings? Sometimes it can be difficult to tell what's a bug or a feature, so to speak.
There're probably way more people could add in the comments!
TL;DR
The apparel organization system is inconsistent and unmoderated, making finding apparel in the dressing room or the database needlessly difficult and turning people away from being creative with their dragons.
Body Part Categories are Often Useless or Incorrect
Items that are on a dragon's neck are classified as head items or body items randomly (which was addressed in another thread), but the problems branch out from there. Many of the items in the "extras" category are necklaces, bags, and books, which should obviously fit into other categories, but are lumped there seemingly randomly.
It doesn't help that the Extras slot isn't really defined. I thought it was for items that change places on different breeds and poses(animals) or aren't attached to the dragon(flowerfalls), but it's hard to tell with the item clutter.
I can only guess picking the slot is done by AI, since some of the choices couldn't have been made by a person with human eyes looking at all poses:
(v Head Apparel, Probably Should be Extra v)
Database items can have changes suggested, but in the time the database has existed there are still multiple inconsistencies. Unless there are no players at all reporting incorrect slots, glaring issues (ex: Autumn Breeze being a head item while other seasonal breezes are extras) should really have been fixed by now.
Incorrect apparel slot types make finding apparel for certain parts of the body unnecessarily difficult.
Apparel Lines and Sets with Confusing Naming
This problem was expressed by a Tumblr post, but here's the gist of it:
1. Chitinous Armor was released as Chitinous Armor, but only 3 apparel pieces in the apparel line have the word "chitin" in the name, and only 4/6 of the line has "chitin" in the description. There is no way to go into the database and see all of the Chitinous Armor at once.
2. All of the recolors of a line have unique and creative names that often have nothing to do with the actual color. Trying to find the color chitin you want requires either knowing the set name off the top of your head, or having to use color searching.
3. Items in lines can have completely different names than apparel in other lines, despite being almost exactly the same item. Mage's Socks and Adjudicator Footies are very similar apparel items in design, but one can only be found by searching for "footies" and the other for "socks." They're both socks. Combine this problem with incorrect body categories and you can see how people get frustrated.
Trying to find apparel items on the spot in the dressing room is frustratingly difficult due to naming inconsistencies.
Potential Solutions
It would be a huge endeavor, but adding item lines to the descriptions would be a huge help. Ex., everything released as Chitinous Armor has "Item Line: Chitinous Armor" in the description. No more item hopping in the database!
The suggest a change button in the database already exists, but I can still hope for more responsive, simple(?) category swaps. A polling system on the page probably wouldn't work, but it's an idea.
Have more, and more specific body slots. You don't need to get too specific, but including Necks, Hands, Feet, etc. would help defeat that "socks aren't called socks" problem while letting staff keep their funny apparel names.
It'd be nice to get a proper definition of what the Extras slot is for. Is it just some necklaces or just some rings? Sometimes it can be difficult to tell what's a bug or a feature, so to speak.
There're probably way more people could add in the comments!
TL;DR
The apparel organization system is inconsistent and unmoderated, making finding apparel in the dressing room or the database needlessly difficult and turning people away from being creative with their dragons.
