Firstly, does anyone else think that the armor in http://elderscrolls.com/skyrim/media/screenshots/ice-wraiths/ screenshot looks like a better, more Nordic version of Madness Armor from Shivering Isles?

Secondly, how do you think they are going to handle armor in Skyrim, as in, do you think there will only be certain sets of leveled armor like in Oblivion, or will there be a better variety, or something else? Of course there are no armor skills anymore, but do you think they will still make some sort of distinction between "heavy" and "light" armor or will they just give each piece of armor an armor rating and a weight and call it a day? I've been curious as to how armor will be different than before. Any and all input is welcome.

i believe this armor was shown in another screenshot and was said to be elven armor. and im inclined to agree mainly do to the feather like designs on it

yea, probly elven

I think they'll be just one Armor skill. We'll have perks for specialization like light, medium, and heavy.

Oh, interesting. I see the elven qualities in it now. I still think it looks slightly like Madness Armor, though.

I'm still FAR more interested in that sword he's carrying. Elven Glass? I wonder if we'll see other such combinations of materials, such as Nordic Silver?

Oh, that'd make sense, but I thought they said they got rid of armor skills completely? Or am I just misguided?

I totally agree. That sword looks absolutely amazing. But wait, where'd you get the idea of it being "Elven Glass"? It doesn't look glass to me.

Kind of logical. Any skills you learn in how to maneuver in heavy armor would certainly be of use to you if you wore light armor, but the reverse isn't necessarily guaranteed.

They never said that AFAIK.

Hm. I wonder where I got that idea.

Many others have mentioned the same a long while ago. The sword is tinted green.

no offense but it looks nothing like madness armor http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSIoOXPRMM5wo4euV2S8AIH35BI62tdWwayvZDPjsGbuXy6yGqbWQ&t=1

I guess it has a bit of a greenish tint to it, but it still looks nothing like a glass weapon to me. Well, whatever the material is, it looks like an awesome sword.

The mysterious Elven Glass sword got mentioned again in the article in Level (swedish mag) I posted about yesterday, and yes thats exactly what they called it (I think it has been brought up before in some of the older coverages, right?). They said it was found in a random chest during the demo. Not sure we should read too much into this, but still interesting I guess.

The armour is elven. It has also been seen in concept art and labelled "Elven armour". The sword looks elven in style with a glass blade (except the glass is much less bright than in MW and OB). It's possible it's just the lighting and the blade is actually metal, though. On the other hand, one article mentioned there being an "elven glass shortsword" in the demo.

I don't think it'd really make sense if they keep armour skills - they could easily do it by having a character with higher replacement strength, and therefore higher encumbrance, can actually hold the bigger armours. Wearing it, in real life, isn't a skill. It's clothing

People will respond that it is a skill, and in a way they're right, but they vastly exxagerate the skill involved. If they have a skill for different types of armours, they should have at least 1 skill for each individual weapon type. Last I checked they had seperate martial arts for pretty much every weapon. Do they have that for wearing armour? Didn't think so.

The weapon that they have has been debated, and there are a lot of valid speculatory points. My personal opinion is that it's glass, but that is only hedging on the bet that http://cdnstatic.gamesas.com/akqacms/files/tes/screenshots/WolvesHealMace_wLegal.jpg isn't dwarven. If the mace is, in fact, elven, then the style just seems far too different for that sword to be elven as well. Plus there's the matter of http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/1/17166/1698259-artofskyrim_008_elvenfemhalberd_super.jpg, which looks elven, but is dissimilar to the armor that's actually labeled as elven, and it possesses green designs that would fit with the sword shown in the screenshot. The idea is that the concept picture there is the new glass armor, which is stylized in elven fashion and is made of mostly metal with glass accents, like it was http://images.uesp.net//5/5d/MW_Armor_GlassM.jpg. If it is glass, then it's likely taking a less-fluorescent approach to volcanic glass (that isn't Obsidian) that looks more like http://jamesradke.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/radke_c240319.jpg, http://www.occpaleo.com/images/560_aztecknife.JPG, and http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/PeleTears_large.jpg.

It could just be that elven glass armor is a light armor equivalent to heavy elven armor. The elven armor in this game looks pretty heavy, while the concept looks rather light.

Other possibilities include that it is Dwarven armor, a strange looking female variant of elven armor (of which we've only seen the male version of), or a concept that won't be used ever because it was supposed to be elven armor but they went with a different design instead.

I can't help but think only one armor skill is quite weird? There is no specialization, everyone wears some kind of armor, it would be like a forced skill.
I'd rather have just a heavy armor skill to reduce maluses given by wearing heavy armors... Would make more sense to me.

Well, There was an interview in which Todd said there will be more armor styles then in Oblivion, and we would be seeing some styles from older games :celebration: