The "Gear" system in Marvel's Avengers takes a different approach to looter mechanics found in most other games. Usually, when a player finds and equips loot to their characters or weapons, said characters and weapons take on the appearance of the loot. In Marvel's Avengers, however, the loot doesn't change the outward appearance of a character. It only makes minor alterations, such as changing the color of a character's attacks — sometimes.
PlayStation Trophies recently had the opportunity to ask Crystal Dynamics why Marvel's Avengers Gear system worked like this when other popular loot systems, such as Destiny 2's armor and weapons, changed the appearance of a player's character. Vince Napoli — Marvel's Avengers' Lead Combat Designer — answered their question on behalf of the studio.
According to Napoli, Crystal Dynamics wanted to create a loot system that stayed true to the Marvel universe's look and feel. Marvel's Avengers is supposed to be a homage to Marvel's 80-year history, and so the developer didn't want to add anything that didn't actually fit with Marvel. For example, Crystal wanted to add status effects to the game but decided against it because the studio didn't feel the idea meshed with the Marvel universe.
Essentially, Crystal didn't want — as PlayStation Trophies so elegantly put it — to have Thor flying around with a "unicorn-pink hammer" because it wouldn't make sense to the Marvel universe. Marvel's Avengers will also feature all kinds of alternative skins that give the characters entirely different looks, such as a Hulk skin that turns him into Mr. Joe Fixit. Adding cosmetic-changing gear on top of that would make things messy.
Napoli also says that forcing players to look a specific way in order to be powerful tends to backfire most of the time, so he believes there are some significant benefits to Crystal Dynamics' decision to separate cosmetic changes from power upgrades, and he's right about that. Most players don't like having to use specific gear to be powerful because the concept clashes with the idea of personal customization.
All that said, there will be some Marvel's Avengers Gear that does have unique visual appearances while the player uses them. Napoli calls them Exotic Artifacts and describes them as unique items that come from all corners of Marvel's lore, including the most obscure of comics. Napoli doesn't give an exact example of what these are, but he does hint that some come from Doctor Strange's universe.
Marvel's Avengers releases September 4 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in development.
Source: PlayStation Trophies