Skin

A skin in the context of Guild Wars refers to the model and texture used for a particular object, generally weapons, and armor. The word skin is far more popular in the vernacular than among graphics programmers, who prefer more precise descriptors. Technically, skin refers strictly to the 2D textures covering the 3D model (the wireframe mesh) rather than both the model and the art.

Many objects with the same functional properties can be found in several skins. For example, a Longbow can be found as (an incomplete list):


 * Amber Longbow
 * Ascalon Bow (longbow type)
 * Bramble Longbow
 * Celestial Longbow
 * Jade Longbow
 * Longbow
 * Naga Longbow
 * Storm Bow

Each weapon type can also have several unique skins. Some examples, again for longbows:


 * Ahvha's Longbow
 * Elswyth's Longbow
 * Ironwing Longbow
 * Lorelle's Longbow
 * Tarnok's Longbow

Some weapons will have the same name, but different skins. For instance Elonian Daggers, Elonian Blades or War Hammers can have several different models. In some cases, the appearance seems to be generally dependent on the rarity of the weapon, with a few exceptions (purple weapons having sometime the skin for either blue or gold versions).

Conversely some skins are shared between different weapons. For instance one version of the War Hammer shares the same model as the Giant Slayers Hammer, the Ram's Hammer and the Swamp Club.

The rarer a skin is, the more sought after it tends to be. For instance, axes of the Dwarven skin and swords of the Elemental skin seem to be the rarest items in the game, and are thus worth a great deal.