I would like for cosmetic effects caused by things like the borg set or the Reman Covariant shield to be available independent of the items that currently grant them. It would be preferable to have these as options unlocked through the obtainment of these sought after items or sets but if the only way to do this is to just open them up to all that would be better than having to lose the cosmetic effect to optimization.

tl;dr version. Don't take away my Reman Shield effect just cause I need the aegis set! My ship looks so awesome with the Reman Shield effect!

I'd fully support this, one of the few good aspects of the character customisation feature in LOTRO. Drop equipment into your wardrobe (just a copy, not the actual item) then you can then wear it as a cosmetic item. Better yet it's account wide.

you'll just start the pvp whiners again, like when we asked for the colour change for weapons to remain available, or better yet clientside. "oh but i dont know what they are shooting at me "

they will just cry they dont know what weapons to use against your setup, and that will be the end of that. or at least it better unless they allow us our weapon colour change

Why would they? Weapons is one thing, but set visuals is quite another.
You can already turn off the visuals of all sets/items in the game so I don't see how having purely cosmetic visuals would be any different than that in terms of PvP.

Now see... I'm the exact opposite. If you like the Reman shield look so much then stick with it. The Aegis set may perform better but it just doesn't have that look. I'm running the Reman shields and don't think I'll ever give them up. It gives visual aesthetics some weight when people are doing a buildout.

Yeah, those probably won't be set or available for cosmetic reasons because of the concern "Wolf in sheep's clothing" its why the group is so resistant making some ships T5 or greater, and making some items in game from the tv/movies.

Method to the madness folks.

I wouldn't mind either way on this. I just wish that when I get hit, the visuals for my borg set didn't start to show anyway, even though they are disabled.

Heh. I guess I'm the complete opposite. I really like the Borg 'spaz out'. Makes me feel like my Ancile is more like the Enterprise towards the end of Next Generation - almost sentient herself and doing her own part to protect herself and her crew. I don't show the Borg equipment, but I do like the effects.

I wouldn't mind unbound cosmetic effects, but I do think they should be restricted to you owning the item or completing an achievement. The thought of eighty Miranda class cruisers in full Borg EVERYWHERE I go is horrifying.

To be honest, I always felt that the effects on a ships hull should come from the consoles you have equiped (not the shields you have). That way players could truely customise the way thier ship looks. I'd always hoping that 'all' the engines in the game would have different impulse effects as well, the same as all the deflector dishes (maybe one day this will be possable to have 4-5 basic deflector textures linked to the deflector you have installed.

I'm not sure I like the idea of been able to have an item effect without having the item installed. But, I do like the idea of having ship costume componants unlocked by content, for example special bridge modules, new engine models and the like.

I think the issue is with mainly pvp. It is usually the case that your class that gives some idea what you wil be doing in pvp. Whereas, with ship combat a great deal of it is based on your shields and the like.

Though, normal covarient and regenerative shields etc, don't have different effects so far as I'm aware, so how do players know the difference unless they give their opponent a shot anyway? I think the argument holds up less well due to the fact you can disable the effects and therefore make them look like standard gear anyway.