Dawntrail graphics update is very disappointing.

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Originally Posted by lunartears

google drive here with the old faces

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NEAT!
I already nuked my old game backup, so I could not compare directly (silly me, should have thought ahead).

This is Keeper Face 101 (Or Moon Kitty Face 1):
https://i.imgur.com/VeEp61v.png

Purple: Pre 7.0, Gray: Post 7.0. As one can clearly see from the "splotching", the meshes are almost identical.
Largest difference would be the objects around the eyes but that is eyebrows, eye lashes etc.

Keeper Face 104 (Moon Kitty Face 4)
https://i.imgur.com/WZdYcDO.png
Definitely see more white here than on Face 1, especially around the nose. Face 4 has changed more than Face 1.

Face 4's nose curvature changed, ever so slightly. But keep in mind, this is a ridiculous zoom level.
https://i.imgur.com/emCeN86.png

Honestly I can't fault the meshes here. Au Ra may be a different story but even Keeper Face 4 is still DAMN CLOSE to the original.
They could adjust nose width and lips a bit to match it even better but these are tiny adjustments.

Face 1 is basically perfect. No wonder I had no issues with the update. :'D

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Originally Posted by Granyala

Definitely see more white here than on Face 1, especially around the nose. Face 4 has changed more than Face 1.

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So, as a heads up, the splotchy parts are helpful but the ratio of visible white vs purple isn’t necessarily an accurate indicator of how much has changed or stayed the same. In this example, areas that are purple are where the new mesh has less volume than the old in that spot. Where it’s white, the new mesh has more volume. The amount that it differs by is difficult to tell like this. Switching between them in a gif both in front view and side view would give you a clearer look at changes in profile. If an area is identical it will be flickering (z fighting) between purple and white. I can’t tell because it’s a still image but It appears like z fighting might be happening on the ear mesh? And above face 1’s right eye a bit maybe? Are those spots flickering when you rotate around?

Yeah the graphics update was a lot more lackluster than I was expecting. The new zones look great but everything else looks very meh. The gears the worst offender I've found, barely any of the old gear has been updated and even some of the new gear is still super pixilated. Koanas gear's so low res despite being one of the main characters of the new expansion it's hard not to notice it.

I know they said this is only the first wave of updates but it's hard to believe they'll fix everything janky.

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Originally Posted by Cheapshot

So, as a heads up, the splotchy parts are helpful but the ratio of visible white vs purple isn’t necessarily an accurate indicator of how much has changed or stayed the same.

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The smaller the splotches, the more the meshes are the same. The larger the areas, the more difference you have.
Considering that we have low poly meshes (EW: 1356 Triangles for the base face, to 3044 in DT) with rather large, flat surfaces here that is accurate enough.

This comparison would not work on a mesh with hyper detail, because it gives no indication on how much a vertex deviates from the other surface.
(sheesh this is difficult to put into words.. :'D )

Yeah ears are fairly identical.
In "flickering" gifs you are still subject to optical illusions from one static angle. So I consider these not very helpful either.
Differences between Meshes like this have to be seen in the actual 3D application, where you can move the camera and analyze different parts in X-Ray mode etc.

And of course the Elephant in the room: Textures. Lets face it (pun intended): the mesh is only a small part of the equation.
Even if it is nearly identical, normal maps and diffuse textures can still change the appearance completely.

If you want to make a gif anyhow, here are cleaned up shots from the Ortho cam:
https://i.imgur.com/V8PXJ5M.png
Dawntrail Miqo 104

https://i.imgur.com/iIQ2KIx.png
Endwalker Miqo 104