Updated benchmark

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Originally Posted by Evermomo

As for the cuteness, mooncats should be cute. Au Ra should be lizards, and I love the aloofness that comes with a pinned, bird-of-prey pupil. But that's just like, my opinion, man.

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I agree, I don't play Au Ra to look cute. I consider myself a part of the crowd that Yoshi-P meant when he said that he knows Au Ra players love that "dead and soulless eye look" (I do not mean I want to look soulless, I just prefer the "tired glare" - I feel like this description can only be understood by those who also like it). An aspect of my character that I value is the eyes and specifically the smaller pupils, taking away that piercing look just takes away my character and leaves me with a strange version (and it doesn't help that my lips were made noticable). I think the reason why there has been a notable amount of female Au Ra players who are happy with the changes on social networking sites is because they want to create cute characters and it's kind of become a stereotype as a result. I don't mean to come across as ignorant but I think with the way things were before, it was possible to create various Au Ra, but with the new graphics there is a clear homogenization making it difficult for people who prefer a strong or more mature female Au Ra appearance. And believe me I know they are meant to be dainty, it's just up to personal interpretation on how far you want them to be dainty. I don't really use emotes, but I think some of them are really silly and unconventional - but that's not really the point

I also agree about eye colour, eye texture changes and racial differences. I apologise for keeping my focus on the Au Ra but I feel like they are a very notably stylized race and that is why they seem to be suffering from strange facial discrepancies. I haven't seen or studied the male side as much so I can't comment but they definitely are included.

I made my own post on this when it came out, but I just want to throw this out here for Face 3 Miqote with Eye 3! Hopefully devs can make some changes :)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPJbTNka...name=4096x4096
More In-Depth Descriptions
Eyes: I've always thought the glowing nature of Seeker's eyes fit into their race and lore quite well, due to their more saturated palettes and "sun-kissed" type looks causing that constant glowy look all over. The updated shading system has made it so skin values are much lighter, causing a lack of contrast between the skin and lighter eye colors. This takes away the vibrancy and "glow" a ton. Lack of upper eyelash shadows on the eye also contribute to this lack of contrast, but only under some lighting. Darker colors look great with the saturation/lighting levels, but lighter ones just look muddy. Eye whites are too bright on most charas, and this is no exception either.
The irises themselves also just aren't as vibrant on their own anymore in most lighting scenarios. I tried lighter colors and they just look dull. During the actual benchmark, the eyes look completely underwhelming. TLDR: The eyes used to stand out, and now they don't.
Eye Shape: I initially picked Shape 3 due to how much more angular it was over others, I notice now how they have become rounder. The lack of eyelash shading as mentioned above may also be a contributing factor. There is hardly a difference between Eye 1,3, and 6 now.
Lips: Most important thing I noticed was the dimples causing a slight smirk and smile at all times. Every other face has a straight face and maybe a very slight, barely noticeable smile. Face 3 just looks like they're constantly awkwardly smiling. It looks like they're zoned out thinking about something funny that happened yesterday.
The lips appear to have been slightly shaved down, the shading and color I thought was perfect on them before. In the updated benchmark they are now much more round, thin, and unnatural on Lip 1. The upper lip shading looks off in comparison to the past lips.
Eyebrows: I was so excited to see really thick eyebrows as an option when I started playing, unfortunately in the Benchmark they seem to be thinned out. It appears this was done to give more of a real shape to them, but in doing so the bottoms have a strange angle now. Combined with the lip dimples, this solidifies the smirk/smile in place.
Hair: My character has the darkest black for hair and it pulls dull and blue/gray in a lot of different areas. Another lack of contrast moment.
GOOD THINGS: The consistency with the skin tone in different lighting is a huge step up!
Anyways thank you for taking the time to read all this! I'm hoping to see some changes made.

My characters are unrecognizable. First is current, second is from the new benchmark. I am still absolutely horrified with the decisions they made. The eyes and the scaling are all wrong. My Elezens ears are a completely different shape. And something is just uncannily OFF about them. They don't look right at all. All the softness and the subtle features that I loved about them is just gone. The only characters that look remotely okay are my female midlander and elezen. All my male characters look wrecked, especially the Viera.

https://i.imgur.com/93GJjII.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/crgfE79.png
https://i.imgur.com/imu26px.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/O9oxeea.png

Just updating here that my report for the lalafell "resting frown" has been accepted.

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Originally Posted by Lacroix

My characters are unrecognizable. First is current, second is from the new benchmark. I am still absolutely horrified with the decisions they made. The eyes and the scaling are all wrong. My Elezens ears are a completely different shape. And something is just uncannily OFF about them. They don't look right at all. All the softness and the subtle features that I loved about them is just gone. The only characters that look remotely okay are my female midlander and elezen. All my male characters look wrecked, especially the Viera.

https://i.imgur.com/93GJjII.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/crgfE79.png
https://i.imgur.com/imu26px.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/O9oxeea.png

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You have my sympathies.
This is why they're giving everyone fantasia and patching it to last a full hour during which you can continually recustomize.
Similar troubles with my current lalafell design have prompted me to explore alternatives in the benchmark character creator, and I currently have 2 alternates I'm playing with right now, trying to decide on which one.

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Originally Posted by plasmacutter

You have my sympathies.
This is why they're giving everyone fantasia and patching it to last a full hour during which you can continually recustomize.
Similar troubles with my current lalafell design have prompted me to explore alternatives in the benchmark character creator, and I currently have 2 alternates I'm playing with right now, trying to decide on which one.

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Also good to mention that the 1h timer is for ingame time spent.
Which is great. considering that there's probably gonna be hours long queues, as with any expansion release.

Since I mostly play with a covered face anyways I'm probably gonna save that Fantasia until the queues has settled down a bit.
I haven't heard anything about a "deadline" for said fantasia (unless I've missed it somehow) so that should be good, I guess.

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Originally Posted by Lacroix

My characters are unrecognizable. First is current, second is from the new benchmark. I am still absolutely horrified with the decisions they made. The eyes and the scaling are all wrong. My Elezens ears are a completely different shape. And something is just uncannily OFF about them. They don't look right at all. All the softness and the subtle features that I loved about them is just gone. The only characters that look remotely okay are my female midlander and elezen. All my male characters look wrecked, especially the Viera.

https://i.imgur.com/93GJjII.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/crgfE79.png
https://i.imgur.com/imu26px.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/O9oxeea.png

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I feel like I'm going insane every time I see one of these posts.

Its a shame some chars don't look the same. I'm just pleased my elezen will look a little more cheerful with the update

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Originally Posted by CidHeiral

I feel like I'm going insane every time I see one of these posts.

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Why's that?

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Originally Posted by PaulusHamsteru

Why's that?

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Prosopagnosia probably.