Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

When I was browsing (former) Twitter, I stumbled upon this post:

https://x.com/Melty_XIV/status/1952758413232075214

According to this post, Viera 3 mouth shape was corrected a little bit and became closer to the original one. Well, at least someone is happy.

P.S. Male Midlander, face 2 (mouth, nose, skin texture):
https://x.com/ailout2/status/1952691669742035162

https://x.com/ailout2/status/1952670787179352302

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Originally Posted by Jacobgjag

I really hope and pray a dev sees this post, cause the pants for Hakama #55 and the entire set are very much a different color from what they used to be. This wouldn't be a problem if it was dyable but still my outfit was all the same shade of black but now the pants are like a brownish black. I don't mind graphic updates but those pants did not need them. :mad:

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I'm surprised they improved the graphics of this set but then didn't add dye channels. It's a bleak prospect if they do this to stuff like old Alliance raid gear because it means they will not bother to make many other undyeable pieces dyeable.

One thing that's really bothered me since Dawntrail launch that I was lowkey hoping would get fixed on its own is the color of fem Keeper face 1's clanmarks. Before Dawntrail the clanmarks were all grey, now the majority of them are a more saturated purple (except for the big one on the cheeks).

Pre-Dawntrail:
https://i.imgur.com/WJJIXZT.jpeg

Dawntrail:
https://i.imgur.com/2XsTbuK.jpeg

I know her bangs are obscuring the forehead ones here but I don't have any pre-DT images of her without bangs and didn't quite feel like going to the aesthetician to change her hair just for this post, but the cheek ones are very clearly on display. I really hope this can be adjusted in a future update.

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Originally Posted by Princess-Raiju

They are blury all over their bodies 50% of the time, depending on where your camera is.

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Nothing blurry here, that's your graphics settings

Au Ra face 4 is still unchanged. The same duck mouth... :(

It seems, they changed the lighting slightly. But the wrong normal maps are still there. :(


Cheers

Please fix the creepy eyelids so that we don't look like serial killers at low angles.

Texture tiling on the ground of Northern Thanalan is bad, like... REALLY bad.

https://imgur.com/WOZeDwq.png

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ace-2-Eyebrows
https://i.imgur.com/aBj9wFt.gif

Still no fix for this.

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Originally Posted by Gaddes

snip

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i still remember the first time you posted about this, and i still remember agreeing with your complaints. it is genuinely insane how bad these lips still are and how it's been over a year and nothing has changed

i'm genuinely starting to lose hope. it's exhausting to have to go through the 7 stages of grief every single time they announce updates. like just... it's so obvious what needs fixing? it's so obvious from feedback what people are dissatisfied with, it feels like they just do not care and i'm so sick of all of it

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Originally Posted by FuturePastNow

Nothing blurry here, that's your graphics settings

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You wanna explain this further then? what setting do I need to turn on/off to get rid of this?? Cause I have tried everything. It's not shaders, I have scrubbed through my graphics settings. I have literally been told this is the choice of fur textures used in the game.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...ur_when_it_is/

Not sure what they did here, but that black line across my character's nose was not there before... :confused:

http://i.imgur.com/IM7q7qj.png

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Originally Posted by Kupenda

Not sure what they did here, but that black line across my character's nose was not there before... :confused:

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You mean the nose mark that 99% of hellsguard roegadyn fought tooth and nail to get back after it was wiped out in the graphics update that we only had fixed properly as of 7.2?
It has been a feature on the race for a decade, and is important to their clan.

Unironically, this is all the graphical "upgrade" was good for. You have people (usually new players who started with dawntrail) who prefer the 7.0 look, which was then altered to try and cater to the pre 7.0 playerbase's feedback, while failing spectacularly FOUR TIMES IN A ROW. Now they have a situation where no matter what they do or change, they're going to anger people. What a masterclass in dumb decisions, holy crap.

They weren't even able to fix the stupid eyelids so we don't look like serial killers whenever we look down.
I'm happy my race got hats after half a decade of waiting, but if you're not a Viera or Hrothgar you don't even have that little bit of "oh, they do kinda care after all" energy going for you this expansion.

The incompetence in display is just baffling to me. I just know they're waiting for 8.0 to fix this, if at all. We have at least 2 more large patches of murder eyes to look forward to.

https://i.imgur.com/nRgJhox.png

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Originally Posted by Kupenda

Not sure what they did here, but that black line across my character's nose was not there before... :confused:

http://i.imgur.com/IM7q7qj.png

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Yeah, that was fixed in 7.2 not 7.3, and there was a thread of people asking for it back way back when the benchmark dropped. Only took them a YEAR to fix it and it's like the only thing they've bothered to make right.

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...gegate-2024%29

Definitely been a thing though, I'd understand if someone started in Dawntrail and got confused when it just showed up out of nowhere... It's almost like SE should make an effort to give us more toggles and options...

Anyways here's what my main looked like after the update when they stole her mark and what she looked like before they took it.

https://i.imgur.com/ZzS1duR.png

After -> Before

I'm so tired... I haven't been able to play my dunesfolk lalafell characters since the beginning of 7.0 because they just refuse to fix the lighting and it looks AWFUL. Almost every angle has this light smudge on one of the eyes or looks wonky in general. I hate it. I miss the old catch light because the current state of dunesfolk makes me unhappy. Not to mention the broken eyelids still in play. I'm begging for a fix to dunesfolk and their now muddy eyeballs.
https://i.imgur.com/oQT05Bd.png
https://i.imgur.com/FyaNuiw.png
https://i.imgur.com/GDn2UKr.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/RaKugZb.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/74kVmLl.jpeg

I do remember the nosemark, but it was different? It's never been a prominent straight line like this? :confused:

But maybe my age is catching up on me...

Haven’t logged in on my one alt yet to check my Highlander retainer, but my main’s Midlander retainer doesn’t seem to have any notable changes made… still see the same eye bags and the lips still aren’t right.

I haven’t taken comparison screenshots yet, but I’d swear they made my Dunesfolk Lala’s lips look a little closer to what they used to and the tint of the eyes seems more rich and less of the dull haze they had. So good for my main I guess!

Hello, just writing back to report the same issues as before. I do not want to spend the effort making another image, so I will repost my previous images which are still relevant.

Miqo'te no longer has a sharp look:
https://i.imgur.com/cTOYfRc.png
*Seeker of the Sun Miqote, Face 2, Eye Shape 6, Small Iris, Mouth 1

Au Ra Face 1 still has intense dimples:
https://i.imgur.com/qmbw9pG.png
* Au Ra Raen, Face 1, Eye Shape 6, Large Iris, Mouth 1

While I would love both to be fixed, I am most distraught about the changes in the Miqo'te look. If I can just have one thing changed, I would want the eyes and lips of this Miqo'te face to be restored.

A big thank you to the developers for fixing this hairstyle in 7.3! I actually forgot my ticket existed... but it looks much better now! Please continue to update the lighting in all the zones! All the best! :o

https://i.imgur.com/lyA4J0p.jpeg

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Originally Posted by moodud

(...)

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I apologise for answering the unrelated message, but as I don't know Japanese, I have to tag you somehow in the English thread. :)

I want to congratulate you on finally getting a high-res beard for your character. Updating a single texture only took SE a year and a month (sad laugh).

Instead of focusing on trying to make nitpicky catgirls happy, can we finally have a separation of face from horns for au ra please?

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Originally Posted by Argantaelle

I apologise for answering the unrelated message, but as I don't know Japanese, I have to tag you somehow in the English thread. :)

I want to congratulate you on finally getting a high-res beard for your character. Updating a single texture only took SE a year and a month (sad laugh).

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Thanks. I made quite a big stir over there in the jp forum, they probably realized they can't ignore me any longer. I was so ready to bring more hell if they did.

(Here is the high res beard that took over a year to finish)

Unfortunately they took all the time and resources and maybe be costs to fix the beard textures (other faces got fixed too), making them unable to fix other stuffs. Poor indie devs.

The backlight eyes used to have was in my favour. My character's heterochromia was relatively subtle yet visible, now it is close to imperceptible under most lighting conditions.

https://imgur.com/qwDNtTQ.png

I'M GONNA KEEP POSTING TEXTURE TILING UNTIL SOMEONE DOES SOMETHING

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Originally Posted by DiaDeem

https://imgur.com/qwDNtTQ.png

I'M GONNA KEEP POSTING TEXTURE TILING UNTIL SOMEONE DOES SOMETHING

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I'm a slow-paced player so I was about halfway through Endwalker when the 7.0 update happened. I remember going into a cave in Labyrinthos for the first time, seeing that heavy tiling texture all over the walls, and thinking it was intentional.... because it was a man-made cave...

I am yet again posting that there are still no changes to female Au Ra Face 1 since 7.0. Plastic surgery-like plump lips, soft mouth line, glue-stick eyebrows, big dead black eyes and the trademark 7.0 Au Ra lifeless expression still persist. I'm really happy for those seeing their WoLs returning in some form, but my WoL is still missing :(

https://i.imgur.com/5rSaEMf.png


I'd also like to mention that Face 2 also has changes that others have expressed dissatisfaction with, namely the dimpled mouth which was a charm point for those using it.

https://i.imgur.com/c3wPHTd.png

I have personal problems with the direction of all new Au Ra faces but these two stick out the most. They just don't match the original feel at all.

I really hope the development team considers adjusting these faces (or adding the old shapes) and reverting the huge pupil size of Au Ra that has been enforced on us since the Benchmark. Even if some of these features were a product of lower poly faces, they have undeniably become a part of the racial identity and smoothing them out has erased that. Please return their ethereal beauty!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by moodud

(...) (other faces got fixed too), making them unable to fix other stuffs. Poor indie devs.

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I saw a picture in your post, and this picture is the quintessence of the DT character update:
https://i.imgur.com/L19el8O.gif

Not only did the sideburn texture become worse in DT (as if the poor guy lost about half of his hair), but even the upgraded 7.3 version is missing the details the EW one had. I mean, the strands of hair that extended outside the jawline, creating the illusion that it was real hair, not just some paint. Now all hair is just glued to the jawline.

https://i.imgur.com/36BUVqL.png

So far, the only notable difference I've seen in this updated face is that time they doubled down on the eyelid size between the first and second Dawntrail benchmarks. But other people have managed to get some positive changes, even if it took a year of complaining, so I haven't lost hope yet.

And it's not like I haven't tried different options to work with the update. His eyebrows are more rounded to be in harmony with the rounder eyes. I've also used one of the free fantasias to change his jaw shape to a smaller one since the enlarged mouth threw off the balance of his lower face. Ultimately these changes just took him even further away from my familiar character, who has gone from a keen-eyed hunter to a soft uwu boy - and nothing wrong with soft and uwu, but that's not my WoL. I'm glad they keep handing out free fantasias, those do keep off some of the backlash against us still complaining, but I maintain that my WoL's original face was nearly perfect and making him look like even more of a stranger isn't a solution for me.

I know this is a bit of a nitpick but after the 7.3 update, there's now a somewhat noticeable seam on the back of the head with the hair that my character is currently using. You can't actually see it until you move the camera to the left or right, but it wasn't there before as far as I can remember. I don't usually have him wear hats so I definitely would have seen it before now.

https://imgur.com/a/cBbFyM1
https://imgur.com/a/BflAR82

(I'm not exactly sure how to upload pictures here truth be told)

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Originally Posted by Guo

I know this is a bit of a nitpick but after the 7.3 update, there's now a somewhat noticeable seam on the back of the head with the hair that my character is currently using. You can't actually see it until you move the camera to the left or right, but it wasn't there before as far as I can remember. I don't usually have him wear hats so I definitely would have seen it before now.

https://i.imgur.com/MaBgiMy.png
https://i.imgur.com/XbekF8P.png

(I'm not exactly sure how to upload pictures here truth be told)

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You can just wrap IMG tags around the URLs to the direct image links like so! :3

Code:

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[img]insert URL here[/img]

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There are no direct upload options in the forums themselves, so Imgur is as good a place to host your pics as any, as you did.

So, I managed to get some better pictures of before/after DT, and the change between DT and EW just becomes that much more obvious. I really miss the sharper look of my elezen and the brighter eyes.

https://i.imgur.com/o2wB5EW.png https://i.imgur.com/9tYg7iB.png

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Originally Posted by Guo

I know this is a bit of a nitpick but after the 7.3 update, there's now a somewhat noticeable seam on the back of the head with the hair that my character is currently using.

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I think this kind of stuff is bug reportable. Try post about this in the bug report section.
How ever it may take forever and ever to fix, at least by the next big patch.

Can something be done about the lips on Male (Sea Wolf in particular) Roegadyn? They are strangely glossy after the Dawntrail changes. It looks like they all have lip gloss on and is especially noticeable on Face 1. It was not like this at all before Dawntrail and kind of ruins the way my old Roegadyn used to look.

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Originally Posted by Mr_Gucky

Au Ra face 4 is still unchanged. The same duck mouth... :(

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by lunartears

Plastic surgery-like plump lips, soft mouth line

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raim

Can something be done about the lips on Male (Sea Wolf in particular) Roegadyn? They are strangely glossy after the Dawntrail changes. It looks like they all have lip gloss on and is especially noticeable on Face 1. It was not like this at all before Dawntrail and kind of ruins the way my old Roegadyn used to look.

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The mouths are the worst part of the "upgrade," and changing two pixels on the face texture will never fix it, but that's sadly how theyve been addressing feedback so far...

https://imgur.com/a/m1iAXp6

Far from a perfect 1:1, still wanted to canvass some opinions - hopefully it is fit for this purpose - on the shape of the eyes. Has it changed or am I hallucinating things? A few other aspects seem to be tweaked also, though less confident claiming so without a proper match up. Do miss the wishbone our ears had prior to the update. It was a nice touch which helped distinguish us as a XIV elf. Have a feeling though the alteration was intentional and we won't see a change unless other elezen speak out.
Will try a second attempt on request (my screenshot folder consists mostly of cutscenes and lore tidbits, didn't exactly have a wealth of EW portraits to utilize)

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Originally Posted by Cygnia

https://imgur.com/a/m1iAXp6

Far from a perfect 1:1, still wanted to canvass some opinions - hopefully it is fit for this purpose - on the shape of the eyes. Has it changed or am I hallucinating things?

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There is probably a very minor change in the shape of the eyelids. The shadows beneath the upper eyelids are making any minor difference look like a more involved change than it is. Without a true one-to-one though it's hard to say how much different, just that the shadows are definitely exacerbating it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cygnia

https://imgur.com/a/m1iAXp6

(...) on the shape of the eyes. Has it changed or am I hallucinating things? A few other aspects seem to be tweaked also...

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Yes, many facial traits have been changed, including the shape of the face, eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth. The eyes have become less wide and open, the tip of the nose moved a little bit lower, and the lower lip is completely different. You are not imagining things. Yes, your character's face has been changed. Even though every single change isn't that drastic, there are lots of them, and thus she looks different.

I still miss the face of my Lalafell sooo much. His eyes had so much more life and the simper mimic was always a cuteness overload moment.
Now he looks dead and often kinda creepy. Is there any hope that they fix how they ruined Dunesfolk? :/

Female Aura Face 2 is in my personal opinion an insult. Really an insult to every player who loved the individual look of this face. For me the
new one is a face 5 option, while face 2 is missing. At this point, (if they want to fix this) they need to make the old one an additional face option.
Otherwise they piss off all the people who use that 'face 2' since it's the different DT version.

https://i.imgur.com/GaoqlVE.jpeg

Please bring my potato back to live. :'C

Thank you to those that responded; apologies for the irksome question, however I'm not particularly good at pinpointing and articulating whatever might be niggling my brain when it comes to analyzing faces, especially stylized ones. Helps to have keener eyes and minds on the case.