I would be one of those few people that would rather have no graphics update but that's because of personal taste. However, If there *has* to be a graphics update I would ideally like there be a way to opt out of certain changes and for my character's face to not change like it has (retain the old appearance).
I'm tired. My activity in the game is now tied to major patches, but it's been a month so let me repeat it again:
This is my WoL:
https://files.catbox.moe/o4nh9h.png
This is not my WoL:
https://files.catbox.moe/qoxya9.png
This isn't an Au Ra to me, this is someone pretending to be an Au Ra.
And I'm glad you still post here faiarrow, your posts always say exactly what I'm thinking.
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02-15-2026, 01:14 PMlunartears
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02-15-2026, 03:38 PMRein_eon_OsborneSame. Still orbiting the thread silently.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sui-Kune
Pretty much. It would be nice if we can have the best of both worlds by updating the chara creator system to include old & new looks, because let's be real, it’s aesthetic. It’s going to be subjective per individuals. But imho that’s unrealistic to be uphold by CBU3 (sorry not enough fund? Lmao) so atp I just want a clear stance/answer: are they still working on this proper, or they’re finally telling me to give it up because they decided to change designs (hence, ‘lied’ us)?Quote:
Originally Posted by faiarrow
I still miss my old face 5 & 7 M Midlanders. -
02-15-2026, 03:59 PMAnkhira
https://i.imgur.com/Hs4QlVc.png
I wish they would fix Miqo eyebrows tbh.. -
02-16-2026, 01:46 AMRedLollyCan I ask what you mean? Sun Seekers have always had those thick, curly eyebrows.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ankhira
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02-16-2026, 04:57 AMAnkhiraThick curly eyebrows is fine, but they don't look good, they look like they clip with the base eyebrows instead of just being thicker.Quote:
Originally Posted by RedLolly
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02-16-2026, 05:45 AMReginald_Cain
Bro stuff like this is why I always pick the basic human race in games. I feel more immersed and I'm not subject to the issues like tail clipping thru capes, no helmets on certain races and graphical updates that make the "weird" races noticeably weirder.
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02-16-2026, 06:18 AMTahliI haven't checked if it's like that for the other faces but for Face 2 Miqo, at least, the outer half of the eyebrow is still angled too high and straight compared to how it was pre-DT.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ankhira
So there are also things like some facepaints and Seekers' bushy brow option where those were shaped to correctly fit the original brow shape, but now the tip sticks out some or stands out too starkly. -
02-16-2026, 07:44 PMLuluna
I have been playing lets change the face this week on my Midlander due to the massive changes in faces 1 and 2. I am now happy kind of with the look but I do miss face 2 why did they ruin that lovely mouth? and the baggy eyes on face 1 just look awful it is something that needs looking at.
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02-17-2026, 12:57 AMRedLollyYeah, I was that one person that was really gappy with the older iteration of face 2 that got another update and now I'm weirded out. I'm back to swapping around and nothing is sticking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tahli
This is pain. I really, REALLY, hope that the character creator expansion is not only real but extensive so we can all really build something to get attached to! -
02-17-2026, 04:32 AMDaraliiAny expansion to it is still going to be limited by the homogenized meshes and rigging. They simplified their workload, and enough people that are left are happy with the upscaled textures, so I don't see them ever going back on that.Quote:
Originally Posted by RedLolly
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02-17-2026, 05:53 AMfaiarrow
I still find it ironic that in homogenising said meshes they utterly broke a number of emotes. In fact, it's hilarious that after they had a number of them pointed out across multiple languages of feedback they did absolutely nothing to fix them, or if they did it was the culprit for breaking the eyelid rigging.
Given it's so simplified it should be an easy fix, right?
Right...?
https://i.imgur.com/q5oLsOf.gif
(Listen I'm OK with suspending belief in a world of magic for most things but being able to rip the entire frontalis and procerus off the frontal bone do that is just. Yikes. This is across multiple races because of said unified mesh. It even extends the bridge of the nose like what the hell is that even doing? I'm also aware this is the most egregious emote issue shown but it is one of many and it has been present since 7.0 base with no fix.) -
02-17-2026, 05:54 AMRedLollyTrue, but I sort of hope I can trick my brain with new stuff to play with.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daralii
The only thing left to try for me is Au Ra or Lalafell. -
02-17-2026, 05:55 AMRedLollyOh my god. Seeing it in action is TOTALLY different. Noses and brows don't do that!Quote:
Originally Posted by faiarrow
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02-17-2026, 07:24 AMArgantaelleAlso, let's not forget that most of the MTX costumes, weapon skins, and pets aren't account-wide, so changing the main character also hurts the player's wallet. I'm not even talking about lack of account-wide achievements, glamour, pets, and mount collections…Quote:
Originally Posted by Sairaag
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02-22-2026, 03:58 PMSui-Kune
I keep thinking, hope beyond hopes, that the polygon standardisation at least opens up the possibility for a feature slider. (Including pupil opacity! Please!) I'm not a programmer so I'm a complete layperson on the subject, but my brain's logic is 'if the polygons are now "all the same" across all races, wouldn't it mean tweaking those same said polygons with a feature slider take up the same amount of memory, as opposed to the bespoke different presets'?
This is me in a lot of pain, fatigue, and copium, so forgive my ignorance on the subject matter. I just keep wandering back to this in my head and wondering. (And praying. *Praying*.) And of course, this wouldn't necessarily guarantee we could even get lost features back using sliders, but hells, even if we could get a little closer.
Also obligatory 'someone please look at the broken eyelids bug', and Faiarrow's perfect example of how emotes got completely borked. -
03-01-2026, 09:07 PMLuluna
I am going to give this a bump. I just cannot feel happy with my character atm the changes to Midlander females really shows and although some of the update is nice there is still a lot left to be desired.
I had a play around with other races and Viera have their noses always been that bad? they look so snout like and not nice at all. Miqo'te have become even more plastic looking and Midlander's have one face which is the best but everyone is using it lol so it feels like we have lost the other faces as they have been ruined.
I do love the Au ra but you really have to mess around and face one is bad and their eyes look bug like which is a shame. I use face 3 with the big horns as that face is really lovely but the horns need to be able to be swapped and they also messed the mouths up on them.
I had a play on a Highlander female they seem to have been improved as their skin looks a bit cleaner but they are so masculine it is a shame they stand the way they do and they look like they want to knock you out lol which I find a little off putting.
I just wish they would have a look at what they messed up as I really want my old face back on my Midlander >.< -
03-06-2026, 06:12 AMslowpeach
well, apparently that ugly V shaped/triangular lighting on the face is "working as intended":
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...le-faces-races
so disappointed. -
03-09-2026, 06:48 AMPyrrhica
After I took a break for 6 months, I returned to the game and noticed something on my character. Her face was different from what I've remembered. The most noticeable parts are the eyes, the mouth and the nose bridge.
https://i.postimg.cc/RZ26BtLX/14.jpg
7.2 brought one of the most unexpected and unnecessary face changes. Having changed male Au Ra faces (who had a glow up at DT's release) to female Highlanders to a point they don't look natural as they used to back to 7.0.
The face looks more balanced and symmetrical in 7.0. The midface appears slightly shorter, improving proportion. Jawline is softer and more natural, giving a more harmonious look. Although, the eyebrows on the 7.2 look better and consistent, the rest remains to be desired.
Skin tone appears lighter and smoother, with less natural complexions that added a feel to it.
https://i.postimg.cc/Zq7TmzmS/7-0-vs-7-2.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/4NkXs1Dd/7-0-vs-7-2-2.jpg
1. Eyes
This is one of the most noticeable changes.
Left (7.0):
Eyes appear larger and clearer.
The eyelids are slightly lifted.
The eyes are hooded and mysterious.
The upper eyelid has a dark, heavy shadow that creates a smoky, serious, and perhaps even sleepy or dangerous look depending on the rest of the character's composition.
It's a deliberate choice of eye shape that I personally love.
The shadow depth that defines the face. The catchlights are tiny and slight, focusing the eye and adding to the intensity. This is a unique look.
Right (7.2):
The face is wider-awake and "kinder." The deep hooding of the upper eyelid is entirely gone, smoothed out to a more generic, open eye shape.
The lights are much larger and more diffuse, which gives the eyes a soft, glassy, but also "vacant" or "expressionless" look to some viewers.
This update altered the character's emotional state to me.
Many players feel that the soul of their character was lost in the changes to the eyes.
Here's front face picture, showcasing 7.0 (on the left) and 7.2 (on the right):
https://i.postimg.cc/Y9Njwyd1/Ilumissa.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/T29FKqS9/Rubbie.jpg
2. Lips
Lips didn't seem to change much, however, the philtrum looks off and not centered with the Cupid's bow, giving an asymmetric and uneven face.
3. Eyebrows
Giving credit when credit is due, eyebrows look a bit better in 7.2, being fuller and homogeneous.
https://i.postimg.cc/V6BMFF03/MEITU-...-144056226.jpg
Hopefully Square Enix will look into this and keep it once for good, until they rewamp the character creation at some point. The other face options aren't satisfying, as they change the model's face entirely.
I wish they could revert it back to 7.0. -
03-09-2026, 07:49 AMAnarneePeople talk about "beautiful subtle expressions" in scenes but I get to watch my characters nose defy physics in EVERY cutscene in 7.x.Quote:
Originally Posted by faiarrow
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03-17-2026, 03:23 AMMerlseastorm
Bumping this. Many mouth shapes are still quite different than the pre-Dawntrail designs and nothing is being mentioned regarding character models anymore. Take female viera face 4, the mouth is currently just an oval. Are we supposed to just accept and forget?
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03-21-2026, 06:19 AMKihyiFelhede
seriously... sorry but I just do not understand what their thought process is. idk how miqo eyebrows can be considered a "bug" (that is NOT what bug means) but we've heard a big fat goose egg about viera lips.
https://i.imgur.com/n8qhfFW.png -
03-22-2026, 10:51 AMDRKoftheAzure
I'm one of those weirdos that is still waiting for the butt slider to be implemented so that i can stop using the 2B pants...
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03-23-2026, 02:54 PMTahliViera lips could definitely use some improvement, among all the other low quality inconsistencies that a lot of updated facial features have. But just to clear up your confusion...Quote:
Originally Posted by KihyiFelhede
Bug report after being marked from Accepted->Confirmed->Fixed
Post with more details to help you understand the separate things that went wrong with this feature, and why they may have only considered half of this a bug.
There is a difference between poor design choices they made when converting the old graphics to new, vs unintended mapping mistakes made after that change that caused pixels to compress unnaturally. The portion of the problem that they changed with those Miqo eyebrows was, in fact, a bug.
Identifying those differences may help others to get at least some of the changes they hope for, if those conditions apply.
I still hope for improvement all across the board, though. Even if it means adding new options that better match the old shapes. There's been plenty of feedback given showing what exactly people are asking for. -
03-24-2026, 05:34 AMTarath
I took this screenshot for the recent sweepstakes and the shadow at the corner of the mouth has never looked worse.
https://i.imgur.com/yFXuFur.png
Initially that shadow is supposed to be above the corner of the mouth, but in DT the mouth was made shorter yet they somehow tried to keep the illusion of length by adding more depth to the corners.
https://i.imgur.com/px1c8dU.png
Though it might look OK on a neutral expression, it looks jarring and out of place when other expressions are being displayed.
https://i.imgur.com/7og46tQ.png
Even when the shadow isn’t very prominent, the overall gentle and soft shape of the new mouth becomes more highlighted.
https://i.imgur.com/zlHVm2k.png
This is one thing I don’t understand about the graphics update, it pushes for more realism with its shape, texture and lighting, yet the expressions have never been more cartoonish.
I’m obviously still not happy with the changes DT brought with it, said screenshot and the recent posts about mouth shapes made me want to rant about this again. -
03-24-2026, 05:27 PMLuciaMirain
I play a face four viera and it is painful seeing the difference. They literally just erased the cupids bow. If you compare it to the details on face 1 it is honestly insulting. They put all their effort into making face 1 look gorgeous, then a little less effort on face 2....then 3 (the lips on face 3 are even worse than face 4) and then they sort of just threw in the towel. I don't think enough people play face four so there isn't really an outrage about it.
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03-24-2026, 09:19 PMDaudream
The only face I've even noticed a fix for was fem au'ra 4, gave me quite the hope when it happened as they made that face in what I'd consider an acceptable state, even if a was a bit disappointing to see my own au'ra still untouched, but that was forever ago now and every update since have given me zero clear fixes (most likely faces I don't use, would have been nice if they actually listed the fixes...) except for breaking the eyelids on every single character.
So my au'ra is still a complete downgrade, her lips are flat and their gloss is gone, her pupils are larger instead of her old intense pinpricks (this will never be fixed because it's clearly a conscious style change puke) her eyes are rounded and less stylized with puffy swollen eyelids and unaligned textures and her eyelids are STILL BROKEN! Them breaking the eyelids bothers me the most, as it happened after launch and I know they have been fixing it (my miqo'te isn't broken anymore) but clearly not every face gets the same amount of love..... it has ruined several of her portraits and is extremely frustrating.
I honestly don't want to see them add any new features or options to faces, because as it stands the foundation is broken and low quality, I should not have to edit my character to pick new options that are more faithful to the old faces, the current options should be faithful to how they were, only then they can add whatever they want as new options! I don't need every pixel to be an exact 1 to 1 but this is not an acceptable state and I expect better from a huge company like this.
TDLR; I expect better from a large company, and do not want to see new options for faces until they've fixed the current ones (or if the update comes with fixes). -
03-26-2026, 01:16 AMMistyraine
Wish there were more options for faces, lips etc but *sigh* I have a better chance at winning the lottery than this happening ...
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03-26-2026, 01:12 PMDooplissThe loss of drawn-on shadows like these still bothers me so badly because there was a ton of artistic intent behind the way certain 2D textures were placed on the old face models, especially around eyes and lips. As subtle as these things may seem, they were deliberately added because they helped invoke a specific character/expression the designer wanted to relay, and are generally something a lighting engine can't create. It's not unlike the principles of makeup.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarath
I always found it kind of painterly, in all honesty, and part of what made FFXIV's artstyle stand out to me--an artstyle I never once read as attempting for realism. Even about two years later, I still think it's a shame all of these were removed for the sake of looking less stylized... -
03-29-2026, 10:31 PMLuciaMirain
The more I sit in character creation the more confusing it gets. Some characters have really pretty details while others feels like someone slapped them in the face and said "good enough". I don't get it. Is this something that will be worked on more or is this it? Just looking at au ra faces face 1 is just a higher quality than face 4, same with vieras. the skin, the shadows, the details in how eyes or lips curve. It is kinda daunting when you start to actually look at the differences. When is the character creation update coming? Hopefully they add more options there I guess.....
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04-02-2026, 12:25 PMKihyiFelhedeAlright, I will take the L on that. I admit I thought the brows issue was just a matter of the new paints sucking. I still maintain that glaringly altered sculpts/paints should be added to a "laundry list" akin to accepted bug reports though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tahli
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04-03-2026, 07:54 PMMoonNoire
Since my last post, we've had three more months of our eyelids being busted. Without looking up 7.2's release date, I think it's 13 months now? More than a year.
I didn't come back here to complain about the eyelids after 7.4 dropped because what's the point? The only shot we're gonna get at them fixing the eyelids is gonna be 8.0... which is what, 10 months away? So 23 whole ass months of them breaking an immersive character feature in an update and never bothering to fix it.
If they fix it in 8.0.
Fanfest is approaching and I have a hard time getting excited for the keynote because it's going to be a teaser trailer, Yoshida overpromising or outright lying to our faces for an hour and a half, and then selling us merch for the last 30 minutes.
Don't worry, we'll get our fixed eyelids, fixed faces, fixed everything alongside that 50% increase in content rewards Yoshida promised for 7.3 onwards...!
Those rewards are coming! Aaaaaany patch now... -
04-03-2026, 08:58 PMMayuAmakuraMost will use Hyur face 5 and that's the one you see everywhere. The 2nd face that is popular is face 1 but unfortunately in DT face 1 got butchered so hard that made many quit or fantasia to something else. My Hyur has had face 1 the entire time and she looked way different in Endwalker. She didn't have eye bags that are quite noticeable, chinese eyes when smiling / emotes and so on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Luluna
Ever since DT came, my Hyur got massacred. I just couldn't recognize it anymore. The eyes shape has been changed so everytime she smiles (or any emote that involves smiling), her eyes shut down so much that it looks like chinese eyes or something. Then she had abnormal eye bags that are visible. Devs did "fix" this by reducing it a bit but eye bags are still visible and very frustrating. Specially since no other Hyur face has eye bags except face 1 ???
Even here on forums, zoom in entirely on my face and you can see that I have eyebags, meanwhile your face (5 I assume) doesn't have them or are slightly there but not visible.
This isn't just Hyur issue. Other races got massacred as well. The poor upscaling and AI usage is just nuts. Yet we see threads popping up "if devs ever use AI I quit", how ironic... -
04-03-2026, 09:06 PMMayuAmakuraThis is exactly what I'm talking about. Just look at your char smiling now and before. Total difference and same is happening to Hyur race and probably others. I just don't understand how someone thought this was good.Quote:
Originally Posted by lunartears
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04-03-2026, 09:32 PMKhryseis_AstraOne of my original characters was a Midlander Hyur face 1. She was the character I started the game with! The very last time they did edits it looked like they tried to minimize the eye bags, but didn’t really succeed. And the eye shapes and mouth shapes were completely changed and never fixed. It’s just not the same person! Not to mention the massacre that was Highlander face 2… I had chosen Highlander face 2 because it resembled my Midlander the most, now it looks more similar to Roe facial structure.Quote:
Originally Posted by MayuAmakura
I’ve since created a Midlander face 2 that I like, with the exception of her mouth… they just didn’t get the lip and mouth shapes right at all! Weirdly enough, the ones I’m using look almost normal from a side view of her face, but when you look at them straight on, it’s that variation of a Pizza Hut logo that so many seemed to get. Both my old Hyurs (Mid and Highlander) used to have nice pouty lips, with a lot more realistic texture than the so-called upgrade gave them.
I’m really hoping 8.0 does expand the character creator so I can get something at least closer to what I had… but they really need to work on these lips! -
04-05-2026, 11:22 PMHeavenchild
After them being so silent, I guess it's over. They have no true plans to make it good again. Just ruined a lot of faces, and think it looks good. That's what I honestly feel about it. Sorry, I know it sounds rude.
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04-06-2026, 04:36 AMKihyiFelhedeHonestly I think this is a really good example of where the update exactly went wrong. The new model looks great, it's not wonky or pixelated or anything like that. It is technically competent, though in-game there are some issues with bones. However, they look like completely different customization options with the same faceplate and cosmetics. The entire face shape is rounder, the nose and lip sculpts are different shapes, the eye texture seems to be a matter of opinion on whether its better or worse but there is a notable difference regardless of whether you like it or not, arguably the emotion animation has changed as well but that could just be an optical illusion from the drastic difference in face. If you gave the two models different cosmetics they could stand next to each other and generally not be clocked for looking similar. AFAIK with the exception of the miqo'te brows that had bugged bones/mapping the squenix policy has been to remain completely silent on tweaks from an artistic perspective. This is also a big mistake if you ask me. Even just acknowledgement of dissatisfaction goes a long long way, because when they don't (as they are now) it's more than reasonable to assume they don't have any plans to address it.Quote:
Originally Posted by lunartears
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04-07-2026, 07:16 AMorcaneI feel you (and the people you quoted/those who have the same issue). My main has been a face 1 midlady since ARR early access, I barely ever changed anything but my height. The DT launch was devastating - I was already afraid after I didn't recognize my character anymore in the DT benchmark, but I was running that on a different computer and was hoping my settings were wrong or that devs would fix this by the time they'd launch the expansion. No.Quote:
Originally Posted by MayuAmakura
Since 7.0 I've been hiding the atrocious "update" to my face behind visors and masks, and later behind giant facewear/sunglasses. This is someone completely different and yet everyone praised the devs for their "glowups" and gushed about the increased fidelity, texture resolution, bone structure etc. Orcane 7.0 looks completely wrong compared to Orcane 2.0-6.58, unless you're face blind. I can almost convince myself it's alright in very dark environments, but as soon as the new lighting engine brings out the giant eye bags, bulbous nose, awful eye makeup, weirdly puffy cheeks and other tiny and not so tiny incongruences, I'm done.
I also play a face 2 midlander who got hit by DT a bit less. She's close enough to the Endwalker look so it doesn't bother me, and I don't see why they didn't manage the same with face 1. Although I'm sure if I were to look at the videos I captured at the end of EW of all my alts, they would all look off now, even after almost two years of "tweaks" (actually I just did this and now I'm sad :() -
04-08-2026, 06:03 PMfaiarrowCasual reminder with both another PLL and FanFest coming up in the next two weeks that the dev team can, do, and will lie per the above.Quote:
Originally Posted by faiarrow
Until we get to try any supposed updates to the character creator ourselves:
Don't believe their PR.
I'm not even sorry to be so blunt about it anymore. I'm tired, and I miss my character and having any actual spark for this game and world. I'm tired of being ransomed with a subscription for feedback they have not said to stop giving with this being the only supposedly acknowledged place for it going by the JP side of the situation.
https://i.imgur.com/TpUeq0S.png
This is still not acceptable in any capacity. -
04-08-2026, 07:02 PMlunartears
I haven't played this game in 4 months, I'm really glad that everyone is still talking about the state of things.
I'm looking forward to hearing nothing about the situation improving at Fanfest!
Please give me back the original Au Ra... -
04-09-2026, 11:59 PMIndraSyngiwybI still miss her and want her back so badly
I fell in love with her as she was. This plastic doll that is pretending to be her will never be the character I loved for all these years.
https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...82f84be83e.png