Feedback for female hyur midlander face 1 changes

EDIT: updated feedback for new June 3rd benchmark located HERE

I'd like to share my concerns about some of the changes made to the first female midlander face. I'm aware some of these might get fixed soon, but I wanted to try to squeeze my thoughts in just in case, because there appear to be changes to the actual face model and texture separate from the lighting problems.

Here's a slider image showing my main before and after. You can zoom in to compare the specific details I mention: https://imgsli.com/MjY1NTQ0

My problems with the changes:

1. The eyes (type 3, large iris, with the heavier makeup from facial feature 2). The upper lashes look good, but the exotic almond shape is gone, and the eyeshadow no longer angles up and out dramatically. The lashes on the lower lid also do not blend naturally along the bottom of the eye, instead they're all the same length and drift awkwardly away from the waterline before ending abruptly, whereas in the original they stay against the waterline and gradually decrease in length before turning into a gentle line. The nicely blended, smokey eye look is lost and replaced with something much more jarring. I would go so far as to say this is a serious oversight in the texture; artistically it's a downgrade.

2. The under eye area has also lost the subtle dark circles/eyebags, which in my opinion gave some extra dimension to the face without being unsightly.

3. The face now has freckles built in, which adds a redness to the cheeks that wasn't there before. This would be better as an optional feature instead.

4. The nose (type 3) appears to be narrower at the bridge and wider in the nostrils. I'm not sure if this is just because of the lighting and contouring problems mentioned in the update posts. I hope that's all it is and will be fixed, because it looked more elegant and balanced before.

5. The shape of her upper lip (type 2) is completely different. The cupid's bow is narrower, making her lips look more generic. The lipstick also has a red undertone even on the darkest option, so you'd never know it's supposed to be dark blue (again hoping this is just a lighting glitch).

6. Looking through the different hairstyles, some of them have much smoother textures than others and unfortunately the one she's wearing here seems to be in the latter category. Something about the new texture looks less natural and makes the strands at the front seem more thin and stringy than before. The shading and highlights aren't blending nicely. I noticed this when I tried the hair on other races too.

TLDR: She's gone from being a sultry type of cute to fairly plain and less pretty. These were changes to the core nature of the face that didn't need to happen. It would be better to add them as new options than to try to fix what was never broken, as lots of people including myself fell in love with the way it looked before.

Thank you for taking the time to read my opinion!

We're getting a new benchmark this Thursday that's been updated with our feedback.

Keep an eye out, maybe they've fixed some of these issues already.

Yes I'm aware, thanks. As I touched on in my post I wanted to try to contribute to putting these specific issues on their radar before it drops, just in case the particular middie configuration I use gets overshadowed by the problems with the more popular race and face combinations. I'm grateful for all the hard work the devs are doing, and how clear they've been about addressing feedback. I just hope if I'm too late to the party that other people said something in time!

The time to give this feedback for the current change was weeks ago. At this point, no new changes will be made. It's too late in the cycle for that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

The time to give this feedback for the current change was weeks ago. At this point, no new changes will be made. It's too late in the cycle for that.

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I only just returned to the game this month after a couple year hiatus, and I didn't even know about the graphical update or the benchmark until the day before I posted this thread. I personally believe it's never too late to give feedback, since the game can always be patched. I don't know if there will be a third benchmark release if this one still doesn't work out, either. It's also fairly important to me so I'd feel worse if I didn't at least try. Regardless, it looks like the re-release of the benchmark won't be happening today after all. Hopefully the extra time they're taking will mean they can fix all the little details with every race.

I agree about the dark circle effect. It's something I noticed across most Hyur faces. Makes them look more samey than they did before imo.