Why so few additions to customization options?

I know this isn't a priority for the game, so I don't expect this to really gain any attention, but why is it that the only customization options that seem to get added are new hairstyles? I know there was the new face that got added for midlanders, but that's practically nothing considering the lifetime of this game. I'm sure that there's a lot that goes into the rigging for facial animations among other things, but I feel like we should get more customization options added besides hairstyles, such as full-on beards for midlanders instead of just some stubble. And that's just one example, I'm sure there's plenty more ideas that other people can think of.

I don't think they're able to add new options to the "template" that each character has and gets transmitted to other players.

They can add more hairstyles because you can only have one hairstyle equipped at a time. But the "face options" (that for some characters are beards) are just toggle switches so the template is just "option 5 on/off" and they can't add an option 6. The most they could do would be to add an identical new face option with a different beard style.

That said, I think there is some opportunity that the devs could explore, because they've figured out how to make Hrothgar change hairstyles, which apparently is by switching out otherwise-identical faces in the back end, so there could be room to add one more option for other characters in the same way. Different horns for Au Ra, different beards for other races, things like that.

I'm hoping that when they complete the texture updates for the character models for 7.0 it also involves rebuilding the character customisation system from the ground up so that new options can be added more easily. That'd future proof the game more.

They're already well aware that glamour, minions and mounts are extremely potent carrots on a stick to dangle before players as incentives. They could do the same thing with special customisation options - such as adding more facial hair options for male characters, things like tattoos (both the regular sort and glowing, runic tattoos) and also scars.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'm hoping that when they complete the texture updates for the character models for 7.0 it also involves rebuilding the character customisation system from the ground up

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Thats....a mighty fine Pipedream.
They are simply updating textures, I dont think this means a Completely new CC and character models. As much as we all would like that....
But...hmm, there could be potential for more options, I dont see why that cant happen. But Id still temper my hype.
The characters will possibly look better, but I dont think its this giant Overhaul

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Originally Posted by Zanarkand-Ronso

Thats....a mighty fine Pipedream.
They are simply updating textures, I dont think this means a Completely new CC and character models. As much as we all would like that....
But...hmm, there could be potential for more options, I dont see why that cant happen. But Id still temper my hype.
The characters will possibly look better, but I dont think its this giant Overhaul

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There's a lot of potential for minor customization options, especially as rewards. Especially considering how heavily people like to customize their characters in this. It'd be great if it could happen, but yeah it's typically more realistic have your expectations, or hopes, fairly low in regards to all that, unfortunately.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

They can add more hairstyles because you can only have one hairstyle equipped at a time. But the "face options" (that for some characters are beards) are just toggle switches so the template is just "option 5 on/off" and they can't add an option 6. The most they could do would be to add an identical new face option with a different beard style.

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To add a bit to this, the eyes/nose/mouth are actually part of the facial models—basically different 'options' within the facial model that you can flip between. And moreover, it seems like the characters basically have a set number of "slots" to contain values. The meaning of some of those values is common to every race, but others are race specific. So to use purely pulled-from-thin-air examples, it might be like:

• Slot 1: Which face to use (from the set valid for that race/gender).
• Slot 2: Which eyes to use (from the options specific to the face in slot 1).
• Slot 3: Which nose to use (from the options specific to the face in slot 1).
• Slot 4: Which mouth to use (from the options specific to the face in slot 1).
• Slot 5: Which hairstyle to use (independent of any face chosen).
• Slot 6: Muscle definition (Hyur) or ear type (Viera) or fur pattern (Hrothgar) or horns (Au Ra)...

And so on.

So as Iscah notes, if you want to add a new feature type, you'd have to add an entire new slot to how characters get described. Which is potentially a lot more work than it might sound like. But moreover, if you want to add new possible details to faces... they either have to be new versions of face-specific options (e.g., adding a new 'eyes' option to one specific face), or they have to be entire new faces. This is almost assuredly why the 'beard stubble' for Hyur midlander males is not available on all faces; they had to add it as an entire new face instead, because even if they added a stubble variant to all the faces, they likely don't have an unused slot to record 'stubble [Y/N]?' in.

The practical upshot is that about the only thing they can add in the way of customization options without doing rather more extra work than you might think is... well, hairstyles. Which are reasonably self-contained.

I think it's weird that in like 5 years we've gotten maybe 2 facepaints ever. Both halloween I think.

Some feature I would like to see into the customization option :

• Separation of the horn of Au Ra, so they don't are linked to a particular face (Some of the NPC in Endwalker already have this particularity.)
• No more "Race specific" hair. Allow them on all race to maximise customization
• Add a new option : Beard for every male character (Except for Au Ra, because they have Scale instead)
• Add the remaining Hairstyle we couldn't have before, like Hilda or Lucia just to name a few.
• Add a new option allowing to choose the "Eyes" from the other tribes (For exemple Viera, Miqo'te and Lalafell have different type of eyes depending on their tribes : Sun Miqo'te got those "Cat's eyes" while Moon got the Rounded eyes)
• Give more specific racial feature (Excluding hairs !) like the fangs for miqo'te for exemple

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Originally Posted by Zanarkand-Ronso

Thats....a mighty fine Pipedream.
They are simply updating textures, I dont think this means a Completely new CC and character models. As much as we all would like that....
But...hmm, there could be potential for more options, I dont see why that cant happen. But Id still temper my hype.
The characters will possibly look better, but I dont think its this giant Overhaul

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I've seen a couple of these updates and they're never more than reskins of existing options. I'm curious to see if they'll follow the pattern and allow for the old looks to remain for those with older setups.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'm hoping that when they complete the texture updates for the character models for 7.0 it also involves rebuilding the character customisation system from the ground up so that new options can be added more easily. That'd future proof the game more.

They're already well aware that glamour, minions and mounts are extremely potent carrots on a stick to dangle before players as incentives. They could do the same thing with special customisation options - such as adding more facial hair options for male characters, things like tattoos (both the regular sort and glowing, runic tattoos) and also scars.

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Honestly I'd be happy if they just fixed clipping issues.. some nice looking hairstyles and stuff already on game but they clip so heavily its horrendous. Your paladins shield is strong enough to block powerful hits from gods. But a locke of your long hair goes straight through it..

Same with axes / bows and some hats.. and even a few capes when your run in your legs go through the Cape rather than have it flick up behind you..

Oh and some weapons ninja stands out for this. Some inja weapons are bigger than paladin swords and you amputate your arm every time you swing them.

Whatever the case on the technical side of things, character creation could really use some love. A lot of folks, myself included, love their characters and it can be kind of a bummer to run into near exact clones (be it other players or NPCs)... which can be a fairly common occurrence given the limited options FFXIV has to work with when populating its world...

i even made a thread with my wishes for au ra specifically

That's what mods are for, to fix what the XIV team will not!

want beards? mods
want hair? mods
Want body hair? mods

Because the years of requesting these things has fallen on deaf ears

If anything falls on deaf ears, it's the truth about things like this and why it can't happen in a space like this.

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Originally Posted by HeyMcFly

That's what mods are for, to fix what the XIV team will not!

want beards? mods
want hair? mods
Want body hair? mods

Because the years of requesting these things has fallen on deaf ears

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The problem with mods at least besides the usual stuff personally is just one *tiny crucial little detail*

<ahem>

Nobody else can see how your character truly looks like. Call me vain, but when I glam or work on my appearance, Im very proud of my character so much that I want to make sure he looks his best in front of people. Whats the point installing appearance mods when nobody or at the least anyone whom also doesnt share the same mod cant even see it? I suppose its just for your eyes only and for some, thats good enough, but its not for me. Yeah like I said, appearances matter to me with how others also perceive my character.

This is why I'll continue to NOT install them and keep asking for the devs to add in more customization features officially so that way, everyone can win. Not just the few whom dare to go against ToS.

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Originally Posted by Atelier-Bagur

The problem with mods at least besides the usual stuff personally is just one *tiny crucial little detail*

<ahem>

Nobody else can see how your character truly looks like. Call me vain, but when I glam or work on my appearance, Im very proud of my character so much that I want to make sure he looks his best in front of people. Whats the point installing appearance mods when nobody or at the least anyone whom also doesnt share the same mod cant even see it? I suppose its just for your eyes only and for some, thats good enough, but its not for me. Yeah like I said, appearances matter to me with how others also perceive my character.

This is why I'll continue to NOT install them and keep asking for the devs to add in more customization features officially so that way, everyone can win. Not just the few whom dare to go against ToS.

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My thoughts exactly. I'm admittedly too vain to use something only I can see, so to me, mods aren't the solution but simultaneously are indicators, if not proof, that something can be done about an issue.
Case in point: the 6.1 Hrothgar hairstyles - it took modders 3 hours to fix what the devs couldn't in 3 years. No amount of lack of manpower or time crunch can excuse that.

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Originally Posted by Atelier-Bagur

The problem with mods at least besides the usual stuff personally is just one *tiny crucial little detail*

<ahem>

Nobody else can see how your character truly looks like. Call me vain, but when I glam or work on my appearance, Im very proud of my character so much that I want to make sure he looks his best in front of people. Whats the point installing appearance mods when nobody or at the least anyone whom also doesnt share the same mod cant even see it? I suppose its just for your eyes only and for some, thats good enough, but its not for me. Yeah like I said, appearances matter to me with how others also perceive my character.

This is why I'll continue to NOT install them and keep asking for the devs to add in more customization features officially so that way, everyone can win. Not just the few whom dare to go against ToS.

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One of the newer plugins lets you sync your modded appearance with other people who have the plugin + have you as a friend on it. So not *everyone* can see you, especially not console players, but you can share to some degree.

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Originally Posted by Rolder50

One of the newer plugins lets you sync your modded appearance with other people who have the plugin + have you as a friend on it. So not *everyone* can see you, especially not console players, but you can share to some degree.

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I have no personal beef with mods like this, as they do not affect me or the game, but people should be aware of the risks they bring that the usual local-only mods may not subject them to.

For example, imagine a relationship with a glam-mod "friend" goes south, and they frame you (easy enough to do) and report you to SE for using a mod with FFXIV to distribute not just naked pictures but child porn.*
SE probably won't bother with an in-depth investigation, they'll just ban you for life.

And the risk may be worse if the mod allows the "friends" to load images you may never see onto your computer. Of course, local-only mods could do that too -- as does SE. But in the case of SE, it is probably easy to prove they put the offending images on your computer without your knowledge or consent.

*N.B. Where I live, the criminal penalty for possessing child porn is a mandatory 10 years in prison per violating image/video, run consecutively, with no possibility of parole.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Atelier-Bagur

The problem with mods at least besides the usual stuff personally is just one *tiny crucial little detail*

<ahem>

Nobody else can see how your character truly looks like. Call me vain, but when I glam or work on my appearance, Im very proud of my character so much that I want to make sure he looks his best in front of people. Whats the point installing appearance mods when nobody or at the least anyone whom also doesnt share the same mod cant even see it? I suppose its just for your eyes only and for some, thats good enough, but its not for me. Yeah like I said, appearances matter to me with how others also perceive my character.

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It all ends up on Twitter and Discord. Spare your eyes and don't seek it out. Some of the stuff is just plain awful :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Atelier-Bagur

The problem with mods at least besides the usual stuff personally is just one *tiny crucial little detail*

<ahem>

Nobody else can see how your character truly looks like. Call me vain, but when I glam or work on my appearance, Im very proud of my character so much that I want to make sure he looks his best in front of people. Whats the point installing appearance mods when nobody or at the least anyone whom also doesnt share the same mod cant even see it? I suppose its just for your eyes only and for some, thats good enough, but its not for me. Yeah like I said, appearances matter to me with how others also perceive my character.

This is why I'll continue to NOT install them and keep asking for the devs to add in more customization features officially so that way, everyone can win. Not just the few whom dare to go against ToS.

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Hardly few when there are some mods sitting at 500k+ downloads. There's also a plugin now that fixes the issue of others not being able to see it jsyk, a few people in my circles use it. It's actually kind of wild how far plugins have come since a couple years ago.

If you want to hold out and wait for them to fix things, be my guest. No one's stopping you. Just if others want to use other available sources of customization, don't get mad at them for using it since the devs literally won't fix things after years of being asked for.

All we're confirmed to be getting so far is a graphics/textures update. If we get a CC overhaul along with it then that's awesome and I'll be really happy for everyone who's asked for it, but it won't kill off the mod scene either. They'd have to put in a feature that allows anyone to import in whatever clothing/hair/tattoos/etc. they want along with completely redoing how gpose works so we can manipulate limbs and bones into custom poses.

If they do THAT, then I will concede it might be the end of the mod scene. Otherwise, it's not going anywhere.

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Originally Posted by LianaThorne

Hardly few when there are some mods sitting at 500k+ downloads. There's also a plugin now that fixes the issue of others not being able to see it jsyk, a few people in my circles use it. It's actually kind of wild how far plugins have come since a couple years ago.

If you want to hold out and wait for them to fix things, be my guest. No one's stopping you. Just if others want to use other available sources of customization, don't get mad at them for using it since the devs literally won't fix things after years of being asked for.

All we're confirmed to be getting so far is a graphics/textures update. If we get a CC overhaul along with it then that's awesome and I'll be really happy for everyone who's asked for it, but it won't kill off the mod scene either. They'd have to put in a feature that allows anyone to import in whatever clothing/hair/tattoos/etc. they want along with completely redoing how gpose works so we can manipulate limbs and bones into custom poses.

If they do THAT, then I will concede it might be the end of the mod scene. Otherwise, it's not going anywhere.

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They probably don't even care about these kinds of mods. Just don't go broadcasting it where they can take action for TOS. Their main concern is gameplay and those cheats people use.

Likewise, gameplay is the focus of development in general and they're not likely to go far beyond what's in place and have any kind of customization overhaul.