Petition To Expand Character Creator

[Loki]

Most (read: all) of the games I know of that made major texture/character upgrades didn't do so until a good 8 or so years into the life of the game. I'd be flabbergasted if any dev team put the resources into doing it just 4-5 years in.

If we count 1.0 the game is 8 years old and 5 years old if we start from 2.0.

The question is, ff14 will live 3 years more if it continues in this way? I'm not sure.

[Violet_Galaxy]

I really would just like more faces. I get weirded out every time I see another person with my face. Even worse when that other person has your face AND your hairstyle (only happened once). And for crying out loud, please let different races wear each others clothes. I don't get why that doesn't exist already and shouldn't (I think anyway) be hard to implement. I would also like to see facial hair options for players who roll male in this game. Too many squeaky clean looking dudes out there.

[Melichoir]

I suppose if they were to do it (which wouldnt be completely game breaking, but must take into consideration how armor/gear is afflicted by it), the following things SHOULD be manageable without too much alteration to the current engine:

1) More Face options - Not just faces themselves, but variable components of the face too. Doubling what they have would go a long way in helping promote a different look.
2) Broader height ranges - Height sliders should be a bit broader. As it is now, with some races, the height slider does not actually give you that much difference.
3) Muscularity sliders - All races should have this (including Lalafells)
4) Unlocked attributes that dont make sense locked - This is more specific to AuRa and their horns. You should be able to choose horns independently of Face
5) Colorization of certain aspects - Again, more towards Aura, but Scales should have a color range you can choose from. The current Blue-Black, and Off-White color palettes actually limit what skin tones you can use, due to certain skins looking horrendous with those colors.
6) (A controversial one) Actually make the "chest" slider for Lalafells represent something or remove it outright - Ive mentioned in other threads that Im not 100% a fan of some of the aesthetics of Lalas in general, but there are issues with the design of the race that should be addressed. The Chest slider, for whatever purpose, exists on female lala but has no actual 'impact on their appearance. I can speculate that the reason has to do with the idea that they dont want to get hit with 'sexualization' issues. However, since we all know thats a half measure considering the glamour and emotes possible in game as it is, its kind of a moot point. Furthermore, Lala's by design have very little distinction between males and females. While I get that theres more to girls than chest assets, it is a very easy short hand to differentiate between men and women, and also may help bust some preconceived notions about Lalas being too "kid like". Should they not adjust it, they should remove it in favor of other sliders to help differentiation between the sexes or an extra customization option for Lalas in general. Either/or is fine, but they need to either own the slider or remove, and not have some vestigial customization that amounts to nothing.
7) Scars and other minor aspects - All races have access to All Scars and/or any other aspects (beauty marks as an example). Scars should be available not only for Face, but also Body.
8) Facial tattoos - You should be able to select multiple at the same time.

Things to be changed outside of character editor:

These are facets that can help with customization but dont require implementation to the character editor itself. Basically, they should be aquired VIA MGP at GoldSaucer or through POTD/HoH or Achievements

1) Unlock glamour that alters between races - Things like the hempen camise as an immediate example should be available to all races. The 'start' race should either receive it through a quest or by default, but should be able to aquire the other ones
2) Unlock Emotes based on Race - Any major emote variation based on race should be acquirable.
3) Unlock Hairstyles - Any hairstyles that are race specific should be free for the start race you have, but the others have to be unlocked
4) Eye Colors and Hair Colors - New eye and hair colors should be acquired via GS
5) New tattoos should be acquired via Gold Saucer
6) Body Tattoos - Tattoo Artist Unlocked Via GS, with a base set available and additional Tattoos unlocked via MGP or other sources
7) Piercings - Body and Face piercings could be unlocked along with Tattoos and additional ones acquired via MGP or other sources

I think these kind of changes, while not the exacts of everyone here, would be broadly accepted as a decent step and be well received without making huge alterations to the engine itself.

[MicahZerrshia]

If we count 1.0 the game is 8 years old and 5 years old if we start from 2.0.

The question is, ff14 will live 3 years more if it continues in this way? I'm not sure.

It's not about how a game looks as it is about how it is to play.

FFXI is still going strong and look at those graphics. Even with poor graphics and all its flaws, XI is still an amazing game. And as someone who still plays it I can tell you there are still plenty of ppl not only playing it, but beginning it for the first time. There are well over 2k ppl on my server alone even during the lowest pop times.

I think the only thing XIV needs to be concerned about is its lack of veteran retention and not its graphics. They need to be more innovative with content and keep older content relevant if this game is to survive.

[Zerophiliac]

I can only hope! I've been hoping for something like this for so long. I know it isn't minor, but a lot of my enjoyment comes from making different characters lol.

[Berethos]

If we count 1.0 the game is 8 years old and 5 years old if we start from 2.0.

I mean we could count 1.0, but then you'd have to acknowledge that the game has already gone through its major rework, albeit not one involving texture/character creation upgrades.

At which point the clock one might conceivably measure by when determining when this game would likely see a major upgrade to things like character models and such (which may take more work behind the scenes than we realize, hard to tell with us not being on the dev team) would realistically be reset...and we're back to my original point. This game as is happens to be just over 5 years old, and most MMOs that have done major character model upgrades took 8+ years (HD textures, where those have appeared, have come faster, but that is a different beast than reworking character models and changing character creation to a more significant degree).

In fact, the two I'm most familiar with - LOTRO and WoW, took about 10 years before they each managed to do it.

Of course, that's if they even decide they want to make more than minor changes over time.

As for living 3 years more if it continues this way? At no point has the lack of a character model rework ever doomed an MMO, so if that's what you're worried about you can rest easy.

Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see improvements made to character options, but I'm also being realistic about the chances of a major rework.

[Duskane]

Ability to change horns for Au ra

Ear spots as a option for miqote

Actual eye brows for male high landers

And ability to dye eye brows a separate color

Scars are just a option for all not face exclusive

All tattoos moved to face paint

And can have 3 face paints on at a time

[Iscah]

A big reason why we're extra-unlikely to get any body-shape-modifying sliders is gear. Adding a slider would mean modifying every single piece of gear to respond to that slider, instead of being a fixed shape.

All tattoos moved to face paint

That won't really work, because the "tattoos" category only exists for some characters, and is used for other things on different races.

Quickest example: Elezen. Most of their design options are the same, but Duskwights have their unique tattoos while Wildwoods get ear clasps instead. Either way it's two independent options, plus an associated colour choice.

I'm fairly sure Au Ra limbal rings use this same category.

[Duskane]

A big reason why we're extra-unlikely to get any body-shape-modifying sliders is gear. Adding a slider would mean modifying every single piece of gear to respond to that slider, instead of being a fixed shape.





That won't really work, because the "tattoos" category only exists for some characters, and is used for other things on different races.

Quickest example: Elezen. Most of their design options are the same, but Duskwights have their unique tattoos while Wildwoods get ear clasps instead. Either way it's two independent options, plus an associated colour choice.

I'm fairly sure Au Ra limbal rings use this same category.

Racial tattoo/markings can still be a thing it just a unneeded menu option

[Iscah]

I think it is a needed menu option, but more for the other things. If it's only going to be used for a few races getting things like limbal rings, it's wasted data for everyone else. Instead, find something to put in there - and they've decided unique racial tattoos is the way to go.

Also, under the current system with only one facepaint option, it lets people set two different colours for the tattoos and facepaint.