Wow, some of y'all need to chill. Yes there are some issues with the graphics update, but I'm pretty sure even Endwalker's benchmark didn't show the full range of character creation options that were released with the actual launch. I'm also pretty positive that the graphics on some things in the EW benchmark weren't the same with launch. I would bet money that what we are seeing in the benchmark isn't the 100% finished product that we'll get on release day.

The benchmark is a tool to make sure your system can handle the game and a give another "sneak peak" not give a 100% full look; and you would complain if it did. As graphics get better, harsher angles soften and round out. With heightened lighting systems there's going to be more highs and lows; that change tones, highlights and shadows, etc. That's pretty much how it works. If they only updated the graphics on the environment and world around our characters, we would stick out like a sore thumb and look horrible in contrast.

A lot of us have been playing FF14 for a long time, through good and bad updates. Why? Because ultimately the dev team keeps creating a game worth playing and they usually do right by the player base. So lets have a little faith and trust that DT will follow that tradition. I'm not saying don't voice our concerns, but lets be reasonable in our expectations and criticism. This update is not ruining the game, our characters still look like our characters in 99% of the pictures and vids I've seen and from what I've played around with in the Benchmark. This is just the same phenomenon that happened when TVs went to HD and then 4K.