We need to compromise as a player base

[Taliriah]

I'd argue that if you can't upgrade the graphics without affecting the unique visual identity and style of characters that players have been attached to and playing for literal years, then you shouldn't be 'upgrading' the graphics in the first place.

Why can't it be a character option so people can keep the look they have always had? Have the 'objectively better' loss of facial hair as an option, and the 'objectively worse' scruffy look as an option so people can keep their same style if they want to. If anyone should be compromising, I believe it is the developers, whose goal should be to improve the graphics without completely changing how characters look.

1. Ask any digital artist and they'll tell you that everything is interdependent. If you improve the shading, then you have to re-rig the lights, because the old light rigs have been designed around the specific limitations and idiosyncrasies of the old shading. And color perception everywhere will be affected. That's just how it is. All the visual elements work together, you can't change one without affecting the others.

I'm not a video game artist but I work with them and I can't tell you how often they have looked at me in horror whenever I ask dumb programmer questions like "do you really need to be able to preview X and Y with the exact same time of day/weather used in the actual ingame event where it is used?"

(This is why, lacking any evidence that the character creation backdrops have been reworked, it is probably irrelevant to complain about the lighting there)

2. In general, a graphic update consists in adding more information to shapes and textures to define them better. The thing is, when that extra information was missing, people were filling in the blanks, and they were doing that subjectively. That bit you perceive as integral to your character's look may be perceived as an ugly artifact by someone else.

Therefore there is no objective way to fill in the missing information.

Making old and new versions coexist as an option is also impossible, see point 1: the lighting and weather have to match with the character shading.

So, in light of this, should they not have done this? Hell no. There's a million things that look wrong in 6.0 and I don't think the game should be held back by conservatism. And since it's all so subjective, it means you'll get used to it anyway.

TL;DR: you'll get over it.

[Evergrey]

TL;DR: you'll get over it.

In the end, this is inevitable.
I've seen this countless times with any change, you name it.
People complain that X isn't the same and Y is worse than Z.
But after weeks, months it's like nothing's happened since people adapt and learn to use the new features and it'll blend into what's now normal.
Ofc, some are more stubborn than others and there will always be those who feel "betrayed" and will leave to find new horizons. And that's totally fine.
If the new stuff doesn't suit them it's better to just find something else that does.
Still sucks that sometimes something one has spend x amount of time on suddenly doesn't feel good anymore.
In the end however, life is all about change and some changes sting more than others.

That being said, this is a Benchmark, not a final product and as people voice their concerns over things we'll see whatever happens from that.
Some issues will certainly get adressed while others might not be.

[Kindred008]

1. Ask any digital artist and they'll tell you that everything is interdependent. If you improve the shading, then you have to re-rig the lights, because the old light rigs have been designed around the specific limitations and idiosyncrasies of the old shading. And color perception everywhere will be affected. That's just how it is. All the visual elements work together, you can't change one without affecting the others.

I'm not a video game artist but I work with them and I can't tell you how often they have looked at me in horror whenever I ask dumb programmer questions like "do you really need to be able to preview X and Y with the exact same time of day/weather used in the actual ingame event where it is used?"

(This is why, lacking any evidence that the character creation backdrops have been reworked, it is probably irrelevant to complain about the lighting there)

2. In general, a graphic update consists in adding more information to shapes and textures to define them better. The thing is, when that extra information was missing, people were filling in the blanks, and they were doing that subjectively. That bit you perceive as integral to your character's look may be perceived as an ugly artifact by someone else.

Therefore there is no objective way to fill in the missing information.

Making old and new versions coexist as an option is also impossible, see point 1: the lighting and weather have to match with the character shading.

So, in light of this, should they not have done this? Hell no. There's a million things that look wrong in 6.0 and I don't think the game should be held back by conservatism. And since it's all so subjective, it means you'll get used to it anyway.

TL;DR: you'll get over it.

It is completely untrue that in-order to improve graphics, characters have to look unrecognisable.

This isn't an issue with lighting. Sure, it may have to be re-baked, but characters look completely different because in many cases their facial structure and features have been changed.

There have been so many video game remasters in the past where the graphics have been vastly improved, but characters have still looked like themselves, just an improved version of themselves. You can't tell me that for some reason that isn't possible in this case.

[Taliriah]

It is completely untrue that in-order to improve the graphics, characters have to look unrecognisable.

They absolutely do not look unrecognizable. You are being over dramatic.

[Kindred008]

They absolutely do not look unrecognizable. You are being over dramatic.

The unique visual style of so many peoples characters have been lost. These are things that make those characters themselves. Without them, they are basically a different character. Just read the many threads on the forum (including this one) and you will see people posting examples with their characters.

[Nebty]

They absolutely do not look unrecognizable. You are being over dramatic.

They're recognizable, but some of the facial features seem to have been changed for no reason.

I have some minor quibbles otherwise, but the mouth on au ra face 2 being weirdly pinched up at the corners completely changes their facial expressions for the worse.



You can even see it in the benchmark. The smile is pinched at the edges even there. It looks like a duckface.



I don't know if this is a bug or just a new art direction but I want to try to express my dissatisfaction at the very least.

[cutestfox]

In this case, conservatism would be preventing the game from taking a step back
how could this ever be considered a "graphical upgrade"

[Taliriah]

The unique visual style of so many peoples characters have been lost. These are things that make those characters themselves. Without them, they are basically a different character. Just read the many threads on the forum (including this one) and you will see people posting examples with their characters.

In most of those examples I struggle to notice any stylistic change.

[Fuyume]

They absolutely do not look unrecognizable. You are being over dramatic.

A bit rich coming from someone that's happy with the changes. I also use face four au ra like the person you responded to and she absolutely doesn't look like the same character. If I wanted round cheeks and dimples and a pouty mouth I would've used faces one or two when I created her back at HW launch. She's meant to look tough and stern, not soft and cutesy, and yet I'm having soft and cutesy forced on me and there's nothing I can do unless I want to try to ham fist *another* fantasia into her lore to be something else. After eight years of not changing her.

I'm glad some people only see their characters as an avatar and don't care about the personality portrayed by the face they chose, but I write and make art about my WoL. And this new face 4 is not who she is.

ETA: https://imgur.com/a/ne2RiCu top photo is now, lower two are the benchmark. My tough, stands in the front, weilds a greatsword or a scythe girl now has puffy cheeks, pouty lips, and dimples. I hate it and nothing fixes it. Even if I compromised on the horn shape the other faces are just as soft or softer.

[Evergrey]

They're recognizable, but some of the facial features seem to have been changed for no reason.

I have some minor quibbles otherwise, but the mouth on au ra face 2 being weirdly pinched up at the corners completely changes their facial expressions for the worse.

Everyone see things differently.
Personally I think the left one looks more like that awkward smile people can do.



Where to the right I can clearly see that it's supposed to be a smile.
To each their own.