New Benchmark (June): Au Ra Feedback

[Aniya_Estlihn]

I greatly like how my character looks in v1.1, so while I feel for those who had their character changed in ways they dislike, I don't want the changes to be reverted as I like what they've done.
There's also been a few disingenuous comparisons people have made in here where it still, quite literally, comes down to different lightning... so I really can't take everyone seriously here.

[Turethir]

Lips were easy to spot with how different they looked, but comparing the images made me realize the eye shape is wildly different and the nose is shorter/narrower as well. It's really draining my hype for Dawntrail, I don't want to do MSQ on a stranger.

As someone who uses Face 2 / Eye Shape 3 - I'd recommend if you can trying Eye Shape 4 on the benchmark and seeing if it might work better for you - in my opinion, Eye Shape 4 on the benchmark actually looks like the current Eye Shape 3!

I still have issues with the lips and I've raised these in the JP thread - I want our frog mouths back! Here is what I would like to see:

[Irishfae]

More people liked the au ra changes than disliked. I've already shown X/twitter posts of it being extremely liked, having 5-5.9k likes with almost half a million views and lots of praises.

Please just stop! Do you even play Au Ra? Your main looks like a miqo'te.

Notice how these videos barely have any dislikes and more likes and in the comments you see people praising au ra.

Why do you care? Really? Likes don't necessarily equate to 'I like how that looks." I like things that people I know post when they are happy about something, but I might not agree with them. So, please, it isn't a good data point on what people actually think. It could also be likes by people who don't play Au Ra and who never intend to. Likes mean nothing without having the actual motivation behind them.

But I do want to make it clear me saying this isn't dismissing anybody feelings or concerns.

It really does seem that way. Just stop, please. Posting all the 'But here are all the people who have 'liked' social media posts' isn't good feedback. It just seems like you like to argue and try to convince people that they are wrong to be concerned about THEIR characters.

I'm not going to go into other forums (or the mega thread) and tell those players they are wrong to think what they think and I'm not going to point out that 'see here, all these other people like the changes.'

I do like a lot of the other changes, in fact I like some of the changes to other Au Ra heads, but my fellow Au Ra players don't, and since I don't play that specific model, I'm not going to to try to counter their concerns.

Please take a step back and read the room. This isn't helping anything what-so-ever.

[Irishfae]

They should really take another look at female face 4 and see what they can do about keeping that sharp look. I know I'm not the only one, but I'm not a fan at all. It has kind of dwindled my hype for DT as I can only imagine myself constantly being distracted by how uncanny my character looks now instead of the actual cutscenes.

Same, a lot of what made face 4 unique seems to be lost with all the 'softening' and I chose it for the sharper features. Now it looks like a different character and less unique then she did before (my main alt - different race- had the same issue with face 4, the softening of face 4)

[Irishfae]

They should just add more to the character creator now instead of change things.

This would be fantastic; keep the new lines and add back the old ones. Ideally, being able to mix and match all the features and not be locked into one specific face/horn combination would be the best option (it could apply to all races), but I know it will probably never happen.

[Irishfae]

There's also been a few disingenuous comparisons people have made in here where it still, quite literally, comes down to different lightning... so I really can't take everyone seriously here.

The lighting is a valid concern, (I know they are still tweaking it for the actual game) since it is going to be the 'new standard.'
Maybe it isn't a change to the character model that needs to happen, maybe something in the lighting logic needs to happen. Sometimes we only know that 'this shadow doesn't seem right', or 'the shadow interferes with....' And those are still valid points of feedback. Maybe it amounts to nothing, maybe it is something.

[Plushy]

snip

Yes I play au ra. I just don't showcase it on the forums for protection, why I use alts to post. I can post a picture of my au ra later if you wish though.

second; likes do matter in this context. The chances of someone liking a post or video(or disliking) just for the sake of it is really low since it could show that they do like the changes and agrees with the person is saying. If likes don't matter then we use the comments and in that case, the X/twitter posts I provided have plenty of people saying they like the new au ra changes.

third; I never said anybody was wrong nor am I trying to counter anybody. As I said in my previous posts. I'm only posting feedback from other social media sites and you don't seem to like that I'm doing that for some reason (My guess is you and other people trying to deny these posts is because since they're highly popular and liked, you think SE won't change anything now when there is a 100% SE seen them anyway. Remember, companies like SE have an entire team that collects feedback and this includes from sites like X and facebook.) and I'm sorry but who are you to call that "social media posts isn't good feedback"? SE seems to think so since yoshi-p said they look at other places than just the forums. That tells me you only think the feedback is good based on your own ideals, standards and if you agree with it, sorry but I disagree with you. If you think feedback from anywhere else but the official forums isn't good feedback then I don't know what to say other than I think you're being disingenuous and just trying to deny it because its popular posts and you don't know what to say other than it doesn't count?(It does).
But either way I don't want to argue so I'll leave it at that.

You already agreed at this point its better for SE to just add more options later down the line so lets just leave it.
If I seemed aggressive or seemed like I was denying your feelings I'm sorry. Just understand I just like the changes and I'm trying to cover that others do too by providing proof, if I'm seeming too passionate I'm sorry and don't mean to come off that way. Good day though and hope you enjoy dawntrail.

[Dagny]

I've made my peace that my character is going to look different (and will probably be using a fantasia before launch to something I do actually like in the benchmark), but I did just want to provide some feedback points, just in case. I'm not the best at describing what feels 'off' to me, but I've done my best. Comparing between patch 6.58 and Benchmark 1.1.

- Eye shape has changed, and feels longer now, or has possibly been 'rotated'. There has always been a slight 'bulge' underneath the eye for me that feels more prominent now, especially straight on in certain lighting.
- Lip shape seems to have changed somewhat as well, and has that 'bulge' out appearance in the benchmark.



More nitpicky personal opinion stuff:
- I do miss the gloss on the lips and wish that could be a toggle.
- The limbal ring colors seem to have shifted. My character is literally the same character creation option wise. While in the original the limbal is more of a yellow color, in the benchmark, it has a slightly more orange hue now. I was able to find something close to the original but it was a couple rows over.
- I feel like the iris is too big. I'd like for this to be a toggle as well, if possible.

I don't have the original benchmark appearance, which I was actually pretty happy with, because I was upgrading PCs for Dawntrail in between released benchmark versions. I do acknowledge that perhaps I just liked how my character looked better on my crummier PC but I don't thinks so lol. To any SE staff reading this, thank you for all your hard work.

[Isurith]

The iris size isn't my only complaint, but man. If they could just fix that by giving us a toggle (fully understand that some people likes the big one better), it would be already miles better.

Eyes, and especially iris, can have a lot of effect on the perception we have from the face. A smaller iris make the face smaller by itself. Even if it's a bit more round now, smaller iris could make me ignore that more easily.

[Sekhar]

Notice how these videos barely have any dislikes and more likes and in the comments you see people praising au ra.
So basically what I'm trying to say is....there is a lot of feedback SE looks at and if things didn't change its because there is a lot of things you're probably not aware of ...

Similar to your twitter likes, you are once again doing things such as equating likes on a general video of 2 hour length that goes through every single race where people give a like which can mean any sort of thing "I like the lighting changes", " I like hrothgar changes", "I like that you show me these changes" with "People really love the new Au Ra things".
The same is true for the negative things of course, that is exactly why I tried to explain to you that not all feedback is equal.

Also I do kind of agree, you using some off character here ,however inadvertently, makes you look like a troll trying to bait people. But you know, Hanlon's razor.

There are many good things in these changes. Such as the improved textures, higher polygon count, better lighting etc.
Some people might also honestly prefer the eye bags and the puffy faces. That is perfectly valid.

However, they themselves early on said that they will not go for hyper realism in parts because it is not possible for an MMO, but also because they do not wish for the identity of characters to be lost. In that sense they are failing with quite a few of their changes and we are simply pointing out where it is.

Beyond that there are also just things that quite frankly look amateurish.

• Optional scales having a different resolution from the standard ones
• Horns in the hairstyles have super low resolution
• Some horns and hair parts that are often hidden (such as the neck scales) can look low resolution

These just objectively say "someone didn't really put in enough effort"

Should we commend them for doing changes on an old game?
Yes!
Should we commend them for a job that does not fulfill their own stated goals and standards?
Hell no!

Its ultimately up to SE/FFXIV dev team to decide either way as, unlike me. They gather feedback way more than I ever could since they have an entire team that's job is to gather feedback and they don't just look on the forums.

I find it hilarious that you play the "SE/FFXIV team has more data" card.
Then why is stuff like low resolution horns and scales still a thing? They have been working on this for more than a year after all.

Also I feel a thing that often gets ignore by people with alts or fantasia addicts. It is kind of ridiculous that these changes (I mean expressive changes such as sculpt and eyes not lighting and textures) are forced upon everyone without options. They are changing the feel of characters that might have looked the same for almost a decade at this point for some people.