Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Boblawblah]

I had to teleport back to Limsa on the ship to buy a face mask LOL, fortunately I'm playing RPR for this expansion, so I also grabbed an awesome looking hat/face cloth combo in the wolfs den.

It's a shame, this is the first time I've ever wanted to hide my character's face due to how poorly the animations look/her lips.

[cutestfox]

It's a shame, this is the first time I've ever wanted to hide my character's face due to how poorly the animations look/her lips.

Very much so.
I've spent 11 years with this character with never a using a fantasia to change the appearance, and have around ~150k screenshots accumulated
Dawntrail has changed my character appearance into something I'd have never selected or wanted to play
There's no combination of features in the character creator to get back what once was

[Moonfallen]

Very much so.
I've spent 11 years with this character with never a using a fantasia to change the appearance, and have around ~150k screenshots accumulated
Dawntrail has changed my character appearance into something I'd have never selected or wanted to play
There's no combination of features in the character creator to get back what once was

That's exactly how I feel and I'm in the same boat. I've had the same look to my character since closed alpha of ARR. I've never wanted to change her and now I can't even look at her because she just looks nothing like before.

[Game_Over]

Very much so.
I've spent 11 years with this character with never a using a fantasia to change the appearance, and have around ~150k screenshots accumulated

I feel like the character changes are a downgrade.

It goes for all characters. I honestly dislike it. Everything is too god damn glossy. There should be a way to turn off the goddamn gloss.

Agreed. I've been around since 1.0 CE and have kept the same character settings for my main, except for 3 hairstyle upgrades. I've rolled with all the changes, but this is a serious issue. Almost everyone's characters look completely different. Different lip sizes/shapes, noses, eyes, eyebrows/colors for some - things that completely identify a face. A few are lucky and like the new proportions/shapes as much as the ones they originally created. But this shouldn't be a forced change. Do what you want to "improve" (read "change") the environment, maybe even armor textures, I've stuck through it all. It unfortunately is not an "improvement", though, just because it is different. It doesn't matter how many settings or graphics options you utilize when it makes things look worse. People making the excuse "it's lighting/shading..." etc, it doesn't matter to me why it is an issue, it matters to me that it is an issue at all. It needs to be fixed, period. Doesn't mean they will - but they should. It isn't our job to code this/figure it out so it works right, it's theirs.

I honestly see no improvement on my PC graphics-wise at all - the improvement of which is supposed to be the excuse for these problems. In itself no noticeable improvement doesn't bother me. But I do see a change: my entire game looks so glowy/hazy now that I can't even discern details I used to be able to see. Marble floor is gray instead of black, weapon glows are muted and reduced. Yes I've tried gamma correction (nevermind the fact I've never needed to touch this before), I've fiddled with every setting, but apparently this is what "improvement" means. The game still looks great on my roommates PS5, but it always did.

There seems to be an issue lately where the 14 devs want to change things that are already working well. The old adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it" comes to mind. Circling back to the character faces, this is just one example of something that didn't need to be changed. It has certainly de-motivated me from playing early access (something that was never before an issue). I am starting to feel like at this point they are no longer making games for players like me. This isn't an "I-quit" post as I don't do those, it's more of an acknowledgement; but I will say I only post on here when it's a serious issue. I don't come on here to debate (you're welcome to disagree; I won't be back to argue), but this is the most strongly negative content release they have ever done in the history of the game for me. So take from that what you will SE/others.