Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[CuteBucket]

I've been talking to a lot of people in the past few days regarding the update, and something I've found is that the crowd of players who are generally unhappy with it is much, much bigger than what's represented by the forums. Maybe they weren't bothered enough to post here, or were able to get used to it, but out of everyone I've spoken to since Dawntrail dropped, almost no one was fully happy with their character after the graphics update. I know this is anecdotal, but by far the most common sentiment I've encountered is either total ambivalence, or some version of "It's weird but I got used to it."

I want Square Enix to be aware of how widespread this sentiment is. Social media would have you believe that the majority of players were actively happy about the update, and this simply isn't the case.

I can only add my own anecdotes here as well, but I'm active in a several Discord communities for FFXIV and manage two myself (small communities for dedicated purposes, mind you, not some thousand plus member mega servers, but I try to keep up with the messages in case I'm needed and often join in the convos myself). I think I know of *one* person who was happy with how their character turned out in 7.0. Everyone else falls into one of three categories:

1) Completely indifferent. Whatever changes 7.0 made were so insubstantial to them that they don't think their characters look either better *or* worse. They seemed underwhelmed, if anything. Like "what was all that character update stuff about, anyway? I guess some texture are a little less pixelated?" They typically reserve their praise for other parts of the graphics update, like the lighting in some areas and the better plants and rocks.

2) Upset to some degree. Maybe the changes annoyed them but they just try to ignore it. Others actively complain about it when the topic comes up. I've posted links to this thread as an official place to leave feedback, but I think most players decide it's just not worth the effort to make a forum account to come give feedback. Maybe they don't have the detailed before and after screenshots to share, or maybe they don't think SE will listen anyway so why bother.

3) Mod their face with a custom sculpt so they don't have to look at the vanilla face anyway. Some players did this long before 7.0, of course, and don't care one way or another (except that 7.0 broke almost every mod in the game and are still being put back), but I've seen more people start to say things like "Maybe I should look into that..." or using modded faces and textures for the first time when they'd had no interest or desire to do so before.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

[...]I know this is anecdotal, but by far the most common sentiment I've encountered is either total ambivalence, or some version of "It's weird but I got used to it."[...]

I can only add my own anecdotes here as well[...]

These anecdotes checks out with what I've seen as well. Good amount of those who don't feel much attachment their character look wouldn't notice the changes either, which is understandable. Not everybody does this. Meanwhile those who have probably written decently revolving their own characters (people call it OC - original character) tend to have mixed review, mostly leaning toward negatives because physical features tend to be a contributing factor of why they wrote XYZ, etc. It doesn't matter whether the change brought to their character were minor/major/better/worse when 7.0 rolled in, the issue is they changed. The only way to avoid/please both side is to make a better character creator system where they include BOTH old and new models.

Me? I have no more race to this. I believe I belong to the 3rd category in CuteBucket's list. But should the opportunity arises, I'll be that prick who will keep reminding this sentiment & that player's goodwill is not one to be taken for granted.

[Feelynn]

Anecdotally, most people I know on the other hand do like the character updates. A lot. Some are actually really saddened now by the removal of stuff like the glowing Au Ra horns,even if they didn't make much sense, or the 7.0 limbal rings.
Quite a few used their Fantasias to swap to races that look a lot better now in their opinion. Lots of new Midlander enjoyers, people thinking that Miqos look cuter than ever, Elezen looking amazing etc.
We all tend to surround ourselves with people who share similar views to us, so anecdotal evidence will always be flawed in many ways.
We really, really, really need more character creation options to satisfy more people. Constantly introducing and then taking away things that make/made, reignited love for or inspired people's creations really doesn't seem sustainable in the long run, especially if you constantly give people 4 months to get used to current states of affairs, only to whisk them away again to listen to 3 months old feedback again. At this rate, both update enjoyers and haters will end up unhappy.

[programcanaan]

The bottom line is that they explicitly stated and insisted multiple times at fanfest mainstages that Player Characters were going to retain their appearances. Meanwhile, changes to certain models are so drastic they can't simply be explained away and shouldn't be ignored. Different lips, different expression, altered eye makeup, incorrect iris, etc.

If they wanted to change up the characters they should of added to the creator instead of replacing/changing the very few assets already existing. Adding to the creator really could've added some easy intrigue. Eyebrow Color/toggle would've already won a ton of points all by itself. Muscle sliders, expanded height scales, etc. So many ways to provide flavor without risking to ruin anyone's experience/trust.

[TheDustyOne]

Anecdotally, most of the people I've met tend to be neutral with the update; they don't notice the changes to their characters, or consider them minor losses and are happy with the new graphical effects. It's mainly me and a couple others I know that have had concerns over how our characters have transitioned through the updates.

The more subtle philtrum has made my character more like her old self, but the eye shape and lips still have yet to be changed. I've grown to like the new eye shape over time, but I still like my old eyes more.

I don't see anything in the patch notes about the facial expressions being tweaked, but I do feel like /beam and /smile look a lot better than they did during 7.0. Has anyone else noticed that or am I just crazy?

[Khryseis_Astra]

The bottom line is that they explicitly stated and insisted multiple times at fanfest mainstages that Player Characters were going to retain their appearances. Meanwhile, changes to certain models are so drastic they can't simply be explained away and shouldn't be ignored. Different lips, different expression, altered eye makeup, incorrect iris, etc.

If they wanted to change up the characters they should have added to the creator instead of replacing/changing the very few assets already existing. Adding to the creator really could've added some easy intrigue. Eyebrow Color/toggle would've already won a ton of points all by itself. Muscle sliders, expanded height scales, etc. So many ways to provide flavor without risking to ruin anyone's experience/trust.

This… I’ve seen some people get salty that they’re still making changes, but what we were supposed to get was essentially HD versions of our existing characters. Changing the actual shapes of facial features does not “preserve the overall look and feel” of a character, as was their stated intent. And this should be the priority, to restore the original looks.

While I feel for those who like the new styles, you’ve only had that for a few months while people who have had their characters for years have had them completely changed. Absolutely they should add more options to the character creator, it’s long overdue, and many of us have been making our voices heard on that topic. But the options we have now should be the “original only better” that was the initial goal, and anything that was changed as some sort of “artistic license” should be the additions.

When they finally say “we’re done,” I should be able to log into all my characters with their original settings and see them as close as possible to what they were.

[Dirwen]

The more people complain the better I like getting free fantasias.

[Loggos]

...we were supposed to get was essentially HD versions of our existing characters...But the options we have now should be the “original only better” that was the initial goal...

Yeah, at the very beginning of this whole process we were promised this (models are the same, only shaders/textures have been improved):

https://youtu.be/18-F5uAyRgw?t=424

Imagine if they had stuck to this plan. (Or rather, don't. You'll just get sad.)


(Yes, I've posted this before but I'll bring it up again and again out of pure pettiness to remind SE how they messed up.)

[Ashura98]

The bottom line is that they explicitly stated and insisted multiple times at fanfest mainstages that Player Characters were going to retain their appearances. Meanwhile, changes to certain models are so drastic they can't simply be explained away and shouldn't be ignored. Different lips, different expression, altered eye makeup, incorrect iris, etc.

If they wanted to change up the characters they should of added to the creator instead of replacing/changing the very few assets already existing. Adding to the creator really could've added some easy intrigue. Eyebrow Color/toggle would've already won a ton of points all by itself. Muscle sliders, expanded height scales, etc. So many ways to provide flavor without risking to ruin anyone's experience/trust.

I belive some of these visual changes were given from the need to add extra bones. Old lips and eyes, as far as I've been made aware by gposer friends, were extremely limited in terms of posability. And indeed, I've noticed that the emotes are now more expressive, to put it in some way. I think they wanted to add these extra bones to make their lives easier when animating the characters, and that needed to come with some visual differences.

Was it worth it? That depends, I feel it's very personal. For me, it wasn't. I am increidbly distraught, to the point where I've barely touched the game sinde DT came out, and I just finished ShB and I was really excited to rush through EW to get to the most recent expansion. But... Idk how to put it, my character just doesn't look like herself anymore. Like Rein_eon_Osborne mentioned, my character is more than just an avatar, she's an "original character". 7.1 fixed some of the issues I had, but it's still not the same.

[TheVegetable]

Male miqo face 1 got pretty much nothing fixed and is just as fucked as before. I've thought about making a feedback thread, but... honestly I'm just so damn tired. If it wasn't for my house and the people I play with, I'd probably just quit the game outright. It really does feel like there's no choice but to use TOS-breaking methods at this point.