Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Reinha]

For visibility, and a reminder:

Just because we're quiet, doesn't mean we're content or have given up. It only means we've said what needed to be said (plus no updates).

Also some of us are unsubbed. I'm only able to post because there is a free login campaign.



I would revert to the old graphics if I could, to have my character back.

[Aco505]

Still hoping for bodies to be updated like the faces were...

[RedLolly]

At this point, really hoping the character creator in 8.0 is vastly improved with lots more options and fine-tuning.

I'm hoping this is why they stopped doing tweaks every single update. Someone has been unhappy with every new change, but putting effort into expanding and updating everything for everyone and giving us a fresh start in 8.0 by letting us rebuild and refine our avatars might be the only course at this point.

We knew it wasn't going to be 1 to 1 after the update, but the constant changes and new weird quirks is making it harder to get attached.

[Fawkes]

Still hoping for bodies to be updated like the faces were...

[faiarrow]

I'm aware Anwar deleted their post, but just gently putting this here for anyone of the sentiment of 'why do you want the old back':

Losing a character of 10 years to this soulless husk isn't an upgrade. Shiny new textures doesn't fix the fact the entire resculpt they did for the faces has radically changed a lot of faces in more than minute ways, and some races absolutely got the short end of the stick with normal maps missing, flat diffuses being swapped (duskwight texture on wildwood still as of this patch for example) and racial traits entirely removed or adjusted awkwardly.



I'm sorry but this isn't an acceptable "update".

[Anwar]

I'm aware Anwar deleted their post, but just gently putting this here for anyone of the sentiment of 'why do you want the old back':

Losing a character of 10 years to this soulless husk isn't an upgrade. Shiny new textures doesn't fix the fact the entire resculpt they did for the faces has radically changed a lot of faces in more than minute ways, and some races absolutely got the short end of the stick with normal maps missing, flat diffuses being swapped (duskwight texture on wildwood still as of this patch for example) and racial traits entirely removed or adjusted awkwardly.



I'm sorry but this isn't an acceptable "update".

I see.. So you guys aren't outright flat out against graphic updates as such then? If it does your old appearance justice. And maintains the same facial structures and doesn't change your faces and such too radically?

[RedLolly]

I see.. So you guys aren't outright flat out against graphic updates as such then? If it does your old appearance justice. And maintains the same facial structures and doesn't change your faces and such too radically?

Yeah, the lighting, textures, and new facial bones did some wacky stuff to certain faces, but every one is so miniscule that 99% of them don't look like anything to me, but are spotted by those players that have kept the same avatar for years.

For example, the Elezen female face I like best, face 2, had a set of eyes that are almond shaped with very pronounced eyelashes. It gives her face a smiling expression by giving her eyes a certain ^_^ shape. That eyelash texture was changed in the 7.0 update, muting that effect, so she looked very funny to me until the devs actually updated that face's eyelash texture on all the eyes, getting back that initial look I really liked.

The only races that look to not have had any notable issues at all in the update were Lalafell and male Hrothgar, and I think that's down to them having entirely unique face models verses other races sharing the same bones.

[Astronis]

The only races that look to not have had any notable issues at all in the update were Lalafell and male Hrothgar, and I think that's down to them having entirely unique face models verses other races sharing the same bones.

There have been people pointing out issues with lalafell and male hrothgar. All faces from all the races now share the same base polygons that are morphed in various ways to achieve the different shapes. That's what caused many of the issues people have pointed out (including different shaped nose bridges on hrothgar). From what I understand, it's just hrothgar teeth that are unique rather than morphed from the same base polygons.

I see.. So you guys aren't outright flat out against graphic updates as such then? If it does your old appearance justice. And maintains the same facial structures and doesn't change your faces and such too radically?

This seems to be the case with most people, though I think there are a few in this thread who are flat out against the whole graphic update. There's definitely still some outstanding issues that even someone like me who is otherwise extremely happy with the update thinks should be fixed. There's definitely something missing from femroe foreheads, for example.

As for me, I'm extremely pleased with it and would be 'take my money elsewhere' displeased if they managed to "restore" my old WoL. I'm quite happy my WoL no longer looks cross-eyed and a victim of bad plastic surgery. I don't think I have anything to worry about, though; the bits I'm happiest about have virtually no chance of being rolled back.

[faiarrow]

I see.. So you guys aren't outright flat out against graphic updates as such then? If it does your old appearance justice. And maintains the same facial structures and doesn't change your faces and such too radically?

100%! The way the update was promised to us by the developers was basically what you're saying: the same characters, but with higher fidelity, while 'preserving the overall look that you know.' If they'd done this from the get-go, threads like this likely wouldn't have gotten as big as they have because of dissatisfaction within the community. The downgrade from 1.0 to 2.0 was handled with far more grace and communication.


(Feb PLL, 2022)


(Fanfest 2023)

At the start they were somewhat receptive to feedback for the first previews we got, but then the benchmark happened which was the first chance a lot of us had to see the actual updates outside of their "ideal lighting" shots they showed in PLLs and the backpedaling into doubling down into no longer telling us what they're adjusting now is just disheartening.

I've been fighting for femroe eyes to be restored since October 2023 because that was the first time we got to see a hellsguard in the new engine and it just... destroyed me realising that my character would be disappearing entirely with the changes to come only to have those fears 100% realised circa benchmark into DT base.

Yoshida often talks about how he's "planning for the next 10 years of XIV" and it makes it very hard for me to consider a place for my character, my participation in that world, if it's done with her bizarro doppelgänger. It's worse knowing that the supposed character creator update with the sprinkles PR babble that he's given so far about it being in development amounts to feeling like 8.0 is the true make or break on whatever they're going to double down on, because as a community I don't think we genuinely can even trust anything out of his mouth at all.

[Sairaag]

At this point, really hoping the character creator in 8.0 is vastly improved with lots more options and fine-tuning.

I'm hoping for this too, and for some news on what they're planning. Just getting to choose visible eyebrows would fix one huge pain point for me...


As an aside, I started playing WoW again and remembered how different the big character model update felt over there. I pretty easily abandoned my main all the way back from Vanilla and some alts since they just looked too awful to me after the update, no matter what options I tried. In WoW, it's generally not such a big deal to change your main or make drastic changes to the one you have if you like the other options. To me and a lot of people, FFXIV is the opposite of that. Man, I tried to get used to the alt I made in FFXIV, but he's just not the WoL whose story I've been following all these years. This game has a way of making a lot of people very attached to a single character. I used to love that about FFXIV, but right now it's not so fun.