How picky are you with how you make your character?

[lunar_seraphim]

I never understood how people can spend "hours" customizing one character with the limited options we have. That being said, I have spent a multitude of hours just playing around with the options available, albeit, split across several characters (some of which will never be created). It's fun to create characters, but with such limited options, I probably spend no more than a half hour(?) on any given character. I usually have an idea of how I want my character to look and tailor the available options to create that image. Perhaps if you do not have a clear identity of your character you can become lost in the predictable patterns of customization (ie. eye shape 2 is always droopy), but otherwise, I do believe people are embellishing the amount of customization this game offers.

[Vidrian]

I usually look for 3 things. The most Elfish looking race. Long hair. and DYE IT BLUE. Been doing that now for about 4 years.

[Ashkendor]

I never understood how people can spend "hours" customizing one character with the limited options we have.

I actually did spend hours in the benchmark trying to come up with an Au Ra I liked because I knew I wanted to be one as soon as I saw them. My friends picked on me for spending so much time on it. I probably have 20 or so saved files and there were many combinations that I didn't like enough to save. I experimented with Raen and Xaela, different facial feature shapes with the different faces, different skin tones for each face, different hair colors and eye colors with those various skin tones, etc. It's not hard to spend hours tweaking and playing around if you don't really have any idea what you want to do in the first place and you're trying to create your character from the ground up. Heck, I wasn't even sure what gender I wanted at first. After some experimentation, I decided I wanted to be a guy and figured out that male Au Ra seem to be either bored/indifferent or angry by default. I didn't want my character to look actively pissed off all the time, so that narrowed my facial feature options considerably, and then I went back to experimenting with skin, hair, and eye colors. It's really not hard to spend that kind of time on it. I have to like the way my character looks if I'm going to play it day in and day out. I'm so picky about the way he looks that once I found something I liked and used the Fantasia, it really hasn't changed at all since even with the new haircuts and such that we've gotten. The only thing that changed was my highlights went from orange to bright red and I removed the scales on his nose.

[lunar_seraphim]

...

You said you did not have a clear picture of how you wanted your character to be so I can understand how you spent quite a deal of time creating your character. But that was my point. If you can't see your character prior to creating them, I can understand how exciting the options of the character creator can be. I, however, have always fancied being a light brunette "bishi" character with blue eyes. So I created my main Kye in that image as both Hyur and Elezen with little difficulty. It wasn't until my FC went (mostly) Lala that I departed from that mold and it was fun to experiment with shades of violet and blue to create the character I currently am.

However, I have gone into the character-creating process every time with a clear image in my head. A warm but protective Roegadyn. A stoic, no-nonsense Au Ra. A proud, determined Elezen. A sensitive, intuitive Elezen. In my eyes, only certain faces depict these adjectives. So I walk into the character creating process with these ideals in mind and work with what is given to me. And I am absolutely not complaining. I love each and every character I've created. I just don't personally see the "SO MANY OPTIONS" others see. :/

[Celef]

I spent days and days trying to get the right character....on the benchmark....weeks before the release of ARR xD

And i spent the last week asking myself "should i stay lala ? should i go Roe ? but if i go Roe, will i miss my lala ? but i want some change ! But change is not always that good"
So many people in my head to help me creat my toon xD

[Spawnie]

took me 15 mins maybe?? be wanting to change to au'ra but cant find a decent look so i stick to kittyman lol

[tENAxc]

Agree on this. Male highlanders really have very few options for hair etc that look good on them. And dont get me started on the eyebrow issue as well...........

Oh gosh. Eyebrows. I've actually found myself not playing certain races because their eyebrow options are trash LMAO.

[Zojha]

Depends on the character creator. With the options we have, I was able to make a character to my liking in only three days (plus 2 more for the name) and only used one fantasia so far - lots of aesthetician visits before I had the lightning cut, tho, since the other cuts just didn't quite fit what I had envisioned.

Skyrim...I think I spent more time fiddling with character adjustments of all kinds than actually playing the game. The more options I have, the harder it becomes to actually be happy with what I have because there's still improvement potential.

[Laerune]

Very picky, the face needs to match the type of character that I want to make.

An example: With male Lalafell, I want to have a cute face that scream youth and adventure. With female Miqote, I prefer to make a tomboyish female, give her face/tatoo/hairstyle that fits a lone hunter.

[Sakuraluna]

Every time I fantasia to a new character design that I plan to keep for a while, I pretty much know that it'll take me $50 to get it exactly the way I want it. :P