Request: Update/ Revamp Character creator

[Reap00]

I wouldn't say things are fine the way it is, this game has an ancient character creator compared to almost every other MMO out there. This is especially egregious for a pay-to-play MMO.

But the reality is that ARR was built on top of 1.0's terrible coding and Yoshi-P said that there are no plans for any sort of overhaul and our limited options are the result of how the game loads characters into the world. If the amount of options increased, then they would need to turn down the amount of players you can see on the screen. If you notice, the races that get muscle sliders are also the ones that have no ear or tail sliders. The devs seem to only have a set amount of values to work with per race and what we see is what we've got.

You can't blame PS4 either, since right now the game is being held back by minimum PC requirements. If they were to do another update like they did for Stormblood and remove PS4 support, all the PS4 players who didn't upgrade and those who play on potato PCs won't be able to play (and more importantly to SE) pay their monthly subs.

One thing I do wish they would do that I believe could be within the confines of what is possible, is to fix the elezen race's proportions. Make the heads normal size compared to their bodies, slim the shoulders down a bit. Viera are very similar to elezen, but with better proportions and it seems like elezen have all but disappeared from the playerbase since.

Hopefully the next FF MMO will be helmed by Yoshi-P and SE will allow him to do everything he wants to and we'll have an updated engine, no more spaghetti code, and a more robust CC. But I don't see anything happening until then. Considering how long people have been asking for Derplander's beard and nothing coming from it, it shows doesn't look like they have any intention of doing anything. And that is something that is already coded into the game.



I take personal offense to this. You can take my princess run from my cold, dead hands.

Stop spreading this nonsense. ARR was rewritten using assets from 1.0. IT WAS REWRITTEN! THE CODE WAS NOT THE SAME! The character creator is absolutely fine. The only mmo this game competes with doesn't come close in this category or any other for that matter.

[Theodric]

Stop spreading this nonsense. ARR was rewritten using assets from 1.0. IT WAS REWRITTEN! THE CODE WAS NOT THE SAME! The character creator is absolutely fine. The only mmo this game competes with doesn't come close in this category or any other for that matter.

Eh?

Which MMO are you referring to, exactly? Elder Scrolls Online and World of Warcraft are both doing fairly well for themselves. Both just happen to do some things related to character customisation a lot better than FFXIV does.

For starters, ESO has facial and body sliders. It also has a lot of gear themed after each of the playable races and many of the non-playable ones. There's more expansive tattoo, scar and facial hair options - all of which have been frequently requested here in FFXIV to no response.

WoW recently revamped its character creation for a second time in its lifespan and is set to add further options over time.

FFXIV is well behind on that front and barely offers much new customisation outside of hairstyles - many of which are designed to be unisex in a way that makes them androgynous/feminine more often than not.

Then, of course, there's the ridiculous situation with the missing genders for Hrothgar and Viera as well as the inability for them to wear most headgear in the game. Neither WoW or ESO struggles with that and each has beast races within.

[Reap00]

Eh?

Which MMO are you referring to, exactly? Elder Scrolls Online and World of Warcraft are both doing fairly well for themselves. Both just happen to do some things related to character customisation a lot better than FFXIV does.

For starters, ESO has facial and body sliders. It also has a lot of gear themed after each of the playable races and many of the non-playable ones. There's more expansive tattoo, scar and facial hair options - all of which have been frequently requested here in FFXIV to no response.

WoW recently revamped its character creation for a second time in its lifespan and is set to add further options over time.

FFXIV is well behind on that front and barely offers much new customisation outside of hairstyles - many of which are designed to be unisex in a way that makes them androgynous/feminine more often than not.

Then, of course, there's the ridiculous situation with the missing genders for Hrothgar and Viera as well as the inability for them to wear most headgear in the game. Neither WoW or ESO struggles with that and each has beast races within.

ESO characters look hideous. I don't care how many sliders are available. WoW is horrible in every way imaginable. I resubbed to give it a go recently to see if the game got better since Cataclysm. It has been all down hill for that game. The heart and soul of that game left with its founders. I don't care if either game stuggles. FFXIV trumps them in every way. That is the bottom line.

[SturmChurro]

Eh?

Which MMO are you referring to, exactly? Elder Scrolls Online and World of Warcraft are both doing fairly well for themselves. Both just happen to do some things related to character customisation a lot better than FFXIV does.

For starters, ESO has facial and body sliders. It also has a lot of gear themed after each of the playable races and many of the non-playable ones. There's more expansive tattoo, scar and facial hair options - all of which have been frequently requested here in FFXIV to no response.

WoW recently revamped its character creation for a second time in its lifespan and is set to add further options over time.

FFXIV is well behind on that front and barely offers much new customisation outside of hairstyles - many of which are designed to be unisex in a way that makes them androgynous/feminine more often than not.

Then, of course, there's the ridiculous situation with the missing genders for Hrothgar and Viera as well as the inability for them to wear most headgear in the game. Neither WoW or ESO struggles with that and each has beast races within.

The problem with ESO is there is little to no variation in the actual look of your character. I'd actually argue FFXIV has more distinct variation.

The reason there are so many accessory/tattoo options is so they have junk to pad out their lootboxes. However, I will grant you, even so, there are more options than here. Vastly more - even if you exclude the lootbox junk.

[Lauront]

The only mmo this game competes with doesn't come close in this category or any other for that matter.

If that were true, it'd be more so indicative of a genre forgotten by time than testament to anything this game does well. It's growing dated and the limitations of the current engine, for requests which would be minor for other games (like adding derplander stubble), are a constant reminder of that.

They made some really regrettable decisions in some regards, even with ARR - e.g. not creating high res versions of the assets and downscaling them (which is what people thought they had done), so for them to rectify that would apparently come at a significant labour cost.

[MikkoAkure]

Stop spreading this nonsense. ARR was rewritten using assets from 1.0. IT WAS REWRITTEN! THE CODE WAS NOT THE SAME! The character creator is absolutely fine. The only mmo this game competes with doesn't come close in this category or any other for that matter.

Just looked it up and while it looks like I was wrong about 1.0 being the source of the problem, the result is the same. The source of the limitations is due to the dev team making shortcuts to speed the development process and get ARR out the door since they were "revamping" and didn't have the luxury of the same development time that a full game would normally receive. The way that character data is coded is due to design decisions that can't easily be reversed and that is ultimately responsible for the limitations we have now.

[rance-sama]

We need tattoos. Badly.
With the Scion tattoos being Mogstation items Squeenix would make some mad cash.

[Reap00]

Just looked it up and while it looks like I was wrong about 1.0 being the source of the problem, the result is the same. The source of the limitations is due to the dev team making shortcuts to speed the development process and get ARR out the door since they were "revamping" and didn't have the luxury of the same development time that a full game would normally receive. The way that character data is coded is due to design decisions that can't easily be reversed and that is ultimately responsible for the limitations we have now.

I don't see limitations. I have no issues with the character creator. You keep doing you though.

[MikkoAkure]

I don't see limitations. I have no issues with the character creator. You keep doing you though.

This OP of this thread already pointed out where some of the limitations are. Did you not read the OP or do you just feel like you have the need to leave unnecessary comments on threads? It's fine that you think there's enough options for yourself. I'm fine with the options I've chosen for myself too. That doesn't mean everyone else feels the same and they want more ways to customize and this thread is here to discuss options that they want. "I have no issues" isn't constructive and adds nothing to the conversation.

All races only have 1 extra slider option, hyur and roegadyn get muscle sliders, elezen, viera, and lalafell get ear sliders, miqo'te, au ra, and hrothgar get tail sliders. This means that everyone who doesn't have big ears or tails can't customize their muscle tone.

Men only have 2 facial hair options, 1 mustache and 1 chin hair option. These also use the "facial features" slot, which everyone only gets about 5 of. That plus a host of other reasons leads to a lot of identical-looking players, especially among the more popular races like miqo'te, au ra, and viera. It's even worse for au ra and to a slightly lesser extent, viera, who only really have 1 popular face and there's not enough options to differentiate yourself from others. In the end, you can either look like everyone else, or not be as satisfied with your choice but be different.

The executive producer himself has admitted that the character creator is limited and has acknowledged its limitations as well as the desires that people wish for it. That doesn't mean I think that anything will be done about it though, based on the reasons I already stated. But saying you're fine with what little we have and that there are no limitations just feels blind and ignorant and even a little preachy. I don't know what you've been playing, but MMOs have had better character creation that this for a long time now.

[Reap00]

This OP of this thread already pointed out where some of the limitations are. Did you not read the OP or do you just feel like you have the need to leave unnecessary comments on threads? It's fine that you think there's enough options for yourself. I'm fine with the options I've chosen for myself too. That doesn't mean everyone else feels the same and they want more ways to customize and this thread is here to discuss options that they want. "I have no issues" isn't constructive and adds nothing to the conversation.

All races only have 1 extra slider option, hyur and roegadyn get muscle sliders, elezen, viera, and lalafell get ear sliders, miqo'te, au ra, and hrothgar get tail sliders. This means that everyone who doesn't have big ears or tails can't customize their muscle tone.

Men only have 2 facial hair options, 1 mustache and 1 chin hair option. These also use the "facial features" slot, which everyone only gets about 5 of. That plus a host of other reasons leads to a lot of identical-looking players, especially among the more popular races like miqo'te, au ra, and viera. It's even worse for au ra and to a slightly lesser extent, au ra, who only really have 1 popular face and there's not enough options to differentiate yourself from others. In the end, you can either look like everyone else, or not be as satisfied with your choice but be different.

The executive producer himself has admitted that the character creator is limited and has acknowledged its limitations as well as the desires that people wish for it. That doesn't mean I think that anything will be done about it though, based on the reasons I already stated. But saying you're fine with what little we have and that there are no limitations just feels blind and ignorant and even a little preachy. I don't know what you've been playing, but MMOs have had better character creation that this for a long time now.

Whatever the OP posted is their perceived limitations. I think its fine. That is all that matters. I am not one with the herd. I do this crazy thing. I think for myself.