Benchmark/Graphics Update - Show your WoL's before and after

[Sorrowen]

Like I still think they look good? I enjoy the brighter eyes, but the left eye is supposed to be white, I have the very first white selected, but it's green now??? Also the lack of gloss on their lips is annoying. Also the racial tattoo of the liner on the eyes is muted really bad.

[Heavenchild]

I am really happy with how it's for my Hyran! I also tried other cosmetics and the new hairstyle an really loved it!

But I saw problems for example with my Miqoboy. His soft-look has gone lost and now he looks more like a bad guy. ^^" And my Lalafell is missing his upper lip.

I hoped they are going to update the charactermodels too a little bit, but I saw no difference. Elezen are still the most ugly elvenvolk ever. I really like Elves!!! And tried to play Elezen several times. But I just could not stand all their mistakes (massive broken neck, weird proportions, and so on). :c
And now both subraces have those dark shadows in their faces. When I looked at my former elezendesign (with the younger face) in the benchmark it looked really terribe, unplayable, for me. I made some kind of elfish-celestrial look. But with those dark shadows this does not work anymore.

All in all I think it's fine. For my recent mainchardesign it's fine. But I hope they put some more work in the current problems. ^v^

[tremor3258]

Not my usual hairstyle but the pitfalls of gyr albanian. Shiny is the new creator

Generally I like the change a lot (Especially scales) and the more muted limbal rings actually are more distinctive than the previews had made me think.

The lip shape changed or feels like it did slightly in the lighting, but doesn't seem major.

The thing that seems different but I can't put my finger on what exactly is something with the eye shape feels like the expression is changed. Possibly it isn't as curved upward somehow?

[Evergrey]

Not my usual hairstyle but the pitfalls of gyr albanian.

You can have your current hairstyle in the Benchmark if you copy the file, put it into the benchmark and rename it.
There was a post here on General that went through how to do it.
Probably a couple pages back now due to all the feedback posts.



Just a quick example. This hairstyle is from the Mogstation, can't remember the name ontop of my head. But it's not part of the basic selection that's for sure.

[mk-sein]

While I appreciate the improved textures for scales, horns, and clothing, I am overall somewhat disappointed with my Au Ra. Her mouth and eyes are what's changed the most - the lips look a bit different and the eye shine is missing. I realize the latter is more realistic but unless your character is in direct light and has no bangs, their eyes look cold and soulless. I imagine my character to be very warm and friendly, so this is very far from her usual image.
Due to the missing eye shine and the differently shaped lips, her smile looks different now, and I find that upsetting as I've loved her smile ever since I created her when Heavensward first came out.
Comparison: old vs new

Here's a test in direct light with different hairstyles to illustrate the issue of the catchlight: 01 02 03
A lot of hairstyles I enjoy have bangs and I don't want to avoid them just to mitigate this.

The issue also exists in the Benchmark trailer, it's not exclusive to the character creator.



Editing the image slightly (literally 2 seconds in MS Paint, nothing fancy) to add the eye shine back in fixes the cold stare. It does not fix any other issues (scales on darker skin, different lip/nose shapes) but it does help with the "dead inside"-look.



I would love if the static eye shine could be added back in, preferably in the form of a toggle. A lot of people are very happy with their characters' new eyes, which is fantastic, but a not insignificant number of players are unhappy that their characters have gone from looking warm and friendly to looking cold and lifeless. A simple toggle would help a lot.

And here's two more screencaps of my lovely girl, just because I think she is very pretty. (:
01 + 02


To any staff member that may be reading this, thank you very much for your hard work. I hope some of these issues will be addressed, even if they might not be ready by the time Dawntrail launches.

[LilyEmber]

This is my WoL's Before and After, 6.0 <---> 7.0



There's a number of changes I'd make as there were a number of changes that were made that I think everyone is feeling. It's like someone moved the furniture in a room over 1 inch. It's subtle, but you definitely feel it. The catchlight, while the design is nicer, it's so weak, and unless you're directly in the sun, you can't see it and it makes the characters look lifeless. I think the scales look too dirty now. I know they won't be pristine and white, but they genuinely look like they could use a scrub. And I miss the dimples. I know they're still there, but again, you have to be in a certain type of lighting to pick them up. I wish they were more prominent and had just a tad of airbrushing to emphasize them a bit more. And the makeup/eyeliner is too dark, even when you turn it off. I also did a before and after of what the graphics update gave us vs. what I wanted and what I think would improve this specific face.



What I did:
-Brightened up the catchlights
- Toned down the eyeliner on the upper and lower lid
- Pinkened the lips a tad and enhanced the gloss
- Added a more prominent cupids bow
- Brought back the dimple a bit more and added a little extra shading beneath the lips
- Lightened the scales and brought back the more creamy yellow-y-ish tint that they used to have.

And I feel even just these tiny changes made a decent difference in the face. I didn't want to do too much since yeah, this is the worst lighting out of all the settings in character creator. Plus I didn't want to sit in photoshop for too long.

[Sharkbyte]

I really like more friendly male roegadyn look. The normal shading and shadows used to do them sooooo dirty.

[Azhyk]

I posted prior regarding my WoL, but thought to try and take some more screenshots today and attempt to get as close to replicating the lighting as possible in each.

My main gripes are the too darkened shade near the top of the iris' beneath the eyelashes - it gives the eyes a weird sleepy(?) look and overall the vibrancy of the eye color is lost. The pupils seem a little less sharp, but that might be due (again) to the color vibrancy change.



A second issue is the corners of the mouth - something face 4 has dealt with a lot. It's most prominent in the aetherial sea lighting (and more so with a frontal picture), but the way the corners have been lifted slightly give this off-putting start to a grin...? This one could honestly just be the janky lighting in that area, though it does concern me if similar lighting is used elsewhere in the game.

A small concern I have is regarding the way the shadows fall. I know they cascade and look better overall, but at some angles it looks as if the nose just disappears partially due to no shadow falling hard enough to define it? (I can live with this, but something I noticed. It seems to affect the general structure of the face though, making some features not look as defined as before.)



Other minor nitpicks are the eyebrows being thinner (I picked the thickest options I could both times). The tattoo color - the yellow - is thinner as well, attempting to pick a deeper shade to match the original honey yellow starts either blending into the skin or turning orange.

Overall, the times he looks closest to what I figured an updated appearance would be is during certain animations when the eyes are up and able to catch lights in them. Since the normal catchlights are missing - or at least on face 4 they're so far up in the shaded part of the eye that the lighting is not catching it! - the eyes look dull. I know male miqo already suffer from their posture; the dipped head doesn't help when trying to see their face and their eyes in particular which accentuates the "soulless" look with the lack of catchlight.




I had to do a lot of screenshots angled from below to get the glimmer of light in his eyes. Otherwise they look very flat.

[Viccree]

I too don't like my Midy face in 7.0

Hey YoshiP, I really dislike the changes for the posterboy warrior of light. I do not know him anymore, he looks soo different than I'm used to. I grew up with this particular face and I almost ALWAYS comes back to this settings even after I fantasia. Please I beg of you, bring back the old face that I know and love. I love the rest of the graphical update, but NOT this one. The Face 5 or 6 (I don't remember which one) Looks sooo different for Midlander and I asked you to please roll it back