Character graphical changes are NOT in an acceptable state, please make it optional

[SuriKett]

I don't think the waxy skin is byproduct of computer specs, i am running 7800X3D & 7900 XTX and scoring 31k points in the benchmark. I tried all the character creation lightning and the benchmarks with 0/50/100 gamma correction but it's all very awful for my character.

[Novojane]

I must say, that in your particular case... It made your character look, well, it might sound harsh but the combination of skin tone and lack of light in the eyes, she almost looks like a zombie in the benchmark... But in the live build, she looks very much alive. I don't think a graphical update should zombifie certain people's characters...

i TOTALLY agree, i used no shaders and i feel like every color just blended together in the benchmark! i thought i picked a sun seeker at first lmao

[MiaBlaze-Cari]

also +1 to not liking the changes different colors, dead eyes, eyelashes make her look too barbie-fied, bigger nose, awful lip shading/shape... i miss the facial brightness too!!

Seems Keeper Face 3 got hit pretty bad. Especially clan marks are an other issue on Face 3. While the other faces on Keeper have their marks partly more visible, Face 3 has them almost not visible at all anymore.
For my Face 3 Mooni during the close up in the benchmark when the ears are not visible she almost looks like a normal Midlander due to the clan marks being barely visible. And this feels extremely off...

As for the eyes...well. It's not as bad during the Benchmark itself but it's still slightly noticable with the eyes since they deffo lost their liveliness and look empty like "I've seen things...". It looks especially horrible with the Shroud lighting tho, I had better results with the Thanalan lighting. But the overall problem with the eyes is still present just not as bad.

[Novojane]

Seems Keeper Face 3 got hit pretty bad. Especially clan marks are an other issue on Face 3. While the other faces on Keeper have their marks partly more visible, Face 3 has them almost not visible at all anymore.
For my Face 3 Mooni during the close up in the benchmark when the ears are not visible she almost looks like a normal Midlander due to the clan marks being barely visible. And this feels extremely off...

As for the eyes...well. It's not as bad during the Benchmark itself but it's still slightly noticable with the eyes since they deffo lost their liveliness and look empty like "I've seen things...". It looks especially horrible with the Shroud lighting tho, I had better results with the Thanalan lighting. But the overall problem with the eyes is still present just not as bad.

oh noooo!! i hope for both our sakes some changes are coming!

[Zarya]

Might not be so bad if it is an official zombie character mod XD
What? It isn’t?!

[Ceetee]

Was super paranoid and so did a side by side of my characters. There are changes (not a big fan of how the new forehead jewel looks, and moving the facepaint further up the face was... certainly a decision the devs made.) but... overall she looks about the same! I was so relieved!


and then I loaded up my alts. These... are not even the same characters.
This one is supposed to be my characters mother, and now it just looks like her younger sister even with the grey hair. They COMPLETELY changed the shape of her face! ;_;


And for my Au Ra, they absolutely BUTCHERED her Limbal Rings, and that is a completely different set of nose and lips. And I dont even know WHAT is going on with her eyelids there. She went from a stern expression to a smug one. Which like... on any other character might be fine, but this feels like looking into a mirror universe. Her entire personality is changed with the changes to the model.


I'm not a fan of the smoothed out horns either. I like how the old horns looked rough. They had a lot of texture to them, almost like tree bark. It was a nice touch and gave a lot of character, while the new ones look like they are very cheap and brittle plastic. But I'm aware that is a far more subjective opinion. Though it also seems to be pretty unique in how it affects Face 4 Au Ra compared to the others, which look a bit sturdier.

[Lomosma]

The option to keep the old model should be the most urgent thing they implement because no matter what changes are made, they will affect people, and it's better to give people the option than force them to accept them.
But I do think the Lighting is the overarching problem, and I don't have any clue how they could fix it quick.
The Lighting is so bad as if it's done by an amateur... even an amateur can do it better.
I understand that with better graphics on all other parts of the game (especially clothing detail), the original shading of skin might look too unrealistic. However, more detail/resolution does not equal a better look/effective design. If there's no focal point or contrast, even density of detail thoughout all surfaces will flattens everything. The same goes with shading that is equally light across the character, in multiple lighting senario of the benchmark, the character and background look flat and unrendered.
A major problem of what I'm sensing is that the character lacks depth and shade on the nose and jawlines. The skin sure looks much more realistic, but it looks like everyone was given beauty shoot lighting at all times; the shadow that normally occurs under the nose and around the chin is gone, leading to a very flat look, which goes directly opposite in terms of realism. This Lighting is not coherent with some of the environment as well; it feels as if the character is on another layer instead of actually in the world.

Also I want stress that, just because its difficult to impelment, doesn't mean SE should not make effort to implement. I have all the respect and regards for those who work on this game, but as consumer I have no obligation to comprimse for something I'm paying for.

[CecMiller]

Posting the same thing here and not just the Au ra thread! Feels like some umbral rings are far more washed out and the pupils have become dilated to the point they're 2/3x bigger than before.

Hi All,

Figured I'd also chime in. I'm not totally unhappy, but the cutscenes look a bit off due to how dilated the pupils are. I believe this is an issue for most females in the benchmark. I hope this can be corrected or put as an option (similar to iris size we could have a pupil size)

This is regarding Face 1 for Female Au ra.

The quick and dirty is:

• Pupils are way more dilated (larger) and results in a "dead" eyes look in cutscenes depending on iris colour. This is probably the most striking issue.
• The colours of the umbral rings are more washed out leading to changes in an attempt to make them more accurate to the EW model. (The eye "glint"/shine is "quiter" now too.)
• The mouth corners seems to have been lost which lends to a more neutral face compared to before. Overall lip gloss is gone and the mouths have been "normalised". This seems to be more egregious with the other female aura faces.
• The eyeliner/eye lashes are not as dark/less thick than before (not as pronounced and so altering the look)).

Here are some pictures (Right click and open in new tab for zooming in/greater quality):

(From Left to Right)
Picture 1: Normal EW Face
Picture 2: DT Import of EW Face
Picture 3: DT Import with umbral ring made lighter
Picture 4: DT Import with umbral ring AND iris made lighter.




And here are some pictures with annotations:



Gallery is here:
https://imgur.com/a/RDe6pDK

[OliverQ]

I'm boring and play a male Midlander and I tried the benchmark. While it's not horrible on a Midlander, something just feels off about it. I think the eyes seem worse to me. I prefer the current graphics to the updated ones and I hope they give us the option to not use the new models. I'm really not a fan so far.