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

[lunartears]

Would like to contribute to this thread my observations on my own character:

Like others have posted after in this thread, I also feel that my character's features do not resemble the original image I had in mind.

- Eye shape has been altered, giving a different resting face
- Removal of the eye light means that I can no longer achieve the "stare" I once liked in certain angles
- New eyes appear to be staring soullessly as opposed to the pleasant resting stare that I felt with the original
- Eyes are more further apart
- Eyelashes appear different, less sharp. Feels like my character has lost eyelashes too, which is bizarre as I already use the least voluminous option.
- The natural subtle "ring" eye glow has now changed into "too glowy", affecting both light and dark environments.
- Upper and lower eyeshadow feels different, feels like the fade of the upper eyelid has been altered and less visible and the bottom eyelid is less noticable entirely.
- The eyebrows are darker than the hair and much more visible, this is not something I wanted with my character as I wanted to conceal the eyebrows with the bangs and white hair.
- The nose appears more wide and bumpy as opposed to triangular.
- Lack of lip gloss makes lips appear more and lips are notably much more plump (especially upper lip) whereas my original image was for her to have thin concealed pale lips.
- And in conjunction with the above, the mouth shadow removed means that the original idea for "less lip, more mouth" on my character can no longer be achieved.
- The face feels more rounded and less sharp yet the chin makeup looks similar from the side, so I have to assume it's the cheeks or another part that's causing this.
- I personally do not like the new horns/scales, I prefer the reflectiveness of the original and feel that the texture has been made less dynamic. I also feel that the more vibrant blue exclusive to F Au Ra seen in certain lighting has been lost.
- Skin texture is very unpleasant, somehow giving the impression of a sickly flat look
- My character's hair appears to look a little different, but I think it is because of the facial changes rather than the hair itself.
- Shadows in the original added more shape to the facial structure and general model

As a whole, I feel that my character may have relied on the old engine for her appearance and does not work in this more realistic upgrade. In particular, the excessive matte lips have taken away from my personal favorite aspect of playing my race: the distinct eyes. My eyes firstly focus on the giant lips and then the other features. And there is no way I can change this as it is now, I am using the palest option possible. I do want my WoL to be pretty, but this isn't my idea of beauty. And it certainly does not look any better in the benchmark, especially on the boat scene.

[Elissar]

Images here as I hit character limit:

Huge downgrades. Feels like our characters are 'greyish' like the scenario before 7.0
Not enough contrast. Not enough colors. Not enough love.

7.0 will be a different type of calamity.

i'm sorry

[Gokki]

Mooonkeeper Face4 Voice11 here. Some expressions changed, my character gained an eyeliner and lipstick. She also seems less expressive, with milder reactions.

Left: Endwalker, Right: Dawntrail Benchmark

Lost gap between lips, this was a defining setting in my character when changing lip sizes:


Smile changed from ^_^ to :-) I do prefer the Benchmark version, but the expression changed, which is sad


From an enraged miqo to a complaining karen miqo:


Fangs nerfed:


From disappointed to afraid:


Mouth definitely way too big now:

[Evo1171]

I saw there was some discourse about my post yesterday and it's understandable especially since while to me this is a character I've looked at for years and yesterday it was a lot of people's first time seeing it so the differences are likely less apparant, so I'll give a short list of the changes as well as post a couple additional screenshots from the character screen to maybe better showcase how these small changes have altered the look of the character.

So on the new character:
-The eyebrows are much thinner and the ends go down more than on the current character
-The eyelashes are smaller, thicker, and the direction has changed
-The top of the eyelid is shaped to be more of an arc, the lateral canthus points down while the medial canthus has been shortened (idk the parts of the eyelid so I did just look this up so my bad if the naming is wrong)
-The bridge of the nose is thinner as well as the nostrils being lowered
-The top and bottom lips are different shapes, the upper lip has dips on the left and right that are no longer present, while the bottom lip is thinner and less rounded.
-The cheeks are thinner as well as the overall face being slightly squished.

The following screenshots are from minimum distance on the character screen;



Like I said before, I don't even think the character even looks necessarily bad, but this is like a mother and daughter, my character looks like she is 28 going on 15. When the goal of the graphics update for the characters was to be a recreation of the characters in a higher quality it's hard to not be disappointed when a character you have a connection to looks so different in your eyes. (And this is by far not the worst, I've seen some real horror on the jp forums)

It really feels like different people worked on different faces, because a lot of them are so close to the original it's striking but others have many details slightly changed to the point where the character as a whole is unrecognizable which is a real shame (Looking at male hyur) At this same time these characters are clearly unfinished, a lot of the hair isn't modeled fully yet, and this isn't something I expect them to fix overnight but you'd be surprised at how much they can fix in 2 and a half months (Especially when the jp forum complains) and even moreso going forward after the launch of the expansion.

it's important to get this feedback out there now so that they know about the issues so that they can at least choose whether or not they're going to work on them, from big things like mooncats losing their fangs and au ra scales being messed up, to smaller things like eyeliner not being in the proper places and the discoloration of certain facial features such as lalafell and roegadyn noses.

Anyway that's it for my rant, I'm going to get back to leveling my alt, I hope you all have a wonderful day.

[SongOfTheWind]

I saw there was some discourse about my post yesterday and it's understandable especially since while to me this is a character I've looked at for years and yesterday it was a lot of people's first time seeing it so the differences are likely less apparant, so I'll give a short list of the changes as well as post a couple additional screenshots from the character screen to maybe better showcase how these small changes have altered the look of the character.

I have a miqote character with the same eyes, I kept her unchanged since 2018 when I started playing, so I totally understand what you meant. It was instant when I saw her in the benchmark. It’s heartbreaking, it made me register here for the 1st time to actually post about the issue.

[Rueby]

I've been compiling alot of things regarding Miqo Keeper Face 4 specifically with mouth(1) Eyes (2) Eyebrows (4) Nose (4)
I'll get around to organizing the pictures and posting it later today when I figure out how uploading works on this forum.

Before [


After [




Things I noticed
= Eyes on Eye No.2 has higher lashes density at the corners, very akin to fake lashes. Which goes contrary to the original eyes No.2 as they have really subtle eyelashes and don't give off the 'glamourous' look. The up side, is that I actually like the long lashes, I wish they weren't so dense.
= Eyeliner is too intense in the Benchmark while the original doesn't have anywhere as heavy of an eyeliner, which gives a different look.
= Eyebrows No.4 Softened up- needs to be shades darker than the hair to slightly pop- some skin color/hair combos will look bad I think- I have light skin so it's okay.
= New Eyeshine looks really pretty but when it's absent it looks really horrific.



Nose Type 4.
= Nose smudge is greatly reduced/faded which is the defining feature of Face 4.
= Nose job- thinning of the nose bridge (?) and straightening up of the nose profile. [I really liked that nose because it wasn't straight and I thought that 'flaw' was really cute and charming, sad to see it go...]



Mouth Type 1.
Honestly, I have so much issues with this I might cry
= Cupid's Bow is totally a different shape between current vs benchmark, with the benchmark throwing subtly out of the window and giving a harsh 'v' shape.
= Cupid's Bow catches light too often and leads to a glossy/doll look.
= Philtrum went from being subtle to being more pronounced.
= Mouth lost its original shape/charm- no longer has that soft/blended innocent look.
= No lipstick option has a sheen/glossy finish and nowehere near light/pink as the original was.
= Corners of the mouth catch way too much light which stick too much and adds to that doll look.
= Please return my girl's fangs back, thanks.
= Parted lips are gone which I found charming...

Skin
I have so many issues with the skin, the current skin doesn't look too different under different lights however Benchmark skin feels as if it's absorbing the surrounding light and reflecting it. I don't think someone's skin color changes hues that much. I feel like despite using the same skintone, my character looks yellowish/green in certain lighting situation. It feels like my character is abit like a lamp or a wax candle and the light is shining THROUGH her.

Only Benchmark shots for now..



I feel really discouraged by this...It's not the end of the world for me but I'd be really happy if the mouth issues are at least resolved...I really miss my girl's nose and parted lips and cute nose smudge.. She looked so innocent and delicate. I loved her little 'flaws', it saddens me to see them "fixed" maybe her cute bumpy nose was just a symptom of low polygons and her parted lips some kind of mistake oTL but I really loved it...

[ChaunceyDlamini]

I really think this is just the tip of the iceberg for criticism over the graphics update.

Only a small fraction of the player base has actually used the benchmark. Some aren't able to, most don't even know it exists. Heck, I bet most players probably haven't even watched any fanfest footage of them showing off the best examples of the new changes.