Quote Originally Posted by Papayatar View Post
I’m curious if the waxy like skin is a result of certain PCs not being able to handle the graphics update so you get Dark Souls looking faces more than a graphical upgrade?

Because it seems to be inconsistent if people get wax skin or matte skin in the CC. I don’t know if that changes if you play the benchmark trailer with your character though.
This is 100% based on which location you pick in the corner. I'm almost certain that the lighting in the character creator is busted or unpolished in any location that is not the default aetherial sea. I say this because a good chunk of criticism about characters looking off come with screenshots with backgrounds that aren't the aetherial sea background. I think all of the preset locations have terrible lighting situations:



The first picture is the typical Matte look everyone hates and this stems from The Black Shroud.

The second picture is the La Noscea which is the most curious one of them all. All the locations have simulated cloud shadows which darkens and brightens the environment. For some reason, La Noscea applies a wet filter over your character and makes them far more jarringly shiny and wax like. Considering La Noscea is the first option you can pick for a background right next to the default Aetherial Sea background I'm pretty sure most people chose this background and were incredibly confused with the heavy wax like look to their character's skin.

As far as I can tell, La Noscea is the only location that clearly has something weird going on with it where it makes a character's skin extra shiny. The Black Shroud gives the matte look and Thanalan is somewhat the better option of the two as it feels like a blend of the two.

Meanwhile, the Aetherial Sea background makes my character look pretty much perfect.:


Something really needs to be tweaked with those location's lighting situations. That being said, many of the criticisms and feedback are still valid such as the fuller lip shapes and various other actual model problems. But these lighting issues aren't doing anyone any favors.