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

[AirisRay]

I also want to say one thing. I hear a lot of opinions that this is not the final version, that our characters can still be corrected/repaired. I certainly sincerely hope so. But are our characters really such an insignificant thing that needs to be finalized in the last 2 months? Is it true?

I'm reading opinions that fixes may continue after 7.0 is released. And I really hope for this too. But the question is the same. Our characters are so unimportant that they need to be improved after the release of 7.0? Maybe it would be better to make them really neat and beautiful so that we could all be happy? Make this a priority. And to refine and correct not our characters, but the environment. Some unimportant flowers, trees, stones.

Maybe I'm wrong, of course. And the stone that is lying somewhere in Il Mheg is more important than my character. May be. Maybe NPC models that I only see during the main story are more important than my character that I see every day. Anything is possible. The question is about priorities. They have their own priorities, and now I have mine too.

[slippdipp]

The environment got the "priority" because there's a bigger volume of things to rehaul texture-wise, and also because yes, you are looking at the environment more than your character. Rarely will you be as zoomed in when in-game as you are in the character creator. An updated, "4k" character in an non-updated world is more jarring than the opposite, especially in XIV's case where the environment lagged behind the general quality of the character models.

[Doopliss]

The environment got the "priority" because there's a bigger volume of things to rehaul texture-wise, and also because yes, you are looking at the environment more than your character. Rarely will you be as zoomed in when in-game as you are in the character creator. An updated, "4k" character in an non-updated world is more jarring than the opposite, especially in XIV's case where the environment lagged behind the general quality of the character models.

I know your intentions are good, but, again, this argument feels subjective and dismissive.

They reassured people that characters would be changed as little as possible because they knew that's what people would be most worried about. People don't get scared about how updates affect terrain or gear.

I understand that some folk may appear dramatic in your eyes, but with such a character-focused, cutscene-driven, and long-running game, I ask that you forgive some--myself included--for being emotional.

Square doesn't communicate with us regularly like they did in ARR and HW, and fixes for some egregious matters (like giving Hrothgar their ears back) had come out slowly without any hint they were working on it. That took three-four months. I still remember the male Viera naming thread asking for a simple acknowledgement or updates, and we heard nothing for three and a half months until the names were suddenly there.

Not showing us the state of our characters heads-on like this--when they're not only looking different, but also very, very buggy--until only about 2 months before early access is...questionable, at best.

[Scintilla]

I also want to say one thing. I hear a lot of opinions that this is not the final version, that our characters can still be corrected/repaired. I certainly sincerely hope so. But are our characters really such an insignificant thing that needs to be finalized in the last 2 months? Is it true?

I'm reading opinions that fixes may continue after 7.0 is released. And I really hope for this too. But the question is the same. Our characters are so unimportant that they need to be improved after the release of 7.0? Maybe it would be better to make them really neat and beautiful so that we could all be happy? Make this a priority. And to refine and correct not our characters, but the environment. Some unimportant flowers, trees, stones.

Maybe I'm wrong, of course. And the stone that is lying somewhere in Il Mheg is more important than my character. May be. Maybe NPC models that I only see during the main story are more important than my character that I see every day. Anything is possible. The question is about priorities. They have their own priorities, and now I have mine too.

But this is very much the point: you never will make everyone happy because everyone has a very different idea of what they want. Just the texture of the skin for example. Some like the new skin textures. Some say it's too plastic-like, fake looking, doll-like. Alternatively, some are saying the complete opposite, arguing that it's too textured for what they want. Whatever change they make, someone is going to be unhappy.

I would agree that, ideally, a preview of these changes should have been released much earlier than this, giving more time for adjustments as necessary. But perhaps there were behind-scene reasons that this wasn't the case. I very much doubt it was done out of malice or disregard for our characters and to suggest that this is actually the case is both irrational and disrespectful.