Quote Originally Posted by xxmiamorecadenza View Post
I'm not opposed to the update.

And, considering the fact I'm playing as a FemHroth, I'm generally apathetic toward how characters will change from Endwalker to DawnTrail.

But I'm wondering if it was needed and is it a solid selling point for the game? The game already looks quite lovely from my perspective considering its age. And I wanted to politely inquire as to why the time and effort taken to tune up the graphics wasn't instead invested toward expanding upon character customization, making mount movement more dynamic - which they showcased, yes - improving upon character movement, puzzling out how to improve housing and apartments and so on.

Yes, the grass is prettier. The water does the thing.

Maybe I'm entirely ignorant and I've been living in a cave - but was the update a big ask in the community?
Well, no. It's more of a voluntary design decision from the devs. It's not an upgrade as it rather adds better environmental lighting and shaders, however it isn't compatible with the detail shaders on characters so those are gone. Also, they want your characters to look brighter for the lighthearted expansion, so your character is now a light source. This is why there is no longer shading or highlights on hair at all, and there is no environmental shadows or lighting on the characters anymore.
So it was a choice to favor the environment over the character shading quality.