[Character Graphics Update]: Second Benchmark Worries

[Rudje]

It's possible to make changes that keep truer to the spirit of the old look and what they should have done to begin with, is the thing. That's all that people ever wanted, and having their character's appearance thrown out when they said they wouldn't do that is a major part of why people are upset.

[Arkdra]

It's possible to make changes that keep truer to the spirit of the old look and what they should have done to begin with, is the thing. That's all that people ever wanted, and having their character's appearance thrown out when they said they wouldn't do that is a major part of why people are upset.

They said they'd do their best, they didn't guarantee a 1:1 transfer. But I don't want to quibble much on this because I agree with you.

[Asari5]

the benchmark look isnt the new look. its just a possible new look.
the people who already play as a certain race are the ones who have to be happy.

[Rudje]

the benchmark look isnt the new look. its just a possible new look.
the people who already play as a certain race are the ones who have to be happy.

Unless they suddenly overhaul every single model in the current benchmark that is the direction of the new look and it's a departure from the old one. Some stuff will probably be fixed, but I don't think most of it is going to be and holding your breath about it is going to make you pass out.

They said they'd do their best, they didn't guarantee a 1:1 transfer. But I don't want to quibble much on this because I agree with you.

Doing their best to keep it wouldn't have looked like some of what they've done which is where my problem comes from. A lot of faces had features completely redesigned in the process of being changed and even if the textures get more polished that's still not my character's face. Even if it was artifacts, those artifacts had existed for years and should have been factored in to the direction to take a face update.

It's just. Very frustrating that they come out with these assurances when they apparently had no intention of keeping it, given that some of the faces hardest hit shouldn't have had heavy artifacting due to age.

[Araxes]

Can you stop being worried until it is out?

[PercibelTheren]

Unless they suddenly overhaul every single model in the current benchmark that is the direction of the new look and it's a departure from the old one. Some stuff will probably be fixed, but I don't think most of it is going to be and holding your breath about it is going to make you pass out.



Doing their best to keep it wouldn't have looked like some of what they've done which is where my problem comes from. A lot of faces had features completely redesigned in the process of being changed and even if the textures get more polished that's still not my character's face. Even if it was artifacts, those artifacts had existed for years and should have been factored in to the direction to take a face update.

It's just. Very frustrating that they come out with these assurances when they apparently had no intention of keeping it, given that some of the faces hardest hit shouldn't have had heavy artifacting due to age.

Thank you for saying this. I was told that the sharper features of some characters' faces were just artifacting and other issues with older graphics. OK, but those issues are what makes my character look the way he does. I don't completely hate the updated version and I'd probably get used to it, but the benchmark makes him look overall younger and much less serious.

[Rudje]

You seem to have missed why people are actually upset if you think that "well it was supposed to look different" is actually a reasonable point. There's a vast gulf between changing lighting and the results of up-ressing and giving everyone the same generic mouth shape, or rigging in permanent duckface on a face that didn't have it before.

[Cheapshot]

Sorry if you feel like you’re being dog piled here, but I have to agree with everyone else in here so far. I understand where you’re coming from though, I really do. You’re happy about the changes. Your character looks better to you now. That is great! I truly want that for you. Understand though that while these changes have made you happy, the same changes have made a lot of people very sad. When you have some people that are happy and some that are upset, and both sides feelings are valid, it becomes a matter of priorities and intent. The developers have to weigh the options and decide which group to satisfy (I’m assuming they can’t just add more facial options and make us both happy. The CC limitations probably need their own huge effort to update)

So on one hand you have players who have gone from content to upset. The face they grew attached to changed too much and looks like a stranger to them now. Many of them will have carried the same character through the whole games story. (The changes aren’t limited to what’s caused by lighting as many detailed comparisons of the character mesh have been made both here and on the JP forums.)

On the other hand you have players who have gone from content to even more content. They were already using the faces as they were, or they like the new look of a face and want to switch to it. They weren’t as attached or invested in their characters previous appearance as the other group. They also don’t have years of attachment to these new features like the other group has to the old ones. They are upset by the idea of not getting the new features but were not upset prior, and would not have been upset if the new features remained the same but higher quality.

It makes more sense to prioritize the first group here. You can aim to keep things in a place where everyone was mostly content, or enter a new place where some people are really happy but others are really sad. But if that’s not as clear cut a choice to you, then you have to consider what the developers intent has been through this process:

"We're really putting a lot of priority on not changing the image you have of your own character in your head. We want to make sure your characters still look the way that you enjoy them now."

It’s pretty clear what the intent of the dev team was, and that further adds weight to prioritizing the first group. We’ll see what happens, and I would love more than anything to just get an expanded CC with both closer matches to old features and new prettier features for those that want that. Realistically unlikely though.

I’m of course biased because I’m of the group who is unhappy with what happened to my characters features, but I’ve tried to explore this as objectively as I can and I feel the conclusion is pretty obvious. I don’t have any more control over the situation than you and I doubt I have any influence on it either. This is more a general appeal to other players. While I want you to have new facial features you like more than the existing ones, all things considered it just makes more sense for those to come further down the line with a proper CC update.

[CecMiller]

I'm not worried because we're getting a second benchmark. I'm actually just worried from the feedback they might add.

I made a post 2 days ago highlighting there are quite a lot of people happy with the character update.
But reading some people's feedback, specifically about female au ra had me worried SE might use their feedback to revert changes.(I'm not referring to bugs mind you)

For example; Me and my girlfriend are a huge fan of female au ra larger pupil changes.
It makes a already cute doll like race even more cute.
Writing this part on behalf of myself and my girlfriend because she's in love with the new look of the female au ra, the new look makes her excited to change race to au ra and play it (and me as well as one of my main is a female au ra) but the thought of that going away come either full release or the new benchmark makes her quite unsettled and myself.
I think in order to please as much people as possible I think major visual changes such as the eyes/pupils. I believe making it a select-able option is the best possible solution to make everybody happy if SE is planning to make huge changes like that.
That way the people that prefer the new update can enjoy their new look and the people that like the smaller tiny pupil can be happy.

I also like the lighter eyebrows as well and on the fourms I know that also haven't been popular.
Here is my other post that showcased some popular posts from other social media: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...itive-Feedback

Are their any worries you have SE might add to the new benchmark due to feedback? are you worried as well they might revert too many changes?

And as always.
Thank you FFXIV Development Team for all your hardwork and swift communication about the benchmark and showing everybody you care.
Take care of yourselves!

Prioritizing the players that currently play au ra and like their smaller pupils is the correct decision.

However, an even better decision is to allow the OPTION to have bigger pupils if we want to have them. If the devs decide to make the bigger pupils default and have no option to make them smaller, the people upset with this would be well within their right to be upset as the image of the character has clearly been altered from the original. Not everyone wants to make their au ra a cute doll character and so the change is jarring. Further, because the pupil is so big, less of the umbral rings colour can be seen.

I'm glad you like the look, but the priority should always be to please the current playerbase who play that race. The same is true for the lighter eyebrows/eyelashes etc.

I hope they revert those changes at the very least, but the best case scenario is that they make it an option and have it default to small pupils as that was the only option before.