I've generally tried to stop posting on the ENG side of this topic because I get much more curt and frustrated than on the JP thread.
Still, like in the JP thread, I implore people who are unsatisfied with the changes to continue sharing their concerns and urging the dev team for more transparent communication, even once 7.0 arrives.
The updated Benchmark was a good start, but does nobody else find it actually insane and telling that major lighting changes were done within a month--not just for characters, but for the whole game? The gameplay trailer even uses the old lighting and it shows! It looks bad! This stuff clearly isn't fully baked!
Also, I'm gonna sound like an asshole, but it's so tiring seeing people come into this thread and claim those who want the development team to live up to their promise of "keeping character impressions the same" are taking it too literally and are stating subjective opinions as fact, then in the same breath will decide their own equally subjective opinion is the actual fact.
I suggest anyone trying to share their concerns and desire for SE to live up to their promises to just stop bothering with those guys. Some okay with the benchmark are clearly hypocritically scared about losing something too, but in the end, for them it's just, "well I got mine so screw you," lol.
These don't seem very subjective to me. Especially the last line people like to ignore.
It astounds me people would be against adjustments, anyway? If you care so little about the changes in the first place, adjustments likely won't have an effect on you.
Besides, much of the update objectively seems bad. The lighting is better, some normal maps improved significantly, and now I guess when you zoom in you can see the wrinkles on your forehead, because that matters(?)
But at the same time so many color options are broken for skin and hair. Iris sizes have changed significantly at random along with some colors displaying way too brightly (fem Viera, for example). And why are so many noses now bulbous at the bottom when they were smooth slopes before? Why do upturned eyes barely exist as an option now? Several faces have bumpy, uneven geometry now, too. Lip shapes are still less defined and mostly worse across the board.
There's missing clan features for several different races. Au Ra still have scuffed textures. Actually, there's random texture and lighting errors everywhere. Roegadyn women are outright missing normal maps and have an intense darkness added to their eyes, and so do Au Ra men. You can still barely make out male Au Ra iris color if you choose limbal rings. My fem Highlander has gloss thrown in her eyeliner and hair that causes her to look permanently wet, making it feel like they didn't have time to check those features' contrast with the darkest skin tones.
The tips of some tails have been cut off. Lalafell are missing bellybuttons. Holes in hairstyles that weren't present before. The list goes on.
It's honestly incredible how more detailed textures and some more intense lighting can trick the brain into thinking something so obviously unfinished looks better.