Guild Wars expansions: Trend of decreasing face / hair customization...
TsunamiZ
Sure each class’ amount of face and hair customization varies a bit but the general trend is the same. Guild Wars expansions are asking for the same price as the original Guild Wars but not giving very many face / hair customization options compared to the first game. Plus the 4 new expansion professions don’t get 3 sets of appearance palettes like the original 6 professions. Instead, expansion professions are further limited to only 1 palette of skimpy appearance customizations. This matter wouldn’t be a problem if Guild Wars actually allow you to mix and match faces / hair of each expansion you add to your account to actually increase the combination possibilties. But the developers don’t bother doing that. So to the many players who really care to have a decent amount of face / hair options to create truly unique looking characters in the highly populated game, this
aspect of Guild Wars looks to be a major disappointment.
[ Based on the Factions preview event, the Nightfall preview event will likely indicate the final amount of face / hair customizations players will get in the final Nightfall expansion. ]
Lykan
Maybe they noticed that most of the original GW ones are actually quite fugly and no one uses them. So perhaps they just kept the best ones from the expansion choices.
TsunamiZ
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Lykan
Maybe they noticed that most of the original GW ones are actually quite fugly and no one uses them. So perhaps they just kept the best ones from the expansion choices.
|
Quid Pro Quo
Yeah I agree I was hoping for a lot more but there might still be a few more when the game is released..
Atleast give the new classes a lot more hair options. All the male dervish hairs look the same.. was hoping for a few longer hairs like rangers get. Paragons male and female barely have any options at all.
I could see not as many options for existing classes since you won't find as many duplicates when there are more of you from 2 other CDs running around but for classes who only exist on one disk very few options for character creation is just dissapointing.
Atleast give the new classes a lot more hair options. All the male dervish hairs look the same.. was hoping for a few longer hairs like rangers get. Paragons male and female barely have any options at all.
I could see not as many options for existing classes since you won't find as many duplicates when there are more of you from 2 other CDs running around but for classes who only exist on one disk very few options for character creation is just dissapointing.
TsunamiZ
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Quid Pro Quo
Yeah I agree I was hoping for a lot more but there might still be a few more when the game is released..
|
Jetdoc
I am definitely disappointed in this - I like to create a "unique" facial look to my character, so that I don't find 15 copies of her long lost twin in a town.
Kahlindra
I thought the options for the new characters were a lot less ugly than the Tyrian originals, so that made up for it a little. I actually had to take time to choose when making my Dervish. But overall, yeah, I agree that this is a paltry choice, and when everyone makes their Dervish/Paragon on day one they're all going to look the same.
Also... I really wanted to make a second Necromancer with the release of Nightfall. A male one this time. I just looked at the faces/hair/sunburn(!) on the Elonian guys and....no. It can wait
Also... I really wanted to make a second Necromancer with the release of Nightfall. A male one this time. I just looked at the faces/hair/sunburn(!) on the Elonian guys and....no. It can wait
Safer Saviour
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Kahlindra
I thought the options for the new characters were a lot less ugly than the Tyrian originals, so that made up for it a little. I actually had to take time to choose when making my Dervish. But overall, yeah, I agree that this is a paltry choice, and when everyone makes their Dervish/Paragon on day one they're all going to look the same.
Also... I really wanted to make a second Necromancer with the release of Nightfall. A male one this time. I just looked at the faces/hair/sunburn(!) on the Elonian guys and....no. It can wait |
Sir Skullcrasher
I swear... i see more clones of my character in every towns and outposts. Not to mention the same armor and dye color.
Sphinx2k
The way i like to think of it in way of face/hair looks are
GW:P = Decent
GW:F = Ugly
GW:N = Ugliest
Is it just me or do most of the nightfall characters remind u of cavemen.
GW:P = Decent
GW:F = Ugly
GW:N = Ugliest
Is it just me or do most of the nightfall characters remind u of cavemen.
TsunamiZ
not necessarily asking anet to create more new faces / hair ... but is it so hard to throw in some additional appearance variety from the other professions?
lyra_song
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Sphinx2k
The way i like to think of it in way of face/hair looks are
GW:P = Decent GW:F = Ugly GW:N = Ugliest Is it just me or do most of the nightfall characters remind u of neanderthols. |
Mordakai
Disappointing. I'm sure people will say this is just a preview, but wasn't the preview of Factions the final in terms of Faces / Hair?
At the very least, we should be able to choose any face and hair from any Chapter, more mix and match, less clones.
At the very least, we should be able to choose any face and hair from any Chapter, more mix and match, less clones.
Horseman Of War
I wish that one male paragon haircut with the sideburns was a male dervish hairstyle... Its a perfect match, but I dont want to play a male paragon... too enthralled with the Breakfast Club Hairdo for female Paragon...
Sphinx2k
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by lyra_song
That sounds really racist. Just so you know :P
|
CKaz
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by lyra_song
That sounds really racist. Just so you know :P
|
At least carry over past faces to the new lands - we got there by boat, transplants can happen. It's a fantasy game. I think it's unfortunate there wasn't more variety in the original, since people are already doing this lets call it 'western'. Then we got 'eastern'. Then we got 'african'. But all of them have their ugly, and when you have fewer choices = more obvious.
Less choice. Make no mistake that for example, there were ugly male warriors and monks in chp1 and in general the trend continued with even less choice. The power of linking? The model is in the code, let the linkers mix and match what they bought, not narrow it down to the world ANet envisions - and the fewer face models they produced to boot.
It seems to be one of the extras they're not putting the time in, like PvP templates. It's a sideline item for them - they're not so worried about it, the pretty/attractive/leading ones are the NPC(s), on the cover, not a player character. I'm guessing heroes will have armors and faces we'd wish for.
I give them props for finally giving us templates, and NPC control sounds great. However I agree that I noticed the trend in 2 chapters and I'm guessing when I log in tonight I'll have the exact same thought regarding 3.
And that's not something we should really expect to change from preview.
It'd be a nice surprise - but better to bring up some attention on it before release.
Loviatar
i wish i could use the face and slimmed down bod of the presear female who walks by you at the start.
makes what you can make look like a cheap imitation
makes what you can make look like a cheap imitation
TsunamiZ
it feels like these appearance options are done at the very end when the game is about to be release and they don't put much time or thought into player character creation anymore
lyra_song
Hee hee...i dont think i need to spell it out how that statement sounds racist.
I dont think any racism is intended, but i just wanted to point it out. just be a little careful with that statement to the more thin-skinned people.
---------------------------------------------------
I do agree that the smaller pool of choices is disheartening.
For me, i find most, if any GW faces to be very unattractive. They just have zero personality.
Looking at Prophecies we see a LOT of faces, but its also non-uniform. Theres some asian faces in the monk choices, its not all anglo-european. Factions narrows it down to asian faces, and Nightfall narrows it down to african faces.
Being area specific drastically cuts down your possible face/hair choices.
Now...the idea of using other faces from the other chapters has been brought up before. As practical as it is, i dont know if i would agree with it. Hair maybe, but not faces :/ But thats just me.
i think id rather see more faces than just simply taking older face options.
I dont think any racism is intended, but i just wanted to point it out. just be a little careful with that statement to the more thin-skinned people.
---------------------------------------------------
I do agree that the smaller pool of choices is disheartening.
For me, i find most, if any GW faces to be very unattractive. They just have zero personality.
Looking at Prophecies we see a LOT of faces, but its also non-uniform. Theres some asian faces in the monk choices, its not all anglo-european. Factions narrows it down to asian faces, and Nightfall narrows it down to african faces.
Being area specific drastically cuts down your possible face/hair choices.
Now...the idea of using other faces from the other chapters has been brought up before. As practical as it is, i dont know if i would agree with it. Hair maybe, but not faces :/ But thats just me.
i think id rather see more faces than just simply taking older face options.
TsunamiZ
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by lyra_song
i think id rather see more faces than just simply taking older face options.
|
lyra_song
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TsunamiZ
ya, but if they don't do that, at the very least add variety by mixing in more old ones to widen the possbilities ... where it's at right now is very lame
|
DeathByAmor
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Sphinx2k
Care to explain how saying the looks of the characters are declining with each new expansion or that the characters in nightfall look like prehistoric cavemen is racist.
|
lyra_song
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by DeathByAmor
Well I am just going to come out and say it. I am not going to dance around it like most will. Having Black characters in this game is just a little weird. It just is. It is just as weird as Black Barbie Dolls and Ken dolls. I hate to say it but I think you are going to see ALOT of fairest skinned Nightfalls characters. I just know this is what will happen. I don't think it is cause anyone is racist exactly, but I just don't think there are many Black GW players out there. There I said it.
|
I think its refreshing and very daring of Anet to make a game with Africans as the main characters thats not in some sort of crime game setting.
^_^ ganbare Anet.
Mordakai
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by DeathByAmor
Well I am just going to come out and say it. I am not going to dance around it like most will. Having Black characters in this game is just a little weird. It just is. It is just a weird as Black Barbie Dolls and Ken dolls. I hate to say it but I think you are going to see ALOT of fairest skinned Nightfalls characters. I just know this is what will happen. I don't think it is cause anyone is racist exactly, but I just don't think there are many Black GW players out there. There I said it.
|
And since we "went there", allow me to post my thoughts on the Fantasy genre and racism.
I think Fantasy has always been a little "racist", even if it was not intended. Look at Conan: the big, white conquerer killing the black savages. Even Tolkien's work is oven mis-construed as being racist. (It doesn't help that in the movies, the orks are played by the Maori people. But I digress).
The reason why you find it "a little weird" is simply because you don't see Fantasy heroes of color in movies or TV very often, if at all. The majority of our exposure to Fantasy heroes is the stereotypical white guy with bulging muscles and a big sword, or "babes in Chainmail."
At least Anet is doing something to counter the first stereotype, if not the second.
As I said on another thread, I'm purposely making all my Nightfall characters darker toned because it fits the campaign, and I already have enough while toons for my taste.
mqstout
Or they could let us pick any hair/face style from any chapter for anyone (as long as we own that chapter).
DeathByAmor
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Mordakai
Wow, brave sole. Well, I'm not going to flame you for speaking your mind, even though I disagree.
And since we "went there", allow me to post my thoughts on the Fantasy genre and racism. I think Fantasy has always been a little "racist", even if it was not intended. Look at Conan: the big, white conquerer killing the black savages. Even Tolkien's work is oven mis-construed as being racist. (It doesn't help that in the movies, the orks are played by the Maori people. But I digress). The reason why you find it "a little weird" is simply because you don't see Fantasy heroes of color in movies or TV very often, if at all. The majority of our exposure to Fantasy heroes is the stereotypical white guy with bulging muscles and a big sword, or "babes in Chainmail." At least Anet is doing something to counter the first stereotype, if not the second. As I said on another thread, I'm purposely making all my Nightfall characters darker toned because it fits the campaign, and I already have enough while toons for my taste. |
I will say this though. Be careful making your armor too dark with black dyes cause with this being Nightfall and all you wouldn't want to lose your character in the darkness.
Mordakai
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by DeathByAmor
I will say this though. Be careful making your armor too dark with black dyes cause with this being Nightfall and all you wouldn't want to lose your character in the darkness.
|
The more like Death, the better!
(and no, not like my Avatar... )
Traveller
I have to agree about new face / hair combinations. There's just less and less nice-looking ones and we'll see loads of clones, since there's also less to choose from.
Horseman Of War
Hopefully a lot of the people who complain about "too much african" are just americans, Id expect more from countries that actually appreciate culture.
Even two generations after MLK jr., its still a major problem in our schools, law enforcement, television... If anything Im very happy that a game like nightfall can present something to bring a sense of cultural respect to native african traditions, even if just through a fantasy setting.
racism ftl. I hate white people more than anything, and Im mostly white.
Even two generations after MLK jr., its still a major problem in our schools, law enforcement, television... If anything Im very happy that a game like nightfall can present something to bring a sense of cultural respect to native african traditions, even if just through a fantasy setting.
racism ftl. I hate white people more than anything, and Im mostly white.
gene terrodon
Why must there always be an issue when "minorities" are represented anywhere.
They do exist. Who cares what a toon looks like. If you really have that big of a problem with it, why play.
IMO, it's gratifying to see a region represented correctly, whether it's Europe, Asia or Africa.
Really, people complaining about the color of the toons...get over yourself.
Hypocrite FTW.
Back to the real debate....
Yeah, the dwindling choice of character faces and hairstyles is a bit annoying, but in the end, there will always be mass reproduction because, true to form, one or two styles become more popular than all of the others...and that's what you see...akin to the popularity of warriors to mesmers.
More face and hair options would be great, but in the end...everyone will look the same anyway.
Wonder if you can dye your blade too.
It would be cool to see a shiny black scythe...what do you think?
They do exist. Who cares what a toon looks like. If you really have that big of a problem with it, why play.
IMO, it's gratifying to see a region represented correctly, whether it's Europe, Asia or Africa.
Really, people complaining about the color of the toons...get over yourself.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Horseman Of War
racism ftl. I hate white people more than anything, and Im mostly white.
|
Back to the real debate....
Yeah, the dwindling choice of character faces and hairstyles is a bit annoying, but in the end, there will always be mass reproduction because, true to form, one or two styles become more popular than all of the others...and that's what you see...akin to the popularity of warriors to mesmers.
More face and hair options would be great, but in the end...everyone will look the same anyway.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Mordakai
I was thinking about making my Dervish as dark as possible, to see what he looks like with a hood on.
The more like Death, the better! |
It would be cool to see a shiny black scythe...what do you think?
Horseman Of War
as it was intended, gene. Im ashamed at what my ancestors have done over the centuries.
So dont try to flame me about it.
Im sorry if my comment made you uncomfortable, but seriously any realistic person can see it for what it is. So if you want to stay on topic, stay on topic.
So dont try to flame me about it.
Im sorry if my comment made you uncomfortable, but seriously any realistic person can see it for what it is. So if you want to stay on topic, stay on topic.
ElinoraNeSangre
Want a different looking character?
Don't make a white character.
I was running around as my paragon earlier and got to looking around and realizing, wow I'm the only dark-skinned char in the district...
I play a black monk anyway. :: shrug :: I remember when I started him in Prophecies, I only saw one other black character in pre-Sear (and it was one of my guildies at that).
I was considering doing the same, and very likely will; it's really cool to see that someone else was thinking it. Some of the faces are absolutely lovely in darker tones (at least to me). The only beef I have is that not all classes have black hair as an option, because I think a dark skinned/black haired character is exotic and very sexy. 
Of course, it's all a matter of taste - many people like characters that look somewhat like themselves, or that are familiar. It's not necessarily racist, either; it just isn't what some people find familiar.
-kel
who sees enough pale skin/blonde hair every day when she looks in the mirror
Don't make a white character.
I was running around as my paragon earlier and got to looking around and realizing, wow I'm the only dark-skinned char in the district...
I play a black monk anyway. :: shrug :: I remember when I started him in Prophecies, I only saw one other black character in pre-Sear (and it was one of my guildies at that).
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Mordakai
As I said on another thread, I'm purposely making all my Nightfall characters darker toned because it fits the campaign, and I already have enough while toons for my taste.
|
Of course, it's all a matter of taste - many people like characters that look somewhat like themselves, or that are familiar. It's not necessarily racist, either; it just isn't what some people find familiar.
-kel
who sees enough pale skin/blonde hair every day when she looks in the mirror
Age
When it comes to that screenshot the Prophecies is the best followed by the 3rd one Nightfall and the 2nd one being Factions.I am a little more particular to Prophecies since I beta tested it and started playing it preorder.
TsunamiZ
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Age
When it comes to that screenshot the Prophecies is the best followed by the 3rd one Nightfall and the 2nd one being Factions.I am a little more particular to Prophecies since I beta tested it and started playing it preorder.
|
Sorcha ravenlock
I really like the new faces, at least for the females, haven't looked as closely at the males yet. Yes, they look 'wrong' with white skin, but that is because they have an African bone structure and facial features. They look beautiful with a darker skintone though, and I applaud Anet for stepping away from the standard 'white-man-fantasy-fare' and introucing not just Asian and African based settings, but faces and hairstyles to match.
It is nice to see today's multicultural society reflected in a MMORPG.
GW does not have different races like elves, dwarves and so on, so seeing different colored humans in the game is nice.
As for the OP: I agree that they could have stuck in more effort into providing more faces and hairstyles. Once you have a mesh, it is only a question of reskinning to make a face look different, and that doesn't take too long for an experienced graphics artist. (I've released several facepacks for another game in the past myself, and I'm sure an eperienced artist works faster then me )
This game already does not allow a lot of customisation (IE: Eyecolor), and then giving such a small pool of premade faces to chose from means we run around as clones of eachother. Besides that, hairstyles seem to be reused for different classes, making the clone-syndrome worse.
I am hoping Anet will improve this before the game comes out...
It is nice to see today's multicultural society reflected in a MMORPG.
GW does not have different races like elves, dwarves and so on, so seeing different colored humans in the game is nice.
As for the OP: I agree that they could have stuck in more effort into providing more faces and hairstyles. Once you have a mesh, it is only a question of reskinning to make a face look different, and that doesn't take too long for an experienced graphics artist. (I've released several facepacks for another game in the past myself, and I'm sure an eperienced artist works faster then me
)This game already does not allow a lot of customisation (IE: Eyecolor), and then giving such a small pool of premade faces to chose from means we run around as clones of eachother. Besides that, hairstyles seem to be reused for different classes, making the clone-syndrome worse.
I am hoping Anet will improve this before the game comes out...
Tozen
I was noticing that today too... especially for the hair options. I hope we'll have a lot more by release!
arcanemacabre
What is pleasing to the eye is highly subjective. I might find one face absolutely amazing and beautiful, while someone else would find that same face utterly repulsive. Just keep in mind that when you say a face is ugly, or the selections we have are just crappy, remember that there are people who completely disagree with you and that is only your opinion, not a fact.
In my opinion, I think most of the faces are perfectly fine and beautiful, myself. I looked at every face for every class, male and female, and noticed I liked most of them. Sure there are a few that I personally find ugly, even some class/sex combos that had a lot of ugly faces, but most overall looked great, to me. My wife was going through them at the same time and we even contradicted on a few.
Now, I agree that there is a decreasing quantity of faces in each release, and that sucks. I'd much rather love the ability to change the geometry and details of a face rather than the face as a whole, anyway, to discourage multiple copies. Seeing as how that's probably unlikely, I can make do with the current system, just please give us more faces!
In my opinion, I think most of the faces are perfectly fine and beautiful, myself. I looked at every face for every class, male and female, and noticed I liked most of them. Sure there are a few that I personally find ugly, even some class/sex combos that had a lot of ugly faces, but most overall looked great, to me. My wife was going through them at the same time and we even contradicted on a few.
Now, I agree that there is a decreasing quantity of faces in each release, and that sucks. I'd much rather love the ability to change the geometry and details of a face rather than the face as a whole, anyway, to discourage multiple copies. Seeing as how that's probably unlikely, I can make do with the current system, just please give us more faces!
shinrinningu
I think males really get screwed over on the customization of faces and hair in the expansions.
Most of what I've seen of the hair so far in Nightfall (the selection is probably finalized) are braided hairstyles, nappy heads and afro-ish. As for the faces... I'm not even going to begin on those. When you look over to the females, their selection has more variety and when you change the skin tones on female faces, they actually look like they're from a different race while compared with the males, it doesn't have the same effect.
I don't really mind it that much but quite honestly, with only this selection for males, I am really tempted to give my character a name that spins off from the hip hop culture in America.
Most of what I've seen of the hair so far in Nightfall (the selection is probably finalized) are braided hairstyles, nappy heads and afro-ish. As for the faces... I'm not even going to begin on those. When you look over to the females, their selection has more variety and when you change the skin tones on female faces, they actually look like they're from a different race while compared with the males, it doesn't have the same effect.
I don't really mind it that much but quite honestly, with only this selection for males, I am really tempted to give my character a name that spins off from the hip hop culture in America.
HolyHawk
While I think the armors we can build for our characters made a huge step from prophecies to factions, the opposite goes for facial / body lookings, with a few exceptions, mostly for females.
Brustow
I don't care about the whole dark vs white skinned characters, really doesn't matter to me.
I do care, with the OP, and hope to see some more options in the future.
I smell GW Store option... just cause Anet knows so many people would buy it.
I do care, with the OP, and hope to see some more options in the future.
I smell GW Store option... just cause Anet knows so many people would buy it.