When are we going to be able to Change the appearnce of our characters?

Can I suggest that if a character editor were ever implemented (in GW1 or 2), that it might be better to add it for free and then sell hair/skin & face packs via the store? It's a bit more subtle - less risk of pissing anyone off and hair packs would probably sell better than just an editing option.

You haven't read any of Gaile's posts in this thread then have you?

To give it to use for free would be risking the state of ANet basically. They give of quiet a few things that are free. Not everything about this game should be free simply because we get free monthly access! If you want to add something to your account that is an option, then you should have to buy it.

We don't NEED a hair changer, many of us would LIKE a hair changer. If that means it will cost me 10.00 USD for it, then I'll be on it. Cause who does that money go to?

ANet. The company that gives you, me and everyone else on this forum the access we get day in and day out with updates like Sorrow's and DoA.

For free.

Disclaimer: Only read the 1st page and some of the newest pages of this topic....And an old topic at that...

I was here at the time when ppl discussed the same topic at the suggestions section....was that closed? Shouldnt this have been merged into that or something. It's really going nowhere imo. I mean Im sure that Anet has already seen/read it and acknowledged this idea(from all the threads about it), what's up with the "rebirth"....

Only reason id see ppl starting threads like this again is that:
1. They missed the older/longer threads about this.
2. They expected it to be implemented when GWEN was released. Assumed that Anet was going to do something with it, since the old thread was pages/pages of discussion and suggestions...etc.

overall. imo. it's getting amusing/funny, it's the same stuff being said again and we are just going on another loop of the same trip.

Im not saying stop or close the thread...do go on for the sake of discussion, but imo it's getting really stale.

/carry on.

/g'day.

Actually thats EXACTLY what gaile meant, just one of the many ways it could be implemented though... Buying new hairstyle packs as micro transactions is EXACTLY the idea Gaile is portraying here

Wrong, the money goes to NCSoft... NCSoft then give ANet their monthly allowance and pay the staff...

Remember:

ArenaNet is a wholely owned subsidiory of NCSoft

Hmm. I appreciate business models will eventually dictate that options such as this have to be paid for, but you can understand why people are so against it. There ARE lots of precedents in other games. But none in Guildwars. You can pay for PvP packs and character slots, which don't really compare to 'fiddling around with how my character looks'. Saying 'there'll be micropayments' probably causes more hysteria than saying 'no shut up, you can't change your character'.

I've added character slots, and GOTY weapons (or whatever they were) so I've already gone against my original intention and spent more on the game than the basic box with the discs inside. Because that's about 4 'extra' purchases over 2 years. If extra 'options' were to be added with that sort of frequency for the future, or for GW2, I'd be alright with that, given that I like the game and it looks like a lot of manpower etc. would have to go into these options. Any more frequently and I'd probably give up- I want everything for my game, but I also want to... you know... eat and pay rent.

You do get masses of stuff for your original 40 bucks or so though.... be happy.

What I don't understand here is exactly what someone else posted previously.

Now, I tend to lean in the direction of ArenaNet when it comes to their decision-making and rarely complain about the updates they provide for the game. They update the game weekly and are constantly fixing bugs ect., all the while adding new and free content to the game. Now, character creation is already a mechanism in the game and while I realize an interface as well as several lines of code behind the scenes would be needed, it seems as though the framework for this idea is mostly completed by simply reworking the character creation into a separate character modifier.

When it came to some of the in-game store options I realized that ArenaNet needed to trade-off something for the players to use these features. For instance: An extra character slot takes more storage capacity, therefore payment is needed. Or, purchasing from the online store to get free content as a reward for not forcing ArenaNet or NC(whichever) to spend more money on packaging.

This right here seems like it's just data though, of which would not seem to "break" the future of ArenaNet any more than a Hard Mode update would. Perhaps I'm assuming too much though so perhaps you could get one of the lead Analysts to speak to us Gaile?

I know we aren't entitled to a detailed technical explanation for why something won't work, but it would be appreciated none-the-less.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if making an in-game interface for this required a lot of work. The character creation part of the process may be almost completely separate from the game so I doubt it's simple to recreate it in game.

I wonder if it would be a lot easier to make it possible to edit a character's face, hair and so on from the character selection screen.

In any case, unlike you I often don't agree with what Gaile / ANet says (or at least how they say it) but in this case it makes perfect sense.

Adding this feature isn't fixing a bug, it's adding functionality. It costs money to make (designing, implementing and testing) so I don't see anything unreasonable about asking us to pay for it.

I know...that is why I summed it up


True enough, but I didn't say it goes directly to them either :P

I'm pleased to see that people are using sense here now in this thread and understanding that it's going to take money, from us - to them, for this to come around when it does.

I think it's a great idea to have various doodads available as a purchase for extra $ in GW2, just like character slots are in GW1.

This game already has a ridiculously low cost for the hours of entertainment it provides, so $10 for a bonus pack of miscellaneous features is really nothing.

I think too many people feel like they shouldn't have to pay for anything. For example, most people I know who are in their early twenties or under, don't pay for music and feel it's totally ok to just pirate everything. It's not surprising this horrible attitude carries over into everything else.

Thus why I highly dislike most of my generation

Ditto

Now I just wish there was more varsety in the online shop

Uh oh, take it easy there fan boy. Theres something brown on your nose, might wanna smudge it off.

Anyways, I personally believe having a "Character Stylist" introduced into GW with basic hair cuts (respective to each campaign) for free accompanied by new haircut packages purchasable at the store would be satisfactory. My main concern is if Anet makes us pay to change our haircuts to haircuts already established in the game, its not exactly BRAND new content.

Now let me flip over and make reference to another game as Gaile has been doing. In Tabula Rasa players have the option to clone their characters, literally taking all the progress accomplished on that character and being able to redo the beginning steps of their creation. So effectively if you get bored of being male, female, brown haired, tall, fat having a stale name, unsatisfactory beginning stats, or simply wanna save your progress so you can always go back if you don't like the branch you chose you can switch it at any time you like. This is the ultimate in character freedom for me, the game will charge 15 dollars a month yes, but the the money seems to be well put.

Sorry you don't support and respect the game that you play for free unlike myself. If there is anything 'brown' on my nose, it's from being an earth elementalist every so often and getting dirty.

Sure, but that would still take a great deal of time and effort, or are you just ignoring what Gaile (and appearntly my self) have summed up? It takes a lot to do that. It's just not a snap of the fingers and "It's free!" for you and me.

We don't need a Hair Stylist. We would like a Hair Stylist.

For the things we don't need, I think we should have to pay to have what we would like.

Do-overs on character creation do seem a little "cheap". Those options still exist; you just have to do them first before picking a character name.

I like being able to recognize my friends characters by their looks.

I know.

But I don't want to have to redo over 100++ hours of work just because I don't like the hairs style of my character.

And I don't really care if people recognise me by look, the look is mainly for me, and not for other people, so I really don't care if people recognise me.

All this is again is

I don't need it, so no one else needs it too.


Nice argument *sarcasm*

Of course I read Gaile's posts - suggesting an alternative to directly charging for a convenience feature should have been some indication of that, but I guess you just saw the word free and decided to launch into a tiresome lecture.

Why put 100++ hours of work in if you didn't like the hair style of your character?

You are playing an MMO. You are playing alone, aparently.

What?

Some people can change their minds about the hair style they chose. Also getting a hair cut is standard in many other MMO's and helps add to the "realism".

It wasn't a lecture directly at you, but directly to those of you who are keeping the push of 'free' coming.

It's nothing we need, but something we would like. If it's something we need (Sorrows, etc.) then yes. Something we would like, purchase it.

Because at first I did enjoy my character look, but over times, my preference and opinion change. I like it then, but now my opinion change, and I would enjoy a new hair cut for one of my character.

No, I just really don't care to make my character look "cool" in your eye, just mine. Specialy since apperance does not matter in this game.

Your using the same excuse of: I don't need it, so no one else needs it either.

What's with all these people who keep saying this game is free!!11 It's not Maple story, which you download for free and can keep playing for free. You bought this game and possibly the other campaigns and one expansion. If you bought all that's 50*3 + 40 (or whatever Eye of the North costed) = $190 and tax. I'm not saying that selling character slots is unjustifiable, I'm fine with that. It's just that if you have people who keep repeating this game is free (even though you paid for it) saying that they would buy stuff you get when you buy other online games you've pretty much fallen for their trick and they've tricked you into agreeing to buy stuff you normally would'nt in other games and you're making them think that selling stuff like hairstyles is justified.

The only game that you have to pay for hairstyles and appearance is Maple story, but that's because it's really free! No body paid anything to get it. What other online game have you seen that charges you real world money to change your appearance, something easily done serverside. None that I've seen. It's all been with in-game currency. They said there would'nt be cash shops but it is. If you sell people hairstyles and faces and stuff but call it the Guild Wars In-game store that's still a cash shop, they're just changing the name and you fell for it. They said they won't spend time fixing armor appearance glitches because they're working on GW2, and you want to pay for hair styles? You already paid for the armor, it came with whatever campaign you bought, what are you going to say? I'll pay for them to fix it?

And don't tell me it's justified by "free" content updates and whatever. The only "free" stuff we got was Sorrow's Furnace and the Battle Islands for PvP, the minimal as to complete their folly of promising this because people now expect more. I don't see it listed anymore that you get free content updates on their website. Skill balances and Bug fixes are expected of any product/game you buy. If it was'nt GW would be empty because everyone would have left due to the buggy and imbalanced game, pay monthly or not. Holidays also expected in the online game, delivered half the time by Korean MMO's and guess what, those MMOs that did'nt failed.
I'm not saying I'm not going to buy GW2, I'm still into it. It's that you might as well make it a pay monthly with content that actually keeps me playing instead of making me pay for looks or possibly weapons and make the persistance zones like 3 meters long just to tip toe around the promise of no monthly fees, persistance and free content.
Don't go that way Anetto. Don't gouge me dude! Don't gouge me... aahhhh ahhh!!!

If this really isn't possible how about bringing in new mode called soft mode.This would make the game 50% easier and that the mobs won't attack unless you do as well as less spawns.This way it would be easy to re roll a char through all chapters that a partially blind person could do this.This would also make it easy to get a survivors title.
Those who don't agree think about it to those who have to re role a char.

That would ruin runners.

And you'd need a minimum 2000 deaths or something.

It wouln't ruin it for runners some prefer to just to be run and you need 0 daeths to get survivor which is harder than hard mode.I re roled a char once and don't want to do it again if I need to re role I want soft mode.

On those never....Or when you go play WoW, Or 2 moons 40k or other games with mounts and actionhouses and higher lvl caps..

Sir Greenmen, let's say this then:

$50.00 for Prophecies + 1 Sorrows Furnace (Say what, a 10-20.00 Expansion for free?)

Now, let's presume this then. For the one year of time there was between Prophecies and Factions is 12 Months. For that time we had that added 'expansion' area known as Sorrow's Furnance for free, or estimating again a 10-20.00 value.

12 x 15.00 (est. price of monthly charge, likely more) = 180.00 + 10.00/20.00 Sorrow's 190/200.00

3 Campaigns @ $150.00 total, + $30.00 expansion = $180.00

You have before you 2 years worth of stand-alone campaigns (from the time Prophecies came out, to the time EotN came out) at roughly 260.00 of game play at roughly $15.00 a month. Which you have before you is 180.00 in Campaigns (+10/20.00 Sorrows) and Expansions + 260.00 at Monthly Charges giving you 450/460.00in two, two and a half years.

Now, separate from the guesstimating: You tack in oh say another 3 character accounts at another $30.00, maybe that GotY add-on for another $5.00 to the combined total and your looking at $215.00 in 2 1/2 years of time. There has been nothing we've had to buy to continue to be a part of the current campaign/expansion we own unlike other games has there?

Are you honestly serious about your "Falling for their trick" argument when right there alone is the price of the three games and EotN? Your argument fails Sir Greenmen. There is no trick but honest and a good way of making and keeping a game going before you that you seem to play.

I did'nt play every month of the year, I took several month breaks after each campaign and would'nt have paid the monthly fee for those months. Also monthly payments are'nt justified in my eyes for GW. You can't price GW like pay monthly MMO's because it's not, it's designed to last a few months and then you leave. Source: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10204725
Did'nt you read my post? Sorrow's Furnace wasn't free, you got it because you bought Prophecies and they said there would be free content on the box. With that they met their promise and there no more content. Adding a sword that's blue and on fire at the same time isn't content, it's a sword so don't bother telling me that they added more stuff. Yeah it's nice to look at but I don't have one and I won't farm for one in that area they put it in (that area that was already in game).
But I also don't see what your argument has to do with mine, I did'nt say anything about the cost of GW games being wrong. Maybe you replied to some other thread and posted here like those other three posts after mine that seemed to have done that.

And that is why compairing Guild Wars with other pay to play MMos fails. Which for some reason Gaile doesn't understand.

I never said I expect everything for free. If you read my post you would have seen that. I do however disagree with Anet compairing their original (or atleast it was) game to other MMOs out there that are completely different. Oh well, I hope it does you good in the future. GL with your WoW kill- I mean GW2.

That is true, yes. But, it falls into your argument of...

Guildwars is free through and through and your argument of 'falling for trick' gaming falls through, crashes and splats on the ground.

You surely can't expect free content all the time for one campaign now can you Greenman? Your obviously one of those players who don't understand this game through and through like many of us older players who have played this game through and through and continue to do so.

My argument? More like a re-buttle. Your attempting to argue this game costs so much money, blarg blarg blarg. No, this game is insanely cheap, doesn't cost you for the time you aren't playing like some games do and gives you things quiet often to keep you entertained all for 180.00 if you own all three campaigns and expansion.

Having to pay for a Hair Stylist? For the price of the entire line of Guildwars Games we currently have, yes.

What does it it matter to you if you come here back every so often? Or are you just trying to flame this thread?

Actually Gaile if the service was available for a marginal charge in teh online store instead of a gold sink ,I would be ok with that... I think most would.

Indeed I personally as the leader of a guild, that likes GH services, I would have easily paid $9.99 or maybe even $29.99 for a full set of services in the GH. They are optional right? And yes those too were added for free, as was storage, then storage tabs and material storage, New halls, New traders, New quests, new areas, New rewards, Freebe chests, Keyed chests themselves, Reward chests, and so on and so on. all for free. SO yea..

If such upgrades were offered for GHs or character rerolls for customization, whatever for a fee. that would be cool. I admit I have gotten used to the entire concept of new campaign get new stuff, and then some after a while to finish up the campaign... When the GH services came out it was as I saw it a good gold sink to remove game money. But the point you tried to do with that didnt improve things in the economy as much as you anticipated I am betting... Which is prob why nothing more ever came of it. It may have with another campaign but UTOPIA was canceled. SOO... ya..

Something like $9.99 for a Guild leader to add more services to a GH would be fantastic. things like Stylists, Guild shared storage, Treasury, fireworks vendor, Town merchants like in Factions... Different skinned NPCs in the halls. Whatever.. I can see that and would accept that. The $9.99 offering for a character reroll on each account may be more profitable, but probably not as popular either. I am betting you would ultimately earn more money from offering things for masses then for offering things for individuals. More added value I suppose. IDK.

Even if it was per service, Or even per character on it's own..

Hell, you want to turn a huge profit. Add the Auction House system for a $9.99 fee. Trust me it will shut down your online store trying to meet the demand.

We really do appreciate all we get for free, to keep our interest building for new expansions and campaigns, and we understand GW2 is coming in a year or so. But we are here now. If we had to get things like that with a fee so be it. Build it and they will come... That mentality IS there. They will grumble about it a bit cause we are spoiled... but it will sell none the less... as long as 1 it is always optional, and 2 does not give an unfair advantage in the getting of it over others. Keep the prices reasonable for the service and it will be a success. I guarantee it.

Offer in game gold for real money, that too will boom. It will be a sad day for many of us, as I personally think it will really hurt the game overall, but 500k for $10 or whatever. If its from you and you offer it. It will be OK by me. We just do not want other companies stealing your properties rights and opportunities.

city of heros had this option but I think you had to pay for it can't remember though havn't played in like forever. Can look it up later though but Gale would probubly know better then me since its a NCsoft game.

I think it depends on their business model. I would have assumed the cost of each chapter/expansion for an online game to have covered updates, bug fixes, little additions here and there (dye preview window, new weapons, new quests, holidays, some content additions, balancing), monthly until they got to the next chapter, be it free or subscription-based. So this would include a feature like a preview window in my mind to change hair, but prioritized among the things they might like to add. Online games arent static and cant be. Need to keep it alive and fresh until the next chapter comes out. Even if there is a lot to do, its the addition of new things that create an online feel and vibrant universe to play in.

Larger content additions such as Sorrow's Furnace (though that was free in that case), the Bonus Mission Pack, etc is more akin to a subscription-based service or purchase of said extra content in the store (or a promotion, as in this case). I wouldnt mind having some more content in between chapters, as there was quite a long gap without things new that led to my retiring between each chapter. These I personally wouldnt mind paying for in a store, but it would have to be something on this sort of a scale. Not simply new features. I highly doubt I would do that.

On just this one feature alone, a stylist of some sort, there are other MMO's I have played that with each new chapter came new styles. You could create a new character, or you could enter something similar to the character create screen and modify your existing character with the new styles, changing hair etc. I think since this is fairly common its where the drive every once and a while for this feature comes from. Some way to get access to the new style options, though you usually cant change size, proportion or face. They're already halfway there imho with the dye preview window, as changing hair could work very, very similarly to that, though its already been said we likely wont see it in GW.

Sorry not sure what you are referring to, but for changing appearance in city of heroes you can, any time you like. You vist a building called Icon and it pops up the char creation screen and you can change your look by spending your influence (cash/gold/currency). You can change it as much times as you like as long as you have the funds or free costume changes tokens (which they hand out from time to time). Its an ingame expense. you dont have to pay NCsoft extra, but bare in mind that CoH is a subscription based game and you do have to pay monthly subscriptions to play, unlike GW which is free.

I woulds love a character creator/editor in GW, that would allow you to change your hair, for a small amount of gold/plat pieces, but to maintain the GW feel of no online fees, i would not like to pay real cash every time i fancied a quick trip to the stylists in GW.

I still play Coh on a regular basis, as well as fit in time to adventure in the wonderfull world of GW.

I haven't read this whole thread - too many posts - but I get the idea that someone (perhaps Gaile) says it's 'impossible' to change your characters appearance. I would think that may be true for your characters main features - sex, face shape, skin tone, etc., but surely it's possible to change the hair style & colour. The various headpieces in the game have routinely changed the appearance of the hair, and now, in EoN, you have things like the Bandanna & Mask of the Mo-Zing that completely change the appearance of the hair/head, and they can be coloured. It can't be that hard to make "hairpieces" that would work the same way. Although, of course, you couldn't wear your glasses and a new hair style at the same time - so forget that idea. :/

Nobody said anything about it being impossible, just time-consuming for Anet with their current goals and availability.

Uhh... it can't possibly be that hard. They did it quite easily for April fools. Unless of course you're telling me that instead of working on the real problems of the game they dedicated hundreds of man hours to do an April fool's joke.

No your obviously wrong, Playing GW requires little or not commitment or foresight what so ever. Going even further - I don't like the way male rangers walk and I don't like the dresses and skin tight armour of the male ele....obviously I should not be able to change from male to female - even after april 1st when i was teased with the nice smooth run of the female ranger and the awesomeness of the female ele armour. No no no darko - you lack commitment

I would suggest you read the last several pages of this thread, but I'll try to explain as well: it's not that hard to change a switch in a database that holds gender information for all characters within that database. It is much more difficult to implement an option for players to make such changes themselves, any time they want, back and forth.

This made me laugh, so sad but probably true

LFG "Barber's Ascent run" farming tailor pts....

Guild Wars was not free. I'm saying I bought the games, paid for them so they're not free. The only people who have it free are those who won it or put in a random key and got in. As I said in my last post I did'nt say anything about it costing too much. It's the Cash shop idea, the selling of in game stuffs for real world cash that I have problems with.

No I don't expect content all the time, but when they say they're going to add content you expect them to do it more than once throughout 3 campaigns.

What's understanding how they make money have to do with my understanding of the game? What about older players? Are you trying to say you're right because your an old player? I've got the join date that says 2005 too. It's usually the new ones that worship Anet. I come back to discuss on the discussion board and to respond to any replies. I think that's what the board is for.