As many people are aware one of the greatest things an MMO can offer is customizations! Not only does having unquie gear set you are apart from the rest but so does the color scheme you use and the way you designed you character.
I know the game is in very early developement which is probably why I haven't found any such posts asking (or I am blind, I do have glasses for a reason, ahaha :P)
I wanted to know what the plan was for character appearance and customization. E.g.; Different hairstyles/color, skin color, eye color, re-shaping faces.
Is it going to be as in-dept as Black Desert Online's customization or will it be a bunch of pre-sets with some sliders similar to Guild Wars 2?
I know it's very early in development and that you guys might not have considered it a lot.
I just wanted to ask the question, because for me it is one of the things that can make an MMO that much more Epic ;)
-Thanks :D
Mortanos
Avatar customization, yes at character creation.
I am a bit torn on Gear customization, however. I like discovering how the same gear looks on different races and the acidental patterning that happens sometimes, but I dont like changing the appearance of the gear. The exception would be dye's, I think you should be able to dye (or maybe better would be tint) some armor pieces to a different color- but with suprise results. For instance, you have a red and black checked breastplate- if you try to dye it with a yellow dye, it turns into a orange and green diagonal striped BP, If you use Blue, it turns into a solid purple or black- kind of thing. If you want red shoes, the red dye might work on one pair of a type, bt not another pair that you have.
Yes I agree this is confusing and a bit too much, but I liked the random "oops" factor on dye's/tints. Maybe a tint would insure the chosen color, muting down the originals where a dye would be touch-and-go.
I would go further than dyes and be able to craft fluff that can be added to your armour and weapons.
Things like little metal skulls that could be placed on your gauntlets, wooden stars that to stick on your armour or fabric tassels that can be added to your cloak. Allow people to choose exactly where on each bit of kit the fluff goes, the size and colour of it. That would really open up a level of creativity never before seen in any mmo's I am aware of... Imagine if people could make a load of gold out of customizing gear using their artistic skills...!
WTB, sparkly rhinestones for my codpiece...
I enjoy it when you can fully customize the you look from head to toe and everything inbetween. I do agree that dye systems tend to be touch and go and how people love to appreciate the orginal artwork of the developers, however I do believe people should have an option. No two people should look exactly the same in my opinion.
I am not fond of gear customization. I remember the first time I saw a Paladin run by in Rubicite while leveling in the Oasis, and asking him about where he got it, which made me want to go check out this mysterious Cazic Thule zone.
When you see someone with gear that looks cool, I want it to be something good, rare, difficult to obtain. I definitely do not want it to turn into something like WoW's transmorgification, or even armor dyes.
For player crafted gear, it would make some sense to have player influence on its apperance, but for gear dropped off of a named mob, it is what it is, and that's how it should be.
I can definetely see how you feel, and I respect that! I know that they have said that you will need to swap gears out for different situations. I just don't want to hit end game and have the best gear in game and look like everyone else? You know? I think the dyes should be able to change the colors scheme but not the item it self. Rare loot should be valued by all and i doubt changing it's colors will make it seem less epic or even less noticiable especially if these rare drops had partical effects on them. In black desert online Bheg's gloves has a flaming aura animation on them and even though they were dyed you could clearly tell it was bhegs glove a very rare drop. Also not everyone will dye there stuff, but I don't think it is bad to offer the option to do so. Maybe make them difficult to obtain, through means of crafting and gathering or specific questlines. Like I said, I am a huge supporter of full customizations, not everyone is. ^.^
In Gw2 I got the permanant Hairstyle contract cause I would swap them once a month or make them match for certain holidays or seasonal themes. Not everyone is going to put the time and effort to do that, but offering the options to those who do, will make the game that much more sweeter in my opinion :D
As I see it, you should be able to recognize your friends just on sight in a modern game. Many Asian game misses this part (well, I have to mention that AION differs here with a great character customization but most of the game from China and South Korea looks like clonewars).
Also, I liked how EQ2 let you go to a barber and change your hairstyle and haircolor for a bit of gold, a rather easy but very popular feature.
Some customization with the gear is also good (including rings & piercing, most MMOs don't show stuff like that for some reason). Choices with color and ornaments are fun, no matter if you do them in a menu or the crafter makes the choices for you. Just don't let people change crap gear to look like raid gear.
Character customization is a very important part of an MMO to me, I spend a lot of time trying to get my character to look just right!
I really hope for is a LOT of hairstyles, please give some curly hair options, I'm so sick of seeing 100 straight hairstyles and 1 or 2 curly options, and I mean real curls, not something that looks like it was done with a curling iron at a salon. :P
Lots of nice facial hair options too, they also tend to be fairly limited in games, It's nice when not every male character is clean shaven (and maybe female dwarves! :P ).
I'm also a big fan of in game barbers/salons to change your hairstyles/facial hairstyles, maybe a cosmetologist for cosmetics aswell.
I'm also for the option to adjust age, height, fitness and weight as OakKnower mentioned, it adds so much more character to the world to see some old characters, portly characters, tall women and short men (obviously to a degree, no halflings the height of Archai :P), its so boring to see everyone look the same age and in perfect physical condition, variety makes it so much better!
I did really like Vanguards character creator in that it allowed you to adjust hand and foot size, leg and arm thickness. Options like that are a great touch to a character creator!
Would be difficult for any game not to surpass EQ in customisation hehe. Half-a-dozen similar faces, limited class-race combos and a small number of 'ideal' armor sets made for near identical 'toons' which seemed to get worse as levels got higher where you might have perhaps hoped for more variation.
I would love to see more customisation options BUT hope the dev retain control of the art direction and high-fantasy feel.
Customisation and the variety it brings has the potential to really add to immersion. It also has the potential to turn the game into a bizarre, eye-searing, mardi-gras-style mess.
Please keep it subtle with some basis in lore and 'realism'.
IMO .. this is the most important part of any mmo (besides mechanics). Players always need the ability to be unique. I am the person that sits for hours in CC to make my toons exactly as I see them in my mind. Having the ability to do this makes finally getting into the game very exciting. I have one thing to add to all the wonderful ideas above and that is this:
Please, please PLEASE! make the CC lighting the exact same as the in-game lighting so when you create your character you know this is really how they will look. It is a major pain to make a gorgeous character only to have to start over becuase the lighting you had in CC is just not there in-game.
Best to you :)
Yeah Black Desert Online has an amazing character creation. I never played it, but I saw a video of it being done, I was very impressed. I would expect a character creation like that, however, I pray there will not be any armor dye.. I do enjoy making my armor a specific color in current games but it really does ruin the immersion imo..
As much as I love to dye my own armor, I too recall when I was 10 yrs old and I saw ppl with Mithril armor and that light blue color, or the clerics with purple armor.. I mean come on, like 19ish years later I still remember a cleric having purple gear.. No armor dyes! Make characters light up like a Christmas tree haha..
Oh and speaking of which... If you have 2 slots for wrist bracers- and you have two different bracers.... Why are both arms the same color!? Each wrist needs to be the color of the bracer that is equiped..
AvianaSummerwood said:Please, please PLEASE! make the CC lighting the exact same as the in-game lighting so when you create your character you know this is really how they will look. It is a major pain to make a gorgeous character only to have to start over becuase the lighting you had in CC is just not there in-game.
Pantheon is huge about light sources, how would they be able to do this properly ? Who knows if we start off with even a torch. Maybe we have to obtain our light source, like by killing bettles just like in EQ1 ? Who knows, maybe the characters start off with a torch in their hands at character creation and then in game, but who's to say you won't get a wonderful little lightstone that makes it 3 times brighter. Me personally, I don't see how the light source will make a differnce when creating a character- I'm just going off what you're saying.
AvianaSummerwood said:
Please, please PLEASE! make the CC lighting the exact same as the in-game lighting so when you create your character you know this is really how they will look. It is a major pain to make a gorgeous character only to have to start over becuase the lighting you had in CC is just not there in-game.
Best to you :)
Lol. So much this!
Shayken said:AvianaSummerwood said:Please, please PLEASE! make the CC lighting the exact same as the in-game lighting so when you create your character you know this is really how they will look. It is a major pain to make a gorgeous character only to have to start over becuase the lighting you had in CC is just not there in-game.
Pantheon is huge about light sources, how would they be able to do this properly ? Who knows if we start off with even a torch. Maybe we have to obtain our light source, like by killing bettles just like in EQ1 ? Who knows, maybe the characters start off with a torch in their hands at character creation and then in game, but who's to say you won't get a wonderful little lightstone that makes it 3 times brighter. Me personally, I don't see how the light source will make a differnce when creating a character- I'm just going off what you're saying.
I have encountered a difference in CC lighting and in game lighting. I deleted two characters in ESO because what I created in the darker CC and Cold Harbor prison lighting did not look the same in the bright light of Alik'r Desert. I have played a few single player games that had options to change the lighting in CC. I would expand the lighting option to incude character looks with and without starting clothing.
i would like gear customization to be done at the crafting table. the full plate player A makes having a slightly different style than player B, or an Archia style wizard robe looking different than a Gnome style robe, things like that. gear drops should be as they are, everyone should know on sight that sword is the one that drops from the Orc high chieftan. i would also like distinctive sorts of faction items.
im personally ok with either way, though. ive certianly made my share of outlandish outfits in games that allow it, but in those games it wasnt out of place. my FFXIV glamour was absurd, but in a game where you ride chicken mounts, and there are all sorts of cutesy things, it was fine. in a game with Pantheon's style, i would never do it (unless i was trying to RP a jester when not adventuring).
@Sparks ive had the same experience, thinking i made a character with bright red hair, get in game its auburn, think i had one skin color, its not quite as dark or light as in the creator - in cases with not humanoid skin colors, its often worse as depending on the lighting that light blue-ish skin looks more purple in game. highly annoying lol.
Now I know all they have said really is this:
4.7 What kind of character customization will we see at character creation?
There will be a standard set of options available compared to modern MMO standards -- there should be a healthy amount of options for you to choose from.
But I am wondering if one of the options will be various skin tones? Will I be able to be a black human for example? Seems like a minor thing to spill the beans about if they are planning it...but I know how every answer turns into a can of worms.
The best customization I've encounerted was in City of Hero's and Champions Online. With all the tools they have at character creation the only limit is a players imagination. I wouldn't mind seeing that, though with the limit of options being Medievil/ High Fantasy appropriate. However the games I refered too are costume based. From my understanding raiders would not relish the idea of a player having the look, armorwise, of what they worked so hard to achieve. Perhaps, such appearances could be avoided while allowing such a lvl of customization? Those aforementioned games have sliders for height, weight and differing colors for skin, eyes and hair, amoung other options. Just a thought.
In my experience the final word (or very close) on CC simply has to be FFXIV. Here are the reasons why:
1. There are many customaisation options for each body part. Not the very most I've ever seen, but pretty close and more than enough to get you something very unique.
2. The CC includes an option to change the background, so you can see your character in the dark, in harsh desert lighting, in the shade of forests and others.
3. The CC includes an option to change gear, so you can see how your character looks donning armour of various levels - great to check that the hairstyle etc. works just as well with level 1 rags as it does with high end AF gear. (important to check things like whether the gear would obscure hairstyles etc.)
4. They released a 'Benchmark' tool for FFXIV several months before launch, which was basically a video simulation of the world, designed so you could tweak graphics settings and see how high your PC scored on a performance meter. This was not only useful in itself, but it also came with the same CC as in game. So you could create your character before launch, save it and load it straight up when you got into the actual game CC. AND as a nice touch, the character you created featured in the benchmark video so you could see how your character looks, all animated and actually adventuring, in third person. In dungeons, riding mounts, standing and emoting, fighting, etc.
You can still download and run the benchmark by searching on the net - so you can see all of above for yourself, for free.
Re. gear customisation, I see no problem with people customising the colour or flashes on their epic shield of awesomness, to make it THEIR shield of awesomeness. It would still look the same and be instantly recognisable, just not boringly the same on everyone. Seeing swathes of the same uniforms at endgame gets a little tedious. I also see no issue with replacing gear skinsm, to a certain extent. This was especially useful though on games like Rift where very little imagination went into gear and it mostly all looked shyte. Having a restrction that you can only swap skins of the same class of armour (i,e, chain can only look the same as other chain) helps to stop warriors running around in robes. Could even add a level difference constraint so chest piece of the gods doens't look the same as cruddy chespiece of the peasant - but really that last one isn't a biggy for me.