Can 2019 be the year of improved character generation please?

MornaBaine

Whenever I roll a new character in this game I am unhappily astonished by how limited it still is after five years. You guys pretty much knocked the ability to customize facial features and body builds out of the park. But you fell down hard on makeup, hairstyles, facial hair, and scars. I am not totally unhappy with tattoos as you seem to be adding those at a pretty heavy clip outside of char gen.

Now, ideally, I would like character generation itself expanded and things like facial hair, scars and makeup all separated out into their own categories. It's just silly to have to chose between makeup and a scar or facial hair and an earring! Same with tattoos, they definitely rate their own category. That's my perfect world scenario.

However, if you simply must monetize every little thing these days well then...

First, dribbling out like maybe five hairstyles a year is completely unacceptable. We literally need double what is already available in char gen. DO IT AS A HAIRSTYLE PACK. No more of this one here, one there nonsense! PLEASE figure out how to do curls! And you definitely need more LONG hairstyles for both men and women. In fact, UNLOCK hair from gender completely. If dudes can wear dresses, let them have all the hair and makeup to go with it! That alone will widen our potential looks a great deal. And FYI we have enough mohawks and other weird styles. What we need are LONG more natural looking styles, both with curls and braids. Give me a pack of 20 GOOD hairstyles that are NOT gender locked and yes, I'll cheerfully pay 5k crowns for it. And yes, I know, you're used to getting 1k crowns PER style or even more. First, that's highway robbery. But secondly, if you're absolutely married to that "system" you STILL need to put out 20 hairstyles all at once, even if listed individually, BUT NO MORE LIMITED TIME OR CASH CRATES FOR THESE ITEMS! LEAVE THEM PERMANENTLY IN THE STORE! Character customization of this type should never be a limited time one off. I am FAR more likely to see a hair/makeup combo I'd like to try and buy it if I have a range of CHOICES. I don't want to see a new hairstyle and think to myself, "Man that hairstyle would have looked great with that makeup that was available six months ago. Too bad I didn't know about this then because now the makeup is gone."

Now about makeup! Ideally, you'd expand the makeup options in char gen. By at least 20 choices. But I have to tell you, most of the ones you already have...are awful. Get someone who actually has a clue about actual makeup to design new ones. And when I say makeup, I DON'T mean the over the top war paints you're so fond of either. THOSE need their own category as well. They aren't make up! And yes, if you have to monetize these as well, then release PACKS! NO MORE of this one lipstick here, a set of over the top drag queen eyelashes there, some of it locked in cash crates. Now, for reasons that elude me, you are unable to make a lipstick that doesn't REMOVE the original eyemakeup chosen in character creation. Which, to be blunt, is infuriating. However, I have noticed that it does NOT remove the eyelashes that you also sell separately. So those two items can be "worn" together. However, there are only two sets of relatively "normal" eyelashes and the rest are very over the top drag queen lashes WITH utterly outlandish eyemakeup as well. So, PLEASE put out MORE lipsticks AND more eyelashes that INCLUDE eyemakeup more in line with the eyemakeup portion of the facial markings in character generation. And for the love of the Divines PLEASE GIVE MEN EYELASHES AS WELL! Enough of these lashless freaks! Yes, that means small and subtle but actually there. What possessed you to originally make characters have NO eyelashes in the first place is beyond me. Fix it. Please. And again, do away with the random weird gender locks. Male characters CAN wear the really outlandish drag queen lashes already. But they CANNOT wear the ones you market as "subtle." WHY? Again, FIX IT. And please introduce subtle lipcolors that are suitable for male characters as well! Again, we need a range of choices, in the cash shop, NOT in loot boxes, and they need to STAY in the cash shop as PERMANENT offerings.

Everything I've said about the above applies to facial hair as well. And yes, unlock it for women! If there can be dude *** orcs then by gosh we should be able to have bearded ladies as well! Again, MORE CHOICES and left in the store PERMANENTLY! Same thing for scars. And SEPARATE the categories so I can have a cool scar AND makeup... or a cool scar AND a tattoo!

Lastly, sell unlocks of ALL the hair colors, ALL the eye colors and ALL the skin colors! Not only will this allow us to create characters that look as if they are of mixed races but there is absolutely no reason at all that a character of any race should be restricted to only certain haircolors. Dye is a thing! LOL

These are QoL additions that are LONG overdue and are a really important part of character customization.

Editing to add: We also really need new eyebrows. Well over half those in char gen are just flatly AWFUL.

MornaBaine

reserved for visual suggestions later

Red_Feather

You can edit the title? There's a typo I think.

MornaBaine

Red_Feather wrote: »

You can edit the title? There's a typo I think.

LOL There most certainly was! Thanks for the catch!

Ananoriel

To be fair, I think eso already has a very good customsation system. There are many rpgs with less options and you see a very diverse population in Tamriel.

But I agree of the availability of hairstyles, adornments, tattoos and make-up in the crown store. There used to be a lot more choice in the store permanently. But now the new styles are rare and limited time only/locked in crowncrates. I wish they had more stuff regulary in the store like a few years back. Or at least the more basic stuff like the black lashes.

Mr_Walker

I'm not into the cosmetics part of it, but I must confess I've always been a little bemused that "you can have this lipstick, but not with eyeshadow. No sir, you'll be a painted lady then!"

And tattoos. What's the point? they're all covered by armor. Why would anyone buy these? "Here's a pack of tattoos, look at them now, because once you put your armor on you won't be looking at them".

Brrrofski

I read these posts and I'm so envious.

I wish my problem with the game was a lack of hairstyles. Would be much better than ragin in PvP because I'm snared for 95% of the time

Ertosi

Brrrofski wrote: »

I wish my problem with the game was a lack of hairstyles. Would be much better than ragin in PvP because I'm snared for 95% of the time

Snares are just an opportunity to vogue your awesome style.

Mr_Walker

Brrrofski wrote: »

I read these posts and I'm so envious.

I wish my problem with the game was a lack of hairstyles. Would be much better than ragin in PvP because I'm snared for 95% of the time

Get used to it, because elseweyr will only make things worse.

Tigerseye

MornaBaine wrote: »

PLEASE figure out how to do curls! And you definitely need more LONG hairstyles for both men and women.

Indeed.

...and proper, long waves and something in between the two (long, loose curls, or wavy/curly).

I use the Barbaric Windblown Hair for volume, even though it is weirdly textured and too short, especially at the back.

Also, I want lipgloss, in a natural pink/pale red colour and blusher in similar, but slighlty lighter, colour.

Shiny lipgloss I mean; not just matt colours.

My char lives in the Subtle Make-Up, which isn't bad, but is a little too matt and/or too subtle in some ways (pale cheek colour and matt lip) and/or a little too obvious in others (eyeshadow).

I just want her to look a little more glowy/dewy.

Also, she wears the Subtle Dark Lashes, because (as you say) she has no eyelashes at all without them, which is ridiculous and they're not even included in the Subtle Natural Make-Up.

Meaning there are chars running around in Subtle Natural Make-Up which still have no eyelashes...

Not only that, but I heard that Subtle Dark Lashes are not even a permanent thing on the crown store?

Meaning people's chars are being left eyelash-free for months, possibly longer.

Apparently, I got lucky when I came back to the game, because they were on the store, at the time.

I just assumed they would be a permanent feature.

Tigerseye

Brrrofski wrote: »

I read these posts and I'm so envious.

I wish my problem with the game was a lack of hairstyles. Would be much better than ragin in PvP because I'm snared for 95% of the time

Don't PVP in this game would be my advice.

Haven't even tried it, as I just instinctively know it would be horrendous.

It was on the edge of my tolerance in both WoW and GW2 and at least there I could move my char and not worry about moving the camera.

dovakiin5574

I do want InuYasha length hair for my male characters

Seraphayel

2019 is shaping up to be the year of least features added to the game, so no.

We are asking ZOS to fix the character creation screen because all characters end up looking different in the real game due to lighting and the dark background in the creator - you think they listened or changed anything? And that's not even difficult to manage. We are asking ZOS to get the tutorial mess fixed which isn't difficult to manage either. Do you think they listened or changed anything?

Tigerseye

Ananoriel wrote: »

To be fair, I think eso already has a very good customsation system. There are many rpgs with less options and you see a very diverse population in Tamriel.

I, originally, thought it would have, but I then realised that games like GW2 (although they are totally lacking in terms of body customisation) have better ones, in terms of the facial options.

For example, you can change the fullness of the lips and the height the mouth sits at, in ESO; but, you can't change the (horizontal) size/width of the mouth.

You would be amazed how much possible variety that one omission alone fails to permit.

Someone with a small/narrow mouth looks totally different from someone with a large/wide one.

Tigerseye

Mr_Walker wrote: »

And tattoos. What's the point? they're all covered by armor. Why would anyone buy these? "Here's a pack of tattoos, look at them now, because once you put your armor on you won't be looking at them".

Depends what you're wearing.

I can see parts of my tattoo while wearing my Dead-Water Chest and even more when I wear certain costumes.

mxxo

First they came for my passives now they come for my face.. PLEASE if you make changes, then only add new options and dont change the existing ones.

Aethereal'Golden

Yes, that would be very cool!

TheShadowScout

MornaBaine wrote: »

Now, ideally, I would like character generation itself expanded and things like facial hair, scars and makeup all separated out into their own categories. It's just silly to have to chose between makeup and a scar or facial hair and an earring! Same with tattoos, they definitely rate their own category. That's my perfect world scenario.

YES!!!
Several categories, to let us mix and match our character appearance options!
AND a better "face zoom" option for chargen!
AND more lighting options, and perhaps even a "how would this character look with that appearance change option (vampire, crown store skin, etc)

MornaBaine wrote: »

First, dribbling out like maybe five hairstyles a year is completely unacceptable...

Agreed!
There are a great many hairstyles that would fit very well into a fantasy world, which are not yet available in ESO - both elaborate "medieval nobles" updos, and extra long "fantasy sidhe" style that might be impractical for fighters, but would be great for mages and elf nobles... as well as various style of braids and the like...

And yes, for both male and female characters. Elf boys or wizards with impractically long hair are a classic in fantasy stories! Heck, even in non-fantasy there were cultures where free men had long hair, and only slaves were shorn...

MornaBaine wrote: »

What we need are LONG more natural looking styles, both with curls and braids.

...and also with more hair volume for things like: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/427394/black-women-hairstyles/p1
(and despite what some people say, I still think those hairstyles would make a nifty addition for redguards, orcs, and the occasional bosmer...)

MornaBaine wrote: »

BUT NO MORE LIMITED TIME OR CASH CRATES FOR THESE ITEMS! LEAVE THEM PERMANENTLY IN THE STORE! Character customization of this type should never be a limited time one off.

Indeed!
It makes sense to have some "extra special" things as time-limited offers, costumes, mounts or pets, especially seasonal themed stuff that will come 'round next year anyhow... but not "basic" appearance options!

MornaBaine wrote: »

I am FAR more likely to see a hair/makeup combo I'd like to try and buy it if I have a range of CHOICES. I don't want to see a new hairstyle and think to myself, "Man that hairstyle would have looked great with that makeup that was available six months ago. Too bad I didn't know about this then because now the makeup is gone."

Exactly, that is a very annoying trend for "limited time offers" - you see something that gives you a new idea for a new look... only the other parts that would have fit for that idea in are no longer available...
Now, for outfits, its not -that- much trouble hunting down motiv pages in various guild stores, but when it comes to character looks... S.O.L.; so you have to drop your idea and are left with a feeling of unjust vexation...

Makes me -really- wish those character-looks bits and pieces (hairstyles, makeups, adornments) would remain in the crown store... maybe in two versions? A more expensive standard "crown cost" version, and a somewhat cheaper "crown crate" version? (Though I personally would wish they might abolish the whole "crown crate exclusives" altogether, and sell -everything- for basic crowns. Than sell the crates for those who wish to gamble on the chance of getting something for cheap if they feel lucky that day, leaving everyone to make their choices)

MornaBaine wrote: »

Now about makeup! Ideally, you'd expand the makeup options in char gen. By at least 20 choices. But I have to tell you, most of the ones you already have...are awful. Get someone who actually has a clue about actual makeup to design new ones.

...and maybe divide the makeup into two seperate choices - eyes and lips, let people have their personal selection of how they want to look, mix and match as they desire?

MornaBaine wrote: »

And when I say makeup, I DON'T mean the over the top war paints you're so fond of either. THOSE need their own category as well. They aren't make up!

Weeeeeellllll...
It depends.
I could see makeup and warpaint sharing slots... IF they split the makeup into two as stated above. I mean, if you were to put on warpaint that covers the eyes, there is no need for extra eyeshadow, right?
Et cetera.
So it might be cool to have one "upper face" slot for eyeshadow or warpaint, and one "lower face" slot for lipstick or beards... one "face structure" slot for scars, horns, blind eyes and such (can we get some more structural options there? Like... a half-cut ear, a crudely swen up cheek, a bosmer horns set with one chopped off, etc.), three appearance slots, that would give us a nice selection of combination options, yes?

And... one extra "adornment" slot for earrings or circlets... (so they finally won't "disappear" bosmer horns and stuff if part of a costume!) Heck, I still wish those would be removed from the character appearance settings and added to the outfit system instead... so you can change adornments with your armor! Wear the blue stone circlet with your psijic sage robes, and the red stone earrings with the pact war wizard robes? That sort of thing?
Heck, it would be -great- if the outfit system also allowed us to use different hairstyles for "non-helmet" outfits... wear the braided hair as war wizard, wear it open and flowing as sage... etc.

...

Also, I would -love- to see all these character appearance options one has unlocked to become available in chargen as well as later in the game, so we can see how the new character we might be making could look with all that is available, instead of make it and then late maybe find out something looks sub-optimal...

And maybe... even a "limited character recustomization token" that -only- lets people redo their "hair - makeup - adornments" slots? Yeah, I know we have options to swap those out in-game, but... I would want an selection that lets us tinker with the basics when new options become available...

MornaBaine wrote: »

Lastly, sell unlocks of ALL the hair colors, ALL the eye colors and ALL the skin colors! Not only will this allow us to create characters that look as if they are of mixed races but there is absolutely no reason at all that a character of any race should be restricted to only certain haircolors. Dye is a thing!

Hey, I would -love- hair dyes... bonus if they unequipped if jumping into water!
Which would be a great addition... hair dyes, including "obviously dyed" colors like vivid green and such... that unequip if you swim more then five seconds!

But yeah, a "halfbreed" unlock that allows your characters to use non-racial color options (how many times people have asked to make an black-haired altmer, like several NPCs?) would be a good thing!

Also, while we are talking improved character appearance options...

...how about I mention "structutal unlocks" again?

Like... the option to have characters with settings that exceed the usual sliders!
"Titanborn" extra-tall nords that stand a head taller then everyone else!
"Hulking" extra-muscular Orcs that you would not like when they got angry!
Breton "Dwarves" that are of a stunted stature, yet drink wine and know things!
Large-busted altmer pristesses of Dibella that will have back pains later in their life!
Fat-bellied redguard harem guards you can trust with your waifu!
Pixielike dunmer thieves that are smaller then most bosmer and can slip through many a window!
Plump-bottomed Imperial matrons that are a terror in the kitchen, but make the best pasta!
Skeletally thin altmer mages that often get mistaken for a lich, and could make a decent undertaker in a different universe!
...and so on.

Girl_Number8

Please allow us to see our characters with in game lighting options.

MornaBaine

TheShadowScout wrote: »

Also, while we are talking improved character appearance options...

...how about I mention "structutal unlocks" again?

Like... the option to have characters with settings that exceed the usual sliders!
"Titanborn" extra-tall nords that stand a head taller then everyone else!
"Hulking" extra-muscular Orcs that you would not like when they got angry!
Breton "Dwarves" that are of a stunted stature, yet drink wine and know things!
Large-busted altmer pristesses of Dibella that will have back pains later in their life!
Fat-bellied redguard harem guards you can trust with your waifu!
Pixielike dunmer thieves that are smaller then most bosmer and can slip through many a window!
Plump-bottomed Imperial matrons that are a terror in the kitchen, but make the best pasta!
Skeletally thin altmer mages that often get mistaken for a lich, and could make a decent undertaker in a different universe!
...and so on.

Oh heck yeah! LOL Though I think at a certain point you might start running into clipping issues if you deviate too far outside the norm.

Aluneth

mxxo wrote: »

First they came for my passives now they come for my face.. PLEASE if you make changes, then only add new options and dont change the existing ones.

This.

I don't mind the changes, but on the list of priorities, these changes would be at the middle-bottom of the list. There are so many changes that are much more important and urgent. If they can't fix the performance of their servers, then they shouldn't fool around with makeup and eyelashes. The worst part is that this will most likely take precedence, because they'll earn money from it.

MornaBaine

Aluneth wrote: »

mxxo wrote: »

First they came for my passives now they come for my face.. PLEASE if you make changes, then only add new options and dont change the existing ones.

This.

I don't mind the changes, but on the list of priorities, these changes would be at the middle-bottom of the list. There are so many changes that are much more important and urgent. If they can't fix the performance of their servers, then they shouldn't fool around with makeup and eyelashes. The worst part is that this will most likely take precedence, because they'll earn money from it.

Well the sad truth is that there is pretty much not a single part of the game that DOESN'T need some serious attention at this point. And we can argue til the guar come home about what the order of precedence should be. But there's no reason NOT to ask for what we want. All NOT asking does is ensure that they will pretty much NEVER get to it.

TheShadowScout

MornaBaine wrote: »

Though I think at a certain point you might start running into clipping issues if you deviate too far outside the norm.

True enough, but I am only talking about reasonable amounts. Like on extra head of height, to match Lyris... not looking a giant straight in the eye kinda tallness. Same for the other stuff, reasonable "outside the norm, but still within human(oid) possibility" things... like I mentioned, we have one with Lyris and that giant-nomming guy in Eastmarch, and I think I dimly recall several others as well that stood taller then my "maximum height slider nord mountain man"...

Thus the idea to let people make that kind of character - for a price. In crowns.

And like I mentioned... there are several other archetypes that may not make much sense for athletic warriors, but would make -great- options for those who want to RP as fat friars (ride across rivers not included), plump matrons (gods, now I want a "rolling pin" mace!), petite assassins trying to pass as street urchin, overly well endowed in the chest area ladies of the evening, impish nobles who have issues with their family, whatever...
I totally would spend some character recustomization tokens to change a few of my characters for such oprions!

Tapio75

Yea. Multiple head markings for example, so i can choose a dirty look and add a facepaint over it. Or facepaints with makeup and so forth. Vampires still lack the ability to use many makeup option because apparently, one can paint diseased skin if the paint is not from crowncrate or store... Yea bad.

Also some adornments should be usable at the same time..

It would be nice if all these options were available in the character creation, but as you know we have the crown store and greed dictates that less options in character creation sell facepaint andf hairpacks and recustomizatiuon tokens.

I for one would be glad if the character creation would be made unimmersive. It is meant to be a place where you can craft your character to look as he or she should. It does not mean that a poorly lit hall in some ancient ruins in dd posture character is the way to go.. Then again greed dictates that bad character creation sells more recustomization tokens

I just wish players would get some wisdom and just pay the subscrtiption so we dont have to have sthese micro or megatransaction stores in games that ruin the otherwise good platform for quality game.

TheShadowScout

Tapio75 wrote: »

Then again greed dictates that bad character creation sells more recustomization tokens

You mean...

Tapio75

TheShadowScout wrote: »

Tapio75 wrote: »

Then again greed dictates that bad character creation sells more recustomization tokens

You mean...

Nasically, but after 3 deletes have gone. some tend to be ready for the token

Though i am pretty well practised by now, i still get it wrong at times. All that i would really want, is an option to choose different ligtning options and change the characters posture to see proportions better. Having a prewiev of personalities would also help. Especially furious and happy personalities tend to result in funny faces at times.

MornaBaine

TheShadowScout wrote: »

Tapio75 wrote: »

Then again greed dictates that bad character creation sells more recustomization tokens

You mean...

I laughed so hard at this. I have joked many times about having to smother characters with a pillow and re-do them!

Starlock

These are fairly reasonable suggestions. What I'd like to see is a bit less reasonable of a suggestion because I don't think they can really do it for the game - the sliders need some work. There's so little difference between the extreme ends of the sliders and there's not much you can do to get a really unique facial/body appearance in the game. I doubt they can change this much because it would have to play nice with all of the motifs out there.

Jhalin

Make body markings apply over skins I beg you

Let me have scars apply in addition to face markings/tattoos

Add iris shape adjustments to the beast races

Add mouth width sliders

MornaBaine

TheShadowScout wrote: »

MornaBaine wrote: »

Though I think at a certain point you might start running into clipping issues if you deviate too far outside the norm.

True enough, but I am only talking about reasonable amounts. Like on extra head of height, to match Lyris... not looking a giant straight in the eye kinda tallness. Same for the other stuff, reasonable "outside the norm, but still within human(oid) possibility" things... like I mentioned, we have one with Lyris and that giant-nomming guy in Eastmarch, and I think I dimly recall several others as well that stood taller then my "maximum height slider nord mountain man"...

Thus the idea to let people make that kind of character - for a price. In crowns.

And like I mentioned... there are several other archetypes that may not make much sense for athletic warriors, but would make -great- options for those who want to RP as fat friars (ride across rivers not included), plump matrons (gods, now I want a "rolling pin" mace!), petite assassins trying to pass as street urchin, overly well endowed in the chest area ladies of the evening, impish nobles who have issues with their family, whatever...
I totally would spend some character recustomization tokens to change a few of my characters for such oprions!

This is a great idea if they can pull it off. And I think, in large part, they could. It would, though I hate to say it, be a great thing for them to monetize. I don't really want to see an explosion of giants in the game so having to pay for it might curb that.

GabiAlex

Seraphayel wrote: »

We are asking ZOS to fix the character creation screen because all characters end up looking different in the real game due to lighting and the dark background in the creator - you think they listened or changed anything?

Or at least give us the option to change the appearance in the first 3 days after we have created a new character, this way we can the opportunity to see our character in different light conditions and try many changes until we are happy with their looks. Also, the camera in character creation is bad, after spending nearly an hour to create a character and jumping into the game I realized that the neck was too thick so I had to delete and start over.