Eso character editor is... terrible

Parasaurolophus

This is perhaps the biggest flaw in this game. And I don’t even know what can be discussed here, but I have long wanted to create this topic on the forum. This is one of the weakest character editors I've seen in mmos. Worse, the editor is probably only in gtav. For a long time, many games use sculpting to create characters. There are few settings and they are almost insignificant. The only important setting is the face type triangle. A huge problem with the faces of female characters of human races. They are just all the same, do not try.
I do not think that editor changes in the game are possible. I just wanted to speak out.

ProfessorKittyhawk

I do feel like it's time to update the character creator, not just the background for every new chapter either. Allowing us to access the hair and facial hair styles and body markings and what not we have unlocked on the creator would be nice. As would the ability to change the backgrounds to different lighting conditions to see how our characters look in different environments. Might look good in one setting but looks like a gorilla in another.

Alpheu5

Relevant highlight of 2014

Destai

ProfessorKittyhawk wrote: »

I do feel like it's time to update the character creator, not just the background for every new chapter either. Allowing us to access the hair and facial hair styles and body markings and what not we have unlocked on the creator would be nice. As would the ability to change the backgrounds to different lighting conditions to see how our characters look in different environments. Might look good in one setting but looks like a gorilla in another.

Oh man, I've had to recreate characters a few times when I found out they look completely goober in one environment. My templar looks like a stoic general at the character screen but then boyish when I log in. Confusing. Overall the groundwork they've given us in the character editor is good, I just think it needs updating.

StormeReigns

https://youtu.be/3O_A05PDc-M

UnseenCat

It's the lighting in the character creation screen. It's too dark. You set up skin tones and the like, then you character pops out into a brightly lit scene.

On the other hand, it's better than the character creator in unmodded Skyrim.

Tammany

It doesn't matter in fact, most faces look little bit different in the game, not as they have been shown in editor.
Remade few characters cause of that.

SidraWillowsky

zadrotscrolls wrote: »

This is perhaps the biggest flaw in this game. And I don’t even know what can be discussed here, but I have long wanted to create this topic on the forum. This is one of the weakest character editors I've seen in mmos. Worse, the editor is probably only in gtav. For a long time, many games use sculpting to create characters. There are few settings and they are almost insignificant. The only important setting is the face type triangle. A huge problem with the faces of female characters of human races. They are just all the same, do not try.
I do not think that editor changes in the game are possible. I just wanted to speak out.

I have no qualms with the character editor itself but, as others have said, they often look entirely different when they go live than they did in the character editor. There are sometimes weird angles that you can't see, or shadows that show up in-game. I've got what I like down to a science so I end up ok, but if I try to deviate from that things can go terribly wrong.

I'm also currently playing Skyrim, so ESO's character editor is so, so much better than vanilla Skyrim's that I'm grateful that I'm not horrified by what I see in third person. Right now I feel like I can either deal with ugly vanilla or wade through the sea of "Waifu XxXSakuraXxX<333 blow up doll character creator" mods, so it's always nice to see my pretty ESO characters, lol

logarifmik

Ability to (auto-)save result as a template would be also a nice addition. I remember losing all 20+ minutes progress trying to make my character look exactly as a bust of Lenin on my table just because game client decided that it is time to log off.

Snowstrider

I think it is the overall character design of the game that is the problem but its too late to change it by now but i do think khajiits and argonians are well made at least

worrallj

I honestly have no idea where you guys are coming from. Compared to other MMOs I've played the ESO character creator is phenomenal. Single player rpgs... ok yeah they can be pretty tremendous. But what MMOs are you playing that were better??

StormeReigns

Snowstrider wrote: »

I think it is the overall character design of the game who is the problem but its too late to change it by now but i do think khajiits and argonians are well made at least

Uh. Hmm. What?

wild_kmacdb16_ESO

worrallj wrote: »

I honestly have no idea where you guys are coming from. Compared to other MMOs I've played the ESO character creator is phenomenal. Single player rpgs... ok yeah they can be pretty tremendous. But what MMOs are you playing that were better??

'Black Desert Online' is the gold standard as far as I'm aware. I think FFXIV has a good one too but it has been many years since I played it.

Still, as far as Western MMOs go, this game is probably near the top of the list.

Parasaurolophus

worrallj wrote: »

I honestly have no idea where you guys are coming from. Compared to other MMOs I've played the ESO character creator is phenomenal. Single player rpgs... ok yeah they can be pretty tremendous. But what MMOs are you playing that were better??

Fallout 76 and many korean mmos such as bdo for example. However, the bdo has much higher character detail in order for the character editor to be more detailed.

xXMeowMeowXx

UnseenCat wrote: »

It's the lighting in the character creation screen. It's too dark. You set up skin tones and the like, then you character pops out into a brightly lit scene.

On the other hand, it's better than the character creator in unmodded Skyrim.

They should have selectable multiple lighted scenes from the game, used to complete your character.

I solved things for myself years ago. Spent many hours learning the results by sacrificing lots of characters after they were just born

Bucky_13

zadrotscrolls wrote: »

This is perhaps the biggest flaw in this game. And I don’t even know what can be discussed here, but I have long wanted to create this topic on the forum. This is one of the weakest character editors I've seen in mmos. Worse, the editor is probably only in gtav. For a long time, many games use sculpting to create characters. There are few settings and they are almost insignificant. The only important setting is the face type triangle. A huge problem with the faces of female characters of human races. They are just all the same, do not try.
I do not think that editor changes in the game are possible. I just wanted to speak out.

I guess you've played BDO a bit, and not much else. It's way better than the editor of WoW, I also prefer it to SWTORs since that one is also very limited. And don't agree with the female chars, mine all look different depending on race. I do tweak around a bunch with the settings each time tho.

Could it be improved? Sure. But even as someone who spends far too much time on the char creation screen when making a new character, improving the char creator tool is so far down my list of things to improve that I don't really care.

TheShadowScout

zadrotscrolls wrote: »

This is one of the weakest character editors I've seen in mmos.

Eh.
Seen better. Seen worse. Seen much worse.

All in all, ESO is all right in the chargen department. At least we are not reduces to all characters having the same body shape, or picking from a small selection of preset faces...
...even tho the light in chargen and lack of some inspection optiopns (zoom fo face closeup, please?) sometimes does create... difficulties...

zadrotscrolls wrote: »

I do not think that editor changes in the game are possible.

That actually is a good question.
Replacing the whole editor with a new one? Yeah, that seems unlikely...
But... upgrading the editor in some ways? That... might actually be possible.
Adding more options there, unlockable through the crown store... then also sell people appearance change tokens as a great many rush to redo their characters to take advantage of new options? I could see that being profitable enough that ZOS might actually think about it...

One easy thing I could see is them adding a function for picking non-standard hair eye and skin colors, I reckon some people would love to redo their altmer to black-haired... or make a tanned nord or albino dunmer (No, not a vampire!) or whatever.

Personally I would really, really wish for something like "structural unlocks" that allow characters to exceed some current slider values to appear in the crown store for many character build ideas, so we too can play as such or other "non-standard body feature" archetypes!
Let us pay to play taller then possible "titanbborn" nords!
Let us pay to play stouter then possible imperial matrons that make the best pasta!
Let us pay to play shorter then possible breton dwarves who drink wine and know things!
Let us pay to play more muscular then possibe orcs people wouldn't like if they got angry!
Let us pay to play fatter then possible redguard haren guards who gave up -much- for their job!
Let us pay to play tinier then possible petite dunmer assassins that can squeeze through any arrowslit!
Let us pay to play skinnier then possible necromancers that look like they -really- need a sammich right now!
Yeah, I for one would enjoy all those character diversifications!
(And buy appearance change tokens to refit them to characters of mine!)

They could even do something special with all those... like, make them an extra racial trait that has both positive and negative effects.
Titanborn? Sure, you get a bit to weapon damage, but you also get less critical resistance since your vital areas are just so much larger...
Dwarf? Sure, you maybe get the opposite - more critical resistance because your vitals are harder to hit, but also a penalty to weapon damage for your stubby arms...
Extra-chubby character? Sure, you get an HP bonus for all that blubbler, but you also get a penalty for sprinting stamina drain and possibly even sprinting speed because of all those extra pounds.
Extra-skinny character? The opposite, a bonus to sprinting stamina drain and maybe even speed as their skinny frame dashes through the land like a gazelle, but a penalty to HP because the do lack that protective tissue...
Extra-muscular character gets a bonus to armor penetration due to heavy blows, but a penalty to critical hits because of all that muscle costing in agility...
...and Extra petite character the opposite, less armor penetration from lack of physical strength, but more critical hit chance as they slip under their opponents guard to stab 'em in the gall bladder!
Et cetera...
It could be interesting! And fun!

AcadianPaladin

I came to ESO from Oblivion and Skyrim and was very concerned about not being able to mod ESO. I could barely live with the potato faces in Oblivion until I got some mods. Skyrim would have been an instant throw away without instantly installing chargen mods.

I was both pleased and impressed with how the char gen for ESO allowed me to get so close to the look I want for my character. No problem.

MartiniDaniels

We saw multiple examples how players managed to create unique appearances. But of course that is pretty hard. Sometimes it's just random. I created 2 my first toons on initial "free week" without much effort, just mashing randomize button and making a few tweaks afterwards and they are amazing and look genuine and refined. I never changed their appearance after initial creation.

And I have 8 other toons... oh my, how much effort was put into them trying to look immersive and good. Mostly bad results, crazy amounts of wasted gold and many appearance change tokens... they still look rather awkward and strange to me.

But what I really don't understand is why height sliders are so limited. And while we may agree that altmers are all exceptionally tall and bosmers are all very smol, I don't see why 8 other races are so limited in height options.

Soldier224

BrownChicken wrote: »

This is perhaps the biggest flaw in this game. And I don’t even know what can be discussed here, but I have long wanted to create this topic on the forum. This is one of the weakest character editors I've seen in mmos. Worse, the editor is probably only in gtav. For a long time, many games use sculpting to create characters. There are few settings and they are almost insignificant. The only important setting is the face type triangle. A huge problem with the faces of female characters of human races. They are just all the same, do not try.
I do not think that editor changes in the game are possible. I just wanted to speak out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM-e46xdcUo

Everstorm

BrownChicken wrote: »

This is perhaps the biggest flaw in this game.

Hahahaha!

kaisernick

BrownChicken wrote: »

This is one of the weakest character editors I've seen in mmos.

Thats the biggest load of crap ive ever herd, have you played any other MMO?

WoW, Star Trek online, guild wars,The old Republic hell even FF14 are far far worse.

Solid_Metal

kaisernick wrote: »

BrownChicken wrote: »

This is one of the weakest character editors I've seen in mmos.

Thats the biggest load of crap ive ever herd, have you played any other MMO?

WoW, Star Trek online, guild wars,The old Republic hell even FF14 are far far worse.

ikr...not sure where OP got the comparison, ESO character customization definitely not the best, its not as good as let say BDO, but compare it to other MMO that you mention, ESO definitely superior

hell, look at reviewer/mmo reviewer, they also praise ESO customization and compare it to other game

Eifleber

Agreed it' s bad (my rating: 6/10) but

• most people hide their character behind armour and helmets so it doesn 't matter anyway
• no one sees you between al the neon light outfit and pokemon stuff

(Must say I liked the cutscenes in GW1. At least you actually saw who you were teaming up with)

Snowstrider

StormeReigns wrote: »

Snowstrider wrote: »

I think it is the overall character design of the game who is the problem but its too late to change it by now but i do think khajiits and argonians are well made at least

Uh. Hmm. What?

Yes? The characters in ESO looks like fortnite characters

bearbelly

It could definitely use some work; some refinement.
But biggest flaw in the game??



Not even close.

Ratzkifal

Anyone of you know Spore? Spore had this cool feature that would definitely work for ESO. You could take your creation for a test walk before clicking confirm. This would allow you to see how your character moves and sounds when performing actions too, which is a lot better for voice settings than the voice preview too. In ESO's case you could walk around a room with different lights to look at your character from all angles first. Maybe even put a source of crowdcontrol there so you can see what breakingfree sounds like.

Other than that, there is a severe lack of hairstyles and some races could use more hair colours than the ones they currently have. As someone who has purchased hairstyles before, I would not be upset in the slightest if the hairstyles I bought are made free for everyone to enjoy.

Also on the topic of hairstyles, perhaps they can build on the technology for randomly generated dragons to allow us more hairstyles by mixing and matching certain features to create our own hairstyles. Think of a barista asking you "would you like this hairstyle with bangs? Would you like a ponytail with that?"

Stx

I think the character creation in this game is fantastic. Better than wow or gw2 by a longshot.

Ratzkifal

Stx wrote: »

I think the character creation in this game is fantastic. Better than wow or gw2 by a longshot.

True, but it could still be better than it is now...

StormeReigns

Snowstrider wrote: »

StormeReigns wrote: »

Snowstrider wrote: »

I think it is the overall character design of the game who is the problem but its too late to change it by now but i do think khajiits and argonians are well made at least

Uh. Hmm. What?

Yes? The characters in ESO looks like fortnite characters

Umm... again, what?