It's about time to remake the 3D models.

[Rethex.3248]

Hey Tyrians!

Hope you're all rocking it in Guild Wars 2! Now, what's the deal with our playable race models, right?

I've been hanging around Tyria for a good while, and I've seen other MMOs giving their characters a makeover, you know? They're all like, "New year, new look!" But here in GW2, it's like we're stuck in a time warp – same old, same old.

Now, I get it, making new models ain't a walk in the park. But come on, doesn't it kinda upset you when you see other games sprucing up their characters, and we're here looking like relics from way back when?

Our world in GW2 is epic, no doubt about it. But imagine how much more epic it would be with some fresh, updated character designs! It's like giving our gaming experience a cool upgrade.

Am I the only one feeling this? Let's kick back and maybe nudge ArenaNet a bit to think about a makeover for our characters.

Hit me up with your take on this!

-------Edit:  For everyone who've replied here, this is the kind of graphic upgrade that I meant! -------

Upping the polygon count and texture resolution is all I'd want! I may have overexplained myself before 🙂
Check on this, something similar! : >
https://youtu.be/0bT7pDroj7Y?si=sWBcePkKqdvzVu6V&t=34

Edited December 22, 2023 by Rethex.3248
Replying to everyone 1 by 1 in this chat is terrible, please add a thread replying system like many other forums.

[Danikat.8537]

If they ever do this they also need to provide a free total makeover kit for every single character (and ideally the option for a free name change as well in case I can't make the character work with the new options and need to re-do them entirely).

I have a very clear idea of how each of my characters is supposed to look, and it's likely even a 'simple' "improvement" of the models would change that - for example if one has very angular features and then the models are "upgraded" to be much rounder and softer because more polygons is always better I'm going to have to change all their sliders, likely pick an entirely new face, to get them back to an approximation of how they're supposed to look.

I'm not necessarily against some sort of graphics 'update' but I absolutely do not want to be told all my characters are better now and I should be happy with it if I have no control over the process or I'm expected to pay to adjust to the new system. If they changed all my characters and didn't give me the means to fix them afterwards I'd just quit.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Danikat.8537

[DanAlcedo.3281]

It does not upset me in the slightest. 

I don't care at all. 

More details = more unnecessary information on my screen. 

 

[Ashantara.8731]

1 hour ago, Rethex.3248 said:

Am I the only one feeling this?

Likely?

I mean, most people invested a lot of time making their characters look good, so why would they want anything changed? The only issues I have with the current character creator is the awkwardly inward-bent left knee of females, the weird position of male nipples, and the ugly male norn bodies.

More new faces, body types and hairstyles (and beards)? Sure! But a complete overhaul feels unnecessary to me. My next new character will be in another MMO anyway. 😉

Edited December 20, 2023 by Ashantara.8731

[Omega.6801]

I think resources are better spent on something else.

[Randulf.7614]

I like my character model. It's been over 11 years - I dont want it changed!

[Dawdler.8521]

If their forever young supermodel human character change maybe people start to realize they themselves have grown old playing GW2, so please no.

[Farohna.6247]

Nah, I like my character as it is now.  

[Danikat.8537]

12 minutes ago, Dawdler.8521 said:

If their forever young supermodel human character change maybe people start to realize they themselves have grown old playing GW2, so please no.

Urgh, yeah. My main human character turned 30 this year and somehow that did more to make me feel old than back when I turned 30. I did actually wonder about trying to age her up a bit, but never got around to looking into it properly.

[Dibit.6259]

Personally, no. I like the charm of gw2 look, they also have plenty of skins, outfits etc that allow this game to be more customised in terms of looks.

[Kiki.9450]

Upping the polygon count and texture resolution is all I think I want. I would welcome new customisation options too, even if I wouldn't use them.

Ultimately, I'm for an update if my mesmer comes out the other end just looking like a better version of himself... but he does look great now, so if he doesn't get an upgrade any time soon, I won't be mad.

Oh and if they do update the models, they 100% need to give out free make-over kits. No matter how hard Anet tries to make the models look like better versions of their old selves, there will always be folks who prefer the old look.

 

Edit: I do realise going for a character model update may also be somewhat resource-intensive, so if it were to happen, it'd probably be at the expense of something else new, art-wise. Seeing as one of the main complaints I've been seeing about SotO is about models (animation rigs, really) being reused, I think they'd have to be careful about upgrading any time soon, unless they can swing an expansion with little new art.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Kiki.9450

[Batel.9206]

SWTOR tried this with updating their eye textures.

I'm pretty sure I've told this story before, but it bears repeating. Spoiler'd because it's a long-ish tale.
 

Spoiler

So, first - presumably due to some back-end coding that went horribly wrong - all elderly NPCs had their eye texture replaced with their FACE. Then that was fixed. Then eye textures were finally updated properly, but something went wrong (again) and now everyone's eyes, PC and NPC alike, were so shiny you could use them as landing beacons. I kid you not, it looked like everyone's eyeballs got dipped in oil. You could see clear and detailed reflections of their surroundings in their eyes. Finally, that got fixed, but now the colors were wrong. One of my characters had mild brown eyes previously, and now has bright glaring yellow ones. Warm green became this awful muddy oil-like green-yellow-brown. Dark blue became flat bright blue. Bright blue became white-blue with the whites of the eyes turning an ugly yellow. Naturally red eyes (looking like a warm, reddish brown) became intensely bright, fiery golden-red. The exclusive eye colors, only available to that game's version of makeover kits, uniformly got dulled and looked like plastic. After a massive outcry on the official forums, SWTOR promised to fix this. There were a few tweaks, then they left it alone.

Well, it's been... [checks calendar]

...five years, I think??

Yeah, it's never been fully fixed. Some of my characters still don't look the way they should. We players never got anything as compensation for them changing our characters' looks without advance warning or permission, either. No one knew the textures were getting updated until the patch notes went out with that day's update.

So while an update to GW2 character models sounds good on paper, in practice, I'd be worried about it going the same way as SWTOR - "oops, spaghetti code went upside down, guess you're stuck with the changes now since it's too complicated to change again." Even if it's just updating polygons and textures. As some people have suggested, I'd greatly prefer it - if this were to happen - if we got the option to either stay with the changes or go back to how our characters originally looked, or just got free makeover kits in case we hated the changes no matter what.

[Ojyh.9842]

I think the models are okay, for now. They will eventually need an upgrade as the game gets older. If A.Net really wants GW2 to stay alive for years to come, visual upgrades will become mandatory at some point. It's really the kind of update that separates games that are doing okay and just surviving the passing years, and games that have real long term goals and want to keep attracting people. It's not just futile improvement, it's a sign of good health for the game, it's exciting for both old and new players and also for the devs. That is what we're all lacking the most these days with GW2. There is no excitment for the new stuff.

But in my opinion the only thing we really need right now is to change some animations that just look silly (some of them look like they've been done by someone who's never studied combat movement).

I agree that all races could get some new customization options. But I really think that the Norns in particular should get a total redesign, just like they resdesigned the Sylvari before launch. Right now female Norns are just big woman, and male Norns are just lumpish demi giants. I really don't like their design, I am not convinced by their animations either. I never had a Norn character cause they're just not appealing as they are right now. Their werebeast forms are nonexistent and their Viking/Nordic inspiration is pretty much lost now.

Just wanted to add that there are always people who feel like some things are unnecessary and a waste of resources, until the said things are finally done, and when they're done right suddenly everyone's starting to think it was the best idea ever. That's exactly what happened with the mounts. Some people are just unable to see how great something could be and just reject it by pure lack of imagination sometimes.
 

[kharmin.7683]

14 minutes ago, Ojyh.9842 said:

Just wanted to add that there are always people who feel like some things are unnecessary and a waste of resources, until the said things are finally done, and when they're done right suddenly everyone's starting to think it was the best idea ever. That's exactly what happened with the mounts. Some people are just unable to see how great something could be and just reject it by pure lack of imagination sometimes.
 

While mounts in GW2 are quite revolutionary and can dramatically change the way the game is played, they still weren't necessary.  But I will agree that Anet really hit it out of the park, there.  However, other things like ... fishing ... have received a mixed reaction.  For me, I would much rather have had Anet spend their development time/resources in fixing balance and the many other known bugs than implementing fishing.  I feel the same way about housing and fervently hope that Anet never spends any resources toward that.

[Crono.4197]

I think the models look fine when the game is zoomed out, but if you zoom in up until you can see every bit of texture on the character, indeed it shows its age a bit.

But to be honest, I don't mind as it is now, as I still consider it to look good. Also I'd rather have it like this than have ArenaNet butcher the character looks and maybe I won't like the way the makeover will be. At most, they should just improve the texture quality on models for those who zoom in on their characters. But other than that, I think it's fine as it is.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Crono.4197

[Jumpin Lumpix.6108]

Graphics overhaul would be great.

Would be a lot better to losing everything and playing gw3, which i wont do.  ANd when they make it they will stop making content for gw2, so ill quit that as well.

[KindredPhoenyx.8976]

6 hours ago, Jumpin Lumpix.6108 said:

Would be a lot better to losing everything and playing gw3, which i wont do.

I'll give Blizzard credit where it's due. They did a remarkable job going through the "sequel phase" in WoW with at least two or three different iterations from their expansions and still sticking to the same game to improve upon their vision.

I'm disinclined to believe Anet will see a GW3 (I could be wrong) but it would be worth looking at Blizzard as an example for what Anet needs to do despite feeling like we have experienced that sequel milestone ever since PoF, and I feel like they've significantly stepped things up since then graphically as well. The character models are behind yes but the game still holds up overall despite its age.

I dunno, it might just be me but I feel the way the game currently is, it's got a certain charm to it with the way it looks visually. I'd welcome a change to make things smoother but at the very least don't lose that 2010's era style to it.

Edited December 21, 2023 by KindredPhoenyx.8976

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

nah.

WoW had walking cubes; we have highly detailed models. No need to fix what it's not broken. Also, every time they mess with old stuff, they either screw it or they get unnecessary heat from players who want only new stuff.

[xersues.7189]

I just want higher resolution textures. Whether that's AI upscaling or some older textures brought up to the newer ones. Would accept anything that's cheap for them to do. 

[Blur.3465]

I'd rather they just add more hairstyles and faces to makeover kits really.
On top of that, I'd love to see something like 'posture' added, so we can choose from different idle postures.

I created my characters the way I like them, I think GW2 has amazing graphics and gorgeous characters. Update is definitely not needed as it sticks true to its style. WoW on the other hand badly needed to update their Vanilla models.

[kharmin.7683]

23 minutes ago, xersues.7189 said:

 Would accept anything that's cheap for them to do. 

Be careful what you wish for.

[Danikat.8537]

1 hour ago, Blur.3465 said:

On top of that, I'd love to see something like 'posture' added, so we can choose from different idle postures.

I'd like that too. Elder Scrolls Online does this with 'personalities' and although some of them are a bit overdone and look more like pantomime acting of the personality than a realistic portrayal the more subtle ones are really nice and a good way to add a bit more variety to characters.

[Assolador.3598]

On 12/20/2023 at 11:42 AM, Omega.6801 said:

I think resources are better spent on something else.

yeah, like on press 1 for 15 minutes meta

[notebene.3190]

This would invariably go bad for me, but if you get what you are looking for, congratulations, and I wish everyone the best in the future with the game. 🙂

[Rethex.3248]

On 12/20/2023 at 1:39 PM, Danikat.8537 said:

If they ever do this they also need to provide a free total makeover kit for every single character (and ideally the option for a free name change as well in case I can't make the character work with the new options and need to re-do them entirely).

I have a very clear idea of how each of my characters is supposed to look, and it's likely even a 'simple' "improvement" of the models would change that - for example if one has very angular features and then the models are "upgraded" to be much rounder and softer because more polygons is always better I'm going to have to change all their sliders, likely pick an entirely new face, to get them back to an approximation of how they're supposed to look.

I'm not necessarily against some sort of graphics 'update' but I absolutely do not want to be told all my characters are better now and I should be happy with it if I have no control over the process or I'm expected to pay to adjust to the new system. If they changed all my characters and didn't give me the means to fix them afterwards I'd just quit.

Upping the polygon count and texture resolution is all I'd want! I may have overexplained myself before 🙂
Check on this, something similar! : >