character-customization
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Preview of character creation in Final Fantasy XIV
The start of the beta signups for Final Fantasy XIV was certainly good news for the many people anticipating the game next year, but it didn't exactly pierce the fog surrounding the game. Square-Enix, of course, has always played their cards close to their chest when handing out previews, but there's still so much more to learn about the game and a number of curious people. FFXIVCore, a fansite with an active base of users translating as much new information on the game as possible, has posted a set of new scans and translations detailing that most important of processes in an MMO: character creation. While there isn't as much hard information as fans would like (and isn't that always the case), the characters on display boast a wide variety of slight differences, as noted by the article. There's also some information regarding a third force in the game's main conflict, the Garlean Empire, although details on it are scant. Still, the promise of a detailed character creator is certainly alluring, as are most of the pictures we get regarding said character creator. Final Fantasy XIV often winds up releasing news and previews in chunks, so it's best to keep an eye open for the next few days for further possible information.
The Daily Grind: How important are character models to you?
We spend nearly all of our time staring at their backs, so you wouldn't think it would matter so much, but many gamers spend a significant amount of time on that character creation screen. The options for height, body type, skin tone, face shape, eye color, hairstyle and so on can seem endless. Details for eye, skin, and hair shades, as well as facial details like scars and piercings number in the hundreds in some games. But in spite of the options at hand, the avatar is just a tool to get the job done, right? Your Paladin's hairstyle won't give him any sort of tactical advantage in battle, so those players who zoom right past the character creator and accept the randomly-generated avatar can get straight to killing. They're having just as much fun." With so many options at your disposal, do you spend the required time getting your character's hair the perfect shade of red and experimenting with that facial scar to get it just so? Or do you skip the vanity part and get to the killing already?
Breakfast Topic: Race Change, your personal retcon
Just about every wall has been broken down now. The only thing left is the ability to change one's class, which probably won't happen anytime... soon®. Yesterday, the highly anticipated Race Change service went live, and I'm sure a lot of players rushed to get their makeover. Take Gregg, for example, who went on and changed his Level 70 Tauren Hunter into a weed-loving Troll. I mean, he's wanted to do that for a while. I know I've been hankering for race change myself, but now that the service is here, I haven't exactly jumped the gun. Why? I said I wanted to turn my Blood Elf Death Knight -- I'm quite happy with just one Sin'dorei -- into an Orc, but now I'm kind of wondering. I still want to change my character's race, I'm just not quite settled on which one to switch to. Race change is kind of like a retcon in the World of Warcraft, more so than name changes or customization of appearance. It's right up there with gender changes. Faction changes are different because it kind of take away your character's entire continuity, and I'm sure a lot of RP'ers made completely different back-stories for faction-changed characters. Race change allows you to have essentially the same character but with a major difference. We asked what race you'd switch to about a month back, but now that the service is here, we're going to ask who's up and done the change? What race did you switch from and what race did you switch to? Tell us why! Personally, I'm just kind of bored with another Blood Elf, and I want one of each race (I know, I should've thought of that to begin with). Lame, right? On the other hand, I'm holding out for that Undead Hunter I've always wanted. Now that World of Warcraft's personal retcon is a paid service, have you taken advantage of it? Have you changed anything else besides your race such as gender or name?
Race change available
The expected race change feature is now active on the Account Management page, at least on the US realms. One of our writers has gone through with the change, and it appears to be working. The charge is $25, five dollars less than the faction change feature released a while ago, and includes a full customization -- gender, name, and appearance if you choose to do them. The race changes do not include the new class combinations yet -- we'll probably have to wait until Cataclysm at least before those become available. It's not live on the EU realms yet either, as of this writing. There is also an extended FAQ, which we've posted after the break. This is something that we mostly never expected to happen, right up until Blizzard started saying that it would just a while ago. So at this point, once you roll a character, you're now able to (for an additional charge) change everything about it save for the actual class. It seems unlikely that Blizzard would ever let that happen (given that classes are the fundamental basis of a roleplaying game), but of course we've learned to never say never with them. Update: We've now received official blue confirmation that it is intended to be active. Enjoy, everyone! %Gallery-76618%
Breakfast Topic: Real life Character Re-Customization
I first changed my name in high school. From Sakay, I flipped it over to Hugo, my given name taken from my father (and his father, and his father's father). In college, I went by Kensai, a name that stuck for a while since most of my current friends were from that period in my life. For a brief time an ex-girlfriend's circle of friends called me Saint (both from the Kensai and the movie Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead). When I entered the workforce, I swapped that over for the Zach that's on my byline now. That little idiosyncrasy has actually allowed me to remember people from where I met them. If someone says hi and calls me Sakay, for example, I know I met them in elementary school. I'm sneaky that way.It's character re-customization in real life. Or paid name change. Except I didn't actually have to fork $10 to get it done. We re-customize ourselves all the time, changing clothes more often (hopefully, anyway!) than our characters upgrade their gear. Some changes are more drastic -- losing or gaining weight, shaving our heads (it worked for Justin Timberlake), or even changing jobs or moving house. It's all part of how we continue to re-customize our lives.If we could re-customize ourselves as easily as we could the way we change our characters, what would you change and why? Or maybe you've just gone through a makeover recently -- from a haircut to the whole shebang -- tell us about it on this drab weekend morning. Now if only we could get real life Gold just as easily...
Faction changes available in Europe
Since World of Warcraft's paid faction change service launched in the US at the beginning of the month, not a day has gone by when we have not received tips, questions, and complaints asking when the feature would be available in Europe. Well, European readers, the wait is over! So if you're eager to go from Gnome to Orc, all you need to do is head over to the account management page and be willing to pony up 25.00 Euros or 20.00 Pounds for the privilege. If you're the indecisive sort, remember you can only change your character's faction every 60 days -- but read the FAQ for full details. What the FAQ doesn't tell you, though, is that you should be prepared to lose your Argent Tournement standing if you make the jump -- so, to anyone jumping on the faction change bandwagon I hope you enjoy jousting!However, if you're just wanting to change races within your current faction, this is not the service you're looking for. Blizzard has said they plan to make same-faction race changes available in the future and Ancilorn confirms this is the plan for Europe, as well.%Gallery-71584%
Night Elf in Guitar Hero 5
This is one of the many reasons why I really enjoy this job: one day, you're talking turkey with a psychologist who's dealing with serious addiction issues, and the next, you're writing about Night Elves in Guitar Hero 5. Personally, I prefer Harmonix's new Beatles game, but there's no denying that the character customization system in our very own Activision-Blizzard's Guitar Hero 5 is extremely complex. So much so that Artair on Doomhammer was actually able to make a pretty respectable-looking Night Elf male with the system.Which really just makes it much more ridiculous that this thing could be playing onstage with none other than Kurt Cobain. But we'll let that one go -- if you've found a way to get any other Warcraft characters jamming in Guitar Hero (or any other game with an in-depth character creator), be sure to send us a tip and some pics.
Faction change service now available [UPDATED]
Our tipline just lit up with news that the faction change service discussed so often recently is now available! At least in the US, anyway. One of our super secret to-be-announced new bloggers from the EU mentioned that he doesn't see it overseas yet, but Rogue specialist Chase Christian is already swapping his Rogue over. Hopefully Europe will have it very soon.The faction change (accessed via your account management page), in addition to allowing you to flip from Horde to Alliance (and vice versa) also seems to include the ability to change anything else you could change through a character recustomization, such as a name change for the price of $30. We have some picture of the process incoming, so keep an eye on this spot. We'll have them put together for you in just a moment.Update: And here are the images of the process. Enjoy!Update #2: The faction change FAQ has some additional details you might find interesting. There are some mount/reputation restrictions when you switch over that you might want to be aware of before you drop your $30.%Gallery-71584%
BlizzCon 2009: Archaeology and Path of the Titans
The upcoming expansion, Cataclysm, will be incorporating greater levels of character customization than ever before. From guild talent trees, a different talent tree system, new races and race/class combinations, to a new profession that will be all about customization. Enter the Path of the Titans, and the new secondary profession, Archaeology.Pass through the break for all the details, but be warned, spoilers lay ahead!
Breakfast Topic: Paid services
With the Azeroth-shaking announcement of paid faction changes, it seems like one of the last barriers to character re-customization have been broken down. Who would have thought that we could switch allegiances four years ago? The World of Warcraft has certainly come a long way since it launched. One of the big changes back then was allowing players to transfer realms -- initially disallowing PvE-to-PvP transfers but that restriction was eventually lifted. That was shocking news then, but then Blizzard opened the door for names and even gender changes.What we're essentially seeing is Blizzard's own clever version of microtransactions. Sure, we can't buy powerful items like those in free-to-play games (which will soon become endangered in China...), but we can pay real money to cater to our vanity or convenience. I've paid several times for server transfers, name changes, and even character re-customization. My wife grumbles whenever I shell out real money for those things, but I'm sure she'd pay to morph her former main, a Troll Priest, into a Blood Elf in a heartbeat. Even Matthew Rossi would pay good money to turn his Human Warrior into a huge-like-Rossi Draenei. There's only one problem, though -- they can't. Race change is one thing Blizzard hasn't given the go signal to... yet.Anything's possible, though. Years ago, Blizzard unequivocally said that they would never allow PvE to PvP realm transfers. See how that turned out. What other paid services do you think Blizzard lacks? You probably already know that I'm all for race change as part of character re-customization. But how about paying for levels? I mean, despite all the changes they've made to make leveling easier, I abhor it. I'd gladly shell out some cash to get a high-level character right off the bat. What other paid World of Warcraft services do you think the game needs or players want?
Why won't Blizzard let me change my race?
I want an Orc. More specifically, I want my Blood Elf Death Knight to become an Orc. I know, I should've chosen the right race to begin with, but he's now Level 80 and it's too late. I don't want a pretty boy Death Knight, which was obviously a bad idea to begin with considering they infest Dalaran and the rest of Azeroth like metrosexual cockroaches, but I made a mistake and I regret it. I seriously want to change my character's race. I'd consider rerolling, but it's a Death Knight.Paid character customization is nice and all, but it won't let me change my race. At first I was fine with it because I thought it would create all sorts of problems from quests to factions to racial mounts... but then Blizzard drops a bombshell of an announcement: faction changes are coming to Azeroth! Implicitly, this meant being able to change races, too. Nethaera squashes that idea with a resounding 'No'. Players could only change to the opposing faction's race, which is weird. No, really, it's weird. I mean, I'll be able to transform my Horde Blood Elf Death Knight into an Alliance Draenei but I can't make him an Orc? Why not?
Breakfast Topic: Is Blizzard doing faction change the right way?
Blizzard can pull off some real surprises sometimes. This whole thing about Paid Faction Changes came totally from left field, and even though we know players have been asking for it I don't think any of us really expected that it would happen. For the precognitive among us, did you think they'd do it this way, though? For one thing, was the demand for such a service so huge that Blizzard opted to devote precious developer time to making it happen? It's definitely not an easy thing to pull off.Despite Blizzard answering some concerns about the future service, there are still more questions relating to Achievements, quests, reputation, and more. What happens to faction-specific mounts? Lore nerds are boggled by the story behind a possible change -- can everything really be explained by some Goblin invention? That seems like such a cop-out, doesn't it? Wouldn't it be better (and cooler) to implement a long and epic quest chain to change factions? Sure it would be confusing to see Orcs hoisting the Alliance banner or Humans yelling 'For the Horde!', but wouldn't it be easier to implement?Lore-wise, it makes more sense, too. It's not uncommon to see particular races switch allegiance. It's much stranger to transmogrify from, say, a Troll to a Gnome. What are your thoughts on this planned service? Are you happy to have it as a paid option, which would be quick and painless (although your wallet may say otherwise) or would you prefer a long-winded in-game quest chain? Maybe you have some ideas on how it could work. Sound off!
Breakfast Topic: Would you change your faction?
Earlier this week we reported on Nethaera's stunning revelation that faction changes were in the works. Yeah, I was just as amazed. It might just be an idea at the moment, a work in progress which we might not get access to until a patch or even the next expansion. The logistics are mind-boggling. Would this be a literally blending of species into factions so Humans could join the Horde and Taurens the Alliance or would your character literally be transformed into another species? How exactly would the lore work around that? We've had character customisation for a while now and the ability to change gender but changing faction and possibly even species. That a whole new kettle of fish.So, constant readers, in the wake of this bombshell I'm very eager to know what you think. Does the very idea of changing faction seem contrary to how the game works? Would you consider jumping factions? Would you rather see characters choose whether to become Horde or Alliance? Could you change your very species to join the opposing faction? From a lore perspective, how do you think would this work and, indeed, does it need to have a basis in lore? After all no one questioned the gender change. What do you think?
DC Universe Online's "The Next Legend Is You" trailer
The new DC Universe Online trailer that just recently hit the streets is one comprehensive video. In the short one minute and 23 seconds that the trailer runs, we get to see many of the highlights of DCUO, including environmental weaponry and damage, many of the game's iconic characters, a frenetic look at the game's combat, a taste of character customizations, and more!Currently the trailer can be viewed at the main DCUO site, or over at Shacknews in standard and hi-resolution modes. HD resolution, however, is only available to those who have a Shackvideo username and password.Now, if you can excuse us, we're going to go ponder what colors of spandex we're going to choose for when the game comes out.
City of Heroes dev blog talks character customization
Massively is proud to host a new dev diary from the folks at Paragon Studios. This particular dev diary was written by Christopher Bruce, Senior Lead Animator/VFX Artist for City of Heroes, and it pertains to the character customization options that have been improved with Issue 15. Enjoy!In addition to supporting the two new task forces for Issue 15, we also wanted to focus some attention on expanding our character creation system. Character customization is a hallmark of City of Heroes and we're always striving to improve and expand upon our players' ability to create a truly unique super powered hero or villain. For Issue 15, there are two new costume sets available to everyone, created by the newest addition to our character artist team, Cheryl Austin. "Vines" is a new pattern while "Ulterior" is a new texture set, both of which work with most of the existing costume pieces. Cheryl has also created over twenty new face textures, something we haven't done since City of Villains launched. While our options for individual costume pieces and sets have continued to expand over the years, our selection of faces hasn't received the same amount of attention. Her goal was to create a set of new face textures that were a bit more subtle and realistic and while also working well across our full range skin tones.%Gallery-64392%
E3 2009: A look at APB's extensive character customization
There's been a lot of speculation about All Points Bulletin, the upcoming game from Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds, but at a closed-door demonstration at E3, we were finally able to take a good look at the game with lead designer EJ Moreland. And while many MMOs have detailed character customization, we've never seen anything quite like this.During the video presentation of the game, Moreland said that the developers were focused on "the three C's" -- creativity, conflict and celebrity. The heart of APB is giving players the maximum flexibility to create what they want. Using the same customization tool that the developers use to make the thousands of NPCs in the game, players can modify their characters in a myriad of ways.%Gallery-64700%
Breakfast Topic: Gender bender
What a dizzying experience. A good number of our raiders recently took advantage of Blizzard's Paid Character Customization feature introduced in December last year. This resulted in a rise of our Tauren female population, more hip-grinding female orcs, and one or two more female Blood Elves. Yes, most of these players paid for their characters' gender reassignment. The odd thing is, since they were at it, anyway, none of them changed their names (the paid customization feature also includes a name change, which is also available as a separate service).So we had essentially the same roster of raiders, except that this time, they were females. And all of these players were male. I haven't met anyone yet who's paid to change from female to male, although I'm sure there are more than a few out there. My wife couldn't bear the thought of changing her characters' gender -- she identified with them too much. I feel the same way about my characters, too, so they're staying male. For now, anyway. A month and change after the feature was introduced, do you know anyone who has gone for a character overhaul? Have you taken advantage of this feature? Would you? If yes, what would you change?
Aion producer Brian Knox interviewed
Aion: The Tower of Eternity has been kicking ass over in its local territory of Korea, and we're sure that there's a growing throng of folks out in the rest of the world that are dying to try it out. Massive Gamer Magazine recently had an interview with Brian Knox, a producer for the game, and what he said didn't give us much hope for betas outside of Korea -- at least not in any meaningful form. He says (correctly) that gamers are quick to judge a title on its beta, and that they would prefer to have "exclusive preview events" to show off the game at its best instead. Having said that, Korea did have a beta before launch, and hopefully we will too.A lot of the interview is spent discussing Aion's high level of customization. Knox claims that the character creation system is so robust that it would be possible to "literally create your own race within a race" by tweaking the sliders. As players level up, they will have the chance to equip stones that will change existing skills or grant new ones, further adding to character uniqueness. The other aspect of the game that Knox seemed very keen to talk about is the flying mechanic. Far from being tacked on, flight is intended to be integral to the gameplay in Aion, and its strategic use will be of the utmost importance in combat. To find out more, check out the full interview, which is now available online.
Audio details and more character customization in the latest Ask Cryptic
It looks like character customization is still the source of many of the most burning questions for followers of Champions Online, and another handful of these are answered in the latest "Ask Cryptic" feature. We find out that, although there are a number of crazy costume elements like tails, fins and claws, that is all they are intended to be for now -- costume elements. No wicked tail-strikes for the time being, but they haven't ruled this sort of thing out entirely, so keep your flippers crossed.Another community member asked about the audio in CO, and whether it is an important part of development for Cryptic Studios. In response, they say that they have just tripled the size of their audio team, which roughly translates to "Hell yes audio is important!". Signature villains have unique voices, and ambient sounds and music are being paid particular attention to. The final question asked if the biggest villains (like Foxbat) would have their own musical themes; although it doesn't look like they had planned it before, they certainly sound interested in incorporating it now. Check out the full answers to these questions and a bunch more at the Ask Cryptic page.
World of Warcraft's rules for RMT
There's been a discussion going on at our sister-site WoW Insider regarding RMT (real-money trading) and their favorite MMO, World of Warcraft. Now wait a minute, you might say, WoW doesn't have RMT! While it's true that you can't just cough up real money to get that epic piece of loot you've been dreaming about, Blizzard has its own version of RMT with name changes, server transfers, and the new character re-customizations. They aren't alone in the industry with these for-cash perks -- plenty of other subscription-model MMOs do exactly the same.The main reason that this has been brought up now is due to a recent thread on the official WoW forums, where a Blizzard poster actually detailed some of the company's rules (over a number of different pages) for adding the existing and any future premium services. They won't start charging for something that used to be free, and the pay features should be superficial conveniences and not 'integral to the game', ruling out item sales. Another very simple reason that they charge for certain things is to stop players from doing them too often -- no quickie gender-changes to beg on the Orgrimmar mailbox for a half-hour. This seems to be the right way to go about things for a subscription-based MMO, or at least it has been so far. Leaving aside the debate about the future of the subscription model, would you pay monthly for a game that offered gameplay advantages to those that paid just that little bit more?
