devtrackers.gg
Hey folks,
As we head towards 7.6 launch I wanted to post one more time as a wrap up on the status of character modernization (feel free to check the last thread I posted in as well).
Before I jump in, just a reminder on our overall goal for character modernization. We want to ensure that your character still looks and feels like your character. That doesn’t mean it won’t be a little different, that is inevitable and the nature of modernization but we wanted to be very careful that we weren’t making any changes that would dramatically change the essence of your appearance.
Ok, keep that in mind as we move through this thread. So, we know that your character is a very personal thing and it was very important to us that you got to experience and play with modernization yourself on PTS. And truly, we cannot thank you enough for taking the time to hop on PTS, give us your feedback, share screenshots with before and afters, etc. It really has been invaluable in troubleshooting bugs and addressing feedback throughout PTS.
We’ve changed quite a bit during PTS but here just a quick glance at some of the improvements we made throughout:
- Initial PTS build had a shader bug causing unintended definition, making characters looking older than intended.
- Character model bodies appeared to have softened muscle definition.
- Wrinkles under eyes were more pronounced when the “low shader” setting was applied.
- Wrinkles in gameplay and cinematics were out of parity.
- Scar customizations were not in line with the character's skin color.
Now even on the last build of PTS there were still a few tweaks we wanted to make sure to hit before we went live and so for any of you who played on our last build, you will see the following changes since then:
- The character's teeth will no longer have the same color/texture as the character’s skin.
- Characters are not as orange or red due to changes in skin shading
- Dark Side lighting has improved for skin textures.
- Shader changes were made to skin lighting to slightly improve the appearance of muscle definition and structures such as cheekbones and noses.
- The abundance of “eye sparkles” seen in eyes has been lessened.
We’re not done yet though. There are a couple of bigger bugs that we definitely want to address but they are not resolved in 7.6 such as “head seams”. That bug isn’t new, it’s been around basically since launch but certainly when we point at our character models for modernization and say “look at them” any bugs, old or new, are going to draw attention. Just know that we are tracking those types of issues and will provide updates when we can.
We also encourage players to report bugs as they see them as well. Similar to reporting from the PTS, please include character sliders when submitting reports. Additionally, providing screenshots in various lighting such as cinematics and indoor/outdoor lighting would be helpful info for us to gather. Our goal is to have character modernization for these races to be in a solid place before moving onto modernizing the others.
We are so stoked to finally see character modernization hitting the live game with 7.6 tomorrow. As a reminder, we’re discounting customizations in the Appearance Designer at 90% off until January 7, 2025.
As always with anything we release, keep feedback coming, let us know of any bugs or issues you spot.
-eric