Attention Rift Art Dept.

[Elecjester]

Howdy,



So, just playing through the first week of RIFT or so and I keep hearing the same few things over and over...

a) Why are all the female models so flat chested?
b) Why do all of the toons seem to have flat arses? (some simply wider than others heh)
c) Why does all the armor look like crap?
d) Why do the character models seem to be overly bland? (male and female)
e) Why is there a major lack of customization in my characters appearance?


I must say I find myself agreeing with them more and more.

In fact, I think I have only seen a single piece of armor (chain) that I liked and it was lv48, sadly I am not that level yet.

I find it a little disturbing that despite the EXTREMELY obvious fact that MMO players in general care a great deal about their appearance in game, that companies keep releasing sub-par fashion designs for the majority of the game, and then the community starts to yell at them, and then they have to create an appearance tab and then create stuff to go in it ... just to hide the god awful armor, that could have been avoided by a little more work on the armor in the first place.

Now, during the betas some of the models were changed (for the females) and honestly I think this was a terrible decision imho.

Does the game need full blown nudity? of course not, nor did it have anywhere near that - but a little sex appeal goes a very long way, and right now, Rift has about as much sex appeal as a fisher price toy ad.

I honestly think this is going to hurt the game in the long run.

I know, some of you are sitting there thinking ... "Who cares about models and outfits, I want my damn runebreaking to work" or perhaps "What about guild banks - that is WAY more important!" - to which I will simply reply:

> Runebreaking, and the other bugs that are known will be fixed in due time. That isn't even an issue. Trion has been terrific at pumping out fixes right, left and center. Anyone worried, really shouldn't be.

> Guild Bank - this will happen. There is no way that they won't add some sort of banking option for a guild. It might not happen right away, but during the first (or possibly 2nd) content update - I would expect to see it. I imagine that Trion is trying to keep a little back to lure the fence sitters to the game at a later date. Can't have everything all at once =)

The character & armor models however - that is something already in the game, and something that I think Trion needs be made to realize that a great number of their paying customers really aren't that happy with it.

I would have loved to add a simple 2 question poll to this thread and let that be a gauge for them to measure (of course - even then your going to get people that just never come to the forums, or people that simply don't come into the thread so), sadly I wasn't able to so, please leave a comment below and offer some helpful advice to Trions art dept. about what you would like to see changed with the character models / armors.

Please try and be specific as well - this usually helps! =)

A few suggestions I have:

1. A body morph slider in character creation that allows me to change the size and shape of various body parts on my character (short / fat / tall / skinny / breasts / shoulder width / head size / etc)

2. A NPC that allows you to change your body size / shape / hair / eyes / etc in game - in case you want a change at some point down the road.

3. I'd like male and female armor to stand out abit more - currently, the armor that each sex wears is more than a little too unisex imho. I'm not asking for the females to be running around in chainmail bikinis while wearing stiletto heels.

However, having armor that accentuates each sex's features goes a long way. There are some REALLY terrific npc model outfits that seem to be made out of leather in sanctum that makes my point nicely.

4. I'd also like to see more of the various gear that drops "mesh" with one another, I constantly feel like I'm wearing a some mad mans wacky attempt at being a fashion designer, with mis-matched pieces all over my body.

Really, I could go on, but this is already turning into a giant wall of text, and no one likes to read those so, I probably should stop here.

Please feel free to contribute below however.

Cheers.

[Selachii]

a) Why are all the female models so flat chested?
Because the developers aren't a bunch of testosterone fuelled american teenagers.

b) Why do all of the toons seem to have flat arses? (some simply wider than others heh)
See above

c) Why does all the armor look like crap?
Because if you had amazing looking gear while you were levelling, what would the difference be when you got something that was actually any good?

d) Why do the character models seem to be overly bland? (male and female)
Only problem here is that they're all basically humanoid

e) Why is there a major lack of customization in my characters appearance?
How can you possibly say that? There are sliders and dials to a greater degree than ANY other MMO out there. You have entire swatches for colours, 10-12 different hair styles, overtones and undertones, facial sliders, facial features etc etc etc etc etc

[Elecjester]

a) Why are all the female models so flat chested?
Because the developers aren't a bunch of testosterone fuelled american teenagers.

b) Why do all of the toons seem to have flat arses? (some simply wider than others heh)
See above

c) Why does all the armor look like crap?
Because if you had amazing looking gear while you were levelling, what would the difference be when you got something that was actually any good?

d) Why do the character models seem to be overly bland? (male and female)
Only problem here is that they're all basically humanoid

e) Why is there a major lack of customization in my characters appearance?
How can you possibly say that? There are sliders and dials to a greater degree than ANY other MMO out there. You have entire swatches for colours, 10-12 different hair styles, overtones and undertones, facial sliders, facial features etc etc etc etc etc

Why do you simply assume that:

a) I am an American (to which I am not)
b) That I am a teenager? (to which I am not)

Simply because I might like to have decent looking character models - both male AND female. I was actually disappointed most with the male dwarves to be quite honest.

Nothing wrong with looking good while leveling and if you want to know what the difference would be .. then I think you seriously need to look at what type of game your playing.

Finally, if you think that there is more sliders / dials / etc for character customization than ANY other MMO currently out there ... then you are so very very wrong lol. I can list off a dozen free 2 play MMO's that have at least as many options as we have - and quite a number more games in general that have way way more.

We are actually severely limited to be honest. You should really play a few more games out there before making wild assumptions.

Cheers.

[Kylazin]

Why do you simply assume that:

a) I am an American (to which I am not)
b) That I am a teenager? (to which I am not)

Simply because I might like to have decent looking character models - both male AND female. I was actually disappointed most with the male dwarves to be quite honest.

Nothing wrong with looking good while leveling and if you want to know what the difference would be .. then I think you seriously need to look at what type of game your playing.

Finally, if you think that there is more sliders / dials / etc for character customization than ANY other MMO currently out there ... then you are so very very wrong lol. I can list off a dozen free 2 play MMO's that have at least as many options as we have - and quite a number more games in general that have way way more.

We are actually severely limited to be honest. You should really play a few more games out there before making wild assumptions.

Cheers.

He never said you weren't. He said the developers weren't. You need to read before you criticize. Also, I appreciate the way the models look, without all the stuff that is typical in most MMOs.

[pa11ad1n]

e) Why is there a major lack of customization in my characters appearance?
How can you possibly say that? There are sliders and dials to a greater degree than ANY other MMO out there. You have entire swatches for colours, 10-12 different hair styles, overtones and undertones, facial sliders, facial features etc etc etc etc etc

Whuh? It is true that Rift has more than certain very popular games certainly.... Massively less than others though. Out of the games that i personally have played AoC and SWG had the most options (at least for face and body shape). Champions gets discounted for most of the options being costume related and isn't a fair comparison (same with CoX)

[HanzeoDune]

He never said you weren't. He said the developers weren't. You need to read before you criticize. Also, I appreciate the way the models look, without all the stuff that is typical in most MMOs.

I think its something u should be able to customize yourself but idk i cant even get into the game yet lol

[Lyria]

Why do people keep thinking that unless a woman is sporting D-cups she's "flat-chested?"

Criminy.

[taraghost]

Why do people keep thinking that unless a woman is sporting D-cups she's "flat-chested?"

Criminy.

This. These are B, maybe even C cups.

That's pretty far from flat, and better then outrageously large implants.

[Kayote]

a) Why are all the female models so flat chested?
b) Why do all of the toons seem to have flat arses? (some simply wider than others heh)
c) Why does all the armor look like crap?
d) Why do the character models seem to be overly bland? (male and female)
e) Why is there a major lack of customization in my characters appearance?

A) The are at worse C cups. Theyre good. Just because they are not bouncy DD doesnt make them flat.
B) They looks fine to me.
C) Do you want epic looking gear at level one? Fat chance.
D) What is bland. Other than a few oddly animated cycles and sequences the models looks pretty good. Specially the females.
E) Compared to most American games that arent comic super hero MMO's its actually pretty customizeable.

[Freyar]

... just to add to the fire: Why do people constantly use the term "toon"... -_-

[bleukreuz]

Eve Online has the best character customisation imo:

You can literally change almost all your body and face shape

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBvv3yMi1qw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9wJZ4e37bI


But it's only been added recently so don't get your hopes up for something so drastic (Eve was released on 2003, yikes!)

[Freyar]

APB goes a step further, though it's resource use is a bit worrysome.

[Pinely]

I think most people are happy with the art design of Rift.

If the Forums are any indication, there haven't been that many complaints about the art design at all.

On a personal note, I quite like it. The art is a nice blend of fantasy and realism that fits the game quite nicely. I'm not big on skimpy armor pieces, but Rift keeps it somewhat reasonable.

[nufnu]

1. A body morph slider in character creation that allows me to change the size and shape of various body parts on my character (short / fat / tall / skinny / breasts / shoulder width / head size / etc)

2. A NPC that allows you to change your body size / shape / hair / eyes / etc in game - in case you want a change at some point down the road.

don't leave out the women! package sliders for males so its fair.

[Sky775]

a) Why are all the female models so flat chested?
b) Why do all of the toons seem to have flat arses? (some simply wider than others heh)
c) Why does all the armor look like crap?
d) Why do the character models seem to be overly bland? (male and female)
e) Why is there a major lack of customization in my characters appearance?

a) My female Kelari looks slender like an elf. My female eth is NOT flat-chested or flat-arsed.
b) See A. With all the running these girls do it's a wonder they have curves at all.
c) I have found some nice pieces, especially when you dye them. WTB an appearance tab.
d) Agreed that more interesting races would have been nice.
e) I'm not finding these characters less customizable than other MMOs. They did a lot of work on facial looks and I love all the sliders for hair colors, eye colors, nose size and shape, etc.