Character customization- not a lot on launch

[Deleted]

Hey,
So I have read both UI and character creation menu won't have a lot modification at launch.

But they said that they will add some things later.
Do you think it is a good thing since this is a mmo plus it is based on story so unique look is important.

For example in dragon age origins you had a lot of character modification and then you had mods that could modify your character look even futher.
It wasn't so advance as oblivion character creation screen but it was nice too.

In dao I spend around 40 minutes before creating your character and in oblivion I spend a lot more.

I always wanted to have a unique character so I spend tone of time creating one.

So back to the question at hand, do you think the lack of ammount of character modification at launch will hurt the unique feel of your character since I really have enough of wow lack of customization options.

So what do you guys think about it ?

Cheers,

[mirodin]

Not at all, the unique class stories+ the ~200 hour of gameplay to develop your char will be more then enough for ppl. Also with the available modifications to weapons and armor you will have more options to look different then in WoW.

[Mothhive]

I hope they expand on the customisation before launch, because at the moment, it does seem to be pretty limited.

If they add more options after launch, I hope they give people who have already created characters the ability to alter their character's appearance for free. Would suck paying for, or missing out on, some cool features just because you created your character straight away.

[spleen1015]

I don't think it will hurt anything.

[Deleted]

Character customization is fine how it is now IMO. I don't need a million different possible combinations to be happy with it and it's already many times better than WoW's. In some situations, less options can be better.

I think not since I really enjoy spending my quality time in original dragon age or oblivion creating my characters.

[Zarasthura]

I don't think it will hurt anything.

My thoughts exactly. It'll be a bummer if you're playing to RP or look fancy, but it's safe to assume that the general population wouldn't much care about specifics in the character creation.

Besides, they said not at launch, meaning it's a possibility to add more features down the road

[jearle]

The customization level seems really good for an MMO, comparing to WoW there seems to be alot more choices.

If you are someone who puts a lot of time into making your character (>30 minutes) you should be happy enough.

I would guess that as a feature that is important to the large majority of players that will play the game this topic falls far below most others.

[KvanCetre]

The NDA prevents me from saying too much, but I can tell you (I hope...) there is a TON more options than most MMOs. In WoW, for example, we've got by on four/five types of changes with maybe 8-10 choices each. In TOR, theres a lot more with the addition of body type.

I really wish I could tell you just how many options exist, but the variations are in the tens of thousands. Seeing as we've had millions of players existing with mere hundreds, I dont see it being an issue.

[quras]

SNIP...

So back to the question at hand, do you think the lack of ammount of character modification at launch will hurt the unique feel of your character since I really have enough of wow lack of customization options.

So what do you guys think about it ?

Cheers,

Not worried at all.

We can't have everything at launch. The game will have to grow and keep us all interested and not just in content such as instances or bosses. TBioware will also need the non-combat content as well. Updated dressing room, different lightsabre hilts, and an entire group of things I haven't even thought of yet given the early hours here.

The game needs room to grow and still have the ability to get released on time.

I'm not worried at all. The game will grow, content in many forms will be added and it will be great in the long run, and still really good in the short run.

[Solfaur]

Not worried either, character customization(face & hair) in DA and ME, even Kotor 1&2 were decent, and since SWTOR will have at least that and also body type it should turn out great!

[vizzle]

Four different body types, 3 of them look like cartoon stereotypes and one of them is normal.

They should've gone with sliders where you can scale how tall/heavy you want your guy to be.

---------- Post added 2011-10-17 at 10:29 PM ----------

Couldn't care less about head/face customization tbh; when you're in the heat of battle, whether it be PvP or PvE, you don't even see heads/faces. Body types are more important than people realize.

Not to mention I'll be wearing my helmet 100% anyway.

[Kisho]

Honestly I get a bit sick of TOO MUCH customisation. Oblivion got a bit ridiculous with all the sliders. DA:O was bad too for it. Either I mess around with it and come up with some fuggo witch, or just do the basic hair style/color and be done with it.

So a tad less customisation is ok in my book. From what I hear it has more customisation than WoW, and I like WoW's, so that works out well for me.

[PuliGT]

Four different body types, 3 of them look like cartoon stereotypes and one of them is normal.

They should've gone with sliders where you can scale how tall/heavy you want your guy to be.

---------- Post added 2011-10-17 at 10:29 PM ----------

Couldn't care less about head/face customization tbh; when you're in the heat of battle, whether it be PvP or PvE, you don't even see heads/faces. Body types are more important than people realize.

Not to mention I'll be wearing my helmet 100% anyway.

It isn't always that simple. They have to ensure that all armor looks good for every body type.

The character creator in swtor is not the best mmo creator, nor is it the worst. But given the option I'd rather they spend the extra time making cool looking armor sets that look nice on everyone, instead of having armor just be a skin dependent on what you put your slider settings at.

[Haydest]

I think Bioware was limited in technical terms for further character customization; because every character speaks the given dialogue choices you select and more, they have to keep a certain structure in regards to having the model's facial features moving as well as hand gestures. Could you imagine if they had to do that while retaining the level of customization Aion, for example had? That would be so much development downtime we probably wouldn't see the game launch for another few years. Ultimately, I don't think the level of customization is crippling at all; there aren't many games that allows you choose height and weight--sure they're predetermined selections, but it is still there.

Darth Hater had footage of character customization from several varying game conventions, so unless there has been a major change that I am not aware of I believe we can speak freely more or less about this topic.

I'm sure they'll expand on the features in coming patches via a barbershop-feature of sorts...it seems to be a norm for MMO's these days.

[Profyrion]

A few more faces and hair styles per race would be a welcome addition. It's kind of immersion-breaking when my character happens to look like the twin of the NPC I'm currently in cinematic conversation with.

[philefluxx]

Worried, no not at all. But I havent seen it either.

But Im hearing people say you have better customization than in WoW and I was happy with WoW's options. Sometimes too many options is just a waste.

[guardian_titan]

Studies have been done that have found when people have too much choice, they get overwhelmed and are less likely to make a choice. Studies relate more to speed dating than anything, but it still applies here. In such a case with games, those people end up getting frustrated by too much choice, hit the randomize button, and are done.

From what I have seen with SWTOR, there is a lot more available in it for customization than in WoW but isn't enough to make me throw the game out the window because there's too much. There's enough. So I'm happy. If there's like 10 options you can change and each option has like 10 options (except body that has 4), there's a lot of combinations. Then there's all the races so there's even more options. Throw in armor, too. Chances of you running into an exact copy of your character on your server isn't too likely.

There's also the ability for Bioware to add additional options in the future like more hair (always a popular choice), tattoos, scars, etc. Could be patch features. Could be expansion features.

[Deleted]

Studies have been done that have found when people have too much choice, they get overwhelmed and are less likely to make a choice. Studies relate more to speed dating than anything, but it still applies here. In such a case with games, those people end up getting frustrated by too much choice, hit the randomize button, and are done.

From what I have seen with SWTOR, there is a lot more available in it for customization than in WoW but isn't enough to make me throw the game out the window because there's too much. There's enough. So I'm happy. If there's like 10 options you can change and each option has like 10 options (except body that has 4), there's a lot of combinations. Then there's all the races so there's even more options. Throw in armor, too. Chances of you running into an exact copy of your character on your server isn't too likely.

There's also the ability for Bioware to add additional options in the future like more hair (always a popular choice), tattoos, scars, etc. Could be patch features. Could be expansion features.

I do not know from where you take this information but studies can be wrong maybe they study the wrong kind of people and etc.

You really do not get me for example in my modified version of dragon age I had more then 50 hair styles and more the 200 hair colors so for me 10 is really not enough.
Plus I remember I didn't like any tatoos in dragon age. I had use the toolset to change what kind of tatoo I want.

I am a pc gamer so moding a game it is the same playing it.

I played oblivion a lot, not because I like vanilla version of the game but with the idea it had so many modification options. I had 250 esp files in my oblivion directory.
Same thing with fallout 3 and Fallout 3 NV.
I had 4 GB mods in my kotor 1 override folder and around 5,5 in my kotor 2 directory.

So I am used of having a choice.

This is what I like about pc games.

This is why 10 options is very small number.

[StationaryHawk]

So long as there's not less customization choices than WoW, I'll be perfectly content.

What with the 200 hours of personal story gameplay and similar interaction with companions to what we've seen in Bioware's other games.

[Deleted]

So long as there's not less customization choices than WoW, I'll be perfectly content.

What with the 200 hours of personal story gameplay and similar interaction with companions to what we've seen in Bioware's other games.

One question: Why most people compare sw tor to wow why can you compare to other games, even single player games, like gothic, witcher, morrowind, oblivion,dragon age ?
Or do you really play only one game ? That would be just stupid since gaming have so much to offer.
It is like eating all your life one kind of cheese by saying that this cheese is good so I have no desire to eat anything else.

I say variety spices up life.

Cheers,