
Originally Posted by
Yarathir
I don't agree that it plays things too safe in terms of content rollout. I am, however, on team polish stuff up and improve what's there. But that's more on the UI and UX side, as well as side features like glamour. It seems we're mostly in agreement, though. Like, what you're asking for is more so technical than, "HEY. LET'S OVERHAUL THE ENTIRE GAME EVERY 2 YEARS FOR NO REASON OR ADD A BUNCH OF NEW FEATURES THAT WE'LL NEVER USE AGAIN." (I know XIV has a bit of that re: FC airships and squadrons, but I'd argue it's minimal.) So I'd say we're mostly on the same page there. I'd like to see more inventory slots, a more intuitive UI, WoW's appearance tab system for glamours rather than the glamour dresser, instanced housing as well as just adding a z axis to housing placement so people can forgo glitching and plugins, and so on.
As for the graphical update... I'm currently waiting with bated breath to see what YoshiP or anyone over at CSU3 has to say on it. His previous remark was that the zones would be finished by 7.0 release, and I do agree that most every zone got at least partial love, but some just got it more than others. The ones in the post you quoted are really good examples of like thorough polishing. But there's also areas that didn't get a full overhaul. For example: why is the Crystal Tower in the Crystarium not using that cool crystalline shader, but the inside of Syrcus Tower is? Also, most of the Endwalker zones don't seem to have been looked at much either. Stuff was absolutely done. I see some higher res textures in, say, Elpis, and of course the foliage has improved, but then I look to Garlemald, and it looks mostly untouched. I really expected them to employ some good new snow and ice shaders, where the snow gleams in the light and the ice beneath that is exposed has subsurface scattering like the Aetheryte crystals. The same applies to Snowcloak.
Again, I hope they keep touching zones up as well, because if all zones in the game got the full treatment, you'd really be able to see that. Plus they are already planning to update gear and NPCs as well, so putting everything together would make the game look like it's brand new.
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I think I unironically memed myself into low expectations. 6.55 made me absolutely not like Wuk Lamat. Partially, that had to do with the voice being inconsistent and jarring. I dunno if that actually changed, or if I just... internalized it, but Wuk Lamat hasn't bothered me for like.. I'd argue, 95% of the MSQ? Whereas I expected to be groaning throughout at least half of it. Same for Erenville, whose voice annoyed me probably even more than Wuk Lamat's. As a character, I wouldn't say she's at the top of my list, but she's definitely in a respectable "she's aight," spot.
A far cry from the, "Oh god I'm gonna hate it whenever she's on-screen," consternation I felt pre-Dawntrail.