This is the 26th iteration of the Unofficial Appearance Customization thread, 25.000+ posts preceded this discussion on the old forums.

Appearance customization has been a major concern of players during the wait for SWTOR's release. Given that The Old Republic's fourth pillar is story and the MMORPG of the game was emphasized, many players wanted more options to customize the appearance of their characters, so as to heighten the immersion into the game.

Appearance customization at character creation is a bit limited compared to many other MMO's. Post-character creation, no system has so far been introduced to change the appearance of your character, although many hope that the legacy system will provide solutions on that topic.

The majority of discussion in past versions of this thread, though, has been about gear appearance customization. During many of its iterations, the preferred solution was an appearance tab. The appearance tab is a system which allows players to equip a second item on the character doll for gear appearance, while retaining the statistics of their primary item.

BioWare chose to go with another system. Their implemented method of gear appearance customization is "orange" gear. This means these sets of equipment have no base statistics, just modding slots. Mods can be acquired via questing, vendors and group content, throughout all of the game.

When those mods are slotted into the empty mod slots, the orange quality equipment will be granted combined statistic equivalent to normal, unmodded gear at the same item level, including armor rating.

The ( for the moment ) final system was presented by a developer post from Emanuel Lusinchi and its reception was decidedly mixed. The major concerns from gear appearance customization proponents are the difficulty of maintaining up-to-date gear, the comparison to endgame gear with set bonuses and the viability of the orange quality mod equipment in PvP.

It is up to us to see how the system holds up in actual gameplay and bring concerns and constructive feedback to the developers.

In closing, some arguments why gear appearance customization is good for the game.

Good reasons players would want gear appearance customization:

- Avoiding the clone effect at endgame.

- Putting together your own unique look for your character.

- Roleplaying outfits: Festivities, enviromental adaptation ( flimsy uniforms on Hoth just don't cut it ), relaxation time clothes.

- Using all possible outfits for a long time, and as such honoring all the designers work, not just the endgame gear.

- Enhanced immersion into the Star Wars universe.

Good reasons why developers would want gear appearance customization:

- Timesinks: Collecting that one piece of gear for the perfect looking outfit gets players to do content they otherwise wouldn't.

- Player retention: Appearance customization creates attachment and immersion. And thus loyalty to ones character and the community. People stay subbed for this reason.

- Added comfort: Modern MMO's try to give their costumers options. More options make players more satisfied and thus help with costumer retention.

- Less need to top the latest endgame set with a more outrageous looking one for the next tier of endgame content.

/support!

Time to make this real. Let's keep each other updated on our experiences with the new RNG customization.

I have access, but won't be able to log in for another hour or two. I'll check in with what I find with the character creator after that. Orange pattern customization will obviously take longer to fairly report on.

*edit 1:

-Character creator is essentially the same as beta. There appears to be a few changes of specific options, but I can't provide exact comparisons at this point. (Particularly since I made a Chiss IA, and Chiss has always been overly limited in options.)

-Commendation chest pieces on Hutta (likely all starter planets) are blue, non-modable. Unlikely that this model is re-used as a green item, being commendation gear. Thus, if only green item models are used as base for orange RNG schematics, these models would not be available as modable items.

Lacking compared to other games? SWTOR has 90x the character customization of WoW. Mainly cause WoW has NONE.

BUT I am always all for more.

Lacking compared to other games? SWTOR has 90x the character customization of WoW. Mainly cause WoW has NONE.

 

BUT I am always all for more.

Oh, it is better than WoW, there is no question about that. But, a "D" grade is better than an "F", too. That doesn't mean it's good enough.

Lacking compared to other games? SWTOR has 90x the character customization of WoW. Mainly cause WoW has NONE.

 

BUT I am always all for more.

As I said in the OP, character appearance customization was not the major concern of the thread in the past. In fact, prior to BioWare renaming it, this was the "Unofficial Appearance Tab Discussion Thread".

And in that field, WoW actually got better and with more ease of use than BioWare with their 4.3 patch, see Transmogrification.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=285151#post285151

Check this thread please.

It reveals how the appearance tab is mandatory and of imperious necessity.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=285151#post285151

Check this thread please.

It reveals how the appearance tab is mandatory and of imperious necessity.

Yup, those are hideous. But then, pretty much all of the endgame gear is hideous. People keep claiming that there is no proof of set bonuses, which would make moded orange gear inferior, but if you look at the names in the tooltips, you'll see the "unassembled" label at the beginning of the name. Based on the naming conventions in the game, I'd be willing to bet that this signifies a set-piece, which has set bonuses, but is not being worn as a set.

Thus, there is BIS, and fully-modable gear is not BIS. Endgame The endgame clone army is inevitable, particularly since the AC armor is a super-simple palate swap, basically only varying in the secondary/highlight color.

Oh, and my IA is up to level 14. I've acquired 1 orange chest piece (Black Talon drop) and no orange schematics from UT yet (5 missions run). Can't even buy the social gear chest piece from DK since it's male only and my IA is female (on the Rep side, the Croissaant social gear is female only.

I have acquired 2 orange weapons, though they are so close to identical looking that I had to swap them back and forth a few times to see the difference (minor difference in the scope).

i have deleted one character and make inactive an other today because ( and i don't know why ! ) ....

they changed the character customization from beta weekends.

1. they did the male spandex looks like a macho man ingame ! sorry guys but i personal didn't enjoyed at all . i felt that i had a sexual attack every time my character come in to the scene to make an interaction in quests

2. they added more Caucasians characters and i couldn't find the way to make a normal good looking guy or female character .

the male head had at least 4 or 5 ugly faces and the female character where all with crayons and make up ....

very annoying change and i really didn't find a good reason for all these changes !

ofc i subscribe for a plurality in customization or at least to give us the opportunity to change them ingame until they found a way to make all in the right way

Obviously, this is all my personal opinion. Some are much more important than others but just getting all the ideas out there.

My list:

Appearance Tab:

This is the easiest way for a player to customize their appearance. Each piece needs to be able to be toggled on or off, but it is basically a second armor screen, just for how your character looks. Also, in addition to the head piece toggle, I'd love to see an option to toggle hoods up or down on hooded robes. Also, I realize they're attached to the chest piece, but please add an option to toggle shoulder armor off...

Character Creation:

More body types...:

4 is just too few. It really shows when you're playing the game and every other Republic official looks like he's going to send you on a quest for Cheeseburgers. There should be at least 3 more body types in between the existing 4.

More hairstyles:

Sadly, most of the hairstyles in game right now are lazy and many are downright ugly. There are no long hair styles and many are just rehashes of the previous style with some bangs or a ponytail added. Please add some long hair options. You made Lekku work, it can happen. Oh, and "stubble" should be in the beards slider... not complexion.

Better looking faces:

Right now it seems like only the first few options for humans and twi'leks are the acceptable ones. After those few, it is almost impossible to make a good looking character. Please make a quality pass on these and add at least a few more that are even remotely pleasing.

Separate "lazy" tabs:

Eyebrows, makeup and complexion are all one slider. Lekku markings and makeup are all one slider. If more than one thing is being changed, it needs to be a new slider. In addition, make-up and alien markings (Zabrak, Lekku, etc) should have a few color options once the style you like is chosen.

Other:

An in-game boutique/image designer/black market plastic surgery vendor should be added for players to change their appearance at will. (It would be amazing if you could use this vendor to fully customize your companions, too.)

Customization kits for Starships and Vehicles: This can't be too difficult since most have some sort of color scheme already. Think T7 customization kits and you're golden, unless you really want to wow us and go all out with subtle style changes to exterior and interior both.

A bigger dressing room window or at least the ability to zoom.

A weapon dressing room that shows a large view of the weapon you're inspecting.

The ability to "Try on" items that are hotlinked in chat.

User-created, custom guild emblems.

User-created Huttball team logos (or more than two options).

That's all for now! (phew)

Thus, there is BIS, and fully-modable gear is not BIS. Endgame The endgame clone army is inevitable, particularly since the AC armor is a super-simple palate swap, basically only varying in the secondary/highlight color.

What I mean is that even with custom gear and even with an appearance tab, customization will not reach a satisfactory level, for the simple reasons that cloaks and shoulders are NOT separated from the chest piece.

I am enjoying the game right now and criticize less Bioware, but everybody has to admit that itemization in that regard is one among the worst even witnessed for a modern MMO.

The future cannot be bright.

I gave up and sold all my academy set (usually I keep my first equipment for lol), as well as any gear, including iconic ones (such as Vette's slicing set) provided they have inferior stats.

I just did a search for orange armor on the GTN/AH (can't even search for orange separately) and I only found 3 armor pieces and there were many pages full of blue and green armor. I really hope that orange armor is going to stay this hard to find because currently I am rather disappointed. I honestly believe orange armor will probably stay extremely rare whereas it is much easier to find orange weapons.

I also again have to express my dissatisfaction with there being no color matching. I think Bioware really made the wrong decision to take it out because they want something new to give a sense of accomplishment by keeping their extremely lack-luster visual progression system. Sorry Bioware but two pants with a stripe in a different color is NOT new armor and nor is an adequate way to represent progression.

I just did a search for orange armor on the GTN/AH (can't even search for orange separately) and I only found 3 armor pieces and there were many pages full of blue and green armor. I really hope that orange armor is going to stay this hard to find because currently I am rather disappointed. I honestly believe orange armor will probably stay extremely rare whereas it is much easier to find orange weapons.

 

I also again have to express my dissatisfaction with there being no color matching. I think Bioware really made the wrong decision to take it out because they want something new to give a sense of accomplishment by keeping their extremely lack-luster visual progression system. Sorry Bioware but two pants with a stripe in a different color is NOT new armor and nor is an adequate way to represent progression.

/agree

I've not found any orange armor on the GTN on my server (and no, it's not a slow server, the only time it doesn't have a queue is in the middle of the night). It's supposed to be lumped together with the blue in the GTN (prototype and custom). I've also still not acquired a single orange schematic from UT. I'll also almost definitely not be able to afford my speeder training when I hit 25 because of how much I've spent on crew skills and missions in my search for this illusive orange armor.

Of course, even if I do finally find some, who says I'll like the look of it. But, hey, that's customization by RNG for ya!

Since I bullrushed to level 30 ( playing four days almost straight through ) to get my legacy name secured ( and I think that was a horrible decision by BioWare to make it take so long to get it... I themed most names I secured on my server to that legacy name, so that made me panic a bit and force myself to play so much through... I'll take it much, much easier now for the rest ^^ ), I might have a different perspective on things than you guys.

I have almost a full set of moddable gear which looks quite good together. When you get to around level 28, a lot of options open up, since you can get full sets of fully moddable gear at around that level ( belts and bracers not included, but those are not that visible, anyway. ).

Some of the social sets are really pretty nice and if I ever get Social III, I plan on making the Ulgo set from Alderann my main look.

Also, I grouped today with a Jedi Knight who had an awesome looking robe/pants set-up, also fully moddable. And then, in the flashpoint, another cool robe-like chest piece dropped for him, of which I was very envious, since it was a robe with the hood down. Sadly, only for heavy armor wearers.

If I can quetch about anything, it is that light armor robes look mostly very threadbare, compared to the heavy armor ( and maybe medium armor ) robes. If I'd known that there are fully moddable heavy armor pieces which look completely like robes, I might have chosen another class as my main... I still may do that, since Guardians use a single lightsaber, but one thing after another. First my current character has to get to max level. I couldn't stand having to go through the depressing swamps of Taris so soon again, anyway.

Keeping your armor up-to-date is a bit harder than just using quest drops, but completely do-able. In fact, I normally am much better equipped than the gear as quest rewards.

Having a profession like cybertech or artifice also helps immensely, since you can make mods/armoring ( cybertech ) or enhancements ( artifice ) that way. The rest can be gotten via commendations, vendors or the GTN.

Now, finding that *exact* look you want will take some time. The economy isn't running yet, few people are crafting, many people have discovered many orange recipes and also aren't crafting them and very few people are high level. We have to wait a month or two before coming to definite conclusions.

I haven't really looked for set bonuses, but so far I haven't seen one piece of armor which has them.

maybe it deserves a sticky or just some attention because its obviously a HUGEEEEEEEE issue.

great game. too many carbon copies, not enough individualism, no chance to change.

thats pretty much it... hope it gets attention

If I'd want to be paranoid about anything, it is that you cannot buy epic mods for flashpoint/operation commendations, while you can buy normal un-moddable epic gear for them.

IMO, the devs should put those kind of mods up for sale by the epic gear vendors.

i wouldnt mind a few options, i saw an npc with dreads and i was hoping i could fit my female agent with them. it would hurt to add hairstyle and possibly a face slider or too

RIP SLIM DUNKIN

BRICKSQUAD 4 LIFE

Almost forgot there are extra customization options in rp servers

There are?

There are?

News to me as well.

If I'd want to be paranoid about anything, it is that you cannot buy epic mods for flashpoint/operation commendations, while you can buy normal un-moddable epic gear for them.

 

IMO, the devs should put those kind of mods up for sale by the epic gear vendors.

I totally agree. For all I care one epic mod costs the same amount of commendations as one piece of epic gear, but at least make it possible.

All I want is to be able to choose my own wardrobe instead of being forced to end up updating my look because certain gear is just better than what moddable gear. I would also like it to be made somewhat easier to get orange armor. Getting orange weapons is easy enough but armor does seem way harder to get. I have seen enough armor I do like and I would hope for most to be moddable but I do think the effort needed to acquire the armor without mods could use some tweaking. I think getting the mods themselves already takes enough extra effort.