Hi All,

When playing around with some character development over the beta weekend it dawned on me that what I was trying to do was make my character look the way I wanted them to look at "endgame".

Thinking about this for the last few days I came to the conclusion that I really don't want to do this.

What I would like to be able to do is add scars as time goes on (ok not just scars but hopefully you get my point).

My Norn Templar wants to enter this world clean and fresh, possibly with some skin markings from an initiation ceremony when he turned 100 moons old (that's about 8 years) and should he join the thieves guild then he may change his looks to suit his current disposition (a bit of dark facepaint slashed across the forehead etc).

So the question is: should you have to determine the permanent look of your character on day 1, or should this be something that's tied to say achievements (eg completing a certain quest allows you to change certain player customisation features).

If you can change your role over time, eg my Templar may decide to become the best healer he can be, should not he be able to change his look to suit that change of mindset?

I'd be interested in your thoughts, and I can take criticism.

cheers

I think they did this in another game. I can't remember it off the top of my head.

It didn't turn out to well as I recall.

If they would ad a "barber" station they could easily let you add scars & age lines as the game went on as well as change hairstyles.

something beginning with F wasnt it?

i know the game you mean. was kinda ok but tbh if i decide what my characters going to look like id rather it stayed like that.

i mean what if it changed and i didnt like the result? would be a real problem

You're thinking of Fable. And yeah, characters got older, got scars from battle, body type changed depending on how you played (thinner/taller/fatter etc).

People complained loudly that they didn't like how their characters ended up looking Can't please everybody!

Anyway, it's a neat idea, but would take a lot of resources to pull off, and at least half the playerbase would complain because they want their chars forever pretty and young.

What we WILL probably get is a makeover station/salon type thing... devs have mentioned this as something they want to add. In which case you could do this manually.

There was an MMO that did it. Fable did it too though, yes.

The problem is that (just my opinion) in the game all should be earned by progress.

In this case totoos, scars - all could be enabled by time playing or just skills - for example skill to add tatoos, skill to remove tatoos.

But that does not suits the game for some reasons - there are only shards enabling, also they keep some open options for cosmetic stuff in cash shop.

There could be for example quest lines to get cosmetic skills.

Barber: "Hey there what can I do for you today?"

you: "Cut my eye out and put a scar cutting from top to the bottom of my face".

Peter Molyneux might be doing the marketing for ESO.

Thanks for the comments (and the laughs) here's a couple of my wacky suggestions.

On reaching level 50 you get the chance to "age" your character should you wish to.

On capping your alchemy skill you learn to dye your facial hair (not fluoro green).

On completing your thieves guild qualification you learn the art of adding shadows to your skin.

The fighters guild may have an initiation tattoo that you may only wear once doing (something) with them.

*shrugs* you change your skills, you change your armour, the character you start at level 1 may evolve into something very different after a few months, it seems a bit rigid that their looks cannot change to suit their personality.

Anyway, my thoughts are now out there for the gods to consider and do as they see fit.

cheers

There are a few conflicting issues with aging and scarring; the main ones being that some people don't want their characters to change; they invested time in making their characters look the way they wanted and don't want it ruined by a nasty gash down the front of their face. I understand from an RP perspective that this would be fun, but it would also scare off more than half of the player base. Not only that, but after a couple of years, we'd all look like some mad doctors patchwork experiement, due to picking up new scars on a daily basis.

The age thing is somewhat valid, but I see a couple problems with it. The first problem is as I mentioned above; people don't want to change. The second problem is that some races age a lot slower than others, and even though days pass much quicker in ESO than they do in real life, we'd still have to wait years to see any real change on our characters faces.

I'm all for the salon/face sculpter options however; for people who want to RP this way. I see no reason why they shouldn't impliment this for a price (in-game price), and a hefty one at that.. simply to stop people changing every couple of days.

What would be nice that after killing some really strong bosses you'll get a message: "You have earned a battle scar. Would you like to add it or ignore it."

Scars are nice, but it should be a reward for a battle well-fought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDN7JT2CbUg&list=PLeHW9Tzdpah8a0hQjrqxEBGEqmuu656L6

Some neat thoughts and ideas.

Red Orchestra 2 had a funny system; as a brand new player with rank 0 you would look pretty fresh and when you reached rank 90 and did a comparison ... you ended up having a character who looked like he slept on average of 2 hours a day and has had some facial reconstruction + scars. The way you can tell how high a player is in terms of rank is how ugly they look , it was a nice touch to add to the feel of 'Stalingrad'.

And it would be funny if characters who don't fight ever, will get incredibly fat unless they craft or dance all the time

Wow, that would give me nightmares lol. I'm real vain when it comes to my in-game characters.

Throw in a plastic surgeon and I'm in.

You know why they call a Duck a Duck, and why all the males are so pretty?

I'm not trying to be rude, but I just woke up after getting only three hours of sleep and am in a god-awful amount of pain.

I have no idea what you're trying to say.

No, thanks, I'd like my character to look how I made it in the character creation section, not have unavoidable stuff forced on me due to what I do in the game.

I like that idea, a lot.

Because Ducks know how to duck, and that way they don't get scars. You really should sleep more, and rudeness is not a good way to start a day. Just a heads-up