Guild Wars 2

That charr is dang creepy! After seeing countless charr eyes, I can’t tell if Rox is a psychopath or maybe a drug addict with those insanely open eyes. It really weirds me out every time I see her and I find the whole thing to be a bit insulting. GW2 charr aren’t supposed to remind me of a LOL Cat picture every time I look at them. What’s next, giant breasts?

I agree Rox’s design is pretty horrible. It’s like seeing a human being with anime-sized eyes which is just frightening and creepy.

I understand the desire to widen the character choices and ArenaNet can make charr look however they want, but that design is a pretty significant deviation from what we’re grown accustom to seeing.

As I said, I’d be better with it if we find out Rox has been teased about her looks in the past because she looks weird even to other charr

And there is one truly redeeming feature to her story:
The baby devourer! That little guy is so adorable. Very nice touch ArenaNet.

(Heh, never used the spoiler option on the forum, mouse over it to read the text).

One thing we are not focusing on with the 2 new NPC is that this is a living story.

ANET has introduced us to 2 new young fresh faced heros who we will be able to see grow over the coming months.

so lets just see were it goes

You know, it’s funny. Playing GW2, I’ve noticed one issue I have with MMOs is that NPCs tend to just blur together. On occasion there’s a unique model, but otherwise they’re more generic than distinct. We’re mostly expected to remember them by name, when in real life it’s typically way easier to remember a face.

That doesn’t apply to Rox, though. Her model is distinct enough to be easily memorable. It’s not simply another combination of the limited customization options available to us, but there are touches to it unique to her. Whereas some of you find that jarring, I actually really enjoy that. I like her look.

Nerokis.8405:

That doesn’t apply to Rox, though. Her model is distinct enough to be easily memorable. It’s not simply another combination of the limited customization options available to us, but there are touches to it unique to her. Whereas some of you find that jarring, I actually really enjoy that. I like her look.

That is a good point. The character is quite visually memorable. And to be honest, sometimes even a negative reaction is better than no reaction at all.

I’m looking forward to the next chapter of her story and Brahm’s as well (even though I’m ambivalent about his design), and wanting to know what happens next should be the ultimate goal of any story.

Rox’s eyes look much too large to me. That’s my only gripe about my otherwise new favourite Charr NPC.

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

Hi, everyone. The team has been following the spirited discussion about Rox (and Braham). I just wanted to pop in with a note from our Lead Character Artist so he can provide some background information and clarity about the art direction for Rox.

Aaron Coberly, Lead Character Artist

Hey everyone, this is Aaron Coberly, the Lead Character Artist here on Guild Wars 2. I can see that there are a lot of strong feelings about the design decisions for Rox so I wanted to come on and set the record straight. The goal with Rox was to expand the charr’s visual options. She is a young charr so we thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce the cute kitty cat end of the spectrum. This isn’t a change of direction but an expansion of the race. Our goal is to add more variety to all of the races over time and we saw this as a good opportunity to do this with the female charr. The charr are a feline race, which gives us a lot of options—from the grizzled matronly lioness to the strong puma and even the cute house cat. We don’t want to limit our options to just one section of the feline genus. Our designs are inspired by all the feline variety that exists in nature.

Further on down the road, it does mean that if we introduce new faces into character creation, they will include a broader range. Does that mean that this particular face will be in there? No, because she is a main character, but there could be a cute kitty cat style face.

Hope that information helps you all understand the thinking behind Rox’s appearance.

thats awesome but her eye’s don’t even fit her face animations

so there’s that

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

Hi, everyone. The team has been following the spirited discussion about Rox (and Braham). I just wanted to pop in with a note from our Lead Character Artist so he can provide some background information and clarity about the art direction for Rox.

Aaron Coberly, Lead Character Artist

Hey everyone, this is Aaron Coberly, the Lead Character Artist here on Guild Wars 2. I can see that there are a lot of strong feelings about the design decisions for Rox so I wanted to come on and set the record straight. The goal with Rox was to expand the charr’s visual options. She is a young charr so we thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce the cute kitty cat end of the spectrum. This isn’t a change of direction but an expansion of the race. Our goal is to add more variety to all of the races over time and we saw this as a good opportunity to do this with the female charr. The charr are a feline race, which gives us a lot of options—from the grizzled matronly lioness to the strong puma and even the cute house cat. We don’t want to limit our options to just one section of the feline genus. Our designs are inspired by all the feline variety that exists in nature.

Further on down the road, it does mean that if we introduce new faces into character creation, they will include a broader range. Does that mean that this particular face will be in there? No, because she is a main character, but there could be a cute kitty cat style face.

Hope that information helps you all understand the thinking behind Rox’s appearance.

Dear Arenanet,
To be honest, the idea of you adding a “cute kitty cat face” really disturbs me. Why? Because there are already multiple cute kitty cat faces available, which, through facial sliders, can be made ridiculously “cutesy”. The idea that those faces are STILL not cute enough, that you would plan on adding faces EVEN MORE CUTE…. that’s going too far. That’s going into the domain of “This isn’t a charr anymore, this is a kitten from Barbie’s play set”.
You had a set of standards for making the female charr, in which they were supposed to be as fierce as the males, and stay away from the clichés of “cute girlie” and “sexy”. The charr females in the picture below are on the absolute border of that—some would even say they have crossed the line already with their appearance. However, in the name of variety, it’s understandable why they are there. That said, we need more faces that—while giving variety—also represent charr as they should be. Fierce. Cunning. Deadly. Beautiful. Frightening. NOT cuddly and cute.

I think they understood your view Weindrasi xD. You like address this a lot of times when before the patch was release.

I completely agree with Weindrasi. Rox just deviates WAY too much from the set standard. The “well she’s a younger charr” justification also completely fails given that we can see charr cubs (who are all incredibly cute in a charr sort of way) in-game, and none of them have this weird eye inflation affliction.

Inb4 all charr cubs are retconned to have huge eyes to justify Rox’ genetic disorder.

Leaf.3156:

I completely agree with Weindrasi. Rox just deviates WAY too much from the set standard. The “well she’s a younger charr” justification also completely fails given that we can see charr cubs (who are all incredibly cute in a charr sort of way) in-game, and none of them have this weird eye inflation affliction.

Inb4 all charr cubs are retconned to have huge eyes to justify Rox’ genetic disorder.

Might I suggest going out in the real world. You might be surprised by the fact that people are actually different, not everyone looks exactly the same nor do they have a set standard about how everyone should look. Why would Charr be any different?

Charr had far more diversity of appearance than humans do even before this came along.

Frig those of you complaining about her appearance sound utterly ridiculous.

Why should every Charr have the same appearance? Charr SHOULD have varying appearances, just like humans do. Sometimes these appearances may result in larger or smaller features than normal, they may result in appearing older or younger, uglier or prettier, cuter or fiercer, skinnier or fatter and so on.

Every Charr should not be fierce too, some could be cowards while others could be fierce warriors. Some could be gentle or calm etc.

Jemmi.6058:

Frig those of you complaining about her appearance sound utterly ridiculous.

Why should every Charr have the same appearance? Charr SHOULD have varying appearances, just like humans do. Sometimes these appearances may result in larger or smaller features than normal, they may result in appearing older or younger, uglier or prettier, cuter or fiercer, skinnier or fatter and so on.

Every Charr should not be fierce too, some could be cowards while others could be fierce warriors. Some could be gentle or calm etc.

with most of her looks that’s true enough but he eye’s are the equivalent of humans who draw on animie eyes IRL.

Like I have said before her eyes cover her brow animations, there’s big… and than there’s to big.

I welcome more diversity in faces and would be happy to see the range expanded for all the races.

I don’t mind so much that this particular one went a little far one the “cute side”, but please add options on both ends of the scale.

(Currently, all human females look way too similar to me, especially as they all look the same age, too.)

lordkrall.7241:

Leaf.3156:

I completely agree with Weindrasi. Rox just deviates WAY too much from the set standard. The “well she’s a younger charr” justification also completely fails given that we can see charr cubs (who are all incredibly cute in a charr sort of way) in-game, and none of them have this weird eye inflation affliction.

Inb4 all charr cubs are retconned to have huge eyes to justify Rox’ genetic disorder.

Might I suggest going out in the real world. You might be surprised by the fact that people are actually different, not everyone looks exactly the same nor do they have a set standard about how everyone should look. Why would Charr be any different?

All right, go out in the real world and find me a healthy example of a human being that has eyes five times as big as the average human.

Leaf.3156:

lordkrall.7241:

Leaf.3156:

I completely agree with Weindrasi. Rox just deviates WAY too much from the set standard. The “well she’s a younger charr” justification also completely fails given that we can see charr cubs (who are all incredibly cute in a charr sort of way) in-game, and none of them have this weird eye inflation affliction.

Inb4 all charr cubs are retconned to have huge eyes to justify Rox’ genetic disorder.

Might I suggest going out in the real world. You might be surprised by the fact that people are actually different, not everyone looks exactly the same nor do they have a set standard about how everyone should look. Why would Charr be any different?

All right, go out in the real world and find me a healthy example of a human being that has eyes five times as big as the average human.

Probably not in this lifetime unless it happens, but other than that……3000 years later it might happen O.O

plays The Twilight Zone theme

lordkrall.7241:

Leaf.3156:

I completely agree with Weindrasi. Rox just deviates WAY too much from the set standard. The “well she’s a younger charr” justification also completely fails given that we can see charr cubs (who are all incredibly cute in a charr sort of way) in-game, and none of them have this weird eye inflation affliction.

Inb4 all charr cubs are retconned to have huge eyes to justify Rox’ genetic disorder.

Might I suggest going out in the real world. You might be surprised by the fact that people are actually different, not everyone looks exactly the same nor do they have a set standard about how everyone should look. Why would Charr be any different?

Jemmi.6058:

Frig those of you complaining about her appearance sound utterly ridiculous.

Why should every Charr have the same appearance? Charr SHOULD have varying appearances, just like humans do. Sometimes these appearances may result in larger or smaller features than normal, they may result in appearing older or younger, uglier or prettier, cuter or fiercer, skinnier or fatter and so on.

Every Charr should not be fierce too, some could be cowards while others could be fierce warriors. Some could be gentle or calm etc.

This is a ridiculous statement. If there were a human version of Rox, she would look like this. If you can find me someone who was actually born with eyes that size, who is a healthy, ordinary individual, I’ll refute my point.
VARIETY is fine. Making characters look unnatural, like they don’t fit in the same universe… that is a problem.

Am I the only one here who thinks Rox looks fine? Keep in mind, she’s not a human. She’s a feline. Maybe her eye size could be reduced at least only a tiny bit, but otherwise I think it looks fine for a feline.

Kain Francois.4328:

Am I the only one here who thinks Rox looks fine? Keep in mind, she’s not a human. She’s a feline. Maybe her eye size could be reduced at least only a tiny bit, but otherwise I think it looks fine for a feline.

Nah you’re not the only and most don’t care much cause they just want to play the game than stare at a model.

I love how everyone completely misses the point about what I said.
I’ll spell it out for you:
There is not a single species in the world where every single individual follows the exact same pattern when it comes to appearance. Why would Charr?

That’s a redundant point. They never have followed the same pattern. Some are so different they look like separate sub-species, even before this bug-eyed thing came along.

well her consept art isnt nearly as bad looking as the characte, her eyes are normal sized in the art WTF Anet WTF

Weindrasi.3805:

lordkrall.7241:

Leaf.3156:

I completely agree with Weindrasi. Rox just deviates WAY too much from the set standard. The “well she’s a younger charr” justification also completely fails given that we can see charr cubs (who are all incredibly cute in a charr sort of way) in-game, and none of them have this weird eye inflation affliction.

Inb4 all charr cubs are retconned to have huge eyes to justify Rox’ genetic disorder.

Might I suggest going out in the real world. You might be surprised by the fact that people are actually different, not everyone looks exactly the same nor do they have a set standard about how everyone should look. Why would Charr be any different?

Jemmi.6058:

Frig those of you complaining about her appearance sound utterly ridiculous.

Why should every Charr have the same appearance? Charr SHOULD have varying appearances, just like humans do. Sometimes these appearances may result in larger or smaller features than normal, they may result in appearing older or younger, uglier or prettier, cuter or fiercer, skinnier or fatter and so on.

Every Charr should not be fierce too, some could be cowards while others could be fierce warriors. Some could be gentle or calm etc.

This is a ridiculous statement. If there were a human version of Rox, she would look like this. If you can find me someone who was actually born with eyes that size, who is a healthy, ordinary individual, I’ll refute my point.
VARIETY is fine. Making characters look unnatural, like they don’t fit in the same universe… that is a problem.

That image is freakin’ terrifying.