Guild Wars 2

I recently created a new character and wanted to use one of the exclusive hair styles. I had to create the character with a “wrong” hair style and “repair” it after playing the tutorial. This feels broken.

My suggestion is: The exclusive hair styles, eye colors and faces should be integrated into character creation. I don’t even ask for those options to come for free. If a player decides to use one of the exclusive choices a self-style hair or total makeover kit, depending on chosen options, could be used up from the account bank. Even buying one from the gem store could be integrated, though that might be a bit too disruptive.

I also had to hope that the face I chose suited the hair style I was going to change to. It would have been nice to see the combination right at the start.

There is also benefit for ArenaNet to change this. It would better advertise these options in the game and thus probably more players may want to use (read: buy) those kits. And it removes a barrier for players like me, who don’t like to modify their characters after creation, to use these kits.

I was also thinking about this recently.

Perhaps a compromise of showing the exclusive stuff in character creation, but have it be kinda greyed out. You would be able to select them and see the effects, but you couldn’t move that step in creation with those choices selected. Once character created then you can make final adjustments once you get in-game.

I realize this would be less than ideal, but see it as maybe an option that reduces the amount of work redesigning character creation.

Another option would be to have it recognize if you have one in your bank, or purchase with gems with a Character Creation mode version. Select the kit to use the features and it consumes it then. The only issue I find with this is that you can change genders with the kit, but it is pointless when first creating a character, so one of the features in technically lost.

I could see this backfiring: imagine a new player has just finished downloading the game during a free trial weekend and goes to create their first character. What do they see when they try to create them? The hairstyle they want costs money!? Not only will they have to buy the game, but a simple hairstyle or face from the (total makeover kit) is being advertised for money a few seconds into their experience of the game. That’s a big warning sign and would scare quite a few people away.

I know it’s annoying, but I’d rather we have to spend two minutes having a bad hair day moment than scaring off new players.

Someone recently suggested to include an NPC that would allow us to preview the kit features. (GW1 had this, although that was the only mechanism for changing character appearance; there was no kit.)

Alternatively, they could add it into the wardrobe and sell ‘appearance charges’ instead of kits.

@Sankofa Jimiyu: That is the main mode of what I thought. Using up a kit from the bank during character creation to enable the exclusive hair styles and faces. Having gem shop access would be just the next step, but it might be a bit too much. Further, gender change is not the only lost feature. Makeover kits allow to change the character appearance long long after the character creation. This is lost, too, when using it during or a few minutes after character creation. But the kits are currently the only possibility to gain access to a few exclusive faces and hair styles. And those are what I’d like to see included in the character creation process.

@Chameleon Dude: I understand that. Maybe then the exclusive options should only be visible with the second character or without the gem shop integration and then only if the player actually has a kit in his/her bank?

I appreciate the “shock” to new players may be a problem, but otherwise you can’t get around the issue of not being able to see what your final product is if you can’t see the combination. I’m not sure pushing back the “shock” later into their experience will help much, but I would hope it only deters a few.

Incorporating the gemstore and looking into your storage seems like it would significantly ratchet up the difficulty/complexity in implementing this. I agree it would be ideal, but given that this would fall waaaaaay down on a list of things to do (if they would even add it to a list :P ) I figure a compromise that I believe may reduce the work may be preferable. It could be that either option is too complicated either way for them to consider anyways…

There’s a complementary suggestion in https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Suggestion-Overhaul-character-in-starterzone/first#post4954773

That one suggests letting us remake our look in the tutorial area for free. I know the OP here doesn’t want to redo after creation, but if the two suggestions were blended somehow we might end up with a great way to make sure a player is happy with their look before getting locked in.

The thing about the kits (and creation itself) is they don’t 100% reflect how you’ll look once animated in the game environment in various lightings. They do a good job, but for those who care about the smallest details in appearance they are just a little bit off. Oh, I’d love to see the kit options in creation, you get a much more detailed closeup than you can get in game (other than going Bobblehead, which provides the creation screen level of facial detail). But then I’d also like to get a final fix during the tutorial as per the other thread.

Restricting the in-creation access to kit contents so you must already have alts in game and/or a kit in your bank seems wise to me. I like the elegance of changing from kits to makeover charges as well, so long as the kit preview function isn’t lost.

Could add some kind of salon NPC that gives makeovers for ridiculous amounts of gold.

People already exchange for them; adding a salon who does an (albeit higher than reasonable gold exchange rate to maintain cash shop involvement) expensive makeover would both tell the players that “hey, makeovers exist” without forcing them to take them from the gem shop and be at the mercy of gold rates.

And have the salon owner allow kit previews so you dont have to buy a kit to see if you actually want it. That buyflow process is silly.

I’d agree but fluffy Chameleon Dude. has a point~ so an NPC to preview them would be nice, or just letting us preview them in gem store.

I understand the fear of shocking new players with the gem store option. Maybe there really should be a barrier before the exclusive options are shown. This barrier could be tied into the leveling system. So the options would only be shown after the first character on that account reached a certain level, e.g. the level when the BLTC is introduced. Or analog to PvP/WvW being unlocked upon entering the mists, when the player obtains a kit, if that happens first.

A preview before obtaining a kit would be nice, too. I just happened to have one available anyway, probably from a BL chest.

I played a game that had a little shopping bag icon in the corner of the customizations you had to pay for. You could create your character’s look and upon selecting “finish,” it would take you to the PlayStation store to buy a makeover ticket, and if you did so you had your character finished. I don’t think this would scare players away. Do you think GW2 is the fist game to offer looks that you pay for? Many games have customization that you pay for. GW2 could simply have a pop-up asking if you want to spend your gems on the new look, and take you to the gem store if you need to buy them.

The problem with the current system is since you can’t preview the options in character creation, you don’t know whether you will like your face with a new hairstyle. So you don’t know if you need to just buy a hairstyle kit or makeover kit.