I think it would be a good idea for rare to give us semi control over the pirate generator. Like letting us pick the gender, skin color, body type, and eye color. So it keeps certain aspects of the creator random like the facial features but you still have at least some control over other aspects
Revamp the pirate creator.
@burnbacon said in Revamp the pirate creator.:
Like letting us pick the gender, skin color, body type, and eye color.
thus removing 90% of the randomization.
Tell me you dont know anything about the incredible diversity of the IPG without saying you dont know anything about the incredible diversity of the IPG.
Age, crookedness, scars, dirt, faceshape, noseshape and position, eyesize and position, mouthshape and position, eyebrows, natural makeup/beardshade etc. etc. etc.. I could show you hundreds of pirates with the same gender, skin color, body type, and eye color that'd still look completely different.
Why wouldnt anyone want more control over it? I get that making pirates 100% customizeable would be bad cause people would start to create the same barbielooking female chars on one side and on the otherside completely hideous monstrosities. But if you are looking for a skinny male asian pirate for example then you wont settle for a large white pirate anyways. It would just safe people a little time to have like 3-4 filters.
I mean, the random pirate generator was always a design choice, and not a technical limitation. The devs DO have a character creator of their own for marketing material and such.
I'd say it actually makes the game really stand out. Unlike other games where you'd either see perfect models or ARK goblins, SOT really just has everyone be wonky dudes sailing around.
It is still possible to find pirates very similar to each other but for the most part the sea feels very diverse, in a way unique to SOT.
This is a design choice that must be protected. I wouldn't be opposed to having a gender select as I'm not sure why that doesn't exist yet, but anything other than that is a slippery slope to me.
@ictus-xxi I would honestly be fine if we just got like 2 filters cause vie been rolling for hours and haven't gotten a decent looking pirate with the few characteristics I want.
This is a design choice that must be protected. I wouldn't be opposed to having a gender select as I'm not sure why that doesn't exist yet, but anything other than that is a slippery slope to me.
This is a subject that I've seen come up pretty regularly over the last 6.5 years. I have a main and two alts, and no desire to change their appearances, so this wouldn't even benefit me. But I honestly don't see a harm in optional filters.
Make some for gender, age, and skin color. Add an option to toggle equipped cosmetics, so you can preview what the new pirate will look like. This is not giving the player total control, but it does reduce the amount of time they spend searching, if they are looking for something specific.
This "must protect the design choice" argument I see reeks of "sunken cost" type thinking. I don't understand why the original choice must be maintained, when filters would be a QoL improvement for players that want pirates they can identify with, or immerse themselves with. The options would still be "random," just within certain limits.
The biggest question I have is: why do we care what other pirates look like?
Even if we had a full character creator, and you ended up on a server full of Captain Kens and Barbies, would that truly impact your experience at all? Is your experience markedly improved every time you see a pirate that falls short of your standards for "attractive" (cartoon pirates btw 😐)?
Have you ever walked away from a PvP experience going, man these servers are awful, but hey at least we all look different?
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