Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
[Player Feedback Request] Py'rai Female & Male Concept & 3D models - 2022
Hello glorious community,
We’d like your feedback regarding the look and feel of the Py'rai female & male Concept. We shared our most recent art of this race during the February Development Update livestream.
As a reminder, your feedback matters to us! For example: during Alpha One, players felt the Dünir race did not meet their expectations of a dwarf. Due to that feedback, we made adjustments to the Dünir race as mentioned in our September Development Update last year.
Py'rai Concept Art
Py'rai (female) race discussion from February Development Update livestream.
Py'rai (male) race discussion from March Development Update livestream.
To help guide the conversation, here are a few thought starters:
We’ll be leaving this thread open for your feedback until the end of the day on Wednesday, March 16, so that we can begin compiling a report for our development team.
Everyone here at Intrepid Studios looks forward to reading all the great reactions to our latest character designs!
UPDATE:
Greetings glorious Ashes of Creation community!
First of all, thank you for the fantastic feedback. Your thoughts and opinions help shape this game and we greatly appreciate it! We wanted to update this thread with the new Py'rai 3D models made from the concept art originally shown in this thread.
Feel free to leave additional feedback on the images of these models ^_^
We’d like your feedback regarding the look and feel of the Py'rai female & male Concept. We shared our most recent art of this race during the February Development Update livestream.
As a reminder, your feedback matters to us! For example: during Alpha One, players felt the Dünir race did not meet their expectations of a dwarf. Due to that feedback, we made adjustments to the Dünir race as mentioned in our September Development Update last year.
Py'rai Concept Art
Py'rai (female) race discussion from February Development Update livestream.
Py'rai (male) race discussion from March Development Update livestream.
To help guide the conversation, here are a few thought starters:
- What do you like about the current art direction of this race?
- Is there anything you dislike about the art direction for this race, and why?
- What are your thoughts on what was shown during the livestream for the Py'rai female & male concept?
- Are there any specific Character Creator customizations you would like to see for the Py'rai female & male concept?
We’ll be leaving this thread open for your feedback until the end of the day on Wednesday, March 16, so that we can begin compiling a report for our development team.
Everyone here at Intrepid Studios looks forward to reading all the great reactions to our latest character designs!
UPDATE:
Greetings glorious Ashes of Creation community!
First of all, thank you for the fantastic feedback. Your thoughts and opinions help shape this game and we greatly appreciate it! We wanted to update this thread with the new Py'rai 3D models made from the concept art originally shown in this thread.
Feel free to leave additional feedback on the images of these models ^_^
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Comments
Does have a little of that Ming the Merciless vibe to them, I'll admit. Hopefully sliders can adjust that though.
I don't love the barkskin so I'm hoping we have other skin options to choose from - maybe several different "barkskin" types to choose from with various amounts of coverage, patterns, and then one choice with no barkskin at all. Something like this from GW2's Sylvari where you have a base option with nothing, and then the varieties for people who want that.
I am also hoping/expecting that we'll have other horn/ear options or sliders as well so people can customize those to their liking, so I'm not too worried about what those look like. I do like both the ears and horns and that's part of what makes them so interesting. Overall unexpectedly excited about this one.
One feature I'd love to see in the character creation matrix is an optional drop down menu that would hybridize each race between both parent races and then customization can begin from that point. For instance you would pick your race and then have three choices 1/4 - 1/2 - 3/4 blend to one parent race or the other and then you start customizing your character from there. Perhaps choosing 3/4 Empyrean and 1/4 Py'rai might lock the antlers to a smaller growth option. Or if you go 3/4 Py'Rai your skin will always look much more Py'rai than Empyraen as it limits that option to one side ect. Just a thought but I've never personally seen a game do that and it would really make things on the character side much more interesting.
But, now that I think of it, how did all this magical change in biology/physiology occur on a world with no magic?
Do we actually know if the sub-races formed before or after the Great Exodus? I tried to look it up but couldn't find any information on it.
The Py'Rai overall looks neat. For me it felt like going halfway though. Cut the tether and go for it artistically and creatively imo.
The race had an appearance of being stuck in a transformation. Aestheically it made me want to see it commit more to either the wooden exterior look and/or horned animalistic vibe or more more towards elves with a spin (horns and nature via flowers and adornement). It looked like a Satyr to me but not at the same time.
The horns actually weren't what stood out for me. It was the ears and the hair. Hair no longer seemed to fit what the race is evolving into. Fur, feathers, bark, leaves, flowery vines etc. may have been more fitting than hair. As long as there are ear style options I think everyone will be happy with being able to customize to their preference.
Showing wooden textures with raised veins on the face I see what they're going for. It didn't look like it was cohesive or intertwined though, more overlapping textures. Maybe veins towards the extremities and bark/wooden elements towards the more rigid body parts?
Overall they look nice and it's really whatever Ashes is excited to tell a story around. I tend to think if we're going to go for a non-human vibe let's let go of some of the human aspects entirely and see where that leads in the creative process of what the Py'rai could be.
Have you looked at the two varieties of Orc or Dwarves yet? One is more in line with what you'd think of as traditional, and the other is a more stylized sub-set. It makes little sense to have two variations of the same race that don't actually vary. What would be the point? What we learned today is that Elves will be in the same mold. The Empyrean are the more traditional High Elves like you'd see in Lord of the Rings and Hobbit. Py'Rai are the off-set, they are Wood Elves and have a more stylized look to them.
Having the traditional set of Elf, Dwarf, and Orc allows them some creative license for the non-traditional sub-set of each race. If you want to play the standard Elf, Dwarf, or Orc you can....For the people who want to try something a bit different that option will be there too. For me that makes the game far more interesting. If all one wants is traditional there are tons of games out there that have done that, and more will surely be made. I like that at launch we'll find ourselves in a world that is totally unique to Ashes of Creation and not a knock off of something that has already been done a thousand times. Just my take.
Thats fine if they actually end up having traditional tolkien high elf for empyrean but there is already people trying to get glowy eyes or some crap like that. Also calling it a knockoff is stupid. IT IS fantasy. I don't want unique, its bad every time. I'm fine as long as we getting the traditional version too for those of us who love it.
Onto the actual model, I actually was really happy with the base model overall. I like the branches and the physical aesthetic of the ear. And honestly at first and second look I was happy with the ear size as well. That said, I am certain without a doubt that ear size being a really basic feature, this will be adjustable.
I like how the "bark" aesthetic creeps onto the texture of the face as a whole.
I think the lips are a bit too full, but again if this is going to be a choice (which I am sure it is) - then having a range from thinner to fuller lips is fine, but I really don't want to see the instagram lip filler generation creeping into this game!
In this case i'd say "Just go empyrean" doesn't really work. the races in this game have nodes and buildings/armor themed around the races. I've bought cosmetics my self as i planned to play py'rai from day one and it was never stated they'd be so drastically different. They don't even look like elves anymore but dryads. I'm okay with them having the options for antlers and the barkskin, more options is always better but for those of us who weren't expecting this having the option to have no antlers and regular skin would save it. With the current model i'll be forced to play as an empyrean which while an elf aesthetically/lore/buildings aren't really my jam.
Something about the Py'Rai model made me think not 'elf' but something else. Maybe Tiefling? That could be a good thing or not, I have no skin in that game.
I was wondering if I might be Py'Rai instead of Empyrean (first choice by a big amount) and now that gap has been widened into certainty. I love this design, and the fact that it distinguishes itself enough from any mental image I may have of Elves means it is 'easier' not to play it, but I think that's good somewhat, as long as enough people like it, to make them not just 'that random variant few people play'.
My other feedback is based moreso on concerns of 'distance in design', since we know that the Vek look very different from the Ren'Kai. The Py'Rai seem to have a 'base design' that pulls them further from the bone structure of what one would 'expect' from a fantasy elf to begin with. And I didn't like the 'bone structure' of the Empyreans in Alpha 1, but that was Alpha, and no character creator.
In the end, I kinda don't feel as if showing us the race's headshot had any 'use' in that regard other than revealing the antlers? Which I appreciate, but in many ways, too 'wide' a character creator (which I don't object to overall) will probably lead to lack of distinguishing regardless.
So I'm looking forward to seeing what the differences in body type are, and feel pretty neutral about this headshot. I can't think of many ways to make 'standard' Elf and Human look consistently different other than changing/clamping the range torso-to-leg ratio (now that, I have lots of opinions on), so it ends up being the same thing here, if the character creator freedom range is high.
Bring on the Py'rai base body model.
If all we were getting were the non-traditional races I may have a beef with that as well, but as we've already seen with Orc and Dwarf that is clearly not the case. I think that when the Empyrean's are next previewed and people see that, yes, you can essentially make Legolas, Arwen, and Galadriel they will come down off of DEFCON 5.
I have zero problems with the ears as I'm sure we're able to adjust size and angle. I mean ears are pretty much the defining feature of Elven races so I'm sure there are customization capabilities there. The bark skin I want to be able to tone down a bit on the face. Around the horns I kind of like it but on the cheeks not so much. That being said, again I think it will be adjustable to an extent. Face paint and stuff is a major plus. I expected that from a "wood elf" type race. I hope we have some more markings on the body for that too.
My one gripe is probably the eyebrows. I don't know why we sometimes see elves like this (World of Warcraft for example) where they have super long, pointy, half levitating eyebrows. They're halfway not touching her face which has me wondering how facial expressions would look on a character like that. Hair wouldn't function like that naturally either. It doesn't just float in space without the aid of products. Not a huge issue and could maybe be handling by eyebrow customization to keep this version of it in game as an option for that like it but I hope we get normal "human" eyebrows as well. Looking perpetually pissed off isn't my thing.
Future Crafting Plans: Herbalism > Alchemy & Scribe or Mining > Metalworking > Jewel cutting (Pending)
Now just to see the full body and male model. I was already leaning toward Py'Rai just based on architecture, but I'm pretty sold on them right now.
More ear options and skin options would be great as well both bark and regular more human skin. I'd be more then happy to play an elf like this using the existing art concept and my magic paint skills
As many people that seem to really hate the horns, then yea they need to be optional.
Would love to see a slider for how plantlike they are, like you talked about with the Tulnar's beastial traits: where you can adjust between mostly vanilla wood elf with tiny antlers to full on I AM GROOT.
OH and give this species the option for faun legs and hooves. Thx.