Bad customization makes the game look cheap
Tree of Savior obviously has a very high production value. It’s beautiful, animations are great and varried, design encompasses more detail than previous generations allowed and lesser artists could accomplish, and the visual design is consistent and sings with the audio design and game play.
Years of terrible browser based MMOs and years of amazing korean game customization have changed the lowest and highest standards for a games opening few minutes: character customization.
It’s the first thing people see as they enter a game. But I’ve entered games with pretty prerendered graphics that start you off with a choice of a few classes and no customization is the games way of telling me that there’s only a few, prerendered sprites. And the world you’re about to enter is anything but sprawling or varried in content.
Feeling close to your character is valuable, atleast having the hair color you want-- or having some choice, is important. The players that want to play your game for months or years want to feel like they have a character with a bit of their style, flare, personality, or looks. Making everything available at the start isn’t nexessary, but there should be enough options that a character is unlikely to see a twin.
The bar has been raised with various games and genres ranging from maple story to BDO. Even people that don’t care for customization can be set off on the right foot by a more varried choice, it still makes the game look more valuable.
Every hair doesn’t need every color, and there doesnt need to exist every option from the beginning. Some can take time to earn in game, some options can cost a little money, but options need to be there. I need a little something before I’m willing to give a little something or I may feel the cash shop options (I’m sure their will be) are intrusive, things I should have are being taken away from me so I can buy them. I don’t necessarily have a right to those things in reality, but it’s easy to feel wronged by cash shop items. If I feel wronged-- if players feel wronged, they won’t buy anything at all. The content in game needs to be substantiative, and players will pay for their white, blue hair, red eyes, and angel wings.
As a fan of ragnarok online, I gave this game A big chance to grow on me. And because it’s a beta I kept playing, but I struggled and mightve put the game down between little customization and a quest led start. Then I got around my 20s and 30s and started to see how well classes work with each other. It saved the game for me.
Quests are a modern game give in, but having a strong character customization would, in any case, separate this game from the many MMOs ice put down in the very beginning and keep me playing til second circle, just cause I started off on the right foot and spent time looking at my character, thinking about my look, and I start to feel unique and like my character is special before I even start the game.
I’m an old RO playin’, sand box lovin’, WoW hatin’, nostalgia shades havin’ social gamer. And good customization is gonna keep me, players like me, and others who respect the work put in online and loving it for that first 30 minutes to an hour so the game has a chance to cement its impact on us.
(Please excuse typos, I’m speaking from a cellphone and this forum is not optimized for it.)