Enhancement Request for Racial Switch

[Supp]

<p>I've been hoping for a long time that we would get the option someday to change races. I realize that would be difficult to work into the lore of the game, but there are so many things coming available that you wouldnt have thought would be available, that perhaps it's finally a valid request. It's not like we don't have "magic" in the game to explain these things. And who knows what type of whacky inventions those tinkering gnomes might devise.</p><p>Seriously, how many times have you, as a player, started a trash alt that turned out to be more fun than expected (classwise) and ended up topping off the character, but were less than enchanted with your hasty racial choice at character creation? I understand it may seem a tall order right now, but I'd love to hear some feedback from the community on the idea. I don't recall having seen this discussed.</p><p>With the new races coming out (Fae, Arasai, Sarnak), it would seem a good time to consider it. Couple that with the removal of SOGA bodies, and you have a recipe for customer satisfaction. I know that many playing human females would appreciate it.</p>

[Cadori Seraphim]

I think this would be a great idea, if even once per account lifetime availability.Reason I think so is because of the additions that you mentioned, and while I don't consider EQ2  terribly hard - for most the idea of rerolling  a class they thoroughly enjoy to be one of the new races is less then appealing. At any rate, I can see alot of people complaining about this (as people like to complain about anything these days - even free stuff!) so am not sure this would even be allowed but I totally support this <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[shadowscale]

this gets broght up almost atleast once a month, the answer is always the same. they cant implant this. i wish i could find the developer quote i read, but it said that race is tied to the main database for the character. to change it would basically mean making a new character from scratch. which is already an option at the character select screen.

[Dreyco]

Eh.. there is more to the game than class choice, IMO.  Picking a race that you like to play, spending the time it takes to customize them and their appearance is just as much a part of the game and the immersion that you experiance a it picking a class.That, and I could see it as an immidiate switch for people at Kunark and/or Expansion times with new races introduced to switch immidiately to the new offered playable characters.

[Cusashorn]

<cite>Supple wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I've been hoping for a long time that we would get the option someday to change races.</p><p>I know that many playing human females would appreciate it.</p></blockquote><p>1. The developers have said NO. End of story.</p><p>2. LOL yeah right. The female humans are best looking race in the game.</p>

[kcirrot]

<cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Supple wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I've been hoping for a long time that we would get the option someday to change races.</p><p>I know that many playing human females would appreciate it.</p></blockquote><p>1. The developers have said NO. End of story.</p><p>2. LOL yeah right. The female humans are best looking race in the game.</p></blockquote>1.  You know it's possible for things to change.  Not that I think this will change (it probably won't).2.  Agreed.

[Sapphirius]

<cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Supple wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I've been hoping for a long time that we would get the option someday to change races.</p><p>I know that many playing human females would appreciate it.</p></blockquote><p>1. The developers have said NO. End of story.</p><p>2. LOL yeah right. The female humans are best looking race in the game.</p></blockquote><p>1. Ya know, I toyed around with the idea of completely rerolling Sapphy as a Fae, not because it's a new race but because I'm just such an incredibly <i>clumsy</i> player. I die more from falling damage than anything else. Even <i>if </i>the devs were able to allow us to switch races the same way we can switch hair, eye color, etc., I don't think I'd change her race. If I did, it would be to fae for no other reason except the feather fall.</p><p>2. While I may not like that Sapphy's chest is too big and her rear is too flat (with no hips to speak of at all), I actually think that human females are one of the more attractive models in the game. I wouldn't mind if a dev came along and gave humans a few curves, I wouldn't say that I was desperate to get away from her race entirely though.</p>

[quasigenx]

I think this would be a cool option. I don't buy what they are selling about it not working, either. Unless each race has it's own TABLE in the database, which is just about the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I think the devs sometimes say something is impossible because it's the easiest route. It's not like we can disprove it.Impossible is a cop out. What you mean to say is that it would take some work, and it's not high enough priority.

[troodon]

<p>In a game that frequently introduces new races, as EQ2 has become, I don't think a very limited ability to change race would be so terrible.</p><p>A once per account 'change race' option, I think, would be acceptable.  Any more than that and I think you're making the choice too trivial.</p>

[quasigenx]

<cite>troodon wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>In a game that frequently introduces new races, as EQ2 has become, I don't think a very limited ability to change race would be so terrible.</p></blockquote>I'm sure they don't want to trivialize the new races either, so if it ever went live you would probably want a sub-feature to restrict certain new races from being selected until a grace period had ended.I'm really surprised that no one has popped in yet to say that letting other people change races would really detract from their enjoyment of the game. By the way the fluff armor thread was going, you would figure that there is this contingent of players out there who think that they should be able to impose their play decisions on other people.

[EQ2Luv]

If they don't allow a racial switch, I think they should at least revamp the racial abilities so that every race has a more balanced set of useful abilities.  If my halfling can't change to a fae/arasai, he should at least be able to do something equally cool (or useful) as gliding, or being able to cast spells from 5 meters further away. 

[Dimgl]

<span style="color: #00cc99;">Racial balance will just more and more aggravated over time too. Races that have +% HP and +% PP for example have a nice scaling bonus that tremendously surpasses the effects of other races that have +5 STA, or +5 INT for example. Next tier 5 STA will be 10-20 HP. But 3% HP will be 200-250 for a well-geared tank, and probably 400-700 for a raid tank.In the example of a raid tank right now, +3% HP can be 300-500 HP when buffed up. That's a pretty substantial amount of HP to have over another race, and really does make ogres/dwarves for example superior raid tanks to many other races.I know I'd swap my race in a heartbeat to Ogre for that 3% HP.</span>

[Elephanton]

I would like such option please...

[Lightstrider]

<p>I can't understand why anyone would want to do this.  If you think about your character at the creation screen, and then become invested in that character, why would you want to switch something fundamental to what that character is about?  And it seems like you would know pretty quickly whether or not you like the race you have selected, so if after a couple of levels you don't like it, delete and create a new one, before it's level 65.  I can't imagine wanting to switch the race of any of my alts.</p><p>However, it would not ruin my enjoyment of the game if it were possible to do it.  I do think that if such a switch were allowed, it should require some kind of major quest.  Heck, to switch classes, which is pretty limited, you have to go through the whole flippin' betrayal quest--and changing professions is certainly easier than changing race.</p><p>Do you guys want the ability to change sex as well?</p><p>Oh, and by the way...Half-elves are hotter than human females.  We are talking non-SOGA, correct?</p>

[Supp]

<p>Yes, we're talking non-SOGA. Because the SOGA bodies are going away, human female playing folks might find themselves in a quandry. I'm not asking for a sex-change op though. Someone else can ask for that.</p><p>Really, this is about creating a character quickly just to toy around with it. The character gets into the 30s, and starts doing things subclass specific, and you realize you really enjoy it, but you don't want to start over just because you were hasty during character creation. That's what I'm talking about. Normally, I'm pretty good about character creation, but I do make mistakes. For example, do you remember when there was no "do not sell" checkbox? In total, I think I accidentally sold off one item the whole time before then because I was so overly cautious. But seriously, I shouldnt have to be that paranoid when playing my relaxing game, and apparently the devs agree with that. </p><p>I typically spend two hours on character creation, but most of that time is spent in the naming, so I'm not likely to get it all perfect for all time for every character I create. Maybe I was going for a motif then that I no longer care about. Maybe I thought clothing would look a certain way on this model or that, but it turned out not to. The clothing problem has been eliminated with the inception of the wonderful dressing room window, but that's a recent fixture. I would like a little slack. I'm not asking for anything excessive, just a little backscratch now and again.</p>

[Rast]

The ONLY reason I would support this is because of animation changes that have happened since characters were rolled.  Back when I rolled my Kerra Pally, the ran upright and proud, now they run like quasi moto...  I don't even want to play him because of the way he runs and I won't delete him because he was the first character I rolled back in Nov 2004 and is my lvl 69 armorer, something I have no care about going through again.

[Finora]

<p>Eh, I'm iffy on the whole change your race thing, but then again I never choose race for any of my characters lightly. It takes me a long while to create them tweak their looks etc hehe.</p><p>Seems like it would be right out for the RP community. Wouldn't affect me one way or the other if it were implemented though.</p><p>As for the racial traits, devs have said that there is a racial trait revamp in the pipe for us sometime. Presumably that should help with the "oh man I want what the arasai get" or whatever race has.</p><p>The racial +% to health/power is supposed to be based on the base hp/power (unbuffed & naked) of the char btw (at least it is for my characters that have that trait) unless they changed it at some point since I've choosen it.</p>

[Anastasie]

I think the racial change would be a great option to have and it could be a veteran reward so it's not that common.

[Kru]

I think making it a three year veteran reward or something like that would be ideal.

[Xova]

<p>I asked Archonix about this at Fan Faire, and he grinned and told me to ask Lyndro. I asked Lyndro and he visibly shuddered and made a horrified noise followed by the word "no" about a dozen times. So I think it's safe to say that it's *not* going to happen. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" /> </p><p>In all seriousness though, Archonix explained that there were way too many factors to consider that would - in short - cause such a feature such as a "racial respec" to have disastrous consequences on one's character. It's not really feasible, nor would it be worth the amount of time and effort necessary to implement such a feature. If you really want to change your race, use an illusion item. It's not perfect, but it works.</p><p>And I'm sorry but the non-SOGA human females are horrible-looking. I love the SOGA models and can't play in standard at all, but if I had to choose an attractive non-SOGA race, Human females would be LAST on my list. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>Now the Soga Human females are MUCH nicer. I especially love the hairstyle they get with the curls swept off to the side. Very chic - I would love to have that style for my dark elves. *hint hint*</p>

[Kasar]

<cite>Kruhl wrote:</cite><blockquote>I think making it a three year veteran reward or something like that would be ideal.</blockquote>After 3 years as a Kerran guardian, a change would be a little offputting, but that 3% health pool mentioned above has always been an annoyance.  Sonicvision and +5 fletching FTW.I made the toon out of curiosity about Kerrans and warriors.  Leveled to about 14 and left it for months.  One day a couple friends rolled healers and asked if anyone had a low tank toon... then a guild needed one.. and one of those disposable toons has remained.  I actually rolled a few ogre warriors to replace it, but always bored quickly running through all the same levels and skills again.  Keep meaning to box one up eventually, but prefer running a single dps toon to grinding multiple toons.

[cr0wangel]

O_O No racial change, thank you. If someone is bored of their character because of the race/class, they can make a new one. A character is more than its levels and its numbers.

[Sapphirius]

<cite>Xova wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>And I'm sorry but the non-SOGA human females are horrible-looking. I love the SOGA models and can't play in standard at all, but if I had to choose an attractive non-SOGA race, Human females would be LAST on my list. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" /></p></blockquote>I think dwarven, gnome, troll, ogre, and iksar females look worse, but that's just my opinion. <grins>

[Zabjade]

<cite>Sapphirius wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Xova wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>And I'm sorry but the non-SOGA human females are horrible-looking. I love the SOGA models and can't play in standard at all, but if I had to choose an attractive non-SOGA race, Human females would be LAST on my list. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" /></p></blockquote>I think dwarven, gnome, troll, ogre, and iksar females look worse, but that's just my opinion. <grins></blockquote><p><span style="color: #00cc00;">Yeah, Iksar females do look a little blocky and their frilliks don't have a sliding bar for length. However I do remember at least one Dev saying how they liked my concept of how iksar females should look. </span></p><p><span style="color: #00cc00;">As for RP you could always have a background where your character ran into an evil Coerer[sp]/transmuter and used a combo of those abilities to turn your character into someone else. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span></p><p><img src="http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs16/f/2007/196/1/f/Iksar_Silent_Fist_Grandmaster_by_DPRagan.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="607" border="0" /></p>

[Sapphirius]

<cite>Zabjade wrote:</cite><blockquote><p><span style="color: #00cc00;">Yeah, Iksar females do look a little blocky and their frilliks don't have a sliding bar for length. However I do remember at least one Dev saying how they liked my concept of how iksar females should look. </span></p><p><span style="color: #00cc00;">As for RP you could always have a background where your character ran into an evil Coerer[sp]/transmuter and used a combo of those abilities to turn your character into someone else.</span></p></blockquote>Oooooo. Now those are some pretty iksar. Why couldn't they look like that in game? <sulks>

[GinFan]

<p>Though of course I would change most of my toons to froglok <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/ed515dbff23a0ee3241dcc0a601c9ed6.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />, it would create a small role-playing issue if my Erudite Defiler could do so without betrayal.  </p><p> I have a Ratonga that betrayed to Qeynos... "and thoughs I tries to be good, it is so hards to do sometimes." </p>

[Cadori Seraphim]

<cite>Xova wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I asked Archonix about this at Fan Faire, and he grinned and told me to ask Lyndro. I asked Lyndro and he visibly shuddered and made a horrified noise followed by the word "no" about a dozen times. So I think it's safe to say that it's *not* going to happen. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" width="15" height="15" /> </p><p>In all seriousness though, Archonix explained that there were way too many factors to consider that would - in short - cause such a feature such as a "racial respec" to have disastrous consequences on one's character. It's not really feasible, nor would it be worth the amount of time and effort necessary to implement such a feature. If you really want to change your race, use an illusion item. It's not perfect, but it works.</p><p>And I'm sorry but the non-SOGA human females are horrible-looking. I love the SOGA models and can't play in standard at all, but if I had to choose an attractive non-SOGA race, Human females would be LAST on my list. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>Now the Soga Human females are MUCH nicer. I especially love the hairstyle they get with the curls swept off to the side. Very chic - I would love to have that style for my dark elves. *hint hint*</p></blockquote>And Smedley told us that the cards where not going to be tradable in game and yet they are <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />I don't take anything they say to heart anymore until I actually see it (or not see it), so I would think that anything is up in the air and will continue to be.As for the SOGA models, I dont see why people hate them. I adore most all of them but still use a few older models(gnome female for one). Everyone has their own opinions on what looks good so I wont even begin to debate the *looks* of the models. I just think it sucks if its true that they are taking them away. Time will only tell I guess.

[Uumuuanu]

<p>The simple fact is that devs ONLY change what they want to.   It's a damned database people, you toon is NOT REAL, it is not solid, it is not even a damned 3D object in the database.  For a DEV to flat out LIE that it is not possible is complete nonsense.   You click I want to change my race, you select your new race, the game logs you out and takes you to a WAIT, updates 10, 15, 5000000 fields in the database,  the game tells you OK, you click OK, and it takes you to the design your toon screen.  You design your toon, you click SAVE, the game updates all the necessary fields and POOF, it takes you back to character select where your 400lb green ogre with warts is now a 45lb brown fuzzy ratonga.    </p><p>You think its not that easy, it is, anyone who has experience working with databases can tell you that its an UPDATE statement devs, if you want I could probably help you write it.  </p><p>Worse yet,  changing from male to female, just as easy.   You might look dog ugly when the database goes  Update Toons set sex = F where toonid = yourtoonIDhere    but then again that happens in real life too.  Want her to look hot, same concept.  Update to female, log out (you pass out from doctors gas),  game updates fields (doctor goes snip), you select what you wanna look like and save (you have told the doctor you want 44 DD on Marilyn Monroe's figure and he agrees), and you log back in (you wake up).</p><p>Fact,  the devs WILL NOT implement this because they don't want to do it.  Fact,  IT CAN BE DONE.  FACT,  this has been hashed over about 400 times and the answer is still NO WE DONT WANT TO DO IT.</p>

[miliskel]

think someone desperately wants to be a girl toon <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/49869fe8223507d7223db3451e5321aa.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /> but yeh, it may be that easy but i personally dont want my freinds saying , im a girl on wednesdays boy on thursdays and nothing for the rest of the week...

[Zagbab_Dorfbasher]

I would love to be able to change race/gender. Even though there is no logical or even remotely plausible way to explain it in the game hehe. (or well, magic does exist so.....)I have alot of free time so I could reroll characters if I wanted to, which I have also done on occasion, but some are left just the way they are (just can't bring myself to delete lvl 70 chars for some reason), in most cases being able to change race/gender would not get me playing those old chars again because the class simply didn't go a line I liked, but for some it would definately breath new life into the character.Like many who have voiced their opinions on this and similar issues I believe a character is "sacred" just the way it is, it is a living thing, that exists inside you, and making such a radical change to it is just wrong.BUT, if SOE for some reason decide to change how the races look (played a Troll in EQ, Luclin made me quit) and our beloved character ends up looking wierd, and some other race suddenly looks a lot more appealing then I would much rather change race (or even gender) and continue playing my character without having to completely kill it and start over with something else.

[Swashbuckler_Tisiphone]

<cite>Supple wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Yes, we're talking non-SOGA. Because the SOGA bodies are going away, human female playing folks might find themselves in a quandry. I'm not asking for a sex-change op though. Someone else can ask for that.</p><p>Really, this is about creating a character quickly just to toy around with it. The character gets into the 30s, and starts doing things subclass specific, and you realize you really enjoy it, but you don't want to start over just because you were hasty during character creation. That's what I'm talking about. Normally, I'm pretty good about character creation, but I do make mistakes. For example, do you remember when there was no "do not sell" checkbox? In total, I think I accidentally sold off one item the whole time before then because I was so overly cautious. But seriously, I shouldnt have to be that paranoid when playing my relaxing game, and apparently the devs agree with that. </p><p>I typically spend two hours on character creation, but most of that time is spent in the naming, so I'm not likely to get it all perfect for all time for every character I create. Maybe I was going for a motif then that I no longer care about. Maybe I thought clothing would look a certain way on this model or that, but it turned out not to. The clothing problem has been eliminated with the inception of the wonderful dressing room window, but that's a recent fixture. I would like a little slack. I'm not asking for anything excessive, just a little backscratch now and again.</p></blockquote>soga bodies are going away?huh?

[Tremelle]

I would like to see this option, but I guess why the Devs would cringe at such a thought. First is the betral issue, we have good races, bad races, neutral race that can start in some cities, but not others. How would they deal with this, if you betrayed, could you only turn into a race of that city, or could you make an evil race in FP and change race to let say a froglok. As for the data base we have no idea how they set it up, we know every toon has an id, but how is this id determined, is the race part of the code, only the Dev know. But I am guessing the code is spagettied, and such a change would be big after all the original dev didn't have the foresight to develop a system so they did have to fit items to every body combination. The entire thing would be a big head acke, and I am sure there are much more important things they could be working on, like, lets say lag <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Cadori Seraphim]

<cite>Uumuuanu wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>The simple fact is that devs ONLY change what they want to.   It's a damned database people, you toon is NOT REAL, it is not solid, it is not even a damned 3D object in the database.  For a DEV to flat out LIE that it is not possible is complete nonsense.   You click I want to change my race, you select your new race, the game logs you out and takes you to a WAIT, updates 10, 15, 5000000 fields in the database,  the game tells you OK, you click OK, and it takes you to the design your toon screen.  You design your toon, you click SAVE, the game updates all the necessary fields and POOF, it takes you back to character select where your 400lb green ogre with warts is now a 45lb brown fuzzy ratonga.    </p><p>You think its not that easy, it is, anyone who has experience working with databases can tell you that its an UPDATE statement devs, if you want I could probably help you write it.  </p><p>Worse yet,  changing from male to female, just as easy.   You might look dog ugly when the database goes  Update Toons set sex = F where toonid = yourtoonIDhere    but then again that happens in real life too.  Want her to look hot, same concept.  Update to female, log out (you pass out from doctors gas),  game updates fields (doctor goes snip), you select what you wanna look like and save (you have told the doctor you want 44 DD on Marilyn Monroe's figure and he agrees), and you log back in (you wake up).</p><p>Fact,  the devs WILL NOT implement this because they don't want to do it.  Fact,  IT CAN BE DONE.  FACT,  this has been hashed over about 400 times and the answer is still NO WE DONT WANT TO DO IT.</p></blockquote>No one claimed their toon was real, no one was claiming it was a solid piece of mass - Get the sand out of your [Removed for Content] and have a normal conversation like the rest of us kk tnx.It's a simple request, some want it some dont. We all have our opinions.

[Amphibia]

<cite>Cadori Seraphim wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Xova wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I asked Archonix about this at Fan Faire, and he grinned and told me to ask Lyndro. I asked Lyndro and he visibly shuddered and made a horrified noise followed by the word "no" about a dozen times. So I think it's safe to say that it's *not* going to happen. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" width="15" height="15" /> </p><p>In all seriousness though, Archonix explained that there were way too many factors to consider that would - in short - cause such a feature such as a "racial respec" to have disastrous consequences on one's character. It's not really feasible, nor would it be worth the amount of time and effort necessary to implement such a feature. If you really want to change your race, use an illusion item. It's not perfect, but it works.</p><p>And I'm sorry but the non-SOGA human females are horrible-looking. I love the SOGA models and can't play in standard at all, but if I had to choose an attractive non-SOGA race, Human females would be LAST on my list. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>Now the Soga Human females are MUCH nicer. I especially love the hairstyle they get with the curls swept off to the side. Very chic - I would love to have that style for my dark elves. *hint hint*</p></blockquote>And Smedley told us that the cards where not going to be tradable in game and yet they are <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" />I don't take anything they say to heart anymore until I actually see it (or not see it), so I would think that anything is up in the air and will continue to be.As for the SOGA models, I dont see why people hate them. I adore most all of them but still use a few older models(gnome female for one). Everyone has their own opinions on what looks good so I wont even begin to debate the *looks* of the models. I just think it sucks if its true that they are taking them away. Time will only tell I guess.</blockquote>I doubt SOGA is going away. What I heard, is that they will keep the heads for both character types, but they will share bodies. So what is going to go away isn't SOGA, but the "alternative model" thing where you can switch between them. I'm not sure if this is true of course, but that's what I heard someone say somewhere.Taking away SOGA now would cause SOE to lose a LOT of subscriptions. I don't think they're that stupid.... <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Swashbuckler_Tisiphone]

ick, I despise soga on my woodelf females it makes them look like theyre running around with a stick up thiertr err anyhows...hoping just a rumor heh

[Sapphirius]

<p>The <i><b><u>only</u></b></i> SOGA model I like is human male. I <i>hate</i> all the others. However, since most of my dark elf friends like their SOGA models better, I've also turned on that particular model so that I can see their characters the way they see them. Ever since the introduction of SOGA, I've been purposely avoiding rolling alts that have the alternative/SOGA appearance (another one of the reasons I love Fae/Arasai characters so much).</p><p>I cannot stand to look at my girls in SOGA, nor can I stand the thought of someone else looking at my girls in SOGA. Their bodies are unnaturally thin. Their arms are too skinny. Their run looks like some sort of mad rabid cow. If they're not in a gi, the shoulders where the sleeves meet the tunics show this huge gap of solid color because their arms are disproportionally skinnier than their torsos. Their armor is usually drawn larger than their bodies, so if it's a gi or formal wear, it shows gaps between the fabric and their skin. If they're in a gi, I can't wear the disciple or blood drenched styles because it shows them with horrid skin tight leggings instead of the loose fitting leggings that the gis normally have. In short, I just think female SOGA models are horrid all together, but that's just my opinion.</p><p>I have, however, played around with the SOGA options for the 3 characters I do have in with alternate appearances to get both appearances to look as close to each other as possible. (See example below.)</p><p><img src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c348/Sapphirius/Random%20Screenshots/Nozomi_SOE.jpg" alt="" width="305" height="448" border="0" />     <img src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c348/Sapphirius/Random%20Screenshots/Nozomi_SOGA.jpg" alt="" width="317" height="448" border="0" /> </p>

[Zabjade]

<p><span style="color: #00cc00;">I personally prefer SOGA models for every race but the Ogres would rather not see sick Klingons lol</span></p><p><span style="color: #00cc00;">The original models seemed bloppy and once the fixed, the running the only problem for SOGA are the neck and how pants are done. </span></p><p><span style="color: #00cc00;">Both models have problems on where the feet art bent. >_< ouchy!</span></p><p><span style="color: #00cc00;">Would also like more sitting and laying down options as well as dance Moves in addition to a racial dance. Anyone with Coreography experiance should make suggestions to SoE for dance moves!</span></p>

[Wossname]

I use almost exclusively SOGA, only gnomes are the original models, and I would be very annoyed to have SOGA removed. The original models are extremely ugly in comparison. This is of course only my opinion and I expect that there are equally strong views on both sides of the pro/anti-SOGA divide. Since this is only a client-side option I really see no reason at all to remove SOGA.I would be against a racial change "respec" being put in, no matter how technically simple it is in terms of SQL. Choosing a race is important, at least as important as choosing a class. You're going to have to look at that toon until you stop playing or delete it to reroll. No-one seriously expects to respec from Necromancer to Templar do they? That is simply a profession change. Changing your race and allegiance is even less likely.

[bloodomen]

<p>I can see why alot of people would like to have a chance at switching race's, with all the talk of changes coming to the game i personaly am worried. first of the look of your char is alot to me and a big change to char models might ruin my enjoyment on a char i have spent alot of time playing/leveling. second and more importantly is the talk of revamp on traits for a race, as stated in other posts certain races do benefit to some class's like the 3% health which to a tank is alot. if traits are changed that certain races are going to be better at certain class's and new races are added this is unfair to older players surely ? also when i started playing Eq2 i had no idea what traits my race got until i leveled up. i hope SoE dont make the mistake of upsetting their older players with any revamps (( tho im sure they will makes traits well balanced *Cross fingers* ))</p>