[Tips] How to use your fantasia potion effectively and without regret
Most of us are coming to the point where we are purchasing subscriptions and getting our vet rewards. One of the veteran rewards for the 30 day subscription is the phial of fantasia, which lets you completely and permanently change your character's appearance, even his or her race and gender.
Here's a video guide on how it works and how to use it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv8cnHW8VMo
Now, I've been seeing a lot of posts about people using these potions and regretting their appearance changes, either because they mistakingly did something or didn't realize how they would look or sound in certain situations like combat animations or wearing certain armor. I've heard that SE will allow you one single item restore, but its probably a painstaking process. Your best bet is to make sure the changes to your character are acceptable to you, as they are permanent. Even if/when SE implements some sort of barber shop, I doubt it will let you change your race or gender. So make it count!
Here's some tips you can use to make sure you use your potion and hopefully not end up regretting your changes:
Create a completely new "test" character. If you only have the entry level subscription, you will have to make a new character on another server, since you are only allowed one character per server.
Play around with the character creator to make a character you like. Experiment with weird options. Adjust the height and ear sizes to extreme levels to see how much of a difference it makes. Try picking a different clan as sometimes this makes a difference when it comes to what kind of options you have (such as facial features, tattoos, etc)
Once you've found something you think you might like, save the appearance data. Make sure to add a note to describe this appearance so you pick the right one later on.
Log into your new test character. Go through the intro quest, do all the things you have to do. Play your character, run, jump, use emotes. Try on different kinds of low level armor to see how clothes fit. Sit down in chairs. If you have any free mounts from rewards such as collector's edition, climb on them to see how you will look (assuming you can use these at level 1, not sure about that hehe). Go outside and **** things, maybe even level up to 5 or 10 to see what your character will look like using certain skills.
Once you have a good idea of how your character will look and move, and you are satisfied with this, log into your main character. Use the phial of fantasia, and be sure to load your favorite appearance data when you are re-creating your appearance.
edit: As some users have pointed out in the comments, another quicker alternative would be to make test characters using the official benchmark , which will allow you to see your character running around and fighting and stuff. You can save the appearance from the benchmark and load it in the game. While this is certainly faster than sitting through the intro cutscenes, you might not be able to test out certain emotes or actions since you won't have full control over your test character in the benchmark. But if you feel this is a better option for you, then go for it!! :)
You can make these test characters as many times you want. If you don't like your first test character for some reason, delete him/her and make a new one. Keep doing this until you find an appearance you absolutely love. It might take some time out of your day (mostly just from sitting through the intro cutscenes), but it is VERY important, as the changes made with the phial of fantasia are permanent.
I hope this will help some of you to avoid making bad decisions that you might end up later regretting. Best of luck and I'll see you in Eorzea!!! :)
TL;DR before you use your phial of fantasia, make some new test characters (either in-game or through the benchmark) to find a new appearance you absolutely love, and save the appearance data. log into this test character and run around, use emotes, etc. (or watch it do stuff in the benchmark) to get a good feel of how your new character will look. once you've found something, load the appearance data on your main character when you use the phial of fantasia :)
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