As someone who has put countless hours into various MMOs (including FFXIV), I totally get people getting anxious about their characters looks potentially changing. I remember when WoW had their character model update as the feedback from players then. Blizzard resolved the issue by adding a client-side option to toggle between old and new character models.
It is the same model, but the difference is in the horns and scales. Those pics don't do a very good job of showing it, though. From the paragraphs right above the pics:
Following community feedback after the announcement of the graphical update back at the fan festival event in Las Vegas, he shared an update of the Au Ra race, whose updated horns and scales had been initially revealed as looking very reflective but a little too much like enamel.
“This reflectivity looked very high quality so it was good for showing off, but it didn't really match our vision of what we wanted the Au Ra to look like from our original design back in 3.0, so we continued tweaking,” Yoshida admitted before sharing a new headshots of a male and female Au Ra where their horns look less reflective and more natural. “This goes for all of the updates for the other races as well. What we showed in Las Vegas wasn't the final product but a work in progress.”
The Epic v Google lawsuit is bringing to light a lot of interesting tidbits of info, so I think it's just that. It's an interesting tidbit, but not really relevant to much outside the trial. That said, I do like seeing this kind of info shared, as it gives us a peek behind the curtain of these megacorps' operations.
Unfortunately, many games nowadays are digital only, especially on PC. The last "physical" game I bought (Mass Effect Andromeda... yeah, I know) was just a box with a key to redeem on Origin. While DRM-free games are a thing, it's not always an option.
Last year's TGA was somewhat exciting because they gave away a bunch of Steam Decks. I normally just see the winners posted the next morning, along with any new game trailers.
A large big-box store and the line wasn't single file. A lot of people were in small groups as well. I could be misremembering since it's been years, but there were maybe 2-300 people.
I attended the Switch release at my local Best Buy. I decided to swing by after work on a whim (I work evenings) and managed to snag a sheet to reserve a copy. There were probably a few hundred people in line, but nothing crazy like the line wrapping around the store or anything.
The sunsetting of some of the content pissed me the hell off. I bought Forsaken, and took a break before finishing it, so I paid for content that I won't be able to play. On top of that, the FOMO and pressure to buy the battle passes to play the new content just put me off.