I wanted to start by saying that I had a fantastic time playing the Beta this past weekend, and can't wait for the next one in two weeks!
I was very pleased to see that Tera has long hair options for the females as a lot of the games I have played do not. Unfortunately certain armor causes the hair to be done up in a bun. I was hoping that perhaps a toggle could be added so that if you wanted your hair to remain down regardless of the armor you are wearing, you could leave it down. It is such a shame to finally be able to have truly long hair only to have it put up in a bun. :)
I agree, I love how many long hair options they have. But I think they had to do that for some armor options to avoid clipping issues. I know I've seen some armor with high necks in the back and they'd have to design the hair to fall in a totally different manner. I think the bun is just a lot easier for the artists.
They do that for a reason, so I don't mind it. It's the same reason why many games don't do long hair, or don't do it well - long hair clips through armor pieces. Collars, big shoulders, etc. And it can't look quite terrible when it does. That kind of clipping really can't and won't be fixed. So they do this instead, to reduce how much clipping occurs, so that it doesn't detract from the overall look of the hair or armor.
Well, that's where there's a problem though... some of us don't mind the clipping. Further, some class/race combos outfits are almost entirely composed of high collars. Male High Elven robe armors for example, or female Human light and heavy armors. One should pretty much just pick a hair style based on the shape of the bangs.
It's a little absurd.
Your preference isn't the only one that comes into play though (although I understand where you are coming from). There are artists who spend a lot of time on hair and armors. I can imagine it's painful to see them look bad because of this issue. What good is designing and making collars and shoulder pads to match the race's style, if they look terrible covered up with clipping hair? It's also to save the artistic creation there.
I'm not very fond of the bun thing, and I can imagine it's annoying when a lot of your armor has a high collar. But remember, there's armor reskinning. So if it bothers you, you do have a choice. ;)
I have a bit of an issue with the fact that we can dye our armor, but cannot freely pick a hair color. High Elves, for example, are almost entirely limited to shiny off-blonde colors. There is no deep red for the elves at all, but the Elin, Castanic, and Aman all have it as an option.
If we can dye armor, why not hair?
That said, the waist-length ponytail options for the Aman are great. I'd like to see more hair options at that length, personally. It's just a shame that hair is one of the more difficult things to do, even in 2012.
Thank you for the feedback. Good thoughts here. I am still hopeful that something like a toggle can be implemented. I am definitely ok with the hair clipping through the armor if it means I can have it long all the time. And for those that don't care for the clipping can toggle the bun. :)