Maitreya X

Caete

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Coming Soon: an entirely new version, a next generation of Lara!
When we created the Lara Mesh Body over 8 years ago, she was ground breaking and soon became the most popular body on the second life grid. Originally it had been our goal to stay close to the default Second Life avatar (Ruth), so that everyone could still enjoy their sl wardrobe with their Lara body. In recent years that restriction has been lifted more and more. Due to the effort of thousands of content creators in second life, who make their mesh in various mesh body sizes, a mesh body can now look any way we want it to.
Recently we’ve received a lot of requests for a Lara mesh body update. When we asked people what it was they were hoping to see in an update, most people replied they were hoping to see a more curvy or more detailed Lara with better weights. The request for smoother weights originates from creators who have expressed the difficulty they experience when creating content for the Lara mesh body (some of them therefore even decided to drop Lara sizes). As much as we wanted to improve the weights issues, doing so would always result in the breaking of content made for Lara previously.
The solution we eventually came up with is to improve Lara, with smoother weights and more detailed mesh. And to give this next generation Lara X as an extra in our next update. An extra, not a replacement. So that no-one will lose anything and everyone will only gain! This means that every Lara mesh body owner or buyer will receive Lara X for free and also still the original Lara body, to wear with existing Lara wardrobes. You can switch between them effortlessly if you wish so.

We’ve noticed there are some misunderstandings about the ‘more curvy’ part. We didn’t make the body more curvy. We tried to keep Lara as much as possible the same ‘thickness’ and same look she had. But because we had to make changes to the weights, the body does respond a little stronger to the appearance sliders. This means that if your shape sliders were (almost) maxed for butt and/or breasts, you will see they are a little bigger now. If your slider is in the middle, they are about the same size as before. So if you don’t want to be more curvy, you don’t have to. But you do have the option to get a bit more curvy. The butt also has the option of physics (movement) now. And the body is a bit more detailed, as in smoother and rounder. The changes are very subtle, but as you can see on the GIF, there are differences. Wether or not clothing made for Lara will fit Lara X (with alpha use), may partly depend on sliders as well. Again, if your shape sliders are somewhat in the middle, the changes are minimal. With sliders set to more extreme numbers, the differences grow. We expect that from now on, creators will prefer to create for Lara X. You get to keep your original Lara for things made previously, if they don’t fit Lara X. That way you will always have a Lara version that fits your clothing. Lara X isn’t an add-on. It is a full body avatar, that you will get as an addition to your original Lara.

According to GRYPHON, MAITREYA's CSR, everyone who has received a LARA body will receive the LARA X.
No REDELIVERY required since it is a NEW ADDITIONAL body.
The LARA clothes will fir the LARA X, again according to Gryphon.

 

Cindy Claveau

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Used only Maitreya for years. I'm very reluctant to switch for fear I'll screw everything up (I know, "shapes") plus my SL time is severely limited of late.

My usual practice is to wait and see if the market is flooded with Lara X merchandise - or even better, conversion kits for old Maitreyas. But bottom line, here, I have thousands of US Dollars sunk into old Maitreya and I'm not willing to just abandon all that gear.
 

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I think the benefit is that you keep the old Lara body around, while receiving the X version as well. We should be able to experiment with X and ones older Lara 5.x wear, and in the meantime wait and see if Lara X starts getting a lot of action from creators.

Kind of a win-win. Sorta. Maybe.
 

Noodles

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My usual practice is to wait and see if the market is flooded with Lara X merchandise - or even better, conversion kits for old Maitreyas. But bottom line, here, I have thousands of US Dollars sunk into old Maitreya and I'm not willing to just abandon all that gear.
This is the real trick.

I have two "main accounts."

One I recently moved to Lara from Slink, not so much because I disliked Slink, it was just harder and harder to find newer clothing support.

The other I moved from Maitreya to Legacy, and I get a little frustrated by the clothing support there and have a lot of clothes I used to use I can't use without swapping back.
 
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Fionalein

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not switching, I won't be able to use my body add ons with LaraX - so screw it

my prediction is: this will be brand suicide with only fashionistas switching and most regular users being pissed
 
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Katheryne Helendale

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I think the benefit is that you keep the old Lara body around, while receiving the X version as well. We should be able to experiment with X and ones older Lara 5.x wear, and in the meantime wait and see if Lara X starts getting a lot of action from creators.

Kind of a win-win. Sorta. Maybe.
I like the idea. I just wonder how "effortlessly" one can switch between the two.
 

Tirellia

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You can now get your Maitreya LaraX by attaching your hud and selecting Update on the Misc. tab. I've only played with it for a few minutes so far. It's amazing to see a creator in SL offer existing users a free next generation body instead of charging for a whole new thing.
 

Noodles

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Yeah, Maitreya feels like it was the defacto default for everyone for so long but I wonder if that is still the case. I can say I have moved my two main Avatars to Legacy and Reborn. Losing a lot of my favored clothes sucked but I kind of like both a bit better.

I did update on a third account to check it out, I swapped the old and new bodies and immidiately noticed clipping issues on the clothing with the new vs the old. Which is worrying.

On a side note of theowing out the old for the new, LAQ, is basically giving away everything right now for Black Friday, but also because they are going to be rolling out some sort of Next Gen product. But I wonder if selling everything old for nothing will satisfy enough people that they will not have a need for the new product. (By giving away, I mean literally 99% off at 10-15L$ for heads and skins, and 1-3L$ for add ons.
 

Cristiano

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Yeah, Maitreya feels like it was the defacto default for everyone for so long but I wonder if that is still the case. I can say I have moved my two main Avatars to Legacy and Reborn. Losing a lot of my favored clothes sucked but I kind of like both a bit better.

I did update on a third account to check it out, I swapped the old and new bodies and immidiately noticed clipping issues on the clothing with the new vs the old. Which is worrying.

On a side note of theowing out the old for the new, LAQ, is basically giving away everything right now for Black Friday, but also because they are going to be rolling out some sort of Next Gen product. But I wonder if selling everything old for nothing will satisfy enough people that they will not have a need for the new product. (By giving away, I mean literally 99% off at 10-15L$ for heads and skins, and 1-3L$ for add ons.
LaraX is a new body - new rigging, etc...and more alpha cuts. Think of it not as an update to Lara. It will take awhile for creators to add stuff for it. There is an ongoing discussion of it here:

 
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Cristiano

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not switching, I won't be able to use my body add ons with LaraX - so screw it

my prediction is: this will be brand suicide with only fashionistas switching and most regular users being pissed
I somehow doubt that. Major creator offers new version of body for free to existing users. It will take some time for support to be there, but they have incredible brand power. It is not suicide, it is a brilliant way to handle it.
 

Lexxi

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I updated, but it's been a while so I had to go to the store to actually click the redelivery thing. I noticed that the bodies for sale are LaraX, Lara Petite X Full Body, and Lara Petite X add-on. Without reference to prior version. Sure, prior version is in an "extras" box, but I can imagine some people might beome annoyed, confused, if they buy LaraX (or variation), go shopping, and not find LaraX stuff, but instead a bunch of advertisements for Lara and/or Maitreya. And think that might mean LaraX.

Should have added something extra to the name beyond an X.
 

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Lexxi

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Nah - for one that is already a brand, and for a second - unlike other meshbodies, this one doesn't come with built in genitals. And one of them, at least, Sensations, hasn't updated to X so there is obvious holes that 'break' it when worn with X.