It's not just guys that are part of the pre patch 5 Minthara Fan club; most players who like the first iteration do so purely out of preference and that has a lot to due with the fact that they romanced and interacted with her first iteration for how long has it been ten months now?; I suppose it's been that long.
Minthara's hair has never actually been long; it was medium length ruffled hair; so both iterations make sense in regard to her not abiding by the long haired aspect of Drow culture; though it is somewhat interesting that she keeps spiders which are servants of Lolth close at hand and she also shows no shortage of Drow supremacist views; if anything she flaunts her racial pride in my opinion; some players like her present iteration and others like her earlier iteration; it's a matter of preference.
Plenty of players loved Minthara's first iteration and many of those same individuals are saying that it's not lore friendly now; that wasn't the case before patch 5; a lot of players who were talking about her first iteration noted how ruffled and unkempt her hair was and how it fit her circumstances and demeanor; furthermore her current very copious silver eyeshadow is very peculiar for someone who apparently is being presented with a rough exterior and makes very little sense to some people; which is another reason why some players prefer her first iteration. The differences between her iterations exist in hair and makeup; her face is pretty good in my opinion.
The remedy for the players' different preferences has to be modded appearances; we can make different iterations of Minthara as well as other characters and share them; most likely on nexus mods; that way the pre patch 5 Minthara fan club and the patch 5 Minthara fan club can both be satisfied and get the experiences that they want.
The previous hair was short as well, yes. But for me It just seemed too messy for HER hairstyle. She maybe not obsessed with her looks, but she doesn't strike me as someone who would allow the underlings to see her in a bad shape. So now we at least have something that is both short and keept in order. I'm seeing her face as not perfect from the start and totally agree with criticism on the new make up. So I still hope that Larian will improve elves appreances in general and her appearance in particular. With all respect to modding community I prefer my RPGs vanilla and if I feel like I can't enjoy it in vanilla then I see it as an oversight on developers side.
