Race/gender/name change choice

[Shong]

As you know this has come up many times in the past, Why Not allow a race/gender/name change? It will not unbalance the game at all will also make a nice chuck of income for SE. It will make a lot of people very happy as well, Having to remake a toon and level it from 1-99 and redo all the missions fights atmas empy etc is really a pain in the rear. You could easily charge a fee of 5 dollars for name and 10 for gender swap or 20 for a complete redo of your current toon. I am positive a lot of people will wanna do this. As for the few who stick to there idea it will unbalance the game it will not don't try and force you game style on others.

[Teraniku]

*sigh* What so you couldn't post in the 6+ previous threads on the subject?

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/27255-Race-Gender-Character-Change?highlight=Race+Change

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/812-Suggestion-Paid-Race-Change-Program.?highlight=Race+Change

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/21332-Race-change.?highlight=Race+Change

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/18960-Paid-race-change-service-for-FFXI!?highlight=Race+Change

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/3426-Race-Gender-face-hairstyle-change-topic...again?highlight=Race+Change

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/9808-Change-character-race-optional-service?highlight=Race+Change

Your Search Fu is weak young grasshopper.

[Mirage]

Nah, the more the merrier, I say.

[Caketime]

In b4 everyone is a Taru.

[wildsprite]

*sigh* What so you couldn't post in the 6+ previous threads on the subject?

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/27255-Race-Gender-Character-Change?highlight=Race+Change

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/812-Suggestion-Paid-Race-Change-Program.?highlight=Race+Change

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/21332-Race-change.?highlight=Race+Change

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/18960-Paid-race-change-service-for-FFXI!?highlight=Race+Change

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/3426-Race-Gender-face-hairstyle-change-topic...again?highlight=Race+Change

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/9808-Change-character-race-optional-service?highlight=Race+Change

Your Search Fu is weak young grasshopper.

so why not add one more to the mix....

[Lokithor]

With a race / name change feature, you would also need an "AKA" feature (also known as) so that you can query anyone to find out their previous name, race, server. Can't have notorious players dropping their past so easily.

[Sunrider]

With a race / name change feature, you would also need an "AKA" feature (also known as) so that you can query anyone to find out their previous name, race, server. Can't have notorious players dropping their past so easily.They can already do that, if they want.

Just create a character of the same name as yours on your destination server, then opt to change to that server, and automatically the conflict in names will mean the new arrival has to change theirs, and just like that, a player gets a new identity.

Its expensive and a little more work, but child's play for anyone that wants to escape a bad rep.

[deces]

Sure are a bunch of Micheal Jacksons and Ru Pauls up in here.

[Lollerblades]

Needs more race change !

[svengalis]

They have already said they are looking into it. Who knows how long before they actually let us do it if they decide to do it at all.

[Kristal]

I am positive a lot of people will wanna do this. As for the few who stick to there idea it will unbalance the game it will not don't try and force you game style on others.

I am positive very few people will wanna do this. It would cost money. It would also cause considerable stress due to peer pressure and LS management forcing people to change their race to better fit their designated job.

[Sunrider]

People are pressured into leveling jobs they don't particularly like. People are pressured into showing up on necessary jobs instead of their favorites. Should we limit players to a single job then?

Peer pressure is an issue, but if its so strong that one feels the need to give in, then one should invite their LS leader to pay their race change fees. The pressure should let up after that.

[Camiie]

I am positive very few people will wanna do this. It would cost money. It would also cause considerable stress due to peer pressure and LS management forcing people to change their race to better fit their designated job.

If your LS is asking or pressuring you to do that, then you need a new LS. No ifs, ands, or buts. Some things I can understand requiring, but that's a step way too far.

[Kristal]

If your LS is asking or pressuring you to do that, then you need a new LS. No ifs, ands, or buts. Some things I can understand requiring, but that's a step way too far.

But it is a step that would become required by some linkshells if the option was made available. And if you had considerable stakes in the next loot drop, leaving might not be an option.

If the change was purely cosmetic (you would still be considered your original race/gender no matter what you look like aftwards) I would be less opposed to it, but it would interest even fewer people (to the point of simply not being worth adding the option.)

[Sunrider]

I wouldn't oppose a purely cosmetic option, as my interest in race change is purely aesthetic.

Hume stats and Elvaan body/animation? Okay.

[Caketime]

But it is a step that would become required by some linkshells if the option was made available. And if you had considerable stakes in the next loot drop, leaving might not be an option.

If the change was purely cosmetic (you would still be considered your original race/gender no matter what you look like aftwards) I would be less opposed to it, but it would interest even fewer people (to the point of simply not being worth adding the option.)

Why do you dislike nice things?

[Shong]

I am positive very few people will wanna do this. It would cost money. It would also cause considerable stress due to peer pressure and LS management forcing people to change their race to better fit their designated job. If I was able to do a public poll vote for this I am betting you there's gonna be far more people saying yes then no

[Shong]

But it is a step that would become required by some linkshells if the option was made available. And if you had considerable stakes in the next loot drop, leaving might not be an option.

If the change was purely cosmetic (you would still be considered your original race/gender no matter what you look like aftwards) I would be less opposed to it, but it would interest even fewer people (to the point of simply not being worth adding the option.)
Your one person opposing a Thought, When hundreds are approving it. Kinda speaks for it self doesn't it?

[Teraniku]

Your one person opposing a Thought, When hundreds are approving it. Kinda speaks for it self doesn't it?

Hundreds? you do only have 13 likes on your first post.. I really don't care if people want to change their w/e on their character, If I don't like a character I usually re-roll it and start over, but this game being this game, I can understand why some people might be inclined to just get an insta-switch while keeping all their stuff.

[Kristal]

Your one person opposing a Thought, When hundreds are approving it. Kinda speaks for it self doesn't it?

13 likes of 498 views. 485 people who dislike or don't give a crap about it. And that's not counting the people that /rolleyes and didn't even bother opening the thread because it's the same thing every time. Kinda speaks for itself, doesn't it?

[Sunrider]

13 likes of 498 views. 485 people who dislike or don't give a crap about it. And that's not counting the people that /rolleyes and didn't even bother opening the thread because it's the same thing every time. Kinda speaks for itself, doesn't it?
Not really.

The subject of race change alone was brought up several times in the "tell the producer what you want" thread, each post getting it's own individual support. This is to say nothing of the individual threads that sprout from time to time, each with more supportive responses than negative.

Those who don't give a crap may not be bothered to agree with the idea, but they certainly don't oppose, either. As time progresses, I think more people have come to realize that there is simply no good reason to oppose race change: it's discussion actually recalls past discussions of server change, before the devs finally implemented that.

[Llana_Virren]

Not really.

The subject of race change alone was brought up several times in the "tell the producer what you want" thread, each post getting it's own individual support. This is to say nothing of the individual threads that sprout from time to time, each with more supportive responses than negative.

Those who don't give a crap may not be bothered to agree with the idea, but they certainly don't oppose, either. As time progresses, I think more people have come to realize that there is simply no good reason to oppose race change: it's discussion actually recalls past discussions of server change, before the devs finally implemented that.

I'd rather people spend their time improving parts of the game that more people do want; rather than invest the time into a mechanic that few people want and more people are simply apathetic towards.

[Mirage]

Now it seems like some people are again making the assumption that all game changes require the same amount of development time.

Is it really a bad idea to spend time on several small things that each are desired by just a moderate amount of players instead of spending it on one huge thing that is wanted by a bit more people?

Think of it mathematically. Assuming both can be done in roughly the same amount of development time, is 100 things where each thing is wanted by 500 players a worse idea to do than 10 things that are each wanted by 5000 players? In terms of amount of players pleased, it would be about the same.

Numbers are fictional, but I don't suppose anyone else has any actual numbers for their arguments either, so whatever.

[Llana_Virren]

Now it seems like some people are again making the assumption that all game changes require the same amount of development time.

Is it really a bad idea to spend time on several small things that each are desired by just a moderate amount of players instead of spending it on one huge thing that is wanted by a bit more people?

Think of it mathematically. Assuming both can be done in roughly the same amount of development time, is 100 things where each thing is wanted by 500 players a worse idea to do than 10 things that are each wanted by 5000 players? In terms of amount of players pleased, it would be about the same.

Numbers are fictional, but I don't suppose anyone else has any actual numbers for their arguments either, so whatever.

In order to apply mathematics you have to account for the actual man-hours spent on it, not the "players wanting versus players affected" ratio. Man-hours spent on a race-change are man-hours not spent on adjustments to NNI, adjustments to certain jobs (lolRDM), adjustments to Meeble cooldowns; adjustments for stuff still in development (*cough* SoA and new jobs *cough*), etc.

In terms of man-hours and work-to-gain, doing 1 thing that benefits 13(?) people is not the same as doing 10 things that please 5000 players.

Don't get me wrong; I think the race/gender change would be a welcomed adjustment in my book; but I'm keeping the math honest: there are more people who want lolRDM fixed than want gender changes.

[Mirage]

The amount of likes in the first post of this thread is not really worth anything in this context. How many FFXI players are registered on the forums? How many of them check it even on a weekly basis? How many of them bother to read anything but very limited portions of the forum?

The only way to get a realistic figure would be for SE to pop up a poll before logging into the game, maybe then they would get a decent enough sample size. 500 view of this thread means nothing either, considering every page load by people posting in it counts towards it, probably including every time someone edits their post as well. I think the number of unique viewers of this thread is well below 100. In that case, 13 likes is something like 10-20%.

-edit-
Point in case. I increased the view count of this thread by 3 just today alone. Whenever I check back for a reply to this post, I'll have loaded it 4 times, and if I choose to reply to that again, 5.

[Camiie]

I'd rather people spend their time improving parts of the game that more people do want; rather than invest the time into a mechanic that few people want and more people are simply apathetic towards.

But then we'd have a lot more Abyssea or Voidwatch and a lot less Legion or Neo-Nyzul. We wouldn't have 3 different types of legendary weapons a lot more kickass AH-able options. SE likes appealing to the vocal minority. They put tons of time and effort into it. Why can't they do it now? ;_;

[Shong]

13 likes of 498 views. 485 people who dislike or don't give a crap about it. And that's not counting the people that /rolleyes and didn't even bother opening the thread because it's the same thing every time. Kinda speaks for itself, doesn't it?
You Do know this topic has been brought up over 20 times in the past just cause I get 13likes don't mean people don't like it, Just means either A they too lazy to log in or B they liked it on past threads, But likes alone don't tell if people support something.

[svengalis]

13 likes of 498 views. 485 people who dislike or don't give a crap about it. And that's not counting the people that /rolleyes and didn't even bother opening the thread because it's the same thing every time. Kinda speaks for itself, doesn't it?

There has been at least 10 threads made about this all with 10+ likes.

[Mirage]

And you don't think it might be a lot of the same people pressing that like button? :p

That said, I'm for it, just because it would mean I could change the hair color of my mithra. I would naturally never change my race.

[Arbalest]

I am positive very few people will wanna do this. It would cost money. It would also cause considerable stress due to peer pressure and LS management forcing people to change their race to better fit their designated job.

Of course it's going to cost money. The game isn't F2P, after all, and SE needs to find new ways to make players happy, and to make money. That being said, I'm sure it'd be too much of a bother for the game to convert one set of racial stats to another set - it'd more than likely be purely cosmetic, and have no effect on the game itself. Of course, SE is 'looking into it'; that means they're never going to give us an answer on the subject, but if they do it won't be for several years.

I've been clamoring for something like a race change option for quite a while. I'm not expecting anything amazing from SE, though.

So..

[Sarick]

You all talk about what people want and the time frame lets just cut to the chase. Not long ago when we logged on we got a poll that ask the users to vote on what client they used. The PS2 got hit hard in those votes as a result only Japanese players are getting the new expansion.

So, if SE wants to really be fair all they need to do is use more of those polls when we log on. Have a list of things we want done per account that auto pops up. When players log on they'll be given the options from ALL regions and EVERYONE who is active will get a vote on what they want the most.

No need to play guessing games, if it's that important to see what the user base wants then put up weekly polls on log in. That way EVERYONE has a voice not just people who are active on the forums, favored Japanese etc. The votes wouldn't lie in those polls.

I'm sure if SE made a poll about this topic and split it into these questions they'd get enough information decide if it's worth implementing.


THIS IS AN EXAMPLE NOT A REAL POLL

1. If implemented would changing race gender or name be something you would use? (Yes/No)

2. If implemented would limited twice yearly RARE/EX item recovery such as "relic recovery" be something you would use? (Yes/No)

3. Do you think the ability to stack logs/ores would be useful and not harm the games economy? (Yes/No)

4. Do you think having a large storage warehouse accessible by all characters on the account would be useful for items that can be mailed or traded? (Yes/No)

5. Do you think future polls like these would be useful in helping the development choose new features and additions? (Yes/No)

6. Do you feel the STF (Special task force) is doing enough to reduce RMT activities? (Yes/No)

7. On a scale of 1-10 what would you rate the fun factor of this game as is, 10 being highest and 1 being lowest.

8. Based on the answers above what would you feel most important features to be added. Please rate them 1-6 using each number only once. One being highest priority six being lowest priority.


Race change option ( )
Sex change option ( )
Name change option ( )
Ore & log stacking ( )
Accidental gear recovery ( )
Universal storage warehouse ( )


You see how easy it would be to collect the data from the actual user base? This simple poll would give the players the ability to choose whats most important to them. It would also allow the developers to see if ideas are rejected by the community.

This would be my example response.

1. YES
2. YES
3. YES
4. YES
5. YES
6. NO
7. 5


Race change option ( 5 )
Sex change option ( 6 )
Name change option ( 3 )
Ore & log stacking ( 4 )
Accidental gear recovery ( 2 )
Universal storage warehouse ( 1 )


Notice name change is 3 where sex change and race change are less important.

[Mirage]

It would make no sense to disallow sex change while race change was possible though, seeing as two races are single gender only.

[Kristal]

There has been at least 10 threads made about this all with 10+ likes.

Which means you average them, not add them up. And it still does not offer dislike or dontcare choices.

The way I see it, this is a change with minimal interest from players, no profit to be gained (since it's pretty much a one-time feature), with considerable risk of fallout ingame AND for SE as a company.

[svengalis]

Which means you average them, not add them up. And it still does not offer dislike or dontcare choices.

The way I see it, this is a change with minimal interest from players, no profit to be gained (since it's pretty much a one-time feature), with considerable risk of fallout ingame AND for SE as a company.

Why would there be fallout? Just about every modern MMO on the market offers it. SE needs to get with times.

[Camiie]

Which means you average them, not add them up. And it still does not offer dislike or dontcare choices.

The way I see it, this is a change with minimal interest from players,

What proof do you have? Please don't counter with, "What proof does the other side have?" That's not answering the question.


no profit to be gained (since it's pretty much a one-time feature),

It's no more a "one time feature" than paid world transfers or tidal talismans and other trinkets.


with considerable risk of fallout ingame AND for SE as a company.

What fallout? People using it to hide from their bad reputations? Yes, a few people may abuse or misuse the feature. Just about anything that can be used can also be misused. That's a risk I'm willing to take.

As for SE's reputation as a company? Seriously? How will adding a modern feature to an older MMO give them a worse reputation? This isn't the nonsense about sex changes not being allowed in Japan again is it? Please tell me you're not going there. It's a video game. No real life genitalia are being altered as a result of this feature.

[Winrie]

I don't think name changing should be allowed without server changing, that could get very disruptive and confusing quickly. Race and sex change however would be awesome, even if it's only a one time thing.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

I don't think name changing should be allowed without server changing, that could get very disruptive and confusing quickly. Race and sex change however would be awesome, even if it's only a one time thing.This I can agree with a little more. People may not have known what they were getting into when they picked a race at teh beginning, but your name? You should have put some more thought and originality into it in the first place.
I'm still siding with no on all accounts though. If it realy was that big a deal to you, you would have spent a month server swaping already to fix your name.

[Shong]

I don't think name changing should be allowed without server changing, that could get very disruptive and confusing quickly. Race and sex change however would be awesome, even if it's only a one time thing.Yes Name change should be allowed if they allow race/gender change, Would u really wanna turn your female toon to a male toon with a female name? or a male toon to a female toon with a male name? No you wouldn't I sure as heck wouldn't want that and I am sure a lot more would agree there. An as for if people have a bad rep they should be allowed to toss there old name for a new one cause in the end they pay for there account like we all do. Regardless if they have a bad rep or not they should be allowed a new chance if they pay for it.

[Mirage]

I don't think name changing should be allowed without server changing, that could get very disruptive and confusing quickly. Race and sex change however would be awesome, even if it's only a one time thing.

Why would it be confusing? Going by current limitations on server changes, you can change the name and go back to your own server once over 6 months. Limiting name changes to once per 6 months would be unproblematic, and seriously, how often would people use it anyway? Players on your friend list wouldn't disappear, and I'm sure the people you actually care about would tell you if they changed their name.

Allowing race/gender changes but disallowing name changes would be pretty dumb, considering anyone with a gender specific name would be stuck with that after changing race or genders.

[Teishi]

+1

I would definitely make use of a race change service, and I know several others that would as well.

*waves 25$ in front of screen* Come take my money, SE! Make it happen!

[Tanama]

+1 as well. I fully support this. The OP needs more likes!

[Kincard]

One thing I would really love for them to do if they ever consider doing anything like this, is to make it so that you can keep your race but get the stats of another.

In the current game Max MP just isn't very useful anymore. It's important for maxing out Alexander's potency but that's about the only thing it's good for. The longevity of MP is more tied to how much refresh gear you have rather than your max MP most of the time. Kinda sucks for the people that initially picked their race purely for gameplay reasons that are now nonexistant.

[Gaspee]

Just gonna leave this here...


Greetings,

I apologize that I can't say much but we would like to thank you for your suggestions to allow race changes as well as alter other character features. This feedback is being taken into consideration. :)

[Teishi]

That's so encouraging :D

*continues to furiously wave 25$ at screen* Race change option gogo!

[Okipuit]

Greetings!

We know that there has been quite a few requests from players to be able to change your character's race, gender, and name. While this is something we continue to look into, nothing has been finalized in terms of implementation or release, so we cannot announce any concrete details yet. We appreciate your patience in this matter and we'll be sure to announce updates as soon as we have them to share!

[Mirage]

Thanks for the info, Oki. I appreciate it.

[Tanama]

Thanks, Okipuit.

[Teishi]

Thanks Okipuit :D

[Kristal]

I reckon it'll happen when the game goes F2P.

[Etrigan]

Thanks for the feedback Okipuit, I think race and gender change would be a rather interesting idea, but the name change maybe not so much. I believe that too many bad reputation players out there would abuse it, changing their name after their current one has gotten too bad. Unless there was a way to publicly see Prior Names....

[Sunrider]

Name change is already possible. Its expensive and time-consuming, but easy enough for anyone looking to escape their reputation.

An easier, more legit name change feature wouldn't give any more power to bad players than already exists. But, it would allow decent players to escape awful names (Xxspehirothxx or Icantthinkofaname), with less hassle.

[Bloodrain]

Thanks for the update Oki :) im happy to see that the development team is at least looking into it.

[Rambus]

Greetings!

We know that there has been quite a few requests from players to be able to change your character's race, gender, and name. While this is something we continue to look into, nothing has been finalized in terms of implementation or release, so we cannot announce any concrete details yet. We appreciate your patience in this matter and we'll be sure to announce updates as soon as we have them to share!

I am posting my support for this change.

[Sevokevo]

Greetings!

We know that there has been quite a few requests from players to be able to change your character's race, gender, and name. While this is something we continue to look into, nothing has been finalized in terms of implementation or release, so we cannot announce any concrete details yet. We appreciate your patience in this matter and we'll be sure to announce updates as soon as we have them to share!


Hope to see this in race changes... this would get me back into FFXI while I wait for 2.0.

[sweetidealism]

It might break lore a bit, but if ever race/gender changes were to be allowed...

I would love to see male Mithras become playable.

[Demon6324236]

Wouldn't stop the army of Manthras I am sure.

[Mirage]

It'll stop them exactly as much as it would stop the army of female humes and elvaans played by males.

[Kristal]

It'll stop them exactly as much as it would stop the army of female humes and elvaans played by males.

My main char is off-gender only because I alternate male/female whenever I have the choice of gender. And since my last char was a male in EQ, FFXI has a female char :D Then I made a male in Vanguard. Female in FFXIV. Male in Dragon Age. Female in Skyrim. Etc.

[Sunrider]

It might break lore a bit, but if ever race/gender changes were to be allowed...

I would love to see male Mithras become playable.Server change breaks lore. BLU/PUP/COR Relic in Dynamis breaks lore.

At least with race/server change, you can say "a wizard did it," which is a hell of a lot better than the explanation (or lack thereof) for near-Eastern jobs' armor in Dynamis.

[Mirage]

Whenever I changed servers i just pretended like I was accidentally warped to a parallel dimension. With the vanadielan time/space continuum looking more like a swiss cheese than anything else, that actually sounds entirely plausible!

[Kjara]

What I really wish, without necessarily changing race or gender, is a 'barber shop', where you can at least change hairstyle and colour. Of course with regular new hairstyles updates.

But in this game the hairstyle is tied with the face look, so that cannot happen.

[Kincard]

Server change breaks lore. BLU/PUP/COR Relic in Dynamis breaks lore.

At least with race/server change, you can say "a wizard did it," which is a hell of a lot better than the explanation (or lack thereof) for near-Eastern jobs' armor in Dynamis.

Pfft, clearly the force of altana hired a bunch of immortals, pirates and clowns from the near east(and in the near future they'll be recruiting ricers and fabulous swordsmen) to fight their battle for them, but made sure to tell everyone to be very hush-hush about it.

Server transfers are just a invisible maw sucking people up.

That's the great thing about lore. You can have it change to accommodate whatever stupid thing is going on, no matter how contrived, and they'll convince themselves it's incredible storytelling.

[Ultra]

Any more news on this? Im a returning player who would like to change my toon and name.

[killharj]

i agree why not be able to fix our characters more to our liking maybe a 1 time only thing or possibly once per 8 - 10 years of being on ffxi idk should be something they could do for players that have been loyal and made se and playonline so much success over the years ^^ You cant tell me that they havent made money over the years, or that it couldnt be done easily on their part.

[Fistandantilus]

Offering a race/appearance change would be fine imo. The idea to make all races the same statwise, and only different in appearance however is a terrible idea.

[MiriOhki]

It'd be kind of nice, if only because my name's borked up (Blame CGing during the 360 Beta test, half asleep, no keyboard handy, and before they had fixed a text-size bug for HD TVs) but if I never get one, oh well.

[Economizer]

my name's borked up (Blame CGing during the 360 Beta test, half asleep, no keyboard handy, and before they had fixed a text-size bug for HD TVs)

While I'm not sure that there will ever be an official name change service, I do believe you might be able to find an exception for yourself. Contact SE support (http://support.na.square-enix.com/main.php?la=1&id=20), make a thread about it, and explain your case while asking for a special exception.

Changing a name is possible, GMs are capable of it (although not allowed to except in very, very special circumstances). A few years back when SE did the server merges they offered a one time name change after the merge for players who had chosen their names poorly when there was a naming conflict during the merge. I believe that you can make an appeal to the human element of SE's customer service, especially if the issue is only getting a few L and I letters swapped around.

When you make your case, be very clear what happened and why you want the change now, and even admit you never thought of it before. I think you might find some form of resolution in this matter that doesn't include changing servers twice.