Au Ra physiology and other lore.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Yeah it kinda is... mating based on the advantages it can give offspring is pretty much the definition of eugenics. Civilized peoples (even if they're nomads) typically don't engage in that.

The Xaela are not wild animals.

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we all do it. animals do it. Xaela without a doubt do it. humans do it here. most of the time its unconsciously.

why do you think people are normally attracted to the a person of the opposite gender that exemplifies a characteristic like strength, knowledge, or looks?

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Yes, that is eugenics. It's also something people don't do in contemporary times.

Let's not get into the real-world implications of that, though. OK? Not the place or time, nor is it the most pleasant of conversations to be had.

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Oh no worries I was just making sure my understanding of that subject was correct. Personally I dont want to get in that debate since we already did once and it got ugly real fast. lol

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Originally Posted by saber_alter

we all do it. animals do it. Xaela without a doubt do it. humans do it here. most of the time its unconsciously.

why do you think people are normally attracted to the a person of the opposite gender that exemplifies a characteristic like strength, knowledge, or looks?

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I dunno, personal taste?

Point is, any civilized people are a hell of a lot more complicated than "I desire to mate only with the strongest!" ... yeah no.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Yeah it kinda is... mating based on the advantages it can give offspring is pretty much the definition of eugenics. Civilized peoples (even if they're nomads) typically don't engage in that.

The Xaela are not wild animals.

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Many cultures did apply eugenics historically, see the spartans for example. It gained special appeal in the 19th century as a means of Scientifically improving humanity. It only fell out of favor in the west because of Nazis. Even then traditional marriages in many cultures are built around the idea of "best matches"

This isn't to say Eugenics hasn't proven to be fairly horrible, but then so has war, plunder, conquest and we tend to consider these "civilized" persuits.

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Originally Posted by jomoru

Many cultures did apply eugenics historically, see the spartans for example. It gained special appeal in the 19th century as a means of Scientifically improving humanity. It only fell out of favor in the west because of Nazis. Even then traditional marriages in many cultures are built around the idea of "best matches"

This isn't to say Eugenics hasn't proven to be fairly horrible, but then so has war, plunder, conquest and we tend to consider these "civilized" persuits.

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This guy here ^

I like him. He's verry well learned in how the "Old Ways" and "Modern Ways" tie togeather.

Chears Jomoru

http://imgur.com/Ale9Njx.png

I like her, now to pick out a name.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

The Borlaaq are an "amazon warrior" tribe, but the Iriq adopt any "discarded" sons they have and raise them as their own. While it might not make much sense to discard half your children, especially given the males seem to have a distinct physical advantage, they might have elaborate reasons not included in their snippet.

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The Borlaaq seem so cool ;~; I still can't fathom how they manage to survive whenever they give away unassumingly half their population and there's another tribe out there full of just men who refill their ranks through kidnapping out there. Like.. Even if they're good archers on horse back, all it would take is a surprise attack for that one tribe to get up close and personal to them and it would seem they're outmatched. We've got a good feeling that they're no reliance on a foreign power in a "We're banding together to fight off you!" sorta deal with the Borlaaq and Iriq as they were noted to be two distinct tribes, which would mean that there might be the occasional alliance but nothing too solidifying and the Buduga seem like enough of a terrifying force to either mean the Borlaaq have something that makes them able to match foreign threats physically or something.

It makes me really really really wish they dropped the Nadeshiko appeal to the Xaela, at least changes the emotes or something. It's really weird whenever you have these warrior tribes and active hunters and they just look so Nadeshiko, it's kinda irritating.

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

The Buduga seem like enough of a terrifying force to either mean the Borlaaq have something that makes them able to match foreign threats physically or something.

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That something may be stronger magic. This is my own headcanon here, but I'm thinking the women may be stronger candidates for magical pursuits, this isn't to say that the males aren't suited or can't, but women may be better at it in most cases, at least that's the feeling I'm getting from their appearance and their personalities (what little there are to read about).

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Originally Posted by Nataruma

That something may be stronger magic. This is my own headcanon here, but I'm thinking the women may be stronger candidates for magical pursuits, this isn't to say that the males aren't suited or can't, but women may be better at it in most cases, at least that's the feeling I'm getting from their appearance and their personalities (what little there are to read about).

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See, it seems like a reasonable response, as aether is apt to do a lot of things, but then how would the Buduga still remain? Considering they're all men, they'd be missing out on a vital component in fights and would probably be decimated the second they piss off someone with strong magic abilities or mixed fighting forces. Glass canons the both of them it'd seem.

Either way, I still don't really think the Xaela women should be portraying such Nadeshiko-esque appearances and personalities but that's not necessarily something new I've said. It's a little irritating when this sorta thing happens in games and all >.>

Hey Cilia, as I'm sure you're reading, mind going in depth with how you think the Au Ra reproduce? Their women are so small, and there's even a tribe that has a 33% chance of giving birth to twins, so it'd be somewhat a wonder on how they manage to hold it all in without having some issues. Like if the babies are small at birth or something it'd make their heights such a weird thing to occur for them.

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

The Borlaaq seem so cool ;~; I still can't fathom how they manage to survive whenever they give away unassumingly half their population and there's another tribe out there full of just men who refill their ranks through kidnapping out there. Like.. Even if they're good archers on horse back, all it would take is a surprise attack for that one tribe to get up close and personal to them and it would seem they're outmatched. .

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Mobility is a greater advantage than strength on the steppes, as is stamina. Large size can be a hinderance to stamina thus why the Mongolian pony wasn't a giant war horse.

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Originally Posted by jomoru

Mobility is a greater advantage than strength on the steppes, as is stamina. Large size can be a hinderance to stamina thus why the Mongolian pony wasn't a giant war horse.

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Learning a few more things from the various clans I don't really think any of that's the case, like the horses in Othard seem quite capable of keeping up to speed with men Au Ra riding them (Looking at the Goro and Noykin).

Heck the Steppes isn't even a traditional Steppes environment, the central parts seem to be more grasslands, but the Western Steppes feature several tribes who actively live in caves, more mountainous areas, coastlines, rivers, and deserts. It's a really diverse area!

While food might not be too plentiful though nutrition doesn't seem to be too big of a concern, one tribe manages twin births at a 33% chance, trade occurs fairly regularly between some tribes as well, heck there's even a tribe that takes pride in how much they eat and looking overweight. There's also reference of animals like goats, mammoths, tigers, and horses, which seems to indicate that things like animal fat and protein isn't too hard to get.

War tactics seem to be pretty variable as well, looking at the Xaela's in game stat distribution and the lack of mention of magic usage in combat, it seems they rely on a mixture of swarming, raw overpowering, archery, some javelin stuff and even some stuff with poison blowdarts. Even armor isn't completely unheard of look Qerel, who kill tigers with their own hands as a coming of age ceremony. Not every clan fights, but brute strength is definitely a wanted characteristic, looking at the Malqir's description "A western steppe tribe characterized by its unique leader-choosing ritual which, instead of the usual test of brawn, is a game of Kharaqiq--a chess-like game played on a circular board divided into three rings." The notation of a "Usual test of brawn" seems to indicate that strength is valuable, and it doesn't take too much of a leap in logic to assume that the "usual test of brawn" is well liked because "Brawn" is good for battle.

Even then, how would a tribe like the Buduga survive and succeed in battle if it was that much of an issue?

Lots of factors are still unknown, but the Xaela tribes deploy a lot of diverse strategies to survive in the steppes, I wouldn't discount strength as much as you do.

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

Learning a few more things from the various clans I don't really think any of that's the case, like the horses in Othard seem quite capable of keeping up to speed with men Au Ra riding them (Looking at the Goro and Noykin).

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Not really. There are different breeds of horses IRL. Some are great for someone like the Rock riding on them into battle. Some are great for Riding 5 days straight with little rest. Unless you want to start talking about magically effective horses the horses the males ride will have difficulties based on the size of the males. Now there clearly seems to be some advantage to male size BUT I am saying its also clearly not this insurmountable win that people seem to keep saying.

There is one male tribe that only recruits via kidnapping. There is one female tribe that hands off the males. There is one female tribe that dominates their males. And there's one tribe that's famous for its women having large male harems. Those are the only tribes we hear about placing any particular importance on biological sex. So we can assume GENERALLY whatever advantages strength gives is cancelled out by other factors leaving both sides more or less equal with a potential point of slight female empowerment because there are more clans that favor them than men however both are extreme aberations out of 51 clans.

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Heck the Steppes isn't even a traditional Steppes environment, the central parts seem to be more grasslands, but the Western Steppes feature several tribes who actively live in caves, more mountainous areas, coastlines, rivers, and deserts. It's a really diverse area!

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Not really? Its clearly based on the Eurasian Steppe which includes all these things especially if you count where it runs into edges of things.

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While food might not be too plentiful though nutrition doesn't seem to be too big of a concern, one tribe manages twin births at a 33% chance, trade occurs fairly regularly between some tribes as well, heck there's even a tribe that takes pride in how much they eat and looking overweight. There's also reference of animals like goats, mammoths, tigers, and horses, which seems to indicate that things like animal fat and protein isn't too hard to get.

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Its not about food being plentiful its about them being nomadic herders/hunters Now the more sendentary types might pull away from these points but I'm broadly focusing on the need for the clans to be moving fairly often.

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War tactics seem to be pretty variable as well, looking at the Xaela's in game stat distribution and the lack of mention of magic usage in combat, it seems they rely on a mixture of swarming, raw overpowering, archery, some javelin stuff and even some stuff with poison blowdarts. Even armor isn't completely unheard of look Qerel, who kill tigers with their own hands as a coming of age ceremony. Not every clan fights, but brute strength is definitely a wanted characteristic, looking at the Malqir's description "A western steppe tribe characterized by its unique leader-choosing ritual which, instead of the usual test of brawn, is a game of Kharaqiq--a chess-like game played on a circular board divided into three rings." The notation of a "Usual test of brawn" seems to indicate that strength is valuable, and it doesn't take too much of a leap in logic to assume that the "usual test of brawn" is well liked because "Brawn" is good for battle.

Even then, how would a tribe like the Buduga survive and succeed in battle if it was that much of an issue?

Lots of factors are still unknown, but the Xaela tribes deploy a lot of diverse strategies to survive in the steppes, I wouldn't discount strength as much as you do.

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I am not discounting strength. I just think its being highly overvalued by those who think that the Sexual dymorphism and "barbarian" qualities of the Xaela mean extreme patriachal tendencies. To me its clear that both sides generally are equal whatever advantages size gives to the males are cancelled out and its not based on females being more magical or anything.

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Originally Posted by jomoru

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Yeah, such as Destrier class horses, ones notably bred to hold up a man in full armor when they go into battle. Like, maybe they can't run endlessly forever, but they definitely don't seem to have issues being used in battle. It's not a total win, shoot poison blowdarts kill no matter how big you are, but brute strength does help in battle, as there's a good bit of difference being hit with a weapon and being hit with a weapon backed by some serious power.

Only one specific male only tribe does that, but other tribes were noted for assimilating other tribes into them. I still think it's a little difficult to suspend your disbelief that much as to think the Burlaaq would survive for too long without also having physical advantages to cover weak points in the tribe's structure that just aren't present on their model.

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

Yeah, such as Destrier class horses, ones notably bred to hold up a man in full armor when they go into battle. Like, maybe they can't run endlessly forever, but they definitely don't seem to have issues being used in battle. It's not a total win, shoot poison blowdarts kill no matter how big you are, but brute strength does help in battle, as there's a good bit of difference being hit with a weapon and being hit with a weapon backed by some serious power.

Only one specific male only tribe does that, but other tribes were noted for assimilating other tribes into them. I still think it's a little difficult to suspend your disbelief that much as to think the Burlaaq would survive for too long without also having physical advantages to cover weak points in the tribe's structure that just aren't present on their model.

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Europeans had bigger horses armored knights and when the mongols came they got slaughtered. Brute force is nice. Playing to your advantages is even better. Clearly the Burlaaq can play to their advantages and those advantages don't have to be "females are more magical" I mean no one questions why the Roe haven't conquered every aspect of Eorzea but the idea that smaller types might succeed with the Xaela.. that's just crazy!

Also notice how I'm not saying the Burlaaq are an unstoppable unbeatable force that has conquered all the other clans who waste their time having males around. I am not discounting strength. I am not discounting the advantages of a more balanced society. Hyperfocused society is more likely to ultimately hit a problem it cannot solve. I am saying it doesn't require magic or a suspension of disbelief(any more than the questionable biology of the game in general) for there to be a focused female group.

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Originally Posted by jomoru

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Hit and run tactics work best when the opponents are very much so unprepared, when people know they're coming and have time to set up things like traps and proper defenses, they don't work nearly as well. Like stuff like chainmail was specifically made to counter arrows, while shields and phalanx esque strategies worked fairly well against horses and oncoming arrows from moving targets to stationary ones. The mongols were powerful, but not unbeatable, plenty of debate questions if the Mongols would have survived against people who play defensive warfare much better. It's pretty clear (Imho) why the Roegadyn haven't conquered all of Eorzea, culturally speaking the Hellsguard are very solitary and prefer to keep in Alabatha, while the Sea Wolves are quite content with ruling the seas as they're pretty notable pirates. Heck, things like this are addressed within the story, like how on Hydaelyn are the Ishgardians able to fight against dragons or how did the Company of Heroes fight primals, the Burlaaq I would appreciate a similar answer that isn't so outrageous (Like they use sex appeal to fool men into dropping their guards or something).

No, but you aren't giving a reason on why the Burlaaq, who (going off from the Au Ra model) seem to lack muscular strength (From both looking at a model and considering their mannerisms and the design they were made with), would even stand a chance against groups like the Adarkim or the Dorthal who probably have mixed forces. Either the Burlaaq were more physically closer to the men and SE just didn't feel like making a model just for them (Reasonable imho) or there's some weird unthinkable tactic that the Burlaaq employ to manage to be "Warriors" and continue to survive.

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

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They use their superior mobility to not get bogged down in combat where the males can't be made much use of. This isn't complicated complex or crazy but apparently you can't grasp anytghing but " MEN ARE TALLER THEY MUST WIN!" I mean game mechanics wise men are taller.. and aren't an ounce stronger. Think about that.

Sorry for the delay! I put in for character name service and it wouldn't let me get on the forum because muh character data was in limbo...

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Originally Posted by jomoru

Many cultures did apply eugenics historically, see the spartans for example. It gained special appeal in the 19th century as a means of Scientifically improving humanity. It only fell out of favor in the west because of Nazis. Even then traditional marriages in many cultures are built around the idea of "best matches"

This isn't to say Eugenics hasn't proven to be fairly horrible, but then so has war, plunder, conquest and we tend to consider these "civilized" persuits.

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I don't think you've quite got that right. A "good match," in the traditional sense, was / is something along the lines of whether or not the two people complimented one another. Usually this was limited to social strata; it wasn't something done on the supposed health of potential offspring alone. That could be a factor, but rarely that's all it meant (if it even was something in mind).

Eugenics don't really work. It's a good theory, but it leads to stagnation, genetic degradation, and then the death of a tribe (if we're to use Xaela as an example).

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

Hey Cilia, as I'm sure you're reading, mind going in depth with how you think the Au Ra reproduce? Their women are so small, and there's even a tribe that has a 33% chance of giving birth to twins, so it'd be somewhat a wonder on how they manage to hold it all in without having some issues. Like if the babies are small at birth or something it'd make their heights such a weird thing to occur for them.

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Oh boy, here we go again...

If what you mean to ask is how do Au Ra wombs hold their children when the males are such a greater size, the possibilities are threefold (maybe more, I'm not a biologist):

1. Au Ra uteri can stretch far enough to accommodate, even male twins.
2. Au Ra babies are born incredibly premature by human standards (at least the males), and have to be intensively cared for during their first few months of life.
3. (And this is the most likely candidate) Au Ra children of both sexes are about the same size until puberty, during which the males hit a colossal growth spurt while the females only reach the height they do. It's rather the same in human children, and it doesn't require biological hiccups.

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Originally Posted by jomoru

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Superior to what? Being on horseback? Because they've got horses for the men too, sure they won't sprint for days on end, but the need fot that level of endurance probably occurs rarely if ever.And I've said several times it doesn't give them an instant win, but it gives them an advantage that the women lack due to SE designing the girls to be Nadeshiko as hell when they should have focused on the whole warrior motif for the group of nomadic cultures that have a lot of warrior groups in them. Plus I don't know what models you're looking at but there's definitely a visible difference in muscular mass as well. Let's be honest when it comes to design, the men were designed to look strong, the women were designed for that Nadeshiko-esque appeal which has little place in a culture full of people who marry horses, drink their bodily fluids, revel in massacre, or strap children to trees and leave them for dead. I'm just reading the design as intended, if SE didn't want that then they should've opted for a different design which is completely within their power.

Anyways Cilia, yeah honestly I'm going with 3, it seems pretty reasonable. The only issue is it seems weird that both of them are able take on some of these coming of age ceremonies considering the massive body differences between the two.

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

The only issue is it seems weird that both of them are able take on some of these coming of age ceremonies considering the massive body differences between the two.

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The only two tribes that are stated to have tough coming-of-age ceremonies are the Qerel and Tumet, who kill tigers and tie their young to trees. The whole "with their own hands" bit is what makes the Qerel iffy, but it's stated that only warriors do this - anyone who fails either is probably relegated to the sidelines or just dies, and not everyone in the tribe is a warrior (I'd wager). The Tumet tie their young to trees as a coming-of-age ceremony, but that's at approximately 10 years old - a few years before puberty sets in in humans, so the playing field is about even.

... of course, that's not to say other Xaela tribes don't have coming-of-age ceremonies, but those are the only ones we really know about.

For those of you curious, the female Au Ra camise is a tasteful camisole negligee, and the pantalettes are a pair of (very) short culottes.

Limbal rings can be toggled on or off at the Aesthetician, and their color can be changed as well. They're effectively what the Au Ra have instead of tribal tattoos.

Extra facial scales can also be toggled on or off, as expected.

Tried reading some of the stuff I missed in this thread, but too long, no time while exploring Ishgard. . . but I wondered what people thought about the Au Ra after having played them. Also, since I'm sure I missed more than a few tidbits of lore here are some questions:
I assumed the Au Ra were of dragon descent in the beginning, but I read some where that they are more of a demonic lineage, is that true? did I misunderstand? how does that differ from voidsent?
Also, does anyone else think that the way female Au Ra walk looks a bit stiff? It's like locked elbows. . . it feels more than a little awkward to watch. . .
Also am sad that the horn type and face type stayed bound after seeing it in the benchmark character creator. I was a bit pleased to see that my characters name, while maybe not ENTIRELY lore friendly, was actually fairly close. . . considering the backstory I created for her when she was a miqo'te, her transformation almost feels like destiny. ^.^

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Originally Posted by Kusari-chan

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Imho, guys are fine and a bit more unique, girls are boring and hella generic. It's a very common trope in fantasy genres with regards to humanoid races >_>

Currently the exact origin is ambiguous, concept art was a mix between more draconic and more demonic designs. SE said they have more to do with demons over dragons but their logic is a bit flawed on why they did it, so I'm not sure if they're just going to keep it ambiguous or go into further depths of their origin after 3.0 is over. Even then demons and dragons are a vague group in the game, for example the last boss of Ampador Keep is a dragon according to a few things, but same creatures are featured as a demon summoned in some FATES. Demons are a subset of voidsent, voidsent include things from the Cloud of Darkness to imps and puddings.

I guess that weird walk is what SE considers cute/sexy/moe/nadeshiko, cause that's the theme they were going for the girl Au Ra.

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Originally Posted by Kusari-chan

Tried reading some of the stuff I missed in this thread, but too long, no time while exploring Ishgard. . . but I wondered what people thought about the Au Ra after having played them. Also, since I'm sure I missed more than a few tidbits of lore here are some questions:
I assumed the Au Ra were of dragon descent in the beginning, but I read some where that they are more of a demonic lineage, is that true? did I misunderstand? how does that differ from voidsent?
Also, does anyone else think that the way female Au Ra walk looks a bit stiff? It's like locked elbows. . . it feels more than a little awkward to watch. . .

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I haven't used many of the emotes so far, but my avatar swings that "bigger than her" sword like a champ and has an unsettling grin while using the drawn weapon idle stance. Since that's +90% of what I've done so far, I'm totally OK with it.

The arms are kind of stiff (they keep the straight elbows for my customary /bow after dungeon runs as well), but they were designed to be cute / prim and proper Japanese ladies. That kind of annoys me because Xaela women are not supposed to be prim and proper Japanese ladies, but whatever.

Anyway, the whole "dragon vs. demon" thing is kind of foggy. Their overall appearance reminds people of dragons and there's a piece of concept artwork with an Auri woman on it stating "Race_Dragon," but in-game lore disputes this and official word is that they were designed to be aesthetically similar to demons. It's easiest to just say a little of both, or if you want to really be open minded, say they're Au Ra and neither.

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

Imho, guys are fine and a bit more unique, girls are boring and hella generic. It's a very common trope in fantasy genres with regards to humanoid races >_>

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While it's certainly true that fantasy races tend to make the men big and tough and the women cute / pretty / dainty, I'm pretty convinced you're actively looking for reasons to be discontent with the designs of Auri women. The women are not "boring and generic," they're just not something you like or agree with, and that's totally fine.

I don't really agree with the Xaela women having the body language of prim and proper Japanese ladies either, but it is what it is.

EDIT

My only regret is that I did not get an Unidentified Tomestone and save some Sands to get Arondight, but that's another matter...

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Originally Posted by Cilia

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The thing is SE wanted to tout the race as something unique and new, but I feel it's not something that occurred. Heck I don't even notice girl Au Ra unless if I'm really looking, heck I end up mistaking Miqo'te with darker or light fur for them. Like.. SE had plenty of chances to make the race (Specifically with regards to the women) feel more unique but kept away from it, heck there's even that statement that they made them similar because that's just what a majority of the player base plays as (The more cute/waifish races like Miqo'te and Midlander). I mean, the horns and scale patches are much more smaller with exception of the ankle/calf patches, they're an inch shorter than the miqo'te as opposed to the Auri men who fill in a gap between Elezen and Roegadyn, on the face the men have chin crests that are lacking on the women, et cetera. A lot of it seems like the Auri girls have been downsized to specifically appeal to the Miqo'te/Midlander demographic with some very minor changes to motivate those who are in the demographic to pop 10$ on a fantasia to change.

Come now, it must be boring being kept for using most of the emotes because they don't fit the gist of what you were going with for the character, I know as someone who enjoys to roleplay in game it is. Heck, SE even had a chance to put in the option of having a tall Xaela with the Olkund tribe, but "for whatever reason" the girls remain short as heck despite there even being eugenics. I mean.. Isn't it kinda clear that SE was sorta jumping through hoops or just being lazy to keep the girls are short and waifish as they are, falling right into that super unneeded trope that's all too common in fantasy races?

I mean.. I'd get being frustrated with someone so insistent on disliking a race for what seems to be no reason, but SE really fell flat on their faces with regards to making the girls of this race feel not so generic imho.

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

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I totally agree with everything here.
Female Au Ra are probably the most disappointing thing for me with Heavensward. :T

I will forever mourn the badass godzilla women that could've been
http://i.imgur.com/3X1HNa9.jpg

Really wish they would've at least done the midlander/highlander thing for raen/xaela. :(

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Originally Posted by Roda

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Agreed, or at least make it so the height range for the girls was something massive. Like.. I'd still be a little bitter because all the cutesy emotes, but if I could just make my Xaela 7' I'd be a much happier camper at least.

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

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While your complaints have some validity, the Au Ra are still original from a certain point of view. All of the 1.0 / 2.0 races are just copies of the XI races (Hume = Hyur, Tarutaru = Lalafell, Elvaan = Elezen, Mithra = Miqo'te, and Galka = Roegadyn) with some variations depending on the clan (as well as playable male Miqo'te and female Roegadyn, the XI counterparts of which either aren't playable or flat-out don't exist). The Au Ra are the first truly new race developed by the new development team, and no matter what they did, they were going to end up incorporating elements of those five races (mundane, cute, elegant, sexy, and stout). The sexual dimorphism might annoy some people, but it's part of their racial identity; no other race displays this, so it is unique in a way.

I don't think any hoops were jumped through to justify the short Au Ra women. I've explained before how the height and mass is probably a sex-linked trait, and you even agreed that it's plausible. So while the Olkund tribe does try to increase their height through selective breeding, if the height and mass boost at puberty is only expressed in males, it doesn't matter how hard they try to make the entire tribe bigger and taller. The women will always be comparatively short, because it's a sex-linked trait that isn't expressed in females.

No matter how much you might dislike it, any component of their sexual dimorphism can be explained by genetics. My grasp on genetics isn't very thorough, but it's there.

I'm not saying your reasons to be discontent with the female Au Ra are invalid or nonexistent, but I still feel like you're looking for reasons to be unhappy with them. Primarily because you always state that the males' increased size is a critical advantage on the battlefield regardless of everything else, and always point to examples of what you think is wrong with them instead of looking at both sides of the coin (like the Borlaaq, an amazon warrior tribe, and the Dazkar, whose men are essentially househusbands). Your argument always comes back to "power wins fights, so both sexes should be as powerful as possible" without considering the extra resources it takes to upkeep and field the men and their horses compared to the women. Why field one male Xaela warrior when you can field 3 female Xaela archers, for example?

Female Au Ra are what they are. There is little point in not accepting it, for good or ill.

Anyways, balls tired. Schoolwork in the morn', then 5 levels to go until I can wander into the blood-soaked darkness of the Dragonsong War.

I just hate how the males look like they are constantly angry about something. Like seriously, be happy already. The females have this odd look about them too... Their just seem like they have very dead eyes. Like their are horribly depressed and have given up on life.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Snip and sweet dreams!

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From a certain point of view? I suppose. But in the grander scheme of things the gist of the Au Ra isn't too unique. Like.. The models to the girl Au Ra are incredibly similar to the Miqo'te. The men are fairly similar to Elezen, but I notice a whole lot more differences due to the shapely hips, shoulder width, height, outrageous hair options, large scale patches, and the way the chin crests help add mass and shape to the chins and face that I feel they're at least more unique, those things are notably lacking on girl Au Ra. Plus I feel that saying sexual dimorphism is the unique part of the Auri racial identity is downplaying the sexual dimorphism exhibited with the Roegadyn, another race with massive differences between men and women, the only difference is the heights are more closer together, but I feel that's heights kinda negligible by the fact that Roegadyn women bodies are literally half the thickness and width that the guys are. I just feel the Roegadyn at least shake it up a bit with the addition of a unique body shape for the women as well as the fact that the Roegadyn men are so massive, that even with the extreme levels of sexual dimorphism, the girls are still as large as any other race, so you'll see little complaints from me directed towards there.

I still do agree with you in that it's plausible, though I feel sex-linked should be more aptly described testosterone-linked, but I feel that even when given the option to make the women larger through things outside of just sex-linked genetics SE decided to not do it. It's not that the women of the Olkund were still comparatively short to the men of the Olkund, they were just average height in general, I find it completely bizarre that SE makes it so that the women of a humanoid race are so concrete in their height that even through selective breeding they couldn't even get any larger. After all there is more than just sex-linked genetics behind the height of any species. On a side note, I find it weird that the max Auri men can go to are 7'3, while the Olkund would be over 7'5 inches, I wonder why SE didn't make the height slider go higher with regards to that tribe.

It's more the motif of the warrior (Which the Xaela tribes generally give off) and all that the motif entails (Large size, more animal like features, aggressive appearance), like I understand that anyone can be a warrior and have immense success in battle, but it's such a tiring trope whenever the guys have a clear connection to the motif of "warrior" that's lacking on the women of that race entirely. Sure they're mentions of the men being househusbands and the amazon warrior tribe, but do you honestly look at them and get that feeling from their appearance? I know there's the whole "Actions speak louder than words (Or visuals in this scenario)" would say "My Lalafell DRK can wreck dragons and everything with a bad of their wrists! Your points are moot!" But to that I say, when you think "Warrior race" do you think the Miqo'te or the Amalj'aa fit better with that direction in terms of design? As a slightly related example, consider the Disney movie Mulan! The main enemies of the Chinese and Mulan were massive, but funnily enough, they were also the mongols, historically short (And stout) people. Why did Disney change this? Because they know the audience would look at the struggles of Mulan and the Chinese forces as much less severe if the enemy didn't fit the motif of pillaging destroying warrior. Likewise, it's neither unnatural nor unreasonable for one to come to the conclusion that things like the Dazkar or Borlaaq were more so added on haphazardly because they don't fit with the motif of the Au Ra. Why would there be a tribe full of warrior women when Auri women were designed to look as nadeshiko as possible? You could come to the conclusion and say "Well SE wanted to deviate a little from the trope which is good!", but it feels more like they were trying to cover their rears whenever they realized that the look of Auri women doesn't fit in with the motif of the Xaela so they have to make "exceptions" to prove that they weren't just making the race to pander to a certain demographic and keep discussions like these from occurring. It's just a tiredness of the tired reused trope of " Race with Small(er), cute(r) women and big(ger), scary(ier) men". If SE wanted to make sexual dimorphism the motif of the race, it could've been implemented in more unique ways, my personal favorite is the reverse of the stereotypical and making the men waifish while the women are strong and threatening.

Why field any men if they can just be outmatched with women archers? It's because SE (And anyone doing fantasy to be honest and fair) is more concerned with motifs than they are with perfect sense, which is fine, it's a fantasy game where shields (magic or otherwise) protect swordsmen til they get up close and cleave whatever archer in half because archers never carry melee weapons in fantasy. They've even implemented this whole idea of being liberal with regards to fantasy into the lore of the Au Ra with the Olkund purposely trying to make their tribe's members' as large as possible, but SE decided to take the lazy route of going with a "But for whatever reason (Be it genetics or just the unwillingness to make the Auri women tall) women remain at average height". Could they have made their a few exceptions to the whole "Small cute girls, big mean-looking men"? Absolutely, and I'd argue it'd be the best to allow this, because ultimately that's the only way SE could've killed any of this by allowing a few exceptions and allow players to fill in the gaps lore wise. As an example, make it so that the Auri women are generally small, but make it so that the height slider goes up to 7', that way the player can go "Oh well, my Au Ra comes from a tribe where they spent centuries making the women as tough as men through magic herbs and whatnot!", which isn't unheard of as the lore for the Xaela has the whole Tribes forgotten/hidden away allowing for that freedom to occur. Of course the response to the whole "Well it's fantasy so SE can make the girls warriors small and petite and it not matter because it's fantasy too!" but there's a certain skeevy-ness to that sorta logic that I'd hope SE would stray away from, particularly in that it really relies on the same sort of logic and rhetoric to justify sexy armor for women and the whole "Strong Female Characters" trope (Look up Kate Beaton's Strong Female Characters for examples of the issues with this trope presented in a funny way!).

The point with not accepting it is maybe SE will hopefully realize relying on tired reused tropes are annoying at least some fans, and either make additions so we can at least make the individual character seem unique (Say with the Au Ra, give the Xaela more neutral emotes and give them the option to be taller) or make the next race something less samey in terms of fantasy tropes. Also I'm a little bitter because this will probably be the only thing close to a reptilian race (Whether or not they're actually demonic or reptilian is irrelevant because I'm sure SE feels like they hit that "Demibeast race with scales" demographic) we've got and I'm massively disappointed with on the visuals of the girls. Like.. Would the same logic of just accepting it due to the way things go work for anything else in the game? RMT, dungeon mechanics, 1.0 to 2.0, jobs that are too weak or not strong enough, et cetera. SE has proven that they listen to fans in some regards (Heck, actually being able to look at Titan Egi hold aggro in dungeons with full parties makes me so happy), so I could only hope that in 3.1(Or whenever) that they'd add the addition to make it so I could crank up the height or change the horns without changing the face with the Au Ra (Another suggestion that I've seen pretty popular that SE hasn't commented on yet >.> )

Anyways, night Cilia! Enjoy your dark knighting, I've really enjoyed the story so far, and I hope you do too. Gonna head to bed myself, got school and work then busy times saving the realm later!

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

Stuff

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That reminds me of that quote last week where they mentioned how the Au Ra were a beast race more so than a Miqo'te since you could just remove the 'tail and ears and have a human'. It's strange to me since the same exact thing can be said about the Au Ra when it comes to removing the tail and horns since a fancy scale effect does not make a beast race. My idea of a real beast race is something akin to the charr, worgen, and tauren and a fancy scale effect that's mostly covered by armor does not make one. At the very least the Au Ra should have had differing eyes and actual claws (hell the Miqo'te at least get the eye thing with the one clan while the only difference for Au Ra seems to be scale color).

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

[Wall of Text]

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Wow, how many times was the word "trope" used here?

... only 7? Disappointed in you!

Anyway, I think the main thing to keep in mind is that the Au Ra were almost clearly designed with the Raen in mind over the Xaela. +90% positive this is the case; just look at the effort that went into explaining the Raen names vs. the Xaela "use a period Mongolian name and a tribe with a quirky custom." Considering this and the strict gender roles of Japanese society (even in modern times, to a lesser degree) it's not surprising at all the men are big and tough and the women are small, prim, and proper.

Ironic, then, that I've seen more Xaela PCs on my server...

Regardless, while there might be tribes and individuals that fall outside of these boundaries, there is only room for so much variety in the character creator. What we're allowed to create falls within the boundaries of "average" members of the race. There are individuals who fall outside of these boundaries (all of the GC leaders have unique models, for example, and Yugiri has a unique face and horn coloration), but PCs are just that - average.

You keep saying "well, they should make a race of big tough women and smaller men," but if they did that they'd get just as many complaints (if not more). All the boys who play the game as a power fantasy would be up in arms saying stuff like "It doesn't make sense for the women to be big and tough while the men look like scrawny geeks because raisins!" etc etc. No matter what they do everybody isn't going to be happy, so they did the best the could with what they had - unfortunately, this meant making the "tougher" of the two tribes identical to the "gentle" tribe in every way save horn / scale coloration. Since the Raen were clearly the more focused-on of the tribes, and the Raen are part of Hydaelyn!Japanese society...

Could they have differentiated the clans a la Midlanders and Highlanders? Absolutely. Should they have? Probably. There are reasons as to why they didn't, the chiefest likely being they didn't have the time and resources to devote to it with everything else going on. They can't add in special options because then they'd have to add in special options for EVERY race - people would complain they want to play a Lalafell with gigantism, or a Roegadyn with dwarfism, etc. The only options in that case would be to either A) put the time and resources into making those situations work or B) tell people the Au Ra got special treatment and piss them off. Asking for something like that because "well, my Au Ra is from a highly secretive clan with super-tall women" is asking for special snowflake treatment.

Yeah, the Huge Guy, Tiny Girl Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism is overdone and cliché, but that's because it works for good or ill. Ultimately your complaints boil down to "I wanted to play a big, tough dragon lady (not that kind of dragon lady), and female Au Ra don't let me do that," which fair enough, but they aren't exactly what I wanted either. Still, they can't please everyone, and I'm willing to accept what we got. RMT and class balance are another thing entirely - they can be an active detriment to your performance, while the appearance of your character is purely aesthetic (aside from a few starting stat points that end up being negligible by endgame).

Having fun with DRK, but I do want to get on with the story. 4 levels to go. At least I haven't had any bad experiences aside from this one Stone Vigil run with a cocky overgeared BLM who wordlessly decided he was calling the shots because he's overgeared. Feel kind of bad for leaving Alphinaud standing out in the bitter cold though. (Not really, serves him right for leaving his damn coat at the manor! ... but Tataru...)

Which is correct.

I am an Au Ra girl.

or

I am an Auri girl.

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Originally Posted by Zumi

Which is correct.

I am an Au Ra girl.

or

I am an Auri girl.

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"Au Ra" is the noun form of the race. "Auri" is the adjectival form.

So probably the latter (though I prefer to call my character a woman, not a girl).

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

Hit and run tactics work best when the opponents are very much so unprepared, when people know they're coming and have time to set up things like traps and proper defenses, they don't work nearly as well.

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In other words, hit and run tactics are ideally suited to use against groups like the Xaela clans. Nomads won't have extensive fortifications. Speed, agility, and endurance are the traits that win wars in such an environment. Brute strength would at times come in useful as well, but not nearly as often.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

"Au Ra" is the noun form of the race. "Auri" is the adjectival form.

So probably the latter (though I prefer to call my character a woman, not a girl).

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And "Au Ra" appears to also be the plural.

(Confession: My newest pet peeve is when people use Auri for the plural.)

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Originally Posted by Kedrah

And "Au Ra" appears to also be the plural.

(Confession: My newest pet peeve is when people use Auri for the plural.)

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Don't worry, I'm much more vexed by people saying stuff like "Au'ra." It's "Au Ra," two words. Not rocket surgery guys!

(As an aside, I was going for a more Mediterranean skin tone. Does anyone think I went too dark? Might need another Fantasia, but damn if I'mma spend $10 just to fix that...)

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Snippers!

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It was pretty late and I needed to sleep, though I had a pretty simple final in the morning so yay for me.


Eh, then I fail to see how it's not the fault of SE then, something they should take a few extra steps to not seem lazy. Like.. Sure it's fine for the Raen, but diversifying it's boring whenever the they go and base an entire race on idealized gender roles version (Though I'd say the big, scary, and tough = the stereotypical gender role for men in Japan is questionable) of one culture, while the Xaela have very little if at all to do with Japan nor its gender roles. As a side note, I dunno, I feel while they might have more unique names, their culture is just "feudal Japanese culture with a twist" nothing overtly unique about them unlike the 51 listed tribes for the Xaela, even if they are gimmicky. Plus it's kinda a big flubup on SE's part to make the Xaela closer to the original Au Ra culture, but go with more Japanese ideals for the looks. I also find it a little sad that the Midlanders from Doma hardly look any different than the ones from Eorzea, like.. Highlanders and Midlanders look different and yet the one from a different continent look just the same as Midlanders!

Honestly, I attribute that to the fact that the black scales. They just help make the Au Ra look a little bit more unique. Otherwise the white scales kinda make

Oh of course they would get tons of complaints, except that if they want that, well they actually have options. There is yet a race where the women are tough and the men are small, even with the race with the massive women, the men are yet larger. I feel you're letting them off easy, there is a lot of talk of maybe they lacked time or resources, but really I'd prefer a more unique race if it meant that it wasn't available at launch, akin to a the summoner glamours. Sure it'd look bad ("Whaaat the race that was promoted isn't avaliable right away?!") but it people didn't see the benefits of holding it back for a while, then they aren't looking at the bigger picture. Hell, let the Raen be available at start, come out with a "We had limited time during the development, but we promise the Xaela will be available as soon as we can pump them out(Insert shiny picture showing off uniquely designed Xaela)" Like.. There would still be some complaining, but more parties would be suited.

The issue with that is we know they've at least had an idea for the Raen women solidified for a while (Yugiri was introduced in 2.2), I wish what would've been the case is that SE just dropped the charade and showed us the new race much earlier on so they could've gotten an opinion on where to go with it, like say focus resources on adding more variation between the clans or something. I doubt making it so that the height had a larger range would be that resource intensive as well, considering a little while back you could use a glitch to make your PC much larger (Both clientside and visible to other players) with little issue. Isn't the whole "Piss off" the case with this sort of scenario? "Sorry, your demographic didn't get pandered to, it's not a big deal." Sure, they're going to end up disappointing someone, so the might as well work their best to try and make that as little of "Someones" as possible, and lets be frank, less people would be complaining if they just dropped the whole "tiny woman big guy" thing, or at least made it so the height range for the Au Ra worked to allow some variation. Even if they wanted to keep the "Tiny woman big guy" theme that badly, just make it so its "unusual/rare" for a Auri women to be as tall as the men. Plus I don't think we've got any reason to call "special snowflake" treatment when that's all the Xaela are, a bunch of gimmick tribes that SE even goes out and says "Of course there are some tribes unseen/hidden" to allow players to do "Special snowflake" things outfit of the 51 other "special snowflake" options. Heck they even made an option for you to have Japanese named Xaela/Mongolian named Raen with that one tribe that takes Raen or the other tribe that is fine with outsiders.

Just because it works doesn't mean it ought to be what SE does, I mean otherwise we get the nth variation of Big guy tiny girl because well, it works. You're not wrong, the main part of the complaint does boil down to my personal preference not necessarily being available, but imho it doesn't spell well for any future playable races whenever the first new race (Outside of Miqo'te men and Roegadyn and Highlander women) are so heavily reliant on a very overused trait. Like.. SE even had their reasoning for the Auri women's stature and appearance "More people play Miqo'te and Midlander so they look similar" and while one could argue that the male Au Ra are suppose to add variation so they're not just carbon copies, it just feels like they could've done more, like this is a race they've been planning and working on since 2.2, probably a bit before. Aesthetics are still pretty important however, I mean why bother adding a new race if they weren't. Plus it's pretty subjective over what matters more, I mean, I don't really care if WHM is OP or about RMT, while as a roleplayer I love doing a hundred different things to my character's appearance, heck the character creator is one of my favorite things about this game.

DRK seems fun, I might eventually dip into it, shame that the darkstance aura is an eye sore. Eeeh don't worry he seems to like it, but he could've dressed more warmly!

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Don't worry, I'm much more vexed by people saying stuff like "Au'ra." It's "Au Ra," two words. Not rocket surgery guys!

(As an aside, I was going for a more Mediterranean skin tone. Does anyone think I went too dark? Might need another Fantasia, but damn if I'mma spend $10 just to fix that...)

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I think you look fine! Though the lightening hair looks strange.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

(As an aside, I was going for a more Mediterranean skin tone. Does anyone think I went too dark? Might need another Fantasia, but damn if I'mma spend $10 just to fix that...)

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I think it looks fine, but you should be getting a free Fantasia when the expansion officially comes out, right?

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

[Wall of Text 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I think you look fine! Though the lightening hair looks strange.

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While "big and tough" certainly doesn't describe modern Japanese ideals of masculinity, it's important to remember that the time period the Raen Au Ra are based on is medieval Japan - which was a big warrior culture. Even in modern Japan, there's the concept of "a man's pride / honor." The male Au Ra certainly do look like the warrior types, don't they?

Can't comment on the Xaela being the "original" type of how Au Ra were, but if they were designed with the Raen in mind and the Raen are part of Hydaelyn!Japanese society, you're going to get what we got. Why they went with this direction I don't really know (short of Yoshi-P's comment on wanting a race whose females look "like someone you want to protect"), but as the Raen were clearly in mind over the Xaela...

Could they have delayed the Xaela and developed unique models for them? Absolutely. Then they would have invited a [kupo]storm though, because every other race had 2 clans available at the start (even if no females for Highlanders or Roegadyn or males for Miqo'te in 1.x), they already showed the Xaela being just like the Raen but with different horn / scale colors and some unique skin tones, etc etc. Plus, again, the Hyur are the exception when it comes to clan differences. Might be unfair, but that's what it is.

SE didn't drop the charade because they didn't have the designs or models finalized. Yugiri was using a custom Miqo'te model up through 2.5.5 (might still be using it; I'll know when I run into her again) and prior to the teaser at PAX East we didn't know what the general look of either tribe or the males was. If they had asked for player input on what the next race should be like then that complaint would have more ground, but they didn't, so they went with what they wanted to do (supposedly based on player demographics). It is what it is.

There's a significant difference in upscaling the entire character model and just boosting the height range. Armor and clothing will start to stretch and look off-model if you put it on a character whose height is abnormally great for their race, and there is only so much leeway that can be given depending on the race. It's not just a matter of "boost the height slider range lol."

The Xaela tribes aren't "special snowflake" material, they're mostly the same but with a quirky custom or two. The "unnamed / unknown clans" clause was to explain how names not on the List of 51 could pop up in the RNG, not carte blanche to redefine their biology to suit your wishes.

I don't think it's fair to say "Well, the Au Ra were another typical Huge Guy, Tiny Girl Sexually Dimorphic race, so that points to any future races being the same!" They wouldn't do that because that would be just copying the Au Ra. While there are race / sex combinations with builds similar to the Au Ra (males are less muscular Roegadyn with horns and scales, females are Miqo'te with scales and horns instead of cat ears and feline pupils) there was no race with the sexual dimorphism the Au Ra exhibit, which is part of what makes them unique. Doesn't mean it's a good kind of unique, but unique nonetheless.

DRK is fun and Fray is [kupo!] hardcore. I do wish the Darkside aura was more subdued (make it just a faint blue flame aura in combat, or leave more prominent energy trails from weapon swings), but it's a small complaint. Should ping 50 tomorrow especially with the Challenge reset to help glide me along. However I do not like tanking Dzmael Darkhold...

I only went with the Lightning haircut because I wanted to see if anything other than the "bang over eye" haircut worked for my design. Fortunately I haven't seen many people using that haircut, so I switched back to it.

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Originally Posted by Beckett

I think it looks fine, but you should be getting a free Fantasia when the expansion officially comes out, right?

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The free Fantasia only came with the CE... which I wuz not payin' fer. At least I think it did. Either way it's a small complaint; I'd like to bump up the skintone a shade or two, but it's not worth $10.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

Snip

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Not every Xaela is nomadic, as we now know, and there's plenty of reason to suggest that after centuries of constant hit and run tactics, effective counter strategies would develop and lead them to remain only somewhat effective. For example setting up temporary walls and having scouts on horseback would give reasonable defense and time to prepare, or perhaps the first thing they do whenever they temporarily settle is set up a defensive perimeter. Further more, we are now aware that this is far more than a traditional steppe environment, such as having a coastline to the east, a desert to the south, and some more mountainous regions. Either way relying on another creature to cover for something extra is fine, but once that creature is done (Say unable to walk due to spikes traps embedded in their hooves) which would probably be the best strategy defensively speaking, the rider ought to be capable on their own, which means being physically strong. Also, keep in mind that shooting a bow, even a shortbow, requires a good amount of strength with the arms at least, which seems lacking in the women.

Looking at the largest tribe, zerging their enemies with massive numbers seems to be more popular than hit -> retreat -> repeat til enemies stop. Looking at the most violent tribe, they don't fear death and die often, which might mean charging head first and keep fighting til they're corpses, again not too hit and run esque. Interestingly enough, horses are mentioned, but nothing specific about hit and run, though plenty of interesting notes like poison darts, javelin slings, psychological warfare. Also, with regards to muscular strength, I'm sure at least the Urumet are muscularly strong, considering they carry their elders on their shoulders as lookouts, as funny of a sight that might be.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Wall of text 3: Son of Wall of text

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I was more or less commenting on how the Xaela and their life style, lore wise, is the "Original" Au Ra, not necessarily the development process. The question is why develop the Raen first is the lore works in the opposite direction, with the Raen leaving the Xaela's lifestyle behind and eventually integrating into Hydaelyn!Japan? It seems like lazy work really, and it'd be more forgiving if it was either "Xaela left Hydaelyn!Japan" or "Raen look like Xaela" with Xaela having a non-"Japanese ideal"/having a consistent "Fierce warrior" look for both sexes instead of the very divergent gender roles of the "Japanese ideal". The fact that the "like someone you want to protect" and the whole "The girls look close to the Miqo'te/Midlander because that's what's most played" doesn't spell out well for future playable races, as it shows what the dev teams has in mind when "new playable race" is suggested and what SE has in mind when "new playable race" is suggested.

Sure there'd be a ton of complaints, but the benefits would have outweighed the costs, especially with the fact that otherwise they'd just have the raen with black scales. Ultimately it's the fault of SE for showing off the Xaela being identical, therefore complaints are justified. Hyur don't have to be the exception however in fact, it'd look better on SE's behalf via dedication to pour a lot of love and time into the new race. It is what it is, and what it is SE showing that they'd rather go an easy route and color palette the newest race

But by then they had already decided one thing notably, the Auri women were going to be short, as short as the Miqo'te at least. If they just said "Hey guys! Say we were to add a new race with the theme is Dragon/Demon! Which of these concepts for the race sounds best? (Insert several options for male and several options for female)" Someone noted that it looked like she was still using the Miqo'te model, but they could've been mistaken. Plus it's not unheard of for SE to take a race related poll http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...IX-(06-04-2012) was asked at the launch of 2.0, but sadly it seems SE seems to have strayed from the polling process and instead went with just collection of data. It is what it is, and what it is isn't something SE should be doing because it's not actually listening to the consumers, it's guessing what the consumers want with 100% certainty and that's both risky and unfair to the consumers.
-- A correction, source, and edit to this part of the post, http://www.siliconera.com/2015/03/13...planned-au-ra/ states that by 2.2 the Au Ra had been finalized in design and also chosen to be the next playable race. It's interesting to keep in mind considering that was over a year ago, plenty of time to gather feedback and make adjustments for the clan that hadn't even been announced yet. Furthermore, the 2014 Eorzean census hadn't even passed yet (As the data was collected in August), the phrasing implies that the data isn't always kept on hand (After all, if they didn't keep tabs on all the races at all times, why would the Data be 2 months behind?). It would seem to me that SE made a gamble relatively early on, knowing what would sell (Probably based upon knowing how these gamer demographics work) and it paid off. Now while I doubt the ratios have changed that much, it's still important to keep a few things in mind: 1) SE decided to make a reptilian esque demi-beastman very early on, as they had the Au Ra finalized by 2.2 7 months after ARR's launch and the census for reptile demi-beastman was gathered nearly 2 years prior to ARR. 2) Because it was finalized in 2.2, 5 months before the date was taken for the 2014 census and the data for the Census being drawn two months in advance, considering the time difference between the time the Data was gather and the time it was posted it doesn't seem like "Players play more Miqo'te/Midlanders" is a very valid point on the dev teams behalf. There's three remaining questions: 1) When did the devs gather their data to support the "More players play Miqo'te/Midlanders"? 2) When the the development for the Au Ra begin? and 3) Why didn't it occur for the dev team to take feedback once they finalized the Raen to make adjustments for the Xaela, who would've had 8 months to make adjustments to differentiate the clan?

Again, hardly another changes with the foot height range with the Roegadyn women, which is literally just up-scaling the model, go tease around with the height slider and you'll see what I mean. Even with that in mind a glitch allowed your character to be much larger than they normally appeared and there were no issues clipping or stretching to speak of with my experiences with it, and this was a Miqo'te going to near Elezen height. Examples of the glitch https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B5lk-jcIIAIxG73.jpg http://embed.gyazo.com/37d9b98c82c5f...3957701936.png http://i.imgur.com/WAnWDDQ.jpg http://i.imgur.com/237q7S3.png

You're telling me the tribe that practices eugenics to make their people as tall as possible, or the tribe that has a unique communications based on cloud- and wavekin, or the one who's skincolor changed due to their environment, or the tribe who's breath can be held for roughly 15 minutes, or the one that has a massively high rate for twins for no explained reason aren't "Special snowflake" tribes that change the basic biology of the Au Ra? Plenty of tribes have abnormal biology due to those gimmicks, I don't see what's so bizarre about there being one tribe where there's not a height difference for whatever reason and SE just implementing it for the girl Au Ra. I doubt seriously neither hard or lore breaking, seeing as how SE messes around with the usual biology in some clans anyways.

See that's the issue though, their reasoning behind the sexual dimorphism was "Cute girls sell, the bigger ones are unpopular". As long as that continues to be the case, no doubt the next race will be another batch of "cute girls" and whatever guy. I still feel that the Roegadyn exhibit massive amounts of sexual dimorphism, more so than the Au Ra, its just ignored because the race isn't popular and the sexual dimorphism isn't the right type of it. SE just made the Au Ra exhibit all the right kinds of sexual dimorphism to appeal to certain demographics (IE players who adore small and cute girls), but I still don't understand the deal with the Au Ra male, who are visually closer to Elezen another unpopular race.

Is Fray a ghost or something? I only half payed attention when that 1st quest occurred so the details are a tad fuzzy. Have you tried going back to the older dungeons alone yet? It's pretty therapeutic to just wreck some of them without level cap.

Yeah, I don't think not to many people use the Lightning cut if they've got it, plus the allure of new hair styles is always appetizing. Want me to spend a bit for a fantasia for you Cilia?