Its not really a debate though. You think anything thats not the race itself shouldn't be bound to a race, and lore or dev design isnt enough to make you change your mind.
The excuse we got about preserving some racial aesthetics rings hollow to me. Mainly because they already totally blew it on that front in the biggest way possible.
http://i.imgur.com/APVrGhN.jpg
In FFXI, face and hair were tied together, and the most popular face for mithra was face 6. It should look familiar.
http://i.imgur.com/AHWOZef.png
It's been in FFXIV since the beginning of 1.0 and used in promotional artwork for 2.0. I may be biased, since it was my hairstyle in FFXI and 1.0 and 2.0 and most of 3.0 until about a year ago, but I would say that it's the most iconic hairstyle in Final Fantasy MMO history. Even if you don't think so, you can probably agree that it is at least a very unique hairstyle.
But SE apparently didn't think it was part of the Final Fantasy catgirl aesthetic, despite a decade of being the epitome of exactly that. And I don't even remember seeing any other races asking to have that specific hairstyle.
http://i.imgur.com/vNoitGX.jpg
Unforgivable.
So, I may be in favor of giving everyone any hair at least partly out of spite. My race specific hair was taken, so why should anyone else get to keep theirs?
This argument is both self defeating and illogical. There is nothing stopping others races borrowing aesthetics from different cultures. Clothing and hairstyle simply have a greater significance to where they originated. Attempting to include actual physical features like horns or ears makes no sense. Translate that to its real life equivalent and... well, I doubt we need to go further on its absurdity. On the other hand, the same cannot be said of clothing or hairstyles.
Except this very same forum threw a fit over the native american like garb.
The "theres no arcane magic" excuse is in itself ridiculous, therefore, any other excuse is valid :P We have very little in this game that sets races apart as it is. I think they should add more, not take away what we have. and people get plastic surgery or wear contacts with different pupil effects all the time. I also see tons of cat/dog ear hairbands and tails.
Actually, tumblr did. This forum basically slammed the person complaining about that outfit and near virtually vilified her. In fact, I've never seen it so united against one topic.
But your rebuttal isn't a comparison for the reasons stated. Looking to real life equivalents, we see different cultures borrow clothing and hairstyle choices constantly. Those are not unique attributes because we all wear clothes and have hair. Therefore, we can, and do, change our aesthetic often based only on preference. Some people may find it offensive or whine ala the native american garb but that doesn't stop us from doing it. Physical characteristics differ. I don't care one way or another about race locking some gear but let's not pretend it's some big deal.
No that lady threw a fit and made a topic. What happened when the patch released? Nothing. No complaints. Everyone lived on normally.
And I'm sure if haircuts and styles were unlocked it would be the exact same as then. They'll be unlocked, people will get upset, patch will release, they stay subbed, everyone will be quiet.
I can understand them locking some things, and I'll even buy that clothes need to be segmented. I just really like that torn sash with the spikes.
I mean, hell, we can already dress up as Gnath and Vundu.