Devs shouldn't give up on races after Viera.

Not doing a direct reply because this is more general 2 cents on dwarves given the discussion--personally figure it's a kind of odd archetype, but it bothers me a bit that either there's a bizarre, massive discrepancy between male and female dwarves in MMOs in terms of how conventionally good looking they are, proportions, and... well everything short of height. But I've also seen people do an opposite stance and want all female dwarves to be virtually indistinguishable from male dwarves, which I'm not into either. There aren't a lot of designs with silhouettes like that, it seems like a cop-out to me.

Also, and this is the part that's the big challenge usually, I wish more stuff visually separated dwarves as a fantasy race from humans with dwarfism. Name connection is fine but like play into fantasy a bit more with the fantasy versions so it's clear. I think the final fantasy devs are smart enough to work this with a really distinct and refreshing take that isn't ugly or redundant with lalafell, and like has been mentioned they've done dwarves a few times already. Just not prominently to my knowledge.

Respect to Tolkein but everyone after just does ripoffs with male dwarves, and it seems like people don't know what to do with female dwarves. Some new interpretations would be refreshing imo. That said, wouldn't blame Square Enix if they stuck to their word and made Viera last.

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Originally Posted by DamianFatale

I personally do not want something as simple as a dwarf. If they did them, and had a FFIV inspired story to go with them, then okay. They just better be as unique as the XIV races. Even the Elezen have a fun take on the elves that I find fresh.

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Agreed on wanting Final Fantasy flair, lore, and unique interpretation. I think dwarves have been getting pretty stale lately overall and it's reflected in their comparative lack of popularity versus other races. I'd have way more confidence in Eastern creators reviving them though compared to Western ones, partly because they'd be seen through a different cultural context and partly because the video game and manga/manhwa/etc. industries are so competitive over there. Any dwarves a huge company like Square Enix made as customizable characters, I'd expect them to make sure that their time, effort, money, and talent got good returns and the result resonated with fans in overall positive ways. They already had the 1.0 experience, they're not likely to want a repeat of that.

i wouldnt mind if viera was last race
but they should update character creator each expansion to make up for it 1 new face
couple more options here and there

I feel like a unique race we have never seen before would be a great option. It is why I was bummed out about Lupin not being playable.

As much as I like seeing more race diversity, it won't really matter for me. I'll always go back to my kitty :3

I'd rather get more different options for the character creator, or for the race specific hairstyles to be made available for all races. And maybe for the aesthetician to have more options, too.

I hope they don't waste more effort going back to create new models for literally every armor set in the game for another stupid forehead-alien-tier furry race.

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Originally Posted by DamianFatale

I feel like a unique race we have never seen before would be a great option.

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It's a good thing they didn't add a bog-standard "wolf person" race then.
I want Final Fantasy, not generic fantasy.

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I hope they do indeed stop wasting massive resources on new races that add nothing to the game. We have tons as it is, and the game plays exactly the same regardless.

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Originally Posted by Tsukino

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I hope they do indeed stop wasting massive resources on new races that add nothing to the game. We have tons as it is, and the game plays exactly the same regardless.

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I understand and respect how you could feel that way. In fairness though, I think it really depends a lot on what highlights of the game are for different players.

Some people place really high priority on varied combat between jobs. For me I like challenges and fighting sure, but it's important to me that I get the hang of combat quickly--especially in an MMO. Don't want to hold any other players back. So if combat becomes increasingly complicated and counter-intuitive, that's going to be an obstacle for me in terms of playing that class. I may or may not decide it's worth it. Flipside, I love the story, the visuals, and the character customization. While I haven't seen it to the same extreme on lodestone, there are players who focus mainly on gpose or otherwise just lose their minds when there are more visual options available. That's a major draw for certain fans and there's an advantage to investing in that when it sparks interest and audience reactions. Same reason why boss fights get so much visual detail. People like that stuff. They could have you fight literal potatoes with all the game mechanics, but investment would drop.

Balance, imo, seems appropriate. We're getting a new playable race, new class(es? Thancred had a gunblade iirc), new beastmen, new locations, new lore, new armours, etc. Square Enix spread their attention across all the areas that get strong reactions from players with Shadowbringers. Adding Viera is a big deal and at the very least additional races won't be a question for a long time. There is an advantage to adding options though, otherwise they wouldn't bother.

Honestly, one of the reasons I want to see more races, is so I simply see a bigger variety of player characters, so it feels less like I live in a world inhabited by nothing but female Miqo'te. ='D