[REQUEST] Can we have a more original race next time?

[Ultimatecalibur]

One thing I noticed when I looked at this picture is how they seem to be planning to solve the footwear problem tied to the Viera's digitigrade stance by giving them normal sized feet instead of having paws.

[Alacran]

I wish I could find it. It was old and perhaps even on the ARR beta forums before the great Forum Purge. But a vote way back then tilted things this way with the cute-ish human-ish looks for the races. Mind you I can't find it. Heck so long ago I could even be remember it wrong. But if you don't get a fierce looking race you might want to look to the 1.0 peeps who gave yoshi the hint of what 'players' want. XD (man that was so long ago...)

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ure-Race-Polls

Also.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...806-04-2012%29



Could this be what you mean?

[Eul]

I'm fine with the female Au'ra but the male, no. It just looks like copy of Elezen, same body proportion without muscle slider.

[Reinha]

A question to those who think a new race should be popular enough to justify the development time. What percentage of players race swapping to a new race do you consider sufficient? Should the new race end up more popular than any other race or is it enough that it won't end up the least played race?

Here is a survey of people swapping to Au Ra:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...from-reddit%29
Right now we have a situation of roughly 50% of players going Au Ra, leaving Elezen the least played race (<5%). Obviously forum goers don't represent the player base accurately but the survey gives a rough estimate.

This made me think about what the purpose of adding a new race is. Is it to make the population more diverse, or to reinvent something that already exists and make people pay for change race? I believe that currently they aim for the latter and I find it unfortunate because it's actually making the races less diverse (since one race will be more popular than any other before it and others even less popular than before). Imagine how much the player base could grow if they added more variety. Reading the WoW forums I get the impression that some of the players who are currently quitting would play FFXIV if everything wasn't so cute and teenage looking. Race options are directly affecting their decision of buying the game. Would it really be that bad to see "ugly" characters running around, especially if it was only one of the clans of a hypothetical new race?

No western players want the devs to make ugly an option and just never use it unless you're counting every race in Wow as ugly

You mean "never use it" like half the US players in WoW playing as something else than the two kinds of elves, human, dwarf or gnome? (Source: realmpop.com)

[Alacran]

A question to those who think a new race should be popular enough to justify the development time. What percentage of players race swapping to a new race do you consider sufficient? Should the new race end up more popular than any other race or is it enough that it won't end up the least played race?

Here is a survey of people swapping to Au Ra:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...from-reddit%29
Right now we have a situation of roughly 50% of players going Au Ra, leaving Elezen the least played race (<5%). Obviously forum goers don't represent the player base accurately but the survey gives a rough estimate.


This made me think about what the purpose of adding a new race is. Is it to make the population more diverse, or to reinvent something that already exists and make people pay for change race? I believe that currently they aim for the latter and I find it unfortunate because it's actually making the races less diverse (since one race will be more popular than any other before it and others even less popular than before). Imagine how much the player base could grow if they added more variety. Reading the WoW forums I get the impression that some of the players who are currently quitting would play FFXIV if everything wasn't so cute and teenage looking. Race options are directly affecting their decision of buying the game. Would it really be that bad to see "ugly" characters running around, especially if it was only one of the clans of a hypothetical new race?

As subscribers i feel the decisions we make with our wallets and time are what affects the development teams direction, that by and far seems to me to show that what the current player base wants is cute rather than fierce, beautiful instead of ugly. If anyone were to read the forums and look at what the avatar of the individual requesting and "ugly"/ "fierce" option it could easily be thought " You know they say they want "x" but numbers show "y" to be what is often picked..." I play as a Highlander, i will never not play as a Highlander because it suits me best, i feel it is my representation in Erozea. I enjoy the fact I appear to be an adult male, I love the Ala Mhigan lore, I also think the female characters among the most attractive. However Highlanders are not very popular, there will be even less of them once Au Ra come on the scene. As a subscriber, as as avid role playing game enthusiast i can appreciate the want and need to play as something that best represents you. In no way, shape, or means am I disregarding this fact. I simply feel that the standard has been set, this game, this series is not one in which Amalj'aa, Ixali, Kobold, Sahagin, Sylph, or any other anthropomorphic hybrid would be seen as a viable player option.

The idea of a race solely designed to be "ugly" will simply not happen, it denotes a player would be in some way ostracized by virtue of physical appearance. Monstrous may fall in to that category but something more bestial is not out of the question, however one should really look at whom they are asking of this from...

Behold i give you the predecessors of the current five races of Van 'Diel







Now one can successfully argue that these fine folk are also the origin of the current races of Erozea... Imagine if everyone with a Miqo'te had their character changed to look like this more feral, bestial, savage race... Roe's, and lala alike, throw the elves in the mix for good measure. By all means say people would have been ok with it, i would simply have to call those people a liar. The outrage over characters needing a butt slider went on for twenty eight pages...

[Kathryn]

*Snip*

I agree with your post a lot, Personally I do see my character as a representation of myself in FFXIV atm and I have been waiting for a race I feel more suitable to come a long and I am exstatic with what SE have done with the Au Ra it's definately the race that is me and suits me well and I cannot wait to change my Miqo which I have had since 2.0 *I was Lala in 1.0* has been a place holder for such an event.

And onto the second part of your post if they did that to Miqo while I was playing one I would fantasia asap to Hyur though the female Hyur running animations bug me to hell I still think female Hyurs are so much prettier, anything that looks bestial to me I personally pass up asap.

I like to look good inrl and I like to look good in game there's nothing wrong with expressing myself or my personality ingame.

[Nestama]

Funny thing... the Mithra shown above actually looks more human than the current Mithra in FFXI. Mithra have cat noses. That Mithra concept art does not. If anything, that may as well be Miqo'te concept art (it even looks like they don't have a tail, making them more human than Miqo'te).

Yes, people would be peeved to wake up one day to find their race changed to something else, but that's not what anyone is asking for. Something new (and not something I can easily make look like something already available) that adds variety and more choice is what we're asking for.

Took a few short minutes.

[Peachy]

Id still rather see an advanced set of options in the creator for adding mixed heritage features. Before you assume the worst freak of nature possible, consider what it would do to each race. You could have a much shorter roe or elezen, a hyurs facial structure and motions with elezen ears, or a taller more mature looking lalafell, even a miqote with roes hour glass figure for those wanting bigger butts and breasts. And according to that poll from 1.0 Im not the only one who wanted this lol.

Side note, using wow as an example is bad because even the humans look like disney cartoon dwarves to me. So if wow players arent coming here because its "cute" I seriously question their taste in art design. Yes, its impossible to make a genuine ugly character (face paint doesnt count). But I dont want to see disfigured characters with silly names for the lulz like I have so many times in other mmos.

I wouldnt mind face options for non beautiful people. Elderly, chubby, etc etc. But I dislike face sliders from other mmos that let you look seriously disfigured in a comical way.

[KisaiTenshi]

No western players want the devs to make ugly an option and just never use it unless you're counting every race in Wow as ugly

TESO didn't get the memo. Given this has been a problem with ALL the Elder Scrolls games, Pretty landscape, balloon-animals for faces on essentially identical bodies on everyone regardless of age, race and gender.

Reading the WoW forums I get the impression that some of the players who are currently quitting would play FFXIV if everything wasn't so cute and teenage looking. Race options are directly affecting their decision of buying the game. Would it really be that bad to see "ugly" characters running around, especially if it was only one of the clans of a hypothetical new race?

...

You mean "never use it" like half the US players in WoW playing as something else than the two kinds of elves, human, dwarf or gnome? (Source: realmpop.com)

WoW has some pretty terrible game models, but I've never played it, so I can't really say "it's ugly and I won't play it" rather I'm saying "I'd rather play something that is closer to cute, and WoW has nothing cute."

Yes, people would be peeved to wake up one day to find their race changed to something else, but that's not what anyone is asking for. Something new (and not something I can easily make look like something already available) that adds variety and more choice is what we're asking for.

Mabinogi did this.

Ye gawds. Basically the Giant race went from being super-chunky and kinda ugly looking to rather fit and much more cute looking. Reason: People weren't playing them.


What would be more interesting... to borrow a page from Mabinogi at least.... would be to actually have some variation in age that reflects height/size. Mabinogi actually had some internal mechanic that allowed for arbitrarily changing this, but the game actually had height, muscle tone and fatness on top of age... for a game designed in 2003, that's actually pretty clever way to get more variation from what was otherwise just 1 race (then three, the elves and giants were introduced around G6 for North America from the start.) The most obvious limitation of this was that you'd have "10 year old" characters with the same breast size as the 18 year olds... because they had to ALL share the same armor set.

Yet... there are still no games that actually go beyond a biped playable race. The only game that actually ever did this in any shape or form was Spore.

As much as people want yet another cute looking human-type with animal ears in the game, we should really think beyond that. (Not that I would ever oppose Viera.)

[VargasVermillion]

I admit I probably wouldn't play them but more diversity is nice, If we are to have more human/animal hybrids at least make them look more 'wild' (like mithras or galkas for example).