So, why isn't this a thing yet?

[Zyrusticae]

^ That's an entertaining idea. I can't see them ever doing it, because by the Twelve that is a TON of work for something that'd be for funzies... but maybe as a replacement for Hildebrand quests...? Hmmm....

There is a difference between playing something cute and then making a child playable character. Regardless of how OP clarifies their opening post, it gave the impression that they wanted to play as a child Miqo'te. Which caused this whole thing to snowball into the discussion it is now.

Which frankly, yeah, we could play as kids. I'd welcome it. However a good amount of quest dialogue is going to have to be toned down specifically for people playing that race/age character to avoid controversy (Thancred and Haurchefaunt flirting with a ten year old Miqo'te child of either gender isn't exactly going to go over well no matter which way you spin it). And given SE's track record, they're not going to put in that extra work for an age variation for a race if they're not even willing to add extra/different dialogue for the races we have now.

It's a shame that people automatically assume loli/lolita = child = pedo. I agree with that. It really is, because over the 40+ years lolita has become a term that now identifies a style of dress and just people (usually girls) that look younger than they are. There shouldn't be any bashing over the style itself or liking it.

So on topic: Yes, more cute races. More than happy to have them. But for the sake of not getting one of these threads starting again, let's just avoid kid characters altogether (unless SE can prove they can handle it responsibly).

You raise a good point, and I agree that that would be more trouble than it's worth. Too much would have to change for it to work credibly from an in-story perspective. I'd rather stick with the new in-between Lalaqo'te race idea.

[DreadRabbit]

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That's an idea I can get behind, definitely. And a few have been mentioning it. I don't think other MMOs have had hybrid creation be accessible, and it seems like it would give us the best of both worlds if they didn't skimp out on features we could choose from. Because I will gladly agree: Lalaqo'te would be pretty adorable. And people could mix Roes and Au Ra for some truly fierce or sexy creations.

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This game has been brought up already, but Mabinogi (Korean f2p) actually was built around a similar system. The idea was your character ages 1 year every real week, their height and features changing accordingly. Each week they'd be granted stat bonuses and ability points (points spent to learn skills) based on what age you turned. At age 20, you can now rebirth for free to at max age 10.

So if a f2p from 2008 could get the system going, it's not too difficult for today. But their entire combat system was pretty different from FF14. No classes, all characters could learn every skill in the game from various schools of skills (save race specific). Their class or "destiny" system only grants growth bonuses. You can use any skills you want whenever you want. But FF14 is also not that far from that school of thought. Even if it was cosmetic or if you got some kind of bonus for changing to a kid for awhile, it would be fun.