Hummingways - The best choice for the next playable race

[Wishles]

This is the concept art I was talking about:

I just want that hair.

[Nestama]

It's just that none of the metrics available to SE indicate that such a race would be popular, and so here we are.

But if SE just stick to what is popular, all we're gonna get is a bunch of Miqo'te/Au Ra reskins. Those are easily the most popular races at the moment :/

[Mimilu]

I kind of wish SE would to surveys to see what we would want.
I heard they once did to a survey to see what race people would like and Viera won by a landslide.

[Wolfyboy]

I kind of wish SE would to surveys to see what we would want.
I heard they once did to a survey to see what race people would like and Viera won by a landslide.

The problem with that poll is that...Lets hear it! Viera didn't win, it was a race similar to Miqo'te and Viera. It was never supposed to mean Viera; however, everyone took it that way and completely screwed the poll due to the bias.

JP NA GB FR DE
Reptilian beastmen (ex. lizardmen, draconians, etc.) 12.4% 8.3% 6.9% 18.1% 10.4%
Mammalian beastmen (ex.) wolfmen, gnolls, etc.) 3.3% 7.3% 7.1% 6.2% 9.9%
Reptilian demi-beastmen (ex. a race with demonic features such as horns, etc.) 11.2% 12.5% 16.1% 9.1% 11.7%
Mammalian demi-beastmen (ex. a rabbit-eared race such as the Viera from FFXII, etc.) 24.9% 27.7% 26.1% 26.6% 31.0%
More clans for existing races (ex. greater variation in physical build and appearance) 21.4% 21.1% 21.8% 17.5% 16.2%
Races of mixed heritage (ex. Elezen-Hyur, Mi’qote-Lalafell, etc.) 26.8% 23.1% 22.0% 22.5% 20.8%

If you took the opportunity to notice, none of the other options has an already established race that we can visually know already. How would a wolfman, gnoll, lizardman look like? That we can only picture in our imaginations. However, we do know what a Viera looks like. That, in itself is an unfair advantage. Heck, he says it himself, "Mammalian demi-beastmen proved to be the most desired new race, though I wonder if they received an unfair advantage because I dropped the name “Viera" Source: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...IX-(06-04-2012) look at the bottom.

Regardless, my opinion on this race is. I personally wouldn't want it. I've thought hard to see it as a form of compromise; however, this game is riddled with to many cute things already. I've never thought I'd even say this, but I personally don't want anymore cute races added in the game. I rather them focus on development if they aren't going to make a more beastmen race playable (which would be an interesting addition not only appearance but story-wise to the game.) Yes, I'm a bit crabby. In WoW I had a ton of variety to choose from, TERA the Amani, Wildstar the Draken, Archeage the Ferres, etc. Anyway, time for this ol' man to take his chill pills. lol

[Nestama]

I kind of wish SE would to surveys to see what we would want.
I heard they once did to a survey to see what race people would like and Viera won by a landslide.

I think a better idea would be for SE to neither make a race based on popularity or on surveys. Just create something that isn't already available (we can already create a fake Viera as a female. Works best if you're a Hyur or Roegadyn, though).

[Wadoka]

Don't we have a reference to Hummingways way back in the 2.0 opening story scenes? Castrum Occidens, Nero..."Ah, Agent Hummingway, I presume?"

[Samcaesar]

Snip

At this point though, people are probably ravenous for Viera, and Viera would be a little boring imho (And completely unoriginal too). Like.. Tall, skinny-ish humans with rabbit ears, heck they probably wouldn't even have weird skintone options like the Moon Keepers and Au Ra. But.. The point is, SE really needs to stop catering to just a strict majority, it's not really far to other consumers who want a tall and tough girl that isn't "Big and weird skin tone, but otherwise very human". Like, I love the Roegadyn don't get me wrong, but let's be honest folks, their girls still far more human and regular looking when compared to the men of the race, when are we going to get the inverse of that for once for folks who want a cute and feminine man and a more tough and less human

At this point, if it's such an issue to develop a race with normal tough looking people, I wish they'd just make it so you could make some of the other cutesy demi-beast races tougher and scarier looking, like fur patches and maybe a "Mithra" nose option for the Miqo'te and a "more" scale options and the ability to make the girls just as large as the guys. It's not a perfect solution, but it's better than what we've got, it's less resource intensive than making an entire new race, and it shows that at least SE's would at least be trying a bit harder to please this other demographic who wants tougher, more beast-like (As it's inline with "fierce" fairly frequently). Like you're telling me there's not ONE Xaela tribe that developed thicker, more covering scales or managed to somehow find out a way to get their girls as tall and tough looking as men? The Xaela do some bizarre stuff and have done quite a few things to modify their regular biology either on purpose (Lung capacity, being able to sustain themselves on their own bodily fluids, and the height of men) or accidentally (Getting more rustic skin tone,

[Zyrusticae]

Well, concerning the female Highlanders, people's preferences don't really have anything to do with what we're discussing here. They're average sized women on western standards. The fact that you have female bodybuilders, whom are in much greater shape than what you can have a character be in the game, doesn't mean the women of the entire species are "big and fierce".
When compared with the other races, the only thing this tells us is that there's a severe lack of races with larger women not that a normal sized female is "big and fierce". You're playing a fantasy game, you have to keep things in perspective, it's flat out impossible to consider something you're several centimeters taller to be big and/or fierce.
Also you may correct me if I'm wrong but the poll does seem to be Japanese, you can usually add around 10cm to both male and female characters to have it be closer to western tastes.

We're seriously getting caught up in semantics here.

How about we just agree to disagree and accept that there is nothing objective about the phrase "big and fierce", aye?

Also, I don't really understand this attitude of everything having to follow whats most popular. When adding races, traditionally MMO's or otherwise, rather than catering to the same group of people gaming companies have attempted to add in races for different types of audiences. It's not about popularity of the race itself it's about expanding the audience to increase the overall player base, rather than pumping out races that are similar to each other. The obvious example being WoW, where each added race has been an attempt to target a different niche.

Hey, don't look at me. Yoshida's the one pushing the game in that direction. I personally would have greatly preferred the Au Ra be far more bestial - at the very least having full-body scales instead of these weird tacked-on cosplay patches. But that ain't what we got, and that ain't what we're getting anytime soon.

At this point I'd be happy just to see the halfbreeds become a playable option. Better than another Au Ra disappointment, anyway.

[...]when are we going to get the inverse of that for once for folks who want a cute and feminine man and a more tough and less human [woman?]

Never.

I'm not saying this to be mean, but, well, the polls speak for themselves. Big and powerful women are seen as 'manly' and 'unattractive' in the eyes of the many (and by 'the many' I really mean 'the 95%'; that's how small a minority you guys are). Feminine guys probably have a much easier time of it, which is weirdly sexist if you think about it, but I'd say it's more likely for you to get that than it is for you to get big, burly women.

Even in the instance you have a race designed to cater to that niche, the women end up more sexed up than 'fierce' and 'powerful'. That's just the way the cookie crumbles.

[Samcaesar]

Snip

If you want the Au Ra to have scales, gotta start telling SE instead of just shrugging it off and hoping SE does it right, it's your job as a consumer.
Plus.. I wouldn't be so optimistic about halfbreeds, considering you probably know who in the MSQ, it's not going to be that interesting if that's the case.

SE has shown they don't listen to the polls 100%, plus let's be honest, until SE taps in and makes a race with "Big and tough women and cute and feminine men" SE really won't know what they're missing. Like, a dice with yes on 5 out of 6's of it's sides is going to land on "yes" more often than it'd land on "no", but it's already skewed in an unfair advantage (Much akin to say that Race poll mention Viera when that wasn't what they were trying to do), maybe if the dice was more far we'd get more accurate responses. Of course the minority group (IE Big and tough women/races) is going to be small, arguably 1 to maybe 2 out of the 7 (Counting Highlanders as different) fit that target, but who knows, maybe people want Big and tough races, just not the Roegadyn kind (Because they're just "Big" and either cool/warm toned skin, unlike the demi beast races). It's the issue with relying on correlative data, it's estimates that are probably right, but it's not how a corporation should work, especially not one that touts the whole "We listen to our fans" deal. As a secondary note, keep in mind the Auri men look very similar (Height and build wise) to Elezen, another population that's only about 5%, so what's the deal with that?

Eh, Roegadyn are already unpopular, I don't get why they have to bother sexing them up at all at that point, or at least if "Make them as big as the guys" do "Give us the option to make them as big as the guys". Let's be honest, more options isn't a bad thing, if they're not going to make a specific race to cater to the demographic, they should at least try to make the new (And maybe old) races to help work into that demographic.

[Zyrusticae]

If you want the Au Ra to have scales, gotta start telling SE instead of just shrugging it off and hoping SE does it right, it's your job as a consumer.
Plus.. I wouldn't be so optimistic about halfbreeds, considering you probably know who in the MSQ, it's not going to be that interesting if that's the case.

SE has shown they don't listen to the polls 100%, plus let's be honest, until SE taps in and makes a race with "Big and tough women and cute and feminine men" SE really won't know what they're missing. Like, a dice with yes on 5 out of 6's of it's sides is going to land on "yes" more often than it'd land on "no", but it's already skewed in an unfair advantage (Much akin to say that Race poll mention Viera when that wasn't what they were trying to do), maybe if the dice was more far we'd get more accurate responses. Of course the minority group (IE Big and tough women/races) is going to be small, arguably 1 to maybe 2 out of the 7 (Counting Highlanders as different) fit that target, but who knows, maybe people want Big and tough races, just not the Roegadyn kind (Because they're just "Big" and either cool/warm toned skin, unlike the demi beast races). It's the issue with relying on correlative data, it's estimates that are probably right, but it's not how a corporation should work, especially not one that touts the whole "We listen to our fans" deal. As a secondary note, keep in mind the Auri men look very similar (Height and build wise) to Elezen, another population that's only about 5%, so what's the deal with that?

Eh, Roegadyn are already unpopular, I don't get why they have to bother sexing them up at all at that point, or at least if "Make them as big as the guys" do "Give us the option to make them as big as the guys". Let's be honest, more options isn't a bad thing, if they're not going to make a specific race to cater to the demographic, they should at least try to make the new (And maybe old) races to help work into that demographic.

I am 100% in agreement with you. The Au Ra guys in particular made me scratch my head as it utterly reeked of hypocrisy, though I changed my tune a little bit upon learning that they effectively look like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure characters and the reference became more clear (but I'm still not excusing them for being so bloody inconsistent).

But I was banging on that drum all the way 'til their first reveal, and look what bloody good that did me. Sorry, but I'm all tapped out for furious fantasy race passion these days. You guys can take up the cup if you wanna. Me, I'd rather try to fight battles that aren't so... uphill.