Humanoid Avian Race?

[Warlyx]

You're not entirely wrong there. Unfortunately, a good majority of the players will gravitate towards prettier races.

Anyone that has ever played World of Warcraft before the Burning Crusade happened would remember how heavily underpopulated the Horde faction (which was considered the ugly faction due to no aesthetically pleasing races for most people) was. For all the talk and praise people threw upon the Troll race on that game, not many people actually played one due to issues with their appearances. The population imbalance was solved by shoving the prettiest race (by comparison to all the other races) into the Horde, which resulted in a population explosion that practically made the population imbalance cease to exist almost overnight (which in itself really says a lot).

after TBC the horde wasnt the horde anymore....it was "blood elves" and company

[Ayuhra]

after TBC the horde wasnt the horde anymore....it was "blood elves" and company

I still play WoW sometimes and I know that people were drawn to Blood Elves for their lore and the fact that they looked more human than the humans did (the men, anyway). But the beast races in that game are still fairly popular. I don't see as many Goblins or Pandaren but I see a few Worgen here and there and a lot of Tauren and Trolls.

Heck the female Draenei are very popular. They're like a somewhat more visually interesting Au Ra. I'd settle for something like them, they're very pretty but still beast-like.

[Roegadyn_Bear]

after TBC the horde wasnt the horde anymore....it was "blood elves" and company

I know it was the only (and easiest) way Blizzard could think of to save the Horde, but it doesn't make me any less resentful of what they did to the faction. It also didn't help that Blood Elves made over 50% of the population for two expansions.

I still play WoW sometimes and I know that people were drawn to Blood Elves for their lore and the fact that they looked more human than the humans did (the men, anyway).

You're delusional if you truly believe the Horde being over 50% Blood Elves for both The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King had anything to do with their story, though.

I don't see as many Goblins or Pandaren but I see a few Worgen here and there and a lot of Tauren and Trolls.

I don't think I need to explain why there is a substantial amount of Worgen and Tauren (most of them male, by the way).

Especially when you take into consideration the demographic that tends to play those two races.

Heck the female Draenei are very popular. They're like a somewhat more visually interesting Au Ra. I'd settle for something like them, they're very pretty but still beast-like.

They're humanoid enough and designed in such a manner that a large amount of people do find them sexy despite their bestial features.

This, however, seems to apply only to their females though.

Blizzard has ALWAYS gone out of their way to make sure the females of their races had some sex appeal. Reason they got roadblocked with Ogres for Cataclysm, because even their notorious ability of making female characters have some sex appeal did not work for them at the time, so they went over to the less challenging Goblins.

[Reinha]

I don't think I need to explain why there is a substantial amount of Worgen and Tauren (most of them male, by the way).

Especially when you take into consideration the demographic that tends to play those two races.

Please explain. All I can think of is that Worgens look badass and Taurens look goofy and are a great inspiration for bad puns. Somehow I don't think that's what you meant.

I had two Worgens back when I played WoW. Both were male because a dog face and sex appeal just doesn't work together as the female worgen showed. I like the race because they look menacing, have funny animations (backflipping wolves are epic), can shapeshift into humans, sprint and run on all four (racial "mount" spell). They are also super tall and weapons look big on them.

Heh, all this talk is making me miss the racial differences in WoW. Like how my Nelf could slip into shadows, my Draenei could heal and how my Pandaren could roll. I wish we had that here even if it was just cosmetic like wings for flying, Sprint on all fours, an out-of-combat transformation or a racial emote. If everyone has something there wouldn't be a reason for petty jealousy. I feel it would add to the identity of races.

There are enough helms that could work with a muzzle in FFXIV (hoods, head bands, crowns, certain types of masks, goggles and glasses etc). Full face plate might not work but that is true of any MMO with muzzled races. Honestly I would accept a muzzle even knowing that face plate would never not look goofy as hell.

They could just squish the muzzle into the plate helmet like it was never there, kind of like how half of femroe boobs get chopped off / sent into another dimension in certain tops. Not bitter at all.

[Roegadyn_Bear]

Please explain. All I can think of is that Worgens look badass and Taurens look goofy and are a great inspiration for bad puns. Somehow I don't think that's what you meant.

The Furry Fandom.

Not everyone who plays a Pandaren, Tauren, or Worgen are part of that, of course... but that particular demographic does make up a good chunk of the population that plays them because they do find them to be visually appealing (and a good deal of them even find them to be sexy, whether or not you yourself can see the sex appeal).