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

[Khanscott]

Bird race? Just go with sirens. Already in the mythos and humanoid enough to not make garb design a complete nightmare. I'd prefer to avoid taping wings onto preexisting character models. I'd take a direct Viera rip from XII over that.

[Loki]

We don't really need more races but more options...and if you want some wings maybe it could be a glamour or a new slot for some funny accessories on our back?

MORE OPTIONS PLZ SE???

[Konicorgi]

I want Hydaelyn to give me aetheral wings as her Warrior of Light to fly high and kick Zodiark's ass on the moon.

[DragonFlyy]

They're always going to be humanoid though, no matter what new race we get. One of the aspects of any new race is that people must want to play them, it's easier to relate to an humanoid than something more different. So we get what we have with Miqo'te and Au'ra. Males that are more physically imposing than females,females are physically smaller and lean towards aesthetically pleasing. For races with larger, more physical females, SE already has data to go on, and I'm not sure that they will spend development effort on a new race that will be used by relatively few players.

That's not the reason they are made more human than animal. It's so the gear is interchangeable and the devs don't have to make more than one of a piece of gear.

[RhaegarFFXIFenrir]

An avian playable race that can fly on under its own power? That will never happen. The entire playerbase would be in an uproar because their favorite race can't fly whilst the new one can. Not to mention it would require the creation of a new skeleton, new character movement physics, etc. Simply put, it would be a huge amount of work with little payoff other than complaints for SE. Instead, I think "mounts" that are worn by the players instead of ridden could be an interesting next step. Angel wings, Fairy wings, bat wings, light wings (like the achievement pony), and a jet pack are some options that could be explored here. I doubt something like this would happen either, but at least it's something that wouldn't polarize the playerbase.

[Kurogaea]

An avian playable race that can fly on under its own power? That will never happen. The entire playerbase would be in an uproar because their favorite race can't fly whilst the new one can. Not to mention it would require the creation of a new skeleton, new character movement physics, etc. Simply put, it would be a huge amount of work with little payoff other than complaints for SE. Instead, I think "mounts" that are worn by the players instead of ridden could be an interesting next step. Angel wings, Fairy wings, bat wings, light wings (like the achievement pony), and a jet pack are some options that could be explored here. I doubt something like this would happen either, but at least it's something that wouldn't polarize the playerbase.

Next expansion speculation. Aether Flight like in Hydaelyn's domain, everyone has options now :/

[Averax]

Why on earth would anyone *want* to be a Harpy?
Harpy, a definition: a rapacious monster described as having a woman's head and body and a bird's wings and claws or depicted as a bird of prey with a woman's face.
a grasping, unpleasant woman.

Yeah, no thanks..

Of course there are alternatives...for example the Featherfolk from Roak in Star Ocean 4.

That would be a Hyur with wings...

[Kurogaea]

That would be a Hyur with wings...

Exactly why that alternative sucks, badly. feathers on the arms and legs with wings on the back or arms (expandable and retractable for armor) would be a better fit for an avian race.

[Priya]

I'll take anything that looks like an actual animal over our humans with fake ears/tail.