FFXIV 2nd expansion: Viera-like race still a possibility?

[Vexander]

I'd love to see Viera added, but as a reversal of Au Ra with the females being these tall, hulking creatures and the males being the small, adorable ones. Au Ra were a disappointment in that regard. Alternatively if they do with Viera what they should have done with Au Ra, that'd also be acceptable; One tribe having tall hulking males and small cute females, and the other having tall hulking females and small cute males. Or One tribe having both males and females small and cute, and the other having them tall and hulking.

I don't feel that previous incarnations of Viera from other games need necessarily hold the addition of them to this game at the point of a knife. It's perfectly plausible to add certain characteristics, of course. Miqo'te Males are rare, something taken from their predecessors, the Mithra, from FFXIV. Rare males/females shouldn't prevent a race from being playable, or both gender options.

You mean the poll about beastman / demibeastman / mammalian / reptilian? First of all the poll lacked options outside of those like avian or aquatic. Secondly, mammalian demibeastman doesn't mean Viera. People who want werewolves that can transform, a more human looking Ronso, fox people, satyrs or any beastman with some human features also have to vote for that option. Which means you can't say Viera won the poll if Viera was never an option in it.

I agree about WoW's copy paste faces but you are forgetting that applies to every WoW race, not just the beastmen.

GW2 had a pretty good character creator for all races. Charr, Sylvari and Asura all look distinct from humans and their popularity is about half of that of humans. None are as rare as Roegadyn. It's hard to estimate what amount of players would migrate to a more distinct beastman race in this game, because we actually don't have one yet. Some lump beastmen into the same category as Roegadyn (big and not cute) and claim that it would be equally rare. And yet our demibeastmen are among the most popular races of the game, and there's no doubt some players play them for the exotic features and not just the pretty faces. Who says some Miqo'te and Au Ra players wouldn't be interested in some more beastly looking options (instead of a change of ears)? They don't exactly have a choice at the moment.

There are more things to consider when it comes to the addition of new races. Variety and new players. Would I have tried GW2 if they only had humans and big humans? It's a 100% no from me. I picked the plant and cat race for my character and the alternative would have been no characters at all. I can play human IRL. There are very likely people who never even try this game because there are no interesting races for them to try like Charr, Sylvari, Tauren, Worgen or Troll. In game they would be surrounded by cat girls, lizard girls and plain girls. This is not appealing to some people, but we never really hear from that side because they never entered the game. Rabbit girls would hardly make this game appealing to any new audience. A lot of people think it was a good idea to include female Roegadyn and male Miqo'te to ARR even though the former has always been among the least played combos in the game. It may not be the most popular but it adds variety and attracts new audiences. I probably wouldn't have started the game if it wasn't for femroe because no other race "clicked" for me. Right now my game+expansion purchases and sub fees would have paid for almost 50 fantasia potions. That's how valuable new players are compared to fantasia purchases. Food for thought. :P

While I see your point, I don't think the game should sacrifice it's tone/thematic for the sake of variety. If people join a game just for the models, and not for the gameplay, chances are they'll get bored and leave anyways. While variety in races certainly opens up a wider possible audience in attracting new players, it just isn't enough if they don't enjoy the game itself. Buy the game, play a few months, get bored, and leave. That'd be... what? $100? Meanwhile a new race which sticks out like a sore thumb from every other race will be in various places in the game as NPCs or the rare few players who just like that race, altering the atmosphere existing players have enjoyed for so long.

I, personally, enjoy the race selection FFXIV has, and the thematic they share of being more human than beastly. I also enjoyed GW2's wider variety and selection of races, because that worked for that game. WoW's race selection leaves much to be desired to me because it's a bi-factional game with strict racial divides. However, I don't think you'll see anyone bashing LOTRO for not having playable Orcs and instead just, "Humans, Pointy-eared Humans, Short-Bearded Humans, and Barefoot Humans." It should be the same for FFXIV.