Here is what the next playable Race should be...

[Ametrine]

Everyone on this planet finds different things attractive for a billion different reasons, and if no one is being physically or emotionally harmed by said attraction, why should you care about anyone else's private life?

I don't know why sexuality comes up every time an animal inspired race is suggested, despite the fact that a very substancial set of RPG players enjoy playing them, but it's so weird to me that so many people are so afraid that they might be playing with someone who finds "furry" or otherwise anthropomorphic characters cute or interesting.

Nevermind that such anthropomorphic characters have been in media for CENTURIES. Is some random person's harmless fantasy really so game breaking that another racial option is absolutely out of the question?

ANYWAY, nice artwork, OP. I failed to mention that in my first post, and I'm sorry!

[Sandpark]

Nope, it's all good. That's what fantasies are for. To live out what you wish for or fear to try in actual life. Keep on loving you furry lovers!

[Nestama]

Ah, I stand corrected. Yet on that topic, Yoshi himself said the Viera would be too similar to the Miqote (which is bs looking at the recent concept art), so adding a Padjal which is a straight up hyur with a permanent summoners headpiece would make him a hypocrite. :/

Which is another reason why I'm against making Padjal playable and you already know I'm against the addition of Viera :P

[Norleas]

blurp

You throw around the term weeb a lot, even though you're playing a japanese game and play an asian styled race..

[Terin]

Oh wow. I post this, almost half-jokingly (I do think it's a cool take on the Moogle design, though), and now it's at 11 PAGES?!? Who'da thunk?

In any case... I've been pretty vocal that I want a non-humanoid character, and I still hold to that. Personally, I was something super muscular, bestial even, somewhere between the Roegadyns and Highlanders. Something almost impossibly muscular, yet not as "large" as the Roe's are (I find them hard to take seriously, especially given how top-heavy they are). The Au'Ra were *almost* something I wanted, but they're so thin, they really fell flat for me. I've also been disappointed how uninteresting they are, and have virtually zero presence in the game; I was hoping they would be tribal warriors, perhaps with more stilted, primitive speech.

Honestly, I'd like something similar to Kimahri from FFX. Maybe more Dog/Wolf qualities, though, or even something akin to bipedal, humanoid Behemoths?

Main thing is, I do ***NOT*** want another "human" race. They just all bleed together already, and I'd like to see something different. Oh, and a new culture as well. Like I said, I'd love more of a tribal sort of people, centered around harsh traditions and hunting.

[Laerune]

Knowing SE, they want to atleast make the females cute, waifu type, this means that the males will probably look similiar to them, like male Au Ra with the female Au Ra. They could always make the females anime schoolgirls and make the males unique, but this would be unfair to those that want to play as a fierce female character.

I still think the Viera from the concept art is the best looking thing they have created so far. We have:

1. Males and female sharing the same traits.
2. Viera is a beastmen tribe, their feets and full fur body will set them apart from the rest.
3. Remodeling the gear would not be hard, since they only need to change the feets.

[Ametrine]

I feel a lot of players forget that Viera are 7 foot tall Amazons with stilettos as much as they are rabbits. Like, these woman can be hardasses, and could legitimately have a far more feral feel to them.

I want that, too.

[Galaktica]

I feel a lot of players forget that Viera are 7 foot tall Amazons with stilettos as much as they are rabbits. Like, these woman can be hardasses, and could legitimately have a far more feral feel to them.

I want that, too.

I can only speak for myself and what I've seen around the forums, but I don't think many people would disagree with you when it comes to what's possible with the Viera. When it comes to the women, I think people, myself included, are just worried that SE is gonna take the "easy road" again and give us another mostly-hyur, petite, cutesy race that tries to go for the largest amount of appeal. Viera in particular seem especially susceptible to that possibility given that certain incarnations of the race (e.g. FF Tactics Advance) are already exactly that: petite and cutesy.

Now, again, I can only speak for myself, but specifically when it comes to the females, I'm not opposed to more cute races being added to the game. My worry is that SE will fall into the trap of "if you wanna be a cute, little beast-girl, here are a bunch of options for you!...but for the rest of you, meh, here's one race that should suit your preferences. Now go sit in a corner."

I don't want to keep comparing this game to WoW, but hey, they did a good job of catering to all sorta of tastes. It you wanted something "cute," you had Dranei, Night elves, and Blood elves. If you wanted something tiny and funny, you got Dwarves, Goblins, and Gnomes. If you wanted something fierce, you got Tauren, Orcs, Trolls, and Worgen. Not sure where Humans, Undead, and Pandaren would fit, but hey, you had those as choices too.

I understand that due to the way FFXIV is made, including such a wide breadth of races would be nigh impossible, but the fact remains that they could have tried to branch out with Au Ra and in my opinion, they played it completely safe which ultimately makes them disappointing. Hey, judging by all the Au Ra running around, I doubt anyone at SE feels like they dropped the ball, but due to the limitations of the game and what's popular with the plyaerbase, it bums me out to think that it's very possible that they're just going to repeat themselves with whatever the next race may be.

[Alacran]

As I recall, Yoshi didn't even want the concept art of the Viera to bee shown at the FATE where they premiered. Saying that he has sole say in what is implemented is a disservice to the rest of the development team, I say that as admirer of the man who I credit immensely with FFXIV success, though not all of it.

In my opinion I feel the game and the series as a whole has a certain aesthetic they have been adhering to, those designated as Spoken have brought themselves to a point of sentience that fits the game world for a reason. I can see why some would want such an extreme depiction of a feral race but certain scenes with in the 3.0 story line would have very little sense if say focused around a Vanu Vanu...

To prove a point I went back to re watch a certain cut scene depicting the player character in a very emotional situation, I did so with the Vath mask on to show the ridiculousness of the scene with a more feral like appearance. However the developers removed the mask Specifically to show the emotion of the player, this leads me to believe that very much so, the team uses human like player options to show these very human emotion within the context of the story. Something not achievable should a more feral face be an option.

I want, Viera, I want my idea of Espers, if I want to play a Minotuar and have the story of the game tell me how epic another character is i'll go play that other game. The option is there to make feral characters, the ones at the focus of that games story are mostly human in appearance however with feral characters being only background standins. There is probably a good reason why a certain someone in one of the factions was given a hefty promotion recently, i'm sure it's not just because of their wide spread appeal and more relatable appearance. Nor is it because of all their compatriots they by far one of the most recognizable characters with in that I.P.

I believe the devs know the score, we get the same kind of races because that is what is easier for the player base to connect with, those census number are not just for show, with that information we tell them what we like, what we want, what we will play.

[Eul]

Yet you play as a cat race.

Funny after you said it later he change to lalafell lmao