Everything to know about 4.0 from the Fan Fest

[Zojha]

Non Japanese players are also guilty of playing the most attractive races as a majority. When you are a company adding a new race, you tend to look for what the majority wants, not what a small minority demands.

Indeed. But if the majority is already served with several races, why not serve the nichés instead for a change?

In WoW, Humans are the most popular race by quite a margin - 16%. After that come Blood Elves with around 12-14%, then Night Elves with 10%. After than come the Undead with 8-7%, Orc with 7%, Tauren with 7%, Worgen with 7%, Draenai with 6%, Troll with 6% and then the rest with ~4 or less percent (Dwarf/Gnome/Goblin/Pandaren).

https://www.statista.com/statistics/276315/distribution-of-world-of-warcraft-characters-by-race/
Alternately try Warcraftrealms.com/census for similar results.

If we were to only serve the majority, there would only be Humans and Blood Elves, maybepossibly Night Elves too. The rest would never get something they'd prefer - that is over 50% if accumulated.

[Clover_Blake]

Indeed. But if the majority is already served with several races, why not serve the nichés instead for a change?

Well, to me it makes sense that if they want to add a single new race (remember that we've gotten only one new race so far!), it'd have to look like something many people would like. If it's also easier for the devs to make, even better! I find it logical from every angle, really.

I just wish people could stop acting as if a certain race were bad -and as if the company had made a bad decision-, merely because it's not of their personal liking, and simply accept that it is of many other people's. That alone should suffice.

Working on a single, new race takes a lot of time, effort and resources considering how it takes a whole expansion just to add one - and I imagine the cutscenes play a major role in why it's not very straightforward. So with all that said, I can understand why they'd be reluctant to spend all of that effort designing a whole new race and pouring tons of effort into it just so 4% or less can enjoy it while the other 96% moan about how SE made such a terrible decision and that it was an awful addition etc etc.

And basically this. If they end up adding new races in the future and they happen to be good looking, it'll still be understandable. And so long as many people like them, it certainly won't be a bad thing.

[Zojha]

In other words, I wish people could stop complaining that a certain race must be bad because it's not of their personal liking[...]

That isn't the complaint. The complaint is that SE does not offer variety, which makes a new addition as such pointless, because it only adds more of the same. Imagine the only new haircuts in this game would be twin-tails, because that was deemed the most popular one of the original ones you offered before knowing which would be popular. You can have longer ones, some are more to the side, some come with a ribbon, some without but all new haircuts would be twin-tails. To you, that would be a good thing. I would find that boring and bad.

And this is a difference in opinion we probably just have to accept.

[Clover_Blake]

That isn't the complaint. The complaint is that SE does not offer variety, which makes a new addition as such pointless, because it only adds more of the same. Imagine the only new haircuts in this game would be twin-tails, because that was deemed the most popular one of the original ones you offered before knowing which would be popular. You can have longer ones, some are more to the side, some come with a ribbon, some without but all new haircuts would be twin-tails. To you, that would be a good thing. I would find that boring and bad.

And this is a difference in opinion we probably just have to accept.

I agree that it all comes down to different opinions. I for one believe that the races we currently have do offer variety. They simply don't go into furry territory (not all games do), but a Roe isn't a lalafell, a lalafell isn't a hyur, and (to me) a hyur is not an Au Ra. We have races of all sizes and several age and beauty ranges.

I mean, every person is a whole world and has different tastes, and it's normal for people to wish there was more, or for this or that race to cater to their most personal needs. There's simply no need to go as far as to imply that any current or future good looking race is bad, especially when good looking characters are what you should expect in most Japanese games (and the reason why many people like myself are atracted to them).

[Zojha]

[...] especially when good looking characters are what you should expect in most Japanese games

With "good looking" being subjective. One might argue that Freya Crescent is good looking - despite going into "Furry Territory" as you would put it. I personally avoid the term since it's typically used in a derogatory fashion.

Personally, I don't find the races very varied - Roegadyn look like humans that go body building, Highlanders look like humans that are not as far into body building as Roegadyn yet. Miqo'te look like humans with cat ears and tail tacked on, Au Ra look like humans with tail and scales tacked on, Lalafell are small Humans with pointy ears and Elezen are just lanky humans with pointy ears. Cosplaying any of the races is as simple as picking one that suits your personal stature and attaching fake ears/tails. That's nice for cosplayers, but I fail to see the variety. Our RACES have about as much deviation as my local bus stop and those are all of the same race - humans.