I've made a speculation regarding an article written by Bodie Fogg on the subject of the Viera race.
The article covers the main focus of prompting Naoki Yoshida, or rather "grilling", him to uncover more information. While there was no clear cut answer, he phrased it in a particular fashion.
Copy and paste from the web page,
"Not to bug you, Yoshida. But I'm a big fan of FFXII's Fran. The Viera*race was considered for Heavensward but never included and Stormblood marks the second time they've been left out. Should I give up hope?"
"I don't think you should give up hope. I mean we're hoping Final Fantasy XIV will have a very long lifespan. With that being said. Fran and the Viera race have a very high heel and trying to depict that in Final Fantasy XIV is challenging. They won't be able to wear any shoes that exist in Eorzea right now."
In this response, we can safetly make the assumption on a few possibilities.
First, to use a character as reference, being an already existing concept, and acknowledging It, means they have already formed a concept on how to apply it within the realm of Eorzea. This is further supported by the fact he specifically mentions they cannot adorn current footwear that specifically EXISTS right now.
On another speculation, he specifically mentions that he wishes FFXIV to have an extensive life span. Should he as a producer want this? Absolutely. Can we speculate something else? For sure. This could be taken as, from what I personally presume, his anticipation to have this possibility a reality in the future. As of the coming of 4.0, they faced the trouble of rebalancing the issue of the combat system. Once that is surmounted, this could very well possibly be the next big project he wishes to bring to fruition as one of the expectations he wanted for 4.0 but unfortunately couldn't fit in at the end, as mentioned in another article.
If you are curious about the information provided and the article used as reference, the quoted article may be found here.
https://www.finder.com.au/final-fant...ormblood-viera
Other articles pertaining to this may be provided upon request.
(Literally, could be reworded as, "Give us time, we can make it work. No promises, look forward to it.)