Can we have a Male Healer and a Female Tank?

[Reinha]

The gear sets for healers and tanks seem to follow this trend as well. There are very few (if any) feminine tank outfits and masculine healer outfits. I'd like a more form fitting and elegant looking plate set at some point because it sucks to have leather and cloth be the only feminine options. People playing male healer characters probably have similar complaints too.

[Emstidor]

TThere are very few (if any) feminine tank outfits and masculine healer outfits.

I agree about the shortage of styles, but I imagine part of the difficulty is designing tank armor that's appropriately feminine without veering into "boob plate", a trope this game is often praised for avoiding.

The Hellfire tanking set is the most feminine "tanky" armor design that comes to mind, and even that one caught a lot of flack for the giant exposed chest window.

[BillyKaplan]

Though if the new job is Dancer as a healer, all bets are off. The marketing team is probably not going to want that to be a male Roe...

If they use an outfit roughly similar to the MNK AF3 outfit they can have it be a Midlander. That sort of style could work for a dancer and still be on a guy chara without too much backlash.

[Hestzhyen]

I agree about the shortage of styles, but I imagine part of the difficulty is designing tank armor that's appropriately feminine without veering into "boob plate", a trope this game is often praised for avoiding.

The Hellfire tanking set is the most feminine "tanky" armor design that comes to mind, and even that one caught a lot of flack for the giant exposed chest window.

Similarly to how I feel about casting/healing gear options for men, I think we have enough full plate options in the game that SE can start making a few more boob hole plate sets. So long as they don't reverse course and only make bikini plate/boob window tank gear I think we can get a few more sets for the people who want them. I didn't like the Hellfire set because of the stupid looking window, so I glammed over it. I can do the same with more sets like that due to the variety of options that already exist.

[kikix12]

Similarly to how I feel about casting/healing gear options for men, I think we have enough full plate options in the game that SE can start making a few more boob hole plate sets. So long as they don't reverse course and only make bikini plate/boob window tank gear I think we can get a few more sets for the people who want them. I didn't like the Hellfire set because of the stupid looking window, so I glammed over it. I can do the same with more sets like that due to the variety of options that already exist.

I am so happy that armors in this game are actual armors. Want an open cleavage?! Play a caster, alternatively lightly-armored DPS. I so hope that heavy armors WILL STAY being heavy armors, because all those "feminine" modifications make them look like impractical fashion garbage. I mean, why worry about the super-heavy plate all around, if the most important organ, the heart, is perfectly nekkid right there in front of you, with a big-ass hole to point yer sword through?! And breast shapes on armor end up with the same ridiculous notion. Plate armors shape is sleek outwardly because armor is NOT supposed to absorb attacks but push them to the side. Attacks just slide off towards less critical points or into thin air. Breast shapes do exactly the opposite, leading stray attacks that would cause little damage straight to the heart, making sure that even a random hit would be a potentially deadly strike.

So yeah, I DO want them to stick with full-out heavy armor designs for male and female both. It's fine for stuff like chainplates, leather and similar armors that by nature absorb attacks instead of deflecting to look appropriately to who wears them. That's perfectly reasonable. But plate armor?! Hell no.

[Hestzhyen]

I am so happy that armors in this game are actual armors. Want an open cleavage?! Play a caster, alternatively lightly-armored DPS. I so hope that heavy armors WILL STAY being heavy armors, because all those "feminine" modifications make them look like impractical fashion garbage. I mean, why worry about the super-heavy plate all around, if the most important organ, the heart, is perfectly nekkid right there in front of you, with a big-ass hole to point yer sword through?! And breast shapes on armor end up with the same ridiculous notion. Plate armors shape is sleek outwardly because armor is NOT supposed to absorb attacks but push them to the side. Attacks just slide off towards less critical points or into thin air. Breast shapes do exactly the opposite, leading stray attacks that would cause little damage straight to the heart, making sure that even a random hit would be a potentially deadly strike.

So yeah, I DO want them to stick with full-out heavy armor designs for male and female both. It's fine for stuff like chainplates, leather and similar armors that by nature absorb attacks instead of deflecting to look appropriately to who wears them. That's perfectly reasonable. But plate armor?! Hell no.

If all we had were dumb fantasy bikini armor sets for women, I would totally be on-board with you. But as it stands right now the vast majority of sets available are practical heavy armor. So I don't mind them loosening the requirements to introduce some less practical designs for people who want that sort of thing. A few more boob holes, slim profiles, and light leather segments will not significantly deprive people of full-body plate options.

[kikix12]

If all we had were dumb fantasy bikini armor sets for women, I would totally be on-board with you. But as it stands right now the vast majority of sets available are practical heavy armor. So I don't mind them loosening the requirements to introduce some less practical designs for people who want that sort of thing. A few more boob holes, slim profiles, and light leather segments will not significantly deprive people of full-body plate options.

There is nothing wrong with slim profile. That's how armors for women would be in reality as well because...well...women do tend to have slimmer profile than men when they are at the same level of fitness, while good armors are tight-fitting so that they do not move as the person walks/run.

The shape being such as to deflect attacks away from the center of the body is important and that is most certainly maintained even in slim armor.

However, ideally there would be no armors like that other than the lighter ones. You may say that you wouldn't mind a few for those that want it...but that will result in these few armors being used by significant portion of the people that care about glamor and want a "sexy armor". It would be no different than making half or more of the armors like that, except it'd kill the variety. And besides...not one person would put such armors on in any sort of reality.

Now, you can say this is a game and a fantasy fiction all you want. I say that it is part of immersion (which many people seem to take as an almighty argument here for just about anything...but in this case it actually applies) when combined with the lore. I wouldn't care about a micro-bikini armor being the most powerful armor in the world...if the lore would support it by saying that the actual defenses are offered by magical enchantment that creates a powerful barrier around the body. In Final Fantasy XIV there is no such lore. The armors are implied to work "physically", by actually covering the spots. So they should be shaped accordingly to cover them. All of them without a lore explanation for them to be different...
This already suffers from the freedom that players have in glamours where they can apply any lower-leveled armor that can be used by the same classes that the armor you glamour on can use...and that pool including a lot of really frilly and non-armor stuff. Heck, it even includes the lvl45 coliseum set which isn't bad for a DPS, but most certainly is ill suited for a tank.

[Rokke]

I agree about the shortage of styles, but I imagine part of the difficulty is designing tank armor that's appropriately feminine without veering into "boob plate", a trope this game is often praised for avoiding.

The Hellfire tanking set is the most feminine "tanky" armor design that comes to mind, and even that one caught a lot of flack for the giant exposed chest window.

I think the problem with that idea is that exposing tiddays is the only way to make heavy armor feminine. One of my fav tank glams is the i205 pvp top: its super sleek vs the usual bulky tank designs. SE decided to cut out a boob window for the female set. Its a shame cause the other alteration it has (females get a simple gold breastplate vs the male’s bulkier embellished black plate) would have been feminine enough :c

[Granyala]

I'd like a more form fitting and elegant looking plate set at some point because it sucks to have leather and cloth be the only feminine options.

You know what would happen if you wear a "form fitted" female "boob armor" into actual battle?
You would die from the first hit to your chest area because your armor sits like a wedge on your sternum.

I'm very happy SE does not design this dumb kind or armor. Also, we have enough platekinis etc. We don't need more oversexualized female gear for tanks. >.<

[Reinha]

You know what would happen if you wear a "form fitted" female "boob armor" into actual battle?

I assume what would happen is the same thing as when I wear a nice dress into battle. Which is nothing because it's just a glamour over my actual armor. Feminine and form fitting doesn't always equal boob armor by the way.