Can we have a Male Healer and a Female Tank?

[ElHeggunte]

Sounds like an overly nitpicky thing to focus on to me. This is how I assess concept art and previews for new classes and/or gear:

Does it looks awesome? Yes {X} No { }
If Yes, can I use pieces of it for unique glamor sets? Yes {X} No { }

Outside of that, I couldn't possibly care less about the gender or race of the character depicted. I only slightly care about gear previews on Lalas (of either gender) because their small size and adorable potato shape can sometimes make it hard to see details.

I never even noticed there was a trend until it was pointed out because it's just so sufficiently irrelevant. Hell, the only class I can tell you the "gender" of without having to think about it would be Monk, and only because I've mained one since 1.0 (and XI before that). I can recall a few others too (like MCH because of the topics that used to complain about the addition of an undershirt to the female AF), but if you asked me to list all of them out you would mostly get a bunch of "uh's" while I dug out my phone to look them up.

Wouldn't hurt if SE changed things up I guess and I suppose it would be a nice thing to see for the five people who actually care about this, but I also wouldn't at all be surprised if SE collectively gave you a strange look if you said something.

[Zathurain]

My mom mains tank, my dad mains healer; because of this, seeing a tank with a fem mascot and a healer with a masc mascot would make me very happy. well. so long as the fem tank armor wasn't ridiculously sexualized. a feminine armor design I'm more than okay with, but short of glamour items and maybe the coliseum gear I really can't get behind the concept of armor that doesn't fully cover the vital organs. Suspension of disbelief only goes so far, after all.
This is why the gut-me window(as I like to put it) on the fem DRG is extremely jarring because of the fact that that it not only provides an opening for an enemy to attack you, but all those sharp pointy bits directly on the wearer's skin would do a lot of harm with just the smallest movements. And again, my suspension of disbelief will only go so far.

[Rosalynd]

Man, i'd love to see something along the lines of Sabre's outfit for tanks, maybe something very pope like for healers.

[AdventZero]

After thinking about this for a bit I thought it would be cool if something like Rune Fencer came out and it was a female as the sword wielding most likely tank role. Then I thought "wait, wasn't RUN shown as a female in FFXI?". Did some looking and this is what I found.



It seems both RUN and GEO were shown as both genders, not just one. Now THAT is how they should do it. This way everyone's happy.

Pictures of both on their own.

[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.

[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. >.<

[Odstarva]

I have no idea what you consider "female armor".

It's armor. That's it. If there's female armor, should we consider female swords and books and wands too?
Armor is armor, light or heavy is a different subject but don't go and call it boy or girl armor now.

As for casters in general, how is it that in your mind a long coat or a robe = female? It's been long established as a fantasy trope and I don't think gender ever played a role in that.

[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.

[Cabalabob]

I agree SCH should be male, women should not be learned, get back in the kitchen!

[kikix12]

As for casters in general, how is it that in your mind a long coat or a robe = female? It's been long established as a fantasy trope and I don't think gender ever played a role in that.

Historically, both long coats are robes were very heavily used by men, so that's the most ironic part here. Robes and similar garments are still extensively used unisex in certain situations (bathrobe, kimonos, the robes worn at universities, religions etc.). It is only somewhat recently that people decided that robes are feminine. Not that I could ever understand that. It's just a simple case of people making connection between a skirt/dress and a robe, without actually bothering to think of the differences rather than the similarities.