Devs shouldn't give up on races after Viera.

[Jaywalker]

I've thought about this point a lot! Glad there's a post on it!

Personally I kind of count miqo'te and female au ra as short lol, but I think with Viera a lot is going to depend on what build males get. I think it's not just height that needs to be considered with this but also build and tone/effect.

Within the tall races, there has been some serious variation. Roegadyn are the bulkiest/most muscular to the point that males go way past human capability. Highlander males are super beefy and tall, but more within human capacity and traditional beauty conventions. Elezen (male and female) seem designed to be in line with tall and graceful bishounen/bishoujo but the proportions are kind of odd for that with broader shoulders. Male Au Ra accomplish tall with lean muscle, contrasting the beefy muscle Highlanders get and the insane bulk of Roegadyn men.

What I predicted in the past was that we'd get a tall, thin race because that is currently missing. Like narrow hips and shoulders, very long legs. Noodle people. It makes sense Viera would play into this because the ears add additional height, so you get a very elongated, streamlined look. I honestly have no clue what male Viera will look like but I hope they're similar to the females, which seems possible since male and female Viera are apparently difficult to tell apart until they reach early teens.

The reason female races haven't been done with as extreme variation I think is partly because of common body types seen in Japan, partly because iirc biologically female bodies have fat and tissue in different places that add softness. Short of steroids and/or exclusively-for-show body building, biological women tend to build muscle in different ways than men do too. So while there are more possible body types for female races, they'd probably present differently.

Respecting tone, Roegadyn are set up to manage imposing/tough fighter aesthetics. Those playing Roe have the opportunity to give impressions of being very powerful at first glance. If you want to feel badass, that's one way to do it. Highlanders are on a similar spectrum but fall within more traditional attractiveness standards/more conventional proportions. Elezen again do bishounen/bishoujo but with a specifically angular bent. Male Au Ra show more edgy (and fanservice-style) lean muscle. This offers a more fast/dexterous look compared to the willowy Elezen and tough, unstoppable/unshakeable Roegadyn/Highlanders. And if Viera males and females both do tall/thin we'll have some very graceful, model-esque males too.

[Jaywalker]

On the remaining race options, Midlanders have the most conventional proportions and the highest visual versatility afaik with a large number of face and hair options. Miqo'te are very proportionally similar but somewhat smaller and cuter, which I do think correlates with Midlanders + Miqo'te being most popular with players overall. Female Au Ra are significantly shorter than usual and look less human, placing emphasis on delicacy. I don't remember offhand their popularity levels but I think newness does affect things. And Lalafells just run full speed into tiny, cute looks.

There are only two builds right now that are on the bulkier side and both are tall, those being Roegadyn and Highlanders. Even then that's largely males and female Roegadyns, whereas female Highlanders are more wiry. There's also (depending on Viera) only one seriously slender, light-boned race.

Square Enix has done interpretations on dwarves in the past, and I do think it would be possible for them to do dwarves as a height option between Lalafells and short, female Au Ra. That said, steering away from conventional proportions seems to be a gamble in terms of popularity last I checked and I suspect SE would want to make sure any new addition would be seriously used by players. Dwarves in MMOs tend to be among the least popular races with some consistency.

If dwarves were done stocky (short but bulky, females probably having curves because they're still marketing in Japan and the atypical proportions would need to be balanced out for more widespread appeal) there are a few routes that could be taken. My money would be on it using a different approach for cute aesthetic, possibly a kind of ugly-cute look. Think tonally similar to Kobolds. It's still a gamble but might work. Another route would be trying to go for imposing/tough, but lack of height would be an obstacle there. Someone going specifically for imposing/tough is more likely to choose Roegadyn or Highlander. Conventionally attractive isn't as likely because again, competing against more normally proportioned race options that will have an easier time accomplishing that aesthetic.

Another option that I'd been speculating on previously as an alternative to Viera was Lunarians or some similar extraterrestrial race. Playing into mysticism, mystery, and an overall otherworldly feeling would avoid redundancy with other races. It would also offer a broad range of palettes and explain why that race wasn't seen earlier. Originally I would've figured them for possible noodle people, but they could also work as an intermediary between short female Au Ra and Lalafells. To let them stand out i think they'd probably need to look very elegant and fragile while having some kind of dramatic difference in facial structure to avoid being too close to Miqo'te, Midlanders, or female Au Ra. Offering a specifically short, dainty male race option would stand out as well.

[Jaywalker]

It's possible there'll be short versus tall Vierra for subraces, similar to Midlanders versus Highlanders. And all of this is with the grain of salt that it takes time, money, and effort for SE to make a new race... not to mention get gear set up for that race. It's not so surprising they said Viera are the last addition. But if they were gonna do a thing, and if the game was going to continue to be limited to the humanoid races versus beast races, I think these might be options.

(And sorry this is long lol, I love design a lot!)

[Jellybums]

How hard could it be to add aegyl? Wings sticking out the back, done.

[wereotter]

What I predicted in the past was that we'd get a tall, thin race because that is currently missing. Like narrow hips and shoulders, very long legs. Noodle people. It makes sense Viera would play into this because the ears add additional height, so you get a very elongated, streamlined look. I honestly have no clue what male Viera will look like but I hope they're similar to the females, which seems possible since male and female Viera are apparently difficult to tell apart until they reach early teens.

To be fair, though, apart from grooming and clothing choices (and one other physical trait that most people won't ever see) even human children can be difficult to differentiate sex before they reach their teens, so saying that viera look similar as children isn't really a reason that once mature, they won't look vastly different. The game also does this already with the Au Ra where they're all very small as children, then the males during maturation grow to their massive height while females remain small.

[Raldo]

I hope they DON'T continue to add any more new races, because it will either slow down the pipeline of making new gear models and/or the "new" races will look like barely-modified copies of the other races (so they don't have to go and make new models for the 20-bajillion existing pieces of armor).

I like new content. I don't consider new races to be content.

Edit: Unless they add a robot or automata "race". I'd totally Fantasia to that, and it wouldn't require extra armor work.

[redcurrant18]

Well new races certainly come along with a great amount of story content, like the Au Ra have. Viera may have a similar major role in the next expansion by gaining their trust and having them appear in job quests, similar to how Au Ra did in Heavensward.

[Haxaan]

How hard could it be to add aegyl? Wings sticking out the back, done.

YAS! Though, giving a singular race wings would not be fair, feathers sure, but wings would be op. However, Wings as a mount anyone could use, I approve of 100% Love the Aegyl!

[Jaywalker]

To be fair, though, apart from grooming and clothing choices (and one other physical trait that most people won't ever see) even human children can be difficult to differentiate sex before they reach their teens, so saying that viera look similar as children isn't really a reason that once mature, they won't look vastly different. The game also does this already with the Au Ra where they're all very small as children, then the males during maturation grow to their massive height while females remain small.

I getcha, although granted if we're talking mammals and there's any measure of cleaning going on (down to parents wiping tushies) usually that would be noticed haha. XD I'm mostly employing some suspension of disbelief on that front. In real life I've found biological differences are more obvious in some kids than others regardless of grooming, but it does get more clear with age usually. The main reason I brought it up as notable was because I read some FFXIV Viera lore that specifically mentioned it, and it's a contrast to other races where parents can tell the kids apart well before then. IIRC it was mentioned here.

[AdventZero]

About the only thing I want is a sub-Elezen like race that lets me play as a girl of about 5.1 tall with pointed ears. As it stands the only two races with pointed ears are too short or too tall. And that is the only reason I'm even playing a Miqo'te, cause what I want isn't an option, for now.