Viera Race "Confirmed" for 5.0! Are you gonna change races?

[Beckett]

Then what will people who want to play as a male get? An entirely different male only race?

The longstanding rumor has been that we're getting a lion race along with Viera. If that's true, then the lion race is probably male only.

I sure hope I'm wrong, because gender locked races are just awful.

[KaijinRhada]

RIP playable male Viera. Looks like they're getting the Mithra treatment.

Not quite convincing enough to rule them out completely. On one hand story-wise it makes sense to keep them rare outside of scattered NPCs, but on the other it might not be the most ideal move to exclude a sex from a whole race in this age where character customization and personalization is a coveted quality in a game (they did add male Miqo'te and female Roegadyn, and the former isn't exactly flooding the streets in terms of lore). Until it's announced, I won't have a strong suspicion one way or the other.

Then what will people who want to play as a male get? An entirely different male only race?

It could be an option, but that could also be a lot more work than they would want. Though given that there are no locks on classes/jobs to race, it would be an interesting avenue to take, although I would foresee people asking for the opposite sex to be playable (which is the case with Viera), and otherwise calling it unfair that they aren't, or something along those lines.

It does make me want a Bangaa, but that would be an impossibility. TwT

EDIT:

The longstanding rumor has been that we're getting a lion race along with Viera. If that's true, then the lion race is probably male only.

I sure hope I'm wrong, because gender locked races are just awful.

Whaaaaaa????? I've never heard of that one before. Were it to be an option, why add another feline-derived race? o.O

[Jandor]

RIP playable male Viera. Looks like they're getting the Mithra treatment.

They're... kind of boring really.

It feels (so far at least) more like a direct copy from FFXII instead of a unique FFXIV spin on an existing FF concept.

[Crushnight]

RIP playable male Viera. Looks like they're getting the Mithra treatment.

fortunately its not rip male viera the lore just states they are incredibly rare the same for Xaela off the steppe and male miqo'tes the dramaturge also states you are almost never to come across a male veira which doesn't negate some males may venture out of the woods.
If SE does gender locked races it would be a extremely idiotic move it's something that most people do not like and it is something i have heard some people praise ffxiv for staying away from

[Makeda]

The entire basis of this game story is about the distrust and mistreatment of the beast tribes, play wow if you want to a be furry, xiv is never going to have a playable one.

Or Guild Wars.

Guild Wars 1 was all about the 'Beast Race' - the cat-like Charr, invading and overunning human lands. Very astute players could find a small note in a single paragraph of the paper book that came with boxed copies of the game that said... the Charr were the actual heroes. The humans were, like Limsa Lominsa, the actual invaders.

The Charr were taking their home back.

With Guild Wars 2... the Humans and Charr are forced to make peace due to a larger outside threat. And so Charr become a playable race - and everyone gets to learn the truth about Ascalon.

These days in Guild Wars 2, you have the humans, you have the cat-like Charr, a race of brainy midget salamander-like creatures from deep beneath the Earth, and plant people. The Charr are actually decently popular among players.

They're not in any way pretty, and they don't have the quirky stereotypes of Tauren and WoW Orcs or Undead. They just have... depth... and that can actually appeal to a lot more players than game developers tend to give credit to.

(It is interesting to note than when players finally get to the Charr home city, they find a neighborhood full of many races - some of them seen as hostile by all the other races. But in the human city, only humans... yet up to that point we're told that the Charr are merciless killers of all others, and the humans noble... yet just like with Limsa Lominsa's treatment of it's local "beast races"... the facts on the ground often betray a different truth.)

All through the life of Guild Wars 1 I had wanted to play a Charr... because I'd read that little booklet and it made me see every bit of story I was getting as 'jaded'... and making a Charr was the first thing I did when Guild Wars 2 went live.

Likewise here, every since I ventured into the wilds around the cities of FFXIV, I've been thinking that if we really wanted to be the heroes, we'd be Kobolds, Goblins, Sylph, and Sahaugan (not sure on spelling on this last one).

[xbahax92]

It doesnt make sense to me to exclude male Viera if you consider all male nd female kid-Viera are hard to differate (as the lore states).
This would mean that all male Viera reaching the age of 13 would disappear magically into thin air.
While you could argue they disappear because male Viera fetch them from the villages every few years, this still implies that a male Viera has to show up at some point.

In fact Im starting to believe that male Viera do look totally different than many people anticipate right now. As the leaker dropped and mentioned a lion race, there is 2 possibilites (for me atleast):

1. Male Viera do not look like a bunnies, rather have a different face shape and look like lions.
2. Lion race is just another side- race that gets added like Lupin has been

Either way, I would put the expectations low til saturday. Thats the day for all this mystery to be solved! ( I hope!)

[reivaxe]

These days in Guild Wars 2, you have the humans, you have the cat-like Charr, a race of brainy midget salamander-like creatures from deep beneath the Earth, and plant people. The Charr are actually decently popular among players.

Fun fact, though Charr are the least played Race at 13%, Humans only make up 40% of the players ... the remaining 60% are pretty much evenly spread through out the remaining non-human races with the highest being 16%. This game is truly an example of how beloved well designed non-human races can become if treated right. Not only do they have their own home lands but also unique starting stories, clear cultural differences that play into this story as will as racial awareness in the story through NPC interactions. these are all things FF14 doesn't have ... which also means that GW2 will simply never get a new race and FF14 can afford to bring in new races as there is far less work in it than in GW2.

It doesnt make sense to me to exclude male Viera if you consider all male nd female kid-Viera are hard to differate (as the lore states).
This would mean that all male Viera reaching the age of 13 would disappear magically into thin air.
While you could argue they disappear because male Viera fetch them from the villages every few years, this still implies that a male Viera has to show up at some point.

In fact Im starting to believe that male Viera do look totally different than many people anticipate right now. As the leaker dropped and mentioned a lion race, there is 2 possibilites (for me atleast):

1. Male Viera do not look like a bunnies, rather have a different face shape and look like lions.
2. Lion race is just another side- race that gets added like Lupin has been

Either way, I would put the expectations low til saturday. Thats the day for all this mystery to be solved! ( I hope!)

Given the leaker's rep I have no reason to think they called 2 races for one or mistook a beast tribe as a Playable. And given the past with this game I don't think they are ever gonna make gender locked races again.
I mean, unless the bunny women have tiny ears until the age of 13 I don't see how there could be a huge a difference as women being bunnies and guys being lions seeing how they can't even tell the difference until then.

I was setting my bar low for the Fan Fest until I remembered this part of his leak. I say Gunblade and Bunny this event as they're both hinted at as of now, Dancer and Lion race after that.

[Vidu]

RIP playable male Viera. Looks like they're getting the Mithra treatment.

...how does this say "there wont be playable male Viera"?
A male Viera could leave the forest behind just as "easy" as a female can. The whole idea behind our character is that we're "special", so for the sake of the whole lore it wouldnt be to unthinkable that one male Viera decided to leave the Woods behind - just how countless female Viera do in FFXII (seriously, I was extremly amused by the whole idea that they werent allowed to leave the forest, yet every place I visited had at least one female Viera hanging around... working well, the whole "you're not allowed to leave"-thing...)

We might wont see as many male Viera as NPCs, if they stick true to this lore, but this is absolutly no hint that male Viera cant be made playable.

ARR introduced male Miqote and female Roegadyn and with that got rid of gender exclusive races - I doubt they'll be going back to that. The only possibilty for a race with only one gender I could see is if the race was one-gender-only, like the Ananta. But Viera clearly arent.
And according to Viera-lore, the males seem to be strong and capable fighters - no reason for them to not become an adventurer and leave the Woods.

[Daralii]

...how does this say "there wont be playable male Viera"?
A male Viera could leave the forest behind just as "easy" as a female can. The whole idea behind our character is that we're "special", so for the sake of the whole lore it wouldnt be to unthinkable that one male Viera decided to leave the Woods behind - just how countless female Viera do in FFXII (seriously, I was extremly amused by the whole idea that they werent allowed to leave the forest, yet every place I visited had at least one female Viera hanging around... working well, the whole "you're not allowed to leave"-thing...)

We might wont see as many male Viera as NPCs, if they stick true to this lore, but this is absolutly no hint that male Viera cant be made playable.

ARR introduced male Miqote and female Roegadyn and with that got rid of gender exclusive races - I doubt they'll be going back to that. The only possibilty for a race with only one gender I could see is if the race was one-gender-only, like the Ananta. But Viera clearly arent.
And according to Viera-lore, the males seem to be strong and capable fighters - no reason for them to not become an adventurer and leave the Woods.

If anything the men would be more likely to leave the jungles, as being on the fringes would give them a firsthand view of how rapidly Othard is changing under the Empire. They'd be leaving their people in order to better protect them, which is a pretty common trope in XIV(Raubahn, Lyse, Yugiri, etc).

[AvenoMatt]

Yeah not seeing a reason as for why they would limit Vieras to be a female only race ror players. Probably in game we'll never see or see very few male Vieras with females being the most common NPC for their race but for us players that doesn't matter since the game makes no note of our selected race since it has no play in the game itself other then our own enjoyment.

Look at Au Ras they are very few in numbers and are suppose to be new to Eorzea with only a handful actual present and even back in their native lands in the far east they still make up a small portion of the population and yet there are thousands of players who are au ras running all over the place and the game doesn't care.