I hope SE sees that there is a 40+ page long forum thread about this issue and, if they were planning to make it gender locked, that they rethink their plan. Considering that they backed out of gender locking Mi'quote and Roegadyn and that they haven't explicitly said it's female only yet as far as I've seen or heard, they might just be milking the attention and suspense that this issue is generating.

As for the lore "excuse" people keep throwing around, that male Viera are rare and reclusive so players shouldn't be able to play them? The WoL is exceptional. Cultural norms shouldn't limit the WoL's race. Any lore reasoning for gender locking a player race is just an excuse by developers who don't wanting to bother making two models and animation sets. Having one male viera who has the power to change the world leave the Great Wood doesn't break lore. Because remember, lore wise there is only one player character with other players being refereed to, if at all, as adventurers (as in generic members of the adventurer's guild) that help the WoL, not other Warriors of Light.

(Sorry if these things have been said before, but this thread is 40 pages long... @.@)