Gender locked race?

[Shippuu]

How would we, the WoL and our party manage to get through the wood without being attacked by one? And yes they attack from the shadows, but this is the WoL/WoD they're not going to go down with one shot which will end up with a confrontation.

Not to mention their wood - which Yoshi P mentioned - was burning in the trailer. Another reason for them to come out and fight or help with the blaze. It honestly just doesn't make sense to me at the minimal for there not to be a male viera NPC.

I don't think you're considering a potential story element they could be using with that particular burning wood. Male Viera are already very rare and staunch defenders of the wood. If a significant threat were to approach the woods, it would make sense for them to gather to defend it, no? And if that so happens to gather the majority of those already rare males into one spot to defend their home? Then a sudden massive inferno would make short work of them potentially. This would be a powerful story hook that would not only give female viera a tragic element if the vast majority of their already small male population was eradicated, but would further solidify even more of an excuse to not include playable male Viera.

We know SE isn't afraid to gut punch the players with tragic stories, after all.

Yup! I said before but also you can make hellsguard roegadyn look like big cats anyway which just makes it more redundant. lion people would be silly imo.

This same argument can be made against Viera with Miqote. You can make miqote or even elezen look like Viera already, so adding Viera is redundant.