Gender locked race?

[Lacan]

I really think he was just playing around with that contrarian comment. He was just making fun of the question since it was such a big assumption. I seriously doubt he would go against what the playerbase wants just to avoid doing something they expect him to. That would just be silly. Yoshi does care about the playerbase even if he goofs up occasionally. He wouldn't do something out of spite like that.


And when asked about male Viera directly, he said to wait for Japan fanfest. That could mean a lot of things. He didn't dismiss the idea. I think if we weren't getting them he would have clarified it right then. He has to know an open ended answer like that would make people get their hopes up. I think there is more to the situation than we're seeing.

[Alesone]

I think if we weren't getting them he would have clarified it right then.

Except if he wants to do a surprise reveal of a new race? If he confirmed male viera aren't coming then people would be expecting something as a substitute. He would obviously try to avoid spoiling something that would have been a pretty big surprise if it weren't for leaks.

[Lacan]

Except if he wants to do a surprise reveal of a new race? If he confirmed male viera aren't coming then people would be expecting something as a substitute. He would obviously try to avoid spoiling something that would have been a pretty big surprise if it weren't for leaks.

Would he want to set people up with misplaced expectations though? I just find it hard to believe he didn't realize how risky it would be letting the playerbase think "oh, cool we're probably getting male Viera!" just to be told at the next fanfest, "oh hey, guess what? You're not getting male Viera. But you can have this entirely different race we thought up that you didn't ask for and didn't know anything about till right this moment instead. Please look forward to it."


Sounds like a recipe for disaster. I know SE fumbles a lot, but I'd think Yoshi himself would know better than to pull something like that. :v I could be wrong though, he could have done an oppsie. I just find it hard to believe.

[Alesone]

Would he want to set people up with misplaced expectations though? I just find it hard to believe he didn't realize how risky it would be letting the playerbase think "oh, cool we're probably getting male Viera!" just to be told at the next fanfest, "oh hey, guess what? You're not getting male Viera. But you can have this entirely different race we thought up that you didn't ask for and didn't know anything about till right this moment instead. Please look forward to it."


Sounds like a recipe for disaster. I know SE fumbles a lot, but I'd think Yoshi himself would know better than to pull something like that. :v I could be wrong though, he could have done an oppsie. I just find it hard to believe.

He isn't setting people up for misplaced expectations, he's deliberately not dropped any hints that they're actually coming. He's either avoided answering all together, or pointed to lore that if anything, points to them not coming more so then them actually coming. If people are expecting male viera after everything then that's really not his fault, and I have a hard time finding the choice to be risky at all, it's no more risky than how they implemented Blue Mage or any other kind of questionable design decisions for other content.

Just because some people will be upset by the decision doesn't mean it's actually a risky business move.

Nobody asked for Au Ra either yet they're one of the most played races, so saying something like "here's a race you didn't ask for" doesn't really hold any weight. We didn't know anything of substance about the Au Ra either until april right before Heavensward launched either, all we knew was their name and what they looked like, a pretty low bar if you ask me.

[Lacan]

He isn't setting people up for misplaced expectations, he's deliberately not dropped any hints that they're actually coming. He's either avoided answering all together, or pointed to lore that if anything, points to them not coming more so then them actually coming. If people are expecting male viera after everything then that's really not his fault, and I have a hard time finding the choice to be risky at all, it's no more risky than how they implemented Blue Mage or any other kind of questionable design decisions for other content.

Just because some people will be upset by the decision doesn't mean it's actually a risky business move.

Nobody asked for Au Ra either yet they're one of the most played races, so saying something like "here's a race you didn't ask for" doesn't really hold any weight. We didn't know anything of substance about the Au Ra either until april right before Heavensward launched either, all we knew was their name and what they looked like, a pretty low bar if you ask me.

I don't think you understand what risky means. :v If it is something that will upset a portion of the fanbase, that makes it risky. Whether Yoshi intentionally worded his answer in a specific way, you'd think he'd be aware of the fact people would expect male Viera as a result. Taking those expectations and giving them something else entirely is very risky.

The problem isn't that the race wasn't asked for. The problem is that people were expecting something else and they get Hrothgar as a substitute. Back when Au Ra were announced, people weren't expecting anything specific. The new race was entirely up in the air. We just had Yugiri to speculate about. Right now though, we know female Viera are coming, which begs the question: "where are the male Viera?" How Yoshi answers that question at the next fanfest is going to have a big effect on the community.

[Alesone]

I don't think you understand what risky means. :v If it is something that will upset a portion of the fanbase, that makes it risky.

That makes everything they do risky then. Because everything they add or don't add upsets some portion of the playerbase. Continue the typical patch content cycle? people get upset. Add new types of content? People get upset. Try something new with a new type of job? People get upset.

This decision (if it happens), is no more risky than half the other stuff they've attempted, and is in fact less so, because regardless of what the potential new male race is, people are going to play it, and probably a lot at that.

Whether Yoshi intentionally worded his answer in a specific way, you'd think he'd be aware of the fact people would expect male Viera as a result. Taking those expectations and giving them something else entirely is very risky.

Of course he's aware people expect and want male Viera, just like he was aware of people who were expecting and wanted a Samurai tank, or a Dark Knight DPS job. All his decisions will break some people's expectations, he's certainly aware of that when/if he made the decision to potentially genderlock Viera.

And again, it's really not "very" risky.

The problem isn't that the race wasn't asked for. The problem is that people were expecting something else and they get Hrothgar as a substitute. Back when Au Ra were announced, people weren't expecting anything specific. The new race was entirely up in the air. We just had Yugiri to speculate about. Right now though, we know female Viera are coming, which begs the question: "where are the male Viera?" How Yoshi answers that question at the next fanfest is going to have a big effect on the community.

People expected Blue Mage as a normal job and got a limited job instead. And as I mentioned before, people expected some jobs to be certain roles, or expected certain jobs to only get different jobs instead. This is the way of how the game goes.

It will have a small but loud effect on the community, and the majority of players will go on their way as if nothing changed. People seem to be grossly overstating the effect this decision would have.