Gender locked race?

[Ahrijlaken]

Creating a new race is a lot of work, having to make male and femele is work X2

[Penthea]

Creating a new race is a lot of work, having to make male and femele is work X2

It would be more work to create a female viera and a male hrothgar, assuming they are unique races. Assuming the male viera look like the previously released concept art, then the males and females have a lot of physical traits in common. So there would be a lot of design overlap when creating them. This is not the case when doing two unique races even if they're only one gender each.

[Novak_04]

Creating a new race is a lot of work, having to make male and femele is work X2

Let's not pretend that this is an underfunded corporation. This is Square Enix. They have the man-power to make male and female version of a new race -- especially if the base model is a copy/pasta with a few extra touch-ups. Additionally, it's not like they only have three months to make the male version... They probably began making Shadowbringers around the time Stormblood launched.... which means they've had two years+. If they don't make the male viera, it won't be because they "didn't have the resources."

[Seraphor]

Let's not pretend that this is an underfunded corporation. This is Square Enix. They have the man-power to make male and female version of a new race -- especially if the base model is a copy/pasta with a few extra touch-ups. Additionally, it's not like they only have three months to make the male version... They probably began making Shadowbringers around the time Stormblood launched.... which means they've had two years+. If they don't make the male viera, it won't be because they "didn't have the resources."

So you think the reason we don't get five new races every single expansion is because they sit back twiddling their thumbs for most of the time?

Of course dev resources are finite. Time spent on making races is time not spent on something else.

[Novak_04]

So you think the reason we don't get five new races every single expansion is because they sit back twiddling their thumbs for most of the time?

Of course dev resources are finite. Time spent on making races is time not spent on something else.

You're reading something that isn't there, mate. The reason we don't get five new races every expansion is because they don't want to add them (whether a conflict with the story, or whatever) -- not because they can't add them. At no point did I say their resources were infinite... Rather, I said if they had time to make the female viera -- clearly the headliner of the entire expansion thus far -- then they had time to make the male viera. As I previously stated... If they don't make male viera, it will not be because they didn't have the resources.

[Alacran]

So you think the reason we don't get five new races every single expansion is because they sit back twiddling their thumbs for most of the time?

Of course dev resources are finite. Time spent on making races is time not spent on something else.

The issue i feel is that by possibly gender locking any race, they run the inevitable risk of facing demand for that which was kept out of reach.

People demanded Viera for years, the demand was there since FFXI. People made all kinds of mods to do what devs couldn't/ wouldn't do for them back in those days. Cut to FFXIV and the demand is still there. When the FATE in Tokyo showed us the oft shown Aura concept art of Viera, Yoshi P himself stated he wished to not show the art, this was due to the fact he knew that player demand would escalate for their inclusion in FFXIV. Preceding this, his wording of a mammalian race being proposed in the race questionnaire back in 1.0's road map voters poll, admittingly skewed the results, however it does not change the fact that Viera once more became a want for many. Owing to wanting FFXIV to have a unique race Aura was made instead, a race no one asked for. True Aura are popular in game atm but even after their implementation Viera remains among most requested and popular FF series races, i would hazard the male equivalent to be no less so.

Hrothgar gives players more options which is great, but still should it be male only... we'll have a Roegadyn issue all over again. After undoing this mistake in in 2.0 (adding Male Miqo'te and Female Roegadyn) why in blessed Halone, would you make more work for yourself knowing full well the demand will be there yet again?

I hope gender locking is not a thing again in this game. While i know my main will stay a Male Highlander (only using different races for my alts), i know i'll be campaigning for Male Viera and Female Hrothgar should gender locking come to pass.

[BillyKaplan]

The issue i feel is that by possibly gender locking any race, they run the inevitable risk of facing demand for that which was kept out of reach.

[looks at past threads asking to unlock Miqo, Roe and Highlander] [looks at past 350 pages of this very thread] I don't think it's a risk so much as an inevitability.

[Lauront]

So you think the reason we don't get five new races every single expansion is because they sit back twiddling their thumbs for most of the time?

Of course dev resources are finite. Time spent on making races is time not spent on something else.

It's been 4 years since they added one. Their resources, as Novak mentioned, are considerable - it's more a matter of how much the company allows the MMO to retain for reinvestment, but we know SE has been pouring money back into the game (although exact amounts are unknown), as the game is a major source of revenue regardless and needs to keep up with the market to remain competitive. They certainly have the resources to add two full new races, even, and if they really wanted to cut costs in the way Ahrijlaken mentioned, they could just deliver no new races at all.

Besides, the amount they've poured down dead end avenues in the game, like Diadem, may render some rather deaf to excuses citing a "lack of resources" as an issue.