I'm saddened by this whole gender thing. I was disappointed at the release of the Viera, especially the racial gear.

What I feel, as a female player, is that it's very hard for me to play something which isn't aimed at the male gaze. I would love a shot at playing a female Hrothgar and I want all the guys who were interested in the male Viera to have their shot too. The whole thing about new Final Fantasy games is that each time, the devs get the choice to reinvent aspects of the game. There is no lore for Viera in FFXIV except that which the FFXIV devs create. So many other aspects of the series change regularly, I don't see why this is any different.

Characters and their design are huge and people want to play different races, body types and genders to represent them in the game. Or even no gender. This feels like a backward step to me and I think represents a very dated view on who is playing your game. Give your players the freedom to express themselves.