Gender locked race?

[Mael-bess]

I think people aren't seen the big picture here. People have been pestering the devs about Viera and a beastly looking race for years, and now they finally deliver, and as always people aren't happy.

They wanted to add more variety to the game by adding 2 different races than just one. The whole gender locked thing is more an issue of time constraint than them not wanting to add the gender counterparts. Yoshi P. even said something really interesting in the keynote: "They won't be adding new races in the future expansions" which means that they will need to add something really interesting on next expansions for people to actually buy them, which means that they will save the gender counter parts for either the next expansion, or the next big patch.

That could be true....but why?
Why would they add 2 incomplete races in 1 expansion just so they can complete it in the next as opposed to just add 1 complete race in each.
They're just throwing themselves at the wolves for no reason.

[cicatriz313]

That could be true....but why?
Why would they add 2 incomplete races in 1 expansion just so they can complete it in the next as opposed to just add 1 complete race in each.
They're just throwing themselves at the wolves for no reason.

Q: Why were you so insistent on adding a beast-like race, the Hrothgar?

A: The great thing about MMORPGs is that people from around the world with different values and tastes can all come together and play. FF games have good-looking men and women, but FFX is an example of a stronger look. Guin Saga may be a better example, but at any rate, since we're creating a fantasy, I want to shine a spotlight on that aspect as well. Even if we added another handsome race, it felt like the only real difference would be the ear shape. Back when we showed off a basic sketch of a wolfman, a lot of players around the world voiced their desire for a wolf race in 4.0. At our current patch rate, with that much equipment data being released, and adding a new race multiplying the amount of work required, we could probably only add one more race with our current workflow. We agonized over which race to add, and ended up with what you see now, and the lion T-shirt I'm wearing now *laughs*

[Mael-bess]

Q: Why were you so insistent on adding a beast-like race, the Hrothgar?

A: The great thing about MMORPGs is that people from around the world with different values and tastes can all come together and play. FF games have good-looking men and women, but FFX is an example of a stronger look. Guin Saga may be a better example, but at any rate, since we're creating a fantasy, I want to shine a spotlight on that aspect as well. Even if we added another handsome race, it felt like the only real difference would be the ear shape. Back when we showed off a basic sketch of a wolfman, a lot of players around the world voiced their desire for a wolf race in 4.0. At our current patch rate, with that much equipment data being released, and adding a new race multiplying the amount of work required, we could probably only add one more race with our current workflow. We agonized over which race to add, and ended up with what you see now, and the lion T-shirt I'm wearing now *laughs*

Yes i read that and my point still stands, if they thought the playerbase would value a beast race more than Viera, then add a complete Hrothgar race. And later on add a complete Viera race, or vice versa.

Trying to please both sides by half measures results in the mess you see. Not only that they also back up on the no gender-lock promise they made.

[cicatriz313]

Yes i read that and my point still stands, if they thought the playerbase would value a beast race more than Viera, then add a complete Hrothgar race. And later on add a complete Viera race, or vice versa.

Trying to please both sides by half measures results in the mess you see. Not only that they also back up on the no gender-lock promise they made.

Do you have a source where they made a no genderlock promise? I see this thrown around a lot and have yet to see a source.

[Mael-bess]

Do you have a source where they made a no genderlock promise? I see this thrown around a lot and have yet to see a source.

No i don't. This was something said around 2.0 release when they acknowledged the lack of a female Roegadyn and male Miqo'te in 1.0 being a problem.

[cicatriz313]

No i don't. This was something said around 2.0 release when they acknowledged the lack of a female Roegadyn and male Miqo'te in 1.0 being a problem.

Yeah, I realize people say that but I've yet to find anyone who can source it.

[Brynne]

I don't see this info getting a lot of traction, so I thought I'd share some quotes in this thread, the biggest one about the genderlocks.

In this thread, there's a link to an interview with Yoshi-P, with a quoted question about the genderlocked races. It also contains this clarification:

As I pointed out in the other thread, I'll repeat it here:

Just a note, that translation is not quite correct. What Yoshida said was that about 3 months after 4.0, they decided to implement Hrothgar. But they also wanted to make Viera. So the choice was between making female Hrothgar, or making female Viera. Meaning if they hadn't decided to make the female Viera, all we would have gotten would have been male and female Hrothgar.

This makes me think they're open to adding the missing genders in the future (next expansion, maybe). I'd say, keep (politely) voicing your feedback, and we'll see what happens.

[Arngrim_Greyashe]

I don't see this info getting a lot of traction, so I thought I'd share some quotes in this thread, the biggest one about the genderlocks.

In this thread, there's a link to an interview with Yoshi-P, with a quoted question about the genderlocked races. It also contains this clarification:



This makes me think they're open to adding the missing genders in the future (next expansion, maybe). I'd say, keep (politely) voicing your feedback, and we'll see what happens.

This! This is probably the most accurate thing I've heard all day. Thank you for posting the thread and the quote!

[Haliblossom]

Came here to add my voice to the voices of other disappointment fans. This is an unnecessary step backwards. It's also disheartening knowing that Yoshi-P thought "having a rabbit male might be kind of weird". Would it really, though? lol. That seems silly considering male miqo'te being added to the game after the community asked for it. Additionally, using lore reasons is such a weak excuse. Funny enough, I don't care about playing either of the new races, but I don't dig placing gender-locks on races. I'd go play a f2p MMO if I wanted that.

[CrystalRanger]

I don't comment much, but with the recent news that the development team has taken notice of the mixed response to the new races and is monitoring community feedback, I wanted to add a post here on the off chance that it counts for something.

It's 2019. Gender-locking shouldn't be a thing any more. It feels as though the game is taking a big step back following the progress that was made during the ARR era. There were many good options open to the development team that would have addressed the issues and concerns that I have seen raised by others: that adding two gender options would contradict lore, that the game needed a race that would appeal to a different demographic, and so on. This was not one of them.

Most of my FC members are retiring from the game until the development team rejoins the rest of the world in the 21st Century. It's a shame as we have enjoyed our time in Eorzea and remain intrigued by the story direction in Shadowbringers, but after years of gender-locked glamour bias (see other threads about this if you are unfamiliar with the situation), this was the final straw for many.

I sincerely hope that one day my friends and I will be able to play together again and feel comfortable supporting the game and the team behind it. Safe journeys, adventurers.