Quote Originally Posted by Kalise View Post
If they introduced male Hrothgar and female Viera now and then in 6.0 added in female Hrothgar and male Viera it would require the same amount of work as adding in Hrothgar male + female now and Viera male and female in 6.0.
It is for precisely this reason that I think folks who are holding out hope for the other genders to be added later are dreaming. M!Hrothgar and F!Viera ARE the final race that will ever be added, because adding future races (including F!Hrothgar and M!Viera) will be too resource-intense. In fact, the fact that we'd be adding "leftovers" is another strike against the possibility of it ever happening - adding a new race is an amazing source of hype for an expansion. Expanding an existing race tends to evoke more of a, "Well, it's about time." kind of reaction, rather than froth-mouthed enthusiasm.

If the devs change their mind and decide to add a new race in the future, I doubt it'll be the leftovers from these races. They would add a new race, instead. Or maybe two, once again genderlocked, because hey, the precedent has been established!

Quote Originally Posted by Jyera View Post
They did more or less confirm in the lore panel at JP Fanfest though that the typology of 'beastman' is completely constructed, so I dunno that it fazes the lore much. I'd like to learn what the story on Hrothgar is, since the feeling I get is they might mainly just be very elusive; starting as one in ARR would be really interesting to try to roleplay out, imo. A Hrothgar WoL really might have a lot to disentangle about the Spoken/'beastman' distinction.
In discussions about adding "bestial" races, I'd occasionally point out the Amal'ja, who are basically humans with black fur and panther heads. What makes them Beastmen, then, and not humans? Arbitrary designation? That would be the implication by that Fanfest quote - but I think there's more to it than that...

Basically, the player races are essentially different "breeds" of the SAME RACE. Society may frown on it, and actual successful births may be rare, but the player races CAN interbreed. An Elvaan or a Lalafell are not going to successfully produce offspring with a Sahagin or Sylph, no matter how they try, but an Elvaan WITH a Lalafell is not out of the question. That's really all that's needed to differentiate Hrothgar from the Beastmen; they may have unusual faces, but they're still humans; still the same race as Garleans, Au Ra, Hyur, and so on - just a different breed.