Gender locked race?

[RikkCavalier]

Please devs, no more gender locks! Let us choose genders for the new races! Thank you.

Also, these aren't really Viera but I thought they were. Hmph, close enough:

[Duskane]

Might not be a popular sentiment in this thread but the addition of male Viera and female Hrothgar for 6.0 won't be anywhere near as sub inducing as the current female Viera and male Hrothgar are for 5.0. It's going to be interesting to see if SE actually decides to make those for what I think is a relatively small population who really wants them.

Male viera would
But hrothgar in general isn't sub inducing at all

[Sclair0]

Might not be a popular sentiment in this thread but the addition of male Viera and female Hrothgar for 6.0 won't be anywhere near as sub inducing as the current female Viera and male Hrothgar are for 5.0. It's going to be interesting to see if SE actually decides to make those for what I think is a relatively small population who really wants them.

This is true... But not because its a very small minority who would play them, but because "Here's new variants of the current races" doesn't sell to new players. Its pretty obvious from the Male Miqote numbers that male Viera would have a strong playerbase though, to me that makes it desirable as an addition for the playerbase. If they end up played only 1/4 as much as catboys they'd still outnumber fem-elezen and fem-roes, player options that were presumably desirable enough to implement.

[Theodric]

But hrothgar in general isn't sub inducing at all

That's a myth. There's been significant demand for a more bestial playable race for quite some time. Many rival MMO's also have multiple playable races that can be described as bestial on offer. WoW and ESO are two of the most worthy of note, as they're FFXIV's current main rivals. I know GW2 has at least one bestial race too.

The aesthetics that most people desire for Viera men are already readily available. They offer nothing unique compared to Hrothgar as the only real distinct feature would be that they have bunny ears rather than human, cat or elf ears.

[Duskane]

Truly will have to wait till the new toy syndrome wears off but i fully expect hrothgar will just to cut the male roe population.

[reivaxe]

That's a myth. There's been significant demand for a more bestial playable race for quite some time. Many rival MMO's also have multiple playable races that can be described as bestial on offer. WoW and ESO are two of the most worthy of note, as they're FFXIV's current main rivals. I know GW2 has at least one bestial race too.

The aesthetics that most people desire for Viera men are already readily available. They offer nothing unique compared to Hrothgar as the only real distinct feature would be that they have bunny ears rather than human, cat or elf ears.

This is what I've been trying to relay to people for a long time now.
Male Viera don't actually add anything new to the pool. We have 2 tall, thin, elegant "handsome male" races already and they'd be asking people to either convert from the Elezen just for bunny ears or leave all the cool parts of Scaley Bois for bunny ears.

Don't really get the notion that cat bois population means anything to male Viera, who would be closer to Elezen in body shape. Most of the people I've seen who say they want to convert to Hrothgar are cat bois who "wanna become cat MEN" and only really settled on cat bois cause that's the only fur option. Same for people who went scaley boi cause it was the most beastly option.

I also think gear is gonna look great on them because of their body shape.

[Nestama]

Truly will have to wait till the new toy syndrome wears off but i fully expect hrothgar will just to cut the male roe population.

And maybe the Miqo'te and Au Ra (male?) population as well. I know of a few Miqo'te and Au Ra players who are going to change to Hrothgar.

[Eoko]

I'm definitely disappointed. I had been planning to make a whole new character to be a male Viera. I don't agree that male Viera would fall under the same boat as Elezen or Au'ra. I personally don't like Au'ra harshness or their face scales. And while I think a lot of Elezen are very handsome, I still don't have a single alt of one.

A male Viera could be a very feminine sort of frame, stepping away from a very present stereotype of more muscular and rougher men. Sure, miqo'te don't follow this, but they and lalafell fall more into the cute category. A tall, beautiful male character is appealing. Not handsome. Beautiful. I also like the buffer concept art of the male Viera, but it is more traditional and more covered.

But where it really hit me in the gut was the lack of female Hrothgar. Au'ra females are Waifu, Miqos are cutesy, Midlanders are cute/pretty, Highlanders have a bit more shape to them but are also generally gorgeous. Elezen and Roe can look more stern/less conventionally pretty, but most of the faces, and all of the bodies, still scream femininity in a traditional sense.

Seeing the Hrothgar and knowing there was no female counterpoint, no strong, bestial, vicious female was upsetting. To see something so different and so unique to the other races, and then just... not have it.

Unfortunately, I also don't expect my vision of a Hrothgal would be anything like what would be created. If we consider the Ronso females of FF10... they look like blue fem!Roes. And based on the male model, I could just see them throwing a slightly sleeker lion face on the fem!Roe body and that being that.

I would much rather see a still very muscular, stockier frame for a Hrothgal. I want to see a female version that isn't like every other female we have. Doesn't matter if it's a little miqo/Au'ra, or a tall Elezen/Roe. The females we have all scream traditional feminine beauty and sex appeal. Making a Hrothgal something truly new and different would be such a step forward. It would be more inclusive, more creative, would give them good press, etc.

I know a reason they held back on the Viera males was because they didn't have a base to work from and were concerned how fans would reaction to a model created from their own imagination.

Well... we've had design contests before. So... why not here? If they decide that they are going to add the other genders, why not make it a community event? Let all of us that truly want male Viera and female Hrothgar to put forward our designs. Let the team decide on X number of finalists, and let the fans of the game, the fans of these options, be the ones to guide the designers' hands. Let them not only make something they know the fans want, but let us play a part in making what we want a reality.

[Tanama]

Let's host our own Viera man, Hrothgar woman, design contest here on the forums. If it is popular enough like the other related threads I'm sure it will be noticed and considered at the very least.

[Penthea]

Hrothgal

I don't know if you invented this, but it's amazing.