Letter from the Producer LXII

[zeylos]

Although this made me sad, because I had really hoped for a "we'll consider it" I feel like I can have some semblance of closure on this topic. I still hope they one day will implement them, but I understand their reasoning.

Man I had really hoped to be a bishounen male Viera warrior and go all vorpal bunny on my enemies, cause I've never been a fan of the hunched stance and markings on the male miqo'tes. I suppose I'll stick to my female Highlander, or test out the Viera females then.

They didn't say they won't be ever playable. They just said it would take time(6.0 probs)

[xbahax92]

I'm already assuming many people will start to "Appeal to Authority" with their many rebuttals of "Where are your credentials" or "Modeling background" but think about this clearly. If this was the case for WoW or any other MMO that XIV competes with would you be praising them if they said "Oh we'll have a 1/3rd of some visual gear work for this new race by launch"? or would you logically question why a MMO standard isn't being met? Why is FFXIV given a free pass in this regard?

The appeal isnt th 1/3 headgear though. Its the extra effort they did in their own limited time and that without Yoshida knowing. In fact, it shows devs are still trying their best and try to push themselves. They're not a big team to begin with, so its not wrong giving them credit once in a while.

[Neri]

And now we really see it. Lalas are evil.


(well, some of them anyway)

[Emmanellain]

After people spotted T'kebbe in Heavensward, we were given the opportunity to see another race's younger form (was only hyur children before). I believe many of us were happy with them including the younger modeled npcs, because it gives the world more variation and brings it further to life. However, some players then thought it'd be a great idea to be able to play as that younger type. I think there was also a request for a teenage size. Maybe players just want to be shorter, like female Au Ra's minimum height short?

Shonen protagonists are usually in the 15-20 age range, so it doesn't surprise me that a sizable group wants cute bishounen teen-ish boys, I mean - look at bands like one direction and the overall obsession with cute guys in Japanese culture.
I don't blame the young ladies wanting to be a pretty-boy same as how the men like playing as a pretty girl, I mean the dudes can be Au Ra females, female Viera, female Midlander etc.
The girls have male Miqo'te and elezen, but they don't really fall in the traditionally attractive category, so I get why there is a demand and why some might be disappointed that the female player base won't get a male, version of the Viera. (I imagined they'd look like male models with bunny features, like the women but with a slider)

But with this statement I suppose those who find Alphinaud and Alisae amusing in the MSQ can rest easy that they won't be killed off! I guess because they don't want to show younger characters in pain that means Pipin, Alphinaud and Alisae now have plot armor! :P /jkjk

[Shougun]

I know I'll probably get hate for this but this sounds like a result of lowering our expectations pretty low with the "Don't expect much in terms of headgear" on launch to make making around 1/3rd of gear seem praise worthy. I have no reason to praise this at all, shouldn't the completion of said race in terms of all its visual assets including the armor it'll wear not be expected as a standard? Especially from an MMO made by a AAA devteam? This is the part that is baffling me the most, to the point that I now question why they did not just hold off on either Hrothgar or Viera for one more expansion and just make the Male/Females of one if the "Headgear" was such an issue. They'd probably get more praise in that regard while still playing up that "possibly the last race" card.

As for the rest regarding the genderlocks I really can't say I'm surprised but given Yoshida's pattern of marketing and wording things he'll be saving this for the next expansion to generate more applause and praise out of something that people thought "wasn't possibly coming".

I'm already assuming many people will start to "Appeal to Authority" with their many rebuttals of "Where are your credentials" or "Modeling background" but think about this clearly. If this was the case for WoW or any other MMO that XIV competes with would you be praising them if they said "Oh we'll have a 1/3rd of some visual gear work for this new race by launch"? or would you logically question why a MMO standard isn't being met? Why is FFXIV given a free pass in this regard?

I dont think there is anything wrong with wanting, it's like easily half or more of my posts....lol super kettle if I did Haha but I would say the reason they get a pass / praise from me is because I believe them. In that I mean I believe they had this headgear issue and some people having been working hard/er/ to make it so and that they succeded, and further I believe they weren't all sitting in the office before that twirling sticks lol (was a push on top of the march).



So in that I'm excited / praise, of course that doesn't change I might have some desires later or think it's reasonable others want more headgear as is possible on top of whatever has been done. I suppose if they burnt the bridges of good will I have then maybe I would be more pessimistic but I'm not there.

[Noodle_Trinidad]

The appeal isnt th 1/3 headgear though. Its the extra effort they did in their own limited time and that without Yoshida knowing. In fact, it shows devs are still trying their best and try to push themselves. They're not a big team to begin with, so its not wrong giving them credit once in a while.

I'm sorry but I will have to heavily disagree with giving them praise in any regards if they can't even meet the bare minimum of the MMO standard. Were they owned by a Med Sized Developer or an actual Indie team that somehow is pushing out AAA quality on an MMO then yes I would praise them but the reality is that they're not. I will not praise subpar standards from a AAA dev.

I will not stop you from praising them as this is your view though, if you feel they deserve it then more power to you but I have made my stance clear.

I dont think there is anything wrong with wanting, it's like easily half or more of my posts....lol super kettle if I did Haha but I would say the reason they get a pass / praise from me is because I believe them. In that I mean I believe they had this headgear issue and some people having been working hard/er/ to make it so and that they succeded, and further I believe they weren't all sitting in the office before that twirling sticks lol (was a push on top of the march).



So in that I'm excited / praise, of course that doesn't change I might have some desires later or think it's reasonable others want more headgear as is possible on top of whatever has been done. I suppose if they burnt the bridges of good will I have then maybe I would be more pessimistic but I'm not there.

By all means keep your reasoning and continue supporting them if that is how you feel just in my own experience in games the way this Dev Team interacts with the community is subpar when compared to other Dev Teams and games I play. Still I will respect your position to praise them for it and believing in them even if I don't.

[Physic]

I know I'll probably get hate for this but this sounds like a result of lowering our expectations pretty low with the "Don't expect much in terms of headgear" on launch to make making around 1/3rd of gear seem praise worthy. I have no reason to praise this at all, shouldn't the completion of said race in terms of all its visual assets including the armor it'll wear not be expected as a standard? Especially from an MMO made by a AAA devteam? This is the part that is baffling me the most, to the point that I now question why they did not just hold off on either Hrothgar or Viera for one more expansion and just make the Male/Females of one if the "Headgear" was such an issue. They'd probably get more praise in that regard while still playing up that "possibly the last race" card.

As for the rest regarding the genderlocks I really can't say I'm surprised but given Yoshida's pattern of marketing and wording things he'll be saving this for the next expansion to generate more applause and praise out of something that people thought "wasn't possibly coming".

I'm already assuming many people will start to "Appeal to Authority" with their many rebuttals of "Where are your credentials" or "Modeling background" but think about this clearly. If this was the case for WoW or any other MMO that XIV competes with would you be praising them if they said "Oh we'll have a 1/3rd of some visual gear work for this new race by launch"? or would you logically question why a MMO standard isn't being met? Why is FFXIV given a free pass in this regard?

the real truth is, based on the race, they would probably have less head gear. dogs and cats dont wear clothes. People with beautiful hair are less likely to wear hats, and cant wear certain hats. A race of bunnies probably wont wear as many hats.


i think the real right answer is, races arent worth the effort. But they added some anyhow. This is why most games dont have seven races. Especially the higher the art quality. The truth is new races cost resources, not just up front, but on every gear you make. So adding races, usually decreases new gear, etc. added to the game. All that artist time could be used on new gears, customizations, enemies, etc. Is it worth it? probably depends on the player.


btw, appeal to authority is actually more valid than appeal to nothing.

[Clover_Blake]

i love they worked on doing the head glam secretly without telling him LOL

I actually don't. It is nice to know that we'll be having headgear available for the new races, and I can only be thankful for their sacrifice.

But this was, indeed, a sacrifice. People using many extra hours from their free time, who knows if even paid, to please a bunch of players who have been calling them lazy in the most entitled ways (and from what I see, are STILL questioning the devs even now).

I don't think the community deserves this team.

[Noodle_Trinidad]

the real truth is, based on the race, they would probably have less head gear. dogs and cats dont wear clothes. People with beautiful hair are less likely to wear hats, and cant wear certain hats. A race of bunnies probably wont wear as many hats.


i think the real right answer is, races arent worth the effort. But they added some anyhow. This is why most games dont have seven races. Especially the higher the art quality. The truth is new races cost resources, not just up front, but on every gear you make. So adding races, usually decreases new gear, etc. added to the game. All that artist time could be used on new gears, customizations, enemies, etc. Is it worth it? probably depends on the player.


btw, appeal to authority is actually more valid than appeal to nothing.

You are correct in that regard in the sense of how much resources a new Race takes from a Dev Team but with that in mind you now need to question if its already a pain to make a new race for artists and modelers alike why did they decide to split it up into two new races instead of staggering one of the two out for 6.0 to ease their problems in 5.0? Would it have not made more sense to save these resources with assets they can reuse on both genders if they went All Hrothgar or All Viera? On top of that even the launch itself is still less than Heavensward which had a new Race and 3 Jobs instead of 2 Jobs and 2 Genderlocks. Baffling honestly.

And while an Appeal to Authority would be better than an Appeal to Nothing as you put it, the better argument to this would be introducing a logical reasoning as to why their actions were even good in regards to overall resource allocation, especially given they're sticking to the Safe and True formula? No one is saying the job isn't hard but to expect some consumers to accept subpar standards or unable to make a proper criticism would be foolish. I won't call the team lazy and open it up to such an easy appeal to authority but I will say their direction and overall prioritization of resources and idea is faulty at best.

[Enla]

I actually don't. It is nice to know that we'll be having headgear available for the new races, and I can only be thankful for their sacrifice.
But this was, indeed, a sacrifice. People using many extra hours from their free time, who knows if even paid, to please a bunch of players who have been calling them lazy in the most entitled ways.

I don't think the community deserves this team.

That's why I think the asset team deserves a lot more praise than they're honestly being given. They're in the middle of crunch time for the new expansion and took it upon themselves to not only rectify an issue Yoshi-P had clarified as hard to get around before, but did it all secretly while working on their normal projects. Between the issues with crunch culture and the horrendous work hours many Japanese workers usually have to deal with on top of that I wonder if they even had time to get more than a few hours of sleep.

Between this gesture /and/ the panel at the Japanese fanfest where the asset team was excitedly showing their world building process we sincerely don't deserve them. And I hope they all got commended in real life with a raise or at least some paid time off to be cashed in once the expac goes live.