Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[SieyaM]

Yeah, I think it's not so much sexism so much as trying to play to demographics. Male only races tend to be big and burly, female only races slender and curvy. Just look at the prior examples. Roes and Miqo'te (as well as their FFXI equivalents) you had the big strong burly male only race and the cute cat girls. This also extended to highlanders, the bigger and buffer male hyur, where females only had the more slender and dainty midlanders in 1.0. You can sort of see this too in the dimorphism of the au ra.

Given the past portrayals of viera though, if the had to do the gender spliting in order to do two races, it does make sense to focus on female viera and males from the other race. Imagine the viera fan reaction if the genders were the other way around.

Personally I think I would have just gone with male and female viera, but had the male viera be more beastly than the females, to fit the 'beast race' and the 'viera popular request' races at the same time without locking out race/gender options. Sure you'd get complaints from people that don't want that sort of dimorphism, but it could have worked I think.

In theory I'm all in favor of female hrothgar/male viera being added but only if the dev team is able to actually do it without half assing it or forcing the dev team into unhealthy crunch periods.

For all the talk of this outcry for a more beastly race to play in XIV, Hrothgar are still among the least played in the game. I think there was a small community of very vocal players that ended up deciding for the majority.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

For all the talk of this outcry for a more beastly race to play in XIV, Hrothgar are still among the least played in the game. I think there was a small community of very vocal players that ended up deciding for the majority.

I mean, just because there is now a beast race in the game that doesn't mean its gonna be all super popular and bloody everyone is gonna be playing it.
Even with more customization options its only gonna appeal to a group of people. Same with all the races. Even the Viera.

[SieyaM]

I mean, just because there is now a beast race in the game that doesn't mean its gonna be all super popular and bloody everyone is gonna be playing it.
Even with more customization options its only gonna appeal to a group of people. Same with all the races. Even the Viera.

But to be one of the least played sounds like it was a waste of time and resources for something that most players didn't want and won't use. If anyone has the numbers they can correct me but I believe Hrothgar players are less than even 10% of players right now, which is an abysmal number for a new race only a little less than half way through their debut expansion.

[reivaxe]

For all the talk of this outcry for a more beastly race to play in XIV, Hrothgar are still among the least played in the game.

So?
They're more popular as a solo male only race than the males and females of the only other big beefy race in the game combined and last I checked they were more popular than male Elezen.

Which would make it ... Femroe->FemElezen->Roebros->MaleElezen->Hrothgar.

Not bad at all for the first and only beast race in a game like this.

But to be one of the least played sounds like it was a waste of time and resources for something that most players didn't want and won't use..

That's not why you make a new race. You add new races to add diversity and to fill in gaps in your line up so that people have more ways to express themselves. Can't force people to take to new races, can't know how popular they will be, can only give them the option and know that the game's health and game WORLD is better off for it.

Look at that line up of race groups that are less popular than Hrothgar. Would the game be better off in anyway if they and Hrothgar all disappeared and the devs didn't have to "waste" resources on them? Would it improve immersion or visual diversity to not have them around?
"Most players" don't need to pick up a new race for it to be worthy of being added.

[Alleo]

For all the talk of this outcry for a more beastly race to play in XIV, Hrothgar are still among the least played in the game. I think there was a small community of very vocal players that ended up deciding for the majority.

Well there are many factors that you have to look at here.

1. There are also those of us that wanted a playable beast race that are only playing females. Thus I wont play a male. In the past I would have said that if they include the female ones too I would 100% play them but thats not the case anymore because..
2. The first beastial race is quite limited. I doubt that people who wanted such races wanted barely any hairstyles, no ability to wear most of the hats and have to pay money if they wanted to change their manes..
3. People have different opinions on what is good looking. I wanted a slender beastial race. I dont like buff races and yet the new one falls under that. I also dont like the way they move. Even if you like playing as something more non-human you can still have certain aspects of it that just turn you off so much that you wont play it even when its released.

So yes we are probably not the majority and honestly I would have found it better to get one whole race and if that would have been the Viera than I would have accepted that. This half half decision imo just hurts both sides.

[zeylos]

Well there are many factors that you have to look at here.

1. There are also those of us that wanted a playable beast race that are only playing females. Thus I wont play a male. In the past I would have said that if they include the female ones too I would 100% play them but thats not the case anymore because..
2. The first beastial race is quite limited. I doubt that people who wanted such races wanted barely any hairstyles, no ability to wear most of the hats and have to pay money if they wanted to change their manes..
3. People have different opinions on what is good looking. I wanted a slender beastial race. I dont like buff races and yet the new one falls under that. I also dont like the way they move. Even if you like playing as something more non-human you can still have certain aspects of it that just turn you off so much that you wont play it even when its released.

So yes we are probably not the majority and honestly I would have found it better to get one whole race and if that would have been the Viera than I would have accepted that. This half half decision imo just hurts both sides.

at least, imo they should have added ronso (which is what players wanted) and not something that looks so... Akward. I just dont understand the need for another version of the least popular race in the game

[reivaxe]

at least, imo they should have added ronso (which is what players wanted) and not something that looks so... Akward. I just dont understand the need for another version of the least popular race in the game

First off, to quote myself ...
"That's not why you make a new race. You add new races to add diversity and to fill in gaps in your line up so that people have more ways to express themselves. Can't force people to take to new races, can't know how popular they will be, can only give them the option and know that the game's health and game WORLD is better off for it."
So what you consider a "different version" of Roe is actually another take on the large, muscular build which players had only 1 option for AND highlights something different and unique in their world.

Second, I find that line in THIS thread so funny because to quote YoshiP directly (yet again ...) "Final Fantasy games are games that have beautiful characters, but in the same fashion as in FFX, there are races that look rather stronger. I always use “Guin Saga” as an example. Since we are making a fantasy game, we wanted to give spotlight to that aspect, as well. We thought: “Why add more handsome races… even if we do, the biggest difference will be the ears…”. "

Like, I don't much care for dogging on Viera or male Viera. People gonna want what they want and like what they like. I get not being happy with getting X over Y, I feel the same about getting Viera over Female Hrothgar. But I really don't get why people feel the need to harp on it in this thread so much. Hrothgar's or Roe's popularity has nothing to do with this topic, if you feel what you want adds something meaningful to the game then you don't have to look else where to complain about not getting it.
:/

[Allegor]

at least, imo they should have added ronso (which is what players wanted) and not something that looks so... Akward. I just dont understand the need for another version of the least popular race in the game

The same could be said for Viera, they're "Elezen but better" the same way Hroths are "just Roe 2.0", and neither race was , or even is, popular.

Also if that chart is anything to go by, Hroths are still more popular than male and female Roegadyn combined.