Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[dezzmont]

The lore argument is kind of silly as both races are undergoing a diaspora. As has been pointed out, Miqo'te males were extremely rare in universe, and often controlled, but there was no logical reason they wouldn't work as adventurers compared to say... the Padjal who are essentially an unnatural race. Males/Females of a species can't be so rare that it is inconceivable for a thousand or so to not be participating exclusively in their reproductive survival unless you are telling me female Hrothgar are going to be some gross ant-queen who literally is constantly mystically having babies from a bunch of different Hrothgar parents (or else Hrothgar are essentially almost entirely siblings), or make Viera are so rare that every single Viera is extremely inbred. Even a 1:20 ratio on the male side with the Miqo'te doesn't make a ton of sense, which is why the game goes out of its way to note that there are actually more males than that, and its just most don't generally get to breed.

If a race is common enough that its lore acceptable to have adventurers it means either they must reproduce magically (Galka from XI for example) or there literally must be enough females of their species to sustain an adventuring population. It doesn't matter if that population is actually proportional to the male adventuring population because adventurers are already not representational of their species in the setting which means they don't actually need to reflect its ratio, and societal aspects can drive a minority to adventure (ex: Miqo'te unable to found a new tribe or who want to escape their tribe). Adventurers outnumber visible NPCs, but we don't assume that 90% of the population are adventurers!

The lore justification for these two species in particular isn't even that persuasive. Its REALLY clear that Hrothgar females aren't astonishingly rare, so much as fufilling a specific function in their society and somewhat rare like a Miqo'te man. Meanwhile with Viera they aren't even rare by previously established standards (Its a 1:5 ratio, rather than the 1:20-1:10 for the Miqo'te) They just happen to fufill a role that doesn't allow them to leave their homelands... you know... just like female Viera who literally aren't allowed to leave their homelands or else they are banished from society for shirking its norms?

The writing obviously leaves on the table the option to bring male Viera and female Hrothgar into the game because they really aren't that fantastical, but there is a sliver of deniability to allow gender locking. Because, lets be real, this probably wasn't a lore choice, likely it was monetary. And there CLEARLY was a desire to make female Hrothgar and male Viera, they had concept art of them! So its likely SE felt races didn't drive enough sales and took a lot of resources and so they were told to just make one, and pushed it to two with gender locks with the potential to put em in post-hoc when they could justify it via backlash.

[reivaxe]

This isn't official art. This is Fanart. Thats suppose to be Kimahri Genderbent.
And, as good as it looks, I hope thats not the face we get. I hope we get a Full-blown Feline Muzzle. And Im pulling for the FemRoe BodyType since we got the Male Roe Bodytype for the males.

I suggested in the Female Hrothgar thread that people should search for "tabaxi female" if they want art of how a Female Hrothgar might look.
Sure, we can see female Ronso in past FF games. But the Hrothgar are not 1:1 copies of Ronso and I'd assume the females would at most get 1 "Ronso" face.
DnD however has a loooong history of players loving and living that beast role and you can find countless beast headed females for any body type there compared to like the same 8 "Female Hrothgar" hits you get.

I like this one personally.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

I suggested in the Female Hrothgar thread that people should search for "tabaxi female" if they want art of how a Female Hrothgar might look.
Sure, we can see female Ronso in past FF games. But the Hrothgar are not 1:1 copies of Ronso and I'd assume the females would at most get 1 "Ronso" face.
DnD however has a loooong history of players loving and living that beast role and you can find countless beast headed females for any body type there compared to like the same 8 "Female Hrothgar" hits you get.

I like this one personally.

Ah yeah, I saw your post, I remember it
Stuff like that is exactly what Id personally want IF we get Female Hrothgar. There was alot of good Full-Blown Anthropomorphic Feline pics in that thread what would be great examples for a FemHroth. I hope we get something similar.
And some Got-Daym decent Customization Options! D;

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

The lore argument is kind of silly as both races are undergoing a diaspora. As has been pointed out, Miqo'te males were extremely rare in universe, and often controlled, but there was no logical reason they wouldn't work as adventurers compared to say... the Padjal who are essentially an unnatural race. Males/Females of a species can't be so rare that it is inconceivable for a thousand or so to not be participating exclusively in their reproductive survival unless you are telling me female Hrothgar are going to be some gross ant-queen who literally is constantly mystically having babies from a bunch of different Hrothgar parents (or else Hrothgar are essentially almost entirely siblings), or make Viera are so rare that every single Viera is extremely inbred. Even a 1:20 ratio on the male side with the Miqo'te doesn't make a ton of sense, which is why the game goes out of its way to note that there are actually more males than that, and its just most don't generally get to breed.

If a race is common enough that its lore acceptable to have adventurers it means either they must reproduce magically (Galka from XI for example) or there literally must be enough females of their species to sustain an adventuring population. It doesn't matter if that population is actually proportional to the male adventuring population because adventurers are already not representational of their species in the setting which means they don't actually need to reflect its ratio, and societal aspects can drive a minority to adventure (ex: Miqo'te unable to found a new tribe or who want to escape their tribe). Adventurers outnumber visible NPCs, but we don't assume that 90% of the population are adventurers!

The lore justification for these two species in particular isn't even that persuasive. Its REALLY clear that Hrothgar females aren't astonishingly rare, so much as fufilling a specific function in their society and somewhat rare like a Miqo'te man. Meanwhile with Viera they aren't even rare by previously established standards (Its a 1:5 ratio, rather than the 1:20-1:10 for the Miqo'te) They just happen to fufill a role that doesn't allow them to leave their homelands... you know... just like female Viera who literally aren't allowed to leave their homelands or else they are banished from society for shirking its norms?

The writing obviously leaves on the table the option to bring male Viera and female Hrothgar into the game because they really aren't that fantastical, but there is a sliver of deniability to allow gender locking. Because, lets be real, this probably wasn't a lore choice, likely it was monetary. And there CLEARLY was a desire to make female Hrothgar and male Viera, they had concept art of them! So its likely SE felt races didn't drive enough sales and took a lot of resources and so they were told to just make one, and pushed it to two with gender locks with the potential to put em in post-hoc when they could justify it via backlash.

Sounds like Bad writing on FFXIV races if lore restricts them, but the game doesn't as if it never happened. What I want is Good/Decent writing on the Pre-Existing Viera Race, to include Male Viera to come out of hiding and be apart of the open world. Instead of Saying "Your the warrior of light so you are the one exception to the rule." And then pretend that all the other Male Viera we will see running around arn't there. Thats lazy.
So far they are restricted on the Level that Males have VERY rarely, if not Never seen outside the forest and by others besides other Viera. The fact that thats still (currently) a thing, speaks consistency to their lore.
Im not talking about or gonna argue population numbers, because to my knowledge thats not even a thing for the Viera, just that the Males and Females are different in some ways, and that they live and operate Mostly separately.

What concept art is there of Female Hrothgar btw? Ive seen nothing of the sort, just fanart. And those Male Viera are very early concept arts from way back in Heavensward. Concept art, doesn't exactly mean it was planned or was gonna happen, art teams like to spitball ideas that may grow into refined ideas. The Au-ra were potentially gonna actually Lizard/Dragon people, but as we see now, they decided not to make a beast race out of them (As cool as that would have been) The Lupin were also an early concept that didnt make it into Heavensward, instead they were re-visited and made into NPCs & enemies in Stormblood.
And Yoshi-p already addressed why we got Female Viera and Male Hrothgar. It was Time, Money/Resources, and this might be the last race they can make. So they wanted to fulfil the long awaited request of Viera, while adding a Beast Race that was Both Requested, and that the team agreed would be a great addition for a more diverse Character option that isn't just another Humanoid.
This was already addressed. Several times.

[Schwarzwind]

Since we see more female Viera outside their forests during quests (the one in the relic questline comes to mind) I certainly am positive that the writers might be able to come up with a logical reason for male Viera leaving their homeland easily. Even if we see just a few of them, just like with male Miqo'te who are pictured pretty rare compared to female Miqo'te. Let's hope we get some information about the missing genders by the end of the year.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

I certainly am positive that the writers might be able to come up with a logical reason for male Viera leaving their homeland easily.

And thats all Ive been asking for.

[BunnyBois]

First time posting on these forums and I've come here specifically to show my support for playable Male Viera. When Viera were announced I was super hyped to play them, as you can see, but what I really want is to play a Male Viera. The FFXIV Devs have really renewed my hope in the MMO genre as a WoW refugee and I'm hoping they don't disappoint on this and deliver Male Viera, and Female Hrothgar for our beastlier counterparts, in the next expansion if not sooner!

[MelodyCrystel]

When did I say that wouldn't be a decent-enough reason? I never disagreed with you. I went back and saw your post, but I never saw a response from me dismissing it.

Because you simply ignored my post. Just as I stated. You I.G.N.O.R.E.D. it.

Honestly if you had reacted to my theory - positive or negative doesn't matter - it wouldn't look so odd to me how you respond to all the others in this thread.

To me, you seem to enjoy arguing for the sake of arguing. You say people don't care for the race a ka lore, but as much as I understood you're not much supporting of the wish for playable rabbit-men, so what's your reason for making so much wind in the first place?

EDIT: I haven't heard of a big lore reason for male Miqo'te / female Roegadyn & Highlander to suddenly be playable since 2.0, which is why we all shouldn't stubbornly expect something like that for male Viera.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Because you simply ignored my post. Just as I stated. You I.G.N.O.R.E.D. it.

Honestly if you had reacted to my theory - positive or negative doesn't matter - it wouldn't look so odd to me how you respond to all the others in this thread.

To me, you seem to enjoy arguing for the sake of arguing. You say people don't care for the race a ka lore, but as much as I understood you're not much supporting of the wish for playable rabbit-men, so what's your reason for making so much wind in the first place?

EDIT: I haven't heard of a big lore reason for male Miqo'te / female Roegadyn & Highlander to suddenly be playable since 2.0, which is why we all shouldn't stubbornly expect something like that for male Viera.

Sound a little salty I didnt respond to you...and you needed me to respond to you to not look Odd talking to other people? Weird lol
Ok fine, since you need my response...Its not a bad reason or response for Viera Males to come out of hiding and join the fight. The Imperials Directly effecting their home caused enough of a stir in the Woods that the Male Viera decided to take action, leaving the woods to defend it. Breaking the law of the woods to protect it, they can only ask its forgiveness so that that can save it. Sounds like a sound enough lore and story reason for them to get involved.
There, you satisfied, do I somehow look less Odd now that I addressed you?

If you think I wanna argue for the sake of arguing, and then ask me what my reason for making so much wind is...then you very clearly aren't reading my posts.
That or you don't understand what Im trying to say and advocate for in this thread (at the moment). Yes, as clearly stated and Ill say it again for your Convenience.
I am part of Team No Male Viera. HOWEVER, I think Personally, if they are gonna be added in, their lore should be expanded on.
Its late, so I dont currently feel like repeating what Ive already typed out a few times in the past few pages. But my Main point is: As much as I think the Viera in XIV should remain Female Only, there is still something they could do to Write in Male Viera that I and other No-Male-Veria people could support.
I want Good Consistent Writing with at least some level of Continuity, not a lazy Half-cocked "here they are, no questions"
I just want a good reason for them to make their 1st Canon appearance in an MMO, instead of like, in a Mainline Final Fantasy game that could take place in Ivalice.

Miqote, Roegadyn & Highlander are not Viera. They are races in XIV. Not a race from Tactics and XII with already built lore.

At the end of the day, its not up to us. Its up to the Devs, IF and HOW they will put in Male Viera. Im simply voicing my opinion that I feel they shouldn't, but if they do, Id love some Lore behind it.

[MelodyCrystel]

@Zanarkand-Ronso If I was salty, you'd had gotten much uglier sentences from me. But probably I should be more on point with my choice of words towards you, as you seemingly tend to not see details.

You don't support? You actually don't need to be here.
You urgently want to discuss? Create a thread matching that intention.
You insist on good lore? Don't bite people who would be fine without a lore-excuse.