The devs did state why we didn't have beast races though, they specifically said it would have a lot of limitations. But those who wanted beast races ignored it. Reddit discussed many of these points very well, which they referenced the dev's stance on beast races: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...ther_mmos_can/
It's just hard to source since it wasn't a live letter statement. But I remember it came up in the (female) Viera thread in the past as to why a beast race would have a lot of limitations.

hrothgar is a huge contradiction to the game's graphics-design policy and the inherit limitations they bring.