Patch 5.31 Discussion!

[rachcouture]

I know you're being sarcastic but it does have a bit of truth to it. The devs wasn't trying to put Viera in but only did because of the large outcry. They did what most companies do.

Apparently everyone that says this forgot the first Heavensward artbook had Viera concept sketches as one of several potential options for what would later became Au Ra, the then new race.

Viera were always coming; it's Hrothgar that were thrown in at the last minute.

[Gameovers]

Apparently everyone that says this forgot the first Heavensward artbook had Viera concept sketches as one of several potential options for what would later became Au Ra, the then new race.

Viera were always coming; it's Hrothgar that were thrown in at the last minute.

I mean, it's not what they said in the live letter. I'm just going by what they said. They may have drawn that then but for the release of shadows... Viera were never part of that plan.

[MariaArvana]

Apparently everyone that says this forgot the first Heavensward artbook had Viera concept sketches as one of several potential options for what would later became Au Ra, the then new race.

Viera were always coming; it's Hrothgar that were thrown in at the last minute.

Concept art is just that; concept art. Something that is discussed; concept art is never indicative of something guaranteed to be coming. Neither was thrown in last minute; A beastly race like Hrothgar was always on the table ever since earlier Stormblood. Based on Yoshi-P's dialogue in the 3rd point, Hrothgar would have much more likely been the candidate if there only had to be a single race chosen for SHB though, especially given in point 2 he mentions the split race decision was decided by fan desire for Viera, not the other way around. Meaning Hroth was the dev's desire; which point 3 heavily emphasizes.

2. A Significant Number of Players Have Been Requesting Playable Viera

Since this may be the last time we add new races, we spent a long time deliberating which race would be the best addition. Fans worldwide have shown an overwhelming desire for FFXII’s Viera, and we have long been aware of this fact. In fact, we considered adding Viera back in Heavensward, but eventually decided that, since that was FFXIV’s first expansion, we should instead add an all-new original race—the Au Ra. If we were to add yet another race rather than the Viera, we anticipated that many fans would be disappointed, and so we decided to try and satisfy their request in this expansion. The desire to please our fans is the primary reason behind this decision.

3. Providing a More Beastly Variety for FFXIV Character Creation and World Building

After seeing the positive reception of the Lupin characters we introduced in Stormblood, we concluded that, for the long-term health of FFXIV, it was important to implement a greater variety of character types beyond the traditionally beautiful in a future expansion. In truth, we had considered adding more beastly characters long before, and since this was possibly our last chance to do so, we decided that we should—much like we did with the Viera—in the interests of expanding the lore and the choices available to players.

Character creation is about providing players with options, and while there’s no telling how many people will utilize these options, we also believe that there is value simply in having them exist—in empowering people to fill the world with greater variety.

Although these second and third points are in conflict, we nevertheless felt that it was in the best interests of our players to try and satisfy both demands. We understood that some players would be upset if they were unable to use their preferred gender, but even so, after much internal discussion, we decided this approach was the best way to improve the overall game experience.

We could have decided to implement only male and female Viera, or only male and female Hrothgar. However, we instead went with an approach intended to expand the possibilities in multiple ways.

~ Yoshi-P. Taken from https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...I-(05-09-2019)

[Dalmacus]

Basically, the devs bit more than they could chew. That's it, really. It's why hairstyles are not yet implemented for the new races.
Viera was always the most asked for race since 2.0 race polls.

[Rokke]

Scratching my head at the disappointment in the hairstyle, sans not being able to be worn by Viera. Its literally one of the chosen entries from the hair contest which is where nearly all the recent hairstyles have been coming from. Theres one style left from those that won - a shoulder length cut with a chunky braid so don't be surprised if we get a shoulder length cut with a chunky braid in the near future.




Also different heights make the high five emote funny. Looks (and sounds) like Im slapping my friends lol

[Controller]

Scratching my head at the disappointment in the hairstyle, sans not being able to be worn by Viera. Its literally one of the chosen entries from the hair contest which is where nearly all the recent hairstyles have been coming from. Theres one style left from those that won - a shoulder length cut with a chunky braid so don't be surprised if we get a shoulder length cut with a chunky braid in the near future.




Also different heights make the high five emote funny. Looks (and sounds) like Im slapping my friends lol

See this wouldn't be that bad, but only if they don't shorten it in 3D modeling. Long as it stays that way or longer it'll be great and something people would like. It just has to cover the entire back of the neck.

[Haruka_R]

Scratching my head at the disappointment in the hairstyle, sans not being able to be worn by Viera. Its literally one of the chosen entries from the hair contest which is where nearly all the recent hairstyles have been coming from. Theres one style left from those that won - a shoulder length cut with a chunky braid so don't be surprised if we get a shoulder length cut with a chunky braid in the near future.

Two more. This, and the ponytail.

[Rokke]

Two more. This, and the ponytail.

I figured the ponytail that was added in stormblood was an altered version of the winner. If not, then folks after longer hair have 2 options on the horizon :>