Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[Senn]

The devs have stated that due to how the old engine for character customization works, that it's limiting how things are done. It's part of hte reason why we have so few customization options overall, but also why some dont make sense (Why cant we get fitness sliders for all races? Or why do lalafell females have breast sliders when it does nothing). It is cause the engine is old and outdated and that is becoming more and more apparent. It is also the primary reason why adding new races is a pain in the ass. The ability to add more customization and new races/sexes stems from the same issue: The character customization engine is outdated and needs to be rebuilt.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you, but I just wanted to share a quote from Yoshi P with you:

When asked about whether viera and hrothgar would be the last new races to be introduced to the game, and if there were any plans to add more customization options to the established races, Yoshi P responded like this:

"if it is a customization option that significantly changes the shape of the races body, I think we would be better off to tackle the challenge of just introducing a new playable race all together instead."

Source

We would most likely see a new race before we saw sliders that would drastically change a character's body.

Either way, its not a game breaker nor remotely important.

idk, it's not game breaking, but it's pretty important to me. It's important to some people, and not important to others.

[Melichoir]

The Viera race was always known the be female only, where did the expectation come from? And what archetype would it even fill? If you want to play a tall male play Elezen.

I wish people would stop asking for useless additions.

We've gone over this point a few times but the TLDR is Viera is not a female only race, but that female are more visiable culturally. Males live separate.

This makes sense in certain FF titles as part of their world building, but in the context of FFXIV lore, it doesnt. You cant just copy/paste lore from anotehr FF title into this one and think itll be seemless. As a point - If your species is on hte verge of extinction and it is already demonstrated that not everyone in your species abides by cultural norms, there is very very little reason for Male Viera to be hiding out in the woods on Norvrandt. Unless were gonna argue that every single last one of them wont leave the woods to find a solution to their situation. Even given the situation, you progress pretty far into Rak Tikka Greatwoods before you officially encounter people of the viera tribe. Up til then you had no contact with these 'defenders'. In fact it's the females who end up engaging you. So much for them being forest protectors like the lore implied.

Also, there is a discrepancy between how the game handles viera versus otehr races. The cultures of all races differ quite a bit between Norvrandt and Hydaelin. You know, lalafells vs dwarvish culture, the Elves vs Elezen, etc etc. There are a small few similarities but they are pretty big differences between the two....except for Viera. they seem to be on both worlds adhering to the exact same cultural norms. Both of them dont allow males to leave the great woods and remain separate from females. Why is Viera some how exempt from cultural differences? It's almost like there are meta reasons for it rather than actual functional lore that fits within ffxiv.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you, but I just wanted to share a quote from Yoshi P with you:

When asked about whether viera and hrothgar would be the last new races to be introduced to the game, and if there were any plans to add more customization options to the established races, Yoshi P responded like this:

"if it is a customization option that significantly changes the shape of the races body, I think we would be better off to tackle the challenge of just introducing a new playable race all together instead."

It would, by and large, probably be easier to just add a new race because they have a work flow for that (albeit one that takes forever). But character customization along with new races or updating existing ones is specifically hamstringed by the character creation engine. It's a wonky engine and outdated engine that cant even add slider options because it literally is built around having a set number of customization values (it's why female lalafells have breast sliders: they needed to fill that customization value wiht something otherwise they were gonna have issues).

While I dont doubt what his thoughts were at this point in time when he stated that, I do think it has become more and more apparent that the limitations of the character engine is causing more trouble than help. Tackle the character engine, and you can provide more customization to characters as well as streamline your process with tinkering with races or adding off sexes, along with extending the lifespan of hte game. Considering that it was reported they actually have been expanding their dev team, at the same time cutting back on putting out content a little bit (this is pre-pandemic, mind you) and more funding, it feels like they are working on something heavy duty.

[Senn]

Considering that it was reported they actually have been expanding their dev team, at the same time cutting back on putting out content a little bit (this is pre-pandemic, mind you) and more funding, it feels like they are working on something heavy duty.

So you think the cutting back on content and getting additional funding are signs that character customization might get expanded? Well, I'm not sure if that is the case, but if it is, that'd be pretty nice.

[Melichoir]

So you think the cutting back on content and getting additional funding are signs that character customization might get expanded? Well, I'm not sure if that is the case, but if it is, that'd be pretty nice.

Not necessarily that it is evidence of it happening, but it is a solid consideration. I explained this a little while back but the TLDR is take stock of the situation for the dev teams (Covid Aside). More money is reportedly now being funneled into FFXIV, they are expanding their dev team as well, and they decided to change release and content cycle (again prior to covid slow downs). Theyve also, if youve noticed, started pushing MogStation a bit harder htis last year. Like or hate Mogstation, the funds from there do go directly into FFXIV and no other place. Then you have teh Nier Raids. Unlike previous raids where theyd have to create assets from scratch, pretty sure this time around theyre importing some of it which cuts down work load. From a development end, the Nier Raids are probably not as development heavy for what they are by comparison to previous 24 mans.

Furthermore, there are plenty of criticisms about how Viera and Hrothgar were implemented that they know are apparent. Both feel semi 'unfinished' customization wise compared to other races. Forget helmets and headwear, the simple fact hrothgar and viera have so few hairstyles and require a fanta for Hrothgar to really change what you got is an issue. And they have made no real issue to fix both even though that this is an issue that is pretty well criticized by virtually everyone, here and overseas. If you pick up more devs, cut back on how much you have to push out, and recieve more funding - and this is all before pandemic lockdowns - what exactly could they be working on? As I said, character customization is a big thing people have been asking for consistently, and with Viera and Hrothgar having model issues, and the off sexes still being requested/desired atleast by a vocal minority, one of the few things that actually makes sense what theyre spending their time on (beyond regular development ish), would be reworking their character customization engine as it is the engine that is the source of a lot of these problems. Cant add new races cause of how the game handles character model armor which is down stream from the engine. Same issues with the Viera and Hrothgar, same issues with the character customization issues itself. Its all related to the character creation engine. It's a Herculean task to be sure, but if they were doing that, itd solve a lot of issues long term and be a big boost to the game.

Now this is all speculation on my part, but of all things I dont think the dev team is sitting there sipping champagne and twiddling their thumbs while they rake in all the extra cash and free up dev time. These are teh devs that added some headwear to Hrothgar and Viera when it was initially planned by YoshiP that wouldnt even happen. I think they want to see the game be successful and that if they want the game to stay fresh, so it is only a matter of time before the character customization engine would have to be addressed.

Well not much of a TLDR but I hope that explained my thoughts. Maybe we'll get something completely different, who knows ultimately. But Im decently optimistic that character customization will probably get an update come next xpac. It's just a bunch of small things that add into something.