Viera hairstyles

[Theodric]

Sigh, I just want to have some more choice.

As do I. Of the hairstyles I actually like and use, almost all of them are from the days of ARR.

To say nothing of the fact that the development team have yet to find a way to add the highly requested stubble used by the Warrior of Darkness in official footage, but went out of their way to find a way to make the 2B outfit adjust the size of a female character's bum when equipped.

[SturmChurro]

That statement is made all the weirder by some of the timespan references they've given for the game lasting, be it 5 years or more. Maybe they recently got that greenlighted or something but if it's going to last well into the future, bit early for them to be saying "last chance". Though it could all hang together - invest in the graphics engine (I'm referring to this interview for anyone curious about it), and adding new races may become less of the huge hassle it currently is. We'll see if anything comes of it as it's all very early days, however the way he described the things they're looking at does sound like it'd ease the process of adding further races. At the very least for the missing genders, one would hope.

I'd say things were looking bleak for FFXIV's future during ShB development. At the time it may have really been their "last chance", but it looks like SE now has long term plans for FFXIV. Things may (hopefully) be looking up. With how sparse the content was for ShB during launch, it makes sense. We'll have to see how it goes with EW, and their plans for that graphical update.

The budgeting thing is kind of a weird situation. Because supposedly ShB made far more money than any other expansion yet still no customization changes have been seen with hrothgar or viera. And no significant changes have been seen with any of the other races soooo...where’s our sub and mogstation money going.

Well, even ShB doing well doesn't necessarily mean we will see that translated into the current updates of the game - which are planned well in advance. The time we would see big changes would be at an expansion launch. As I said in reply to Lauront, things for FFXIV may have not been looking well during ShB development. Like I said, actual viera/hrothgar updates probably just weren't planned in advance.

But it's not as if viera and hrothgar were made in a day. The development time for those two races and those seven hairstyles would have had some overlap, assuming both were developed during SB. And if the hairstyles were developed before SB...then that still doesn't explain why the new races couldn't even get ONE.

I think the decision to tie hrothgar hair to faces is why we haven't seen anything. But SE made that decision and would have known the obstacles it would create so...still no excuse. No one forced them to give hrothgar hair the au ra horn treatment. No one forced them to make that ludicrously stupid decision.

Sigh, I just want to have some more choice. I only like one of the viera hairstyles and I love plenty of the non racial styles. At this point I would purchase outfits I have no interest in just to get some new hair.

I have no doubts that hrothgar/viera being coupled as one race is part of the problem. I don't think it would be as hard for them to add in viera hair updates, but since they have to create an entire new head for hrothgar - that is probably the issue. Unfortunate, but it is how it is. On top of that, they may be wanting to release these as something to "look forward to" rather than some regular update, at this point.

Under that situation I am happy they did split them. Of course having both races full would have been nice, but if this was the case- then as it happened is fine with me. Vast majority would be going the split as it was anyways, of course there might have been this amazing potential and it makes sense that some might miss that (I miss Au Ra's concept art) but as there have not been male Verias before and female 'ronso' were basically background art what makes sense is the split with the big if "this is the last push and we wanted to add as much as possible".

Naturally still getting both would be neat, but I have to think it goes back to the core technical systems being an issue (just like the challenges involved with housing, glamour, and other like systems, such as mogshop items having trouble being account bound sometimes). All that of course is why once the MSQ story is done (6.0), I'm kind of hoping for either MAJOR improvements to the core of FFXIV or hoping they're working on another mmo to be released. I mean look at how long it took to make chocobos not mess up DF lol. The game is very fun and a good mmo, and it is absolutely amazing given where they came from (the ARR crunch and all), but we very often hear the challenge to ideas is not their imagination but the game itself.

The issue is the cost of creating then the permanent cost of maintaining new races after the fact. At the time, they probably saw they could fit ONE new race and still maintain their patch schedule (prior to Covid). Female viera are what was known, so that's of course what they would do, and female beast races just aren't that popular. It worked out anyway, they got a male and a female out of it.

The core technical systems are the issue, if they had an easier, more cost efficient way of maintaining our races, along with all the other updates for this game, we could see more things, like male viera and female hrothgar. Heck, it's apparently too difficult to add stubble for male characters! Hopefully the graphical update in the future alleviates some of these issues.

[NumenarMithrandir]

I'm personally ready for more choices too. Even 1-3 more options would be great. My hopes and bets are placed on 6.0 honestly. SE generally keeps their promises it just takes them a million years to come through.

[Fukuro]

So what is consuming their focus?

I don‘t want to be that guy... but im pretty concerned that ff16 and other projects might play a role in this.
just looking at the trailer of 16 shows us that there is a high possibility many developers from 14 are currently working on 16. (art style for example - just the feel of the game gave me ff14 vibes) yoshida being the producer of both games further supports my concerns. the story of shadowbringers was phenomenal, but content seemed a bit dry recently (even before covid), and i’m probably looking too much into this but i think it‘s a possibility that it’s connected to 16’s development.

it just buggs me sometimes, seeing ff7 remake getting a beautiful graphical upgrade just a year into the game (i‘m hyped - don‘t get me wrong) but at the same time it seems it‘s an out of the world thought getting just a small graphical upgrade for 14 because „spaghetti code“ and „limitations‘...

[Penthea]

On top of that, they may be wanting to release these as something to "look forward to" rather than some regular update, at this point.

It's been so long that we don't even feel like we can look forward to it. SE have been completely silent on this subject. We can't look forward to something if we're not given anything to hang on to.

[SturmChurro]

I don‘t want to be that guy... but im pretty concerned that ff16 and other projects might play a role in this.
just looking at the trailer of 16 shows us that there is a high possibility many developers from 14 are currently working on 16. (art style for example - just the feel of the game gave me ff14 vibes) yoshida being the producer of both games further supports my concerns. the story of shadowbringers was phenomenal, but content seemed a bit dry recently (even before covid), and i’m probably looking too much into this but i think it‘s a possibility that it’s connected to 16’s development.

it just buggs me sometimes, seeing ff7 remake getting a beautiful graphical upgrade just a year into the game (i‘m hyped - don‘t get me wrong) but at the same time it seems it‘s an out of the world thought getting just a small graphical upgrade for 14 because „spaghetti code“ and „limitations‘...

I have heard this. Many of the veteran devs of FFXIV are actually working on that new FF game. Great for them (their careers), but not really for this game.

It's been so long that we don't even feel like we can look forward to it. SE have been completely silent on this subject. We can't look forward to something if we're not given anything to hang on to.

Yep. It's been so long, I have doubts we will even see anything, frankly. "Look forward to fanfest", I'm not holding my breath though. I think viera/hrothgar, just aren't high on their list of importance. I wish they would be a little more transparent.

[Amnmaat]

They're really pushing people's patience. The moment one of its competitor's gets things right XIV might have its biggest loss ever. Think about what would happen if a game like Genshin Impact decided to add a good character creator (probably won't, but just a hypothetical). Or if Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis turns out to be the funnest "open world" mmorpg? Or if Blue Protocol actually shocks the mmo world with a deep story and a great mmo environment?

Don't get me wrong I like XIV, but the suits and ties at SE are taking people's "loyalty" for granted. It's not so much that we want them to do what's physically impossible, it has more to do with where resources are being diverted to such as FFXVI, VII Remake, and Avengers? The cow can be milked but that cow can one day run away when it sees tastier grass on the other rancher's side.

[NumenarMithrandir]

They're really pushing people's patience. The moment one of its competitor's gets things right XIV might have its biggest loss ever. Think about what would happen if a game like Genshin Impact decided to add a good character creator (probably won't, but just a hypothetical). Or if Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis turns out to be the funnest "open world" mmorpg? Or if Blue Protocol actually shocks the mmo world with a deep story and a great mmo environment?

Don't get me wrong I like XIV, but the suits and ties at SE are taking people's "loyalty" for granted. It's not so much that we want them to do what's physically impossible, it has more to do with where resources are being diverted to such as FFXVI, VII Remake, and Avengers? The cow can be milked but that cow can one day run away when it sees tastier grass on the other rancher's side.

couldn't agree more! If you are not going to do something right. Don't do it at all. If you know you can't make the new races as they should be... don't bother making them from the start.

[SturmChurro]

They're really pushing people's patience. The moment one of its competitor's gets things right XIV might have its biggest loss ever. Think about what would happen if a game like Genshin Impact decided to add a good character creator (probably won't, but just a hypothetical). Or if Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis turns out to be the funnest "open world" mmorpg? Or if Blue Protocol actually shocks the mmo world with a deep story and a great mmo environment?

Don't get me wrong I like XIV, but the suits and ties at SE are taking people's "loyalty" for granted. It's not so much that we want them to do what's physically impossible, it has more to do with where resources are being diverted to such as FFXVI, VII Remake, and Avengers? The cow can be milked but that cow can one day run away when it sees tastier grass on the other rancher's side.

I don't know. The thing is FFXIV fits a certain kind of niche, FFXIV doesn't really have that many direct competitors, other than like WoW. Many of these other MMO's fit a different kind of audience, and sure there is some bleed over, but nothing that would really kill this game, and this game is only growing and growing continuously. This game dying would be more akin to WoW or something where continuous bad design decisions, or neglect, would be the only way it would actually happen. As loud as people are about viera hair, male viera, and whatever, these are luxury issues.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I don't know. The thing is FFXIV fits a certain kind of niche, FFXIV doesn't really have that many direct competitors, other than like WoW. Many of these other MMO's fit a different kind of audience, and sure there is some bleed over, but nothing that would really kill this game, and this game is only growing and growing continuously. This game dying would be more akin to WoW or something where continuous bad design decisions, or neglect, would be the only way it would actually happen. As loud as people are about viera hair, male viera, and whatever, these are luxury issues.

Viera hair and stuff isn’t the only problem the game has. Content this expansion has been horrid, and covid can partially be to blame but it was bad even before covid. The next expansion isnt looking like we’re gonna be getting tons of new stuff or significant changes either so it just seems downgrade after downgrade. I wish SE would take these matters seriously but the truth is, a majority of the community acts as an SE cult and eats what little things SE spoon feeds them so a lot of our pleas most likely aren’t heard in the long run and won’t change much.