Garlean Playable Race (?)

[Lauront]

Saying "but the lore left an opening" still doesn't change the fact that:
- They're all portrayed by midlanders or elezen with a pearl in their head and will likely continue to be so in EW when we inevitably bump into larger numbers of them unless there's a surprise brand new body for everyone.
- They're not visually distinctive enough to have their own playable race and Yoshi-P has already stated that he wants to do things that are different.
- Male viera were made on the side, with female hrothgar coming "later" and both are said to be the last we'll get. Even after getting their missing genders, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who says that they're "whole" considering the state they're still in.
- It makes no sense in the context of the story for a Garlean to be welcomed by everyone they meet before they're a hero.

I genuinely couldn't care less what you have to say on this. We've gone through this, your arguments failed to convince me then, they continue to fail to convince me now, much as your rather tenuous grasp on various points of lore fails to impress me much. I am here to address a specific claim that keeps coming up. You want to ramble about how they can't simply deal with this issue through glams? Whatever. I do not care. Address someone who is interested in your irrelevant anti-Garlean crusade.

[MikkoAkure]

I genuinely couldn't care less what you have to say on this. We've gone through this, your arguments failed to convince me then, they continue to fail to convince me now, much as your rather tenuous grasp on various points of lore fails to impress me much. I am here to address a specific claim that keeps coming up. You want to ramble about how they can't simply deal with this issue through glams? Whatever. I do not care. Address someone who is interested in your anti-Garlean crusade.

If you "couldn't care less" then you would ignore me instead of quoting and replying to me. At least Theodoric is coming up with some stuff that I agree with can change, but still leaves me unconvinced.

I'm not on a crusade against Garleans. I'm being realistic. Not sure why you're on about convincing when no amount of bringing up the fact that the lorebook has an entry that some Garleans have magic has convinced me or anyone else that it will lead to a playable race. You keep posting that same picture to the thread as if seeing it is supposed to open my mind to it when it hasn't. I never made the lore as my main argument so I don't know why you keep bringing that up.

If I wanted to shower the forums with my hopes and dreams maybe I'll start a thread about how I want au ra to be redone as oni with ears for ears and horns for horns instead of weird people with horns for ears and a skin condition and then say that anyone who disagrees with me has a "tenuous grasp on various points of lore".

[Vipes]

I would rather have a unique looking race over “human with animal ears”, or in this case “human with gem in forehead”. I believe we should get a few more “exotic” races like Burmecians before we get something that’s akin to a Hyur recolor.

[KizuyaKatogami]

If you "couldn't care less" then you would ignore me instead of quoting and replying to me. At least Theodoric is coming up with some stuff that I agree with can change, but still leaves me unconvinced.

I'm not on a crusade against Garleans. I'm being realistic. Not sure why you're on about convincing when no amount of bringing up the fact that the lorebook has an entry that some Garleans have magic has convinced me or anyone else that it will lead to a playable race. You keep posting that same picture to the thread as if seeing it is supposed to open my mind to it when it hasn't. I never made the lore as my main argument so I don't know why you keep bringing that up.

If I wanted to shower the forums with my hopes and dreams maybe I'll start a thread about how I want au ra to be redone as oni with ears for ears and horns for horns instead of weird people with horns for ears and a skin condition and then say that anyone who disagrees with me has a "tenuous grasp on various points of lore".

it helped convince me tbh. Its not only the lore book but now we have reaper coming out which is also a garlean job that uses aether so... seems more and more likely that its possible for them to become a race in the future. I believe i seen you around when people were asking for male viera and you were one of the voices saying we'd never get them and then we did so... Anything is possible s im sure you've seen.

[Jandor]

it helped convince me tbh. Its not only the lore book but now we have reaper coming out which is also a garlean job that uses aether so... seems more and more likely that its possible for them to become a race in the future. I believe i seen you around when people were asking for male viera and you were one of the voices saying we'd never get them and then we did so... Anything is possible s im sure you've seen.

Reaper is the way it is specifically because Garleans have very little ability to manipulate aether.

In fact given that the lore book is written from in-universe perspective, it's possible that the writer has made a mistake and assumed the exploits of Garlean reapers are evidence of rare Garlean magic users.

[Theodric]

I would rather have a unique looking race over “human with animal ears”, or in this case “human with gem in forehead”. I believe we should get a few more “exotic” races like Burmecians before we get something that’s akin to a Hyur recolor.

This is a common retort and yet 'exotic' playable races end up being the least played race and gender combinations in the game. Which suggests that the majority of people do, in fact, want to play something that is closer to 'human' or 'elven' than outright bestial or monstrous. We see this in...pretty much every major MMO.

I alternate between playing a Midlander or a Raen/Xaela myself as those are the playable races that I like most at the moment. Though I'd love to be able to play the equivalent of a Hyur that is tall and conventionally attractive. Pureblood Garleans would be a good fit for that. That they have some very interesting lore is a major bonus. Much as it was when I played a Night Elf and a Blood Elf back in WoW. Or a Breton and Altmer in Elder Scrolls Online.

I don't care for niche races that look strange for the sake of looking strange - and Highlanders are, unfortunately, ruined due to a lack of attractive facial options and no authentic eyebrows. If they looked more like Jecht, Snow or Gladio then I'd happily play one. Though they don't, so I won't.

[Lauront]

I am not posting it to convince anyone, least of all that poster given that I was responding to a completely different individual (who raised that exact point about their inability to use magic), but to correct a misunderstanding of the lore that continues to be repeated both here and on other venues and demonstrate that that point of contention, in particular, poses no obstacle. Objections based on what people view as "jarring" etc. don't interest me and are irrelevant as far as I am concerned. It's not like SE give a kupo nut what we on this forum believe is credible or not in terms of future additions to the game, so frankly I see it as pointless to debate that.

Reaper is the way it is specifically because Garleans have very little ability to manipulate aether.

In fact given that the lore book is written from in-universe perspective, it's possible that the writer has made a mistake and assumed the exploits of Garlean reapers is evidence of rare Garlean magic users.

It's possible. But that goes for virtually anything in it. So shall we cast everything within it in doubt and could be explained otherwise?

The problem, once more, is that the average Garlean cannot wield aether into magic (and the lorebook is emphatic that it is a precious few who can.) I'm disinclined to doubt the lorebook on that until and unless it's corrected on that point.

Besides, it basically dissolves the lore objection in the event that SE wanted to take advantage of an opening it has created. So even if one wished to pick it apart in that manner, it is besides the point. If they don't wish to do so, then that is the end of it.

[ItMe]

We could go back and forth trying to convince each other of the viability of Garleans, but what has SQEX said?
Has Yoshi P more recently weighed in on this issue?
Last I heard he said "no" in... stormblood(?) but does anyone know if his perspective has changed?
(Beyond no new races except for maybe lizardfolk but probably not)

[Theodric]

We could go back and forth trying to convince each other of the viability of Garleans, but what has SQEX said?
Has Yoshi P more recently weighed in on this issue?
Last I heard he said "no" in... stormblood(?) but does anyone know if his perspective has changed?

I do not believe he has ever commented on the subject directly, though comments from older interviews lose relevance as time passes and the game's community grows and trends/expectations change. I've seen quite a few demands for Garlean related glamour/playable options on Twitter, though.

There's also a pretty sizeable number of Garlean role-players to be found in-game on Mateus, Omega and Balmung.

As for 'lizardfolk', it's worth noting that Yoshi-P specifically added Hrothgar because he wanted to see a beast race added as a playable option. Yet not only are they a very tiny percentage of the population...he does not even play one himself. A trend, I suspect, which applies to a lot of the people asking for more unusual options.

[Jandor]

We could go back and forth trying to convince each other of the viability of Garleans, but what has SQEX said?
Has Yoshi P more recently weighed in on this issue?
Last I heard he said "no" in... stormblood(?) but does anyone know if his perspective has changed?
(Beyond no new races except for maybe lizardfolk but probably not)

I didn't know he'd ever even weighed in on it before, but if he said no before I can't really see what would have changed his mind.

He has recently discussed the possibility of other races after Viera and Hrothgar I think, but that was also a no, and when he speculated on what he would add if time and money allowed, it still wasn't Garleans. It was some lizardfolk type race.

Basically, I don't think the idea is even on his radar.