Imagine: Midlander stubble

[DrWho2010]

people have been imagining it ever since the Shadowbringers trailer first came out 2+ years ago. lol

"Please look forward to it."

[Duskane]

pretty sure it was mentioned alongside Viera Hair that its coming
but i hope people expect it to only be on that one face not all 6 Midlanders have

[Kolsykol]

It’s kinda sad cuz Male Viera had potential to be a nice masculine looking guy, but instead got turned into shorter than females, incredibly feminine dudes with no masculine facial options whatsoever. Pretty sad when even Miqote has that option.

People would've complained then too.
Look at how much people complain about Female Au'Ra being small.
It's the same gender differences only in the reverse which makes sense with the Viera with the female Viera being all dominatrix Amazon women.

In the end of the day tho I think it's a small minority complaining.
Female Au'Ra wouldn't have been as popular if they looked more like the Male Au'Ra.
If you play a bunny boy then something tells me that a masculine dudebro ain't what you're interested in 99% of the time.
And I don't think that if you play a bunny girl that most people interested in that would've liked it if they were masculine or looked frumpy either.

I mean y'all can complain all you want but in the end of the day even the devs have acknowledged that what most people want is what we're getting.
There's a reason why they keep adding more cute and feminine things, and it's because they have the actual numbers and look at them and see what content most people are into.

Edit: Also I always find it interesting how it's okay to ask for masculine options but if you ask for feminine options the people basically always accuse you of being horny.
Asking for masculine options is fine I just find the different reactions to be a bit annoying.

Whenever I do it it literally doesn't matter how much I specify what I mean and don't mean people always act like it's about that.

[SherlottaEryut]

I will always be for more customization options, especially more masculine choices because god knows the character creation is severely lacking in that department.

Only a couple months until Endwalker so I really am hoping for the best.

[AutoWhit]

The reason I went Highlander...

[KizuyaKatogami]

People would've complained then too.
Look at how much people complain about Female Au'Ra being small.
It's the same gender differences only in the reverse which makes sense with the Viera with the female Viera being all dominatrix Amazon women.

In the end of the day tho I think it's a small minority complaining.
Female Au'Ra wouldn't have been as popular if they looked more like the Male Au'Ra.
If you play a bunny boy then something tells me that a masculine dudebro ain't what you're interested in 99% of the time.
And I don't think that if you play a bunny girl that most people interested in that would've liked it if they were masculine or looked frumpy either.

I mean y'all can complain all you want but in the end of the day even the devs have acknowledged that what most people want is what we're getting.
There's a reason why they keep adding more cute and feminine things, and it's because they have the actual numbers and look at them and see what content most people are into.

Edit: Also I always find it interesting how it's okay to ask for masculine options but if you ask for feminine options the people basically always accuse you of being horny.
Asking for masculine options is fine I just find the different reactions to be a bit annoying.

Whenever I do it it literally doesn't matter how much I specify what I mean and don't mean people always act like it's about that.

Dunno where you’ve been looking, but when people ask for masculine options, it’s always female characters trying to tell us how there’s already options available or how it isn’t a priority or hates on us for not like the overtly feminine things. I’m going to play a male viera but i’m very much interested in masculine things, and i don’t need someone to tell me i’m not. It really doesn’t make sense in the lore no. They’re supposed to be the same height as they’re literally undistinguishable during birth. The only reason they’re shorter is because a vocal twitter crowd was raising up hell trying to have the females be “doms” and fetishizing it. This expansion has been constant female pandering, whether it be the heavily feminine and androgynous hairstyles, or the female glams with no males alternatives(2b outfit for example), not to mention the constant female npc mogstation glams yet when was the last male npc glam we got? Exactly. Females have always been pandered in this game. Hence why people want more masculine options for once. Will it happen? Probably not. The lead dev plays a female lala for crying out loud despite “totally wanting a beast race.”

[Skivvy]

Dunno where you’ve been looking, but when people ask for masculine options, it’s always female characters trying to tell us how there’s already options available or how it isn’t a priority or hates on us for not like the overtly feminine things. I’m going to play a male viera but i’m very much interested in masculine things, and i don’t need someone to tell me i’m not. It really doesn’t make sense in the lore no. They’re supposed to be the same height as they’re literally undistinguishable during birth. The only reason they’re shorter is because a vocal twitter crowd was raising up hell trying to have the females be “doms” and fetishizing it. This expansion has been constant female pandering, whether it be the heavily feminine and androgynous hairstyles, or the female glams with no males alternatives(2b outfit for example), not to mention the constant female npc mogstation glams yet when was the last male npc glam we got? Exactly. Females have always been pandered in this game. Hence why people want more masculine options for once. Will it happen? Probably not. The lead dev plays a female lala for crying out loud despite “totally wanting a beast race.”

Just because someone plays a female character it doesn't mean that they're 1) female 2) a female that likes only feminine things 3) a guy who only likes feminine things 4) anything else in your mind that doesn't jump out and say "I love masculine things". If we're judging by avatars, your cat has a softer look to the face and is currently wearing a ruffled half-dress. What we each deem as "masculine" varies quite a bit.

Also, male Viera are only about 2.5 inches shorter than the females. Be happy it's not a drastic difference like Au Ra.


But back to the actual topic, YES BRING ON THE STUBBLE.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Just because someone plays a female character it doesn't mean that they're 1) female 2) a female that likes only feminine things 3) a guy who only likes feminine things 4) anything else in your mind that doesn't jump out and say "I love masculine things". If we're judging by avatars, your cat has a softer look to the face and is currently wearing a ruffled half-dress. What we each deem as "masculine" varies quite a bit.

Also, male Viera are only about 2.5 inches shorter than the females. Be happy it's not a drastic difference like Au Ra.


But back to the actual topic, YES BRING ON THE STUBBLE.

I was saying it’s a trend i always see. It’s a bit too much of a coincidence 90% of the people who say the things i mentioned play a female character. I don’t consider my own character masculine. There’s very few options for it in the game. Thank you for bringing attention to my glam though. Just highlights my point even more, look at the healing gear. Constant feminine styled gear. Hardly any masculine versions. The fact it’s taken this long for the stubble to even be addressed is sad and just shows where the devs priorities are. More interested in implementing cutesy parasols and pervy 2b outfits.

[Ayuhra]

Edit: Also I always find it interesting how it's okay to ask for masculine options but if you ask for feminine options the people basically always accuse you of being horny.
Asking for masculine options is fine I just find the different reactions to be a bit annoying.

Whenever I do it it literally doesn't matter how much I specify what I mean and don't mean people always act like it's about that.

I think part of this is that there ARE plenty of feminine options in game.

I'm going to rephrase the issue as I see it as a straight female player who wants a classically Final Fantasy-type handsome character to stare at....look I'm not deep.

Female characters have a lot of options for just about any vibe you want to give off: Cute, sexy, fierce, strong, etc If you can imagine it you can give your character a look that comes close.

Male characters you can be cute, sexy, fierce, strong as well but your options to convey that desired vibe are limited. There is maybe one face per look and every option has some weird issues with it like face shape, default stance, animations, eyebrows and beard or a lack thereof. There are also fewer glamours that show off a male frame compared to a female one (Why did we get 2b's iconic outfit + lookalikes but not 9s's?).

I'm big into glamours and I promise I am not crazy: It is MUCH easier to create a female character and outfit in this game than a male one.

I will grant the forums one thing, though: The limitations on male characters are something you sort of have to experience to notice. If you just look at options side by side it might seem like they're as flexible as the female characters but they aren't.

[Skivvy]

I was saying it’s a trend i always see. It’s a bit too much of a coincidence 90% of the people who say the things i mentioned play a female character. I don’t consider my own character masculine. There’s very few options for it in the game. Thank you for bringing attention to my glam though. Just highlights my point even more, look at the healing gear. Constant feminine styled gear. Hardly any masculine versions. The fact it’s taken this long for the stubble to even be addressed is sad and just shows where the devs priorities are. More interested in implementing cutesy parasols and pervy 2b outfits.

I do feel ya on the gear. I mean, I like my frills now and then, but poor healers are almost always stuck in some sort of a dress/robe/long skirt combo. More reason to unlock the glams (as requested in another thread floating around)! Maybe one day.

Going back to the masculine appearances in this game. Final fantasy games as a whole tend to design males with a more androgynous or even effeminate style. With XIV being an MMO, I do feel like they branched out a bit, but you can still see that as an underlying style factor for a lot of the choices we have. I'm personally not drawn to this in general, but it kinda comes with playing a FF title.

Now...that's not to say we shouldn't be able to ask or hope for more options, something that suits our fancy, but it also does no good to wish for a massive overhaul to the general aesthetic. Gotta temper those expectations.