Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[Theodric]

Yeah, that's what "lowest common denominator" means. It's deliberately made to appeal to the greatest number of people. Instead of making a uniform race, it feels as though they took the concept art and said "well what's the simplest common value players want in a female character that would give us wide adoption rates for the new race?" and then applied it to the Au Ra, while leaving the men as musclebound hunks since that's the lowest common value players want in a male character.

Doesn't mean it's necessarily a good thing though, which is why you have people in another thread fighting over femhroths and whether or not they'll look like the men or be blue miqo'te. And you have Xaela women, who are supposed to be rugged nomads but don't exactly act like it because SE decided that we needed a second miqo'te instead in order to sell more fantasia.

I don't think mass appeal is necessarily a bad thing when it comes to features that require a lot of resources/long term investment. At the end of the day, most people do want to play conventionally attractive options because that's just what sells. A fairly high portion of players like to praise the existence of non-conventional options, but even many of those individuals do not put their money where their mouths are so to speak.

For example, there's a often lot of comments on Reddit and Twitter about how amazing female roegadyn supposedly are and yet they're the least played race/gender combination in the game. A spot that they've occupied pretty consistently at that.

On my end, as a gay guy who likes classically handsome men it's Midlander and Raen/Xaela men that appeal to me the most out of the current batch of playable options.

I'm a firm advocate of enhanced character customisation at a later date, though - which may be a way to alleviate some of the long standing issues, real and perceived, with the creation system.

[SturmChurro]

I don't think mass appeal is necessarily a bad thing when it comes to features that require a lot of resources/long term investment. At the end of the day, most people do want to play conventionally attractive options because that's just what sells. A fairly high portion of players like to praise the existence of non-conventional options, but even many of those individuals do not put their money where their mouths are so to speak.

Yeah, especially when adding something like a new race may come at the cost of other things in the game, and developer workload in general.

[Lastelli]

Yeah, especially when adding something like a new race may come at the cost of other things in the game, and developer workload in general.

Everything comes at the cost of other things in the game. I hate fishing but I don't go around crying that they shouldn't waste resources on that because I'm not interested in it. I don't play female characters yet I don't constantly whine about how they clearly favor them for glamour and gearing options. Weak argument, really.

[SturmChurro]

Everything comes at the cost of other things in the game. I hate fishing but I don't go around crying that they shouldn't waste resources on that because I'm not interested in it. I don't play female characters yet I don't constantly whine about how they clearly favor them for glamour and gearing options. Weak argument, really.

Those aren't even comparable.

[Lastelli]

Those aren't even comparable.

Of course they are. It's all content that competes for the devs' resources. And if I don't care about that specific content, it has zero value to me. "Resources are better spent elsewhere" is not a solid reasoning. It's just a declaration of preference that you'd better keep to yourself and is particularly foolish in this specific instance, considering the endorsement this very thread received. MViera will probably be much more popular than things that keep draining resources like LoV (every time a new minion is added) or BLU and very few people touch. But there are some players that do enjoy that kind of stuff, who are you to tell them that your preferences are more important than theirs?

[SturmChurro]

Of course they are. It's all content that competes for the devs' resources. And if I don't care about that specific content, it has zero value to me. "Resources are better spent elsewhere" is not a solid reasoning. It's just a declaration of preference that you'd better keep to yourself and is particularly foolish in this specific instance, considering the endorsement this very thread received. MViera will probably be much more popular than things that keep draining resources like LoV (every time a new minion is added) or BLU and very few people touch. But there are some players that do enjoy that kind of stuff, who are you to tell them that your preferences are more important than theirs?

I was talking about niche aesthetics - in general. It's why I included this portion of the quote I replied to:

I don't think mass appeal is necessarily a bad thing when it comes to features that require a lot of resources/long term investment. At the end of the day, most people do want to play conventionally attractive options because that's just what sells. A fairly high portion of players like to praise the existence of non-conventional options, but even many of those individuals do not put their money where their mouths are so to speak.

I was in agreement with it.

Fishing wouldn't even be done by the same team, and them making feminine glamour isn't them appealing to a niche request either. Hence why I stated they weren't comparable. I'm sorry, but I just don't think the wants of the few outweigh the wants of the many, just for the sake of it, in a game we all pay a monthly subscription for. I'd rather have options that actually look good, would be received well, and be worth the cost and time SE puts into creating it.

My biggest gripe about the races - specifically male viera - coming out when they did is actually their limitations, and I can bring up quote after quote of me talking about it. I do think male viera was a highly popular request, and have also stated so many times. I think male viera came out too early, thus now they are a limited race. They won't get many hairstyles, hats, etc. Similarly, hrothgar is still in a state of requiring a fantasia to even change a hairstyle. I'd have rather seen those resources spent - currently - on resolving these issues, and male viera coming out at a later date, with more options available.

Regardless, do I think male viera will "sell"? Yes! I think it will sell many fantasias, both for the people who switch to, and for those who switch back.

[Rokke]

With the media tour info hitting youtube...Im so excited~ Their emotes are really nice. Meoni has a nice long vid going though all the general tab ones, I expect Zepla to have a thorough preview out later too haha

[Illmaeran]

On my end, as a gay guy who likes classically handsome men it's Midlander and Raen/Xaela men that appeal to me the most out of the current batch of playable options.

What's the saying, if you're going to stare at a screen for hours on end, you may as well enjoy what you're looking at? If I were at all interested in playing an alt, it would be a female Rogedayn, because...damn!

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

What's the saying, if you're going to stare at a screen for hours on end, you may as well enjoy what you're looking at? If I were at all interested in playing an alt, it would be a female Rogedayn, because...damn!

-Flex-
Oh, Hello there

[Illmaeran]

-Flex-
Oh, Hello there

*Explosive Nosebleed*