New hrothgar hairstyles are really bad.

[HoofusDoofus]

At this point I'm doubting if there was more was race-exclusive intended for these races... Trust me, I want nothing more than something to compensate for the lack of headgear, but isn't it weird to you how SE allegedly said one thing in 2019 and never again? At this point I am almost convinced it was just a mis-translation. A very cruel one at that e.e

I'm honestly starting to reach the same conclusion, which makes it all the more disappointing. Mainly because if it wasn't a particularly unkind mistranslation, then it almost feels like being gaslit. Being led to wholeheartedly believe we're getting compensation for our sacrifice on headgear only for the devs to be radio silent on it for years, and then claim that they never said it in the first place. Makes me feel like I'm going crazy, which isn't a particularly nice feeling ;w;

[HollowedDoll]

So I'm a bit dumbfounded, it's been 3 years and this is all you had to show for it. I get covid, I get a lot of things, but how is it possible that in 3 years the best was roughly putting the hairs on hrothgar and chopping their ears off?
What prevented them from deforming these hairs enough so that the ears would not clip? What prevented them from making hairs made specifically for Hrothgar like they did on release? I totally get that it's probably not a high priority thing, but it's been 3 years.

Other shared hairs do have various changes after all based on the race wearing them, and it's NOT like there's been so many hairs that the team could not be capable of putting in a bit more effort for Hrothgar, because 4 hairs in 3 years is not a lot at all. If Square Enix has issues then why not hire more people? Fantasia sells doesn't it? What with the whole "mogstation purchases go back into the game." and here I ask Where???

It's especially ironic considering for 3 years Hrothgar pretty much had to rely on Fantasia sales to change their hairs. I get that they're not the most popular race, but ultimately? SE wanted to add them in, so they should treat them with the same effort as any other race. It's not like Male Viera or Miqote where people were frothing at the mouth for them to be added, this is on you.

[SherlottaEryut]

Actually @Moderator
How come this thread was not passed along to the development team? The thread may have been based on a mere mis-translation but surely the popularity of it can be classed as a 'high in demand' request? It was only created in 2021 and gained a lot of attention, why wasn't this addressed?

In the OP is compiled all the Viera and Hrothgar semi-popular threads that gained attention at their time, not including my own one. We've been pretty much requesting race-specific hairs for the past 3 years?

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...gar-Megathread

[Denji]

Actually @Moderator
How come this thread was not passed along to the development team? The thread may have been based on a mere mis-translation but surely the popularity of it can be classed as a 'high in demand' request? It was only created in 2021 and gained a lot of attention, why wasn't this addressed?

In the OP is compiled all the Viera and Hrothgar semi-popular threads that gained attention at their time, not including my own one. We've been pretty much requesting race-specific hairs for the past 3 years?

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...gar-Megathread

Because unless it generates bad press (see: not being able to marry the same gender) the non-JP forums are largely ignored.

There are several examples in this thread of mods and such saying they'll "pass it along" and we never hear of it again, including stuff from 7-8 years ago.

The sad truth is that this is a Japanese game and outside of trying to nickle and dime you with the cash shop, they generally don't care.

[SturmChurro]

Because unless it generates bad press (see: not being able to marry the same gender) the non-JP forums are largely ignored.

There are several examples in this thread of mods and such saying they'll "pass it along" and we never hear of it again, including stuff from 7-8 years ago.

The sad truth is that this is a Japanese game and outside of trying to nickle and dime you with the cash shop, they generally don't care.

When it comes to the west, I'd say they get most, if not all, of their feedback from Twitter.

[Vahlnir]

When it comes to the west, I'd say they get most, if not all, of their feedback from Twitter.

Which is not necessarily a good thing. Twitter is a cesspool of rage and ignorance.

[Lily_Skye]

twitter is basically emo meteion

[Rathmir]

Greetings, everyone.

As there have been a lot of feedback surrounding Hrothgar and their hairstyles, we wanted to share a recent update from Yoshida during the recent patch notes reading. On the stream he discussed the specifications of Hrothgar and the difficulties regarding adding hairstyles for them.

Hello Zhexos,
Dear dev team,

first of all, thanks for the work around the game so far. If everything would be bad, the game wouldn't be where it is right now. So don't feel discouraged by any means, even with that more than just strong backlash. See it more as a way to do better, and as a chance.

Obviously Hrothgar suffered some decision made, with went totally against them and maybe the usual quality terms. Mistakes were made, and those are more difficult to correct later.

So, how did it come with strangely doing a total own collection of settings? The closest I see are Au'Ra. Parts of the head - especially the ears - are extraordinary compared to the other races, and connected to the face. Both have tails, and some usual racial special feature (Au'Ra = double colored eyes, Hroth: markings).
Why going for a char creation setting, that's totally off from any already existing ? Sounds like inventing the wheel twice, but instead of round, it's square shaped (pun intended).

Then when you originally never planned to add more hair styles, why starting with only 8 of them, while other (most? all?) races have 40+? And why cropping that little number even more by limiting the count by 75% per face, and then refusing the pure ingame switch between the leftover 2? With the stated intention, 30+ styles would have been the absolute minimum - for all faces.
Yes, the predicted answer might lead to the previous paragraph again. Totally odd framework, artificially connecting hairs and faces, which never was the case with the meshes, but character creation programming.
What stopped you, to at least re-create the already existing 3 more times, each with minor changes for the head shapes - as most matching solution to the work flow so far. Back then, and nowadays? Why are NPCs allowed to have standards woven together, while for player it's not possible?

By guess, there can be many more questions like that. And I (and others) understand, that things that read totally fine on paper turn into awful drawbacks, leaving no easy way to get back on track.

But the situation is like it is now, and you... WE have to turn the steering wheel to get the solution, that satisfies people. Or get them at least calmer again, heh!
Please keep in mind, creating a character is about an identity. Might it be putting some of the own into it, or create a full artificial one, we run around the virtual world for weeks, months, even years. And being limited without need feels just bad.
And for most Hrothgar, the ears seems to be a major part of it. Without those (and the tail), Hroth wouldn't be much more than hunched Roegadyn with expensive animal masks and fur spandex.
Yes, somehow overly sentimental, but alas. I hope you get the point.

For what to do, I just refer to this post, and add a tad more:

[....]

Point 4 (legacy styles to all faces), is one of the quickest things possible at the moment, as the basic framework is certainly programmed now. Just don't let me unpack "Can I copy your homework?"-Meme arounds mods to go even quicker.


For the future, maybe some suggestions/opinions:
- Ears stay, do what you want. And vast majority of people seem to go d'accord with that
- Letting the ears go into temporary oblivion works with helmets, but not with hairs, see some pics from a compeding MMO a few pages before. And even with helmets they should stay at least every now and then

- If "racial styles" means less releases, also fine. Quality over quantity. Matching over random.*
- Personally, I don't care "simple ports" with adaption, and not all races have 100% matching styles. (Elezen and double bun, Pompadur, huh?)
- But take better care what to pick. And last patch choices were poor (Indiana Jones 3 and the grail, anyone?)

- If you're afraid of style quality, or frequency because lack ideas, maybe consider community contests
- Entries by sketches, photos of sculptures, 3D files, whatever is possible
- For 3D maybe drop an asset of heads+basic hair style to work with (not the internal ones of course), so people can shape and play around them. Those entries also speed up the implementation a lot later
- You might consider giving topics, maybe matching future patch content. "Inner Beast", Ceremonial, Battle, etc. This keeps the speculation up, and word of game spread. Plus such is fun for many people


At the moment, I don't feel overly motivated to play too much. Getting treated like the unloved step child, which everyone gets in mind at lastest minute and hastly stuffed something together for the formalities, is just bland. Sure, in GW2 the Charr are not treated the ultimate best, but still with far more love than here. ALthough the animation department does a great job. I like most of the emotes and facial expressions. Better than other race'S nightmare fuel.



Enough typing. Dinner is done. Others also want to express stuff. :P



*) BTW, how even less releases? 6 "new" styles, make 2 per year. Or 0.6 per new patch cycle of 4 months (or worse with old cycle). Even if we count the new variations of old styles in, the number doesn't change too much

[Budimir]

I respect the view that the developers might not have intended to do more Hrothgar hair. Still, regardless of the validity of past quotes saying we would get more Hrothgar hair options, I don't think it is wrong for players to believe that there would be more options for Hrothgar made available. FFXIV is one of the most popular MMOs on the market right now, so no matter their reasoning, the development team intentionally not putting work into one of the in-game races they made seems odd. Even though Hrothgar isn't the most popular race in the game, there are still players who enjoy playing them, and these players, like all the others in the game, deserve attention.

Additionally, if it were the intention not to add further customization options for Hrothgar, adding a disclaimer that appears in character creation would be an appropriate move. It should indicate that the race is different from the others as most headgear will not appear visible, and customization options are limited, so players know what to expect. Right now, new players really won't have any idea what they are getting into when they create a Hrothgar (or Viera), as the game doesn't mention the limitations both races have. As a result, by the time these players figure it out, they may already be invested in their chosen character (especially since FFXIV is such a story-driven game) and have too much attachment to adjust their race, which will lead to frustration.

Nevertheless, my above concerns are really irrelevant since whether or not the developers confirmed in the past that they would be adding more Hrothgar customization options; they have made it clear that they currently are through their actions and words. Because of this, it is incredibly important that we give them feedback on precisely what we are looking for so they have a strong understanding of where to go next.

[Denji]

When it comes to the west, I'd say they get most, if not all, of their feedback from Twitter.

Because Japan loves hellbird and hashtags so seeing foreigners use ff hashtags — particularly the ones popular amongst JP users— drives them batty since they feel its an invasion of their personal space. It's the same reason posting in the JP section of the forums is so taboo. Additionally, JP devs themselves heavily utilize twitter for personal reasons.

This is also why users who had their IGN up on twitter with screenshots of them using mods were targetted by a massive ban wave yet hundreds of YT and twitch streamers who use them were largely ignored. They got targetted because it's one of the few places that JP and English users can see eachother's posts via the hashtags and twitter's algorithm suggesting tweets.