VIERA AND HROTHGAR COMPLAINT MEGATHREAD

[Caro178]

Hot take I've said before but I would rather female Hrothgar launch fully headgear compatible ahead of any Hrothgar-Viera than the alternative of them being made half complete again and provide more back-burner work for the development team. I actually gain nothing out of a situation where newly fantasia'd Hrothgals join the "please wait patiently" crowd. I'm not so vindictive that I want to see others suffer just because my preferred race hasn't received much-needed updates yet. The more complete female Hrothgar come the faster they can work on the others without needing to backtrack. That said, I do not believe they will launch with any more headgear than the males and Viera because male Viera didn't launch with full hairstyle compatibility either and received the same updates as female Viera throughout the duration of Endwalker.

Also, this "it's never happening because it wasn't shown off at fanfest" thing is sillier now than ever. They didn't have any hairstyles to show until the 6.0 liveletter. They are working on it. They confirmed it at JP fanfest too in a small nod toward the end of the Viera graphics update. When they have something to show for it we'll know. Right now it actually is a work in progress which is something it has never been in the past. Perhaps it's just me not really caring enough because I think most headgear looks bad anyway, but it just feels needlessly obtuse to hear "we are working on this" for the first time ever and twist it into "guess it's never happening". FFXIV players are so dramatic.

[DrForester]

Hot take I've said before but I would rather female Hrothgar launch fully headgear compatible ahead of any Hrothgar-Viera than the alternative of them being made half complete again and provide more back-burner work for the development team.

It isn't backburner work when they never plan to do it. Really, we need to just give it up. It's never happening.

Their "we're working on it" is about as believable as George RR Martin saying he's still working on the next Game of Thrones book.

I'd honestly like it more if they'd just be honest and tell us it's not something they plan to work on. Because what now? It wasn't shown or talked about at any of the fanfests. So the new goalpost is 8.0? 6 years after the races were introduced is our new "maybe it will happen then!".

[VerdeLuck]

It isn't backburner work when they never plan to do it. Really, we need to just give it up. It's never happening.

Their "we're working on it" is about as believable as George RR Martin saying he's still working on the next Game of Thrones book.

I'd honestly like it more if they'd just be honest and tell us it's not something they plan to work on. Because what now? It wasn't shown or talked about at any of the fanfests. So the new goalpost is 8.0? 6 years after the races were introduced is our new "maybe it will happen then!".

Yeah, the fact that yoshida's "we're working on it" was from an unofficial Q&A really makes it not hold a lot of water for me. If it was true, that's the weirdest way to address something that is easily one of the most loudly requested features on social media for this game.
If they were really working on it they should be shouting it to let people know they're being heard and that they don't have to worry, not in an offhand comment barely anyone would see.

[Caro178]

What does "unofficial" even mean in this regard? What counts as an official interview? Whether or not it was said at fanfest? Whether or not it was said in a liveletter? Does it have to come with pictures and footage? Because there were plenty of things at fanfest that were mentioned and had no key art at all, so are those not official either? When you boil it down this is such an arbitrary distinction when those were his words on questions he chose to answer in-game. Folks said he had to be lying of confused about the Adventuring Foray too until that was confirmed at fanfest, but I guess it also doesn't count because there was no artwork?

[VerdeLuck]

What does "unofficial" even mean in this regard? What counts as an official interview? Whether or not it was said at fanfest? Whether or not it was said in a liveletter? Does it have to come with pictures and footage? Because there were plenty of things at fanfest that were mentioned and had no key art at all, so are those not official either? When you boil it down this is such an arbitrary distinction when those were his words on questions he chose to answer in-game. Folks said he had to be lying of confused about the Adventuring Foray too until that was confirmed at fanfest, but I guess it also doesn't count because there was no artwork?

I would consider it to be when he's speaking officially for SE at an event, presentation, or interview. I wouldn't consider offhande questions he answers while logged in on his personal account to be considered official statements, the same way I don't consider the personal remarks of a Community rep to be the views of SE.
If that's the case that he is speak as an SE rep where was the official translation? You shouldn't be making official statements in one language and leaving others out. Where was the verification at Fanfest that they were even working on it? If they were officially stating they were working on it at that fan event then why wouldn't they just mention it at fanfest as well?

SE's silence at fanfest speaks volumes. They aren't working on this in any major capacity and they do not have this planned for the near term, otherwise they would have included it as an aside for their upcoming content, since they weren't afraid to show a thousand foot view of other content we won't be getting till 7.3 at the earliest like the foray zone and the lifestyle content.
Trying to use a single line at an unofficial Q&A where he was asked questions casually as some evidence that they are working on it is so silly. I'll believe it when it comes out of the mouth of an SE rep when they're actively representing SE at an event, announcement, livestream, or interview with an outlet. Something that has some kind of accountability behind it other than being posted on a blog and translated by reddit.

[Caro178]

SE's silence at fanfest speaks volumes. They aren't working on this in any major capacity and they do not have this planned for the near term, otherwise they would have included it as an aside for their upcoming content.

I think part of the problem here is simply mismatched emphasis on the relevance/importance of this subject in relation to fanfest announcements. Simply put, and I know it hurts to hear this, Viera headgear is not considered an important enough announcement for a 2 hour block where they have to go over everything from story to new battle content to the massive graphics/dye update. Now, you may consider it the most important thing ever, but clearly they do not. They also don't really like to make promises without having results to show for it.

I'll give you a great example. Viera hairstyles were not mentioned in any capacity at any fanfest at any point ever. They were referenced first in what you would call "unofficial" interviews until the 6.0 liveletter where YoshiP shared a few images including a female Viera in the EW NIN gear sporting a ponytail they didn't have access to as well as a later liveletter that included more examples. And yet Viera hairstyles were a fairly big project that saw consistent results through the entire expansion. So historically speaking "if they were working on it they would have mentioned it" is a deeply untrue statement regarding Viera and Hrothgar.

[Yencat]

It is unfortunate but as much as Fan Fest is for, well, fans, it's also a big commercial aimed at potential new players and gaming media in general to report on the game, telling everyone during the keynote that two races can now wear hats is kind of confusing non-news to most people. It could've been brought up in a panel (and maybe it was? I haven't heard.) but I'm not surprised they're leaving it for a Live Letter reading, if they are in fact doing it.

When they revealed male Viera they did make a comment saying they had made the necessary adjustments so additional hairstyles shouldn't be a problem, and this thread (myself included ) whipped into a frenzy because it sounded like male Viera would have every hairstyle available at launch. Surprised Pikachu faces when male Viera released in the same state as female Viera in terms of hairstyles, just primed to start adding more every patch. So IF they're actually going to work on headgear I can't see them doing it only for female Hrothgar.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Their "we're working on it" is about as believable as George RR Martin saying he's still working on the next Game of Thrones book.

[Pip_Chick]

Hot take I've said before but I would rather female Hrothgar launch fully headgear compatible ahead of any Hrothgar-Viera than the alternative of them being made half complete again and provide more back-burner work for the development team. I actually gain nothing out of a situation where newly fantasia'd Hrothgals join the "please wait patiently" crowd. I'm not so vindictive that I want to see others suffer just because my preferred race hasn't received much-needed updates yet. The more complete female Hrothgar come the faster they can work on the others without needing to backtrack. That said, I do not believe they will launch with any more headgear than the males and Viera because male Viera didn't launch with full hairstyle compatibility either and received the same updates as female Viera throughout the duration of Endwalker.

Also, this "it's never happening because it wasn't shown off at fanfest" thing is sillier now than ever. They didn't have any hairstyles to show until the 6.0 liveletter. They are working on it. They confirmed it at JP fanfest too in a small nod toward the end of the Viera graphics update. When they have something to show for it we'll know. Right now it actually is a work in progress which is something it has never been in the past. Perhaps it's just me not really caring enough because I think most headgear looks bad anyway, but it just feels needlessly obtuse to hear "we are working on this" for the first time ever and twist it into "guess it's never happening". FFXIV players are so dramatic.

I don't think I should comment on the first part, cause I went a few months earlier on a tangent on how I hated that M. Viera got released an expansion before female Hrothgar and how I would have preferred them to hold them until they could release both. So me saying that the person doing that comment is bad or whatever, just because he would like to halt the hats for female Hrothgar... would be very, uh.. pot calling the kettle cracked, or something...
Would I like them to be released with full head gear compatibility? Yes. But I don't think it would be happening unless it is done to Male Hrothgar and both Viera as well.

I do think they would start working on them, people are asking them left and right. I just think it was not a priority as of yet, and still think it isn't until the visual update is done. But I do believe the team is working on them. And Female Hrothgar might have been created with porting hats in mind, like male Viera were made with porting hairstyles. Remains to be seen.