New gearsets preview is a disappointment

[Naoki34]

It looks so much like an old skin... wouldn't you like to make a new skin that would make us want to farm a dungeon or raid 50x? It's been a bore ever since Endwalker, and in ShB we've had so much to keep us busy, it's undoubtedly a relative content, but I used to like Glamour now, sometimes I find good stuff, but in cash shops...

But since Azeyma's outfit is so ugly, wouldn't you like SE to put out a nice skin so I can get out my credit card again? No ? Well too bad for you...
It was lame the kind of long-sleeved sweater skin with straps....

[Mawlzy]

And you're STILL wrong because he's wearing a full breastplate, puffy breeches, and a completely differently shaped hat along with sabatons that go past the thigh with detailing that looks nothing like the 7.3 gear.



The clothes look absolutely nothing alike and you're trying to be mad over nothing.

And what do you suppose indigenous battle gear might look like?

Like, all you need is the hat and the breastplate. The fact the boots are a slightly different length is missing the point.

[Oizen]

Do you ever wake up one day and decide this is what your problem for the day is going to be?
Damn I wish my life was as easy as that

[vhsgod]

There are so many voices that can put it better than I can. But I will say as someone who lives in an area that has been historically affected by Spanish colonialism, the designs of the 7.3 armour set are not lost to me and it is quite disappointing that they were approved of without a second thought or any further consultation. It is more than reasonable for our LatAM and Indigenous peers to be upset about this and to call for us to point out the historical significance behind these costumes, especially given current world events.

"I don't see anything wrong with it / It's just an outfit, who cares / it's all in the past, how are you affected?"

Racial pain and trauma do not go away overnight, especially when it has been enabled and upheld for hundreds of years instead of being pushed back against. Especially when LatAM and Indigenous people are constantly exposed to these dark reminders that are being paraded as "harmless fun." Why is it "no politics in my MMO" until marginalized peoples point out they don't wish to see their trauma being cosplayed, especially when they want to enjoy a game while coping with a chaotic world that keeps turning against them? Many people are trying to find solace in this game to deal with these trying times, but between this and many other reasons related to quality assurance, it is no wonder why this game is having a lot of trouble staying afloat. It is disheartening to see, especially when so many of my friends and I have invested so much time into it.

I want to hope that CBU3 and SE reads this feedback and re-evaluate what it means to be careful when portraying culture outside of their own. Inclusion means nothing if you resort to stereotypes and make poor design decisions without further feedback. There is so much of Dawntrail that I love and admire that really tells me how much care went into it. However, this is one of the negative aspects of this expansion where it is quite telling to me that there was no care given here. I understand that time may be needed to address this, if any time and/or attention is given at all. But the last thing I will say is that I urge the XIV team to please do better and be more sincere with how you approach and portray others.

[Jinaara]

Interesting. Is it the .303 rifles or the c. 1914 German helmets that do it for you?

Like, that's funny on so many levels. Those uniforms are a result of European colonization.

It's your ignorance in what LATM has embraced as their own, that does it for me. Maybe, take a look at the helmet of the Brazilian Honor Guard?

[Cutethulhu]

Lending my support since this post is getting overrun by really callous people. It isn’t hard to care about other people and their cultures and a lot of the responses in this thread showcase a really cruel defensiveness that I honestly would not want to encounter any of you in duty roulette.

I personally would not mind (as I’ve said in a post on the matter in the items section of the forums) if the patch got delayed so the team could, at the very least, swap out the conquistador inspired tabards and helmets for even just recolors of the Yuweyawata gear, as others have suggested. This expansion from its second act has been incredibly disheartening in how it has gone back on themes of the story and the team’s apparent game design philosophy. I think fans are owed an apology, specifically those belonging to the cultures the team said they were going to do better in representing.

I do not think this is unreasonable, even from a “money money money” business standpoint as the game stands to lose a lot of regular players and the free advertising that comes from passionate fans creating art and writing and theorycrafting. And please, PLEASE, remove the New World attire. At the very least.

[Ziri_O]

Wild that when someone says something so many of you don't agree with suddenly you attack them as people or for what social media sites they may or may not use, detracting from the main topic. People are allowed to dislike things with a negative history being presented as a Fun Costume To Wear. You don't have to spend your day on this thread being rude to strangers simply to drown out the conversation.

If you don't agree, that's fine. If you're nitpicking the fact that, to many people who do not specialize in historical period clothing and armor, these armor sets aren't Historically Accurate to conquistadores or musketeers, you're missing the point. If the average person with knowledge of the atrocities committed against LatAm cultures mistakes these for conquistadores, it can be seen as a design flaw after they promised to be more open to being culturally sensitive to oppressed peoples after having a history of missteps. You can disagree with us and that's fine, there's other threads you can use for that, but insulting people and being rude isn't helping your case. It's just creating a bad environment when people decide to voice their concerns and are met with people who are simply going out of their way to be nasty.

The point is many people are unsubscribing because they feel like they aren't being listened to and supported by the development team. That their cultures aren't being treated well. The game's already suffering during this expansion, they didn't need more reasons to lose players. Why would you contribute to people leaving by being rude for no reason other than the need to start arguments when you disagree with someone? Wild behaviour.

[Dikatis]

And what do you suppose indigenous battle gear might look like?

Like, all you need is the hat and the breastplate. The fact the boots are a slightly different length is missing the point.

We've got plenty of that with the Ceremonial Gear, the Zormor Gear, and the Quetzalli set (all of which are explicitly made using Turali materials and by Turali artisans).

The breastplate looks absolutely nothing alike. The FF14 set features a green surcoat with no breastplate on top. The Ponce de Leon statue very clearly has no surcoat, doesn't have the same shoulder pads, pants, gloves, or boots. The hat looks nothing alike if you'd bother to actually look at the thing you're getting mad about instead of taking someone else's misguided opinion as gospel.

The FF14 hat has no feather and is explicitly made of metal (compared to Ponce de Leon's hat being clearly made of cloth). The brim and crown are completely different shapes (the FF14 hat has a tall crown and a short brim that slopes downward, while Ponce de Leon's hat has a short crown and its brim flares outward).

You're trying so hard to be mad that you're not paying attention to how the evidence you're presenting disproves your point.

Either that or you're trolling for ragebait. Or both.

[Mawlzy]

It's your ignorance in what LATM has embraced as their own, that does it for me. Maybe, take a look at the helmet of the Brazilian Honor Guard?

The orange one? That would have been a better choice for this gearset.

[TDawnstar]

HEY GUYS, TURNS OUT THIS THREAD IS A BUNCH OF INTERNET WHITEKNIGHTS SENT OVER FROM BLUESKY https://bsky.app/profile/ramyeonguks.../3lu6aqg3fa22p. Most people here know nothing about the inquisition and are bandwagoning around a social media post. Disgusting.

How unsurprising.