Please make the in-game Au Ra (Males) more muscular, reflective of the Artwork

[Terin]

I'll be honest; on paper, the Au Ra are absolutely everything I've ever wanted out of a New Race. The artwork depicts the males as muscular, imposing, powerful-looking warriors, although still having more handsome features (as opposed to the Highlanders, who have some funky-looking Faces).

I love the story -- or at least, implied story -- behind them, that they are descendants of Saint Shiva, who is said to have laid with dragons, giving them a unique "vibe". When Yoshi-P was on-stage, describing them, he said all of the words I wanted to hear; they would be large and powerful, but dangerous looking, unlike the Roegadyn, who've always seemed too friendly, even "cuddly", to be considered truly imposing.

If you've not already seen the artwork, then take a look at this:



The Male there looks awesome. He's lean enough that he could be quick on his feet, yet solid enough to deliver a crippling punch, or swing a truly heavy Greatsword (and if you've seen the new Dark Knight weapons, you can attest to how heavy-looking those things are).

Now... let's take a look at the actual in-game counterpart that was shown:





The Males there basically look like Elezen, but with horns. They look "skinny", not the proud-looking warriors that the Artwork depicted. I "get" that it might "make sense", given they seemingly share some Elezen heritage, but no two Races should ever look quite so similar. Now, given that Heavensward is likely still some time away, it's entirely possible that these are a very early model -- given credit by the fact that, as seen in the video, the horns weren't actually full attached to their heads.

It is my sincere hope that the team will beef-up the Males more, particularly in their chest, shoulders, and neck. Keep the thin waist-size, as in the artwork, but make their torsos much more ripped. I ask this because, in all honesty, Race-selection is the primary reason I've not been more committed to FFXIV, as I feel like I'm stuck choosing between three "pretty boy" races, and the oh-so-lovable Roegadyn, none of which feel "dangerous" or "imposing" to me.

I know, as a Western gamer with "Western tastes" (I know, I know; the West is awful about flooding games with super-macho characters), I'm probably not the main audience. Yet, isn't that the point of adding a New Race? To appeal to players who might normally *not* have been interested in the game before? Don't get me wrong, I fully intend to play Heavensward either way, but with a more powerful-looking Au Ra, I think I'm more likely to actually stick around for the long haul.

Food for thought, anyways.

[DracotheDragon]

The au-ra have not be released yet, please wait until you can create a au-ra before any threads about making them more muscly tall shorter/ etc, we don't know what the character creator will bring for them

also if your looking at the artwork roe's art as muscly as there artwork and miqote art as flexible nor have the curves of there artwork :P those threads were made and died along time ago

[Ehayte]

The au-ra have not be released yet, please wait until you can create a au-ra before any threads about making them more muscly tall shorter/ etc, we don't know what the character creator will bring for them

If he waited until they were released he'd have no hope of changing them... what are you... why did you... uhg.

100% agreement OP, on the sentiment of making them more muscular. I think they look like elezan with horns, which sucks.

[sarehptar]

I think they look like elezen with horns, which sucks.

But, like... that's what they're supposed to be...

[Chambers]

But, like... that's what they're supposed to be...

That's popular speculation, but even if they are, their concept art depicts them as these tall, powerful, long tailed creatures. Sadly the only thing they managed to really capture with the in game model was their height.

[Noxifer]

But, like... that's what they're supposed to be...

Well, yeah. But... If you've got both elezen and dragon ancestors.... shouldn't you have a little bit more from your dragon part than just... "horns. and a few scales here and there. like a skin disease."

(Plus, the girls look like midlander hyurs with horns. Which they're not supposed to be, IIRC.)

[Corfish]

No please, they look absolutely silly in the official artwork, their heads are WAY too small for the bodies. Much prefer what I've seen of the in game models.

[Sadana]

They will probably have a muscle tone slider for this.

(But, like others have stated, they ARE elezen [complete with too small heads] with horns and scales)

[Khalette]

They will probably have a muscle tone slider for this.

(But, like others have stated, they ARE elezen [complete with too small heads] with horns and scales)

Why don't the females look Elezen? I mean, I'd be pretty "ewwwwwwwwwwwww" if the girls looked Elezen and frumpy. I totally get the OP.

[kyuven]

I sincerely doubt they're going to make this change. They're already probably spent the better part of a year designing and modeling them. The reason they probably have elezen proportions (and the female have miqo'te proportions) probably has a LOT to do with modeling all of the armor in the game.
Here's something to think about: There will never, ever be a race that deviates too far from the proportions of the 5 races we have now. To do so would mean remapping and remodeling every single piece of armor in the game. And the development team has mentioned time and time again in QA posts that getting the armor we have to work correctly is already difficult. They're going to take shortcuts whenever possible.
And the Au'Ra in the official art looks like he has shoulder pads for shoulders. I'm not seeing any significant differences that wouldn't make him look silly.