Here is what the next playable Race should be...

[Freyyy]

I feel a lot of players forget that Viera are 7 foot tall Amazons with stilettos as much as they are rabbits. Like, these woman can be hardasses, and could legitimately have a far more feral feel to them.

I want that, too.

Well if they actually stay true to this artwork it would definitely be an interesting race yeah and I'd love it too since we still don't have anything comparable (even the body proportions aren't just taller but quite different compared to the other females) but when you see the difference between female Au Ri original artworks and what we got in game you can't really set your hopes too high for Viera unfortunately.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

Funny after you said it later he change to lalafell lmao

The Fantasia of Shaaaaaaame

[LineageRazor]

i'm more suprised you don't find Auri's weebo magnets tbh... They pretty much just are with everything about them.

This, exactly. If I recall correctly, Yoshi P announced that Au Ra females were EXPLICITLY designed to be "moe", which is pretty much the ultimate expression of pandering to Otaku (and by extension, to weeaboo). For those not in the know (which is probably a minority of folks here, considering this is a Japanese game), "moe", while having no exact translation in English, has connotations of being small, cute, and in need of being protected and nurtured. In other words, perfect little waifus to take home with you and cuddle.

I find it pretty irritating, to be honest. I wish Au Ra females were as fierce and badass as their male counterparts. I have my own reasons for playing Au Ra female, and they have nothing to do with them being moe. But it's certainly the case that Au Ra are at least as pandering toward weeaboo as Mi'qote are, if not moreso!

I understand that due to the way FFXIV is made, including such a wide breadth of races would be nigh impossible, but the fact remains that they could have tried to branch out with Au Ra and in my opinion, they played it completely safe which ultimately makes them disappointing. Hey, judging by all the Au Ra running around, I doubt anyone at SE feels like they dropped the ball, but due to the limitations of the game and what's popular with the plyaerbase, it bums me out to think that it's very possible that they're just going to repeat themselves with whatever the next race may be.

I'm hoping, perhaps optimistically, that with Au Ra, they will feel satisfied that they've given the playerbase what they wanted and can now move on to more experimental races rather than just crank out otakubait race after otakubait race. Again, I don't think they'll go outright bestial given the whole Spoken-vs-Beastmen thing that's pretty central to the plot of FFXIV, but there's still a lot of niches that could be filled or expanded on. Dwarves have been a Final Fantasy staple in many games, so I can see room for a Dwarven race in this game, to give one example.