Can we please get more cool looking outfits for male characters?

[Theodric]

I've been playing this game for quite some time and one of my biggest pet peeves is the consistent habit of requests relating to male character customisation being ignored, dismissed or given less priority than those relating to female characters and feminine/androgynous aesthetics. Now, to be clear this thread was originally made back in 2017 and over the years has since been tweaked. Since feedback is supposedly taken more seriously if it is limited to a single thread, I have decided to completely revamp this post in the hope that it will be seen more easily by our community representatives and passed along to the development team.

There's a wealth of interesting looking NPC's in this game. Many of which look pretty great because of the unique outfits that they wear as well as the way in which they keep their hair and facial hair. It isn't unusual for players to request specific outfits worn by various NPCs to be added to the game - and the developers have shown that they are more than willing to oblige popular requests.

This isn't a bad thing in itself. Yet I know from reading various FFXIV discussion boards - including this one - that I'm not the only player who is becoming increasingly weary of seeing feminine or androgynous looking characters being prioritised above all else.

The elusive 'bunny outfit' for male characters had been promised for quite a while only to be mysteriously stuck in development even as completely new outfits such as Edda's attire had been created and sold on the Mog Station. In addition, despite feedback suggesting that there was a lot of demand for something other than a straight up copy of the female outfit, we ended up getting a...straight up copy of the female outfit instead of something that better complimented the male form and physique. This is unfortunate, as it emboldened the loudest but not necessarily most numerous voices within the community. In addition, there are those within the FFXIV community who, especially on Twitter, actively attempt to sabotage and downplay requests relating to masculine aesthetics.

Furthermore, adding Hien's hairstyle and stubble for male characters as a character customisation option would be a great way to throw a bone to those of us who play male characters. After all, more options for facial hair has been a common request as well - though one that has largely been without official acknowledgement up until recently.

So, in short, I would like to humbly request that the development team pay a little more attention to male characters when it comes to selling unique NPC outfits on the Mog Station. Letting us know in advance if specific NPC outfits are planned to be added to the Mog Station at a later date would be pretty neat, too.

I would also like more attention paid to those of us requesting tattoos, facial hair and masculine/short hairstyles designed first and foremost with the male character models in mind. The game already advertises the Warrior of Darkness as sporting stubble in promotional footage for the game and the developers even went so far as to create a unique model for him to use in trailers/in-game footage.

Some visual examples of what I am referring to when referring to masculine aesthetics:









Please also consider allowing Highlander men to be designed to look more like the likes of Snow from Final Fantasy XIII, Gladio from Final Fantasy XV and Basch from Final Fantasy XII. In addition, please allow Highlander men to use actual eyebrows as a customisation option.

After all, you deliberately added them to the female Highlander model which suggests an intentional or unintentional acknowledgement of a key design flaw.

In addition, please also consider adding a muscle tone slider for every race in the game. Many of us would, for example, like to play a Raen or Xaela that boasts a bit more muscle definition. An increase in the height and muscle availability for Midlander men would also be very appreciated.

In closing, please do not mistake this thread as an attack on those who prefer feminine/androgynous aesthetics. It is not intended to be as such but merely a response to the simple fact that such aesthetics are very niche and often greatly inflated in terms of popularity by social media/artists who prefer such a style. There's room for a broad range of aesthetics to be embraced in this game but with the number of people playing male characters shooting up as the game's popularity grows I believe it is well past time that those of us who like good looking, conventionally attractive men are given a bit more time and attention.

[Arrius]

How about instead getting new stuff, the old things actually are made dyable and then work from there?
Some definitely could need a touch up and would be more interesting to wear if we could change their colors.

[BillyKaplan]

+1. I half held onto hope there'd be a match for Lyse's outfit when I logged into the mog shop today. I was so bummed I couldn't even fully rejoice at the Shatoto minion.

How about instead getting new stuff, the old things actually are made dyable and then work from there?

These are two separate problems, one of which affects female characters as well. Not saying that's a downside if they address the dying thing, but it won't help what we're talking about here, being the obvious bias on the development team's side.

[Oscura]

How about instead getting new stuff, the old things actually are made dyable and then work from there?
Some definitely could need a touch up and would be more interesting to wear if we could change their colors.

Why is it that every reply to a post like this is "what about this thing completely unrelated?" as if the development team has to split its focus and can't work on both?

Really, why?

[Arrius]

[...]being the obvious bias on the development team's side.

Because female characters in mmo's have been, are, and will be a better target for making income when it comes to outfits.
You need to look only at various (high) Fantasy F2P mmo's to see which audience the most stuff will get.

[Nestama]

Why is it that every reply to a post like this is "what about this thing completely unrelated?" as if the development team has to split its focus and can't work on both?

Really, why?

Well, part of the reason is that it apparently takes them 6+ months to make new gear (and over a year or so to make a male version of the Gold Saucer 'bunny' gear... and dyable Post Moogle cap. srsly SE?).

[Theodric]

Because female characters in mmo's have been, are, and will be a better target for making income when it comes to outfits.
You need to look only at various (high) Fantasy F2P mmo's to see which audience the most stuff will get.

There's a roughly equal split between the number of male and female characters present worldwide, no? I could have sworn that was the case with the official census, at least...

Ultimately, though, there's a notable number of people - myself included - who would buy something like Hien's outfit in a heartbeat if it was made available on the Mog Station. The development team need to throw more bones to those of us who play male characters.

[Lukha]

Signed. Ideally I'd like the option to wear everything, but at the absolute least, if they're going to add unique items for female characters, there need to be an equal number of unique items added for male characters. And it doesn't count if the unique outfit is actually unique, while the 'unique' male outfit is mostly just a reskin of an existing item, as has happened with several event rewards in the past, as well as the 2.0 Scion gear.

This also makes two female-only releases in a row (Edda and now Lyse), with nothing for guys alongside. If there was any real interest in keeping things balanced, as was promised some time ago, shouldn't there have been a male cosplay outfit released before Lyse's?

[AlyssaWildheart]

There's a roughly equal split between the number of male and female characters present worldwide, no? I could have sworn that was the case with the official census, at least..

https://ffxivcensus.com/
Dunno how accurate it is though

And I agree with your first post for more/better male items.

[Theodric]

-snip-

Another thing that bothers me about it all is that additional character customisation options are quite clearly a popular request across the board. Balance is definitely important but I can't help but feel that even when someone asks about male exclusive items during a Q&A session the responses are vague and/or dismissive.

I believe Yoshi-P made a point to state in a recent interview that for character customisation to be expanded he needed feedback that was more direct and specific. So it's disheartening that numerous threads such as this have been made over the years only for the core message to not get through...