Gender locked race?

[Theodric]

Beastly looking women are a hard sell. Even when I played WoW, the vast majority of people I saw playing 'monstrous' women deliberately went out of their way to use whatever happened to be the closest thing to a 'cute' or 'feminine' face. Exceptions existed though they were few and far between. The closest thing to 'monstrous' women in this game's batch of playable races would, arguably, be Roegadyn - and they're the least played race/gender combination to my knowledge.

[Shougun]

Beastly looking women are a hard sell. Even when I played WoW, the vast majority of people I saw playing 'monstrous' women deliberately went out of their way to use whatever happened to the closest thing to a 'cute' or 'feminine' face. Exceptions existed though they were few and far between. The closest thing to 'monstrous' women in this game's batch of playable races would, arguably, be Roegadyn - and they're the least played race/gender combination to my knowledge.

Roe women are not even sort of beastly man lol, as a male roe female are easily attractive XD. But I agree they're less picked than beastly men, there is a reason why we have the stereotype of make the men weird and the women pretty (insert primal, boss, monster, race, etc).

I still think it would be really nice at least if they had a face option or race option to lead back the other way, just for those women (or men) who feel their female characters are never given the option to be weird like men.. I feel like while a minority of the minority that would be exciting to see lol.

For one, I don't count draenei and especially not dwarves or gnomes as bestial. Draenei are a bit out there, but in much the same way as au ra or roegadyn are. In fact, they look a little like a fusion of the two.

36% unrepresented is still a pretty good number though. True Viera are going to be, probably, the most pretty but any of FFXIV's races are pretty much prettier than WoW's so if that was the draw "I want pretty" then FFXIV already succeeded.

That's my point really, it's not perfect but I could see someone with a money mind seeing value in it ("new money, the fans will sit stick around so we can not focus on them for the moment").

For a refugee
Pretty WoW options to Pretty FFXIV options. FFXIV wins by miles.
Weird, unusual, ugly WoW VS.. wait a second I can't even find FFXIV in the files hold on.. lol

I can understand your frustrations and to be clear I'm not saying blocking male is a good thing, I'm just suggesting that new money may have caught their eye. More pretty to attract an already "more pretty" game than WoW I feel is not as powerful a draw.

More pretty races will bring fantasia money, for sure absolutely, but I really don't believe that adding more pretty will suddenly peak someone's interest that wasn't playing before over filling a void the game didn't really fill before.

New pretty race = happy fans of pretty already, likely mostly those who already play the game = loads of fantasia money
New race that fills a hole that hasn't been filled before = new eyes that would have never looked at the game previously, the amount of new players is probably not "huge" but to add them into the cash shop and sub cycle would be really nice and makes them valuable.

I have no idea why they fudged up so badly on auri females. It's not like they would have looked ugly. They were just closer to a demoness, like you say, than a waifu with horns. I'm just glad the males remained relatively true to the art.

The females they released felt.. really.. different to me from what I expected, I was quite shocked lol. I see many like them so that's good I guess but I was a bit sad even when I didn't intend to play them XD.

[Fredco191]

More than likely a mix of both regardless of what we get.
Result 1:
Happy people who wanted male Viera & Mildly upset people talking about lore and stuff.
Result 2:
Lore people going “See? They agree.” & Angry people who wanted male Viera.


Unless...

Result 3 (Least likely):

Everyone’s flipping out because the Viera & Hrothgar aren’t gender-locked and are coming out at the same time.

R.I.P. Result 3.

[Lauront]

Roe women are not even sort of beastly man lol, as a male roe female are easily attractive XD. But I agree they're less picked than beastly men, there is a reason why we have the stereotype of make the men weird and the women pretty (insert primal, boss, monster, race, etc).

I still think it would be really nice at least if they had a face option or race option to lead back the other way, just for those women (or men) who feel their female characters are never given the option to be weird like men.. I feel like while a minority of the minority that would be exciting to see lol.



36% unrepresented is still a pretty good number though. True Viera are going to be, probably, the most pretty but any of FFXIV's races are pretty much prettier than WoW's so if that was the draw "I want pretty" then FFXIV already succeeded.

That's my point really, it's not perfect but I could see someone with a money mind seeing value in it ("new money, the fans will sit stick around so we can not focus on them for the moment").

For a refugee
Pretty WoW options to Pretty FFXIV options. FFXIV wins by miles.
Weird, unusual, ugly WoW VS.. wait a second I can't even find FFXIV in the files hold on.. lol

I can understand your frustrations and to be clear I'm not saying blocking male is a good thing, I'm just suggesting that new money may have caught their eye.

More pretty races will bring fantasia money, for sure absolutely, but I really don't believe that adding more pretty will suddenly peak someone's interest over filling a void the game didn't really fill before.

New pretty race = happy fans of pretty already, likely mostly those who already play the game = loads of fantasia money
New race that fills a hole that hasn't been filled before = new eyes that would have never looked at the game previously, the amount of new players is probably not "huge" but to add them into the cash shop and sub cycle would be really nice and makes them valuable.



The females they released felt.. really.. different to me from what I expected, I was quite shocked lol. I see many like them so that's good I guess but I was a bit sad even when I didn't intend to play them XD.

But it's not 36% unrepresented. It's whatever fraction of those people who otherwise play the game but for the lack of a race suited to their desire for a more bestial one. Is there any suggestion this is a considerable figure? Also bear in mind WoW allows for alts in a way that XIV doesn't, so again that 36% of characters will include alts of players who would not solely play a bestial race.

I understand the point you're making but Viera are being added regardless due to fan demand. They're not an explicit move to woo WoW refugees, but they also have some distinctive features, including in terms of their physique, which other female options don't. I'm just saying I believe incidentally they will succeed better at this than a race explicitly aimed at it.

[Lauront]

Their approach to adding in-game races is partly to blame there. Most of the beast tribes look entirely homogeneous and you can't tell the difference between male or female in most cases. They would have to do a better job differentiating the race's NPCs to make it easy to add it later, but doing that could give away the surprise given the precedent they've set, unless they did it on a broader scale, which would be costlier... adding differentiation later, meanwhile, would be jarring. TBH, I think their way of adding new races leaves a lot to be desired, and I hope they learn from this (and WoW's approach) going forward for their next MMO.

[Nestama]

Their approach to adding in-game races is partly to blame there. Most of the beast tribes look entirely homogeneous and you can't tell the difference between male or female in most cases. They would have to do a better job differentiating the race's NPCs to make it easy to add it later, but doing that could give away the surprise given the precedent they've set, unless they did it on a broader scale, which would be costlier... adding differentiation later, meanwhile, would be jarring. TBH, I think their way of adding new races leaves a lot to be desired, and I hope they learn from this (and WoW's approach) going forward for their next MMO.

Well if WoW could do it with Tauren, Pandaren and Worgen and GW2 with their Charr, then I'm sure FFXIV could as well... so long as it's the WoW and GW2 way and not the way Tera or any MMO that makes the males look monstrous in appearance and the females sexy lady/waifus with animal bits. It's so stupid when MMO's do that.

[Lauront]

Yes, the difference with WoW, GW2 and TES:O is that they explicitly intended for the races to be playable. Whereas in XIV, most new races added come in the form of beast tribes, and since their playability is not a consideration, they design them with cost-saving in mind. To move to the model WoW etc. use, they'd need to adapt how they approach the addition of new races altogether. It's probably too late at this point to do such a thing, since even if the game goes all the way to 8.0, at the very most I'd expect one more race following whatever is added in 5.0.

It's just a shame because it means that new playable races have to be completely new, given their current approach, but there's also no real equivalent to the racial storylines you get in other MMOs, which enable the new races to be seamlessly integrated into the main story (all the way from level 1), so it all feels somewhat disconnected and out of the blue.

I'm in agreement about Tera.

[linay]

Yes, the difference with WoW, GW2 and TES:O is that they explicitly intended for the races to be playable. Whereas in XIV, most new races added come in the form of beast tribes, and since their playability is not a consideration, they design them with cost-saving in mind. To move to the model WoW etc. use, they'd need to adapt how they approach the addition of new races altogether. It's probably too late at this point to do such a thing, since even if the game goes all the way to 8.0, at the very most I'd expect one more race following whatever is added in 5.0.

To be fair, most humans probably can't tell male and female apart for many (if not all) animals. It would make sense that beast tribes would be like that. The idea that a nonhuman (especially beast) race should be familiar enough that humans can tell their sex just seems counterproductive.

It's just a shame because it means that new playable races have to be completely new, given their current approach, but there's also no real equivalent to the racial storylines you get in other MMOs, which enable the new races to be seamlessly integrated into the main story (all the way from level 1), so it all feels somewhat disconnected and out of the blue.

I'm in agreement about Tera.

I prefer FFXIV's approach about being the individual adventurer rather than his or her race.

One bad example of having racial storyline being forced is WoW's current implementation of Allied Race where you somehow have to gain reputation and complete significant portion of their storyline just to unlock the race because of "lore reason" when the race could already be acting as your ally in game even without you unlocking them. This problem is then compounded because WoW doesn't enforce continuity in story between expansions and the fact that a new Allied Race character, while leveling, would then have to deal with story quests that happened before their race supposedly became your ally.

[Wolfyboy]

Honestly, I think this situation is simply a nightmare. It obviously makes people who want male Viera feel bad, and it personally makes me feel bad in the other camp. Their losing hype and I'm tempering mine simply to try and not get burnt (which is making me feel exhausted waiting for the next fanfest). I can't wait to get off this break and just go back to work and let the days fly so I can either be like, "OMG OMG!" or "Well, it is male Viera as expected."

[Lauront]

Honestly, I think this situation is simply a nightmare. It obviously makes people who want male Viera feel bad, and it personally makes me feel bad in the other camp. Their losing hype and I'm tempering mine simply to try and not get burnt (which is making me feel exhausted waiting for the next fanfest). I can't wait to get off this break and just go back to work and let the days fly so I can either be like, "OMG OMG!" or "Well, it is male Viera as expected."

Yup, it's really dragging. I'm not even that torn over it, since I will probably continue playing male au ra and midlanders regardless - unless the new race is really fantastic - but I just want to see what decision they're going to make at this point and I'm really hoping it's not going to be permanent gender locks. And all this is in addition to all the other surprises the fanfest will bring with it.

I don't think we can change thread titles on these forums and I don't think OP expected a 200 page thread.

You pointed out that theres people in this thread (and other forums) that see the new race as the unwanted alternative to male Viera. Their reasoning should be apparent even after all the tangents, arguments, and leaks: this new race is likely going to be presented as the alternative to male Viera. The issue Hrothgar face is that they're apparently a new unique race and they're coming in with no buildup. We're a few weeks out of the last fanfest and its years of hype vs. a coding error. Even if they were drawn out first first, even if they were modeled first, even if they were fully completed and ready to be plugged into the game first - Viera females were implemented due to player demand and said player demand bites the team (and unfortunate supporters caught in the crossfire) in the butt when half of what was asked for is left out for one reason or another.

This is also what I am getting at that when I say such a race would not be a foolproof lure to WoW refugees seeking a "beastly" option (if it even is one.) You're competing against an MMO which has pretty well established in-setting lore for these races, built up from prior games, against... nothing but the appearance of one, if that. The same holds true for Khajit in TES:O - it's a classic TES race. Even GW2 had considerable build up for the new races it put in.

Maybe it'd work, who knows, but I am sceptical, on the basis of what I said in earlier posts, and on top of that, I'd be rather annoyed (at SE, not those asking for such an option) if they use it as an excuse to block male Viera.