MrHappy interview with yoshida from tokyo

[Dasya]

That... would be very sneaky and shrewd of the dev team. And would mean that they're very much in-touch with the fanbase. At least enough to weaponize an expected reaction to "force" the higher ups into letting up.

B Yourself / B Beautiful

2B Nier: Automata reference to the upcoming 24 man raid or...
puts on tinfoil hat
supah seekrit message to the fans

[Vaer]

it was an enormous waste of resources and time.

That could be said for quite a few things that have been added to the game depending on who you ask. Just how it goes.

[AvenoMatt]

After watching this and hearing these more thought out answers I feel better about the whole thing. I'm still sad that male Vieras and female Hrothgars won't be in the game but I do understand the reasoning of wanting to give those who have been wanting Viera since 3.0 their race and those who have been wanting a more beastial race get theirs as well as keep on on schedule and having to go back and rework every piece of old content. It's a big undertaking and the fact they even decided to add new races after stating that Au Ra could of been the last race to me shows that they are listening. That said I do hope that at some point in 5.X or in 6.0 they are able to give us the other genders.

When it comes to healers though I don't main a healer I do play AST often and I have made my own i guess healer blueprints for a new job and I can honestly say that trying to add a new healer that works with the dynamic we have now if not possible without making that job feel like a clone. I am sorry that healers won't get a nee toy but at the current state that healers are in a new toy is not possible. I am curious as to what changes they plan to make to healers and honestly a bit scared that they may end up changing the jobs too much but something has to be done.

For Tanks I don't play tanks and don't have a tank that is past lv35 but I can see what he is saying that atm because we have the "roles" of MT and OT one tank will always end up being left out or competing for a spot so a 4th tank is needed to balance things out. As for players being worried that 2 tanks may be less capable because they are better suited as OT I don't think you have anything to worry about. They always aim to make jobs capable of filling a role and completing any piece of content so no tank will end up being able to fulfill it's role I am just think it will be that those in MT will have more selfish abilities and possibly higher overall dps while those in OT will have more party focused abilities and overall lower dps and the overall optimal way to play any content will be to being a MT and OT to balance out dps vs utility. Bring two MT and you may lack the utility to get through content as easily or bring two OT and potentially lack the dps to get through the content as quickly. These are just my thoughts as I don't know what they plan to do.

When it comes to DNC being a ranged dps I will say that I am a little disappointed as I wanted it to be healer with it having a focus on close range combat to offer healers a new way to play. That said I can understand why being s ranged dps make sense as DNC has always had a huge focus on party utility and it gives players who like ranged dps a new option to play. My concern is that we may see it being you either bring BRD or DNC with MCH being left out because that latter jobs tend to offer more utility so I am wondering come 6.0 will MCH see a lot of new utility added or will DNC be a mid way point between BRD and MCH. Either way I am overall happy to see DNC as I've been wanting it since SB was announced.

[reivaxe]

I will be very curious about usage stats on the Hrothgar race then. If they don't at least exceed the Roe usage then it was an enormous waste of resources and time.

Well ...

1- They're added to fill a void in the cast of races. By the very nature of doing that you're allowing more players a route to expressing themselves which is by no means a waste of resources and time for a MMO.

2- People who play males have shown to be far more open and willing to play characters that differ from the default human body. As of now the males from all the races are played far far more evenly than females. Yes, the most popular male race if Human* and they're played 4 times more often than Roebros. But the most played female race (Cats) out number the least played Female race (Femroes) 17 times over. Hell, Roebros are played more than the 2 least played female races (Elezen and Femroe) and aren't that far from being played more than those 2 combined. Against other males the Roebros are only out number by the next lowest (Elezen) by 4k.

(So yeah, if that's your thought on it then I guess you think Female Elezen and Femroe are massive waste of resources to, right?)

3- Like the Scaly Bois this beastly race is being added to fill a large void. I can easily see people who settled on Cat Bois but want to be more beefy and anthropomorphic converting. I can see people who want to be werewolves converting for the wolf head they talked about. I can see people who want a race that's taller and more fit than the current 2 converting.

Personally I think they're gonna land between Roebros and Scaly Bois in popularity.

*The census counts humans as 1 race. Highlander's have different faces, bodies, animations and poses where as every other "clan" just has different face features and skin colors so by all means they are the work of 2 yet we can't tell how many play either in the group.

The problem really is that they somehow decided that one part of each race would be the best. So they probably thought that less people would want to play female ronso or male viera. This might be true for the female but eventhough I do want a beastial race (and since I only play females on my main I still have to wait for that dream to come true) I am not sure if the need for a male ronso was higher than the one for a male viera. Anyway the best (imo) would have been to make a full beastial race (maybe with a bit more quality to their faces) and then tease the Viera with Fran as the next and last race for the next expansion.

(I also would not want to sweep so many people into one category. Because quite a few Viera supporters wanted Viera men that are different from the things we already have.)

Thing is this may very well be the last race addition to the game.

And by that I mean that both Hrothgar males and Viera Females = 1 "race". 1 new male and female with 2 clans each.

He says very clearly that Fans have been wanting Viera for so long that they felt they had to add them. But Viera have only been shown as female and they also wanted to do a beastly race (Also highly wanted plus it actually adds something that's missing to this fantasy game) so like it or not this IS the best solution. They can't "hint" at a new race for the next Expansion because in their own words this is prob the last new additions race wise that they're gonna make. IMO they will prob focus on adding more head customization to all races moving forward which would be far easier to deal with then a new "race" (as in, new male and female with 2 clans each).

[Illianaro]

This was a really great interview, and it helped allay the concerns I’ve had about the direction of the game a bit. We’ll see what actions are taken going forward, but in the interview Yoshi P showed that he still does care about how the community feels about things - my biggest concern lately has been a growing feeling like the devs are a bit out of touch with the community.

The explanation about genderlocking was one I didn’t realize I needed to hear, but I found it valuable and gave some insight into their thought process.

My worries aren’t gone but they’re definitely less extreme than they were. I don’t love the response about BLU but it is what it is.