Why so many CATS?!

[TouchandFeel]

Because cats secretly run the world as the leaders of the Illuminati.

Looks like someone is going to end up with a dead mouse on their pillow to remind them to keep their mouth shut.

[Vidu]

Maybe a bit racist but it looks like all the human looking races joined up for that reason. Which as tied into some of the good politics in this game.
H'rothgar seem to go against this, I mean why would the Lupin be considered a beast tribe now? Because the powers that be said so? "These animal men are beasts, these animal men are not."

...I mean... you're right - a lot of the population of Eorzea is pretty racist. Ul'dah doesnt allow beastmen inside the city because reasons (I vaguely recall it mainly being down to lobbying by merchants to keep rivals out), Limsa has this "Limsa above all"-policy, Gridinia is pretty xenophobic thanks to the elementals, Ishgard basically locked the city for 1.000 years... there is discrimination against Duskwight Elezen in basically all of Eorzea. During the WP-quest we have this couple who left their village because people hated them - because they were in a mixed race-relationship. We even had a Lupin in Gridania for an All Saints Wake event and if memory serves right we told everyone that he was wearing a mask (or at least thats what everyone believed).

And the Far East isnt so much better - the founding of Doma was actually due to the founder being willing to include everyone in his army, even the Lupin, if I remember my lore-book correctly.

So yes - racism is a real problem in Eorzea and its deeply rooted in basically every culture and mainly against the beast tribes. Obviously lore could be re-written, but why do that if you can also just create a race that isnt already "branded" as beast tribe?

[RitsukoSonoda]

I shall answer your thread title thusly: because rodents must be kept down. If rodents were not kept down, most of us would die from disease.

Also, Moar kitteh always needed.

There is another thing that needs to be addressed tho… When doing trials or raid battles where its possible to fall off the ledge of the arena... A party of cats should be able to push the boss off the edge for an instant win because its in our nature... >.>

[stormygabe]

Everybody wants to be a cat because a cat's the only cat who knows where it's at. Everybody's picking up on that feline beat because everything else is obsolete. A square with a horn makes you wish you weren't born every time he plays. But with a square in the act, you can set music back to the caveman days. I've heard some corny birds who tried to sing. Still, a cat's the only cat who knows how to swing. Who wants to dig a long-haired gig or stuff like that when everybody wants to be a cat?

[seros]

Because cats are adorable

[Gula]

Everybody wants to beeee a cat

Why so many cats? Because clearly FF14 is masquerading as the broadway musical of the same name, anime style!

The new Hildy emote makes sense now.

[Hysterior]

Cats - Lala's pets
Hume - Lala's customers
Roe - Lala's mounts
Lizards - Lala's exotic pets
Elezen - Who?

[reivaxe]

I seem some sense to the arguments for H'rothgar. But it's mostly along the lines of "they might have wolf heads" which isn't much of a reason to support them.
I don't hate the new race, just feel like a much better job could have been done.

Like no H'rothgar at all and instead maybe two new faces per existing race?

Funny, that last bit is why I don't think we're getting unlocked Genders. I really think that ALL this customization they have put in place for Viera and Hrothgar will lead to them making more faces and customization for other races.

Anyway, check out the Mr Happy interview. Yoshi explains very clearly what the Hrothgar add to the game.

As for the human-like races point, I thought that was the entire concept between what separates us form the beast tribes. At least that seemed to be the case with many points made in the game.
Maybe a bit racist but it looks like all the human looking races joined up for that reason. Which as tied into some of the good politics in this game.
H'rothgar seem to go against this, I mean why would the Lupin be considered a beast tribe now? Because the powers that be said so? "These animal men are beasts, these animal men are not."

Maybe when we know anything at all about the Hrothgar we will find out?
Maybe in ShB their inclusion kicks off a story that breaks the label of Beast for Lupin?

As for the topic at hand it's important to remember these are called Hrothgar ... not Ronso.
"Ummm, Actually, in the First they're cal-" Yeah, they are called Ronso in The First ... and Potatoes are Dwarf Beastmen there. We don't know their lore but they are given that name for a reason. They can have different kinds of heads. Like wolf heads. So who knows, maybe you can have a Jackal Man, hyena Man, Bear Man.

... Or BATMAN!! :O

We don't know yet, they just said Lion/ Wolf/ Leopard so far.

[unlimited_gil]

I understand why you don't always want to give fans what they want, but I really wish I understood the reasoning development wanted beast races in the game when they were so low on everyone's requests.

The h'rothgar just seem so out of place in this game. I always liked the roegadyn (obviously ;p) and races like the lalafel and viera since western games always had the same types over and over. The h'rothgar just feel so boring to me. I just don't understand the support some have for them. I want more options for current races and mixed race options. These beastmen just need to go.



It feels more like development has only been hearing from the loudest fans and not all of the fans.

[Vidu]

I understand why you don't always want to give fans what they want, but I really wish I understood the reasoning development wanted beast races in the game when they were so low on everyone's requests.

The h'rothgar just seem so out of place in this game. I always liked the roegadyn (obviously ;p) and races like the lalafel and viera since western games always had the same types over and over. The h'rothgar just feel so boring to me. I just don't understand the support some have for them. I want more options for current races and mixed race options. These beastmen just need to go.

It feels more like development has only been hearing from the loudest fans and not all of the fans.

The given reason for the beastmen-race is to offer a greater diversity - and even if the H'rothgar are cat-like again, they're still fairly different from the Mi'qote and fill a niche that hasnt been filled before. It is a niche that isnt highly frequented and they are aware of that, but its especially a niche thats broadly open and free in the game right now.

Looking at mixed races for example - Hilda, who is a half-elezen, half-hyur NPC doesnt look much different from either race. Shes basically a Hyur but with pointy ears. Mixed races would be a whole lot of effort for very little gain in terms of diversity between races within the game. Non of them would fill a real niche, all of them would just be more "human-like" characters.

H'rothgar on the other hand are something thats more unique.
They dont have to be to your taste and you're free to consider them boring or a race you personally wont play, but the stance of "I dont like them, so they need to go" is a pretty arrogant one.
Other people might be happy that they can play a race now that differs more from humans - for anyone who wanted to play a character like Hilda, there is the option to play a Hyur (same build etc. - but no pointy ears) or an elezen (different build, but pointy ears).

Sorry that H'rothgar arent what you wanted to be added to the game, but at least I can understand the reason behind adding a more beastlike race to fill that void, instead of going with just another version of human+x.