Now before you overreact

[rachcouture]

Do you really think the desire to remove genderlocked items is even remotely comparable to the desire for enhanced character customisation? I'll go a step further: which of those two would players actually make use of in a way that enhances the game's longevity and profitability?

Oh, it's not Viera or Hrothgar I'm calling the waste of resources. One has to wonder if they're doing this as a gesture to attenuate some of the (undeserved) PR they got over not adding mViera or fHrothgar, to the effect that they were "homophobic" or "sexist".

That's really my main concern about it, aside from the cost of going back and doing this for legacy gear. I'm not too bothered if they want to do it for future sets, provided that they don't begin creating gender-neutral sets as a rule to cut costs because of this issue. Also, good points regarding the "fit" of the gear.

Conspiracy theories and unwarranted concerns like this (gender has never been a factor when it comes to designing attire in this game; have y'all already forgotten about 2.0 relic armor?) are exactly what I think OP means by "before you overreact".

[Lauront]

What Melichoir is pointing to is that outfits designed for one gender don't look as good on the other and this is a function of anatomy. So one solution is to just stick to gender-neutral outfits that they optimise for both, rather than creating two sets, one of which is bound to look crap except to a tiny sliver of the playerbase which is interested in it but which will still take time to make fit on it regardless. Unless you have some manner of special insight as to what they do when designing sets, I don't think you're in much of a position to dictate what is "unwarranted" or not. Time will tell.

As to the other part being a "conspiracy theory", well, whatever. We know businesses, and many entities like them, often will give an official rationale for something that differs from the actual reason behind a decision. You can pretend that doesn't happen, if you like, but that's my guess as to the motivation behind it, rather than the sentimental story Yoshi put out, timed so shortly after the rather abysmal PR disaster surrounding the new races.

[SturmChurro]

What Melichoir is pointing to is that outfits designed for one gender don't look as good on the other and this is a function of anatomy. So one solution is to just stick to gender-neutral outfits that they optimise for both, rather than creating two sets, one of which is bound to look crap except to a tiny sliver of the playerbase which is interested in it but which will still take time to make fit on it regardless. Unless you have some manner of special insight as to what they do when designing sets, I don't think you're in much of a position to dictate what is "unwarranted" or not. Time will tell.

As to the other part being a "conspiracy theory", well, whatever. We know businesses, and many entities like them, often will give an official rationale for something that differs from the actual reason behind a decision. You can pretend that doesn't happen, if you like, but that's my guess as to the motivation behind it, rather than the sentimental story Yoshi put out, timed so shortly after the rather abysmal PR disaster surrounding the new races.

They don't even acknowledge the new races. It's like they are just swept under a rug. I'd love some new viera hairs.. or maybe some more headgear adapted to the viera head... I am kind of a glutton for punishment. I like viera too much..

They wouuld rather pander so the 1% can "be themselves"..

[Tsalmaveth]

Or maybe they have different teams working on these things and you should just let people enjoy things without the side-swipe at belittling a group of people?

[Lambdafish]

People are really overreacting, I don't like to crossdress, but some of the outfits don't even look that bad on men. I've been wearing skirts and robes for years because that's simply what the gear option has been, this doesn't feel much different.



I'd wear this on my DNC with a different dye



Isn't this just fancy robes?



Do I even need to say anything?

[Iscah]

[High House bustle]

Isn't this just fancy robes?

I agree it doesn't look bad, but I wouldn't call it a robe - the details are different, and it's definitely a woman's dress from a period where men didn't wear long skirts like that.

[Crushnight]

Do you really think the desire to remove genderlocked items is even remotely comparable to the desire for enhanced character customisation? I'll go a step further: which of those two would players actually make use of in a way that enhances the game's longevity and profitability?

Not even close but if it were just the genderlocked clothes vs stubble eh now we are getting close due to it most likely only affecting male characters, if SE were to give facial fuzz to females cool but that would be even more niche than the genderlocked clothes, if they decided to not give them what do female characters get in CC as compensation?

I think that is the issue the devs are trying to work out, they now know how much people want that stubble from promo but what do females get in return the same stubble or something else? and what if male characters want that extra thing too?

Removing the genderlock from these clothes is far easier because it can benefit every character even if only a small number of players would actually use them.

Oh, it's not Viera or Hrothgar I'm calling the waste of resources. One has to wonder if they're doing this as a gesture to attenuate some of the (undeserved) PR they got over not adding mViera or fHrothgar, to the effect that they were "homophobic" or "sexist".

No i don't find them a waste either just unfinished, the lack of both genders, the lack of hairstyles and headgear are very apparent which is a shame both are good to look at but when you scratch the surface for customizing it gets ugly very fast.

No clue if it a response to that or not but giving that they are in the code of 5.1 they would've been in their work log around 4.3-4.4 given that they seemingly work a 1yr-1yr and a half in advance(Fran was decided thus Viera was decided around 4.1) so long before we saw that majestic stubble for the 1st time.

[rachcouture]

What Melichoir is pointing to is that outfits designed for one gender don't look as good on the other and this is a function of anatomy. So one solution is to just stick to gender-neutral outfits that they optimise for both, rather than creating two sets, one of which is bound to look crap except to a tiny sliver of the playerbase which is interested in it but which will still take time to make fit on it regardless. Unless you have some manner of special insight as to what they do when designing sets, I don't think you're in much of a position to dictate what is "unwarranted" or not. Time will tell.

Having over five years of outfit design—something that hasn't changed once in the entire lifespan of FFXIV—to look at isn't 'special insight'; it's reality. You've been here long enough to realize this.

As to the other part being a "conspiracy theory", well, whatever. We know businesses, and many entities like them, often will give an official rationale for something that differs from the actual reason behind a decision. You can pretend that doesn't happen, if you like, but that's my guess as to the motivation behind it, rather than the sentimental story Yoshi put out, timed so shortly after the rather abysmal PR disaster surrounding the new races.

No one is pretending it doesn't. What I do see, however, is obvious confirmation bias. Yoshida is but one employee of a company; the director of only one game in a library of hundreds. Conflating his opinion with the entirety of SQX misses the mark entirely.

They wouuld rather pander so the 1% can "be themselves"..

Okay, boomer.

[Alleo]

I am quite happy that they are doing it. Right now we got like one dozen items that are changed, this is probably not much in terms of ressources. I mean some of their employees changed quite a big amount of headgear for Hrothgar and Viera in their spare time.

IMO stuff like Eureka or Diadem 2.0 was much more a waste of ressources to me then a couple of glamour options that give people more to wear.

[crystal-tower]

I'm super happy with the gender restrictions being lifted.
For me, I'm mostly interested in other things like boots, shorts, etc, it doesn't have to be dresses.