Patch 5.31 Discussion!

[Gameovers]

Why did they release two races then?

If they released only Viera and saved Hrothgar for next expansion and polished both, perhaps with 2 genders each, there probably wouldn't have been much outcry at all. In fact it would have worked out better. Even if they released only Hroth and promised Viera in 6.0 players would have accepted it.

They bit off far more than they could chew attempting 2 full races in one go like that.

I think they explained why in an old live letter. But they wanted to release the Hrothgars, but again Viera were what people were screaming for. And I literally just said someone was gonna meantion this. lol. But they thought it'll be the best of both worlds to do viera and Hrothgars. They tried to make everyone happy. And I bet they thought, " Well there's never been a male viera drawn or model so the backlash shouldn't be too bad" I mean they thought wrong. But I bet a million cheese burgers it'll be worse if they just released Hroths and no viera. Cause that was what they were going to do.

TLDR: Viera were never part of the plan.

[Iscah]

Why did they release two races then?

If they released only Viera and saved Hrothgar for next expansion and polished both, perhaps with 2 genders each, there probably wouldn't have been much outcry at all. In fact it would have worked out better. Even if they released only Hroth and promised Viera in 6.0 players would have accepted it.

They bit off far more than they could chew attempting 2 full races in one go like that.

Because the more races - ie. character models - they add, the harder it is to keep up with their production schedule.

I don't have a quote but I think I remember them saying that they couldn't manage any more than this.

The Hrothgar/Viera split race (for practical purposes, the same draw on resources as a single race) could be the last race they can add to the game, so they tried to squeeze in two things that players apparently wanted.

[rachcouture]

I know you're being sarcastic but it does have a bit of truth to it. The devs wasn't trying to put Viera in but only did because of the large outcry. They did what most companies do.

Apparently everyone that says this forgot the first Heavensward artbook had Viera concept sketches as one of several potential options for what would later became Au Ra, the then new race.

Viera were always coming; it's Hrothgar that were thrown in at the last minute.

[Gameovers]

Apparently everyone that says this forgot the first Heavensward artbook had Viera concept sketches as one of several potential options for what would later became Au Ra, the then new race.

Viera were always coming; it's Hrothgar that were thrown in at the last minute.

I mean, it's not what they said in the live letter. I'm just going by what they said. They may have drawn that then but for the release of shadows... Viera were never part of that plan.

[Jennah]

Well, I'm excited to finally have an i500 weapon.

Even though all its unlocking does is move the 5.35 relics from "probably useless for jobs you actually play" to "definitely useless for jobs you actually play."

[Vespar]

So can someone confirm what I likely already know..

The hairstyle is or isnt available on Viera?

[Morningstar1337]

Was hoping they'd add more dyes, ut it looks like those were a one time thing.

Between that and most of the new stuff being KoF rewards I can at least buy the emotes. and later get the mounts for "free".

[LittleImp]

I know you're being sarcastic but it does have a bit of truth to it. The devs wasn't trying to put Viera in but only did because of the large outcry. They did what most companies do, they followed the money. Was it the correct choice? No. But the outcry would've been so much worst had they stuck with their first plan and only released the Roths. And I know people will say, " Well they should've done that. Then we would've gotten both genders." And you may be right. But that wouldn't have stopped the rage of not getting the fan fav Viera.

The difficulties related to Viera and Hrothgar don't primarily stem from the additional workload of adding two races instead of one;

They're a direct result of questionable design shortcuts taken to implement the 'additional' customization options that have, ironically, significantly curtailed the ability to customize the two races.

These issues have been heavily explored by the modders who have been successfully porting hats and hairstyles for a while.

[Vespar]

Was hoping they'd add more dyes, ut it looks like those were a one time thing.

Between that and most of the new stuff being KoF rewards I can at least buy the emotes. and later get the mounts for "free".

How do you get the mounts for free?

[MariaArvana]

Apparently everyone that says this forgot the first Heavensward artbook had Viera concept sketches as one of several potential options for what would later became Au Ra, the then new race.

Viera were always coming; it's Hrothgar that were thrown in at the last minute.

Concept art is just that; concept art. Something that is discussed; concept art is never indicative of something guaranteed to be coming. Neither was thrown in last minute; A beastly race like Hrothgar was always on the table ever since earlier Stormblood. Based on Yoshi-P's dialogue in the 3rd point, Hrothgar would have much more likely been the candidate if there only had to be a single race chosen for SHB though, especially given in point 2 he mentions the split race decision was decided by fan desire for Viera, not the other way around. Meaning Hroth was the dev's desire; which point 3 heavily emphasizes.

2. A Significant Number of Players Have Been Requesting Playable Viera

Since this may be the last time we add new races, we spent a long time deliberating which race would be the best addition. Fans worldwide have shown an overwhelming desire for FFXII’s Viera, and we have long been aware of this fact. In fact, we considered adding Viera back in Heavensward, but eventually decided that, since that was FFXIV’s first expansion, we should instead add an all-new original race—the Au Ra. If we were to add yet another race rather than the Viera, we anticipated that many fans would be disappointed, and so we decided to try and satisfy their request in this expansion. The desire to please our fans is the primary reason behind this decision.

3. Providing a More Beastly Variety for FFXIV Character Creation and World Building

After seeing the positive reception of the Lupin characters we introduced in Stormblood, we concluded that, for the long-term health of FFXIV, it was important to implement a greater variety of character types beyond the traditionally beautiful in a future expansion. In truth, we had considered adding more beastly characters long before, and since this was possibly our last chance to do so, we decided that we should—much like we did with the Viera—in the interests of expanding the lore and the choices available to players.

Character creation is about providing players with options, and while there’s no telling how many people will utilize these options, we also believe that there is value simply in having them exist—in empowering people to fill the world with greater variety.

Although these second and third points are in conflict, we nevertheless felt that it was in the best interests of our players to try and satisfy both demands. We understood that some players would be upset if they were unable to use their preferred gender, but even so, after much internal discussion, we decided this approach was the best way to improve the overall game experience.

We could have decided to implement only male and female Viera, or only male and female Hrothgar. However, we instead went with an approach intended to expand the possibilities in multiple ways.

~ Yoshi-P. Taken from https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...I-(05-09-2019)