Hrothgar Feedback Thread

[Akimori]

Zadnor. One of the FATEs starts with Hrothgar being eaten alive by a Cerberus-type mob. As in, just before the FATE actually starts, you see an animated scene where a three-headed hound chomps on some Hrothgars. And that's when the FATE then starts.

Maybe I missed that starting part. I've done all the fates minus the critical engagements. Do you remember the name of it perchance?

That question aside; I was disappointed in how Bozja was handled over all. Despite it being a mix of races, I would say a large # of casualties were of the hrothgar. The queen's guard in DR? One of them was a hrothgar [Mladen the Vanished and Adis the Spirited]. Trinity seeker and Trinity avowed? 4/6 individuals used to make the 2 trinities were the hrothgar [Stanik Alubov and Xeven Svanasch to make Trinity avowed and Blaz Azetina with Velibor Azetina to make the trinity seeker]. Then the countless deaths of the NPC hrothgars falling to lyon and his goons. Then the blades that couldn't be saved despite having a cure close at hand [I dont remember if DR released with the patch a cure for tempering was found or before]. I also agree on the lore bit. Its saddening that almost no lore exists and probably the most important piece of lore was retconned into a non-hrothgar was absolutely disappointing. All we get of the queen are vague drawings of female hroths

I really hated how essentially Bozja overall was retconned into "Everyone is classist and/or racist" and could essentially be choked up to as "We're fighting because we want to the right to oppress our own people". A real chance for them to actually expand the lore and its of course..one of the most cliché things ever

[Midareyukki]

Maybe I missed that starting part. I've done all the fates minus the critical engagements. Do you remember the name of it perchance?

That question aside; I was disappointed in how Bozja was handled over all. Despite it being a mix of races, I would say a large # of casualties were of the hrothgar.

Yeah, I REALLY don't. I'm dead certain it exists, and that it starts with a group of Hrothgar intercepting one of the enemies, they summon this creature that promptly devours him and then a FATE starts. But given how I don't know the name, have a vague idea it's in Zadnor (my personal grievance with the way Hrothgar were being depicted escalated in Zadnor, which I why I kept insisting it was there), am finding it hard to spawn it to see it happen again and screenshot it, and even my friends don't recall the scene I'm describing, I have to concede that either it doesn't exist or is so obscure it's minimal.

I've done all the FATEs and every Critical Engagement in Bozja and Zadnor multiple times as well. I've only never done the duels. But I cannot rely on memory alone. I REALLY don't like talking out of my arse, especially not without proper evidence to back it up. Even if I say I'm certain it exists, if I personally cannot find it, then I can't treat it as factual. And that is not only gravely incorrect, it's also unfair to Square Enix. In light of that, I'll edit out the comment about Bozjan NPCs.
I'm sorry, everyone.

As for what you said after, that's what I'm referring to. I understand perfectly well that Hrothgar make up a large portion of the population of Bozja, so it's to be expected that there would be a lot of violence aimed at them. Yet we've had race-dominated areas with some suffering, and it wasn't so targetted. Nor did we have general, widespread cruelty be so constantly spammed to the point of looking gratuitous. Vanaspati? Understandable, all hell was breaking loose, and it wasn't localized to one race. But Bozja did feel like it. And it really does feel, with the main story of Bozja in toe, that Hrothgar were targetted in that cruelty.

But as Chie_M said, I'm sorry if I'm making it sound like more of a big a deal than it might be. It's just that personally, and given my conversations with friends who play Hrothgar, the constant violence displayed in Bozja and the Gunbreaker quests is really dark for someone who plays the race. (Radovan on a shock collar, anyone?). So I assumed it would be a worthy note.

[Rokke]

But you are right about the deaths. We get plenty of them in XIV, but I dont think any of them have been nearly as gruesome as Hrothgar's (Ahewan's death aside....and tesleen). If another race is killed, either they're killed quickly in an almost painless fashion or its implied, off screen that they were killed.

imo Gaius' white haired Au ra son holds the most graphic torture to bad end pipeline of any npc.

That aside I hope the devs do get around to fixing up hroths. My alt has the foxy lady ears so he's not earless, but the fact that thats even A Thing I have to do is absolutely wild.

[Nyxs]

How can it overlap but not the same? A bunch of races need an overhaul. The old ones need animations fixes etc as well.

[Vahlnir]

How can it overlap but not the same? A bunch of races need an overhaul. The old ones need animations fixes etc as well.

Because the older races aren't wanting for anything. They are not limited in any capacity. So yeah, let's keep this thread on track please in the hopes (however slim they may be) that the dev team sees this. This is about Hrothgar, which are in dire need of...well, anything really at this point.

[orakernel]

I'm going to throw my two cents on how to start fixing this problem from a post I did back in April in here, so it's also counted in case the community team decides to check the thread. New stuff will be in Italics.

* I would tackle new Hrothgar hairstyles as I prefer them in real life. The hairdresses/dev team can have all the time they need to do a proper hairstyle, as long as my ears aren't chopped. Also don't leave us 2 years in the dark with "it's going to come soon", proper transparency on these matters would be appreciated (adding this in June, just like the team did with the housing, pvp and packet loss problem, people want this type of transparency for this matter as well)
* Please ask via forums or polls, which existing hairstyles do players want for these races. The ones chosen are popular on other races but definitively don't look good on Hrothgars.
* I don't care about ears clipping on the hair, and most other people don't care as well as it has been demonstrated on several other posts.
* Another option would be doing a hairstyle contest as it was done in the past but for Hrothgars, as it's currently the race that most problems seem to have towards having new designs. We had both weapon contests recently so, having a Hrothgar one wouldn't be weird to do.

[XiRon]

No. I'm tired of seeing hrothgar players saying "the devs can have more time" or "I'm willing to be patient". It's been 3 years since hrothgar were added to xiv. 3 years. 3 years of paying our subs, playing thru each update, getting things on the shop, etc etc. three years of hrothgar players getting absolutely NOTHING from the devs and when we finally do? It's a middle finger.

The devs ABSOLUTELY have the means to update hrothgar properly every patch like they are the new golden child Viera. Hrothgar are paying the same sub as everyone else and have nothing to show for it. No one on gods green earth can look at 6.1 and say "oh they do care" because that is not ccaring. That is copying and pasting BADLY from other races models.

I love my hroth. I pay my sub. I feel like I am not asking for the moon to get the same access to new things as all the other races. I want every single new hat or any headpiece to work on hrothgar the day its added. I want any new nongenderlocked hair to work on hrothgar the day its added. Why do I have to continue wait and pray the devs will actually care THIS patch? If you add a new race to your game you shouldn't be allowed to leave said races players in the dark for 3 years saying "oh its coming its coming" WHEN?

The Ameliance reward comes with a great new hat viera and hrothgar don't get to use, 6.2(5) is going to drop a new hair option and god knows it aint gonna work on hrothgar but will MAGICALLY work on viera. Please just let me use the items I've earned in your game already I'm out of patience. I don't want to wake up at 3am anymore praying a liveletter will finally be worth my time sitting thru. I am asking every hrothgar player to stop being patient or will won't get anything else the next two years until 7.1 drops and asking players to wait TWO EXPANSIONS to enjoy their character the same way everyone else can is insane to me.

Please update hrothgar every patch. You absolutely can do it if you can update every other race with new bits and geegaws.

[Midareyukki]

How can it overlap but not the same? A bunch of races need an overhaul. The old ones need animations fixes etc as well.

Our problems go far beyond "animation fixes etc". As Vahinir pointed out, your race is not wanting for anything major.

That line was mostly aimed toward Viera. It's a Venn Diagram situation. We're both lacking races, but not only are Viera issues more well-known and given attention by the devs than ours are, even if it is already rather lacking, the attention we do have is met with low effort or dismissal.

I mean no ill-will toward Viera. And I do support Viera players in their own endeavours to also be met with respect and become as complete as possible.
But apart from a thread about reactions on the hairstyle situation, most threads either focus almost exclusively on Viera or tend to incorporate both into a megathread. I find this only served to mute out Hrothgar voices and support for Hrothgar from players of other races. As I stated in my second post, this is understandable: popularity does play a large factor on what gets transmitted. But those two races diverge in their issues. And the side effect of muting our voices is shown to have consequences.

This thread is about fighting those consequences and give Hrothgars a spotlight to transmit feedback to the devs. That way:
a) We have a platform to present our thoughts on the race and what's decided\not decided\told\not told about it to the dev team directly. Without it being blurred by tangent information on other races.
b) We avoid another "We're surprised by their reaction" scenario, by making it clear what we want.
c) The development team can start taking informed decisions on the Hrothgar race, rather than proceeding blindly.

We are, as stated, a minority within the playerbase. But even a minority deserves respect. We have several minorities within the game. Ultimate-content players are a minority, for example. Yet quick are the devs to fix and address bugs in Ultimate content, while we stood here waiting for something for three years and getting squaller.

No. I'm tired of seeing hrothgar players saying "the devs can have more time" or "I'm willing to be patient". It's been 3 years since hrothgar were added to xiv. 3 years. 3 years of paying our subs, playing thru each update, getting things on the shop, etc etc. three years of hrothgar players getting absolutely NOTHING from the devs and when we finally do? It's a middle finger.

I agree with this statement. My posts were written in a way to not sound as demanding (even if I use the word at one point), though I understand very well those who feel enough is enough.

Which is why I invite all Hrothgar players to provide their opinions and feedback to Square.

Feedback is important.

And thank you to all who support this thread and the Hrothgar race and have contributed with your own feedback and voice.

[kyyninen_kirahvi]

At this point I'd really like a portion of a live letter to discuss the issues with hrothgar desing in length without hiding behind the excuse of 'it's hard'. I don't understand how any of these issues can be a surprise when other races have and continue to get new customisation. The locking of facial features behind your initial choice of hair is actually kind of perplexing even after the tecnical stuff has been explained.

When I heard that some of the staff had made a small number of hats visible, I thought that in it self would be a sign that they need more work going forward. And that they would slowly increase it to all hats. I hope they would at least work to have every artifact armour set complete. Now it's just bad desing that viera and hrothgar don't have hats.

[XiRon]

Anyway my feedback is that if Yoship says "no expense will be spared" in Endwalker that should include giving hrothgar access to the same things everyone else gets. All the new hairs, all the new headpieces. No ifs ands or buts. No expense spared. Practice what you preach please.

And on that note, just some things I would love love LOVE to get?
Hair, my top 3 styles
Windcaller
Rainmaker
Gyr Abania Plait

The plait may be too girly ymmv but I know alot of players want longer options, a lot of players want braids, and a lot of hrothgar want more regal maney looks and I feel like GAP on a hrothgar would hit all three areas.

And, this will likely never happen, but boy do I pray someone, mayhap the people who got viera and hrothgar working glasses/visors/circlets will see this and be like "oh sure np np"
Hats.
All neoishgardian hats.
The calfskin riders cap.
The flat cap.
I feel like the neoish and calfskin hats are the most popular headpieces in the game, neoish in general is hugely popular in glam, and the calfskin rider cap is just a sweet baseball cap with a chocobo on it.
The flat cap is getting used more and more in npc designs and I frankly think its the cutest allclasslv1 hat in the game, I think it can go well with so many looks, and its really big so hrothgars hair and ears should be comfy under it it would just be darling and I'd kill to use it in more casual glams.