Please stop hiding miqo'te ears (and other races') from certain head gear

[Aco505]

Gear from Stormblood onward that covers the entire head tends to fully hide the ears of miqo'te.

In the past, this wasn't the case most of the time, as headpieces would often have holes for the ears to stick out or ear socks for them to stick in that sprouted out of the specific piece.

Headpieces such as the Calfskin Rider's Cap or the Street Cap, for example, are perfect candidates to get holes so that the ears can stick out but right now they entirely hide the ears of miqo'te instead, thus making it the only race that loses part of their racial features with this. Of course, viera and hrothgar can't even use them but would probably have similar issues if they could.

This is not a problem exclusive to miqo'te, viera or hrothgar however as some headpieces will also hide elezen and lalafell ears due to their size.

With the graphical update coming and eventually affecting all gear pieces, I would ask the developer team to please revise all the head pieces that could be suitable for the addition of ear holes and socks for the aforementioned races and especially miqo'te, viera and hrothgar.

If some people prefer getting their ears hidden in these cases, they could always add a toggle option to satisfy everyone, as it seems that the gear is initially designed for hyur, a race without these traits, and then adapted to the rest.

However, this trend of hiding the ears should not continue, as it limits the options for these races by removing their racial traits.

Another recent trend in EW has been to hide tails from specific pieces of armor (link), which I find problematic as well because of the further removal of racial features.

If you agree, please show your support by liking and commenting this post!

Are there headpieces that you would like to wear but don't because they hide the ears? Which examples of headgear would you like to have with ear socks or holes? Which ones would you like staying as they are?

[Iscah]

A secondary issue on this is that even when hats have ear covers as part of the model, they are often impossibly small and/or in the wrong position compared to where Miqo'te ears actually should be positioned.

[Mr_Gyactus]

1. Hyur got ears. 2 to be precise. Never heard a Hyur/lala/elezen complaining because the helmet hides his/her ears.
2. When I use an helmet for the motorcycle my ears are hidden (and protected).
3. an helmet is used to protect your head, ears included.

With the logic of "Show your ears" miqote's and viera adventurers would all be deaf.

[Stormpeaks]

1. Hyur got ears. 2 to be precise. Never heard a Hyur/lala/elezen complaining because the helmet hides his/her ears.
2. When I use an helmet for the motorcycle my ears are hidden (and protected).
3. an helmet is used to protect your head, ears included.

With the logic of "Show your ears" miqote's and viera adventurers would all be deaf.

It's almost like miqo's have different ears.

Crazy I know, they also add to the race, I know it's very crazy.

[Raikai]

I understand hiding them in 'poofy' hats, or things with an obvious space for the ears, even if a bit crammed. But many other items... er.

I'll never understand why the calfskin cap does not have holes for the ears. Is not even possible for something being that tight with the skull with ears inside.

[Aco505]

1. Hyur got ears. 2 to be precise. Never heard a Hyur/lala/elezen complaining because the helmet hides his/her ears.

Correct, but there are differences: miqo'te (as well as viera and hrothgar) ears sprout upwards from the top part of their skull and are quite big compared to hyurs'. Elezen and lalafell ears are big as well but come from the sides of the skull, just like with hyur.

Allow me to illustrate. Check the pictures below. Which race (not counting viera or hrothgar) has had their ears completely disappear here?

There is simply no reason as to why this should be happening aside from the fact that the developers are making a direct conscious choice of not adjusting the headpiece for miqo'te. This specific case would need ear holes, and is very similar to basically any other similar cap headpieces that you can find from StB onwards.

2. When I use an helmet for the motorcycle my ears are hidden (and protected).
3. an helmet is used to protect your head, ears included.

Which is why in my initial post I clarify that they would have to look at each headpiece individually and adjust them or not depending on whether it's suitable, but since you are using real life examples... how is a miqo'te or a viera supposed to tuck in their big ears in certain head pieces exactly?

Some will inevitably require either a hole for them to stick out, an "ear pouch" for them to stick in, or, in the headpieces that are big enough, have them tucked in. In fact it would be nice if we could see our ears tucked in and showing a bit somehow in the last option for whichever head piece allowed it. For example, some hoods could fit into this last category, like the one from the VPR reveal video.

[HeyMcFly]

The Viper showcasing with a male miqo'te and the gear removing his ears was really cringe. It's really aggravating to have gear that just removes their ears.
Like, there's this giant graphic update but they seem to have forgotten that other races have different ears- in a giant update such as that, gear that removes racial features should be something of the past.

I wish more players were vocal about miqo'te ears/au ra tails being removed

[Bellsong]

Least ya'll get all the helmets. :T

[Stormpeaks]

The Viper showcasing with a male miqo'te and the gear removing his ears was really cringe. It's really aggravating to have gear that just removes their ears.
Like, there's this giant graphic update but they seem to have forgotten that other races have different ears- in a giant update such as that, gear that removes racial features should be something of the past.

I wish more players were vocal about miqo'te ears/au ra tails being removed

As long as we have people like this :

1. Hyur got ears. 2 to be precise. Never heard a Hyur/lala/elezen complaining because the helmet hides his/her ears.
2. When I use an helmet for the motorcycle my ears are hidden (and protected).
3. an helmet is used to protect your head, ears included.

Defending it

We'll never get anywhere, but that's typical really, there's always people defending pure laziness, it is annoying though.

[HeyMcFly]

1. Hyur got ears. 2 to be precise. Never heard a Hyur/lala/elezen complaining because the helmet hides his/her ears.
2. When I use an helmet for the motorcycle my ears are hidden (and protected).
3. an helmet is used to protect your head, ears included.

With the logic of "Show your ears" miqote's and viera adventurers would all be deaf.

Then let miqo'te and Viera be deaf, I'm sure it's no different a logic than removing their ears entirely which means they also would be deaf.

Just to help you out; Exhibit A shows normal hyur ears:

Exhibit B shows miqo'te ears- an image that shows two different miqo'te in one setting; just to clear up any confusion incase there were any thinkings that Miqo'te and Hyur had the same ears

I hope this visual helps! Miqo'te ears very visibly stick out. I've seen and heard complaints of elezen/lalafell having their ears hidden but that is far and few between.

While yes, helmets protect ears and I'm indifferent to the idea of helmets hiding ears altogether, I'm also aware of the irl cat helmets which do hide ears.
But in a case such as ffxiv, wearing leather or cloth hoods doesn't offer much protection the way metal would. Leather and cloth is much lighter, which would allow their ears to show.

When it comes to regular hats and hoods, miqo'te and viera ears should 100% be shown.

Metal helmets, that's more acceptable to hide ears for most races, excluding viera (their ears don't really move/wiggle as it is)