Genderlocked gear. Again.

[Angelivia]

There’s a novel concept of simply not wearing a piece of gear if you do not like it.

The gear should look the same on both genders, period.

If we're talking about artifact gear, it should be a realistic option for everyone, not favouring certain tastes gender-wise - design-wise is a different matter, of course. The former being more tricky than the latter, unfortunately.
But mic drop statements like these don't really help in a discussion where both sides should be taken into consideration. There's a not so novel concept of beneficial communication skills, to play your unnecessarily passive-aggressive comment back at you.

[Rudje]

Attitude? I think I'm being misunderstood here. I like androgynous styles on both genders, I merely stated that one should have the option and not being forced to either wearing genderless attire or something too feminine on a male character who's supposed to... well, look the part. No gender difference would mean there's no obvious "girly" or "manly" vibe - which many enjoy and have fun dressing their characters in - and every clothing design would have to be toned down to something flat and shapeless. And even if not, it will always lean more towards one of two possible directions, which, in turn, would result in too many people being dissatisfied depending on personal tastes and preferences.

I understand your wish but the solution can't be to exclude others in order to include one's own self. Unlocking both versions for each seems to be the a reasonable approach, though.

Insisting that they would "have" to do that is part of the very attitude I'm talking about. There are plenty of items wearable by both model types that are more masc/fem, and just making them a specific vibe but available for everyone with the expectation that people will go for other items that better match their personal style is better and less asinine than putting your head in the sand and insisting that if we don't do stupid gender limitations everyone will be forced to wear potato sacks.

[Roda]

Wow that male picto coverup is 1, completely unneeded and 2, looks bad???
They just slapped a texture underneath the part that should've been cropped?

Some abs peaking out from under that top would've looked so good tho!!!

[Veritas-Ancora]

Really annoyed by this. Stop gender-locking stuff. It's not fun for anybody.

[Esmoire]

The pictomancer one is really strange. If you are a guy who is already too insecure to show off your midriff, covering it up is not going to make the rest off the outfit any less flamboyant.

[Angelivia]

Insisting that they would "have" to do that is part of the very attitude I'm talking about. There are plenty of items wearable by both model types that are more masc/fem, and just making them a specific vibe but available for everyone with the expectation that people will go for other items that better match their personal style is better and less asinine than putting your head in the sand and insisting that if we don't do stupid gender limitations everyone will be forced to wear potato sacks.

I didn't say that. I meant it could be a possibility for the unisex gear approach but added a "even if not" sentence that further describes the potential issues I'm imagining here because I'm trying to see the big picture and making an effort into regarding many people's sentiments. And in the end, I saw reason with one of your suggestions, so where exactly is the harm? Maybe you're too infuriated/passionate about that topic to read my words as well-intentioned as they are undoubtably meant.

[Hazama999]

Inb4 Canadian cat comes into this thread to expound upon the virtues of gender-locked gear.

Anyways my stance has never changed on this: it sucks.

[Gemina]

That is ARR gear from 8+ years ago. The issue is that they've recently stated that they'll stop gender-locking gear. These decisions are new ones, which is why ppl are unhappy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Where and when did they state this? Can you provide a source? And ppl are unhappy because they are entitled brats.

The gear should look the same on both genders, period.

Why? Because reasons? Given that AF sets changing appearance based on gender is a trend that goes all the way back to ARR, why are you or anyone surprised/disappointed by this?

It is quite simple, really. The dev team are under no restrictions that prevent them from designing gear specific for males and females, or race as they see fit. Even if they did state that they would no longer lock gear behind gender, that does not apply in this case as the gear isn't technically gender locked. Understand that you or anyone who has a problem with this, that problem belongs to the person complaining. Not the game or the dev team.

I already know the argument of pig suits, tanking in a bikini, bunnies, and silliness are well on their way. Save them until I can grab my violin.

[PlainSalt]

I can at least dye DNC red but Pictomancer? It's a job with a lot of whimsy and creativity. Why would they butcher it like that? It was clearly designed to be worn with a croptop. The covering on the male attire looks very off, the big dark patch ruins the intended flow and and look of the entire outfit. Also looks incredibly low effort considering we can see the rims of the original design.. just the cherry on top to remind us how they ruined it. Please Square Enix just give us a non-gendered gear and it'll be FINE I promise you. The men won't catch a cold from having our stomachs exposed. This is just bad design.

[Loggos]

I think with something as important and iconic as artefact gear, creating two sets, if they want to have one "feminine" one and one "masculine" one, should be part of the deal.
Especially since it would evidently only affect very few gear sets to begin with.

Every other gear set of this expac (as far as I'm aware?) has a unisex look which I appreciate because all of them look like they are actual stylish job attires first and foremost, and fashion pieces second.
It makes perfect sense that for example the armour sets of PLD, DRK or DRG, or the coats of MCH and RDM (and everything else too) are universal because they embody a universal theme that puts the job first and doesn't need to be divided into masculine or feminine gear sets to convey a job fantasy.
(I am very, very happy that they moved away from DRG and "sexy DRG for women" after the ARR artefact gear for example.)

I'm particularly confused about picto.
Given that the other mages also have unisex gear I don't know why picto somehow needs a gender-locked outfit? I can see the conventional logic behind dancer (even though I don't really agree with it and think that they should either stick with the principle of "job fantasy first" or give us two options) but there is no reason to create gender-specific clothes for...artists.
If you paint you'll most likely wear something old and unfashionable that's ok to get dirty so it's not like there is some kind of common "sexy artist stereotype" unlike with something like dancer.
That is not to say that they should create something "realistic" and dress us in rags. I just think that you could have interpreted the trope of "artist" in many other ways than something that needs to be gender-locked.

So, if we have universal artefact gear for most jobs anyway and most people seem to be fine with it, and only 1-2 jobs somehow "need" a gender-specific version, then I do not see why giving us options can't be done.
They've done the same with some mog station outfits, like that recent elf / fantasy / lord of the ring inspired outfit, where you get an extra pair of bottoms (a skirt with stockings) that can be equipped by everyone.
You could do the same with picto and its top.