(12-22-2014, 06:07 PM)industrythirteen Wrote: When I'm designing something, I go for really wildly different looks between iterations, while still keeping to a common theme. Color is generally the last thing I take into account. Silhouette and shape, shape design, shape break up is far more important to visual impact.ÂThey cannot stray too far away from the general humanoid look of other player races and keep with a consistency that the Au Ra are not a beastman race as well as the general humanoid look of PC races. Not to mention the massive armor alterations they would have to make for a less humanoid race. (Personally I would have loved if Miqo'te were less Mancat and more Catman.) (Do not quote me on that as it has not be stated in canon lore) However, in a world where dragons/beastmen are the banes of entire nations even being similar to them at all can be peril. (My theory about the Lore reason for Yugiri being masked) Also see Gridania quests were Miqo'te are called wild beasts rather than civilized individuals.
So, what does this mindset have to do with the Au Ra? I'm down with the sexual dimorphism. I'm okay with it varying wildly. I'd even like to see MORE variation between the clan/tribal split in all the races. But, nothing I can do about that, I have no control over design direction.
That said, I personally don't think the Au Ra are different enough from the other races. I'd love to see even more horns, or scales or features that set them apart. yeah, they've got a tail. That's cool. I like the tail. Claws, talons, a bone structure in the face, or the legs or the feet that get away from typical homo sapien structures would excite me a little more. Maybe a different posture would be fun. Man, I hope they let us pick our horns.
By the looks of what I can see from the screen shots, you will be able to pick horns (maybe) but for sure color of the scales.
http://imgur.com/a/MUEoR#2 Shows blue scales and horns while the other ones show black and tan. They only show two types of horns for both male and female, so either the horn type may declare clan or they just haven't shown us all yet.
Here is some salt to take with this post as I cannot be held responsible as an accurate source for anything other than Au Ra exist and will be in the expac.
Also, cough sorry for rehashing some of the posts above me.