(04-26-2015, 06:05 PM)Wymsical Wrote: A beastly race would be neat, but there's two issues with that. Across most - if not all - MMOs, beast races actually are played only by a smaller portion of the population. I could see a beastly race added if it was similar to the Hyur structure with one clan being more beastly and the other more humanoid.The counterpoint to that is that you already have the most popular "niches" (which is really a misnomer since we're talking about the masses here, but hey) covered by the currently existing races, so presumably the whole point of a new race would be to cover entirely new ideas that are not already extant within the game.
Hell, they don't even have to go wild and crazy with it. If the Au Ra had full-body scales I would have been all for it.
(04-26-2015, 06:05 PM)Wymsical Wrote: But that's actually a fairly minor issue and here's the stumbling block for beast races in XIV: we're currently all playing 'races of Man' with a common ancestor. Beast races are still seen significantly differently, with varying degrees of intelligence, aggression, population and sentience. None of them are seen as 'equal or close to equal' with the races we play. And therein is the big issue, putting a beast race at the level of peer.ÂOne can only hope.
But I think XIV could do it, with some really neat, strange race that is much more beastly and monstrous. It'd require a significant amount of storyline development and world shifting to possibly allow for it and it'd be a much more demanding modeling and meshing endeavor (to say nothing of making armor fit)... which leads back to my first point that beast races, in general, are much less popular in MMOs.Â
But I definitely could see it happening down the road when SE is feeling much more assured in the game's stability and success and the fans continue to clamor for it. Right now, they're focusing on the 'big picture' of populations and taking too many risks probably makes them very nervous. A hugely successful expansion or two could really alleviate some of these concerns.
They don't even need to be unappealingly monstrous, mind you. I just want something that is not obviously human. The Asura, for example, are a great example of a race that is both aesthetically pleasing and still very much obviously not human.
I get why they didn't want to do anything 'risky'. The game only just recently recovered from the horror that was 1.0, after all, and the race's actual development probably occurred within the first year from launch. That being said... the whole thing with playing up Yugiri's need to hide her face was HILARIOUS in hindsight considering just how blasé their actual appearance is. It was a real kick in the teeth for me after all that build-up.
I still want a race that matches the Iksar for sheer glory and awesomeness for me. I have yet to see anything - any race, in any MMORPG - match that. For me at least, especially the females, they really strike that lovely balance between viciousness and beauty in their aesthetics. There's so much more that could be done with a race like that, especially with regards to scale patterns and the like. Just the tease that the new race could be somewhere, ANYWHERE near that raised my hype up to the high heavens, only for it to be sent crashing catastrophically down upon the reveal.
But I get it. I'm a minority. And marketing says fuck minorities, they don't exist, don't pretend to cater to them because they're not going to pay you enough to make it worth it and blah-blah-blah, I should get used to being tread upon and having all my dreams crushed and what is even the point anymore grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Okay. I need to go sleep. But I can't even... I can't even begin to describe the depths of my disappointment right now. It's such a silly, insignificant thing to be angry about, but godsdammit being neglected like this really makes me feel just how bad it is for folks like me right now. No one ever caters to people like me. And, in all likelihood, no one ever will ever again. The Iksar were a fluke, a one-time deal, and with the state of EQNext a great big question mark after all the crap Daybreak has went through, I'm better off just keeping it all in my head.
Forget hope. There is no hope. I fully expect the following race after Au Ra - assuming there is one - to be along the same lines of generic-barely-any-different-from-human-ness and I will forever be disappointed and forced to face the fact that I am simply one weirdo with a wish that will never be fulfilled. Never.
Ever.
