Hyrist

This is incorrect. The category the Lingal rings fall into is "Colorable Static Addition" In which the following races get: Hyur, Lalfell, Miqote Seeker, Roe, Elezen Duskwight: Tattoos Miqo'te Keeper, Elezen Wildwood: Ear Clips Au Ra get neither of these - they get Lingal rings instead. Horn rings or ends are a static addition listed under what would otherwise be "Facial Features" Category for other races. The only cases in which some races get 'more depth' than others is those who get muscles slides do not get to select 'Muscle Shape' in the same manner that Tails and ears get shape options.

What struck me odd, was that I thought the four styles of horns would be synonymous of say, the four styles of tails we would get, and that the tails themselves would be single style, as the trade off. When I realized that we had tail options, I realized there wasn't enough option slots for both. To be honest, I would have preferred the separate horn options and a universal tail, rather than have the horns locked to facial structure. That said, the frame-set seems to use Miqo'te as a base, "skeleton" wise. Given what flexibility with faces that are there, I think the felt that tying horns to the face structure and maintaining the options on the tails (That were likely already programmed with the frame set) seemed like it gave players more options, while giving the programmers the path of least resistance.

The crux of it is, while we are free to make positive estimates on the reaction of the Playerbase, Square Enix, or any game Developer really, have a bad track record of such assumptions. Also, speculative equivalencies are merely speculative. The Limbal Ring for a Au Ra can be the equivalent of a tattoo Hyurs. Tail Sliders are muscle sliders are ear sliders and so on. Scale patches are beauty marks and scars and so-forth. Suddenly Au Ra get differential horns but Elezen don't get differential ears, followed by Mi'qote. Then that happens and Au Ra wonder why they don't have horn sliders and Hyur, Roe, and Taru wonder what they're going to get for all the new additions. While you may think otherwise, Square Enix can't take that chance. They've got a backlog of bugs and concerns and imbalances and loads of complaints that there's not enough (insert piece of content here) to address, on top of any new content they wish to add. It would take time and resources to what would amount (to be fair) to an overhaul of the character creation and character rendering process. I assure you, it would not wind up being 'easier' than that given all the technical testing quality control, and coding (it's not just character wise, it's data storage and load both server side and client side)anything short of that wouldn't be worth the work load because of all the technical hurtles they'd have to cross. It's easy to sit client side and speculate as to what little difficulty it would be to change something. It's an entirely different world to sit on the production side of what's pretty much considered a 'living game'. ____________________________________________________________ Again, as a personal perspective, I'd be all about more options. However I'm a hobbyist when it comes to following Gaming as an industry and am familiar with a lot of the tripping points and tropes of developers. I do not see this happening, at the very least not anytime soon. The way it's structured implies to me that they created a rather rigid system off the bat and to expands the options will likely require a good bit of overall. I could be wrong, but my gut feeling on this tells me to settle in with what we have. I'm not saying 'don't give feedback' as, again, I want this to happen too. Just please, please do not become hung up on it.

*speculator hat on* I don't think they're going to do it. Doing so gives more options than any other race, which would then be a point of contention. There's also character data and display coding, which again, this development team seems to be very picky about. Do I want it? Yes, of course, more options are always nice. But I've followed SE enough to know not to pin my hopes on things like this. People will make due and SE knows it - by my guess they'd rather conserve contextual balance and keep things as they are then get dragged into a domino effect that distracts them from working on other features.

To take personal umbrage on a depiction of a fantasy race, especially when other races have shown opposing qualities, leaves questions on the topic of hot-topic hypersensitivity and its impact on Gaming development. A subject not for here but I will drop a brief comment and move on: I do not feel that it is right for developers to feel pressured to accommodate their customers personal desires based of political or sociological grounds. I believe that it is, in fact, harmful to genuine creativity and artistic licence. Developers should feel free to create what they feel, and feel that their audience will enjoy. I feel anything less threatens to betray the atmosphere of acceptance and goodwill that forward thinking individuals in both Game Development and Game Consumerism are attempting to grow. I am willing to field further discussion on that topic privately. Back on subject of the races and what sort of stereotypes they represent. I feel that breaking each character down to such stereotypes does the game disservice. Calling the Midlanders Japanese, archetype for one, strikes me fairly wrong as honestly I found them more to be a general human genenotype. I have to question why such a conclusion was reached. Was it the lack of pronounced facial hair? Anyways, I felt that there was an aspect of archetypes that Au Ra fills, which is the more Japanese Animation style facial structure and culture. It seems to follow many of the demon tropes Japanese culture does and hearing that Japan is the inspiration for the naming conventions, the niche becomes fairly clear. In which case basing the design structure off of Western archetype standards may be an error in approach. Even so, that people say that Au Ra females are only for the cutesy types I think aren't playing long enough with the Character creator. I don't feel that Au Ra is in any way, shape, or form redundant in the context of what we have in FFXIV. The fact that it may point out to some the limitations of other character archtypes and styles could be used as feedback for future races. I, for one am not opposed to a Race in which the Female is depicted as physically imposing to its male counterparts. However I feel that mine, unintentionally took cues from the character Erza Scarlet and others of her character style. A beautiful-yet-strong character that does not require physical stature to be intimidating. My FC leader has managed to create a feminine looking Miqo'te male and other such changes on the regular perspectives. So... I feel as if there is less credit than what is due given to the current options available - but pushing the limits of what you can do with these options are always going to fall short over arguments to add more options. I'm just concerned that when people realize that SE's accommodation of this will be severely limited, based off of reasons that have already been described, that they will not know what to do with the passionate energy they have on the matter and it will serve to harm the community.

Its far too early to make any consequential statements about the attraction of any component of Heavensward to new players, because we are not currently at the Heavensward release point. While those can speculate that it is 'more of the same' that depends entirely on the perspective of the recipient. It is the same in the fact that it is a humanoid race with set variants appealing to a specific aesthetic style that follows the theme of protagonists in the game. It is not the same in the fact that it is the first race featuring such a broad gender variation (size wise), and as of yet unwritten lore with its own in-storyline introduction. It is also the only available player race that can amount to possessing scales. Unfortunately, a lot of what people seem to describe or desire as a new race or option tends imply that what they want is a full on beast-race of some sort, or closer too. Ignoring the lore difficulty aspect of having any race stray too far into beastmen territory, comes the system and writing manner in which such characters would find themselves at odds with such beast-men. (The common beastman insult of "Smoothskins" come to mind.) If we are to get a future race, my preference and recommendation would be of a race that takes the gender-line trends of Au Ra and reverses them - featuring a larger, stronger, perhaps more angular females to their male counterparts, who would then be more demure. However, that is not Au Ra - and I rather like Au Ra as it's presented.

Yeah, going to preserve this one under tags as this is spoils personal plots.

I can't fault that logic - that's the very reason why I did not go into Graphic Design. But regardless of whether or not you or I agree on the matter, it is the sad reality that as much 'artistic' as a game can feel, it falls far more into the field of Graphic Design, than Fine Arts. And the unspoken devil of Graphic Design is that you are, in reality, selling out your artistic talent to the customer. It's not your baby, it's just your work. Gaming often wags back and forth across that line frequently. As far as the Lore of the Race is concerned - I maneuvered myself to have my character in a situation in which her own race is Foreign to her. While I had not yet made the decision for a race change, the character long ago made foreshadowing that she was not as she appeared to be, and that even she did not understand it (and, in fact, feared it and tried to flee from the truth.) The fact that she's not even the same Race she was raised to believe is only the beginning of her journey of self discovery - in many ways. It's actually working out very well and I'm excited to lead into this twist in her story. Sidenote: I don't envy you, your hat. *pat pat*

Now, here's the ringer. Are you unhappy about it on principle, or because the result wound up being something that does not appeal to you? Granted, it's ok to be both. I've become jaded enough to accept the business practices, and just make my own subjective opinion on the issue. I don't mind the height differences, that vast of a difference is unique among the races regardless of the corporate drive around it. So while money driven, it can make for good variety traits in the race, comparatively for the others. So long as the result is something positive (Read: Something I like.) The method of getting there gets a bit muted - at least in this particular case. While there's always encouragement for the ideal all around, method and results, sometimes, it's more worth it to stop worrying and enjoy the sauce(er). In this results Au Ra isn't designed to appeal to set particular tastes, and that's ok. Sometimes we forget that while we should work to for a broader appeal and acceptance, it shouldn't come at the outright neglect of more popular views. Sometimes, you need to throw the typical a bone once in a while too.

I'm sorry to say, but that sort of design is kind of intrinsic in all character/race design systematically in roleplaying games. After all, if you don't, you don't appeal to your base and you hurt your bottom line. Games like Dark Souls get away with having more grotesque designs because they appeal to their player's niche. Bethesda has such widely variant design because it appeals to their more western targeted audience. Everyone makes targeted decisions on character design based on what they feel their target base feels appealing. Then difference is that Yoshida went out and said it plainly, rather than cover it in some corporate PR distraction that waifs the scent of finely minced and measured feces.

Your Hypothesis, in speaking for my preferences an opinion, I can confirm that is only half correct. I am hung up on the art style, of FFXIV - as I had for FFXI before it. That is not to say that Aion, and other games did not have fantastic art style - often it is the artistic style of a game that initially draws me towards it. But a robust character system can, and often does detracts or detracts from that. Case in point. What I recommend, as self training to allow yourself to enjoy the game more, Is that you focus less on character's profile, and more on the details. A profile can easily be variant depending on height, tail style, hair style, and clothing - individuality can be found in the character's use of color and weaponry. Try to look beyond the simple things like Tribe, Horn style, and profile. A good lesson to learn in life, actually, looking beyond the surface? I won't be naive enough to pretend that Square Enix has that as part of their design plans, but it is a good accidental lesson learned from the limited mechanics, at least. Anyways, I've said my peace, and in a certain light we've gotten quite off topic. In terms of its own Context, Au Ra have no fewer options than a Miqo'te in terms of design. The massive influx of characters of that Race can more or less be ICly ignored, we do not know how many of them are actually going to be Roleplayers. As an observation, I've seen quite a few variants in Female Au Ra design, utilizing all of the Horn/face styles available to them and this isn't including the hair styles that will be available for an Auri via everyone's favorite hair dresser. I'm not concerned about whether or not Lin will be able to look 'unique' in the crowd of new Au Ra to appear in the game come Heavensward.

Square Enix makes no qualms about its style. In many ways, and in many explanations, it has made statements to the effect that it is not in the same league as many of its competitors, and its true when you consider the blow factors. - The FFXIV Team is an in-house development team with its own Publisher (Square Enix) It is only beholden to its direct investors, that invest in the company, not the project. This allows it to preserve a bit of artistic and stylistic agency. This is apparent in a lot of its development choices, including maintaining its Pay-to-Play model. - FFXIV host a rather robust back-up system. The character data is backed up to the storage drives at a rate higher than most MMOs on average. The side effect to this, is of sourced the heightened processing load for each amount of character data that's backed up. A lot of MMOs sacrifice that micro-level of stability for the sake of saving processor power. - FFXIV is one of rare MMOs to ever venture multiplatform. This comes at its own cost - concern for load times on Consoles as well as preserving an equivalent experience across them. Each game, and each developer and Publisher comes with its Pros and Cons. In terms of Au Ra design, and any design feature in this game, you are going to be dealing with typical Square Enix tropes. Which, in my opinion, happen to be quite better than most companies (Blizzard, EA, NCSoft all come with sticking points with me that push me away from many of their games.) It's a matter of 'what you can accept' as often discussing the issue on a conscious design choice by Square Enix rarely nets change, and airing such reservations habitually only serves to disturb those who find or are attempting to find contentment in the provided content. It's ok to push for improvements, just be wary of how, and how hard. In Square Enix's case, it's also 'where' that becomes a consideration. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- If I may speak on a matter of personal opinion - I actually find it more enthralling to see what players do with limited resources in Character Creator, than the massive character creation systems on par with Aion. When there is so much variety, the attention to subtle differences are often lost in favor of something that is extremely variant or referential. Where as with a limited character creation I often find that people focus on trying to create something that is both unique and comfortable, bringing out the attention to detail (such as clothing, accessories, makeup, etc.) that emphasis ownership of the character. But that is simply a personal impression. Other people's experience may vastly differ. But in spite of the initial thrill of having an extensive character creator to play with (which I often tinker with in single player games a lot) I often feel much more fulfilled and comfortable with the more limited, yet still variant options I get from FFXIV's character creator. Often when make a character with FFXIV's creator, I'm pretty happy once I've finalized my decision, where in contrast, I've had to go back a couple times in Dragon Age Inquisition because my initially 'unique' face just didn't settle well with me in the long term.

Ah. I stand corrected then. Design wise, I have no qualms. I, like others, expected that perhaps the horns were a feature separate from the face. But as the horns themselves are a kind of major facial structure, I can understand the reasoning. There will always be the desire to want 'more' out of things. The design concepts and works fit within the context of the game, and its artistic style. Too bestial, and they literally become a beast-men race. At this point, they skirt that line enough not to. I realize this disappoints a number of individuals who prefer more Western-inspired design choices - however Square Enix has made some pretty cut-and-dry definition choices between Beast Tribes and the more 'human' tribes. Au Ra may be the last race we get, and if not, I do not expect any future races to stray much further from human than Au Ra has.

We've got two places to post Character Creation Screenshots, but both run the risk of getting siderailed by the discussion of opinions regarding design choices for Au Ra. I'm no moderator, but perhaps we can combine the SS threads and make a thread specifically for discussing Au Ra design as a development concept?

As an overview - my decision, head-cannon wise is that there isn't an actual "Sudden" appearance of Au Ra, but rather they've been migrating in since Doma was obliterated, but for the most part have been out-of-sight. By the time Heavensward hits and the influx of Au Ra characters show up OOC, ICly they've been showing for quite a while and are just being more 'noticed' as a sizable number has shown up by this time, especially among adventurers. These are my top four Characters' reactions.

Welcome aboard! Hope to see a lot more of you here on this community. Your open demeanor and inquisitive mind are always appreciated here.

I'm not really sure I get all these power tiers. I can't help but look at them and think their a touch on the shallow end. It's all really relative. Tier 1 is obviously posed to look like Gary Stue/Mary Sue and the rest works down as referential material down the line. But if we're going as far as making references, rather than rate players base on power level, maybe we should speak more along the lines of which character in comics/books/stories/anime. Some examples using my characters: Eric Verus bases himself on mystery/spy and some more lovecraftian-style stories. Power wise, there's something odd with how he interacts with Aether which gives him some default defenses against magic. But physically, he's just a man. His real talent is his mind. He has a hobbyist's expertise in swordsmanship (fencing style) and is a crack shot with firearms due to his origins. All of these is due to his hand-eye coordination and analytic skill. Hyrist Verus isn't any really odd skill wise. In fact, he's unable to attune to Soul Stones. Could be that he's yet to find one that fits him, or simply he doesn't have the talent. Unknown at this point. But he makes up for it by training with weapons. If he can wield it, he can use it. His strongest talent being swords. Thing is, he doesn't respect his weapons that much. He has no qualms putting a sword into a position where it will break, if braking it can give him an edge in a fight somehow. But he also has an unreliable fighting drive due to his origins. This makes his 'skill/power' cap very erratic. He could take down a grandmaster or he could lose against a lucky novice, and he'd feel the same way about either one of them. He has no pride in his combat skills. That said, he has little experience fighting beast/primals/voidsent/etc. His training in his weapons was for fighting other people. He'd avoid a fight against the wild or supernatural if he has a choice. Lin Celistine , however, lives by her spears. She has a borderline unnatural drive to push the limits of her skills with a spear to the breaking point. She studies all styles and methods and when she runs out of methods, she studies other weapons only for the perspective of what concepts can be applied to her spear usage. She can make the average Ishgardian Dragoon look clumsy in terms of agility, and her strength easily belies her small frame. Style wise, however, she prefers to hunt creatures rather than fight people and PTSD concerning all the lives lost at Cartneau actually makes her less effective when fighting people. Magically, she can't handle even the simplest of spells without straining herself (and flat passes out when she pushes her limits). And she's just as vulnerable when it comes to magick attacking her. These are the 'strongest' three characters I have in the group, in my consideration, out of six _______________________________________ So, everyone has strong and weak points, and, in the proper circumstances or assistance, they may even be able to topple someone on that tier 1 category. But these traits don't make the characters. Their facets of the character that are reflections results, or foreshadows of their stories. You don't read a Superman comic because he 'might lose' against the antagonist. It's about his interpersonal stories and internal struggles as he balances his heritage and powers against his upbringing and values. Its those factors that make characters interesting for me. Strength, skill, they just establish backgrounds for me to work from.

Um... I don't want to burst your bubble ,but 'sweet and innocent' doesn't really translate into my impression of FFXIV. Sexual innuendo and jokes are laden everywhere. Even in its history.

What you do is an amazing service to the FFXIV community, and a boon to us Roleplayers. Your work is constantly interesting and engaging and a thrill to watch, especially as you go deep into research on where the actual game lore references real life mythology, religion, and history. Moreover, you're honest, if you find into a subject you're not entirely sure with, you say it. It's speculative as well as informative which is a great way to begin discussions on topics. Wish we'd have some threads where we brought our heads together on some of the ones you brought up. (Like the Voidsent Hierarchy, for example.)

I think it's clear that most people here are adults who have experienced or heard of the horror stories surrounding ERP. But that inherently does not make ERP bad, and open communication and talks like these are actually very health for the community. If someone wishes to explore the avenues of Erotic Roleplay, they should not feel shamed to do so, ESPECIALLY if they're new to the field. They need to confident enough to speak up if they feel uncomfortable or pinned, and public shaming of the the practice can make some people clam up about it. And that's the kind of environment in which predators thrive. They will give that avenue a vent and a comfort and then clamp down on it, and twist it to their desires regardless of the consent of the victim. All silence and evasive discussion does is empower those creeps who would take advantage of misinformation, isolation, and the lack of comfortable avenues of communication. The fundamental three Cs of role-playing are just, if not more important in ERP as it is in RP. Consent, Communication, Cooperation. I'd actually urge people not to feel so awkward about the subject. If it's something two consenting adults wish to do, then that should be ok by everyone. We want to keep that avenue of communication open for if and when such interactions go sour, so that emotional cornering and extortion can be nipped in the bud before it develops into a full on emotionally abusive relationship. Even through online means, it can do terrible things to a persons confidence and psyche.

I adore your videos Ethys, but not ALL of the lore is entirely accurate. There's been people who've cited the lore errors on the videos so there is no need to nit-pick here. I just want people to realize that people are human, even Ethys, and it's always good to check the comments for corrections if necessary. ('Never treat any summary source as gospel' is an old staple of rule of mine and it tends to hold everywhere.) Otherwise, this is an incredibly good source for easy-to-digest lore and I always browse through for any updates on my day off.

I can be evil, and corrupting! *flips table* ... ... .... *quickly fixes table and returns all toppled items on it* :blush:

I don't think the Au Ra will explode to Miqo'te proportions, though there will likely be an initial surge. These don't have to be explained ICly. They're going to be players that are going to want some OOC time to settle their characters in and figure out their angle anyways. Those that do RP them, well, an Adventurer Guild is going to attract a lot of people. As far as the Raen, as I said before, we have no idea what 'rare' means for their race. There is a lot of high tension for something that, inside a year, will become little more than a footnote in RP.

... anyone else tempted to post "I'm on a Boat!" You Tube video for laughs? Anyways, as far as the RP implications, it does not do anyone good to over-think it. People will often come up with their own reasoning, and some of them will end up being similar. This is not a bad thing. A common back-story does not make for a common character. And common characters in and of themselves aren't bad if they're interesting, and they will be interesting or not based solely on the execution of the players involved. There can be Au Ra, for example, who tried to eek out a living in Dravanian Lands - and are therefore not forced to leave 'their land'. The great thing about an expansion is that there's more landscape to work from.

That depends entirely if a person states that they're just suddenly arriving to Eorzea. But there are a few things that may attract them. First, Doma is gone, Garleans are a larger threat in the west with the underground suppressed by the destruction of an entire nation. Encroachment into tribal territory could be one reason a larger group of them can come in. But again, that's assuming that everyone floods in at the same time. Also those who are more Nomatic may be drawn to Ishgard opening their gates to Adventurers, wider breath of field means more work available. With the paths to the north and the west opening, the possibility of reaching the former Sharlean lands can draw out the Scholars from the Raen, seeking perhaps information about their linage that may have been lost to their own line. And not everyone is going to agree on arrival dates. It behooves roleplayers to not make a sudden reaction to the OOC arrival of the Au Ra as a thing, so much as make a comment of "I've heard they were about, this is the first I've seen of them." There does not need to be a universal reason for the influx. There are plenty of reasons to bring in new cultures into a prosperous land. It's the "it's all happening at once" that everyone seems to be sticking on, which can just be ignored as that's OOC causing IC conflict. There's been plenty of IC time since the arrival of the Domans for the Au Ra to start filtering in.