Kismet

I'm glad that there's so much to choose from that deciding on what to do is so hard! I know I'll definitely unlock flying first on my mains. Then get the new jobs. After that... Not entirely sure if I'll level the new stuff or get to 60. Maybe a mix of both depending on my mood. I'll take on the MSQ at a leisurely pace. I think more than anything, I'll mostly be exploring every nook and cranny of the new maps for the first week or so.

Apparently female characters will be able to wear the male version as well. This pleases me.

My sensibilities are not so tender and delicate that I would find issue with anything the OP included in their post. Not everything we read needs to be taken literally, let alone so seriously. (This post included.) Everyone has more important things to attend to rather than worrying about what total strangers think about some random outfit.

^This. I'm hoping they just go for something even and consistent with the other races. If Xaela have a tendency to live for less time on average due to risky lifestyles and practices, that's completely fine and makes sense. But if it turns out all Au Ra live twice as long as other races or some nonsense, I won't be fond of the idea at all.

It's... so beautiful... *wipes tear* I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that it might be either a dungeon set or new Gold Saucer gear. I hope it's the latter, personally. (Because that'll mean it's not bound to one job/role-type.) Also, here are all of the other armors that were shown in the LL stream: http://imgur.com/a/jlVAY#Fdg8jyO (+1 more: http://i.imgur.com/OUoPVnR.png)

I have extremely easy goals, but my laziness paired with a lack of funding might make at least half of this not happen before 3.0. (Listed from highest to lowest priority): - Get 50 BLM and/or SMN on Lhei (who will become Au Ra alt) - Complete MSQ on Lhei - Get 50 ARM on Astrid - Get Astrid's i130 WHM or SCH weapon - Get Y'raja's i130 MNK weapon - Get Astrid's i130 healer gloves & pants - Complete MSQ on Astrid (currently at SoF) - Get 50 CRP on Y'raja

I take Eternal Bonding to be interchangeable with marriage both IC and OOC, because I'm pretty sure SE just called it that to get the homophobes to pipe down.

All of my XIV character's names are extremely easy to pronounce. There have been times where my one alt Lhei has had her name said as "Lee" or it was misspelled, but that's only happened on maybe two occasions. (She's going to become a completely off-screen char come Heavensward, anyway.) My character Astrid has a brother named Lamont that some people might pronounce "La-mon" or "La-moh", but it's really just a hard 't' at the end.

Ala Mhigo all the way!

Just wear the tabard on BRD (or whatever outfit it is you want to wear on whatever job it is), hide the weapon, and pretend that you have his axe IC. People do it all the time. Is it the most efficient or glamorous solution? No. Does it more or less get the job done? Yeah.

Maybe the Au Ra are all just really into sadomasochism. >:}~

If we had absolutely no "husky" races to choose from in XIV, I'd be more disappointed about the inclusion of the Au Ra. But that isn't the case. We have Highlanders and Roegadyn. A good handful of MMOs don't even have one "burly" option for players, let alone two. Is it equal to the amount of pretty races we have? No. Is it better than nothing? Very much so. Now, if I'm going to touch on the limitations of the character creator itself (i.e. "why isn't this more like Aion/PSO2/Black Desert/etc?"), I like ones that are very involved. Even before I knew RP even existed as a thing anyone did, I just loved making characters. It's a fun process in itself. However, if the CC needs to be limited in order to make the rest of the game fantastic (and the LARGE majority of XIV is indeed fantastic), then I'm totally okay with that. It's a small price to pay, imo, for consistent high quality content updates and an attention to detail that most other studios are too cheap to give a damn about. [insert obligatory commentary about how the PS3 is holding back XIV's true potential here]

Is this for real? Miqo'te females are even taller than that! I thought they were going to at least be hyur sized. Max height for Miqo'te females is around 5'3"~5'3.8". A difference of approximately one to two inches isn't that big of a deal.

I wasn't entirely sure where to put this, so I figured I'd throw it in here. During today's stream of the NicoNico Fate event, they apparently showed their creative process for the Au Ra and some of the ideas they came up with and/or refined before they arrived at what we've got today. (Apparently Viera were actually considered at some point?) I won't lie... I'm kind of salty over how they didn't go with some of these. Some of them are really badass. Check out this link for the concept art: http://blog.livedoor.jp/umadori0726/archives/44459427.html

RUUULES OF NAAAAATUUUUURE!!!!

I think you're missing the point Lililove was trying to make by bringing up the Calamity. Tragedy, while not always present in every story or character's background, is very common in XIV. There are many things going on not only in Eorzea, but across the world that are pretty darn terrible. So if the volume of RPers with dead parents/who've been adopted, found tribal life too abusive/abrasive, and various other sad backstories seems unnaturally high to you... We're trying to tell you that it's not all that out of place, given the large amount of misfortune that permeates throughout most of XIV's universe. And even if all that weren't the case, no one should really care. RPers create stories and characters that interest them and share that with others. If you aren't interested in a particular type of story, character, stereotype, theme, or whatever... then simply engage with RPers who do cater to your palette. It's as simple as that.

Even MORE pics have been added! We can see some more of the available hairstyles in the icons. Raen can also have the 'glowing ring' in their eyes. (The checkmarks imply that you can choose to have only one glowing eye if you wish?) Also, the color of the ring can be changed to something separate from that of the iris:

I don't understand why we have to wait an entire month for the Au Ra naming conventions... Sigh. New wards coming out at some point is very exciting, however. Hopefully many people can finally get a place! And thank the Twelve that SMN's finally getting some attention. <_<

Make sure to keep checking the link in the OP throughout the weekend. They've added a few more shots -- most interestingly (for me, anyways) darker skinned Au Ra for both clans! And I think I spy some horn rings on this Raen? Also... a scaled moustache? Uh...

Flying mounts are supposed to move slower on land than non-flying mounts do, so I wonder how they'll balance the speed for older mounts that are given the ability to fly in the future. Will they fly slower? Or will they run slower on land like the 3.0 flying mounts do? If it's the latter, I'll be kind of disappointed. (IF they even actually do it, that is.)

I kind of took that as a "we might consider it, but it's mostly us joking around" sort of statement on Yoshi's part.

I'm of mixed descent (and have very light tan skin) and I tend to play multiple chars, all of which have different skin tones. For XIV in particular, my two "mains" are very fair, however. I plan to have my Au Ra on the darker side.

A while back in the Lore category of the official forums, someone made an interesting speculation that some people may find useful for inspiration or planning. This may or may not necessarily end up applying to the Raen, but it is very neat food for thought:

...Meanwhile, I'm just sitting here giggling at "two hands replacing one hand". :lol:

Speaking of Nuhns being 'proper' Nuhns, we still don't know for sure whether tribal Miqo'te life for Seekers is still commonplace or not. We have examples that say it is, and examples that say isn't. The RP community is kind of split on which side they want to adopt as being the norm. This could possibly also be true for one or both of the Au Ra clans. Perhaps a sizable portion of Xaela view tribal, nomadic life as old-fashioned? Perhaps a sizable portion of Raen view settled, quiet life in the mountain valleys as inefficient? Who knows.