So few Roe?

[Ophexis]

Roes are my favourite race, my first character is Hellsguard (But he's on Siren, so I can't really hang out on Balmung with him sadly!)

 

And as my title will attest, I just dug and found as much lore as I possibly could just because I love them so much. Especially Hellsguard. I think they have a lot of potential, I'm just...a little bad at putting my thoughts in words so I'll just convey my enthusiasm!

I remember when I got my hands on the CC, I scrolled through the races, and when I got to roegadyn....I was like yup. That's my thing.

I'm constantly developping my roe, and he's very far from the 'big muscley guy' stereotype, and I love him very much. And I love all roes very much! (You can freely imagine me admiring every single roegadyn I come across)

 

I also love the idea that my roe can give piggyback rides or carry people, have miqo'te perched on his shoulders, or a lala sitting on each shoulder. <3

So yeah if you play roe, feel free to imagine me giving you an internet thumbs up!

[ShoggMommy]

It really is too bad that there are so many Miqo'te if only because the population doesn't match the lore at all.  It seems like they might have known better.

 

I tend to regard pver's not so much in the mix of the 'so many'; even those who rp miqo'te are still arguably a small amount when you consider the NPC families, tribes, and etc who are out there. Generally I try to consider it this way.

 

This is a good point.  It hadn't occurred to me that my character might be seeing a disproportionate number of Miqo'te because my character is forced by game mechanics to be in places where people of all kinds tend to gather.  If my character were able to venture off the map, there may well be very few Miqo'te to meet.

 

Personally the reason why I do this is because of SWTOR. When Cathar came out, they are supposed to be very rare as Mandalorians wiped out 90% of the population. But EA wanted to give the race because the player base really wanted them. With this said, I chose, as did many others to consider the fact how big the galaxy really is. Granted Eorzea is still smaller but I still tend to think there are many more miqo'te out in the world and rpers are still a bit of a splinter of what there is.

[Valde]

It's like a mix of them not being naturally appealing/first go to race for many, some RP stigma that tends to be associated with taller muscular ladies, and perhaps a lack of lore/odd naming. I know for me I nearly gave up playing my Au Ra until I just got more flexible on the name because I couldn't find anything I liked.

 

Everyone will have their reasons but while Roes stand out dramatically on a physical level, they are almost an unapproachable unicorn for many. We love seeing them, but not playing them.

[Altitis Acquired]

So... A character has to look appealing to you before you can play as them? Do you have to feel sexually attracted to them before you think they are worth playing? And that is why you avoid races like Roes?

 

... Fair enough.

[Xerek Devereux]

From the sounds of it, it comes down to aesthetics.  Some don't like their looks, others the idea of playing someone that large.  Some don't like the threadbare lore.  It also sounds like there are a good number of roe alts that just couldn't quite make it to main.  All of which makes sense.  I can't say much, I'm playing a tiny miqo, after all.

 

It's just a shame.  Roe do have an appealing look to them.  Femroe (I did not know that was a term until this thread) can be quite beautiful.  They can be fun to RP with, especially as a small, shy kitty.  And they don't have to follow stereotype (though many do).  I suppose I just enjoy variety and wish I had more roe to interact with.

 

Thanks for the answers, all.  Helped satiate my curiosity. ^.^

[Valde]

So... A character has to look appealing to you before you can play as them? Do you have to feel sexually attracted to them before you think they are worth playing? And that is why you avoid races like Roes?

 

... Fair enough.

 

 

Not necessarily sexually attractive, but I've had issues with races where I couldn't bring myself to play them because of animations/clipping/looks that just bugged me. Sometimes it's something as basic as 'I can't get a skintone I enjoy'. There are many deciding factors when it comes to people playing a character, and for many outside RP it can be as simple as 'they look dumb'. The rule of cool influences quite a few when creating.

[ShoggMommy]

So... A character has to look appealing to you before you can play as them? Do you have to feel sexually attracted to them before you think they are worth playing? And that is why you avoid races like Roes?

 

... Fair enough.

 

 

Not necessarily sexually attractive, but I've had issues with races where I couldn't bring myself to play them because of animations/clipping/looks that just bugged me. Sometimes it's something as basic as 'I can't get a skintone I enjoy'. There are many deciding factors when it comes to people playing a character, and for many outside RP it can be as simple as 'they look dumb'. The rule of cool influences quite a few when creating.

 

I play a Roe myself (I also play miqo'te and au ra), but I agree with this statement a lot from Isae. It's not a 'sexual' thing for me; I don't find that to really be the case? I don't like elves in this game at all, I really wanted to play them but their anatomy irks me. This isn't to say because of sexual reasons. They just look -odd- and proportionally I don't like how they look. While I know this is SE's style for the fair folk; I just can't play them. I've tried so many times to make one and I just can't get into it.

 

Further; I don't play Hyur, again not a sexual thing- but rather I am a human IRL. So I tend to lean more toward fantastical races.

 

It all comes down to player preference.

[CrimsonMars]

If Miqo'te or Auri didn't exist, I would probably had been a Roegadyn.

[Proud Dahlia]

Initially I planed to play a Roegadyn. However, I became significantly more fascinated with elezen lore and gravitated towards maining one of them. Then, give the fact that this game does not really reward playing alts in any capacity. That is why my only character is an elezen.

 

I'm not entirely sure where the implicit notion that Roegadyn are unattractive really comes from. Both sexes of the race seem plenty attractive to me.

[Valde]

Initially I planed to play a Roegadyn. However, I became significantly more fascinated with elezen lore and gravitated towards maining one of them. Then, give the fact that this game does not really reward playing alts in any capacity. That is why my only character is an elezen.

 

I'm not entirely sure where the implicit notion that Roegadyn are unattractive really comes from. Both sexes of the race seem plenty attractive to me.

 

 

It's more a general thing, I think. And not just unattractive as in 'Good looking'. Models in the game, and clothing, are sized across everyone and many outfits are not exactly tailored. I went through the races in my creation menu and put them in their job clothes to get a feel for what I might look like down and road, and while that woefully under-represents options in the game it showed me that male Roe had weird body proportions with a lot of things and it often made their heads look small on their frame. All that together pushed me away from them and towards the more slender races. (I started the game as an Elezen and now main an Au Ra)

[Austratus]

Represent.

 

Kroemgarr was pretty much decided on during the beta. I think my main reason for going Roegadyn at the time was the fact that I never played FFXI, and general mindset was Roes were pretty much the Galka-likes. Finding out the Sea Wolf naming conventions sealed the deal, though.

 

As for why now? Definitely grown to like the aesthetic of it now that I've played him for a year and a half.

[arkamas]

 

I main a roe, and have another waiting in the wings who doesnt see the light of day enough.  Why? because Viking Pirates just speaks to me.  But for real, people that think Roegadyn, lore-wise, are locked into a meathead caveman/barbarian warrior archetype are wrong.  Just look at Roegadyn in the world.  We've got the head of the Weavers guild, a Hellsguard male(You know he aint clubbing women haul back to his cave).  We've got Einzhar, badass ex-pirate king turned Storm Marshal.  Then there's Merlwyb herself, an incredibly dignified, well spoken woman.  

 

Sure, the lore lends itself to those stereotype, but there is plenty of wiggle room.  For instance, Fyril was just a shipwright, before Garlemald came, and he took up arms and joined the Maelstrom.  If that hand't happened, he'd probably never have picked up an ax, unless it was to trim a tree before turning it into timber.

 

An on that note, I leave you with what happens when two max sized roe share a seat.

 

 

[ɴᴘᴄ]

I was looking over the 2015 Census data again and the 6% Roegadyn number jumped out at me. The 'northern giant' adds variety for sure, but doesn't really feel fleshed out to me. I have a hard time putting my finger on things like Roegadyn culture and history, and I haven't seen enough of the game to know if these are supported by game content. So, while I have used a Fantasia on an Excalibur character of mine to try to help push toward 7%, if I were to bring the character to Balmung, I'm not confident I'd know what to do with him.

[Klynzahr]

I suppose that I am a member of the small camp, who just really liked Roegadyn lore. I have been waiting years for an MMO that put out a genuine sea faring race, and the Sea Wolves gave me that in spades.

 

Those who say that their lore is threadbare may not have played the Limsa Lominsia main story quests before? They drop a lot of tidbits regarding traditional Sea Wolf culture and the recent changes they have been going through.

 

Hellsgaurd do seem to have less to go on. While there are plenty of interesting hellsgaurd characters in the game, we get very little information on what there homeland is like. That probably explains why all three of my Roe (my main and two alts) have been sea wolves.

 

As for the aesthetic, I had a brief moment during character creation of staring at the model and wondering "what on earth am I going to do with this?" I realized pretty quickly that it is very easy to make a femroe look intense, sweet, bookish, brutish, proud, awkward, elegant and almost anything in between. They just don't do 'cute' as well as other races. Every so often I come across an outfit on one of my Roe that is truly cringe-worthy. However they are definitely the minority and I am pretty sure that no other female in the game (possible exception of female highlanders) wears plate as well as a Roe does.

 

8-)