Yoshida Press Interview with Dengeki Online (2/20)

[Elcura]

I wouldn't place too much stock in job/class conventions when it comes to NPCs.

Pretty much. They design/give them skills to make the useful to us as players, not accurate or conforming to the lore/player standards for jobs.

[Takiwaki]

Mimic? single side horn?

[mightyg]

The ears are not from any race in game, and it makes sense as a teaser since she is fully clothed up and can't see any features. Bunny race confirmed?

Clearly it's a Viera. They won the player Poll for new races.

Spoiler: show

New Character: Yugiri
Hailing from the nation of Doma on the shores of Othard, Yugiri and her countrymen have fled their war-torn home and the oppression of Garlean rule in search of refuge. With supplies and hopes for survival dwindling, Yugiri seeks council with Eorzea’s leaders, that they too may call this land their home.

On top of that it's almost Easter. May be a little too soon for playable, but would make sense to introduce them now if they're going to be added to the first expansion.

[Lokus]

It's a common misconception that Viera "won" the player poll for a new race. We voted for a new beastmen hybrid race where Viera was used as an example and Yoshi-P noted that he feels that them putting Viera in that question heavily skewed that poll option. Might be a new race or just a Mi'qote with a unique look but it's def not the Viera that we've come to know from Ivalice.

[Takiwaki]

The angle the face is at would def show a second "ear" if there was one imo.

[Waraji]

Could be a Viera Bangaa Hybrid.

[mightyg]

Yoshida told me to keep this under wraps, but since you guessed right...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pA87hy_bi_...0/viangaa1.jpg

[Skai]

Onii-chan.

[Sho]

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Raubahn_Aldynn

He's just a bossmode Gladiator.

Pretty sure SE can change the assets tied to any one NPC at any time. Also goes for assets tied to jobs, much like how they rolled the Sentinel job into Gladiator. They are likely taking out the time to start filtering in future concepts through the story, much like they did with FFXI.

[arus2001]

I'll just lean toward the hood being oddly made, myself. More races before more jobs otherwise implies a peculiar taste of priorities.

[Waraji]

Yoshida told me to keep this under wraps, but since you guessed right...

Yeah I remember seeing these back in one of last years Live Letters, was it not.

Using that design as a basis I assumed they went so far as to probably change the Face to more closely resemble a Viera (judging by the picture, no snout) and probably make the skin scaley or reptilian like instead of the usual overuse of Fur.

I'm all for Viera faced Argonians.

[miokomioko]

I think it was an April Fools joke.

[Alkar]

I think it was an April Fools joke.

Yes.

[mightyg]

I'll just lean toward the hood being oddly made, myself. More races before more jobs otherwise implies a peculiar taste of priorities.

Frankly I think they'd of released musketeer by now if not for the fact that there's a serious tank shortage. They probably had it planned after summoner/scholar and didn't realize they needed to release another tank first. So they're holding off. Notice the reference to Doma with the drop of this new character as well. They're probably laying the lore down to introduce new races and jobs.

[Taim Meich]

The problem with the shortage of tanks is not from lack of tanking jobs (2 out of 9) but from lack of players willing to take on those roles. Another tanking job wouldn't really alleviate the situation much.

[Elcura]

The problem with the shortage of tanks is not from lack of tanking jobs (2 out of 9) but from lack of players willing to take on those roles. Another tanking job wouldn't really alleviate the situation much.

The point of new jobs is to get those who don't ordinarily like the role to play the role.

[Viena]

The point of new jobs is to get those who don't ordinarily like the role to play the role.

And that would be an extremely short sighted solution, as it only alleviates the issue for a short while. The root problem in here is that the DPS to Tank/Healer ratio is far off from what most players prefer playing as with the party sizes and setups SE enforces.

[Nama]

Theres always going to be a shortage of people willing to play the tank role but adding new tank jobs will get people to least try it out and maybe stick with it. Theres also some jobs if they added people would play it regardless of what role it is. Good example is if Samurai is added as a tank there will be tons of people, most of which probably don't like tanks that would play tank simply because it is samurai. Adding tank mounts and etc will help too but in the end theres always gonna be more people that wanna deeps then do anything else.

[Lokus]

New jobs bring new mechanics that hopefully win people over and they look past the actual role they are playing. I know a couple people that dislike healing but the mechanics of SCH sit well with them so they don't mind taking the mantle of healer. I personally don't like how tanking is done in this game so I rarely ever tank anything but if a new tank class appears that fits my fancy (more active blocking, parrying, and dodging individual moves), I'd tank more often.

[Elcura]

And that would be an extremely short sighted solution, as it only alleviates the issue for a short while.

I fail to see how a new job is a short term solution. It doesn't matter what the party setup or composition is if people don't play the jobs in the first place.