Your opinion on gender locking classes?

Aphius · December 2016

My opinion is, I utterly hate it.

Inamorata · December 2016

Lil Pandoras box...who came first? The chicken or the egg...?

Kira98 · December 2016

Baraka Ninja, Elin Gunner, Aman Reaper, Popo Brawler ftw xD

Kyouhukou · December 2016

To be honest, I don't mind them. It's just not really a big deal to me. Most of the classes are pretty cute, so that means you can be cute and powerful at the same time

More so if there's actual lore behind why they're only a certain gender.

counterpoint · December 2016

I don't think this is really an opinion question, exactly. If all things were equal it would be great if all classes were available to every gender or class, and I don't think anyone's going to be like "no, that's bad! It's better to limit choice!" The only people who prefer this approach are the developers, who can speed up their turnaround time and get new classes out faster without having to do as many animations/modeling/balancing/etc. and can have the costume team build a marketable look for them without having to port it to so many different models. It's a time-saver that they can turn into a sort of marketing strategy.

Inamorata wrote: »

Lil Pandoras box...who came first? The chicken or the egg...?

They based their decision on global trends before Reaper came out, so it's not really a chicken/egg problem. It became self-reinforcing after that, but that self-reinforcement isn't the justification for continuing.

Inamorata · December 2016

Inamorata wrote: »

Lil Pandoras box...who came first? The chicken or the egg...?

They based their decision on global trends before Reaper came out, so it's not really a chicken/egg problem. It became self-reinforcing after that, but that self-reinforcement isn't the justification for continuing.[/quote]

If you mean "global" as in south korean global trends, thats a bit small to serve as a "global" trend given...well the real global dimention of the game in all its regions. Unless certain regions are taken more seriously...like South Korea.

Its not, true, then again that wasnt my intended meaning for chiken/egg. People react to this subject in various ways, as you point out, hence the prior reference to pandoras box, so...at times it feels like a chicken and egg thing. Some poeple feel its chicken...other's the egg. The answer is egg of course, though that doesnt really aply here.

One could say its more of a...one measure fits all. The enlin measure.

counterpoint · December 2016

Inamorata wrote: »

If you mean "global" as in south korean global trends, thats a bit small to serve as a "global" trend given...well the real global dimention of the game in all its regions. Unless certain regions are taken more seriously...like South Korea.

Well, at the time, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Europe, and North America. In North America and Europe things were a bit more equal, but female characters were never unpopular either.

But anyway, that's notwithstanding; I see what you mean now.

vkobe · December 2016

i can live with that

Scarmark · December 2016

I dont mind that females have more classes than male, but god, not even ONE NEW CLASS in the past FOUR is for a male, i dont want to make a female, i dont want my character to look cute or to use little to almost no clothes like the brawlers armor, and now i have almost sure that the new spear class will be for female too, i dont want things equal, i want something new to male castanic or any male, i feel like if i wanna play a new class i need to choose between being a sexy woman or a cute little girl..

ReaperElena · December 2016

My opinion? What my thoughts on it don't really matter so there is really no opinion about it because it has happened in the past and will be more in the future. I can either choose to embrace and play it or kick it to the curb. But yes, in a more perfect world, one would think that a new class will somehow accommodate both gender. Even despite of this wishful thought, it probably won't happen so I'm not gonna cry over it. I'll just vote with my wallet when the time comes.

Zoknahal · December 2016

I can live with gender/race locking stuff, but it doesn't mean i am not against it. Gender/Race locking in any mmo only limits your customization options, and when is done constantly on female characters, is often seen as sexism by the masses. While is true that gender/race locking can save money and time to the devs, is feels more like a last resort in order to push content. Devs want to add a new class to the game, in the shortest possible time while staying in budget. They go see what is played the most. Here is where everything goes wrong in my opinion: As soon as devs see that the most played classes are females, they tend to make the new class a female only, without even consulting the playerbase what they would like to see on the new class.

While some people would enjoy the new class, it is only gonna be a small portion, while the rest will simply ignore it or not play it because of the sole fact it is locked to a gender, ultimately making players feel forced to play as something they do not wish to play as in order to play the new class. Even Koreans showed their dislike for gender locking, yet BHS will push it on us one more time, for the 4th time. I am fairly sure the question of "Once again the new class is female only" will pop during an interview with BHS regarding the new class coming on December 8. If the new class is indeed gender locked, i would like to see BHS try to answer that question with something we haven't heard of, cause at this point, it feels like they just plainly want to turn TERA into Scarlet Blade, which they are successfully doing.

counterpoint · December 2016

Zoknahal wrote: »

While some people would enjoy the new class, it is only gonna be a small portion, while the rest will simply ignore it or not play it because of the sole fact it is locked to a gender, ultimately making players feel forced to play as something they do not wish to play as in order to play the new class.

I'm pretty sure that the vast majority are neutral or don't care that much. They might prefer to play something else, but in the end they're not going to get so hung up on the character model if it's fun to play. There is a portion here (just like in Korea) that feel more strongly about it, but the strategy works because most don't really care beyond a minor annoyance.

Fulzoid · December 2016

Being honest here, haven't read others opinion so I have no clue if it'll be repeated or not, but basicly here it is:

Race lock is okay as long as it deserve either Lore matter. That being said, Gender lock is sadly something I have trouble with, since it should only be a matter of "race lock" assuming that races work on different matter on their own. For example, you can easily see a massive difference within the technologies between Velika and Castanica. Which race fit "gunner" the most? I would say Castanica. Now why is it gender locked? That's sad but is mostly marketing matter.
As most of you know (or should know), Violence and S.exual contents do sell very well. The concept is very simple and it is very accepted now a day.

So basicly, I am against the idea of Gender lock, but I'm for the Race lock as long as it match the lore of the world.

Cezzare · December 2016

Since these discussions started appearing here in the forums I've felt we're missing the data we would need to justify such development policy. My guess is that it's not a matter of how many actively play female characters but also about who spends more money in the game. I guess the reason reapers were launched as they were was because there was more money being spent on elin stuff even if there were more male characters being played at the moment.

BHS doesn't necessarily care about the gender and race of characters created by players who don't spend certain amount of money in the game (i.e: those who only buy elite, only buy stuff with gold from others or those who don't even use elite). What they're interested is in data about the players who spend considerable amounts of money (people who doesn't hesitate to throw 500 USD or more to the game in a single transaction).

As for people that won't pĺay the new gender-locked classes, if that was true, there would be very few gunners and brawlers in the game, but there are still tons of those in the game, even with the revamp for sorcerers and archers I still see more brawlers and gunners, that's because they're easier to play (have a low entry level skill requirement) strong in PvP (be it mass or dueling). People will play the class if they find it fun or profitable, some made ninjas to farm IoD even if they don't really like elins at all.

Zoknahal · December 2016

counterpoint wrote: »

Zoknahal wrote: »

While some people would enjoy the new class, it is only gonna be a small portion, while the rest will simply ignore it or not play it because of the sole fact it is locked to a gender, ultimately making players feel forced to play as something they do not wish to play as in order to play the new class.

I'm pretty sure that the vast majority are neutral or don't care that much. They might prefer to play something else, but in the end they're not going to get so hung up on the character model if it's fun to play. There is a portion here (just like in Korea) that feel more strongly about it, but the strategy works because most don't really care beyond a minor annoyance.

But there is also a point, where BHS once said players play more female characters, and that is why they always push this female only stuff into us. I honestly do not believe they even think that the reason why more players play female characters, is because the new classes that are being created are FEMALE ONLY. Regardless of how fun the class may be for some people, others feel discouraged and feel like they in order to play the new class, are forced to play as a race and gender they do not like. Race and gender locking killed the original idea of the original TERA team of making unique things for each class. The idea died once the current BHS team entered in office.

counterpoint · December 2016

Cezzare wrote: »

Since these discussions started appearing here in the forums I've felt we're missing the data we would need to justify such development policy. My guess is that it's not a matter of how many actively play female characters but also about who spends more money in the game. I guess the reason reapers were launched as they were was because there was more money being spent on elin stuff even if there were more male characters being played at the moment.

This has always basically been my theory as well. People are more likely to play "dress-up" with female characters, and the doll-like Elin most of all. Since a large part of their revenue is selling costumes (they said themselves that it was Elin school swimsuits that helped them make the transition to F2P), it makes more sense to follow the money. That isn't to say that people don't like outfits for male characters, but I think people feel they need less costumes and are also more likely to like the in-game armor (Fashion Coupons).

That doesn't necessarily mean it's a good "excuse" from our point of view; it's not like we have to care how much it costs them in terms of expressing what we want to see in the game. Some people feel it's important enough an issue that you would do it out of principle and find a way to address the cost. But at the same time, considering their side of the story, I do think it makes sense.

Your opinion on gender locking classes?

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