Please reconsider gender-locked classes for PoE2

I only popped in to say that I don't care about this.

If we talk about non-progress features, I strongly recommend GGG putting a lot more effort in the hideouts rather than character customization.
The visuals of a hideout are a few thousand times more affectionate and noticeable than any character visual, including most of the MTXs.
Yep.

Not certain why this is such a big argument. Some people care about the gender of their characters and other do not. Some people care how their hideouts look and others do not. Some people care how their skills look and others do not.

Each of the examples above is a revenue opportunity for a game that generates revenue based on these kind of customization elements. The community can voice up which elements they want or will enjoy most, but that doesn't make another element wrong.

I like to see myself in my characters so I want to play my own gender. I would pay for the privilege. I have nothing against those who don't care about that option, nor should anyone, just like no one should be angry that I want classes to not be gender locked.

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Roziel_Longblade wrote:

I like to see myself in my characters so I want to play my own gender. I would pay for the privilege. I have nothing against those who don't care about that option, nor should anyone, just like no one should be angry that I want classes to not be gender locked.

Wanting those things is perfectly fine, but if it's worded as a demand and with a certain edge much like wagging the finger condescendingly, it will be met with resistance.

I for one don't care if they add secondary gender options as long as it's done in a way that doesn't interfere with the gameplay.

poe isn't a game that's known for being inclusive and welcoming. the barrier to entry for newer players is astronomically high. and most people that really love this game are hardcore gamers that just don't care about the stuff you're talking about.

you are talking to the wrong crowd. go back to reddit.

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Roziel_Longblade wrote:

I like to see myself in my characters so I want to play my own gender. I would pay for the privilege. I have nothing against those who don't care about that option, nor should anyone, just like no one should be angry that I want classes to not be gender locked.

Someone (somewhere) alredy proposed a MTX that would set your character to a specific model. I could be wrong, but i think the game code is flexible enough to do it and the MTX would be a nice way to monetize it.

However, when some people say shit like this to start a serious conversation?

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GameCat2G wrote:

I don't play male characters if I can help it. It feels bad! It's a gender thing.

That's not a gender thing, that's the misandry shinning through the veil. You don't want to see the perspective of the males, that's fine, but don't think for a second that's an acceptable stance to take.

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Ethak wrote:

This paradox is indeed a challenge for storytelling within games that have a large player base all interacting within the same world. It's a limitation of the genre that both players and developers often have to accept. However, this doesn't necessarily diminish the importance of having a personal connection to the character you're playing.

GGG alredy "fixed" this with the Trialmaster. To quote him: "Even now I am testing the might of another survivor who washed up on Wraeclast instead of you, and to her, you are dead. All that you accomplish is meaningless." The story is alredy set and has it's own logic. Those seven exiles were the ones that survived. Changing that to accommodate less of a percent of the player base in a game as big as PoE would be a monumental task they are smart enough not to tackle.

Also everything that Yrto said. I can't remember one of the several characters i've made across several RPGs because they tend to become generic and bland, except on World of Warcraft, when the character is set to a race and there's an entire array of considerations and pathways made exemptively for each race, actually making them unique, instead of what OP proposes, that has no meaningful purpose instead of self gratification.

this whole ideology comes across like hate speech.

I don't have a problem playing female characters despite being a man, why should it bother you? Unless you look down on men. Which it kind of sounds like you do.

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GusTheCrocodile wrote:

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jsuslak313 wrote:

Additionally, you open a very slippery slope here: what about non-traditional genders? Should all classes now have options for male, female, hermaphrodite, nonbinary, xyz? You are being just as exclusive asking for a male and female variant than what it currently is.

What if I don't want a human at all? All classes should have a cat or lizard variant.

It's clear you're not saying this out of actual concern for non-binary people ("hermaphrodite" really gives it away), so it's extremely disrespectful to weaponise their existence as a mocking argument against their own representation. Grow up.

jsuslak313 is right. When does it stop? Do we need to be inclusive to furries then?

Gamers are here to game and I think the majority of POE players are tired of this political correctness trope. Well I am at least.

Also POE is the spiritual successor to D2. A game which had gender locking and it gave each and every character a unique feel and identity which is still remembered and beloved by the community. The brutish barbarian, the agile Amazon, the animation when you click each character in the selection screen showed who they were as characters and it's unforgettable if you lived through those times. Watching that big ass dude walk closer and grind his axe with a piece of stone, it truly was badass.

It didn't matter if the characters were a man or a woman then it shouldn't matter now. What we valued as a community was the awesomeness of the character regardless of gender.

You want to dilute character identity and uniqueness for the sake of inclusion and to hell with it honestly. If you don't like it walk away. Whatever you're saying doesn't come from a place of love and wanting to see this game improve. You want POE to fit your narrative and it's time people stand up to people like you and say no.

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Roziel_Longblade wrote:

Not certain why this is such a big argument. Some people care about the gender of their characters and other do not. Some people care how their hideouts look and others do not. Some people care how their skills look and others do not.

Each of the examples above is a revenue opportunity for a game that generates revenue based on these kind of customization elements. The community can voice up which elements they want or will enjoy most, but that doesn't make another element wrong.

I like to see myself in my characters so I want to play my own gender. I would pay for the privilege. I have nothing against those who don't care about that option, nor should anyone, just like no one should be angry that I want classes to not be gender locked.

You are clueless about the amount of work that would go into making a whole new character model for each of the 12!!! 12 classes that exist in POE2. It would be a monumental task, not just a simple MTX as you put it. It would require new character models, new voice lines, new animations. Each new MTX they put out would require twice the amount of work as before having to make female and male versions.

It's not a case of "give me the choice". You are literally doubling the workload by asking for this. Workload that could go into balancing, new content and league mechanics. Something that EVERYONE will enjoy. Not just a small minority. Honestly this is just downright selfish and self righteous

Please for the love of God these guys are busy enough without this and are working hard to make what I hope is a great game. Stop.

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Yrto wrote:

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GusTheCrocodile wrote:

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jsuslak313 wrote:

Additionally, you open a very slippery slope here: what about non-traditional genders? Should all classes now have options for male, female, hermaphrodite, nonbinary, xyz? You are being just as exclusive asking for a male and female variant than what it currently is.

What if I don't want a human at all? All classes should have a cat or lizard variant.

It's clear you're not saying this out of actual concern for non-binary people ("hermaphrodite" really gives it away), so it's extremely disrespectful to weaponise their existence as a mocking argument against their own representation. Grow up.

GusTheCrocodile is right. When does it stop? Do we need to be inclusive to furries then?

Get lost with this disrespectful bullshit please. Nonbinary people don't exist to be the butt of your "jokes".

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Yrto wrote:

You want to dilute character identity and uniqueness for the sake of inclusion and to hell with it honestly. If you don't like it walk away.

This is the suggestions forum. It wouldn't exist if the intention was "if you don't like it, walk away".

Nobody's asking to dilute anything. All the characters with all their "awesomeness" would still exist in exactly the same way for you to enjoy. Nobody's trying to take away your toys.

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Yrto wrote:

It's not a case of "give me the choice". You are literally doubling the workload by asking for this. Workload that could go into balancing, new content and league mechanics.

Don't be silly, GGG isn't some two-man garage team where the animator is also the person doing game balance.

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Nonbinary people don't exist to be the butt of your "jokes".

I never said they did? And it's not a joke I'm being deadly serious. When will it end? Why don't we include aliens also. It's completely arbitrary the line you're drawing in the sand.

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Nobody's asking to dilute anything. All the characters with all their "awesomeness" would still exist in exactly the same way for you to enjoy. Nobody's trying to take away your toys.

What are you even talking about? I'm saying their genders added to their characters' uniqueness. Taking that away inherently dilutes the character's personality. Instead of Amazon the dexterous female warrior you are making indescript dex character. It's boring.

And again allocating resources to character customisation in an ARPG is a bad idea look at what happened to Diablo 4. Just go play Diablo 4 bro if this is the hill you want to die on.

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This is the suggestions forum. It wouldn't exist if the intention was "if you don't like it, walk away".

And you're right this is a suggestions forum. But you are demanding a fundamental systematic change that is completely unrelated with the game or gameplay. It has all to do with your narrative and your world view you're trying to force on others. Mind you a world view I absolutely disagree with. Hence me telling you to walk away if this game isn't for you.

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Don't be silly, GGG isn't some two-man garage team where the animator is also the person doing game balance.

I can tell you don't know much about live service games or kept up to date what's happened with GGG's human resources but for the last couple of leagues POE1 has been looked after by a skeleton crew. Like 8 members I think Chris Wilson said. So they are definitely struggling with the workload. I guarantee the devs are being overworked which is INCREDIBLY common in the gaming industry. Especially making a game of this quality.

And you are again reading what you want and missing my point. These are resources that could be allocated to things for EVERYONE to enjoy. Not just the non binary users as you said, which make a small subset of the playerbase. You requesting this is purely out of self interest and it's sickening honestly.