Wow, the Final Fantasy 14 expansion is coming out in less than a month's time! XD A couple of weeks ago, I was so sure about changing my character into the new Au Ra race, especially after the positive feedback I received after sharing her new design with our in-game community. But as the time draws closer and after putting the effort into appreciating how she looks as a way of saying "goodbye." It's gotten much harder; especially after recently noticing over the past couple of weeks that I'm one of the very few humans in our group. XD;;

I expect that when the expansion hits, a ton of people will change their characters into Au Ra but I really wonder about it now. It always seems like the big thing a lot of people do in other MMO's when a new race is added, but unlike most other games, FF14 doesn't expect players to make a ton of alternate characters to start over with. I've even met a number of other people who've had intentions when creating their characters months ago to change to an Au Ra during the expansion, but have since decided that they can't anymore. I think it's such an interesting idea that in FF14, people can get so attached to their character in this way; it makes me wonder how much of it was a game design decision; if the creators were shooting for this kind of outcome. I can't think of any other MMO that I've played where the player is encouraged to stick with and invest so much effort into a single character with almost no benefit in starting anew aside from the fact that one would be.

Anyhow, I guess it will be interesting to see how the racial balance of the population changes after the expansion hits. I'd really like to see more people making Elezen and Roegadyn for more racial variety, but I doubt it will happen. >.<

I'm sure that I'll eventually make the change to Au Ra, but I think I've lost the urgency to because of the "goodbyes." XD It'll be sad when it happens, but as I said before, at least her spirit will carry over with the face paint mask. =3 At least I have that. XD