Reminder: Selectable Character Gender is a "Minimum Bar."

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Solrac_1 wrote:

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hmcg020 wrote:

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Solrac_1 wrote:

I totally agree, every class should be able to be both male and female. I'm only playing POE 2 if Witch and Sorceress have male options otherwise I'm skipping the game.

This post is not about gender not sex. So, some of the characteristics of both genders being able to be applied to whatever base sex-model like in BG3. Big dick, a beard and broad shoulders with a woman's voice, etc. Some people love that shit and a side effect is some hilarious combinations that we get to see. Others just want to see themselves in the game they're playing and that's a great thing for a company to be able to accommodate. I agree that I would like to have a sex-selection for each class. I don't expect GGG to aim for the progressive accolades BG3 got though.

BG3 received massive criticism for having attractive female character models. So, even though they had the most progressive character creation and some of the most progressive dialogue and romance options of any game every made, the hardcore leftists were still foaming at the mouth that it wasn't enough. As soon as GGG goes down that road, people who lament critical gender theory not being the focal point of the Dev team, will never stop. This is where the whole chud line of "get woke go broke" stems from.

This doesn't need to turn into a political debate, I just want to play as a male Witch, that's it.

lmao and you threatened if you don't get a male witch you're not playing

Gender selection would be a great feature. I would have thought that the new animations would be the most costly aspect of implementing it, not VO. In any case IIRC, GGG made $50 some million in pofit last year. A couple million more in VO expense seems hardly a challenge. The budget for POE2 must be a big one and spending a bit more to make it right seems like money well spent.

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AdRonZh3Ro wrote:

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Glorfndel01 wrote:

Somehow having to buy MTX for gender choice seems...chincy as hell.

Offer as a choice at character creation or come across as cheap.

Thinking you are entitled to something in a free game comes across as cheap too.

the way i see it is its marketing.

do companies NEED to make both sexs for each character?

NO they dont. diablo 1-2 was fine with fixed gendered classes.

POE devs grew up from D2. a lot of what poe1 is has roots in d2.

on top of that

GGG HAD LESS MONEY and LESS TECH. everything was animated "by hand". i believe they didnt have the luxury of advanced skeleton rigging. they just wanted to make things work, also they didnt have too much money to hire so many voice talents.

so if talking about historical standpoint, theres a reason why we have genderlocked classes, and technically financial standpoint too.

but that said, making all classes NOT genderlocked can be touted as a FEATURE.

GGG has spent so much resources making POE2 accessible and to reach a wider audience.

anything "extra" is always a feature. features give value to the game. to be honest did GGG "have" to make POE2 look as good as it does? not entirely necessary but they did because people would like it more if looked better.

this translates to better reviews which promotes the game and will pique more players interest.

personally i feel that gender swapping is a "baseline" feature. we should always be able to differentiate what's baseline and whats extra.

would having genderswapped characters benefit ALL players? yes. would it encourage players to play a certain class? perhaps.

would it benefit GGG directly? to be honest, yes. this give benefit even to GGG as they can write it off as a feature or as part of marketing.

we're no longer living in 2000's. d2 was more than 20 years ago.

GGG now has money. its about time they got the feature in.

for comparison, d4 bad but they already started implemented genderswapping back in d3. undecember may be p2w but it has genderswapping. similarly even the failed wolcen has genderswapping. tho the last 2 examples kinda are bad coz they dont actually have locked classes (everyone starts classless). but it just goes to show that gender in games is a feature that would be good to have.

why does monster hunter have it? why does mmos have it?

the answer is to make the player attached to their character. when theyre attached they're more likely to buy mtx to doll up their fav character.

more genders opens up players to more mtx's.

its marketing.

i would however say that if there are "alternate base models" those probably could justify having a USD cost, such as "Karui warrior" to replace the marauder, or "Old Sage" to replace the monk.

gender swap? man what year do we live in?

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ChanBalam wrote:

Gender selection would be a great feature. I would have thought that the new animations would be the most costly aspect of implementing it, not VO. In any case IIRC, GGG made $50 some million in pofit last year. A couple million more in VO expense seems hardly a challenge. The budget for POE2 must be a big one and spending a bit more to make it right seems like money well spent.

That much profit? After dividends? Geeze Louise. They really do old you/we old whales something then. We were there for them when the game was hella budget. When (and this is apocryphal but I believe it) a Blizzard afterparty cost more than the entirety of PoE 1.

Ah, who am I kidding? They're a business. Giving back is a good way to lose money when it means nothing more than reinforcing an existing loyalty *or* won't encourage people to support more.

Whee I'm such a cynic these days.

Gender selection is like the last thing i care about in a game tbh

Maybe its just me. With opening statements like "modern game", "minimum requirements", and "gender" all in the first paragraph I cant unsee the direction of the rest of the post that I did not read.

In my opinion we dont need to be able to chose gender. But its for sure better if we could no question. But "Minimum bar".... not for me.

What could be a fantastic solution: Microtransactions enabling for example Witch-Modell with voicelines for other chars. You just would need to make some art for the pictures (for example picture for a juggernaut witch, a deadeye witch). Should be really cheap to introduce and they would probably sell some of that micros. Its a pure cosmetic micro too. So it would perfectly fit in a F2P game.

(switched modell would have same voicelines with every ascendency. A standard witch would have same voiceline as an jugg witch. it would just change the pictures and the used modell for an ascendency)

Here here!

Why is this a thing / thread? It is a game. It is an ARPG game. Doesn't matter who you are or what GENDER you are, if you can kill hordes of monsters and bosses then so be it.

Stop taking A GAME so personally. No reason to write a dissertation on the subject either... just LOG IN, have fun and PLAY!

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hmcg020 wrote:

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Solrac_1 wrote:

I totally agree, every class should be able to be both male and female. I'm only playing POE 2 if Witch and Sorceress have male options otherwise I'm skipping the game.

This post is not about gender not sex. So, some of the characteristics of both genders being able to be applied to whatever base sex-model like in BG3. Big dick, a beard and broad shoulders with a woman's voice, etc. Some people love that shit and a side effect is some hilarious combinations that we get to see. Others just want to see themselves in the game they're playing and that's a great thing for a company to be able to accommodate. I agree that I would like to have a sex-selection for each class. I don't expect GGG to aim for the progressive accolades BG3 got though.

BG3 received massive criticism for having attractive female character models. So, even though they had the most progressive character creation and some of the most progressive dialogue and romance options of any game every made, the hardcore leftists were still foaming at the mouth that it wasn't enough. As soon as GGG goes down that road, people who lament critical gender theory not being the focal point of the Dev team, will never stop. This is where the whole chud line of "get woke go broke" stems from.

Also if I remember correctly BG3 won all major 2023 game of the year awards. Because they went all in with the game, [Removed by Support].

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ABagOfChitlins wrote:

Here here!

Why is this a thing / thread? It is a game. It is an ARPG game. Doesn't matter who you are or what GENDER you are, if you can kill hordes of monsters and bosses then so be it.

Stop taking A GAME so personally. No reason to write a dissertation on the subject either... just LOG IN, have fun and PLAY!

And I'm even getting censored, GGG sure doesn't want to be criticized.