The Arasai (pictures included.)

[AdamWest007]

This...absolutely...sucks.

[Velsha]

Raveller wrote:

Vyrance wrote:

i swear, some people will complain about anything.  the dark elves are the same exact thing as the arasai.  yet everyone loves the dark elves.

Dark elves suck. They're played exclusively by teen-angst goth wannabes with no lives.

lol.. that's quite a generalization, don't you think? I'm not a teenager, I'm certainly not goth, and I have a professional career.

[Rabid-Othmir]

Raveller wrote:

This should NOT count as the promised new evil race.

It shouldn't, but you should know that it will.

[interstellarmatter]

Raveller wrote:

Vyrance wrote:

i swear, some people will complain about anything.  the dark elves are the same exact thing as the arasai.  yet everyone loves the dark elves.

Dark elves suck. They're played exclusively by teen-angst goth wannabes with no lives.

hahahaha! Was that the best that you could come up with?

[Goaldan]

If there were significant differences, like there are between the high elves and dark elves, I don't think the reaction would be so negative.

However, when you can't tell at a glance, the difference between a fae and an arasai, there's a problem.

The arasai are not unique enough looking compared to the fae.   The unique hairstyles and wing patterns don't matter, especially since they have access to nearly the same range of colors.  More needs to be done to make the arasai 'stand out', like the dark elves compared to high elves.

[SillyMonk]

Honestly? I have to agree with some of the opinions here that talk about this being a cop out. A lot of this was brought about, I'm sure, by the crying about not having an evil fae. Slapping some new hairdoo's and different skin coloring onto a fae hardly constitutes it being evil. I really feel cheated (yes, I know it's a FREE update) out of a decent representitive for Team Evil. I would've LOVED to play a Minotaur (loved that race since tabletop D&D), for example. I understand it's easier to do it this way, but it is kinda cheap.

However, the bringing back of Neriak? Can't wait to get in there and play around a bit.

[Velsha]

Considering this race is part of a free update, rather than content you pay for, I am really not surprised. This also doesn't totally mean that we won't see a new evil race with the allged Kunark expansion. In my opinion, this was simply a race that was always supposed to be added in, but for whatever reason was saved until later. If you don't like the new Fae, then don't play them.

[Kaishod]

SillyMonkey wrote:

Honestly? I have to agree with some of the opinions here that talk about this being a cop out. A lot of this was brought about, I'm sure, by the crying about not having an evil fae. Slapping some new hairdoo's and different skin coloring onto a fae hardly constitutes it being evil. I really feel cheated (yes, I know it's a FREE update) out of a decent representitive for Team Evil. I would've LOVED to play a Minotaur (loved that race since tabletop D&D), for example. I understand it's easier to do it this way, but it is kinda cheap.

However, the bringing back of Neriak? Can't wait to get in there and play around a bit.

I think if they HAD to make an evil flying race, why couldn't the dark elves have enslaved the Droag or something...

Yea... can't wait to visit Neriak   maybe one day Oggok will be found and brought into the game so the Ogre can be a proud and strong race again so we can take over Norrath ...

[cronar]

Heterosexual, masculine adult male piping in here. I love the Fae, have three of them. One even made as a Female because i felt like it.

It seems that some people DO have a problem seperating reality from video games.

Go Go 3 station passes. Time to roll up a Aresei. Now which class to make????

[Haz]

I like the Arsai. I think they are really cool. I'm pretty excited, and I'm patching text. (3.6 gigs of files. Never done it before. =[ ) I wished they came up with something really cool, like evil Gnolls or some sort of Wolf race. OMG, if they had a wolf race...awesome. ANYWAY, I think the arsai are neater than the fae and maybe something new will come from the alleged Kunark expansion. =]]

[dalaorn_eq2]

Raveller wrote:

Rijacki wrote:

It's a cop-out no matter how you cut it. This 'new' race isn't new at all, just a recolor of the fae. The 'lore' they gave you is nothing but a spin. This should NOT count as the promised new evil race.

Agreed.  The Arasai are fine, but it shouldn't count against adding a playable evil race for the Kunark expansion (if there will be one).

[Rakyn]

Raveller wrote:

Vyrance wrote:

i swear, some people will complain about anything.  the dark elves are the same exact thing as the arasai.  yet everyone loves the dark elves.

Dark elves suck. They're played exclusively by teen-angst goth wannabes with no lives.

Yep. That's why I cut myself, cry about life and pray to satan every night before I go to bed. Good job ya fallacious [Removed for Content].

[Rabid-Othmir]

All the naysayers can relax, I have personally seen the differences between the two races. And to think that some people were afraid that the only difference would be the wings.

[Mion da Peon]

Ok SOE... don't panic... there is still time to fix this before the new race goes live.  Here's how:

Give the Arasai  6 arms.

No. Seriously. Scrape up some new animations, give them more weapon slots (modify weapon values by 1/3rd), and Vwala! novel content.

[Darian]

Rabid-Othmir wrote:

All the naysayers can relax, I have personally seen the differences between the two races. And to think that some people were afraid that the only difference would be the wings.

LOL [Removed for Content] omg wow those Arasai look WAY different its so obvious they are a new completely different race.

[Azzikai]

RFMan wrote:

Lore or not, this is just stupid.  Why do they love fairies so much?  I can't think of one logical marketing reason as to why they would choose 2 sets of fairies, because people generally don't like them at all -- especially us males.  So I ask of you: WHY?!  Why do you continue to alienate content from a large portion of your player base by choosing stupid races for us to play?  You know how many males I can think of that play a fae?  None.  Absolutely none.  You make one, and it's cool because of the gliding, but then you realize that you're playing a fairie, and you delete the character.  That's what happened to me, and that's what happens to a lot of people.

There were many a "what race would you like to see" posts on the EQ forums and guess what always came out as number one? Yeah, that would be Fairies I think you're projecting some weird insecurities you have regarding your online persona onto a whole bunch of people who don't exactly agree with you. Seriously, there are guys out there who have no problems with playing a feminine character, including the guy sitting next to me

[Sphiriah]

I like the Arasai. I really do. But, really, how hard would it be to add some horns and a tail?

[Mwahaha]

One thing to remember is that the new race isn't live yet so changes still can be made which I'm sure will happen since having a Arasai say something like "For Tunare!" just doesn't fit.

[baguetteovenfresh]

since they only have a couple new hairdos i would say there probably will be at least  new hair. disfiguring scars or grotesque tattoos if not tails/horns would be nice - id rather play an imp than a fairy!

[Mion da Peon]

A Six armed imp! (See page 3)

Please add more content which actually pertains to game mechanics.  It doesn't always need to scale up, just be new and interesting.  This'll give people some incentive to re-roll a new race besides pretty wings to look at.  Added mechanics also should increase the potency, recollection, and popularity of any given content.  This was the success story of the beastmaster class, replaying old content but from a some what novel solo position.  In a way, I think all the controls implemented in EQ2 take away from a novel gaming experience, but this framework should also make it easier to balance new additions to the family like a race with 6 weapon slots.

At least make sure they have almost completely different racial traits...

[Catsy]

Oh, good grief. Take a step back and think about how many different types of elves there are in EQ2. Half Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, and Dark Elves all have their differences, yes--but for the most part they amount to available coloration and and hairstyles. There are subtle differences in size and facial structure, depending on what models you have enabled, but they're so subtle as to be unnoticeable if you're not zoomed in closely. I agree that the Arasai need more distinct color ranges. Part of the problem is that fae are already so colorful that it's hard to pick any given color range that would stand out as not-fae. But the new wing designs and hairstyles are very unique, and unless you play so zoomed out that all fae look alike to you anyway, they'll be very distinct. Sure, you can game the appearance generator so that it makes the two races look very similar if you really try. You can do the same thing with all but the Dark Elves, and not the latter only because of how dark their coloration range is. I'm interested to see what the racial traditions of the Arasai will be like.

[Dartessa]

I'm not one to complain cause I'm really happy about the addition, though some bat-like/demon-like wings would be a nice addin =)

[Drewx]

By the gods more fairies?! MORE FAIRIES?! I had hoped and prayed the rumors were false...I really did not want to see Arasai....

This cannot count as the promised evil race...this is a slap in face of every evil player. Then SOE gives us some freaking lore bull crap. Thats a load of crap. Whats next a rehash of a froglok? Why can the evil races get no new ORIGINAL race? The Good side has gotten original races and we get rehashes...this is not "love" for the evil side.

I wont lie...I am THRILLED about Neriak...but the Arasai are better left never created, they must not leave that test server. I doubt the Good side would be thrilled if you had given them some "Light/Blessed" Version of the Ratonga rather than the Fae.

They hardly look different aside from the color scheme...this is just...insulting. I'm guessing SoE wants to [Removed for Content] off every evil player? What about the Fae who have betrayed? They gonan get a race change option? Only way to truely justify and make some difference is to ban Fae and Arasai betrayal. We have enough [I cannot control my vocabulary] fairies.

Whats next...a new neutral Fairy Race?! I'm sorry but SOE truely did drop the ball on this one. No MMO has an exact clone of another race. There is like a 5% difference in the Arasai...Neriak is best added in alone.

What is next? Neutral Fairies followed by Gnolls and Orcs joining Qeynos while Freeport is joined by Menlings and Toadloks?!

[Tandy]

I was a bit sad to see just different hairstyles, colors and wings for the arasai. But I guess for something totally free we cant get too upset Hopefully next expansion will have lots of cool new things.

[Ravaan]

Sotanyavejin@Guk wrote:

Oh, good grief. Take a step back and think about how many different types of elves there are in EQ2. Half Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, and Dark Elves all have their differences, yes--but for the most part they amount to available coloration and and hairstyles. There are subtle differences in size and facial structure, depending on what models you have enabled, but they're so subtle as to be unnoticeable if you're not zoomed in closely.

sorry but this is just a cop out, but to be honest if i had known about the "different" elves before EQ1 was made I probably would have complained about it as well. I mean really this is just Laziness.

Whats next?

Toadgoks - Frogloks that were corrupted by inny Trills - a sect of peaceful trolls that are trying to prove thier worth to Qeynos. Riksarian - a race of lizards that have been hidden for years and despise the Iksar.

So on and so forth?

New content right?

[Kyouki]

...I don't know what to say....

 IT'S FREE! ! ! What the hell are you [I cannot control my vocabulary]' about?! IT'S FREE ! ! ! and speaking of which... Fairies are ment to be evil in asian tradition, yet are seen friendly in our.. It seems fair to rub them the right way too.

[kenm]

Let me get this straight... (ALL IMAGES COMPLETELY STOLEN TO DEMONSTRATE MY POINT.) They took this: And then combined it with this: In order to make this: Yeah, that's awesome.  Really.

[Iseabeil]

Sure, you *can* make an arasai that looks like a fae, but why would you? You can make serval of the elven races look similar, but whats the point in that? If you make an arasai with the intention of it looking as it should, lore wise, it will be hard to make a fae copy cat, althou Id love to see someone try make a successfull fae version of my evil little girl:

[Catsy]

On a subject that doesn't involve whinging about free content, can anyone who's currently playing on Test post their observations about the Arasai racial traditions? I'm still at work and have to wait til I get home to check this out. I expect that since they have wings they would also have access to glide, but I'm curious as to whether or not they'll get the option of that wonderful run speed boost. Edit: gotta admit, Kenman's last post was hysterical. And Iseabeil, your Arasai looks frakking incredibly cool.

[zaun2]

I like the Arasai.  Its a race that is not in any MMO in any shape or fashion, and is unique to EQ2. As for Arasai racials, as of now, they are similar to Fae, where you can get glide and a 5% run speed boost.