Unbalanced racial traits.

[Glitch]

I have been playing a Taru since PS2 release in the US (before that I was playing a Galka and switched when I got my 2nd account), and I've loved it for years.

However, after the release of Abyssea I found that there were many things that pose a near-impossible challenge for Tarutaru because of the directly proportionate widening of the HP gap between the least (Taru) and greatest (Galka) max HP pool. Inside Abyssea Tarutaru melees tend to get one-shotted by attacks that a Galka or Elvaan simply scoff at. Even Humes and Mithra find no difficulty standing up to attacks that lay a poor Taru into critical HP or worse. Outside of Abyssea it's not so bad. There are still very few things a Taru can't do that another race could.

Before this comes across as a complaint, which to some I'm sure it already has, I would point out that it's more a point of balance or the lack thereof.
Tarutaru having low HP is offset by a high MP pool. The problem is that both are disproportionately lower/higher than that of the other races when compared to the next step up/down i.e. The differences between Hume/Mithra and Elvaan and between Elvaan and Galka are significantly less than the differences between Tarutaru and Hume/Mithra.

The enhancements to HP and MP in Abyssea amplifies the gap considerably. On the other hand, due to the high level of refresh that can be obtained rather easily in Abyssea the higher MP pool of the Tarutaru does not provide a benefit equal to the disadvantage to HP. Before someone makes an obvious point let me clarify that statement. Yes, there are things that Taru mages can do that Galka and Elvaan cannot, and sometimes even Hume or Mithra. The point is, there are a great deal more things that these races are capable of on melee jobs that Taru simply are not, or have a nearly impossible time doing.

According to the most widely accepted Enmity formula, Max HP plays a measurable role in determining both Enmity gain and retention. This is indeed noticeable when comparing two equally equipped tanks of Taru and any other race.

Outside Abyssea, as I mentioned before, the gap isn't as extreme and players can be happy with the balance of a particular race's strengths compared to others. However, as refresh has also become increasingly easier to stack up, the gap is beginning to widen slowly. As level caps increase and more and better sources of refresh become available it will grow.

The ability score gap between races is rather negligible in Abyssea. Yes, a Taru will out-nuke any other race when equally geared/atma'd/etc. Other races will be the top of the pyramid in other abilities, like weaponskills that correspond to their highest ability and so on. The ability score gap, while noticeable, is well balanced and makes little difference to the overall capabilities of any job for any race. Instead, it does just as it was intended to do; distinguish each race in their natural roles without unbalancing their capabilities.

Specific equipment has been added that counterbalances each race's weaknesses, and a lot of it. But let's face it, who doesn't laugh at the Elvaan BLM who's wearing a crap-ton of MP+ gear instead of full MAB/INT for nuking? The same can be said of Tarutaru on melee jobs. If you are wearing HP+ equips you are sacrificing STR, DEX, Accuracy, Attack Power, special traits such as Double Attack %, or Haste %.

My point. I would very much like to see some way to balance the large gap between the highest and lowest Max HP and Max MP pools within Abyssea. Perhaps special Atma available only to each race that is comparable to some of the popular ones for the jobs that the race is at a disadvantage on, but with added benefits to HP or MP to help bridge the gap a little. Or maybe special quests that grant an extra racial Abyssite that enhances the necessary attribute.

[DebbieGibson]

Just play Monk. Then strip off all your AF3 in front of everybody!

[Neisan_Quetz]

If you're getting one shot on a frequent basis you're doing it wrong/don't know what PDT/MDT/eleresist sets/shell do. Also get merit abyssites it isn't that hard for Taru melee to tank anything, less leeway sure but getting oneshot consistently doesn't happen if you're prepared.

[wish12oz]

If you're getting one shot on a frequent basis you're doing it wrong/don't know what PDT/MDT/eleresist sets/shell do. Also get merit abyssites it isn't that hard for Taru melee to tank anything, less leeway sure but getting oneshot consistently doesn't happen if you're prepared.

This^


Also: GO CAT DEX 4TW!

[Meyi]

I thought you were going to mention how at 75, Elvaan had like +5 more STR than Tarus but Tarus had +7 more INT than Elvaan. (I don't know if this is still unbalanced at 90 or if it'll be unbalanced at 99).

Other than that, races have always had their pros and cons. It's not so bad that the majority of it can't be offset by armor. And now, with Abyssea, you can level so fast that you could always make another character for that job.

[RAIST]

Merits? Not sure just how big the disparity is at 90...but I would like to think +120 from merits could take up a good chunk of that slack.

Edit:
http://bellsouthpwp2.net/k/i/kinemat...tatCalculator/

According to this app, max hp merits covers around 1/2 of the base gap from Taru to Hume, about 1/4 the gap to Galka. Not perfect, but it's a start I guess.

[Alhanelem]

Merit HP.

I'm galka, tend to play jobs with MP, and put most of my hp/mp merits into MP. You put yours in HP, it closes the gap. Your RSE gear boosts HP. You can offset these racial differences.

[rog]

You can offset these racial differences.

No, actually you cannot. Galkas can merit hp, and tarus can merit int too, fyi. And RSE is entirely worthless.

[Kincard]

Things are definitely stacked against Tarutarus in Abyssea, because a couple fights into the content you'll have essentially infinite MP, which makes the MP advantage that Tarutarus have pointless. Base stat differences don't matter much at all because the boosts are so large that they tend to overshadow the few points that racial differences have.

Basically, the problem isn't that there's racial differences, but that Abyssea made it so that only one really matters (HP).

And as Rog said, RSE is completely worthless.

[rog]

Things are definitely stacked against Tarutarus in Abyssea, because a couple fights into the content you'll have essentially infinite MP, which makes the MP advantage that Tarutarus have pointless.

True for whm. Not at all true for nukers, especially for blm with manawall (though of course even without using manawall, you can easily nuke through mp very quickly).

Max mp is even more useful in abyssea actually, because cruor buffs are stacked for hp over mp, so convert (which every mage/rdm has now) is basically a matter of getting mp as high as possible. Also, martellos and elixirs recover mp based on your max mp. The higher your max mp, the faster you can recover it.