Returning player - what to choose?

[Leyra]

I played at the start and up to halloween last year. Something went wrong and I lost access to my account and quit. Things did eventually get sorted but by then I was doing other things. However I haven't found anything like as good a storyline anywhere else so now returning and haven't a clue what race to choose or what class to start on. So a few questions:

1] Does the class I start on affect my main storyline or is it the same for all? Unsure if it's linked to race or class or starter area?

2] What races are there less of and why? I would love to be a less common race if there isn't a snag to that race that others have avoided.

3] Is it an option to leave gathering/crafting professions until much much later or would that put me at a disadvantage somehow?

Thanks for reading

[Enkidoh]

Welcome back!

To answer your questions:

1) Class is battle orientated so it doesn't really have a bearing on how the story progresses. It does however determine which city you start the game in, based on the location of that class's Guild. However, once you unlock the Armoury System you can change this class at will later.
2) This is just my opinion based on personal experiences, but I think female roegadyn are probably the least popular race. As race and gender is purely cosmetic though, and given the fact you can change your race using the Fantasia item, it's now not uncommon to see previously less popular races becoming more common as players start to experiment with races they didn't consider playing as at first.
3) It is perfectly fine to leave crafting and gathering to later - whatever class you want to play as is completely up to you. You're free to only concentrate on one or two classes and ignore the rest, or level all of them. A lot of players like to level Disciples of the Hand and Land though to as a means of providing a source of income in the game (as well as being able to infuse materia to equipment and repair damaged gear at will), but you can easily get by without doing this. So don't feel bad if you just want to concentrate on playing the game by chucking spells at monsters or swinging a weapon around.

[Niwashi]

1] Does the class I start on affect my main storyline or is it the same for all? Unsure if it's linked to race or class or starter area?

Your starting class determines which city you'll begin in, and the first 15 levels of the story are based on that starting city. After that, the stories merge and it no longer matters where you started. And even in those first 15 levels, classes that share the same starting city will have the same main story.

2] What races are there less of and why? I would love to be a less common race if there isn't a snag to that race that others have avoided.

There's lots of Mi'qote and Hyur. Any of the others would probably suit your rarity desire. The only one with a snag I can think of is that Lalafel sometimes have a harder time getting the camera angle where they can see everything easily, just because of their lower vantage point, but you can usually overcome that just by pulling the camera back further.

3] Is it an option to leave gathering/crafting professions until much much later or would that put me at a disadvantage somehow?

The only disadvantage would be that you can't craft your own leveling gear, but plenty of players don't do that anyway. I think it's certainly an option at any rate to do it whenever you choose.

[ZarethTolabain]

1) Other than the few quests you get in the beginning that get you acquainted with your starting area, no...not really. Overall the story line is relatively the same across the board with starting areas, class, and/or race having little to no impact, what-so-ever. Race in particular means precisely zip regards to story.

2) I'm...not really sure I've ever noticed any particular lacking or over-abundance of any specific race.

3) I recently hit level 50 for the first time with my Ninja job (after basically switching out from 45 SMN), with varied lvl alt jobs. My gathering/crafting jobs however...i have basically left untouched to date. Think i may have weaver at like...3 and botanist is sitting at like level 8 or 9. So no...they're not specifically required to do or anything (for the most part, anyway*) and can be delayed if you wish.

*Case in point. As mentioned...I just hit 50 with Ninja. I've not had to do a single craft or gather for the entire trip (nor at any time for any of my other classes/jobs). Then I went to my relic weapon quest and discovered that...to make the knives I need a lvl 50 alchemist. Well THAT sucks. That being said...more often than not...should you need a crafter for something, there is not shortage of folks that are willing to put their skills to use for you (especially if you're providing the materials...though some may or may not charge you for services rendered. I got lucky and found someone willing to do it for free.)

[Zentsa]

There's lots of Mi'qote and Hyur and Lalafell.
.

/10 chars....

[Leyra]

Thank you for some great answers

I've been messing around making and remaking chars trying to decide which to go with. It's very important that I get this right as I want to break my normal behaviour habit of many many alts and choose just one char to take it all the way through the game. This has to be the best game to do so with it allowing all classes on one char. It's taken me best part of 3 days to decide but with your help I have now chosen to play elzen duskwight on Phoenix server starting as a magic class. The only char I had left from when I played before was a lvl 2 Miquote on Odin and as it's so hard to remake chars on there I decide swap server, but I can't quite bring myself to delete her. I do wonder though what on earth I did with my original char from last year. Did I delete her last year? oh silly me if so as she had just unlocked chocobo fight training. Still that is past and now is a new start on a new server and is going to be fun

[Anova]

Congrats! btw, you may want to switch your main character on the forum to your new one, as the forum posting restrictions are based off on a single designated character. That means you may potentially be restricted to this forum as a lv.4 archer if you don't change.

To change, go to:
My Profile (top right of page)
Character Tab (2 tabs, about me and character)
click and put the yellow star on the character you want as a main.

[Leyra]

I think I may be a hopeless case lol. Best plans and all just didn't work. Right now I have 4 characters on 4 different servers and cannot decide between them so I haven't got very far. No idea how I'm going to decide!

Anyone got a cure a indecision? I need one :P

[whiskeybravo]

Anyone got a cure a indecision? I need one :P

I usually just flip a coin xD

[Sapphic]

I think I may be a hopeless case lol. Best plans and all just didn't work. Right now I have 4 characters on 4 different servers and cannot decide between them so I haven't got very far. No idea how I'm going to decide!

Anyone got a cure a indecision? I need one :P

Feel free to give me a /tell on Odin if need any advice/tips/help.