Race Differences

[Ryans]

Is there anyone else that thinks there should be a difference between the playable races other than from a purely aesthetic point of view? I miss the days when tarus were clearly better suited for magic classes than they were for melee classes and when galkas would have massive hp pools but half the mp of most other races.

Given that I'm sure there a lot of people who like the option of playing a race they like based on the aesthetics and then not being limited on what classes they can play based simply on this fact. However, the way the game is in its current state, and if it plans to remain this way in the future, there is very little variation between characters because of how fast you can get from 1-50. This fact makes it so that every character is fairly identical to every other character (given even a moderate amount of time to level.)

If they changed the stats of races so that it would reflect more on what kind of playstyle is best suited for the race, there would at least be some way to differentiate between multiple of the same class by the races of the character.

Since there are two categories in each individual race, they could make the stats between the two different and allow for someone who prefers melee over caster but also prefers... say a Lalafell... could a pick the one that is more geared towards melee.

PS: None of the stat differences have to be as major as they were in ffxi.

Edit/Clarification: Since people are objecting without addressing posts later in the forum, let me make it clear.

I am not suggesting a race difference like FFXI. I do not want a Roedagyn to not be able to be a caster because their mp pool is abysmal. I simply want there to be a small difference in stats, around 5-10% taken from one or two stats and added to another to reflect what the race is, supposedly, evolutionarily apt towards.

More Clarification/Editing Taken from a later post of mine.

Numbers are assuming 10% of the stats are being changed for races and that all stats are currently 200 at Level 50 (which is obviously not the case, just using it for an example. These are not necessarily the percentages I would prefer.)

I'm not saying that there would be 20 points taken away from say... str and vit and added directly to one other stat. I would prefer that the 20 be split between the 2 or 3 stats that are favored by that race. For a Lalafell, they would have something like 7 less str and 13 less vit than they currently have, and 6 mnd, 7 piety, and 7 int increased (numbers at current cap of 50).

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have brought up FFXI as my example for race differentiation. People tend to blow everything FFXI out of proportion in its relation to FFXIV.

[Seirra_Lanzce]

I have to disagree, although asking for not to major, because even with just saying not to be very drastic or even little change, people are people and will told off that this race is best for this and this, and is suck.

[Answa]

I hated race differences in FFXI. I really don't want them in this game, to any degree. Since we're freely able to change classes, then I see it as a detriment to be penalized due to something I picked purely for its aesthetics.

[Brannigan]

No no no no no no no no no no no no

[Scherwiz]

It dosent have to be stats, it could be something else, I don't hate the idea.

[Rau]

Just purposefully gimp yourself in the stats you don't feel are appropriate to your RP character.

[Betelgeuzah]

I find this kind of limitation to be too much. You can do many things to make the lore more apparent to the player, but please don't let it influence my class/race choices.

[Scherwiz]

"The Duskwight Elezen have spent centuries in the peace and seclusion of Eorzea's caves and caverns. They have developed an acute sense of hearing, capable of detecting the faintest of sounds. This natural gift, and the uncanny awareness it grants, has proven advantageous in the field of hand-to-hand combat. Many of the reclusive Duskwight resort to robbery and pillaging to survive, earning them the scorn of their woodland relatives."


Taken directly from the official website.

[Ferth]

people immediately construe racial differences as weakness... Frankly I think it adds flavor and wouldn't mind seeing it being added when they add the new genders. People will already have the option to change races... so should they decide they don't like the stats their race has they can change their mind.

Another option would be racial traits. Traits so far are mostly horrible and uninspiring... I'm hoping with the planned changes in 1.2 and 1.21 it will put traits into a position of greater prominance to help define class roles and job roles... wouldn't be too hard to have a minor racial trait added too.

[Ryans]

I hated race differences in FFXI. I really don't want them in this game, to any degree. Since we're freely able to change classes, then I see it as a detriment to be penalized due to something I picked purely for its aesthetics.

A game where you are freely able to change classes is a game that needs race differences the most. A world of gray needs shades of black and white for contrast. If everyone is exactly the same, there is no reason to pick one person (with whom you have no prior experience with, for sake of argument) over another.

In FFXI, a decent portion of the population believed that you shouldn't invite a galka who is a caster because they couldn't compare to basically any other race in that matter. The fact is that it isn't true. A galka wouldn't be able to gear themselves using the traditional method and had to think outside of the conventional to compete with a taru of the same skill and level.

There were many a galka that could out DD a taru simply because the taru had a sense of entitlement and didn't think they'd have to try too hard to compete.

I guess my point is that the game needs some way to distinguish between characters, be it race changes or class changes. Maybe the upcoming job system will be enough to diversify the classes, but the problem will likely still remain that everyone will have everything leveled to cap and therefore very similar.