How did you choose your main's race, and why do you stick with it?

[DefectiveMuse]

Hi everybody, I'm brand new to this forum and only a week into the game. I'm not new to MMOs, but I am new to more "standard" MMOs since I have exclusively played f2p or "buy-once-play-forever"s. My main experience is in Mabinogi and my former mainstay: Guild Wars 2.

Long story short, I am a serial character creator due to GW2's one-char-one-class system. I love Miqo'te but feel too hipstery (embarrassing) to want to stick with one when I see 300 others all the time. My other 2 top choices are Elezen and Au Ra. I already have one of each but can't decide which to stick with.

I need to stick to one char. There is no functional reason for me to make more than one when I'm just starting out.

What race is your main? How do you stick with it when you see chars of other races looking super awesome? Am I wrong that everyone ever is playing Miqo'te?

I know the aesthetician is a thing but I don't think he can change your race...

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: After saying I was gonna stop making new characters, I'm finally really done making characters. My Miqo is unique enough that I don't feel like a catclone. <3

[Canadane]

Au Ra has no apostrophe!
As for me, I like catgirls in general so it was an easy choice. I mean seeing a badass looking pose on another race is cool and all but I have my own appeal too!

Just go with what you synergize with more, my friend!

[Lambdafish]

I actually loosely based my character design on Zidane from FFXI initially, it was less about the cat features and more about the tail and the trickster-esque animations that I wanted. I stick with it because at this point it is my character identity, and changing it would feel weird (and that is a personal immersion breaking thing).

[DefectiveMuse]

Well, it turns out what helped me most was previewing armors on each race. Au Ra looks best in them to me! So Au Ra it is. :3 Thanks guys!

EDIT: ...I made a Miqo'te too. Aaaaaah I'm a sucker for cats. Maybe I'll just alternate between them until one sticks.

[Caitlyn]

Even I miss my favorite hairstyle, but Au Ra was too sexy. I couldnt resist ^^.

[DPZ2]

Male Miqo'te from day 1 [my day 1, not ARR's]. The body shape is great (wish I looked that good when I was younger), animations are cool, and that 'chuckle' emote is perfect.

I've tried others, but didn't get a look and feel I like, except for the Lala monk I made as an alt.

For a race change, you get two free bottles of Fantasia while leveling up. They can help you change to another race in Eorzea.

[Shadotterdan]

I was a Taru BLM main on FFXI, so it just made sense to me to go as a BLM Lalafell. Somewhere along the line though I started maining PLD to help out with FC stuff.

[Shurrikhan]

Male Miqo'te from day 1 [my day 1, not ARR's]. The body shape is great (wish I looked that good when I was younger), animations are cool, and that 'chuckle' emote is perfect.

I've tried others, but didn't get a look and feel I like, except for the Lala monk I made as an alt.

For a race change, you get two free bottles of Fantasia while leveling up. They can help you change to another race in Eorzea.

The /grovel sold catmen for me, on my alt. Even now I consider using their VR fantasias to switch them, but no included name change. But, just fell too in love with the female miqo'te running animation from all that traveling about the 1.x world, most of that with only Quickstride, Fists of Wind, or later Swiftsong to accelerate travel. This character in her original form just had too much history behind her to give up. That and the claw hands and the pelvis-forward stance kind of bug me on the males, as much as I really do like the physique. Reminds me of when I actually kept up with martial arts practice... >.>

[Atoli]

How do you stick with it when you see chars of other races looking super awesome?

That's easy - I don't
There is this wonderful thing called Fantasia, and..yes..it easily gets you addicted, but that's okay °-°
It's okay, you hear?! Take it! Drink it! Again! You will like it and you will understand me!!

Okay, on a more serious note x)
I was Miqo'te for the longest time. Emotes are usually the biggest deal for me, because something that feels super natural to you might be incredibly awkward on a different race.
Miqo'te emotes just felt right for me. Also, they were nice and girly but still had something that made them more "exciting" than boring normal humans (cat eyes, fangs, ears and tail).
I had decided I'd switch to Au Ra once HW would be released months in advance. But it still took me nearly a full year and lots of Fantasias (going back and forth between Miqo'te and Au Ra..and Lala because why the hell not) until I made the final decision and also changed my name to fit the new race. That helped settle down in one race, because having a race-specific name would be weird as the wrong race

Au Ra are fairly common as well, but honestly, I wouldn't mind that if I were you. You pick it because you like it. What's the point in playing a race that is rare if the reason that it is rare is because most people think they look ugly?
For example, there are usually only a handful of female Roegadyns on each server. If you just care about rare, that's the way to go. But there IS a reason they are so rare. It's very hard to make them look good (and even then, it's really a matter of taste).
Miqo'te and Au Ra are popular because they fit the common ideal of attractiveness, and I don't see anything wrong with following that if that also fits your own ideals best

@choosing:
I originally chose Miqo'te because I love cats in RL and I had only played MMOs with normal humans before, so it was pretty cool to be able to play as a race that looked and moved so much like my favorite animal.
The distant, otherworldly beauty of the Au Ra ladies captivated me through the trailers and benchmarks though, and once I had a taste of it, going back to Miqo'te felt..boring, too familiar, too in-your-face.
So I ended up going back to and sticking with Au Ra, even though I sometimes miss the direct, earnest emotes and natural way of moving that the Miqo'te had

But I'll be honest: I WILL get the cravings to be a super adorable lala again, or a fluffy kitty, so I'll end up throwing money at SE again for more Fantasias. It's just that Au Ra is my MAIN race now, the one I go back to after all the raceswitching craziness ^^°

[Sentaryuu]

I chose male Miqo'te because catboys are fairly uncommon in general and I just couldn't resist being one when I discovered I could be one in a game. However, my only complaint is I wish some of their animations and stance were slightly better. I have been a female Miqo and a male Lala, but I'll always go back to my first choice, no matter how cute my chara was as a Lala. xD I love my male Miqo too much.