For me, elves are undoubtedly my go-to choice, but they have to be a particular breed of elf. I especially liked the Aen Elle of the Witcher cosmos, the Altmer and Dunmer of TES, the drow elves of the Forgotten Realms, the Eldar and Dark Eldar of WH40k, or above all others, the blood elves, Naga and Highborne of Warcraft. Generally, what I like about them is their existence as an ancient, long-lived, ethereal race of beings that refuse to simply fade away and continue to vie for their position in the world, be it one of dominance or mere survival. I also have a thing for races which turn to dark powers in pursuit of these aims, so I'd add the Man'ari Eredar of Warcraft to that list, and it is thus little wonder why I like the Ascians and the ancients in XIV. As I enjoy arcane magic in fantasy settings, the elves' common affinity for that further seals the deal. I'm not too fond of the vanilla D&D elf aesthetic and I like games which depart from it a bit, as Warcraft & Witcher did with their elves... blood elves were more or less ideal to me.

In terms of classes, I enjoy arcane magic-wielders and those dabbling in their darker aspects, so be it a mage, sorcerer, warlock, demonologist, necromancer, whatever, I like those. I also enjoy classes that fuse magic with swordsmanship. I tend to be least drawn to archers, gunmen etc.

XIV hasn't really got any elves I like, so I default to midlanders as they look pretty good in most gear, but I like the classically handsome features of male Au Ra, as well as their slightly devilish look, as well. Viera are a touch too effeminate for my liking. Class-wise? SMN and BLM would be the ones I enjoy most, though I wish the game had something like a Void mage. Among the other jobs, I like DRG and RPR - the latter especially for its use of darkness and heavily integrating it into its attacks. SAM and DRK to a lesser degree are also not bad jobs and have appealing aesthetics. I use WHM and PLD extensively in FL but mainly for the objective of winning; if someone has those covered, BLM is my go-to.

So I tend to go in with a rather fixed idea of what I like to play. I do try other stuff from time to time but it rarely satisfies me much.