Are you for or against the addition of race-based bonuses?

[darkm0d]

So I could be wrong, but I believe most MMO's include racial-bonuses. I never played WoW or GW1/2 so I am not sure how advantageous those were, I played a bit of TERA and the racials there were not bad, just small enough to give you a little bit of individuality.

I know Yoshi P has stated many times that he wants to and has planned on streamlining FFXIV: ARR into a more "standard" MMO architecture, that being said, what are the chances of his team addressing the topic of Racial skills, stats and or passives?

I personally would not mind it. There are of course some downsides, anyone who played XI knows the few seconds you might wonder about inviting that taru paladin, or that galka whm. As a taru I did feel somewhat subconscious whenever I was playing as a DD, feeling that my low HP pool and natively higher INT just felt wrong. But, when I played a mage class I was everyone's best friend.

There in lies the biggest anti-racial's issue, A player should not feel like they have to pick a race to play a job. If you want to be a roegadyn and play a whm, you should be able to without worrying about a massively slashed MP pool that you'll inevitably need to counter with your RSE -- but, that does indeed act as a counter measure. I'm sure some people did not mind, though I'd rather the HP/MP pools be left for the most part unmodified. Maybe minor stat adjustments, or actual skills / passives.

The idea of race-specific passives or actives is something that does interest me. I feel it adds a great amount of depth when you have to give reason behind a decisions you make in a video game. I would still want them to be subtle, nothing game changing in anyway, just something quirky. Some idea's off the top of my head:

Lalafell: Natures Touch -- Soothes an aggressive monster for 15 seconds, 15 min CD.

Mi'qote Hunters Prowess -- (10%) Increased damage against all prey-type enemies.

Hyur Indomitable Spirit -- Reduces damage taken by 10% when HP critical (red).

Elezen Spiritual Attunement -- Grants 500 MP to a target unit, 30 minute CD.

Roegadyn Beast Hunger -- Able to consume raw meat's from prey for temporary buffs.

I know you can already eat some meats (I think) but this would change that a bit, or give Roegadyn's the exclusive ability to eat uncooked meat, or something to that degree. Those are of course just idea's I just got off the top of my head, if anyone else has any fun concepts or idea's you are more than welcome to post, and I will try to update this post.

Some idea's from Nakiamiie

• Can shout twice as far (everyone can hear it from twice the distance);
• Can hear shouts from twice as far (you can hear anyone's shout from twice the distance);
• Can jump 25% higher;
• Can turn anonymous temporarily (random name and appearance change -- same race, same gender though);
• Can intimidate most city NPCs (make them shake in fear when you are close to them -- can force the NPC to give away a cheap random item, like a mini-firework, a copper ore, etc. once every week);
• Can charm most city NPCs (change the dialogue for a very sweet one -- get a random useable item like a mini-firework, a cookie, etc. once every week);
• Can eat raw meat/fish and receive an enhanced bonus (visual effect for coolness while the food is in effect and/or slightly longer time, instead of 30 minutes it could be 40 minutes)
• Can track another player or NPC (click and "mark", then you can follow tracks temporarily)
• etc. (just be creative! It will make cities more lively and allows for fun things to happen spontaneously.)

[Doho]

I am not against this.

EDIT: I'd rather they all be passive traits though. No reason, just personal preference.

[AlexNiculaie]

Against. Character choice should be about aesthetics, not game mechanics. We had enough of that nonsense in XI. "What? You're a Galka? You can't be a mage, you idiot!" No. Thanks.

[SuzakuCMX]

Lalafell: Natures Touch -- Soothes an aggressive monster for 15 seconds, 15 min CD.

Ridiculously bad. If you have a WHM or BLM you can already spam Sleep/Sleepga until the enemy resists it, and this would likely be resisted in the same way....if not, well, still not all that useful considering 15 min CD.

Mi'qote Hunters Prowess -- (10%) Increased damage against all prey-type enemies.

Ridiculously OP. Automatically makes Miqo'te the best DDs in the game since other races cannot make up 10% extra damage in any way.

Hyur Indomitable Spirit -- Reduces damage taken by 10% when HP critical (red).

Ridiculously OP. Automatically makes Hyur the best tanks in the game.

Elezen Spiritual Attunement -- Grants 500 MP to a target unit, 30 minute CD.

Almost useless. MP boon is nice but WHM rarely run out of MP when being played properly and BLM will just run out of MP right after.

Roegadyn Beast Hunger -- Able to consume raw meat's from prey for temporary buffs.

So basically they can eat food.

It's a nice idea but incredibly hard to balance. If it's powerful enough to make a difference then it's too powerful to implement. If it's not powerful enough to make a difference, why have it there in the first place (Roegadyn, Lalafell). Especially the ones you have, 3/5 races can hardly make use of their ability and 2/5 have ones that automatically make them 10x better at roles than the other races.

[darkm0d]

Against. Character choice should be about aesthetics, not game mechanics. We had enough of that nonsense in XI. "What? You're a Galka? You can't be a mage, you idiot!" No. Thanks.

That's largely why my post talks about non-breaking traits and abilities.

[AlexNiculaie]

Except the abilities given as examples would impact actual job choices. When it comes down to it, any "racial specials" are going to do such. The only way around that would be the abilities only affected items, and even that would wind up leading to some sort of abuse.

[darkm0d]

I agree mostly, it's not easy to come up with the right fit to things. It is just speculation and idea's to get the community thinking. The 10% dmg for Mi'qote against prey, I'm thinking rats, squirrels and perhaps avians. I don't consider it -that- game breaking, but of course, if say someone decided to parse it, and they killed birds or rats all day long then yes they'd have more damage overall. I will say I judges these against my own feelings and deemed it alright.

The -10% DR for Hyur I would agree may be a little OP, but the way I see it, lets say you have 3000 HP, and go red at like, 750 (I don't know what the % range is for red), at 750 HP, I mean, it will stack up eventually but I would hope it would not be too relied on, though I can see how it might be. I was thinking of giving them a crafting bonus, because in my head humans and industrialization, etc. But I felt that would be RMT/OP heaven.

I ultimately wouldn't want anyone to choose a race for a racial over a race they'd rather play, but I do want it to be a subtle little thing you can have fun with.

Your input is totally appreciated though, perhaps you could come up with some idea's?

[Chardrizard]

Definitely not racial traits lol, what they did on FFXI was fine, people took pride in being Galka Mage, Taru Tank/melee, and so on. They gains slight disadvantages but it made people work harder on their toon so they can outdo the better race.

[KaplanHomahru]

Against. Race should be aesthetics only imo

[Kluya15]

Sorry, completely against this. Keep races aesthetics only plz