FFXI Race Doesnt Matter

Alright, I know that most ppl understand that

skill-gear-race is an over-used and in most cases true progression in character ability...and i will never think not to invite a galka mage or taru tank or dd.

that being said...when you read most ffxi sites about gear selections...and search ffxiah...tell me why ppl charge a ton more +1 items....i mean if you are saying a Taru Sam = to an Elv Sam at 75.... why is the difference between 1...uno...one...eins...Str ring 10k-500k.

Now I understand that crafting isnt cheap and a lot of ppl make their living in FFXI HQ'ing equip...but if we are trying to make ppl feel better about their original pick of race with little or no knowledge of the game prior to creating a character... can we stop and say yes race does matter?

Am I saying you cant play your job with your current race? no...not at all...but if you knew the mechanics of the game when you 1st started playing would you be the same race? I had a friend that only played mage jobs...played since US lauch and was an elvaan...he is a damn fine player but sh*& he has kicked himself a million times not getting that taru mp.

Back to the original question...why buy a ring or piece of equipment that gives an extra 1...ONE stat when another race prolly has a good 5-9 more of that stat inherently for half a mill - millions?

If a RL friend wanted to start playing ffxi and was in love with SAM, would you say race doesnt matter or...would you say ELV has an inherent advantage to any other race since they have high STR?

taru's are the future.

Yes, I would. I chose Elvaan when I started playing because, out of all the races, they were the most aesthetically pleasing to me...and as it's something I've been staring at for 3 years, I've been happy with my choice. I play all the jobs (except COR and PUP, haven't unlocked those yet), not just the ones that my base stats compliment the best. With the amount of gear out there, it's not hard to work around the limits of one particular race...that's the beauty of it. I like the fact that you'll see WHM's of every race, and MNK's, and THF's...and that proper gear and skill in the job will trump any disadvantages that are inherent in the race itself.

As for the +1 items, to be honest, I never really understood the rationale of spending millions of gil for items that have like, an extra point of defense, or 1 more accuracy compared to the NQ. Some people like to have the absolute best ***they can, regardless of the money. They wanna show off maybe? Who knows, it's their money...I kinda lol about it myself at times, but if they got it, if they wanna flaunt it, go for it...

But you can't really compare it to the whole race selection thing to that. If you're going to start this game as a Taru and only play BLM because they're the best at it, then you're really selling yourself short, and honestly, I feel you're wasting your monthly fees. Not many MMO's allow you to create one character and explore every job in the game with it, and I think it definitely adds a lot more diversity to FFXI and keeps it interesting. Seeing the same race/job combination all the time is boring.

Race does matter to the people who will not put merits into the spots where their race is generally weaker. Mithra PLD's have lower HP but higher MP, a Elvaan will have higher str and can do more dmg as a sam(your example). Generally speaking every job has its own strengths and weaknesses, so one race isnt "better" than another unless you are speaking about someone who wants to lvl a specific job and never level anything else.... even then, merits can and will correct any deficiency of any race.

PS: Mithra > All :P

its true merits can totally offset any disadvantages of the race... however... my elvaan sam + 5/5 str cant be beaten in base str :P just depends on how far u wanna take ur job really. eh overall race doesnt matter, ive seen taru sams do decent dmg. just learn to offset disadvantages with the mods u have available

I'm feeling the pain. A couple less CHR points means Mithra and Galka will eat dirt a lot more often than other races as BST... and trust me, eating dirt happens a lot.

You also have to think of this. Even if you have L33T stats and the perfect race for your job, people are still going to invest in the rediculous +1s and HQs because even if they're already awesome, they can always be MORE awesome.

I picked hume, suspecting that it was the most "average" stats job (looking at the initial stats in the character creation screen). And so I wouldn't feel stuck later if I ended up wanting to level different, totally unrelated jobs. I don't care about being the best ever, so long as I can improve and not feel limited.

I also picked that hume girl because she looked cute (yea I'm a guy) and also because I was trying to give my character an actual FF name and none except this one were available (face it, there are no tarus, no galkas, no elves and no mithras in the FF series, this game hardly feels like FF if it wasn't for the moogles and chocobos)... >.> which I had to change from Ashelia to Psyence when I switched server from Gilgamesh, unfortunately. I have had people tell me it's weird to play a girl character while I'm a guy, or even ask me if I'm gay, lol... I guess they would NEVER dare to play Resident Evil as Jill Valentine in case they start feeling a little GAY about it... :)

After playing FF11 more, and realizing what little difference race makes, I now think it is perfectly normal for any race to want to level any job they like and not care about the nearly insignificant change it'll make in the character's stats. I'm glad SE didn't put so much importance in it when they created the game. This is like real life pretty much. How would you feel about being told some job is not suited for you because of you ethnicity, size, weight, etc. Damn right, *** those racist galka haters.

Well what you need to understand is that the majority of players are willing to take a loss on a NQ item because they feel that one HQ will pay off in the long run. The reason for this is that they lack the motivation to actually add up how many NQ synth/lost materials they accumulate over time. its like watching the same person under cut the same item by 2k while they try to make an HQ well if you only make 1 HQ in 15~20 Synth that is a loss of 30k~40k which directly pushes the price of the HQ up. and im sure someone is thinking well supply Vs. demand well if you are the one selling an item you are in control of the supply which directly effects the price people are willing to pay, its like saying the desert is out of oil, or how diamonds are warehoused to not flood the market.

So there are some skilled craftsman who actually inflate the price of the synth materials by buying them out.(paying 10k for a 2k item)

i hope i didnt lose anyone lol there are all kinds of reasons prices are they way they are.

in my opinion people need to calculate what they are actually spending to make an item and charge that plus a small profit who knows prices of HQ items may actually drop if the NQ items are worth more.

Race really /doesn't/ matter. It's all about skill. Every race has a job it seems to be built for, but each race/job set will have advantages and disadvantages.

Galka BLMs have less MP, but they have great RSE as well as higher VIT, which is helpful if they get hit.

Taru PLDs may have low HP and VIT, but their AGI is high enough to help with block rate, as well as higher MP for cures and keeping hate.

Race does matter, but not much, check out any stat calculator and look at all five races at any one lv75 job, the stats aren't that far apart except for that particular race's 'favorite' stat. EX: Mithra will always have higher DEX than any other race with the same job/level

Even if that 'favorite' stat helps out the job directly (Like Mithra THF for the DEX/AGI to improve TA/SA), its not something that can be changed later with gear and/or merits.

It matters more at the low levels, when your biggest gear pieces are going to be your 2nd RSE sets, and some of the RSE Belts/Ropes/etc.

To partially answer questions:

Does race make a difference? If all other factors are the same, then of course it does - you're going to have different stats if you compare to characters of lvl 75 with the same gear but only a different race.

Obviously the differences will be minute in some cases, larger in others, but nothing that can't be overcome with either merits or different gear choices.

I don't think its necessarily realistic to pick a race based around playing only one job and be consumed with what would best play that job, because its just not likely to happen that way. I think every job can play largely any race as well as any other, they're just going to play them differently. This is mainly looking at more extreme examples of course where the diversity is glaring, such as in the case of a Taru v. Galka Paladin or something. Certainly the fundamentals of gameplay are going to remain the same, but in the case of the Taru it would rely more on Curing people for hate, for example than the galka, looking at the differences in MP pools.

As to the reason that people spend megabucks on HQ items... after you've picked a job that you really want to excel at (this argument is going to lean towards more endgame hq pieces than xping) they usually try to squeeze every last bit of efficiency out of it. In the case of HQ items, I would think for every job there woudl be certain HQs that would be desired, and the price would be staggered according to which were easier to make.

And obviously the races that need to shore up particular weak points are going to be more demanding of said pieces.

The bottom line is, yes to be the -best- SAM or whatever, you should pick a race whose traits are leaning towards the needs of said job, but that doesn't mean in a comparison of your character and any other you would be better or worse off because of it.

Hope my ranting helped~ lol

Cheers,
Zel

I've noticed there's only 1 actual race/job combination that get's completely messed up, Galka/Mage.

RDM pre-Convert/Refresh.
WHM All the time
BLM All the time
SCH I've yet to see a Galka SCH >.>

Now, with the right gear.. Galka kicks *** as WHM RDM or BLM..

But said gear is normally pretty hard for the "standard" players to get hold of, normally needing some form of End-Game LS to get it, or a lot of gil to buy the lotting rights to it..

With the right preperation and commitment, any race/job at almost any level can do pretty well. (Even Lv.10 galka whm can get some halfway decent MP using Astral Ring + HQ hairpin, etc).

Honestly, race only matters if the player is an idiot. An Elvaan THF with good gear will play better than a mediocre Mithra with mediocre gear. An Excellent Taru might play a better WAR than a gimpy Elvaan or Galka. All in all, if all things are equal (gear/merits) then the races will show a small difference based on player skill.

Does this equate to a hike in prices of HQ items? Of course not. Want an example? Marine F Boots. Lvl 62, DEF:9 HP+60 STR+3 DEX+3 VIT+2 AGI+2 INT-3 MND-3 CHR-3. Very good SAM weapon skill feet. Price? About 50k on Asura. Marine M Boots with the same stats are pushing 300k. Due to a lack of female characters, there is almost no demand for these. But a high population of Hume Male characters generates the damand for the stats and the item. Does a moderate population of Taru Samurai ramp up the prices on Puissance Rings? No, but a high population of Samurai DOES.

(And honestly, why complain about HQ items when end-game there is no HQ for +5 STR/DEX/VIT/ETC. rings?)

Answer = epeen+1

what ticks me off are the ppl who take a good 2-3 weeks to farm/fish/craft up enough gil for 1 piece of HQ armor then go around and call everyone without that 1 piece of armor a gimp. ZOMG!! u have 1 more int than me! so im gimp! but u paid 500k for that ring and i paid 20k for mine so hello ugg pendant. PWND!

While I agree mostly, I believe some jobs it matters more than others. For example, on sam at 75, an Elvaan has 11 more str than taru, taru can get 1 more on feet thx to rse than sam, so we're looking at a negative osode for Y/G/K which are heavy str mod WS'. I can see ur example of a pimp taru sam vs some mediocre sam, but if you have two pimp sams with equal skill, the elvaan is going to perform better.

Actually, some of us just like to have the best gear we can afford. I always try my best to farm to get the best possible items for my level. It's not so I can show off, it's so I can be the best I can be. ^^

Getting certain HQ's (and even non-HQ items) has become the cool thing to try and show off your epeen. Scorpion Harness +1 is a perfect example. On Shiva, the HQ costs about 400-500k more than the NQ. You can NOT tell me that +2 Acc and +2 Eva is worth that much, because it's not. Non-HQ Epeen pieces inclue: Peacock Charm; Hagun (I easily outdamage other SAM's with Hagun with my Shinsoku as a Mithra); Euryto's Bow (Selene's Bow works just as well, if not better). Now, the person did these events to EARN these items, I'm all for it. But it's the morons who BUY them for 10 times what they're worth that bugs the hell outta me. As for the Race/job argument, I agree with Hitetsu. The only combo I see that bugs me is Galka mages. Hell, anything Galka bugs me, not being racist (har har) but on Shiva, 90% of Galka are 12 year olds with an inferiority complex, so I've become partial to other races.

P.S.: Tarus doing Tachi:Gekko are AWESOME.

Every job has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to race for example. (I <3 RDM) My RDM has about 600HP and 1000MP when in normal set. I can make 1300MP but but HP drops to 500. I can cast away like no tomorrow. I have personally been apart of a lot of 5/6 man Fafnirs and other HNMs where I am the only mage. That is a HUGE advantage over a Galka with 1000HP and 600MP. Galka simply wouldnt have been able to complete that task. On the other hand a Galka RDM could have been the tank instead of the healer against a 5-6 man Fafnir. RDM/NIN with say 500MP and 1100HP. While I have tanked on RDM/NIN, but it would be VERY tuff to last in a small group. Galka has huge advantage doing that task.

Also, the HQ etc (I'm thinking here Dusk Gloves +1, Cerb Mantle +1 etc) is mainly targeted at 'endgame' players, who have plenty of spare gil. See for instance the recently departed Minidragon's leaving forum post - he estimated he had in the region of 1bn gil at various points.

While this is an extreme example, there are plenty of players who made masses of money during inflation (and since, don't get me wrong) and basically, if they don't buy Cerberus Mantle+1... who will?

Make no doubt, the items -are- better, but for the average player, not enough to justify the tag.

Also, if you're sat on 150m gil, what else are you going to do with it? There is no bank in FFXI, you can't earn interest, and the only assets you have to invest in is gear / equipment. Might as well pimp yourself out with that HQ 16 box look :)

I mostly disagree. While HQ is very overpriced, it is worth it in the end. It's not on an individual piece by piece basis though, but rather the sum of all your HQ.

For example, my monk has a Shura Togi +1 (Small upgrade from togi with +1 acc +2 attack), Toreador's ring (2 acc upgrade from basic acc+5 ring), a 2nd ring (another small 2 acc), Black Tathlum (Very expensive upgrade for 2 acc 2 attack 1 dex).
Individually those may seem like small upgrades, but together I have 7-8 acc depending on initial dex over a player with the downgrade versions of these gears, which is 3.5-4% hitrate, which = up to 4% more landed hits, 4% more WS, ect.

To someone who levels a lot of jobs that use Scorpion Harness, or for instance, people that /really/ love NIN and have money to spend, Scorpion Harness +1 is an amazing piece. I know my friend Chiarodiluna jut got it for her NIN, one of her favorite jobs, and for people like her, it is 100% worth the extra gil. :/

Does nobody remember when HQ stuff was actually expensive? If you think making 500k for a SH+1 is tuff you might want to rethink that bcuz it used to me 15million back about 4 years.

If you seriously can't make a few million gilz in this game Idk what to say. Well here's a hint to all your people that are to lazy to do anything but seem to complain about lack of gilz. ENM, BCNM, ISNM, KSNM, ALOT OF THEM CAN BE SOLO'D of DOU'D any the range from 30 mins to 2hrs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can't really compare gil back then to gil now. Everything was worth a ton more, including ways to make money. Okote were 6-8m, sushi was up to 100k/stack. Just about anything and everything you could sell back then would get you tons in today's economy. Even Vclaw/SH was up to 17m, and I can solo serket quite easily on mnk (wish I knew about it back then, lol)

While I generally agree with the second part of your post, a lot of ENM/BCNM are solo/duo friendly, the first part is a little.. iffy, IMO at least.

Yes, 4 years ago HQ items did cost a lot more, but then again, farmables cost a lot more too.

I remember Beastmen blood being 150k+ per stack, Tree Cuttings being 250-300k a stack, Traveller's Mantle (drop from a Lv.15 monster) being 250k and some people getting 2 a night.. (out of a potential 3).

[/quote]ENM, BCNM, ISNM, KSNM, ALOT OF THEM CAN BE SOLO'D of DOU'D any the range from 30 mins to 2hrs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/quote]

...are you serious? First off, almost every BCNM has a 30 min time limit, so good luck taking 2 hours to do that... same with KSNMs, except they're more like an hour.... and a lot can be solo'd or duo'd? Are you high? Less than 10% of them can, you can't use someone like Avesta as a barometer for the skill of a normal player.

Race matter for certain jobs in my opinion but then there have been times where another race outdoes the same job so its kinda a mix yes and no depending how well they play the job.

For me I used to get pt's where it was a RDM galka and I didn't like it since the mp was always low and ppl were dying fast and the rdm always had to take a break to get mp back.

But then after a few pt's later, a galka rdm now i dont seem to mind cause it really is based on how the player does, i changed my outlook on how a galka decides to be a rdm higher lvl. So I'm sorry for doubting the galka /cry I <3 teddy bears.

I'm a mithra and I see differences in certain jobs but to me its all the same as any other depending how you play.

Race determines the gear you need to select for your job, as well as how you will end up playing that job. A Taru whm, for example, probably doesn't need Z.Slacks, Z.Crown, etc., but seeing a glaka whm trying to do endgame without them is painful, because they need the mp boost. Similarly, if a Taru whm is wearing full zenith, his health is going to be so low that a breeze is going to one-shot him. It also determines where you should merit stats. In regards to equipment price for HQ, in general, if you're buying an HQ, you're not planning to replace it. My HQ staves will never be replaced, because there's nothing better in the game for casting. Is it worth spending 500k more for a scorpion harness +1? To me, yes, because I won't replace it due to how many jobs benefit from it. Plus, you have to look at the bigger picture - in an 18-man event, if everyone has +2 more accuracy (for this example), your group as a whole has 36 more accuracy vs. a group that is in all NQ gear. The bonuses of multiple people having HQ gear definitly stacks up when you're doing harder content. Because many people flag HQ gear as Epeen, people forget that these bonuses really add up when you're wearing multiple pieces of HQ gear in the entire group.

lmao I know some Paper Tarus :P