Second Character Conundrum

[Murphie]

So, I wasn't sure exactly where to put this, especially since it's kind of a silly question. But since the outcome doesn't really matter, I figured I'd just kind of put it out there for opinions from others.

I bought a second copy of FFXI recently (2007 Vanadiel Collection) because I thought it might be fun to have a second character to fiddle around with. I didn't just make a mule, because I thought it would be easier for me if I could help myself out when I need it, rather than harass someone else.

Anyway, I have no idea what race to pick. I mean, I guess not Taru, since I've already got one, but otherwise I'm torn.

Basically I was going to level a MNK or a NIN or some kind of melee, so I'm leaning towards Galka or Elvaan, but I do miss my mithra sometimes (nostalgia) so I could always go that way too. Or, you know, Hume. I dunno.

So anyway. Thoughts, suggestions?

[Necropolis]

I'd go hume if you're uncertain with what you'll be doing with it. That way you go across the board average stats. But thats just me.

I have a seperate mules account as well, mainly because I hold on to everything.
But of my 15 mules, 10 of them are taru, just because I like taru. But I couldn't ever level one seriously. I'd have to do rank mission, CoP, ZM and all that over again. Too much for me to imagine doing over.

[Icemage]

If we're talking about minimal overlap in job development, I'd say Galka.

Between a Tarutaru and a Galka you can cover every job in FFXI at peak or near-peak capacity. Tarutaru are great at spellcaster jobs, Galka are great at non-spellcaster jobs, and play very differently as well (which is good since it keeps the game fresh).


Icemage

[IfritnoItazura]

If you really want to scramble your brain, try playing your Tarutaru on PLD then switch around and play Galka PLD the next day.

Being a Mithra PLD (in a static party with RDM, BRD, and WHM), I was shocked to find out on my RDM last night that a Galka PLD isn't the main healer when I parsed the party. >_>;

I can only imagine how much more entertaining it would be to flip-flop between Tarutaru and Galka...

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Overlap between the other character's jobs is far more important than what race you pick, pick race for aesthetic appeal and nothing more. I picked kitten for COR because she looked nicer in the AF, nothing more. You can always work around the pros and cons of race.

Also important is the matter of gil. If your first character is mage-centric and the other character is melee/tank, then you're not too bad off. There's a bit of overlap there. But if both characters have melee/consumable tool jobs, that's where it gets a bit tricky. Foobar is a Beastmaster, Dragoon, Blue Mage and Bard. Kitten is a Corsair, Ranger, Ninja and I'm planning Puppetmaster as well.

So its kinda obvious while Foobar would have plenty of accessory overlap, his jobs don't line up as well as Kitten's. And while Kitten's jobs overlap extremely well, they're all gilsink jobs. So my choice of NIN, PUP, BST and DRG on have an ulterior motive - all four can solo and farm seals well. For the last year, I've had to rely heavily on my resources with Foobar to do anything as Kitten, so my current goal is to make her function more independently.

Having two character has its advantages, like being in position for NM camps so there's less run around with one character. I could park Foobar at Dragon's Aery and Kitten in Behemoth's Dominion.

Being able to specialize your characters and have job flexibility is great, too, since the merit system proves FFXI isn't as flexible as it poses to be. Any race can play any job, but merits have limits, so you end up having a character specialized in certain jobs or marginalized for all of them.

I specialized kitten in Marksmanship for RNG and COR, I'm planning evasion for NIN and PUP. From there, MP, STR, Critical hit rate merits all support the jobs I play on her.

Full MP merits will always be great for the jobs Foobar plays and there's a good amount of space to divide up combat skills. Retiring BRD to merit-only will afford my BLU full Blue Magic skill merits.

Biggest downside to two characters? Redoing Missions, Fame and subjobs. Nation Rank, ZM and ToA missions are pie, those are hardly the issue. CoPs, Dynamis and Assault in addition to Norg and Avatar fame are royal pain in the ass to manage with two characters. You'll likely need a NIN and WHM sub... again. I have to do SAM twice on top of that.... yay.

[DieselBoy09]

Pick mithra, they're the best at everything.

[Jarre]

Galkas rule, excellent for tank jobs, Galka have more Agility, Inteleigence, VIT and HP than an Elvan. The correct gear gets rid of the lower MP and mind the Galkan race suffers. You last longer at low levels with the extra vit and Hp helping when the shit hits the fan.

[Taermus]

Galka MND is second only to Elvaan. The only real issue with playing one as a mage is MP.

My "Main Mule" is a Galka, and they are their own kind of magic. I often wish I would have chosen it as my main instead of Elvaan.

[Murphie]

It's probably going to be Galka, for the reasons that Icemage and Itazura mentioned.

I've already played a Mithra and Hume to or near endgame levels, and I hated how mediocre I was at everything. I played Elvaan only to the low-40s on a few jobs, so it was really mostly a toss up between Elvaan and Galka since both really make excellent melee.

But male elvaan run so silly. I can't stand that. Plus, Galka don't look quite as horrifying in a subligar, since their legs are so short.

[Aksannyi]

So from one extreme to the other, Murph, huh? From the teeniest of the teeny to the largest of the large.

Gotta <3 ya. ;)

Also, I did not vote ... but I did enjoy the fact that you voted for yourself to DIAF. I was wondering if anyone else chose that option.

[Murphie]

It's unlikely that I'll really spend all that much time on this second guy. I mean, Murphie is already my...um...8th character? And I do plan to level at least one melee job on him (so that I have variety in his own personal playing style). But I like the idea of being able to do more things myself, without help from others, so two characters would come in handy there, and a Galka makes a lot of sense as a companion to a Taru.

[Aksannyi]

Yeah actually my husband and I just moved back in together (long story) but I do like the idea that I can use his main to help my mules out (like going into Gusgen and farming keys for RSE, which I can make some gil - sounds like a lot of effort but not really when it gets right down to it - meh, I digress) and also on occasion he can use my RDM to PL himself (solo) when he's leveling a lowbie job.

[Clever Ninja]

But Galka look silly riding Chocobo >_>.

And frankly Murphie every race has its own area where its 'mediocre'. Hume are average all around but very few jobs will actually require you to spread your equipment stats out equally to multiple stats. Hume may not be the best at everything(stat wise they make great RDM and BLU though IMO), but they need less stat bonuses to boost specific stats for whatever job they play. Kinda like how Galka don't really need to boost much thats out of the ordinary for melee jobs, but for MP jobs you do have to have a strong focus on MP since that's their biggest shortcoming.

[Murphie]

Which is good because I don't plan to level any mage jobs on this second character. Besides perhaps BLM to 17 for Warp. And even then, probably not.

I'm well aware of the limitations of the races. My Hume and Mithra were fine, but they weren't exceptional at anything, save versatility, and while that can be handy, I wanted more. I have nothing against either race (I do like how Mithra look nice in just about any armor), but if I'm going to level a character for a specific role, I may as well make it a race that excels in that specific area.

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Galka's model takes up too much space. I hate having to try and run past a Galka just outside the Residentials in Jeuno.

If you pick Mithra, you'll just get hit on by random strangers.

Elvaan look like horse-people when they're running.

Go with Hume.

[Murphie]

I did get hit on a lot on my Mithra. I had one guy randomly start power leveling me while I was soloing, and then he asked me to talk dirty with him. ><;

[Akashimo]

Galka's model takes up too much space. I hate having to try and run past a Galka just outside the Residentials in Jeuno.

If you pick Mithra, you'll just get hit on by random strangers.

Elvaan look like horse-people when they're running.

Go with Hume.
Galka: Fact
Mithra: I haven't noticed except this one time.... Anyways, want a challenge in jobs as DD, take up mithras. Lack of str can make it fun out doing elvaan, hume, and galka dds. Espically the ones that say, "lolmithra" or "Too weak." >:O
Elvaan: They make good mnks and plds from seeing them in parties, a bit lacking in the mp pools and int stats.
Hume: Meh, even average stats, you still gotta work your gear a lot to be really effective. Espically when competting against other races that has some what signifgant stat boost over you. Plus its average, why go with average? =P

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Hume: Meh, even average stats, you still gotta work your gear a lot to be really effective. Espically when competting against other races that has some what signifgant stat boost over you. Plus its average, why go with average? =P
Skill > Gear > Race. Ergo, Race advantage is a crutch for cheap players who lack skill :P

j/k

[Akashimo]

Skill > Gear > Race. Ergo, Race advantage is a crutch for cheap players who lack skill :P

j/k Lol, but in some cases, it also changes your skill if you go from one race to another and jaw drops on how different it was leveling the same job the same way. E.G.) Monk on my mithra is 64, while on my hume its still 8 lol....

[Mhurron]

I chose the DIAF option. I was itching to and I feel so much better now that I have.

[Murphie]

I'm glad to hear someone did.

The choice has been made, folks. It's Galka. If you haven't already read, I have already played both a Mithra and a Hume to endgame levels. And while that was fun at the time, there is nothing new to experience there. It was really a toss up between Elvaan and Galka, and Galka won for it's extreme difference from Tarutaru.

[Mhurron]

Elvaan are also very different then Taru, and thanks to the lowest INT in the game, they are very 'special' too.

[Murphie]

But I've already been an Elvaan as well. Heck, if I'd been smart half a year ago I would have bought a second account and put Murphie on that, thus freeing Aelathir up for some two boxing fun. But I didn't. :/

Edit: One thing I did find interesting was how people voted. A lot more people voted than posted in the thread, and some folks have never posted, but took the time to tell me what they thought in the poll. Kind of funny.

[IfritnoItazura]

Edit: One thing I did find interesting was how people voted. A lot more people voted than posted in the thread, and some folks have never posted, but took the time to tell me what they thought in the poll. Kind of funny.

Welcome to the vagaries of democracy. :P

[Murphie]

Indeed. Heck there was at least one guy who has never posted at FFXIO ever. But he took the time to tell me via the poll button that he didn't care about my question. :p

[Aksannyi]

^^ LOL.

I didn't vote ... I am not really an expert on the topic, and I don't really want you to DIAF. I could have said that I don't care, but I don't *not* care, so you can see why I didn't vote.

An "I don't know" option would have suited my purpose quite nicely though.

[Murphie]

The last two weren't really serious anyway. I should have put "I don't know" rather than "I don't care", but I fully intended for the last one to be just for fun.^^

Heck, even I voted for myself to DIAF.

[Srxjo]

i voted Hume as it is a job race if you dont' know what you want to play and what is DAIF?

[Murphie]

i voted Hume as it is a job race if you dont' know what you want to play and what is DAIF?It means "Die in a fire".

And I totally understand why you voted the way you did. I'm not really calling into question the way people voted, but I just thought it was interesting. But as I already mentioned, I have already been a Hume, so there's really nothing new to experience there.

[Jarre]

I'm glad to hear someone did.
The choice has been made, folks. It's Galka. If you haven't already read, I have already played both a Mithra and a Hume to endgame levels. And while that was fun at the time, there is nothing new to experience there. It was really a toss up between Elvaan and Galka, and Galka won for it's extreme difference from Tarutaru.

Congratulations Murphy welcome to the Galka clan. You will find this race very rewarding. You will enjoy monk and paladin wea re very effective in those jobs :)

[Aksannyi]

So now what's next is to choose a name! I say you use an Aksannyi spin-off, myself. Though something a bit more masculine, I suppose. ;)

[Murphie]

I called him Ael. Had it been a Mithra it would have been Charmides or Ninotchka, and if it had been Elvaan it would have been Ael again. Probably the same with Hume.

[Raydeus]

I say if you can't be a Zilart then don't even bother, just max out your taru. :P

[Mhurron]

But I've already been an Elvaan as well.
I know, I just missed the stupid elvaan jokes.

[Aksannyi]

Which jokes? lolelvaaninasubligar jokes?

[Murphie]

I say if you can't be a Zilart then don't even bother, just max out your taru. :PIt may very well come to that (the latter). But I still like the idea of having a secondary character I can log into and drag around with me. Heck, this way I can get past the switches in Quicksand without having to find another person to help me.

[Mhurron]

Which jokes? lolelvaaninasubligar jokes?
The ones where I called Ae[whateverhisnamewas] a dumb elvaan.

Elvaan in subligar isn't funny, it's just sick.

[Aksannyi]

LOL. :) Just LOL.

[Kirsteena]

The ones where I called Ae[whateverhisnamewas] a dumb elvaan.
Elvaan in subligar isn't funny, it's just sick.

If you are meaning male, I forgive you.

If female :vent:

[Mog]

Galka galka!

Nothing like having the incredible hulk on your screen.