Why are they so popular? I mean, probably about 40% of the people I talk to outside of the game play as Elvaan, including here, probably more like 50 or 60%...

That'd be a fine number, if there were only two races. That'd be a fine number, if Elvaan were exceptionally good. That'd be a fine number if all the other races were exceptionally bad.
Yet, none of that is true.

Elvaan's strong points are STR, MND, and CHR, the highest out there in these three stats. Yet, they have the second worst mana pool out there. Which, is quite bad and makes their MND a moot point. Their CHR... well, how many Elvaan BRDs or BSTs have you seen running around?
I can't name one.
Which leaves us with STR and second highest HP. And, admittedly STR is good, but their crappy AGI makes any hope of being an accurate RNG until much later levels pretty slim. Which makes WAR, MNK, DRG, DRK, PLD, BST (though few choose to play as this, as far as I can tell), and SAM really the only "highly usable" Elvaan jobs. Some of these jobs, other races are much better at...which is what brings us to direct comparison ^^;

Warrior

Tarutaru WARs are absolutley terrible. Low VIT, low STR, low HP... all the key characteristics of this job. Unless using it as a temporary subjob to level your subjob (ie leveling NIN for a Taru RNG/NIN) it is very difficult to get into the higher-levels as Taru.

Mithra WARs are absolutley fine. As are Humes. There really isn't much difference, but neither is that great. But Mithra and Hume get the thumbs up for being able to play _any_ job well.

Galka... the kings of WAR. Highest VIT, highest HP, and nearly as much STR as an Elvaan, they're simply amazing. As a tanking WAR, they have absolutley no flaws whatsoever. As a damage dealing WAR, er... that's an oxymoron, but...

Elvaan are only better than Galka as a damage dealing WAR, but face it: WAR is not your damage dealing class. They have less HP and VIT than Galka, which are the most crucial stats, which makes them not so good. I'm pretty sure everyone would rather have a Galka than an Elvaan tanking...

Winner = Galka

Monk

Monk... interesting job. Again, with WAR, Taru are slightly better this time around (as their VIT doesn't matter much and their HP is improved), and Hume/Mithra are the same.

Galka or Elvaan... hmm. Elvaan have more STR, but can't take hits as well, and can'tt ake as many hits. But MNK shouldn't be tanking... However, for most of the game, the difference between Galka and Elvaan damage is hardly noticeable, unless you are "lucky" enough to be in a party with a Galka MNK and an Elvaan MNK with equal level, subjob level, exact same equipment, and exact same food usage, and then you might see 1 or 2 more damage from the Elvaan. However, I guess since we're playing purely numbers, Elvaan do barely scratch it out on top...

Winner = Elvaan

Dragoon and Samurai

Taru DRGs... incredibley cute ^^
Hume and Mithra... average some more :x
Galka v Elvaan..... really, see above =\

Winner = Elvaan (x2)

Paladin

Mithra PLD's have nice evasion, decent magic, and decent overall stats. They're quite nice :). Hume's are slightly less good, but still there.

Taru PLD's... frankly, are awesome. Despite the difficulty of getting WAR up to 30, or whatever the case may be, they're capable of casting enough Cures to keep the hate on them and keep themselves alive :D. They work quite well.... not to mention look great in AF..

Elvaan PLD... you'd think they'd be made for this job, right? High STR, and high MND, and pretty high VIT and HP. They have to rely almost entirely on 'voke to keep hate on them, though.

Galkas, on the other hand, may seem like a poorer choice with lower MND and MP. But they take less damage, keep the hate on themselves better, and frankly; Galkas are a tanking class, and no snoddy elves can take that title from them.

Winner = Galka

Dark Knight

Hmm...
Taru DRK does quite well, looks incredibley awesome, and can be like your parties mini-BLM (highest INT) that swings for pretty high damage. Take one home today :)

Hume/Mithra.... same difference.

Elvaan does better in the STR department of this, but Galka beat them in INT. That's right, Galka are smarter than Elvaan. Don't ask me how but they are o_o'. It's a matter of preference between these two...

Winnder = Tarutaru

Beastmaster

Well, frankly, this job was pretty much made for Elvaan. Highest CHR for charming, highest STR for damage dealing, highest MND for sub WHM curing of self. I won't even touch this :P

Winnder = Elvaan

Which leaves us with the fact that, of those jobs listed above that Elvaan are "suited for," only MNK, DRG, SAM and BST are really the "best" for Elvaan... which are all basically the CTRL+A, Make a Sandwhich jobs.

Other Jobs
WHM, BLM, RDM, SMN:
No matter what your MND is, Elvaan, nor what converts hp to mp items you equip, Taru will always have more mp than you (can wear same items) and more mp = more effectiveness and less downtime.

RNG:
Heh.. this is probably a highly-argued over job. Any race is good at this job, because no matter how big your arms are, the damage output is enormous. Tarutaru and Mithra will always be better, though, because they will miss less times in a battle.
Example:
Elvaan RNG does 80 damage a hit, fires 20 times and hits 12: Total Damage: 960
Taru RNG does 70 damage a hit, fires 20 times and hits 15:
Total Damage: 1065

Who's the high and mighty race now? :P

NIN:
All races are equally good as NIN-tank, and besides that, NIN isn't a very superb main job...

BRD:
Bleh.. Elvaan may have a bit more CHR, but Tarus higher MP makes a WHM sub much more viable...

THF:
Besides Galka, any race is an effective THF...

What about roleplaying?
Elvaan may not be the best, but you can choose one because you like the way they act and want to be one and such. But seriously.... these guys are racist assholes (Halver, for example).
And if you ever see a guy Elvaan fight with a sword and a shield, he seems to stick his bottom out towards where his shield-hand is resting on his hip, and swings lazily... it looks... very very feminine. Not that femininity is bad, but seriously, with all their racist talk they should be able to stand up straight.
Their necks are just weird too :P

Summary, and Final Question:
Given all these facts and opinions of mine, I come to wonder....

Why would anyone want to be an Elvaan? Why are they so popular with NA players? And why are there few JP Elvaan? O.o

someone tell me please ; ;

I don't see a lot of Elvaan players in Windurst in Cerberus or anywhere on the server... maybe it's just me ;_;

I agree with MogKnight...actually, I always thought the most numerous of races was Humes since they're the jack-of-all-trades. But, again, as he said, maybe it's only like that on Cerberus lol

Now that you mention it I do see a lot of Elvaan running around Sandoria.

Let's just assume your right about Elvaan being the most popular race choice. Your reading too much into things I'll give you a few simple reasons why many Elvaans are out there. It's an escapist game and everyone is human in real life so that could turn people off form Humes. From what I've seen it's mostly guys playing and most guys to want to play a female, that rules out Mithra. A lot of people want to play a fighter character because Cloud and Tidus or any other FF lead are fighters, that rules out Taru. So it comes down to Galka and Elvann and then it's just whatever looks cooler, and the Lord of the Rings movies have been huge for the last 3 years so a lot of people want to be Elves so they pick Elvaan.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this aswell.

Legolas, Leggolas, Legollas, Legolass, Leggollas, Legolaas, Legolassll, Regoras, Legoras, Regolas.

Originally posted by Typo
Legolas, Leggolas, Legollas, Legolass, Leggollas, Legolaas, Legolassll, Regoras, Legoras, Regolas.


Hahaha, yeah, I thought there were quite many non-originally-named Elvaans too...

And I'm a Bastokan Hume on Cerberus, so that quite easily explains why I didn't see that much Elvaans. But from my experiences in Valkurm, there weren't as many San d'Orians that were Elvaan as I thought...

Makes sense to me, Durendal...

Maybe I'm just unfortunate with the demographics of my area (server wise it seems fairly balanced, but I still see quite a bit of Elvaan on Fairy) seem to be Elvaan yay, everything else boo. I just feel kinda bad, because people who play "ctrl+A-Sandwhich" jobs are the kind most likely to want to try something new quickly, at least in my experience. Maybe that's just me, though, but I doubt it >.>

There is no 'best' race for a job. Any race can do any job exceptionally as good as the next. Initally, no, but with a few accessories, you could be a great Galka WHM. >->;

Originally posted by ultima weapon
There is no 'best' race for a job. Any race can do any job exceptionally as good as the next. Initally, no, but with a few accessories, you could be a great Galka WHM. >->;

And a Taru WHM with the same accessories will be better.

You can't bring items, except for RSE, into it, as everyone can wear the same stuff.

Elvaan are a cool race and pretty well rounded in all the different jobs. i am a elvaan and proud of it. and yes a galkan WHM could "make it in the wilds of vanadiel." it would be cool to know a person brave enough to break the pattern and become one.

According to the last census, hume is the most popular race in FFXI. Though I agree personally, I don't think too much of the Elvaan stats. They have the highest mnd, but the second lowest mp pool, the highest STR, but miss constantly. They have high charisma, but at lvl 55, an Elvaan bst/whm will only have 6 more points on charisma then a mithra, so it's really not much of an advantage.

And hey, by the way, there's no way elvaan is the best race for monk. ;p Mithra have a large advantage over the other races because of their high dexterity- when you're relying more on DOT then single hard hitting blows, you really can't afford to miss much. High agility is important to a monk to, because they're limited to wearing light armor.

According to the last census, hume is the most popular race in FFXI. I agree though. I don't think too much of the Elvaan stats myself. They have the highest mnd, but the second lowest mp pool, the highest STR, but miss constantly. They have high charisma, but at lvl 55, an Elvaan bst/whm will only have 6 more points on charisma then a mithra, so it's really not much of an advantage.

And hey, by the way, there's no way elvaan is the best race for monk. ;p Mithra have a large advantage over the other races because of their high dexterity- when you're relying more on DOT then single hard hitting blows, you really can't afford to miss much. High agility is important to a monk to, because they're limited to wearing light armor.

Alas, you're right!

But Galka MNKs are better still. Who needs to dodge when you aren't hit at all? :x

According to my latest census, like the day I wrote the first post, it was like..
Hume
Elvaan
Mithra
Tarutaru
Galka

Sad day, it should be

Galka
Tarutaru
Mithra
Hume
Elvaan

:x

Yeah, I picked Elvaan simply because of the whole appearance factor.

Plus... well, that was it, really.

And you haven't seen funny until you've seen an Elvaan Monk using his two-hours skill wielding a staff. :P

I picked Elvaan as well for my character. And just like Odin, it was simply for appearance really.

I'm on Cerberus and I still have yet to see a decent amount of Elvaans running around. I've mostly seen a lot of Humes and Tarus.

ppl choose elvaan simply for there appearance and the fact that there elves... no one really enjoys there stats much, i personaly would rather be a mithra... but since they are all females im stuck with elvaan because i dont like being annoyed at ppl constantly asking my actual boob size... or humping me... it would get rather agitating eventualy... (if only there was one male mithra... like the smurfs... then i would be set :'(

plus they could actualy kind of explain how they are still in existance ;)

elves own case and point, u cant deny it, i picked elvaan cause elves rule! may not be best class as was stated but u cant put a good elf down lol, i personally dont understand y u would choose galka other than that they are good tanks, come on, galka dont even get laid for christs sake, a sad sad life indeed........
::laughs maniacally at his jokes regardless of whether they are funny or not::

Originally posted by dijasom
(if only there was one male mithra... like the smurfs... then i would be set :'(

plus they could actualy kind of explain how they are still in existance ;)

There are plenty of male mithra. But, as the story of the game explains, male mithra are all wusses and stay at home all the time.

yeah... well i would like the iead of being "PAPA" SMURF ok?!?!? is that quite alright with you?!?! huh?! budd?!?!?!? :P

when you put it on paper, yes, a taru will outshien a Galka in the Whm or Blm department, but honestly what it all boils down to is player skill.

Player skill rules all.

Originally posted by Merl
when you put it on paper, yes, a taru will outshien a Galka in the Whm or Blm department, but honestly what it all boils down to is player skill.

Player skill rules all.

It doesn't matter how much skill you have if you can't cure enough times before resting to keep your party alive.
To play a Galka mage, it is essential to have items like Astral Rings so you can have good enough MP to last in there.

Later levels max mp isn't quite as important....

For the most part, I don't concern TOO much on race. It's good to have Taru Mages or Galka Warriors but when you have the same intent they have (which is to level), it's more respectable to do that.

well this is probably off topic, but i chose Mithra because of looks, i wanted a girl character, because i dont want to be mistaken for a guy. and hume females weren't really in my interests and neither were elvaan females. and tarutaru female....well i dont prefer using alot of magic so i chose mithra!

Originally posted by heavenscloud01
well this is probably off topic, but i chose Mithra because of looks, i wanted a girl character, because i dont want to be mistaken for a guy. and hume females weren't really in my interests and neither were elvaan females. and tarutaru female....well i dont prefer using alot of magic so i chose mithra!

Mithra have the best stats in the game, in my opinion, so good choice.

They make great mages too, if you ever wind up wanting to follow that path. Mithra are second only to Taru in mp- tied with the Humes.

yay!I'm gald i made a good choice then! I think that people always choose elvaan because of looks(like with my character) or because of legolas.lol:)

Hmm quite intersting indeed. I'm a girl, but I chose a hume male that looked like Cloud because I'm obsessed, and because he was sexy. ^__^ You know, the one with spiky hair?

Originally posted by Tifa_Martial_Artist
Hmm quite intersting indeed. I'm a girl, but I chose a hume male that looked like Cloud because I'm obsessed, and because he was sexy. ^__^ You know, the one with spiky hair?

At least you chose Hume

my great race inequality:

(Taru = Mithra) > (Hume = Galka) > Gobbo Trains > Genkai One > Evlaan

yes, Evlaan, not Elvaan... I mean they do have the lowest intelligence :x

quote: Originally posted by Tifa_Martial_Artist
Hmm quite intersting indeed. I'm a girl, but I chose a hume male that looked like Cloud because I'm obsessed, and because he was sexy. ^__^ You know, the one with spiky hair?

im not sure which 1 ur talkin about...my brother chose hime male. i guess i wasnt really payin attention to the hair styles. i can relate tho! one that looks like cloud~that would be pretty awesome.

Well he kinda looks like Zell from final fantasy 8 alittle too.

oh ya i know the one!ya hes cool!:)