[Kameron8]

A few races in the game are severely lacking in mechanical appeal, when compared to the others available.  And while I don't think it's possible to perfectly balance every single race in all instances, I think there are a few outliers that could really use some more love.  I wanted to briefly offer my thoughts on those race choices, below:

Humans: 

The Jacks of all trades don't have it so bad, if you plan on using Daggers for the Divine-Eyes talent tree.  In every other case but that exceptionally specific niche, however, their appeal is lacking.  They gain 2 skill points in all of their classes (which can be a nice, albeit small, perk depending on classes), and a free trait in a game where one can easily get every trait they want and find interesting, with room to spare. 

I'd like to see a small bonus to Quick to Master, which gives them a few additional skill slots for free.  This helps allow Humans specifically to equip more tricks and variety than their peers, when one can't afford Skill, Guile, Will, and a tome with Spellbook.

Lupines:

The wolves of the Kaelensians have some neat things going for them -- access to Golden Eyes is always markedly powerful, and free stats as health diminishes can never be turned down.  However, their War Cry, in almost every fathomable scenario, is a liability to use.  It costs far too much FP (50), deals terrible damage (15-90, with the latter requiring enormous Sound ATK), inflicts far too little Hunted (5+10% SAN, no more than 11 at most), and requires Status Infliction to succeed. 

I would like to see War Cry's FP cost reduced, and Hunted level's San scaling improved to approach ~LV. 30 with a heavy San investment.

Phenex: 

The firebirds of the Kaelensians have a reasonably well-rounded, thematically awesome toolkit.  The only pain point I've identified and want to point out is how crippled they're left after triggering their cheat death racial, From the Ashes.  It can often feel entirely unhelpful, and leave the impression that the only benefit of the race is the universally good Golden Eyes.  

I would like to see From the Ashes stop inflicting Badly Beaten.

Umbral:

Arguably one of the worst off races among the Corrupted, Umbrals are tagged with a basic set of Weakness/Resistances, then left with the ability to hide from PvE monsters and occasionally spend less (more, during daytime) FP on their spells.  Their only Trait option is one that gives you some modest FP regeneration, and temporarily negates the weaknesses/resistance acquired from the race.

I don't think the tweaks for this race should be small, so I have no easy, up front suggestion on giving them love.  Aesthetically, I think this race should have the ability to have half-transparent icons during night time, if they so choose.

Papilion:

Our crazy butterflies have a stock-standard set of elemental resist/weakness, and the ability to summon 1 momentum butterflies/fairies/snakes/etc of varying usefulness, depending on build, creativity, and the initiative system.  Though there are opportunities for Invite Insanity to be useful, Aposemagika doesn't really have the same luxury.  For successfully invoking, a reward of 12 spell power and a roulette wheel of statuses against Melee attackers who failed a status resistance check isn't worth doing, nor terribly exciting.

I would like to see the general power level of Aposemagika go up.  Optionally, I think the ability could benefit from a Trait tree that lets the Papilion do different things with their Aposemagika, like they currently have with Invite Insanity. 

Wild Elf: 

The newest variety of Elf has some thematically interesting stuff, but just about all of it is extremely, extremely niche.  As a result, most of the time the race offers nothing of value outside of the standard pair of resist/weaknesses that comes with Spotted.  A chance to disarm Pitfalls relies on being unlucky enough to stumble into one in the first place, and reducing the Evasion penalty of Thick Vines necessitates running into -- or being pushed into -- Thick Vines to begin with.  Neither of which make aggressively pursuing Sanctity worthwhile.  Their Trait trees, though awesome thematically, require extremely specific circumstances to be even remotely useful.  Not with a group of Lupines or a Felidae?  Bornui tribesmen get nothing.  Not fighting specifically Snakemen or Serpentkind?  Eu Yan Li tribesmen get nothing.  The Redrayder tribesmen can generally find use out of their ability to disable items for a while, but the benefits to Capture do very little beyond better tell the story of the tribe.

I would like to see an additional skill or passive added to the race that scales off of Sanctity and is consistently, and without niche conditions, useful.

Zeran:

These proud dominators sport some mild passive power, and an active Trait line that makes its own matador jokes while offering minimal usefulness.  With heavy Sanctity investment, the race currently gains access to either a 14 Scaled Weapon Attack penalty to those they face, or a -34 Hit penalty against the Zeran to those they aren't facing.  They additionally receive up to +7 Magic Armor and Armor.  And while these aren't the least useful passives in the game, they're often uninteresting and forgotten since there's very little means of interacting with it.

I would like to see a new Skill or Trait that allows Zerans to spend resources/Momentum to intensify Superiority -- to some extent, however that looks in game.  This way, there's always an option to interact with your own racial abilities, and do something interesting with them when the time is right beyond bumping people with your horns (which leverages Strength, not Sanctity).

Additionally, I would like to see an extra verse of utility added to Crown of Heaven.  As Sanctity goes up, so too does their ability to detect magic.  Zerans unlock the ability to see various, usually hidden pieces of information, at different San breakpoints.  Example:

(None of these would affect targets obscured by the Akashic Record boss passive.)
10 Sanctity: Enemy current/max FP, regardless of Hidden or Mask of Metal. 
20 Sanctity: Enemy Elemental Attack values, allowing some rough stat estimates.
30 Sanctity: Enemy Status Effects, regardless of Hidden or Mask of Metal.
40 Sanctity: Enemy equipped Skills/Spells.

M.Type - Standard: 

Not all Mechanations are created equal.  The option to omit an item slot for a unique racial perk is an extremely interesting one, but the reward for doing so does not, in this instance, match the trade-off.  Torsos carry some of the most impactful enchant options and effects, and the Standard Mechanation's option to trade theirs for 50 HP and 10 Armor/Magic Armor is never worthwhile.  This trait serves mostly as a ghetto power boost for new players leveling the race, and cannot seriously compete with the available items in the game -- especially if some classes require specific armor types to function effectively.  Because Mechanations as a base race have nothing else beyond standard resist/weaknesses and a quality of life encumbrance boost, all of their individual, mechanically useful racial perks are currently concentrated in the Trait line.

I suggest the 'Sturdy Standard Body' trait gains the ability to choose what Armor Type it qualifies as, and that the ability to benefit from a Torso enchant be implemented to the Trait in some way.  (That way, it can gain an additional benefit beyond being a generic torso with a watered down Leviathan's Heart's effect.)

This thread may be too anecdotal for some people's tastes, but I'd be interested to hear other thoughts on the weaker races, even if you don't necessarily agree with the suggestions I put out for them.