I know this shouldn't be turned into a debate, but the title insists it be. I personally joined the ranks of San'd Oria as a Hume, mainly because of the CP items and such that included much of what hume's can use efficiently. They have CP items that give ATK, and some with good stats, like the royal footman's trousers at lv 20. I've always been known to go for sandy just because the people I have met from there never seemed arrogant about the nation. Even now that I'm in an all Sandy LS, I never bash other nations unless the bashing has reached me malevolently. Bastok, however, has one of the biggest Nation-only LSes on the server, The Bastokan Elite, and perhaps is well known for bashing other nations, somewhat of a *** of FFXI (not that extreme, but are ethnocentric in a sense). Windurst is also a nice place to start, but personally for me its just way too big to travel around. San d'Oria Is well centered, and getting from point A to point B would be simpler than making a wrong turn in windy and ending up going in a circle. If this is enough grounds to be bashed, I'm sorry I'm stating my opinion.