So... how about it? which race do you think is most combat-efficient for a Researcher?
Also- Tertiary...
I heard good things on all three options... I tend to think that Astrology is possibly the least reliable, but I have no experience with either that or healing.
So... between Tarot, healing and Astrology... give me your best shot.

Also- race is an RP choice for me as well so... I am more inclined towards the races that actually look human... like humans/Trill/Elfen... less fond of Loboshigaru/Aslaran (and I hateeee sip penalties).

Thank you!

I had an alt in the institue about a year ago that never really took off. he was a Lucidian astrologer. (Thought the two would mesh well from an RP perspective.)

The main problem for me is that the power quest associated with continuum (and thus the Institute) requires flying, which is an ability the institute didn't (doesn't?) have. Getting blown about on air was too much of a hassle (and frankly, not very fun), so if I wanted to contribute to the city's power in a meaningful way I was pretty much limited to bashing joules. So if you don't go trill or faeling, I'd recommend getting some kind of flying beast, but YMMV.

Astrology wasn't very reliable, but I imagine that it gets more reliable the more abilities you have in it. Take that with a grain of salt though, as I said he didn't get very far in the skill.

Hmm... good point, thanks.
Would love to hear more input. Trills seem like a good option... so do humans, but only at a later stage(like.... Demi-God).

Not sure about the best combat race, but tarot seems to be the way to go lately. The Institute has some good set-ups for soulless tarot kills, and tarot has some good utility. Healing is good and combined with Institute passives, it'll make you very hard to kill, but its also kind of hard to kill with it as well, so you'd need to rely on Harmonics and Aeonics to get kills with Healing. Don't have much experience with Astrology to be able to say much about it.

Speaking from a general perspective in the use of Astrology, it is indeed one of the more erratic tertiaries, but I personally love this about the ability. If you want a break down about the skill, I'd be more than happy to put on my professor glasses and lecture ( ), but I think that would better be the subject of a different topic. In short though, I would summarize Astrology as having one of the better mixes of defense, utility and combat possibility when compared to other tertiaries which are normally deemed solely combative or defensive.

In regards to Healing, I have to agree with Arel and likewise say that Healing on top of a trans'd-out Researcher is probably one of the most defensive set ups out there. Pair passive healing and curing auras with passive shielding and more passive healing and curing gems and survivability as a guardian skyrockets. A scalpel just tips the scales further what with its discharge, but I'd think that one would opt for a more offensive weapon choice with the multitude of other curatives already possible for the Healing Researcher. The skill is not designed to be the best offensively, but I would imagine it might very well be possible to stack timewarps easier with an aurawarp on a target.

Mind, a lot of the possibilities outlined above are mainly the products of theorycrafting as I've yet to roll a Researcher around to see what all is possible with it. The two tertiaries up there I've played around with, so some guess work might lead you to something possibly viable depending on your personal goals.

Edit:
Oh, and in regards to your actual racial question, it depends, I think, on how far you want your race to be ideally suited for combat. If you want to go Tarot (a balance-heavy tertiary), a +balance race like Faeling or Aslaran might be better for you. The former has no racial maluses, access to some great utility and combat perks (flight and a sip bonus), but low con, which makes you fodder for high-damage classes. The latter has better constitution and even an equilibrium bonus which helps with a majority of your eq-heavy skills, but loses out on the utility of basic flight and comes with a fire weakness.

A +equilibrium race is also open for consideration, which includes the Aslaran noted above, but also has both Mugwumps, Merians and Furrikins. The Mugwumps are the fastest equilibrium users with their level three buff, but their general low constitution and massive maluses to charisma and popular elemental weaknesses promptly shoots them out of consideration for a majority of combatants who dislike being burned or zapped quickly to death. Merians are likewise in the same boat as Mugwumps, albeit at a relatively smaller level in regards to weaknesses, but they have weaknesses all the same. They have the highest intelligence of all the races, if I remember right, and have decent charisma if you want to influence too. Of the four races with equilibrium bonuses, I personally favour the Furrikin because of their great statistics and markedly lower elemental weaknesses. Though the balance/equilibrium bonuses are only at level 1 (compared to the 2's and 3's of the other races), access to a great magic resistance and free Tumble makes it nice, in my opinion.

Just in case I haven't tired you out enough, there is also the consideration of organizational spec races. As should be easily noted, both Lucidians and Trill become better as a Hallifaxian with their specs. Statistical raises are always liked by folk unless their racial weaknesses negates the benefits given by a spec, so it's up to your own personal choice, I think.

Look at that. I did still end up giving a semi-lecture. Oops.

I think I will stick to human for the time being... it may not be the most "effective" choice but... it's the one I like most at the moment.

You could ask Morbo IG about race choice. I know he's tested all (or most) of the races out to see what works best, at least with tarot.

I am a human and I love it. Granted, I don't really do much fighting outside raid defense and the occasional Fleshpot raid, but I've had no issues with it.

I personally really love tarot for the utility (although the willpower drain from inscribing is kind of a pain. Of course, I tend to inscribe in bulk and for other people as well, so this is mainly my fault)

Lucidian, because of the Crystalline con and int, is pretty nice. We have quite a few skills that take balance, not equilibrium, so the equilibrium bonus can be not as helpful as you might think. And rpwise being lucidian or trill is quite nice. Lucidian's always worked well enough for me, so I don't have personal experience with the other races.

Like all things, it depends what you want to be doing. I'm really not the person to ask if you have concerns about what a race looks like or anything because I'm going to recommend based on what is best.

Some interesting things about Tarot Resarchers that I don't think other guardians have is that they are almost entirely balance based, instead of equilibrium. Harmonics is mostly balance, and so is tarot. You won't use very much aeonics in a fight as it is largely defenses. I spend most of my time as faeling now because they have level 2 balance, level 3 sipping (which is a huge deal) and massive stats considering they almost always have 2-3 domoths on them due to the dominance of Glomdoring. At lower skill levels you'll have issues with health for basic bashing until you get amethyst and diamond, but after that you'll be healing quite a bit and blocking every 3rd attack about if you are smart with how you use diamond.

I recommend aslaran for Astrology researchers due to the equilibrium and balance bonus and the high stats

Tarot is the best by far, It has everything that the researcher class itself does not have (a powerless timed instant kill, room hindering, effective summoning, and escapability)

However, If we were to have massive amounts of researchers (which we do not have) astrology has slightly better group utility due to the quickness at which several astrologers could get up negative spheres and meteor

I have to say this topic is awesome and very informative...and makes mr want to change classe....but keep it going anyways.

Getting a kill or assist with healing is a deliciously ironic and satisfying feeling, + as people have said with an effective healing system you're almost impossible to kill 1v1 or in a small group (as can be demonstrated by Geb when he was still around). People like healers.