Have you stuck with the same character you first started out with?

Spoiler

Very first time I played the game, I made an archer in Bera. (Windia was just the newest world at this time) I ended up getting to about level 23, (which took me about a month to actually do), then I realised that my stats were pretty badly messed up --that I guess you weren't actually supposed to 'Balance' them. I decided theres no way I was doing that again without having any friends to play with, and went back to FFXI.

Next time I came to Maple, I joined with a friend of mine (started in Bello, a few days before V.42 rolled out). We both made archers, got to around level 52ish (over the span of the next 5 months.)
By this time, Monster Carnival was rolling out, which intrigued us. We made mages to level and try it out. Spent days upon days with it, it was pretty fun back in the day. Played until about June, and then we moved on to a new game.

Three characters so far, no concern of mine over what my "main character" is, or if I even thought of it like that at the time.

September 2008, I find myself coming back to the game once again. Ex-girlfriend I was with at the time played in Broa, and I made an archer in Broa, but was a bit "not feeling it" to log on, well..November rolls around, and I hear about pirates. I was intrigued by Gunslingers, and decided to make one. I found the class quite fun, but then stopped playing it around level 30. About this time, My EX and I stop seeing eachother. I put off Maple until...Summer! The friend that played with me and Bello remembered how fun monster carnival was, and asked if I wanted to come back with him. I continue my pirate, and he made a spearman. For the first time, I'm actually into the game much more than just casually playing it, I actually Met people while CPQing, and my pirate is the first character I level to Fourth Job. Was a big achievement for me.

My friend quits, and gives me his Spearman account. Ends up he was also leveling a Cleric on the side. I really liked Mages from Bello, and the only one we didn't play was Cleric. (He was an F/P, I was an I/L). Being new to Cleric, I liked being able to heal, and having teleport for better mobility. I make this my new main, since My corsair was unable to do much at the time, being Kyrin didn't give the quest for Battleship Cannon. Once I was a priest, training got quite easy. I would spend hours holding "Heal" in the Toy Room map, usually I had a keyboard at my feet, with heal on space. Then I could read, or something on PSP. Needless to say, 120 came fast.

I hopped around and experimented with a lot of classes, but my bishop stayed my main. I was quite happy with it, and had inspiration to go all the way to 200, from another friend who was fast approaching it herself. September 11th, 2010, My account gets hacked. I lose quite a bit, including the characters (all deleted). I decide that I shouldnt be trying to play with characters spanning across 4 accounts anymore,since it means I'm 4 times likely to get hacked. At one time, I had made a name for each job available, and planned to PG leech all of them in my spare time, while training myself. I stick to my corsair's account until Big Bang. Another mage rolls around, and this becomes my new main. Battle Mage was a thrill, the same thrill you get when you walk into a sears on a hot afternoon and get blasted by those Dyson fans in the breezeway. (Or the same thrill I got when I finally had a bishop). My goal with my Battle Mage was to fulfill the goal my Bishop could never do, and that was to reach 200. My goal was accomplished by the end of Summer, 2011. (Not without making a few enemies, to say the least. A number of others would DC me if I was training simply because someone -else- didn't want me to be 200 before them. Guess the top 10 ranks for Battle Mages were pretty cutthroat in Broa, but by this time, Most of my friends are all quitting, and the haters are just causing me more headaches. I quit the game. Everyone left in the guild I led, I tell to move on.

January 2012, My stress feeling over the game goes away, and my Girlfriend wants me to come back. (She was a bit sad when i left, and also sad when I sold off all of my stuff over Paypal, because it meant I might not come back one day.) What was left of my guild stuck together in a new guild, and, being the archer-liker I am, I make a mercedes. Mercedes remains my main to this day. It's everything I ever liked about other classes, all wrapped up in an archer package. If Archers were like this from the beginning, I would've never made a mage. I enjoyed playing Mages because of their early mobility, and how impressive their fourth job was to me. I've stuck with Mercedes since the day I made it. I've never called anything else my "main" since my bishop 2 years beforehand.