So, on giving this further thought, I have a genuine inquiry, in regards to power level versus back story versus character level.Â
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When Ninja first released, a friend of mine decided he wanted a level 50 Ninja, but he didn’t want that Ninja to be his main character, who had a fully fleshed out back story. Instead, he opted to level up a new character, who he gave a very cursory backstory to. We spent ten minutes sussing out that character’s story based on what bit of lore about Ninja we had, and off he went, leveling that toon.
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Within less than two days, he’d hit 50, completed all of the MSQ, and was in full Syrcus Tower gear, thanks to my queueing with him as my main, who was at the time a White Mage.Â
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I made a character at the same time, also a Ninja. I spent a good week working on her backstory,history, personality, character concepts. During that time I managed to level her to 30. She’s still 30, because my FC was lacking a dedicated tank, and that meant going back to my main to level her up, because it was needed at the time.Â
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I role-played that character more than a dozen times, and always played that she was a ninja from Doma, who was sent ahead with her partner, and the pair of them had been slumming it as pugilists, trying to expand their skills and not show off the fact they had and knew more than they appeared to. I spent a week getting her to 30, as I was working on her story. I didn’t feel a need to rush her to max level, and still don’t, even now that she’s an Au Ra, and her story adjusted accordingly (only minor tweaking was needed).Â
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Given that my friends Ninja is/was 50, and my Ninja was only 30, but had a richer backstory and was more fleshed out as an individual, would he honestly be taken more seriously as a character, just based on his OOC level? In comparative time spent, even though I leveled much slower, I put more cumulative work into that character, especially in role-play. Would I then be told I hadn’t dedicated enough to her because I spent more time RPing her than I did playing her in PvE?
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Further, Freelance, I don’t think that just a look (at someone’s character level) can be a good judge. Glioca, for example, carries herself very nonchalantly, and looking at her, people would have a hard time thinking she was a swordswoman who also used conjury to supplement herself as she fought. She’s usually in pants and a loose top, and rarely wears full plate, the closest she's come is now that she's in armor plated boots, but cloth everything else. She looks more like a bum/pirate right now than she does a skilled paladin, but that’s precisely what her character levels say she is.Â
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Her character levels also no longer reflect that she’s more skilled in conjury than she is with sword fighting. How would you gauge that disparity just by looking at my cumulative character levels? Would your character assume she’s a better swordswoman than anything else? If (huge if) we got into a fight,would you decry me using conjury one-handed, as she often does, with her rune-covered sword as a kind of focus to cast? Would using more than one set of skills be considered god-moding?  At what point do we cease to look at character levels and look solely at someone's role-play skill as a gauge of how powerful they are?  Are we all just too bitter because of past experiences, and letting those experiences cloud our judgments a players, and therefore shut ourselves out of potential interactions that could be fun just because someone doesn't 'measure up' on an OOC level?
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I’m not going for a sarcastic angle here, and apologize if anyone reads it as such, but I’m honestly curious what the answers to these questions are. Only a little sorry for the wall of text.
(Edited for formatting because wtf forum, y u do dis to me?)
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When Ninja first released, a friend of mine decided he wanted a level 50 Ninja, but he didn’t want that Ninja to be his main character, who had a fully fleshed out back story. Instead, he opted to level up a new character, who he gave a very cursory backstory to. We spent ten minutes sussing out that character’s story based on what bit of lore about Ninja we had, and off he went, leveling that toon.
Â
Within less than two days, he’d hit 50, completed all of the MSQ, and was in full Syrcus Tower gear, thanks to my queueing with him as my main, who was at the time a White Mage.Â
Â
I made a character at the same time, also a Ninja. I spent a good week working on her backstory,history, personality, character concepts. During that time I managed to level her to 30. She’s still 30, because my FC was lacking a dedicated tank, and that meant going back to my main to level her up, because it was needed at the time.Â
Â
I role-played that character more than a dozen times, and always played that she was a ninja from Doma, who was sent ahead with her partner, and the pair of them had been slumming it as pugilists, trying to expand their skills and not show off the fact they had and knew more than they appeared to. I spent a week getting her to 30, as I was working on her story. I didn’t feel a need to rush her to max level, and still don’t, even now that she’s an Au Ra, and her story adjusted accordingly (only minor tweaking was needed).Â
Â
Given that my friends Ninja is/was 50, and my Ninja was only 30, but had a richer backstory and was more fleshed out as an individual, would he honestly be taken more seriously as a character, just based on his OOC level? In comparative time spent, even though I leveled much slower, I put more cumulative work into that character, especially in role-play. Would I then be told I hadn’t dedicated enough to her because I spent more time RPing her than I did playing her in PvE?
Â
Further, Freelance, I don’t think that just a look (at someone’s character level) can be a good judge. Glioca, for example, carries herself very nonchalantly, and looking at her, people would have a hard time thinking she was a swordswoman who also used conjury to supplement herself as she fought. She’s usually in pants and a loose top, and rarely wears full plate, the closest she's come is now that she's in armor plated boots, but cloth everything else. She looks more like a bum/pirate right now than she does a skilled paladin, but that’s precisely what her character levels say she is.Â
Â
Her character levels also no longer reflect that she’s more skilled in conjury than she is with sword fighting. How would you gauge that disparity just by looking at my cumulative character levels? Would your character assume she’s a better swordswoman than anything else? If (huge if) we got into a fight,would you decry me using conjury one-handed, as she often does, with her rune-covered sword as a kind of focus to cast? Would using more than one set of skills be considered god-moding?  At what point do we cease to look at character levels and look solely at someone's role-play skill as a gauge of how powerful they are?  Are we all just too bitter because of past experiences, and letting those experiences cloud our judgments a players, and therefore shut ourselves out of potential interactions that could be fun just because someone doesn't 'measure up' on an OOC level?
Â
I’m not going for a sarcastic angle here, and apologize if anyone reads it as such, but I’m honestly curious what the answers to these questions are. Only a little sorry for the wall of text.
(Edited for formatting because wtf forum, y u do dis to me?)
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