(12-04-2014, 04:26 PM)Warren Castille Wrote: As I was typing my response I reasoned that was your hopeful response, and it would have been mean of me to deviate specifically to deny you the point you definitely earned there.Indeed.
Like all things in roleplay, it comes down to your personal philosophies. I like the contrast of playing the not-chosen ones in XIV similarly to how it can be fun to play a Heroic Mortal in Exatled and see how many sessions you survive (global top score is 1/2).
Doesn't mean everyone does, or has to. That's the nice thing about RP.
I personally prefer it when most participants in a story are competent on some level. The bumbling idiot, arrogant nincompoop, oblivious harem lead, etc. archetypes tend to leave me cold (at least partly due to overexposure) and I have a much, much easier time getting invested into events as they happen if people are acting at least somewhat logically.
That's not to say I can't have fun with characters whose existences are defined by their ability to bring forth comic relief - it just tends to be laid on too thickly for my tastes.
This means that I prefer to match strength against strength rather than characters having glaring weaknesses that are badly in need of patching up lest they be exploited to hell and back. Hence, on a pure power spectrum my characters and the major players they interact with are going to be on the upper, well-above-average end of the scale, and if combat is ever involved I expect there to be a decent, fun exchange rather than someone getting beat down as soon as they show the first sign of weakness (the latter is far more realistic, mind you, which is part of why realism is boring).
When it comes to FFXIV specifically the CG snippets inform a huge part of how I view the world and how capable the people within it can be, hence I basically throw realism out the window in favor of spectacle and fun. I do try to find a good balance but I'm not going to finger-wag someone for being flashy (though I will do so for things that are just blatantly out of line). Other folks have their own views on this and that's fine. It's just... probably better for all involved if we don't get too entangled with one another.