Hydaelyn Role-Players

Hello,

I'm a returning player and recently moved to Balmung and was curious as to quite a few things on the server.

For starters, what "phase" of the world do people most commonly RP in?
Or more directly, have the events of the main quest chain already happened, and as they expand the quest chain in patches and expansions, do we assume that all released quests have already happened to an undisclosed "Warrior of Light"?

Additionally, how are jobs treated? Scholars and summoners are obviously canonically extinct, yet if I opted to RP it is certain my faerie couldn't be ignored. With that stated, I'm also curious as to how people are treated when they are, say, a machinist and alchemist and scholar - is it accepted in RP to have a faerie out and my machinist's turret out simultaneously in RP combat scenarios, or is it advised that ICly you only stick to one class total (or just one class' abilities at a time)?

Next, are there any RP-PVP groups - that is, groups who fight in that open world PVP area that are dedicated to ICly claiming land for their group?

Also, is the best RP found in linkshells, or in Free Companies?

What are the best RP hubs and sources of RP in the game? Is it safe to randomly try to RP with people out in the field, as I used to attempt to do in Warcraft, or should I assume no one is an RPer until proven otherwise?

Lastly, how are IC conflicts resolved? In Warcraft people did one of three duel types - either RP battle, which relied on both parties being reasonable (which sadly most people aren't), roll battles (the higher roll gets to injure the other party, winner is decided by quantity of wounds), and finally actual PVP duels.

BACKGROUND
I came from World of Warcraft on both Moonguard and Wyrmrest Accord from leading/officering multiple RP-PVP guilds. I am interested in getting involved, but my cousin refuses to RP and wants me in his Free Company.

Hello and welcome back! 

As for your questions, I will try to answer them but I need to stress they're all based on my opinion so take it with a pinch of.. that. Yes. Words. 

1. Most people roleplay in real-time at a point after the most recent MSQ events - However it's very rare for things in the MSQ to be mentioned directly. There may be hints or anecdotes to a version of events that may have been carried forth to the general public. Most people treat the WoL as an undisclosed person indeed. One of the big reason as to why the MSQ isn't mentioned a lot in RP around hubs etc is because there's a strong culture of not spoilering the MSQ to people who have not completed it. Just because they have not completed it doesn't mean they're not in the same time as everyone else and such. 

2. You may find this post interesting: 
http://kilieit.tumblr.com/post/159315531...l-in-lore 
It gives a brief run down of the jobs and their options. You can check out the lore section on this board where there are some topics and the likes that touch on things more in-depth. 

3. Not that I know of. We have a pvp-area that has an arena type thing in it but there's no big open world pvp zone per se. 

4. Both! FC's are good for getting some friends and connections that go for the same things you go for in RP, and linkshells can supplement with both ic and ooc connections based on interests, themes, finding rp and so on. I'd say you'd do well with not focusing on just one thing. It's a big community out there! Embrace it all. 

5. Bookmark this: http://balmungrpcalendar.tumblr.com/calendar
A lot of open world/open to all RP come in the shape of events. Ul'dah is a general hub - for better and worse. Think of a more diverse goldshire where you may find quality roleplay and you may also well, find goldshire. Most people who are actively IC will have the RP icon turned on - A lot of guilds that cater to RP have their tags ending in -RP & finally if you right click a person you can inspect and see their search comment which is also a good way of figuring out if someone is a roleplayer. Don't be afraid to ask oocly and reach out, most people are friendly

Hi there! Welcome back to the game! This response has got a little long, so, sorry in advance.

1: "phase of the world"
In my experience, players tend to RP at roughly the time that the game's main story has gone up to, mainly due to how that can affect the world and due to the additions of new zones. Once Ishgard opened its gates in Heavensward, for example, setting RP before the gates were opened would be fairly nonsensical (especially considering Ishgardian roleplayers). However, there is often a delay following new content releases - we can't expect everyone to have played the entirety of the expansion within 24 hours, so for a little while roleplayed characters will be 'catching up' to wherever the main story has gone.

You're absolutely right about the undisclosed WoL part, though. Most RPers frown on anyone claiming to be The Warrior Of Light who did everything the main story involved. On the occasions I've had to refer to something the WoL did, I either speak generally of rumours of the Scions, or mention the Warrior of Light as some anonymous figure with no specific details.


2: "jobs"
Jobs vary based on individual lore. Scholars and Summoners aren't exactly extinct, but are rare. If you wanted to roleplay as one, you'd likely need a character whose background is heavily tied to either Nymian research or to the study of Allagan summoning, respectively. (Summoners also need to have canonically survived an encounter with a Primal, which is DOABLE but difficult, unless you feature them as only having access to Dreadwyrm Trance, which everyone in Eorzea could theoretically access).

There are a few jobs which allow larger numbers of members (Paladin or Machinist, for example), and a few which are highly frowned-upon in roleplay terms (White and Black Mage are both stated in their backgrounds to require incredibly rare things, with the WoL being implied to be the sole exception to the Elemental's law of Padjals being the only users of White magic).

Ultimately, it varies from Job to Job and on what character you want to RP with. Some use the base Class which is much less restrictive (Arcanist, for example). Others take a common Job like Machinist. And some go the route of the rare, hopefully with good explanations as to why they have a fairy following them and how it connects to their character.

Multiclassing is also fine, but again, is something where individual discretion is encouraged. Someone military might be a Gladiator, Marauder and Lancer ICly. But they're unlikely to be a Dragoon, Paladin, Scholar and Culinarian.


3: "RP PvP"
I'm afraid I don't know what "open world PvP area" you're talking about. There are no zones like that in the game - every PvP area is an Instanced region. I don't know of any PvP RP groups, but it wouldn't surprise me if there are one or two. The lack of open-world PvP doesn't lend itself to that, but RPers always work with what they're given.

4: "linkshell vs company"
Free Companies, in my experience, have been the more reliable of the two, though, as everyone gathers under one banner for shared reasons. But, Linkshells can be good at gathering people with shared interests who might be under multiple banners, and can definitely be useful as well.

5: "hubs"
The Quicksand is the biggest RP hub on Balmung - if you're looking for random walkup RP that's the place you're guaranteed it. However, there's a fair chance that it might be walk-up ERP, so if you choose to hang around there, be ready for that possibility.

On Balmung, it's fairly safe to try and field-RP. No one is likely to be annoyed by it at the very least, considering how prominent RP is on the server. At worst, they'll ignore you and carry on Gathering or questing. At best, you'll find RP.

6: "conflict"
This really depends on the individual conflict and how it develops. There aren't any established rules to the best of my knowledge, and I've never stumbled upon any impromptu duels caused by any dishonour. This, I think, works on an FC-to-FC basis and could be anything from arguing ICly until something gives, ICly ignoring one another to avoid argument, RPing a brawl or duel, or anything else. PvP duels don't tend to be used for it, though, as there is no open-world PvP zone and the only duelling area is found in the Wolves' Den Pier - PvP duelling isn't allowed in the normal open-world.

Again, welcome back to the game, welcome to Balmung, and I hope these answers were what you were looking for!

Hello,

Thank you for the information. I appreciate the job-tier list. I was wary of RP on FFXIV because I was fearful there would be too many "heroic" jobs, shall we say.

I would probably play my character as a scholar/machinist who is fascinated with knowledge of Nymian summoning and wants to pair that with the Machinist's skillset to field battlefields with replaceable soldiers - more focused on fighting the Empire with his knowledge. A freedom fighter focused on the acquisition and use of ancient knowledge with modern developments in magitech, ideally hoping to find a way to create machines with the ability to summon.

Do you think such a selection would be well received?

Hey there, and welcome aboard to FFXIV, the RPC, and to Balmung! 

As someone who also came out of leading RP-PvP guilds on Moon Guard back in Wrath, there's not really any RP-PvP presence at all in FFXIV. Your options for resolving conflicts are limited purely to /random fights and improvised RP combat. It's kind of a bummer really. 

I think everyone else knocked out your questions already! That said, your question about character concept viability depends on the niche of the community you go into. Some areas of the community are pretty job-heavy ("epic characters" if you will), whereas others keep things very mundane without any jobs and just classes being RP'ed. In my experience, "heroic jobs" are limited to more insular FC's and classes are more commonly used by the overall community (or the areas I've interacted with, at least). So, I'd probably recommend keeping it fairly mundane to start with and grow into the "heroic job" in the future if you find yourself in a niche that caters to that role. Otherwise, you'll end up with a power disparity between your character and others, which may cause some issues. 

Regardless, best of luck on the hunt!