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+--- Thread: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? (/showthread.php?tid=3145)
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - Myxie Tryxle - 07-28-2013
(07-28-2013, 02:44 PM)Wolf Wrote: Haha, she's an inventor? *Looks up her wiki page*
I just update her wiki page to include the inventions she has revealed in character. I wrote that page before doing any RP with her in the last phase of beta, so it's updated now with the ideas she put forth in play with other characters.
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - Ashren Dotharl - 07-28-2013
(07-28-2013, 04:04 PM)Callipygian Wrote:(07-28-2013, 02:44 PM)Wolf Wrote: Haha, she's an inventor? *Looks up her wiki page*
I just update her wiki page to include the inventions she has revealed in character. I wrote that page before doing any RP with her in the last phase of beta, so it's updated now with the ideas she put forth in play with other characters.
Totally unrelated, but FFXIV needs an inventor/engineer type Disciple of the Hand class. That was always my favorite profession in WoW and no other game has really done it. I don't think the outlandish type stuff they make in WoW would be fitting, but the theme of making crazy inventions (or even Magiteck) would be awesome. We have fishing which is a DoL class that pretty much serves no purpose other than as a hobby, an inventor DoH class could serve the same roll, creating minions, or fun novelty items.
Anyways, sorry for going off topic.
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - Myxie Tryxle - 07-28-2013
(07-28-2013, 04:11 PM)Ashren Snow Wrote:(07-28-2013, 04:04 PM)Callipygian Wrote:(07-28-2013, 02:44 PM)Wolf Wrote: Haha, she's an inventor? *Looks up her wiki page*
I just update her wiki page to include the inventions she has revealed in character. I wrote that page before doing any RP with her in the last phase of beta, so it's updated now with the ideas she put forth in play with other characters.
Totally unrelated, but FFXIV needs an inventor/engineer type Disciple of the Hand class. That was always my favorite profession in WoW and no other game has really done it. I don't think the outlandish type stuff they make in WoW would be fitting, but the theme of making crazy inventions (or even Magiteck) would be awesome. We have fishing which is a DoL class that pretty much serves no purpose other than as a hobby, an inventory DoH class could serve the same roll, creating minions, or fun novelty items.
Anyways, sorry for going off topic.
I think most of the things you catch while fishing will be useful for cooking. Several of the other professions use materials like "Fish Glue" which are made from fish. I don't think it will be pure mini-game/hobby. I think their announcement that fishing won't be valuable was more to alleviate fears that fishing will be necessary for anyone who wants to make money in the game like it was in FFXI. Fishing will be useful but not essential.
As for engineering, all the funnest characters I ever roleplayed in WoW were engineers, which is probably why Myxie is an inventor. Her inventions are a little outlandish, but I'm also drawing inspiration from characters like Q in James Bond.
If a PC courier service does get off the ground, Myxie would definitely use it for her business correspondence. Even if she didn't have a distrust for moogles, I wasn't aware that the mail system only worked with your friends list.
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - Grinner - 07-28-2013
The Red Hand does plan to offer courier services, it's one aspect of the Free Company. There are some things you just don't want to trust to an impersonal service, or some items that don't do well via the mail service (you know, the ones that need air holes poked in the box).
We don't need to know what's in the box, or why you need it to be delivered to a one-eyed Lala on the border of Ala Mhigo. We'll get it there in a timely manner - for the right price.
You had drinks with a lovely sea wolf woman in Limsa Lominsa and she left certain articles behind; you'd like to return them but you didn't catch her name? Not to worry! Provide us with a thorough description, scars, birth marks, we'll track her down and return her possessions - if you can afford both the investigation and courier fees.
There are a lot of fun possibilities!
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - K'nahli - 07-28-2013
(07-28-2013, 04:46 PM)Grinner Wrote: to be delivered to a one-eyed Lala on the border of Ala Mhigo.
xD
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - C'io Behkt - 07-29-2013
Yeah, thanks to Mog Mail, I don't see this as a line of work with much job security. The work is most likely to be occasional at best, dangerous at worst. That's why my character just has it as part of her freeter repertoire--the unusual odd jobs she can do because she's from the wild and not fully integrated with the city-states--as opposed to a regular profession. But when it pays, I imagine the score's gotta be high!
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - Kyatai - 07-29-2013
Someone mentioned PTCS... I was a member of that before it tanked due to, as was said, incredible difficulty in obtaining 'jobs.'
That said... the GW2 RP community is not like this one. So... I see no reason why it would fail- given it's not ALL your LS/FC does. Especially in light of the poll here.
Yes.. Moogle mail is IG, and -can- be IC. But it doesn't have to be. Hand wave that you 'actually' got that gil/package/note from the Moogle...
And encourage the RP that would occur via pure character interaction with a courier- be it shady, mysterious, singing, cheerful, dark or totally UPS like. Not sure what trading is like in FFXIV... haven't had the opportunity to trade with anyone yet... but in GW2- there WAS no trading. It had to go through the mail. Lame? yes. So we -had- to do a bit of a handwave in PTCS.... which kinda defeated the purpose, save using it as a RP device. Which... as I said... the RP community didn't seem interested in.
I think having a courier service as an IC device to promote RP interactions and networking sounds like a brilliant idea.
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - Ashren Dotharl - 07-29-2013
(07-29-2013, 03:07 AM)Kyatai Wrote: Not sure what trading is like in FFXIV... haven't had the opportunity to trade with anyone yet...
Trading exists in FFXIV like it does in many other games. You can give another character gil, items, or equipment though you can only trade equipment that is not bound to your character. If the piece of equipment has the "Untradeable" tag at the top above its name (same area where it says whether it's Unique or not) then you can't trade or sell it on the market. I believe unique items are automatically untradeable so you can never trade the different sets you can get out of Dungeons... which is kind of unfortunate because they make for really cool RP outfits.
As far as Courier vs Moogle goes, the major downside is going to be time I feel. If lets say I'm in Ul'dah, and a friend of mine is in Quarrymill and I want to send them a message. I can hire a courier to send it for me, but said Courier either needs to run all the way from Ul'dah to Quarrymill, or spend their own money to teleport there via Aetheryte. Of course the courier could charge a small fee to cover Aetheryte costs, but that'll only diminish the value of the service and how often it is used, after all if I wanted to pay the fee I'd just teleport there myself. So for this example we'll assume that the courier runs there. From Ul'dah to Quarrymill on Chocobo it's really not that long of a run, maybe 10 minutes at most, however that's ten minutes my friend either has to sit in Quarrymill waiting, or if he doesn't know he's supposed to be waiting (or decides he doesn't want to) the courier has to then track him down where ever he went off to. Maybe he went into a dungeon? Now the courier needs to wait for him to finish before delivering.
When you compare this to Mog Mail, I merely talk to a Moogle, tell them what I want to send, and instantly it arrives anywhere in the world where there's a Mog Mail post. With the above example with me in Ul'dah and him in Quarrymill I send the letter and he walks over to the Moogle which is right in the center of town and receives it instantly. If he goes into a dungeon first the letter will be waiting for him when he gets out and no player has to waste their time or money to do it.
In games like WoW I could see this being slightly more viable because mail isn't instant, and often times isn't free. The fee in WoW isn't a big deal, just 30 copper per attachment, but it takes an HOUR for mail to arrive.
Simply put, Mog Mail is instant, you can send items, letters, or money through them safely, and there is a Moogle in every city, hamlet, and outpost in the game and they always seem to know which one you're at (which is a little creepy if you think about it), so ultimately Mog Mail will 9 times out of 10 probably beat out an RP courier service.
As far as not trusting Moogles, I don't really understand this so I'd be kind of curious to hear the reasons behind certain characters not trusting them. They are considered Beastmen in Eorzea, but Beastman doesn't automatically mean badguy in the lore, it's just a term for a sentient bestial race that lives outside of the influence of the City-states. The Sylphs are an example of not all of them being evil (though some of them have been corrupt now so that's not as true as it was in 1.0). Other than the fact that they have a child-like nature and they tend to take advantage of the fact that almost no one can actually see them (as seen by them totally yanking the merchants booze in the Gridania opening). If you played 1.0 (or just looked up the openings for the original game) you, Yda, and Papalymo are saved by a band of Moogles in the Gridania opening (presumably by the same ones in the 2.0 opening) and the fact that they are very close with the Padjal shows they're good natured and benevolent.
How can you not trust a race whose King/Primal has a theme like this?!
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - Khaze'to Zhwan - 07-29-2013
I think this is a brilliant idea, already thinking of a number of ways that Khaze'to might use it. Â
@Grinner, It would be interesting to see both groups at work, the Courier service does all the up front checks and prides themselves as being recognisable and all that goodness while if you want to have something a little suspect delivered to get in contact with the red hand.Â
All in all I'm very interested in seeing how this turns out once its off the ground. Â
Another point that I have just thought about, Not everyone can see the Moogles, I think I read that it was connected to the echo so what about those people then? Mognet won't work for them so it would make sense that there IS a a normal postal service.
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - C'io Behkt - 07-29-2013
(07-29-2013, 04:38 AM)Khazeto Zhwan Wrote: Another point that I have just thought about, Not everyone can see the Moogles, I think I read that it was connected to the echo so what about those people then? Mognet won't work for them so it would make sense that there IS a a normal postal service.
Moogles classify officially as a beastman race, much like goblins and sylphs, so I think they can be seen by everybody and occupy the same plane of reality. There are some cutscenes where they are only visible to the player, true, but I think that they might just have the power of selective invisibility. In 1.0, they helped conjurers in the Shroud communicate with the elemental spirits, so non-Echo people have definitely had dealings with the moogles. Whether or not an individual would trust their mail to a beastman, though...
An additional point is that Mognet is also new -- it only appeared in the last five years of game when the Moogles became more active after the Calamity.
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - Ashren Dotharl - 07-29-2013
(07-29-2013, 05:47 AM)Cio Behkt Wrote:(07-29-2013, 04:38 AM)Khazeto Zhwan Wrote: Another point that I have just thought about, Not everyone can see the Moogles, I think I read that it was connected to the echo so what about those people then? Mognet won't work for them so it would make sense that there IS a a normal postal service.
Moogles classify officially as a beastman race, much like goblins and sylphs, so I think they can be seen by everybody and occupy the same plane of reality. There are some cutscenes where they are only visible to the player, true, but I think that they might just have the power of selective invisibility. In 1.0, they helped conjurers in the Shroud communicate with the elemental spirits, so non-Echo people have definitely had dealings with the moogles. Whether or not an individual would trust their mail to a beastman, though...
An additional point is that Mognet is also new -- it only appeared in the last five years of game when the Moogles became more active after the Calamity.
Actually it's stated pretty specifically that not everyone can see them, E-Sumi-Yan is surprised when he finds out you can see them and states that only certain people have that ability. It's never specifically stated that it's tied to the Echo, that was merely a link that many players made since the Echo made us capable of speaking to Beastmen. In the case of the original 1.0 Gridania opening I believe neither Yda or Papalymo were able to see the Moogles, only you were, and again in the case of the 2.0 Gridania opening no one else in the caravan can see them and they remark that they're surprised you can see them. This is evident by the fact that one of them drinks the old merchants bottle of... whatever... and he doesn't even notice despite them doing it right in front of them.
One theory I had was that moogles could somehow alter time, because during the original Gridania opening they manage to freeze you, Yda, Papalymo, and the treant, and in the 2.0 Gridania opening no one seens to notice that you just had a lengthy conversation with yourself...
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - K'nahli - 07-29-2013
Couriers are more effective when you know someone is going to be at a certain place at a certain time though, so the waiting around issue shouldn't be that big of a deal. Anything I send won't be expected at any specific time for instance.
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - Spiritual Machine - 07-29-2013
(07-29-2013, 03:07 AM)Kyatai Wrote: Someone mentioned PTCS... I was a member of that before it tanked due to, as was said, incredible difficulty in obtaining 'jobs.'With all due respect to you and to this community, people polling interest in a thread doesn't mean much when it comes to practical application. Even I'm interested, and I'm not sure it's a service I'd ever have good opportunity to utilize.
That said... the GW2 RP community is not like this one. So... I see no reason why it would fail- given it's not ALL your LS/FC does. Especially in light of the poll here.
Yes.. Moogle mail is IG, and -can- be IC. But it doesn't have to be. Hand wave that you 'actually' got that gil/package/note from the Moogle...
And encourage the RP that would occur via pure character interaction with a courier- be it shady, mysterious, singing, cheerful, dark or totally UPS like. Not sure what trading is like in FFXIV... haven't had the opportunity to trade with anyone yet... but in GW2- there WAS no trading. It had to go through the mail. Lame? yes. So we -had- to do a bit of a handwave in PTCS.... which kinda defeated the purpose, save using it as a RP device. Which... as I said... the RP community didn't seem interested in.
I think having a courier service as an IC device to promote RP interactions and networking sounds like a brilliant idea.
There's not a thing wrong with the idea on paper, but the issue of finding jobs, and requiring legwork on the part of the participants to establish relationships IC and OOC for the purpose of having consistent work is a very real issue in practice.
Additionally, the GW2 community on the whole was about as cool as this one, and that community expressed general interest in the idea of a courier service as well, especially since the carrier pigeon method already required a lot of handwaving to work (How does that bird always know exactly where I am, even underwater?).
But in the end, moogle mail and carrier pigeon are both instant and really convenient (compare to the WoW mail system), and simply pretending that the message or package was delivered by someone else entirely still doesn't stimulate courier RP on its own.
I still agree that the best thing to be done is have a courier service be attached to a larger guild concept, to give people something to fall back on, keep things from being dull between jobs, and let other guild members handle the networking aspect that the courier service requires.
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - Ashren Dotharl - 07-29-2013
Another thing too however is that Linkshells, unlike guilds, are not exclusive. You are not forced into joining a single Linkshell and as such a group purely dedicated to being a Courier service is still a feasible idea. You can be a member of the Knights of the Twelve, or Misericorde , or whatever whatever other LS you might want as your main and still join a Courier LS as a sort of side job. This ensures that you have a group dedicated purely to this service, while allowing people to join other groups to fall back on when work is slow.
RE: Sorry if this is a silly idea, but..... Couriers? - Ildur - 07-29-2013
Linkshells don't make it automatically feasible. If the courier Linkshell doesn't get enough jobs to keep people interested, they are just going to neglect it until its effectively dead.
I agree that it should be a service offered by a group of people with other over-arching goals, so if demand for couriers is very low, they can still survive anyway.