
(07-16-2014, 02:49 PM)Auralily Wrote: Well, while we are on the topic, of sorts.ÂI kind of just consider the term 'adventurer' in XIV as a sort of blanket term to apply to anyone that has the potential to be something other than just a mundane civilian.
What precisely qualifies as an Adventurer? I'm not expressly against the idea of being one, I never was. I probably just got defensive because being told how to RP without any constructive criticism irks me. Are the Grand Company soldiers considered Adventurers as a whole? Are people with a dedicated job, whether it's as Sultanasworn, Yellow Jacket, crafter, etc. considered Adventurers?
I wish I could remember exactly where I either heard/or saw this, but a conversation with a Dev at some point brought up that only a portion of the population (not including Garleans) has enough control over their own personal aether to use aetherytes/aethernet reliably -- this is why a PC will return to an aetheryte when KO'd/in critical condition whereas most non-adventurer NPC will likely die in the field and their body remains there. So, this makes me think that from a game-mechanic-explained-with-lore-reasons standpoint, that there is -some- other quality out there (not necessarily the Echo, because that's supposed to be rare) and that not everyone decides to do the "go out and fight monsters and go on fantastic adventures!" thing just because they have it.
Lack of this quality (from a mechanic standpoint) also isn't a hindrance for people trying out to go and fight monsters, as that party you see during the missions revolving the first three dungeons illustrates.
Most other games, adventurers just seem to be a portion of the population that go out and do things above the regular civilian norm -- they may not always be combative or magic users, but they certainly don't just sit around town, raising a family, working a regular job, having an un-eventful life.