Asyria

Now with tropes, and the Roe got a pic.

^ This.

It really sucks when what you really want to play isn't in the game! Like.. why not give Marauder all manners of non-polearm tw-handed weapons? Why only greataxes and not also greatswords, huge hammers and maces? That would be awesome. Maybe we get another class later that fits... For now though a Gladiator without a shield... well it looks cool, but it's simply innefficient. I haven't played much in 1.0 and but I know even between level 1 and 2, there is a difference in fight difficulty. It's not very noticeable but it's there and, typically, it always gets worses and forces you to be better at your class and in your role. That's always how it is in mmo's. Unfortunately, as far as Gladiators go, that means getting better at tanking and that means using a shield... So to the question "how much will I be outperformed", I join the above posters in saying "a lot". Sorry!

I totally saw a pink-haired, yellow-ish-skinned (somehwat.. I guess) Miqo'te called Flutter Shy in phase 3.

I think all the polls display the same results because it's all the same people participating in them. As for people not knowing about Balm/Gilg because they don't participate on forums.. a simple google search and a bit of lurking would fix that. I probably wouldn't be participating much if it all if I didn't have so much free time on my hands, but I would still look where the RP is and roll there. In fact I used to do exactly that when I had a full-time job. Just search for the information I need (where's the rp?) note it down and not participate in any forum activity. Anyways, not that it changes much! Just wanted to point out that polls and numbers aren't everything and in-game experience can show surprising differences.

Thanks for the tips, guys. However, I'm not very good at these things I can come up with stories pretty easily, but coming up with images is something completely new to me and if I'm asking it's because I need inspiration. No need to worry about the whole "it's for life" thing either. ^^; I'm not some 15 years old getting a tattoo "because it's cool", I'm a 31 years old who's been through a lot and want to commemorate it. It's not really to remind myself either. I'll carry a big scar for life to remind me... but a scar isn't pretty (don't give me that rugged good looks thing, that doesn't work with me ) and I rather have something prettier. It's like how some soldiers get scars and medals, I guess. I got the scar, I want to give myself something else. ^^

Depends how things develop! See, the thing about Helena is she's pretty smart and naturally talented.. but her problem is she has trouble focusing on just one thing at a time. An easy parrallel would be a university student who keeps switching degrees, getting great grades, but never finishing any. Obviously, she is thirsty for knowledge.. but isn't quite so wise yet. Smart, but not necessarily wise (that might come with age and/or experience). Also, being so spread out in her studies and those studies being sometimes radically different (the heavily scientific approach of the arcanist versus the spiritual approach of the conjurer is the perfect example) means she could end up forgetting important things or mixing them up and either miscasting or just not being able to do it at all. To complicate things further she also dabbles in the more martial classes so she's like... a combat sage! o_O

I never trust polls, a lot of people don't bother with them. Similarly, not all RPers ar on the RPC and many RPers avoid official forums. Heck, many non-RPers avoid them too. What I do trust is how much RP I actually see in-game and how big the RP guilds (or linkshells) are. As far as the RPC's OOC Linkshells go on Galmung and Giglamesh alike, I think they're pretty similar in size, from what I've seen. Also, while that's very unfortunate, there are those who believe RPCers are a clique, or are elitists or whatever other abomination they might make up due to the fact that we have our own forum (Remember the whole "OMG they're not letting people create accounts to vote, so evil!" thing?) and those RPers sure won't be on Balmung. Then again, probably not on Gilgamesh either. ^^;

The first part may or may not be true but the second is admitedly intriguing and makes me regret having dropped out of 1.0. My legacy characters have the mark but I haven't actually played much of the game so I don't really -have- that RPed background...

I didn't mean that it should literally say "I'm a survivor", I don't want a few words inked on me! I meant that's what it would mean. But I'm not sure what the tattoo would be. What could express that and look good.

A few thoughts that occured to me reading the last few posts... Official labelled RP servers actually get more trolls than unofficial ones because the trolls don't need to do any research to find them. It's like a shining beacon. Trolling by RP... I've seen this on Rift. Some guy was /dancing naked in the middle of people (including me) having a IC convo. I tried the "integrate them" approach saying things like how he was a madman etc. and the guards should take him, that poor crazy man, for disturbing the peace. Then some guy (probably is accomplice) came along taking his side and saying he was doing nothing wrong and he was just dancing because he was happy we shouldn't bully him, all of this of course IC. In hindsight, it was pretty hilarious and I can understand the trolls getting a kick out of it. I mean come on, anyone who played D&D knows this: interrupting RP with a joke is always funny... the thing when we RP online is we get into it, and we feel like we're being interrupted by an outside source. It's like someone bursting into your living room during a D&D game and doing or saying stupid things It's not what is being said or done that is really annoying. Half the time, in another context, it would be funny. It's the inappropriateness of it. Of course, that's exactly what makes it funny for them. As for funny names.. sorry Rock, I don't remebmer all of them! But be sure play the Namespot game in your OOC LS (which I totally forgot to join cause I was too busy SA. ^^; )

I'm actually thinking about getting a tattoo, something to commemorate an important life-changing event that lenghtened my expected lifespan by miles. something that says "I'm a survivor". Any ideas?

As mentionned Balmung won't have only established RPers (far from it!). There will be many new ones as well and many who just haven't been there for a while so there isn't as much established stuff as one might think. Plus, 5 years have passed in-game since 1.0 so even established characters have had a long downtime OR (if they choose to have been at the memory-altering events) have been time-warped 5 years ahead to a changed world, with people having forgotten things about them (and wondering where the hells they've been for the past 5 years) Needless to say, anything that could have been ICly considered established has changed and is now essentially Character Background material. The only thing that is really established is the community and game progression (in terms of levels, cash and gear), and those are OOC things. On Gilgamesh, people could still decide to RP as if they've been at The Battle and through the Time Warp, but it's probably going to be less common as the whole point of rolling on Gilgamesh is to get that fresh start. To answer your question, I'll just say follow your friends. ^^ Normally, I'd say roll on both servers, see for yourself, but since your friends already made their choice there really is no reason not to go with them. As for established vs brand new, if it's established RP that worries you, there's nothing to worry about. If it's having high level wealthy people around that worries you.. you might have a little to worry about... though in my opinion, give a month and there won't be much of a difference between the two servers. Nowadays, people reach level cap in a week, then cry about lack of endgame content.

Lovely pic of Celes up there. I know we got some Garlean defectors and spies here and there... and my character Helena could eventually become a Sage. Who knows? She's still pretty young for now, though.

If you want to waste even more time, try copy-pasting your tropes from here to your character wiki page and figure out the differences between wiki link codes and the forum codes.

I see your Donut BallZ and raise you a Tyke Myson (a Lalafel pugilist to boot).

Rather than play in Limsa and have the character come from Gridania... Why not start him in Gridania and actually play his growing there and going from there to Limsa? If you RP it all out, the circumstances that took him from his homeland to Limsa might even surprise you!

Pretty cool stuff!

As others have expressed there isn't really any Good or Bad answer. However there are certainly General Tendencies, which you can determine for yourself by reading on people's personal answers. Here's mine! 1. What chat channels do most RPers constantly use? Say/Party/Tell? Or do most people switch it up depending on where they are and/or who they are with? Say is nearly always In Character. Party and Tell can both be used for more private conversations (more likely Party, considering the game's default channel thing and the annoyingly high mistell chance). However Party is rarely used IC during dungeon runs, unless all party members are RPers and want to do the run in character. In any case, linkpearls allow for lore-friendly long-distance in-character communication, unlike most other fantasy MMO's. 2. How are custom emotes used? Are they used to express a simple action (i.e.: Nald'thal looks down upon Uldah.), or do people tend to be more wordy and reveal inner thoughts (i.e.: Nald'thal looks down upon Uldah, wondering where all the puny people went. Surely the city was full just moments ago!)? Most people frown upon revealing direct inner thoughts on RP, advising instead the use of facial expressions and other behaviors to let other players figure out by themselves what the character is thinking. (Warning:, getting wordy here, feel free to skip) There are two schools of thought about what Role-playing really is. A) Role-playing is acting. This means that RP, even using a read/write medium such as a MMO or even a RP chatroom, should only use spoken words and visible actions and expressions, rationalizing that unless one is a telepath, it's impossible to know another character's actual thoughts. Of course, if a character *is* a telepath, the player can always ask in Tells for those thoughts. B) Role-playing is writing a story. When you write a story, it's customary to give a character's thoughts to the reader, whether it's written in 3rd or 1st person. In RP, that means doing exactly the 2nd example you gave above. The majority of people seem to be in group A. I am in group B and have always found it difficult to adapt (but I'm getting there). don't let anyone tell you that either is wrong. They're both perfectly fine and anyone trying to "teach" you otherwise is simply believing a bit too hard in their own way. Still, it pays to adapt to the majority to avoid conflict. That said, many in group A (in my experience, anyway) agree that revealing inner thoughts can be sometimes appropriate in a small, private RP, like between two people whose characters know each other well. 3. Exactly how often are emotes used? Are they more scarce in a simple conversation between friends, and seen more in like, a scene... or something? I have no idea. Personally, I use some of them like wave and greet and laugh and such whenever they feel appropriate, without abuse. After all, I spent at least 5 minutes picking the most fitting voice for my characters so I better /laugh every now and then to let people witness my clever choices. O_O 4. Is it commonplace for RP to be planned, or is 'freestyle' RP more popular? Again, no idea. I know both are done, but I don't know to what degree. What I can tell you is personally favor freestyle, but sometimes I plan for something to happen and simply let the how be discovered as I RP. And sometimes something else ends up happening! 5. How does one with a crippling sense of inadequacy find people to RP with? :lol: You know, I wonder about that every time I get into a new MMO. ^^; A few things I've tried.... - Get a Mentor - Find a Linkshell or Free Company (whatever you do I highly recommend joining your chosen server's OOC Linkshell) - Ask here! - However difficult it seems to be and even if it seems like it would be strange, try joining into RP you might stumble upon in-game (I for one always had trouble with that...) (Optional) 6. Does your character prefer sweet, sour or spicy food? Azyria: sweet or sour, depends Agata: spicy Helena: not picky Jeanette: skillfully cooked PART DEUX 1. What's the best way to respond if someone meta-games? If it's disruptive to your RP, politely ask how come their character know this or that, be prepared to either accept their answer (they might be meta-gaming after all!) or to politely tell them their character is not supposed to know. 2. For planned RP sessions, I've seen some of you said they're usually just simple "Let's go x and do y," but how exactly are more storyline RP scenes planned out? I've once participated (but not planned myself such a RP scene. My understanding is it was prepared much like a D&D (or other such game) encounter. Basically, you get some kinda Game Master, the player organizing the scene who will act as the E in the PvE. The players simply play their roles and the GM guides them through the scene, playing the role of NPC's etc. Another way to do it is to know the desired end result. For example, you get together to create a Free Company, but you want to RP out its creation. You know that whatever happens, the scene must ends with the FC's creation so there's a few guidelines to follow. 3. This isn't so much my concern, but something I would like some clarification on. If someone plays a character who is inept at combat, are they likely to purposely perform poorly in-game? I've heard stories about this happening, but I always figured it was a rare thing. Thoughts? I've never done this myself, but there's (again) more than one way to do this. the two I know about are... - Play as skillfully as you like but do OOCly and RP as being weak/inept/whatever. This means any fighting your character does is not canon. - Simply don't level your War/Magic classes! It's not possible in every mmo, but in FF XIV, I don't see why someone couldn't have fun RPing and playing the game with nothing but one adventuring class at level 10 (since it's required) and the nothing but gathering and/or crafting classes. 4. How are spells like Raise and the like treated in RP? This is a pretty broad question I know, but if someone's character gets K.O.'d in like RP combat, I wouldn't want to do something that's immersion breaking and ruins it for someone. Depends on people. Personally, how I see this is as follows... HP are called Hit Points as opposed to Life Points for a reason, Losing them doesn't mean you're dying. It could be you'Re simply getting knocked unconscious, possibly with your life at risk, possibly not. So a Cure or Raise spell simply brings you magically back in shape. That would explain why some people die permanently when there's white mages with Raise spells around. Another possibility is Raise is only efficient if the person died a short time ago, or any other such limitation. (Optional) 5. What is your characters sleeping posture like? Azyria: curled in a ball Agata: sprawled out Helena: partially curled, hugging her pillow Jeanette: on her back, hands joined, looking almost like she's meditating peacefully

During a trip to the local miner's guild to arrange for some materials to be brought to her small forge, Azyria noticed this note and smiled inwardly to herself. Good, she thought. People are waking up and taking up arms. This will surely help in my own fight. I should keep them in mind, just in case. Azyria's fight is somewhat different but that doesn't mean we can never RP... After a night of drinking and partying hard, Agata stumbled and almost fell facefirst into the wall that note was pinned on. Curious, she shook her head and focused through the haze all this ale put over her eyes. "Well well, look at that. Seems like some people are eager to fight the good fight out there." She cracked her knuckles with a half-drunk grin. "This could be fun." My Roe is way too wild to be working efficiently in the Blades, but she's always up for fighting for a good cause. Who knows!

Heya lurkerperson! I doubt anyone will blame you for not having faith in 1.0, most who stuck around did it for the people and not the game. ^^; That said, ARR has been pushing those bad memories away and giving me renewed hope and incentive to play and redevelop my old characters as well as create new ones! Welcome into the fold.

Whew! Okay thanks. ^^ Hopefully this also helps the OP's decision-making.

This brings a question to mind... Sorry I don't want to hijack, but it's related to the same dilemna. I understand that we get a storyline based on our starting city. However it seems like the different class guilds have some stories as well. Do class stories matter much? I mean, my main character is a Lancer, going to be a Dragoon, but I picked Pugilist as her "main" class to be able to start in Ul'dah, where she makes her home ICly (plus Pugi is needed for Dragoon anyway). Did I shoot myself in the foot? o_O

You might know Helena Duval (Balmung) from... - Anywhere! - Seriously, she's travelled a lot. She learned to fight with pirates and pugilists, to cast magic from arcanists and conjurers, she's explored and crafted and partied and fought, and she never quite settled down. She's just too young to stop. You might know Jeanette Lenoire (Gilgamesh) from... - Classy taverns, inns, or any such social area in any major city. - The Ul'dan weaver's guild. - The Silver Anvil Company HQ (when we get one! ) - A battlefield. Oh yes this classy lady loves to unleash her magic as much as she loves a good fashion show. Better not get any mud on her dress, though...

A Wild Firnwood Appears! It uses Epic Portrait! It's super effective! Welcome in.