Darien Cadell

This is what I do, too. I have a concept, I go out and play it, and I add the backstory as I go. If someone asks a backstory-ish question that I don't know the answer to yet, I make one up on the spot. Or more often, I come up with a lie because my characters do that kind of thing, but meanwhile, I write down the truth somewhere else. I also like to do those "100 questions about your character" things, but only after I've started playing them, so the base concept fills out with history over time. Even my amnesiac character ended up with an extended backstory, and it was fun for him to remember it in bits and pieces over the time I was figuring it out. I definitely don't start from Day 1 with everything already figured out.

If guys could wear this in WoW FFXIV is losing ground by restricting anything they've got.

This is what I heard and how I figured it will go. Flying will have explanations for why it happens in Heavensward zones. Imagining a chocobo flying over Ul'dah without significant help from aether/these new fancy air current things is going to be a hard sell on believability, but as for whether or not they can fly once the explanations are in place, I'm not going to have a problem with the flight capability of everything that can fly. It'll just be dependent on environment, I assume.

I think... playing an antagonist in a plotline is not the same as playing a morally reprehensible character, and both could qualify as villains in theory. Heck, the hero in a villain's story is the antagonist, a la Dungeon Keeper. But to imply that any character that provides conflict must be played by the storyteller is a bit hard to believe. It's quite possible to antagonize without being a planned, manipulated cog in a storyteller-operated plot machine. It's also possible antagonize without power tripping, provided you know your co-writers/audience and communicate with them. My "villains" would have their moments as plot devices, per se, but even then, I wasn't necessarily providing the story. I was simply interacting on that basic roleplaying level. Perhaps I provided an instigating action here or there, but sometimes there was no plan, or sometimes someone else had the plan, and I was simply providing interactions from that morally reprehensible perspective, you know, like a player character might. Then when they weren't playing that antagonist/antagonizing role for others, yes, they'd be anti-heroes in their own tales. I think there's subtlety and detail being addressed here that's difficult to make any hard and fast statements about. If PC law enforcement and PC lawbreakers get involved with each other, OOC communication and cooperation has to happen quickly and efficiently, or it's going to devolve into a power-tripping mess. There needs to be give and take in situations like that, and it's possible, someone needs to step into a storyteller role just to maintain civility. But I don't think that such situations occur particularly means that PCs cannot play either lawbreakers or law enforcement. It just means remembering we're all in this together, and cooperation means compromise.

I walked into my initial mustache twirling escapades expecting to and happy to lose in almost every situation, not even necessarily assuming comedy, just playing up the sheer claws-to-the-wall tenacity of "I'll get you next time." My best villain moments were losses. When losing stopped being fun was usually a sign the character had played itself out for me. A villain who wants to win all or even most of their encounters is likely going to be a frustrated and frustrating character all around.

Dresses for all! Long dresses for some. Short dresses for others. But dresses for all.

Usually when I get tired of a character, whether it's after a couple weeks or a couple years, it's a slow descent into oblivion. And in the end, I just leave them there to collect dust when I move on to whatever's next. That's easy in games like WoW, GW2, and TOR where the solution is to just pick a different character to love. Here, where you lose so much input by not using Fantasia, there's more of a decision required. This is actually my second FFXIV character. My first I burnt to the ground when my real life collided with my capacity to enjoy the game in a violently emotional way, leaving me hating the fact that he existed at all for completely irrational reasons. I'd never done anything like that before. For his story, rather than flat out retcon, which is what I wanted to do in my fit of angst, I offered a sort of supernatural approach, where all the NPCs and players who didn't want to bother figuring out what to do with his sudden disappearance simply forgot he ever existed, and people who wanted to remember him for whatever reason could, but had to deal with his sudden vanishing however they best saw fit. I wrote a little story to go along with it, but the whole situation was crude and inconsiderate of everyone he interacted with. I just wanted him gone so badly. I jumped to a different server and used my Fantasia with no intention of returning. What happens after that is a new story. Nowadays he exists in a strange sort of dead/not-dead space full of uneasy questions and unpalatable mystery. There are days I want to bring him back. There are days I feel obligated to bring him back. But those feelings rarely last for long. It's not that I like this current character better, but she seems to be better for me, for the way I play now, for keeping my RP interactions in a relaxed, expendable place where I can play with her if I want to but I never feel like I need to. I don't recommend the path I took, though in retrospect, I'm not sure I could have or would have done it differently, and I don't regret it, even though the whole situation was a disagreeable mess. I kind of like that he still exists in a floaty, incorporeal sort of way, should I ever want to use him for anything or even play him full time again someday, though I doubt either will ever happen to any real strength.

Past Qhora would really wonder what the freaking hell happened. She'd find it difficult to believe at even the most basic level, that the person she was seeing could possibly be the same individual. There'd be just enough ties to her past existence to make her question her sanity, and then she'd end up on a mission to try and figure out and thus avoid the events in between.

When FFXI launched in North America, it already had an expansion. I couldn't access the expansion jobs without going through a whole bunch of hoops. Granted, they weren't as many hoops as doing the entirety of the XIV storyline, but it's not like all of the content was available to everyone the moment they logged in. Expansions are additions to main content. If new players want to start, they do the old content, then the new content. It's not that insane. The ilevel is almost solved by the soldiery bonuses that players get just doing the dungeons for the main story. Tons of soldiery, buy the gear, get the ilevel, keep storying? Hopefully, the devs and whoever else in charge are listening to the grumbling (not here, no doubt, but I assume this isn't an isolated discussion) and have plans for how to make the transition into new content smoother for certain groups of people, or will implement adjustments as problems arise. But for the vast majority who are expanding the content they already play and have been playing (and aren't playing alts because alts aren't the norm), expectation of having finished certain story chapters is not at all odd or bad.

I "always" play the "bad guy". First quotes for don't always, and second quotes for whatever it is we're really talking about here. Whatever they are, they tend to have negative qualities, like arrogance and narcissism, along with questionable morality, but they have to be capable of playing with others at some level, even if it's begrudging acceptance that they can't crash the moon into the planet without a little help somewhere along the line. My current character did the Face-Heel Turn. She was sweet and good, and now she's a seething ball of hate that makes her "difficult" to RP, but she has a job that keeps her able to work with others when necessary. Quotes for difficult, because there are plenty of tricksy ways for a creative player to have fun with an unpleasant character without sabotaging or outright destroying interactions with others. I prefer the jerk on the outside roles, whether actually morally questionable or simply misguided with an attitude, but when playing with strangers, I keep the reins on to some degree. I might be more sarcastic than outright offensive, or I'll use body language to convey opinions rather than outright say what she might be thinking. I find it difficult to play the charming with ulterior motives type, but I think those can be some of the most frightening when it's discovered what they're really up to. And I've had the same "stealing all the girls despite not caring at all about girls" situation Blue mentioned develop across multiple characters. I always thought of it as a black leather jackets and motorcycles sort of situation. They just seem so cool and aloof, smoking a cigarette and glaring at everyone else's cheer and friendliness. And there's something to the wanting to fix them, too. Maybe that's a better way to think of it than bad guys and heroes. Some people gotta be the snarky assholes racing their motorcycles down suburban streets in the middle of the night. Yes, they're bad guys but they're not "bad guys," really, even if they are professional thieves or hit men or assassins or what have you. As for villainy, I don't mind filling that role, but it's hard to do as a main character, I think, yes. Much easier to do as a side character in someone else's story. Even my most moustache-twirling character was in a guild full of moustache-twirlers, so when you're just one of many, there's a sort of uneasy camaraderie that doesn't feel as villainous as it does standing alone against the white knight whose girlfriend you just tied to the train tracks. Which I had the occasional opportunity to do to much gleeful effect, but it wasn't his everyday life.

I've seen a few Gilgameshians posting lately making me wish they were on my server (no server pride, just aw, I wish I could play with them). Perhaps I'll have to consider spreading some RP that way. And Wolves' Den Pier sounds awesome. I'd forgotten what it was like until unlocking it recently on an alt, and it is a pretty impressive, easily accessible locale. Thumbs up for that suggestion.

I saw that and was like wat wat waaaat?! Shared it to a couple ooh, aah, that'll be interestings. Better than nothing. Me, I've been playing alts lately. That's how I know I'm not really on board anymore. When I'm actually into things, I'm very dismissive of my own alts. Right now, I'm just hanging on until the new stuff. I don't really have any advice for how to stay motivated. When I did have some leader-ish responsibilities, they were fine while I was fine, but when they crashed and burned, they crashed and burned hard, nothing left but a pile of ashes, so I try not to volunteer for much of that stuff anymore. There's probably something to moderation in all things. Go hard while you've got the go, but don't be afraid to step back in as many places as you can, delegate more things than you usually would so you can give yourself a breather when the go starts to dry up.

Hey, I like crossing my arms at the railing in QS every now and then. Granted, it's usually because I'm interested in eavesdropping on other people's conversations and am not actually looking for RP myself, so I don't wonder why no one wants to talk. I don't expect people to want to talk to someone who doesn't initiate conversation. When I did more RP, I never limited myself to a city. I set scenes all over the place. These days if I want to RP, I'll probably go to a scheduled event and cross my arms there.

Death isn't quite the same as killing. Qhora lost a lot of people to death before she started killing people. - How does your character deal with killing? These days, it's no more exciting or provocative than handing in a homework assignment - either simple apathy or a minor sense of accomplishment. It's just something she does. Whether it's in the field as an adventurer or on a mission for unsavory clients, it usually doesn't affect her much. Depending on the particular situation, though, she can get downright gleefully sadistic. - How did your character feel after his/her first kill? Of an animal? She probably did dwell on it, but came to terms with it in a sort of 'this is how we eat' way. Of a person? It was devastating. It haunts her every second, awake and dreaming. But that had everything to do with who the person was, and less to do with the actual act. It was the combination of the two qualities that was massively destructive to her continued sanity. - Does your character mull over it later on? (Exe. The nightmares) While there was a self-defense element that gives justification, she constantly considers how she could have avoided ending up in that situation in the first place. And its repercussions for her life shattered her identity. She's still having trouble deciding who she wants to be, and for her it resulted in an apathetic amorality behind a mask of smirking professionalism.

No, sir. From a sullen misogynistic cat burglar and assassin, ain't nothin' wrong with that reacquisition of someone's grandmother's ashes for the ring hidden in them or the indiscriminately blasé slicing of sleeping throats for a handful of gil. No flaws at all. Then there's the petty cultural things. Raised outside the culture. Conflicts inside the culture. All sorts of hate boiling over. She's just angry all the time. She can hide it when she's working, but try and talk to her alone, and you'll probably get punched or spat on, or she'll burst into tears and flee. That makes her really popular. Lots of friends. She's perfect.

I'm always a little amused by this topic, because I see RP in Gridania and Limsa constantly. I'm always cheapskating the airship to Gridania and see RP as I pass through the guild. And every time I'm popping in the Bismarck for ingredients, there's people RPing there. I suppose it's never the Quicksand's level of ridiculous constant crowd, but I see people in the other cities roleplaying all the time. All the time. As for me? I've done nothing. Except the occasional nod in passing perhaps. But it's not because I'm in the Quicksand. I'm not there either. But I say good on all you Ottos out there doing your thing in places outside the usual crowd. Might be nobody else sees you, but I see you. Keep on keeping on.

Qhora's an explorer by blood, so she'll travel just for the hell of it. She's kind of a specialized mercenary, so she also likes to take jobs that send her to various places. She's the kind of person who's meant to be found everywhere, just based on who she is. She used to hate the idea of "home" but she's growing a little more fond of having her own place of refuge between adventures.

Kora Badgery. It is more sophisticated than that, but that's all I expect anyone to say.

Damn right you shouldn't admit that. He's ridiculous cute. Poor little emokitty looks like a boy. She's probably okay with that.

I'm playing as if HW isn't coming because tomorrow might never come! I decided at some point that I wanted every crafting recipe, which means all the Master II books, which means all the Lucis, which means... lots to do, can't get bored there, only about 1/3 the way. I'm also at the Zeta part of my Relic and daily questioning if I should bother continuing this lunacy because I hate this step more than every other one, but I usually do a few dungeons every few days. I've also got a couple dozen fish left to fill out the fish book. I'm also... trying to cap my Poetics every week and dumping the gear into my off-classes so everything will be nice and tidy for levelling them all to 60. With the 900 cap, though, I'm starting to think that's a silly thing and I should focus on the everything else instead. No way I'll get any/all of this done by launch, but it makes sure I'm always occupied when I'm logged in and not RPing. If I did somehow manage to finish all the things, I'd probably go back to the Sightseeing Log. Haven't touched it since the first 20. Always things to do~

That would be amazing. And a sad truth. I do watch videos/read guides if I'm approaching a fight that's been around for a while or that I haven't done in a long, long time. I was gone for a few months, missed a patch's worth of dungeons, went and read up on them before jumping in. There's definitely a disparity, though, between reading someone's instructions and enacting them in the field. You know things, but you don't really know them, you know. If something's still brand spanking new content, I'm more willing to try winging it because I figure what guides are out there have basically zero polish at that point. I'm actually very pro-doing-damage for healers. I just have that little faith in the average pick-up tank and am highly reluctant to go all out blasting until a few trash packs get me a feel for how much leeway I have to keep the group alive while contributing to damage output, how many risks the other party members take, how good the tank is with cooldowns, etc. I'm better at it than I used to be, though. I was an -always keep tank at 99%- healer when I was still learning. Now I'm usually like, eh, 50% health is good enough. I think "don't do nothing" aka "please help keep the group moving" is on point for everyone really. It's obvious for DPS, but absolutely includes healers and tanks. Low level (any level) tanks who use none of their cooldowns whatsoever really aren't helping, and would definitely contribute to a situation like happened in the original post.

I've actually been told by people in low level roulettes to stay out of cleric stance. What? So when you get yelled at for healing too much, then get yelled at for trying to help DPS, it's like okay monitor goes out the window. I think the point that doesn't need pushy insults to get across is: don't do nothing. If you're doing nothing, you're not really playing the game. You're sitting on the rest of the group. Healing a tank that's full on health is equivalent to nothing. I'm generally quite cautious. I do a lot of DF and roulettes, and I will not switch to cleric until I trust the group isn't going to be lunacy, i.e. until I get bored, because I don't like being bored either. If the tank stays at full health most of the time but then drops suddenly to 10% (goddamn beeeees), I'm going to sit there with my trigger finger on a heal rather than switch, because I'm not bored, I'm freaking out. These days there are plenty of tanks who can handle a fairy and nothing else, but still, I don't have blind faith. I heal until I know I have the room to do the extras.

I think loaves of bread are a standard value of currency measuring thing, aren't they? I don't know if any of the vendors sell loaves of bread. Flatbread is worth 6g, but you can get those in packs of 6 for the price of a loaf on this side, so maybe ignoring that. So a bowl of mutton stew costs 16g. A glass of orange juice, 7g. A level 5 sword will cost you 10 bowls of stew. It's probably not a good way to do it, since I'm fairly sure vendor prices are arbitrary, and low-level vendor stuff =/= the economy at all, but it's how I usually think of it, anyway, since it's something that doesn't change. You can always walk up to the vendor and ask the price of a loaf of... stew. Once you get into high end adventurer stuff, you're talking a butt-ton of stews. In the end, everyone's gonna think of gil differently, but that's not so different from reality. The value of your money looks different depending on how much of it you have.