ArmachiA

I've only had a problem with once with a character long term. Back in the day I used to play Aion and I had a version of Armi there (I tend to have a version of her in every game /badrper). In that version she was made a Daeva (An immortal being that fights for the government of whatever side your on, all Aion characters are Daeva's) and hated every minute of it, becoming obsessed with Death and mortality as she felt like it was taken away from her. It sounds good on paper - an immortal who wants to die but can't so fights like she has a death wish - and it worked for about 6-7 months. After about the 8th month the whole "I want to die, I never asked for this!" business got real old, to me and to everyone around the character. The problem I had was I never let her grow out of it, because without that one defining trait I had nothing else for the character. At about the 9th Month I just ended up quitting the game, didn't like it that much anyway and I started hating my own character in the process. I learned a lot from the experience. The next time I rolled Armi (In TOR) I made her growth a lot more flexible (STARTING her as a Force User who believed in the Republic, but didn't believe in the Jedi ways making her a bit Dark Sided) and made sure I was okay with Armi eventually going to be taught by the Jedi or even turning completely to the Dark Side. Even though I had one sentence for her - I had to be okay with that sentence no longer being true. Growth and change is massively important for a character, it's AS IMPORTANT for a character as it is for actual people. If a character is the exact same as they are when you roll them, you're going to find down the line they are going to easily stagnant and become increasingly boring. Change and Growth comes in a lot of ways - the easiest is trying to get yourself involved in FC plots or friends plots, even if your just a side character take it as a way to really get your character connected. My characters always start as side characters in a few plots, not really being that important but making important connections that will make her important later on and this has always worked well for me. Off screen roleplaying (Journals, or stories or even just things happening in your head) are really important too! Humans don't only grow around people, we do most of our growing with inner reflection. If the character isn't working for you anymore, trying to pull them out of RP for awhile and then look at what you think went wrong along the way, then try to fix it. Even if a bad decision was made in a roleplay and you didn't really like it, it can be fixed without retconning. EVERYTHING can be fixed. At the end of the day you have 100% control of your character, figure out how to reconcile that bad decision and bring them back in line with where you really want them. All people make mistakes, and so do characters. If it's something you agreed to but don't really like it (Like say people were like "We wanna have you kidnapped and implanted in you that does " and you say "Yeah that sounds fun" but then it's not fun after the plot is over) figure out a way to get rid of it. It can be done completely in character without a retcon, just have them leave for awhile and when they come back thing is gone. Our FC head, Ellion, did this. Something happened in a plot, his character went to Othard for awhile, came back and magical Othard doctors helped him. No big. Most things can be fixed. The one thing that can't be is the passion to play the character. Aforementioned Ellion? Eventually, he decided he wasn't really happy playing a Miqote Male, and decided he would be happier playing an Au Ra. He had already retconned the character once (He was a highlander in 1.0, no one cared about the retcon cuz only like 4 of played back then and were the only ones who noticed ) but his character was so engrained in Miqote lore after the retcon he felt it would be cheap to retcon it again. Turning cat Ellion into an Au Ra by magic was out of the question for him, too. So, he figured out how to keep the name Ellion (Ellion being a title, not a name) and killed of Miqote Ellion a few weeks ago, pulling himself out of RP till Heavensward. Despite the character being something he's played for a REALLY long time, he says he's already much happier with this decision. It as a personal one to him, and while all of us really liked the character (I loved that Ellion played his Miqote really really fierce and domineering, with an edge and a terrible temper. More like the beast from Beauty and the Beast ) he just wasn't happy. And no amount of fixing was going to make him happy. He was done with the character and we had to let him be done. Really sit down and evaluate WHY you want to get rid of the character. Because you don't work through that and then decide to change, your going to regret it, especially if the feeling is temporary because there's a shiny new race on the horizon. But also don't be afraid of knowing when the character has really reached the end of it's story.

For me, I've been able to improvise reasons immediately and pretty much pride myself on that. If my characters aren't flexible (For instance - Loki won't set foot in Ul'dah unless she has to and only is in the Shroud because the NB are) then I try to be flexible as a player. "I want to RP in Ul'dah, bring Loki." Instead of "No she wouldn't go there." - which is true she wouldn't, I just go "Okay she had to pick up a delivery for the Free Company there and will end up running into you." or "Okay she just got out of a meeting there--" etc etc. This keeps the integrity of the character intact, but makes me more fluid as a player. And that's how I get around it.

If you don't want to log on right now that's okay. The big test is when Heavensward comes out and you still don't want to log on, if that's the case then you need to reevaluate if you want to play the game at all.

I honestly don't consider wanting to ooc play the game a lack of motivation. Sometimes, I want to go progress in the OOC world of the game, and sometimes that is something that takes 2-3 weeks with some sparse roleplaying. And sometimes, all I want to do is rp, and only want to do that for a couple weeks and not do dungeons or anything. Right now we're in that Pre-Expansion dip. Where those of us who play all the time normally have nothing to do for a month, and people are starting to come back/new people are showing up and are mostly just trying to catch up oocly content and gear wise. FFXIV is probably the only MMO I've played that requires you to be at a certain spot in the story in order to access the Expansion (OH, SE and your gates) so it makes sense RP is tapering off, and will continue to do so for a long while after Heavensward is released. Me personally? I spend a lot of my time offline now, working on the big storyline we need to in our Storyteller forum, chilling out a bit till Heavensward. I got to get my alt caught up in the story, I get on for scheduled RP events (Or if someone asks me to rp), I get on for raiding and things, but I'm kind of taking it easy. And that's okay. It's fine people have decided to take a step back, enjoy the break while you can, Heavensward is going to be a completely different ballgame.

The doors are officially back open for the Night Blades! It's been a good month and we feel like the members have all acclimated to each other well now. Come and knock on our door. We'll be waiting for you...

Besides the NB Mansion in Lavender Beds (Always open for people to stop by) and the Bar we own in Mist (Rum N Rumble, again free for anyone to stop by) I've noticed a lot of us tend to hang out at Bascarron's. I tend to like to RP in places with sweeping vistas and nice views, like Outer La Noscea. We used to go to the Hot Springs a lot as a guild but that fizzled, and I would love to get that up and running again. If I'm going to a bar, I actually like the Canopy in Gridania, we even staged a huge fight scene on the balcony waiting for some Twin Adder rpers to appear magically . I would love to put on more plays or concerts at the Amphitheater, but that's in the works for later. There's a script written but we're in the middle of a very tense guild storyline for it to be appropriate right now. So... mostly Gridania and La Noscea. Working on trying to get into Coerthas more with another FC.

I knew that when you took this job it was going to be a heavy burden, so I appreciate how long you managed to stay in the seat, and you did a very good job of it. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Can learn musical instruments really fast - this is just a talent of hers I used to punch up an otherwise underwhelming character in a world full of specials. Excellent Aim - but slow draw. Has money - she doesn't think about it. Has had some experience with Aether manipulation and training from being a priestess, but only using it as a force itself - she can't use magic as she lacks control when she tries Can Read? Does that count? As a priestess she had to learn how to read and write. That's... all I got.

I've been RPing for a really long time and I've never actually gotten married ICly. I argued to death about why I thought it would be boring or it wouldn't work because there could be drama, or your partner could quit the game, or you one could get busy and then what? But a bunch of people went "DON'T KNOCK IT TILL YOU TRIED IT." at me and I told them I'd be willing to give it a shot in this game if it ever came up. Begrudgingly. That being said, I've considered having Armi starting to be open to do weddings. Technically, she's still a priestess, she never officially resigned, and still has the power a priestess holds. Plus, she's a bard. Since she's a very open person who is very into Love for Love's sake, I could see her officiating weddings of the interracial kind on the sly. It would be legal and binding, she's still a priestess after all! But... there wasn't much lore - and still isn't alas - on worship and followers of the Twelve (Nymeia, specifically), so it's mostly stayed a consideration. I think it may be lore bend-y enough to work but who knows.

How about just rewording the rule to one word/one image/one gif replies? Honestly posting "lol" after someone's long explanation about something is JUST as dismissive and adding that there needs to be more than one word, one gif, or one image macro to your reply would probably solve a lot of problems. Obviously, threads that state "Use gif for whatever reason." would be exempt if you decide to keep them around (Which I assume you are) so just make a note that those types of threads are exempt from the rules. (just a suggestion, most forums I go to flat out ban image macros for being annoying but *shrug*)

Trust me, it was pretty surprising to me too . My family and friends had no idea what was wrong with me, but from 24-25 I slowly went from no anxiety at all to panic ridden all the time. When I went to see a psychiatrist he wasn't THAT surprised and knew what it was immediately. I have other mental illnesses as well, so that's probably why it wasn't surprising to him. Panic disorder was never one of them till later in life. However, I consider it a blessing. I know what it's like before panic disorder, so I can kind of try to work my way back there. I feel really bad for people who have had it since they were young and have a harder time at what kind of normalcy they're fighting for.

I don't think anyone is meaning to imply you're being disingenuous, I think there's just some confusion because you've tried to push for social anxiety to be labeled "cute," or that it's "not that bad" and just a personality quirk, which is a baffling concept to anyone with a deep and personal understanding of social anxiety. It easily leads someone to believe that you don't have a clear understanding of what social anxiety is, or that the only kind you acknowledge and know of is incredibly mild. The realities of social anxiety are: - Difficulty forming and keeping relationships with other people - Difficulty leaving the house or running errands (and this includes to do important things, like buy groceries when you have no food, going to a medical appointment, filling the nearly empty gas tank in your car, etc.) - Difficulty making phone calls (once again for potentially important things, like refilling a prescription that's run out, calling your workplace to tell them you're sick today, etc.) - Difficulty even leaving your room/getting out of bed if you live with other people - Difficulty finding and keeping a job, or difficulty attending school and keeping your grades up - Panic attacks (which feel like you're literally dying) - Shortness of breath, increased heart rate, sweating, dizziness, - Acid reflux, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, digestive problems - Insomnia, sore muscles, headaches, exhaustion, problems with your teeth from reflux or grinding - Long term effects of stress like stomach ulcers, skin problems, aging more quickly, weight loss/gain etc. - Potential to spiral into depression, including self-harm and suicide - Potential to develop a dependency on drugs or alcohol or other addictions to cope - Money spent on therapy and medications - Side effects from those medications, as well as the fact that starting a new antidepressant typically worsens anxiety until your body adjusts - Potential to get addicted to medications prescribed for your anxiety (i.e. Xanax) Looking at the realities many people with social anxiety face (and that was only to name a few of the more objective/common ones), it can sound absolutely ludicrous to expect people to find it to be a cute and endearing condition, or one that's easy to brush aside or cope with, so I believe some of us are under the impression you don't really understand what social anxiety is and that you've simply made a shy character rather than a character legitimately afflicted with social anxiety. As far as the theory that social anxiety is "a part of your personality," I can promise you, it's not. You know it's not you when it happens. It feels wrong and foreign, probably not much different than how a transgender person knows they were born the wrong sex. You just know it's wrong, it's not you. Plenty of people afflicted with social anxiety are actually outgoing or extroverted, our anxiety just squanders that part of us and it's painful not being able to express who you know you really are. To add, one of the WORST things about the disorder is constantly worrying about if it will kick in when you do something new or... anything at all. Again, I'm not shy, but if I get invited to a party, or invited to a movie, or an amusement park (Which I LOVE AMUSEMENT PARKS) I have to spend the next few days deciding whether or not I can even go or if my disorder is going to come up and make everything embarrassing and awful. You can't spring something on me that day. "Want to go to a movie in an hour?" is not possible with me, unless your my mom, you have to give me 24 hours notice generally. I hate that because I'm pretty spontaneous, before I had the disorder (It started when I was 25) I would just go do whatever I wanted, no problem. I like traveling. I also know if I travel the first time in a hotel I'll have a panic attack. I went to New York City and Las Vegas last year, both times the first night my brain was telling me to go home even though I WANTED TO BE THERE. Traveling is hard. I have to make sure it's something I really want to do before I decide to go because I know what it means. It means a panic attack. It's beneath the surface all the time. And you worry about it all the time. And it's awful - the disorder becomes being afraid of the disorder. It took me 5-6 years to control it on the level I do now. I went from having 3-4 panic attacks a week to having 1-2 a year. But it is not an easy road and I can slip at any time. And I know that. And it's terrifying.

To me, they're separate from my personality. My Mental Illnesses make me someone I do not like. I'm very extroverted - my panic disorder makes it so I have to be an introvert sometimes. I tend to be somewhat touchy - my panic disorder makes it so I can't even be around people sometimes. I have other mental illnesses I'd prefer not to get into, as most people with Panic Disorder tend to have, and when they are rearing there ugly head that -isn't me-. I work really hard to keep my mental illness in check and am usually 90% successful, but it's a struggle and it's a fight every single day to work around my illnesses to be who I actually am. Yes, They are a part of me, but no, they are not a part of my personality. And I refuse to let them define me.

I have panic disorder. It is not a part of my personality, it is a mental illness. okay.

TUMBLR. I have a Tumblr, but I mostly use it for fandom stuff, though I've been watching FFXIV drama over there (There's been a lot lately, yall are missing out!). I'm not really a part of the FFXIV Tumblr community myself, so I mostly just watch what they do while reblogging some Japanese idol gifs or talking about RP in general. There are a lot of callouts and people can get mean, but sometimes I think callouts are necessary. Wait! Wait! There's a reason. There's been more than a few Tumblr callouts about sexual harassment that I think was beneficial for the community to know about. There is really no where else to go except to tumblr for those kinds of things. Stories, and proof, about how certain members of the community were pressuring others for sex and the like. It was pretty horrifying, and was brave of those people to make a callout. So in that regard, I think it's kind of a good thing that platform is there. There is a lot of passive aggressive BS there though. "I'm going to say this about this because it's my personal space so eff off" kind of stuff instead of just talking with the parties they need to talk to. It's not for venting, as much a people say it is, because you can easily vent in a place that's not as easily accessible to the general public. It's saying it in a place where you hope a bunch of people will agree with you and make you feel validated. It's not venting, it's inciting. However, talking about people behind their backs? Everyone does it, I think in that instance intent and context matters. Just blowing off some frustration? That's okay. Got into an argument with said person and need to let it out for awhile? Just fine. Making a harmless, though somewhat mean spirited joke? That's okay, too. Doing it with the intent of being completely two faced and not dealing with your issues with said person and instead trying to poison their reputation to your friends so you can feel validated? NOT OKAY. The thing is, it isn't Tumblr itself. The person who does it on Tumblr would just... find another place to do it if it wasn't Tumblr. There are just some toxic, immature people out there.

^ I actually like this interpretation Koji is deeply deeply involved in the Japanese side and the Localization side of lore, to ignore him because he's not Japanese or whatever blows my mind. He's the reason a lot of lore even exists in the game (Nald'Thal being 2 separate yet one god? All him, for instance) Honestly, there doesn't seem to be much of a retcon lore wise between THM and CNJ. Conjurer still talks about all the elements (Though handwaving the ones now given to THM) and THM's has absolutely nothing to do with Elements, choosing a storyline based around the void. It's been REALLY weird from a lore stand point, since nothing was technically retconned from 1.0 (When there were no super special jobs). To me, if people want to still use the 1.0 lore there's nothing stopping them, and it's perfectly fine to do so - it's just so odd considering the mechanics are al different-y. Lore still exists, just no access to them game wise.

"Have you ever tried not being shy?" "Just go talk to them, it's not that hard!" "You're very weird." "Armi, plants don't actually talk."

She'd thank him, and try to thank him some more by making tea for the guy. Armi hangs out with a lot of.. unsavory types, she would be a little scared but more inclined to find a way to thank him for saving her.

Many many moons ago I weighed about 290 pounds (I'm 5'8" and female just for reference). I decided to get off my butt and do something about it and got down to a pretty manageable weight - losing A LOT of pounds - that I liked, though something happened that caused me to gain 40 pounds of it back (Health Issues ), so I'm back on the path to getting back down. Here's some advice I have for you: ~ Don't go too fast. You kind of hear all these things like "Give it 100%!" "Push hard!" "All or nothing!" and, sure, you can do that for 2 weeks, but then it just gets demoralizing and you give up. Figure out how much time you can go for - usually attempt 20 minutes or so to start, then push it up to 30, then to 40, etc etc. You don't need to do it until you puke, you just need to do it at all. Last month I started barely able to make it to 20, now my workouts are about an hour and a half. Go at your pace! ~ Find what you like to do or you'll just give up. Don't like to run? Don't force yourself to run. Find what it is that will give you a little more motivation to want to work out and not "Ugh... ghh....noooo" For me, I like dance. When I was young a took a lot of dancing lessons and that stuck with me, so most of my work outs are dancing mixed in with some toning cardio and strength training. Ellion, on the other hand, likes weights and weaved a work out around that. Both of us decided to try hiking a few of our mountains here in Colorado when summer hits, and that could be really fun, too. Just try to find ways you like staying active. ~Calories are important. Truth is, if your looking to lose weight, Exercise doesn't work all that well unless your cutting your Calorie intake. Too many people are like "Well that workout was 280 calories, time to eat a hamburger as a reward." Workouts actually don't burn that many calories in our current high-calorie world so look for things you can cut down on. I actually don't believe in cutting out completely (Unless you have horrible willpower) because cutting out everything so quickly can be... well demoralizing and hard and you'll just go right back to old habits. Buy 12 packs of Soda? Well now you're only buying 2 liters. Better make it last! Look around for alternatives for soda as well. I have a really hard time with Soda because, while I think most of it is too sweet, I love carbonation. It's the fizziness that pulls me in. So I've learned to drink sparkling water (Add some Mio for flavor if you must). Try to do that with EVERYTHING you eat. It'll still be hard, but it will be doable. ~ Your body is weird. This was a big one for me, I didn't lose weight in 2 weeks I would get sad and give up. Your body kinda decides that your working out when it wants to, and it could be days or it could be weeks. One of the things that kept me at 290 at 24-25 years old was I never saw results fast enough. At 27, even when I didn't see the weightloss I decided to keep going and in about a month my body was dropping a ton of weight. I dunno why, but it does that. My body is weird. Your body is weird, it's gonna do what it do, just keep going. Everyone else has listed a lot of good stuff on the internet and I agree with those. I never once went to the gym. I don't really like the gym. Good luck!

Technically all you have to do to be a Scholar is find a tablet of Nym and/or crystal with a fairy in it. Make it plausible and not too many people will freak out about.

That's true, and something people don't bring up a lot in White Mage Lore. They aren't just healers, they are keepers and guiders of the Shroud. Those with the White Mage title are to make decisions to guide the entire City-State which is a huge responsibility. It's fair to assume if you are sitting in Ul'dah saying your a White Mage, you'll be met with eyebrow raises. If you say you're one in Gridania, you may be met with a lot of hostility. That's all perfectly reasonable IC stuff. You're saying your basically leading an entire "country" - who is going to believe that so easily if they've never even heard your name? I think questioning the validity of someone's story ICly is perfectly reasonable, honestly, we do it all the time in the OOC world.

No one is telling people what to do though? when did I tell someone what to do? The only person who got told what to do was me, when I was told I had to accept it or I was destroying the community. I know very well what your group roleplays and I have never harassed you about it, ever. Nor will I. (In fact I have talked to Blade before and find him to be a very very nice man.) I'm frankly insulted by the implication that I'm telling you what to do when I told you very loudly you can do whatever you please. I just don't have to roleplay with you.

Jesus Christ, Yes. I've said it like 80 times at this point. Not once have I said stop playing one, but I have been in turn told I have to accept it. I hardly think thats fair. Look, not all of us are going to agree on our RP. People have left my FC because they felt the Roleplay was too dark, and THAT'S FINE. They wanted a happier, less dramatic storyline and our RP didn't add up. It's okay. Some of those people are even still in our OOC ls because they liked us enough oocly to stay in contact! I'm certainly not going to force them into our Grimdark story lines. They need to go find their own happiness. And he said there was 2.5 million Warriors of Light Mechanically speaking, but STORY WISE there's only one.

There is already a community. I don't see how "I don't believe in WHMs so if you want to play one thats fine, but I'll be over here" is a dick move at all? You're basically telling me I have to accept your point of view because of... reasons. I mean, I'm not doing that to you at all? I'm saying people can play WHMs if they want, but I don't have to accept it in my roleplay. I'm not being a dick to you, I'm being very nice. But you want all around acceptance that isn't possible with tons of people. We all believe different things and that's okay. Quit telling me I have to see your side because of some community. I don't have to. Stop trying to force it on me.

You may want to watch that video that Nako just posted because it actually says there is only one. The WoL is NOT the chosen of Hydaelyn that your referring to.