Kylin

I too am guilty of reactivating my account :lol: I didn't do it because of the alpha/beta chance but rather due to excitement from the upcoming version updates. I plan to try leveling to 80 after this next update so I can try soloing a few things I never managed to complete from my wish list. I never got as much OOC closure as I did IC. As of now, I'm pretty bored though and just standing around WG like I used to >.>. I doubt I'll keep my account active longer than 2-3 months though. Five years of playing exhausted me enough as is, and the death of RP in Vana'diel doesn't exactly make me want to stick around either. I may not even make it to level 80. Can't stand merit parties so I'm probably going to despise getting 5 more levels at this point.

Yet another bump to notify everyone that both Zam and Eorzeapedia have partnered with SE to give out more beta invites. You must be a registered user of one or both of those sites to apply. You must also have applied for beta via the main SE site beforehand. Visit the aforementioned sites for more details.

Edited above post to change beta to alpha. Not the greatest communication on SE's part in my opinion. Regardless though, beta will still most likely be coming extremely soon. Alpha and beta are kind of being used interchangeably as well due to how close together they are. To be truthful, I don't know what's going on with alpha/beta. Far too confusing.

Closed ALPHA testing was announced to begin on March 11 (invites to be sent on the 1st). Going by this schedule, we're looking at a release date around August/September/October most likely. Here's the official quote from SE: Source: http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/event/vanafes2010/index.html Rumor has it there was also a new trailer at the event, though there is nothing to prove that as of now. If there was one, I'm sure it will surface sometime this week. Edit: Apparently, the alpha test is starting and not the beta test. Hurray for SE not giving the full details during the initial announcement.

For those who may not closely follow premier community sites, Osarion of the Zam community has started compiling all of the SE interviews related to FF14. He goes on to highlight the key points of each interview in a very organized manner. Some of the info is on the main site but quite a good chunk isn't. So if you have time to kill, go ahead and glance over it to help satisfy your curiosity for awhile. http://ffxiv.zam.com/forum.html?game=26 ... m=8&page=1

They've also announced another series of add-on scenarios for FFXI: http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/addon/index.html And level 99 cap? Holy crap. I may have to reactivate my account now >.>;;. Duoing sky gods, easy dyna, small groups against the various HNMs...I bet endgame shells are raging right now. SE has stated that new higher leveled content will also be introduced though. It looks like the comet from the past is also scheduled to appear over present day Sandy closer than ever. Server merges announced as well apparently. Edit: And now they're supposedely to remove level caps in CoP zones. FFXI is never going to be the same again, though it's long overdue for the massive changes in my opinion. Alexander and Odin summons to be added as well.

By the looks of it, the info won't come out until about 6 am (est). The event starts in about 5-6 hours from the time of this post and will go on for quite awhile. The FF14 event is most likely saved for the end. So don't overdo yourself by staying up all night :lol:

Should be hearing about the mystery FF14 event/info tonight between 7-11 pm (Eastern US time)! Maybe a tad later but I'll be in bed anytime after that probably. I'll post whatever it is in the headlines section, unless someone else beats me to it. Watch it end up being nothing interesting at all -.- Edit: Actually it's more likely that we won't hear anything until the wee hours of the morning. I believe the event starts in the afternoon, not the morning.

Freelancers will be able to vote on issues just like everyone else. They simply won't have representation in the RPC Council and thus won't be able to vote when the council decides whether or not to take an issue to the public. Giving them representation would be extremely difficult due to the fact that freelancers are just that. Their styles are radically different from person to person and some of them don't join guilds in order to avoid having to deal with rules. Thus, any representative for them wouldn't be able to do much to handle griefing or anything drama related when it comes to freelancers. That being said, freelancers are still held to the same standards. If they cause issues on these forums, they'll be dealt with accordingly just like anyone else. If the griefing is in game, the best that can be done is simply giving a public notification of the griefer so everyone can just /blist him/her. In regards to the rosters, I don't think those would be a good idea. It seems like a good idea but it also can turn into a numbers war. That is, certain guilds may feel threatened when other guilds have significantly higher active rosters. This could slowly transform into political rivalries and create tensions. A guild may try to suck up some of the members of a larger guild and cause serious problems between the groups. The smaller RP groups may also feel insignificant compared to the larger ones and struggle to get new members as a result. Thus, roster lists could prove more problematic than they're worth.

It sounds good but as Mason already said, what would it be used for? What would freelancers need to talk about that the rest of the forums don't provide? I myself am currently not dedicated to a guild and I'm still not sure what would even be posted in a freelancer section

As previously stated somewhere in this thread, I've created a "resources" category for the forums. The library and directory have both been moved there. I've also added the "museum" section which will handle the compiling of lore. I'd like there to be 1-3 users in charge of keeping lore updated (keeping everything neat and easy to find, editing posts, etc). I'll make an announcement post in that section momentarily and it can further be discussed there.

I've already rated the forum content so it's somewhat of a needless discussion. It's posted in the Headlines sticky. The rating for these forums is between Teen and Mature and explicit sex scenes are a definate no-no. I feel this rating is a step up from the PG13 rating many of our own groups come from but not too far over the edge either. It's actually the most likely rating for FF14 itself. A little bit of sexual language, profanity, and gore is okay. But if it gets a little too heavy, it'll probably be swiftly removed and I'll just send a PM to the writer about toning it down or something. If anyone wants to post anything too extreme, it's probably better they keep that particular content on their individual guild forums (if even permitted there). As such a diverse group in styles and age groups, there has to be a fine line somewhere. There are going to be 13-14 year olds here, if not already. Not only that, but we also don't want to obtain any kind of bad reputation on other major community forums because of inappropriate content posted here. I've heard enough "lolcyber" jokes to last a lifetime for instance. That being said, posters should go with the "fade-to-black" type of style when things go beyond the Teen/Mature rating. I've honestly never even seen anyone from any of the groups here post anything that would be considered "over the line" so it's probably nothing to really worry about. This is especially true since a lot of the RPers coming here are coming from PG-13 backgrounds.

I removed the forum ads today. You may notice a slightly smoother loading cycle as as result. Plus it just looks better as well. They're currently removed for 6 months. A special thanks to Kes and Mason for their generous contributions to help make this possible. We technically have enough for another 6 months but I'm holding off on that for now due to how the credit system works (we save money by choosing every six months as opposed to any other option). I'll remove the ads on the main site tomorrow. Oh, and we also made the 70 RPC member goal just in the nick of time 8-)

This has less to do with the forums and more with the main site but I'll post it here anyway. I just wanted everyone to be aware that the current main page is mostly going to serve as a placeholder for the next few months. I realize it's extremely simplistic and not that impressive for a group trying to accomplish the things we're trying to accomplish. This will be noted in the public announcement as well. Anyway, sometime after we've officially gone public I'll probably start approaching some web experts around here to create a much more sophisticated and impressive main page that uses both html and flash (if possible). I'm hoping we'll end up with a really awesome looking main page before the game actually launches. But I did want everyone to know that I've been aware of the main site's unimpressiveness from the moment I created it . It will evolve into -much- more so long as I can communicate my various visions to our web experts.

As you likely noticed by now, I've modified the forums. I set up a separate "guild" category (name to be changed to whatever SE calls guilds). I also added the Barracks section for organized rules for each group. The Assembly Room was moved to the general category and I slightly changed the order of the RP sections. OOC profile section was also added. For now, I called it the "Directory," though that seems a bit bland >.>. Maybe Citizen's Directory?

The website is a tad tricky for me because of the limitations on themes and whatnot. Custom themes can be imported but I think you need to have html knowledge for that (which I don't). I originally wanted to make it more of a flash site but got frustrated trying to figure out how to edit it >.> In regards to these forums: There are various proposed new sections that I wanted to bring up. I kinda want to name these sections in a way that keeps with the whole headquarters theme (IE: names of rooms and whatnot). So first, let me know if you -want- these sections. And if you have name suggestions, please post those too. 1. OOC profiles: This was brought up by Tsumi and would basically be similar to the Library section, except the profiles would be based on the player. It would basically state all the things they were willing to do and not willing to do in the RP realm, such as whether or not a particular RPer was willing to RP a fight in game and to what extent. I have no idea of what to name the section so ideas are needed! 2. Guild rules: This was also brought up in the same discussion thread as the OOC profiles. This section would be a centralized location for guilds to post their individual rules, or at least I think that was the proposal. Further clarification would be appreciated along with a name for the section. 3. Lore section: This is something I've contemplated adding and haven't mentioned yet. It would basically be a place to post official info from SE such as city info, historical info, and other lore related to Hydaelyn (excluding "spoilers"). I was thinking of calling it the "Resource Room." 4. Storyline discussion: This would be a place to discuss characters, stories, and profiles in an OOC manner. Basically just a place to make comments about certain characters or stories. Name also pending. 5. Journals: This would be as it sounds -- IC journals for characters to keep. There's probably no point in adding it at this point in time but I just wanted to let everyone know it was being considered for the future. Any other suggestions are welcome. Just remember, we don't want to go -too- overboard and end up having a gazillion sections .

Library unlocked. I strongly urge everyone to read the announcement there before posting their profile, if you so choose to post one. We're very likely to open up to the public in another 1-2 weeks. Donations for getting rid of the ads before then would be appreciated

I just tested this forum's mass email feature a few moments ago. Can anyone confirm whether they got the email? I just need to know if it worked or not. I didn't get one but that may be because I'm the admin.

Aside from Sylph and Lakshmi, Alexander/KnightLife and Leviathan are -very- close to meeting their goals. Kutata's representative has the site link and has responded to me a couple days ago, but still hasn't started getting Kujata RPers signed up. I'm sure they'll eventually trickle in though. It's not looking good for Garuda because I've failed to get in contact with anyone from there save for one person already here who has no means of contacting others. Asura and Titan are starting to come in so it's too soon to see how many get mobilized there. Finally, I'm not holding my breath for Phoenix, Siren, or CaitSith. Phoenix and Siren are now too scattered and difficult to reach whereas CaitSith's group is very small and mostly have no plans to go to FFXIV. Nodem of Phoenix did send out a mass email via Epic's forums (the last Phoenix RP group that "replaced" LightsTemplar) so the link is out there for those who need it. For those that didn't notice, I did open up the Gallery section. I also edited the main page for those who are still possibly wondering what this coalition's purpose is. Hopefully that explains everything. http://ff14-rp.webs.com Regarding actual pre-established RP groups bound for Eorzea: There are currently 3, though they are still building themselves as I understand. There's KnightLife, The Adventure League of Eorzea (TALE), and the new LostBoys (who may or may not be changing their name). I don't want to give links to any of the two that already have sites because I don't want any groups to start with an unfair advantage of gaining membership. They'll all start getting advertised sometime during open beta, which probably isn't too far off now. My goal is to hopefully open the Assemby Room within a couple weeks. I'd like discussions to at least -start- before going public, though we won't be voting on anything until after going public. So if people still aren't registered by then, they have no right to complain about having no say on laying the foundation for the RP community. By then, we'd have given people plenty of time to get themselves here. The job for all of you before we go live is to look over the main site (particularly my method of labeling guilds/linkshells under the "Guilds" section) and let me know what's good and what's not regarding formats and whatnot. I'd also like to hear what kind of forum sections you'd like added, if any. On a final note, I want to post a couple of coalition links for other games. This will give you an idea of what we're striving for in the long run. You can see how successful the RP communities for each game are. While we'll have our own needs to meet and our population will differ, you can at least see what our overall goal is in the long run. Everquest II: http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?G ... ID=1770901 (sometimes takes awhile to load) Starsider Galaxy: http://starsidergalaxy.com/forum (link provided by Tsumi)

I think what I'll do is just start bringing in wave 3 (Asura, CaitSith, Titan, Phoenix, and Siren) next week as scheduled. Then I'll just extend the overall deadline for all groups. We can avoid going public for upwards of 4-6 weeks still if necessary. Perhaps more excitement will be aroused after the next big site update (which I was hoping to see this or next week). I know a lot of you will say numbers aren't important and quality > quantity. While I agree with that to an extent, everyone also needs to realize that we're trying to reinvent our community this time around. We -want- to be noticed by the non-Rpers and be taken seriously. We want others to know we exist and that we're strong and healthy in order to attract more potential RPers later down the line. And unfortunately, a lot of people will look at the numbers as a means of measuring our health. And being a -coalition- instead of a single guild/linkshell means they expect to see high numbers of supporters. So we really will -need- the 70+ registered supporters before going public, even if they never log in or post here after registering. I think maybe Sylph might have a different RP culture than other groups and that could be why they're flooding in so easily too. We've always held to the thought than an active forum also reflected an active community and we viewed the RP forums as more than just a tool. Coming from this culture, perhaps I'm simply expecting too much too soon. For any and all non-Sylphites, don't feel overwhelmed by the fact that we'll probably end up with 25-30+ people coming in from Sylph. Once we all get into the game, we're not all going to create one massive linkshell/guild of former Sylphites. Some may end up in the new LostBoys, others may find their way into KnightLife, and others may end up scattering to other yet-to-be created RP groups. We may be large in numbers but not all Sylphites are best of buddies if you know what I mean :lol: . Not only that, some also may want to simply branch out and try something totally new by joining a totally new group. So please don't worry or feel remotely threatened about our insanely high numbers . I'll just ease off a bit though and give you guys more time to get to the quota. I -know- each group can meet (and almost definately exceed) each quota. Probably just need a bit more time. We're almost at that 50 mark (although 2 registered users on the list technically don't count). Remember that there are two forum sections that get unlocked after we reach a certain number!

Yeah...wave #2 seems to be coming at a snail's pace >.>. I know I'm coming off as a bit aggressive here and please tell me if I'm overstepping my bounds. But it seems like every group but Sylph is having serious trouble meeting their quota for mobilizing a certain number of Rpers to the cause. The goal by the end of wave 2 of recruitment was set at 55-60 coalition members. We've remained pretty stagnant save for a very tiny handful of new recruits. According to preliminary head counts, everyone -should- be able to meet each quota. If not, you should be letting me know so I can maybe help somehow. Just keep in mind that I can't do everything. Finding these groups and trying to bring each one here is tough enough as it is. Here's the current counts. And I'm not posting these to make any group feel bad. I'm doing it because I really think you all can do a lot better and have much more potential. [[Edit: Quotas removed. New tactics of mobilization underway!]] Maybe I'm expecting too much too soon. If so, please say so. I really don't want to see Sylph being the dominant group and calling all the shots when it comes to laying the foundation for the future RP community. I say that AS a Sylphite and I'm sure many others from Sylph agree. The fact is, I've already told everyone via public forums (Zam, Core, etc) that we're looking at having at -least- 70 roleplayers gathered -before- going public. We're gonna look pretty darn weak if you go public and are nowhere near that now. Granted, we still have a few weeks. But I was anticipating bringing in the third and final wave of recruits by next week and opening up more of the forums as well. I think part of the problem is that everyone is expecting someone else to mobilize old RPers and thus, nobody is doing it. You guys should be sending out emails, poking people on AIM from your past RP groups, and so on. The only thing we're not doing now is posting on big sites like Alla and others. Heck, I personally sent out over 15 emails to Rpers from Garuda who I never made any contact with. Please post if you have any thoughts. If I'm pushing everyone too hard too fast, I'd like to know and I'll ease off. I just know that you're all capable of contributing so much more. I realize that we don't have a release date and some may not be too eager yet, but we're not that far off now. If you're expecting the game to not come out until as late as November or December, I think you're in for a big awakening pretty soon. And we've got at least 2-3 months of debates and whatnot to still get through before the big release. Even if everyone doesn't contribute to these discussions, simply registering is a good enough show of support to this cause. Hope to get some responses. I hope you know that I'm only pushing you guys like this because I care . And if anyone is doing something to help, feel free to post here so I know and don't think I'm doing it all by myself >.>;

Err...I just realized we had a few people with inactive accounts. I apologize in advance for not noticing it. Chances are the activation email went to your spam box and thus got overlooked. I'll try to keep a closer eye on inactive accounts. I highly suggest that you send yourself a private message and then go mark that email notification as "not spam." That may prevent further email messages from this board from being marked spam for you in the future. Anyway, we're now 38/40. That's excellent for about a week's worth of mobilization. I'm going to just assume we'll meet the goal easily now since I'm sure more from Sylph and Leviathan will continue to trickle in. So I'll be moving on to the next wave of RPers probably as early as tomorrow. Great work everyone! You all rock!

This is just a friendly public update to give you browsers something else to read. So far, we're 30/40 toward our first goal of coalition membership (29 if you don't want to count my TestMember >.>). That's pretty good and I'm hoping we get to the 40 (or close to it) by the end of this weekend. According to the head count, we -will- meet the first goal easily. It's just a matter of getting people here. They're either slow at checking emails or just slow in general . I've still got quite a few Sylphites waiting in the wings for the link that I'm holding off on for now as to not overwhelm you Leviathan peeps or anything. I know Keir is really busy so if anyone from Leviathan has the time to help him, could you maybe send out some personal emails to get people here if you can? I'm sure he'd appreciate it a lot . I did a couple for you only because I knew the people to an extent (Roelon and Lantrial) but I'd probably be going a little too far sending out more to complete strangers >.> Sometime next week, I'm going to send out the link to Kujata, Lakshmi, and Alexander RP groups so we'll have another roster explosion then. I'll also try to get Garuda and Siren RPers here assuming I hear back from both before then. The third wave after that will consist of Asura, CaitSith, and Phoenix RPers (or whatever I can find left of Phoenix). The final wave after that will of course be the general public. Following all of this, we'll likely be ready to open up more sections of the forums for everyone. I'll open the Assembly Room about 1 week before going public so we can at least start some discussions. As a final note, we will likely have more forum sections added over time. I realize there's not that many right now. I went around to other RP forums and tried to get most of the section types that everyone else has. I'll also be very open to suggestions about what sections you think we should have added/modified, so long as we don't have -too- many sections that make people feel overwhelmed. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, don't hesitate to ask ^^ ~Cas

I have to admit that I was pretty excited when I saw us hit that 100 mark. I wasn't expecting to reach it for at least 2 weeks after going public. But after a mere 6 days, we already surpassed that goal. FFXI's RP communities all started out with around 5-10 RPers per server who had to struggle to build up a strong RP community (many of which didn't survive for the long haul). Starting out with 100+ RPers all on a single server is truly amazing. It may not seem like a huge accomplishment to many out there but I think all of us with backgrounds in FFXI's RP community know that it's a major milestone. And considering the game has yet to move to open beta testing means there are still a lot more potential people out there who may find their way here. Truly exciting times. Go us!

I love the fact that Zarik was made a character and liked the description for him. If you ever need to use any of my other characters (of which there were tons >.>), feel free to. They're all listed on the Sylph RP wiki.