K'dath

And that's why Charr are the master race. You humans with your 'nobility'. The land belongs to the Legions.

Fair enough argument. This game is hideously unbalanced as it is right now. I'd never want to draw the eye of the nerf-bet to myself, but even so I find some of the things I can get away with as an Arcanist are totally unacceptable. I take hits like a planet. Coupled with access to heals, Protect, CC, AoE, a pet, and peerless mobility, I can very easily take things 10-12 levels higher with no difficulty. And that's not okay. And of course, this proposed 'Support' role doesn't exist yet. There's no way to say what it can and can't do and what it would and wouldn't be good for. Because it doesn't exist! You can't balance something that isn't there. I likened it to the nearest 'Pure Support' role I've ever played, which I enjoyed, and was completely viable in its setting. Which I admitted was radically different in pacing and tone to this game's content. It relies on very strict time management and strategic placement. It's very breakneck, and if you mess up you've killed your team. You heal for a little and give a small buff, you do a little damage and give a small debuff, you can throw out one powerful short buff with a stupidly long CD, or you can nuke the target with every condition in the game, also on a stupidly long CD. I think something like that would mechanically mesh well with what (admittedly little) I've seen of end game. A short duration but very powerful raid buff (a la Bloodlust), with a minimal regen tacked on would be a nice 'oh-shit' thing to have. You can put down a small circle and anyone standing in it gets a Determination buff, just like K'hlyia does in the Arcanist questline. Being able to throw a Haste on an ally caster or Slow on a boss could do just as much to prevent a wipe as outright healing or mitigating damage. You would still need a healer who is NOT a support, to do the actual healing. I don't want a support to replace healers. I would like it to compliment them. But this is a raid perspective. In 4 mans, yes, they'd 'replace' the healer because the ability to recover health is there, even if it is not the focus. A Feral Druid can still tank a 5 man, even if Guardian is 'the tank' spec. It still hardly stands that you'd be fighting tooth and nail to get a dungeon queue if there were one more healing class. As you yourself said, people don't play healers because they don't want the responsibility. There will always be a demand for them, and adding an alternative isn't likened to illegal immigrants 'takin our jerbs'. Having a support would just shift some of the burden off your poor healer's shoulders. So what I'm thinking is that a support class won't be good at healing or DPS, it'll be good at helping both of those roles do their jobs better. It's something wholly its own thing that doesn't figure into the trifecta at all. At least how I perceive it. I don't have any reason in the world to think anything like this will come to pass, but it would be different. And different is always worth considering.

My massive problem with this is that I can re-name all those spells as other things and drag and drop them onto hot bars in different games. It's the exact same rotation copy and pasted for every healing class ever. I already played 90 levels of Priest for 5 years. I enjoyed my time with him, but if I want to play a priest I'd play my bloody priest! You seem to think that having another option for the healing role is some sort of attack on the sanctity of the very standard healer rotation. Your argument mainly consisting of 'I am not okay with this' without a solid reason as to why it would be objectively detrimental to the fabric of the game. 'It wouldn't be good for progression' isn't an objective statement either. What does and doesn't work for you is not the definitive rule on what can or can't be accomplished. It's all opinion. And in my opinion, it would be a nice change of pace. I'd gladly invest time into doing something completely new, because warlock reskin Arcanist isn't ground breaking either. I've been amusing myself by Summoner Tanking, since Blizz decided to take the fun out of Demo tanking by making it 'viable'.

Could have fooled me with the ways my dungeons seem to go. Being a healer =/= being a good healer, as far as most people are concerned. I don't play WHM, but I've been a healer for a long time in multiple MMOs. I love my job, even if I joke that it's for masochists. But I also think things that are non-standard are fun too. WHM is very standard.

Now that I think about it I did actually roll a necromancer on the first guild wars and I had a lot of fun playing as one. While it didnt have skills to buff party members I clearly remember debuffing/Debilitating enemies that it just made everything so fun, the class was very effective at damaging mobs since it had debuffs that damaged a target and those around it each timed it attacked making a good tank and necromancer quite the dream team. Even for boss battles it was fun to play as since I had to cycle different debuffs to find out which ones were most effective for the fight on hand Guild Wars 2 is a whooooole different animal than the original. In a good way! Now it's unfair to say Necros are the support class, because every class can theoretically do anything. They all have their support builds. Elementalists give buffs that'll make or break a skirmish in PvP and Guardian's damage mitigation is simply essential. I was thinking more or less about implementation though. Because even though the other two are the gods of support, they aren't played like the 'traditional' type of support that we're talking about. Elementalist support is complimented with broke ass DD*. Stance dancing lets them layer on CC/DoT combos while maintaining constant self-buffs and AoE regen. You can build a Necromancer that does essentially no DD at all and makes an effective support. It involves more theorycrafting, but putting down your wells and marks at the right time in the right location can easily save a team when that heal pulses, or royally screw an enemy when they run smack into a debuff field and start wracking up conditions. Dropping into Plague at the right time can turn the tides as easily as an Ele's Healing Rain. But, it's hard to transplant a class from that system to this one, because combat is radically different. GW2's PvP is a bit breakneck compared to FF14s PvE. A long buff there lasts 5 seconds, not a minute. But I think my intent gets across. AoE buff/debuff class with some healing would be a neat addition to break up the monotony of Cure2-spam. *in all fairness, you have to actually be pretty good at Elementalist to do this.

I... kinda wouldn't. I have a certain expectation of a red mage to be proficient at everything but not the best at anything. While I'd hope to see them at some point, I feel like that's not the greatest fit. I'd prefer to see something to the effect of GW2s Necromancer class. They put down wells that buff allies within a certain area, marks that debuff enemies within a certain range, they can apply status conditions to foes, or they can siphon status conditions off of their allies and turn them into self-buffs. They also have some decent heals and temporary minions that apply situational debuffs. They are maximum trolling for PvP So in Final Fantasy's terms, black, white, and summon magic, but without the weapon proficiency. Sounds like a Sage to me. But I may be splitting hairs, since Sage is likened to a Red Mage in many aspects. I would just prefer to see the Red Mage able to go melee or ranged situationaly... perhaps install it as a class with a Sage Job for support/casting and Rune Fencer for tank/melee?

There's lots of good, decent discussion going on, really interesting stuff. Now, a lot of my habits concerning certain RP archetypes and my willingness to interact with them comes from an established background of years of small scale RP in closed forums, and a few more years on WoW... And I avoid the shit out of anyone RPing a noble anything. Most of the time the 'noble' RPers don't have any idea what the actual status of nobility entails with all its privileges and responsibilities. There's little to no actual political conflict at all and consists mostly of overly pretty boys and girls commenting on how fair the weather in Silvermoon is and how droll the commonfolk are. They defer to sensationalized imagery of masquerade balls and fairy tales with no grasp on the reality of they think they are playing. I've only met bad, ill-convinced, over the top trope characters who claim to be nobles. I can be convinced to the contrary by a good concept and a solid follow through! But I would never approach or put myself willingly into a situation with this type of character. For me, it has nothing to do with the whole 'implied consent' debate. If you approached me ICly and told me you were a noble, an experienced fighter, or a bloody dragon, I would have my character draw an independent conclusion based on his personal observations and react accordingly. Being something in your concept does NOT imply forcing people to acknowledge it until you have explicitly said or done something that puts the opposed character in a situation where they'll have to. With my own character, if someone decked out in a pretty dress came up to him and for no reason at all said "I R A NOBILITY, RESPECT ME," his reaction would be something to the effect of "That's lovely. Good on you. Aaaand good for me that I'm not a resident of your quaint little hovel," and then bugger off. The implications of your power don't extend to him, he doesn't have to acknowledge them. He also thinks you're probably deranged because no person of good breeding wonders around in the streets shouting it at people. If someone were actually, you know, not playing nobility like moron and conducted themselves accordingly, you'd get a very different reaction. Not because you've demanded or implied that I have to respect you, but because your behavior ICly commands a civil, respectful response. It's about believability and immersion, with me at least. All of the above drawn from former experiences though, and has nothing to do with anything I've bore witness to with FF14. Yet. Just my own meandering thoughts on the subject, all opinions, and certainly not the definitive truth on the matter. I'd encourage you to do what you want, but temper it with logic and a little bit of research before you put yourself in a situation where you'll be making objective proclamations.

I have Pikachus spawning all over the place for me. Can't get rid of'em. I'll give you one if you want, haha. And it's random, haha. The wonder trade is like a roulette, matched with anyone in the world. Sounds like a deal! I'll give you a caterpiie to set free! You're Axel correct? I'm mercer in the game Yep! In fact, I've been grinding one to use, but I use Pikachu in every game. You can just have her.

I have Pikachus spawning all over the place for me. Can't get rid of'em. I'll give you one if you want, haha. And it's random, haha. The wonder trade is like a roulette, matched with anyone in the world.

Oh man, I've barely made any progress, I've been messing around with all the features. I fell in love with the Nintendogs-esque function. You can make faces at Pikachu and he'll mimic them! I think that is both awesome and amusing. Also, I was checking out the 'wonder trade' thing. Basically you put a Pokemon up on it and get it traded randomly! I Put a level 8 Zigzagoon on there and got a bloody Charmeleon! So right now my team consists of Froakie, Pikachu, Fletchling, and Charmeleon.

FINALLY got the ball rolling. The guy at Walmart gave me a hell of a time trying to pick the game up, because 'I can't sell you the game before 6am if you didn't preorder it'. So I had to preorder the game... at 3am. Uhg, first impressions though? Wow. The opening cinematic and getting out of bed, I had some flash backs to my first time switching on Blue version and how rad it was, and how far we've come... I'm excited! I started with Froakie. Named him Hershel~ Any way, friend code is: 0146-8807-2738 Hope I'll see you all around~

I reiterate my previous stance on the 'night crew'. Only lame people are in bed by 3AM.

Game is officially out. Poke'Nerds rejoice!

If Square was really worried about players abusing various in game effects to emulate innuendo, they would have been more careful with the auto-translate function... I admit, that one made me smirk, but there were a thousand more unfunny ones from /shout in Costa del Sol all night not so subtly implying they were doing terrible things to themselves in public. It made me wonder what possible, proper situation would (long time) be used for in-game.

I've said my peace on it before. Cliffnotes! There's no reason to be rude to anyone. Ever. But there's nothing wrong with having standards. Everyone can always get better. Helping others to improve betters the quality of the community as a whole. Being receptive to help is half the battle. Role Play is fun. The only way to do it wrong is if you are not having fun. If someone is, as per my own personal definitions, a 'bad' role player then I won't have fun role playing with them. I don't see the reason why I should subject myself to something I don't like when I am trying to take part in a hobby I do for fun. I've never outright rejected anyone who has approached me on principal. That is elitism to me. I do think I have a good general grasp of language and a decent sense of style. I think those are desirable traits and I admit I'm proud of them, however narcissistic it may seem. But I don't put myself on a pedestal and turn my nose up at others. I try to be approachable, helpful, and give constructive criticisms when it is appropriate. And I always stress that these are my opinions, not that whatever comes out of my mouth is the Word of God or some other definitive truth. Grain of salt, etc. It's not my place to impose my stylistic preferences on you. Unless you are filthy, ERPers.

That's my prime-time there. Only lame people are asleep by 3am. I have a general 'bother-at-will' policy, in which I invite people to grab me for their own devices whenever they wish. There's a 90% chance I'm not doing anything important, and a a 2-3% chance I'm preoccupied drawing angry eyebrows screen shots of other people's characters because I am bored.

All my money, Square. All of it.

The problem is magic is a completely different animal. They can't really compete on a realistically, quantifiable similar playing field. There's a system in place, and nothing about playing a caster class using magic works within that system by design. You have to have a completely different system set up for just the people playing these classes, and then, taking into account the different types of casters and everything they can do and regulating it into what is and is not acceptable. THEN ontop of creating a completely separate set up to accommodate this radically different type of combatant, you have to decide how the two interact and what the special rules for physical vs caster is going to me. And all that is just technical. It's not accounting for character or for taste. It'd be very silly to go to one of these as a mage and complain about being excluded. It'd be like a mathalete going to a strong man competition and complaining his demographic isn't being represented. You can go back to the math-olympics and compete, or you can quietly spectate and take notes while you plot the unmaking of those oppressive melee-class jocks. TL;DR Fighting is complicated.

I hope they add a level cap/dungeon cap to the Arcanist-as-healer thing. I can just imagine the people that queue up as a level 50 Arcanist (without a soulstone equipped) to AK or CM. That will not go over well. I'm assuming that very thing is probably why they couldn't from the word go. Till you had this problem of waiting in excess of four hours to do some story mission bottle neck like easy mode Ifrit. The wait times to get in at even low levels are absolutely insane. Twenty, thirty minutes for a DPS is fine. But once you've gone past the one hour mark during peak hours, there's something really wrong with the dungeon system.

Personally, this is not something I would normally recommend or would actively discourage if someone was coming to me seeking my opinion. I find the best way to play blind characters is not to do it. Because Zatoichi or Daredevil are not exceptions to the rule, they're exceptions to reality. It's just not a believable character. BUT, from what I read and gather, you've got a very solid concept you've clearly thought out. You've got a logic to how she functions and don't seem to imply that being blind gives you super strength. You've got a very moderate approach that's grounded in realistic expectations for the world and its lore, and I like that. Rock on, with my completely meaningless blessing. As far as aetherial seeing being likened to aura-sight, I think the only thing that might put a kerfluffle in the concept is the whole destruction of Midgarsormr at Silvertear Falls, which has messed up the way aether flows. As I understand it's what allows for primals to be summoned, but that there is more too it than just 'oh snap, the door to the primal's playpen is busted'. It's like someone chucked a metaphorical boulder in the lifestream, there's all sorts of ripples. Aether is also potentially very dangerous. And aether doesn't just exist as a substance within living things, it manifests tangibly as crystals and intangibly as a sort of mist. Of course, rather than a complication, you could always use those considerations as a hook. Maybe work crystal shards into a sort of improv mapping technique? Be really reluctant to visit Mor Dhona? You could use your 'sight' to track the aether flow to where beast tribes are amassing and preemptively strike before they have a chance to even summon one of their gods. You could constantly be in danger from beastmen and their thralls, for want to abuse the gift for their own wicked ends. It's got a totally unique set of challenges you could capitalize on to do neat things with. Or not! Just tossing out concepts. Hope it was at least a little interesting, if not helpful.

You know what would really help with instances? Putting out some more healing/tanking options to expedite things. Not even whole, new classes right off the bat, just broaden the parameters a bit. That would be nice. I know they said Arcanists will be able to queue as healers 'soon' but that's only going to help so much.

Leviathin-egi. Also, a way to Vylbrand (Limsa Lominsa) from Aldenard (main continent) without paying. You have to option to walk from Ul'dah to Gridania if you don't want to waste the cash porting or taking an air ship. But need to get to Limsa? Too bad, better pony up. As a miser, this drives me utterly insane. I hope they remedy this by giving chocobos an additional 'water wings' barding which will enable me to float them across the ocean. Don't laugh, cassowaries can swim.

@Theo I've thought about making an Elzen, since I've officially canceled my WoW sub and have nothing better to do. I actually defaulted to FF:XIV after a fatal error kept me from playing the game shortly after I filed a complaint about one of the stealth fixes Blizzard did during the 5.4 patch. All attempts to talk to customer serviser were put off, passed around, and usually ended with me being told "Your issue isn't important to us." I decided I'm not paying that jack off's salary anymore. If Blizz can't treat their customers decent then I'll go give my money to their competition, it's no skin off my nose. ...But I should really finish the main story with at least one character first before I go make a ton of alts. Either way, you're welcome to pester me whenever you wish. If I'm at home and awake I'm probably logged in to contact at your convenience. @Ildur They're not realistically optional on WoW, sadly. Because we have 'designated' RP servers, as it has been said on other threads, it makes us a target for non-RPing griefers. If you have the addon installed you can see anyone else who has it installed. It's generally the way the RP community finds each other amidst the flood of people on the server who aren't RPers or are dedicated RP trolls. If someone doesn't have it, you generally assume they are only on the server to give you a hard time. So yes, having it as a requirement is a symptom of the community. It's the arbitrary line in the sand RPers have drawn around themselves as a barrier against the filthy 'non-RP scum'. That being said, no RP guild I've been in has ever explicitly required them or you're not allowed in. The ones that do are usually closed, invitation only ones anyway that don't openly recruit. At least in my experience. Your mileage may vary.

The best way to go about it is being an evil mastermind in real life and having your minions make waves for you. Barring that, getting a concept, expand upon it, and get it out there. There's certainly a difference between being a dick and being antagonistic! Find inspiration in lore. Use your character as a catalyst. If you have one or two good friends to serve as a foundation, all the better. And just build up from there into what you want! I, personally, am waiting to finish the story mode before I try to orchestrate anything too impressive.

Woah woah woah woah woah woah woah... woah... ... woah. There are "gritty" Belfs? Considering that their ongoing story is full of grit, tragedy and they've been forced into doing whatever it takes in order to survive? Yeah, they're gritty. Arguably more so than the majority of other races present in the setting. They're also often portrayed as being both masculine and rather physically strong and imposting, so if anyone truly believes that the following elves are 'feminine' then I'd happily consider them to be an idiot: http://wowpedia.org/File:HanthalLightward.jpg http://wowpedia.org/File:Silvermoon_City_Guardians.jpg http://wowpedia.org/File:Katsin_Bloodoath.jpg Here's my character: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/argent-dawn/Solbranthius/simple http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/argent-dawn/Soltharn/simple I designed them with the grittier concept art in mind. I've been a fan of the blood elves ever since they first came to be. It's just a shame they attract so many stupid role-players. I feel the same way about the Miqo'te and Elezen in FFXIV - they're not feminine, yet a very large portion of role-players insist on presenting them as being that way. In turn, many other role-players begin incorporating that into their role-play to the point where it is seen as the norm rather than the exception. ...and that, along with numerous other reasons is why I loathe most role-players! I love the Blood Elves too. And debasing them as a bunch of flaming, girly, gits more obsessed if their armor matches their scrunchie than bloodletting is obnoxious to me. They are the most screwed over race on Azeroth, hands down. They've been genocided almost out of existence twice, and a third if Jaina had her way. Then the player base makes it all the worse by applying this caustic stereotype to them. Blizzard certainly hadn't helped with it either, until 5.2 when the Blood Elves finally demanded some goddamn attention. I was really disappointed they spent all of MoP building up Lor'Themar as a brilliant tactician, a cunning general, and a passionate leader, only to pass off Warchief to someone else who wasn't even around for most of the expac. Elves in general, no matter where you go, suffer from the 'dainty and girly' stereotype though. I think it's just the 'jock' culture bleeding into the Fantasy genre as it's become more mainstreamed and normalized. 'Beautiful in a way not comprehensible to mortals' is translated as 'girly' to the uninitiated of the genre. And I bet you every dollar I have that when ESO goes live there will be a rush of effeminate Bosmer with nothing to their character besides the fact they are fabulous. No one will take into context their long history as a brutal, savage cannibalistic people, closer to beastfolk than real mer. It's a pitty, and it's one I try not to abide. I think allowing this sort of behavior to be the standard is a cancer. But ultimately there's nothing you can do about it besides try not to associate yourself with it.