Berrod Armstrong

While I hope you are right, I don't think you can really assess that based off of Yugiri alone. If anything, I would imagine that Yugiri would have been created to serve as a balance between both possible looks. Cute and pretty, to dangerous and feral. She may even be a special model a la Kan-E, Robby One-hand and Merlwyb, so I'm not using her as a gauge for the others yet. BUT MAN I LOVE HER LOOK. Her model seems incomplete, but that's okay. I understand how things go sometimes.

/sweats you know nothing! Treacherous or not, they don't hold a candle to the evil that Lalafell display in the lore. I'm pretty sure you can find horrible people in all the races, though. At least Lalafell have folks like Papashan, Momodi, Tataru, and Pipin to help balance the scales back. Uh. I'm a big Highlander fan, but I won't deny that they can be pretty vile. Think about the Corpse Brigade dudes, Ilberd himself -- hell the bastards were conquerors who invaded other lands because they wanted thing. Lalafell 'evil' only seems significant because they look like potatoes. It's easier to take some eyebrowless muscledude's heinousness for granted! All the races have their despicable members. Oddly enough, the Miqo'te strike me as having less than most.

Berrod's on the NOPE train on that one. He'll offer what resources he can to those in his company who want to go, though.

I smelled treachery from him the moment they introduced him as a benevolent soldier bro. I liked him, but I did not trust him at all. I'm really satisfied with how he turned out! highlanders confirmed as treacherous scum /sweats you know nothing!

So I finally have some time to sit and ramble my impressions. The mundane starting fetch quest got me instantly on alert. I narrowed my eyes and was like, 'this is really dry, they're gonna mess me up with something I know it'. I expected the Dragon stuff sure, but it was a nice touch seeing it happening in that moment. Sure, Moony is dead but lol dragons are here now, strap your belts and set your cups. The stuff leading up to the Steps of Faith was all expected, and that only made me even warier of things to come. I enjoyed that trial a lot. The music, the scale, the mechanics! I cheated and healqueued for it, switching from cannon/tether to emergency OSHIT heals lol. I WASN'T WAITING 40 MINUTES FOR NO DPS QUEUE, NOPE. I didn't like the idea of tanking massive dragon-sama, though I didn't know he was untankable at the time. The building up to the banquet/assassination got me nice and tense, I couldn't load into zones and talk to NPCs fast enough, ate it all up, and wondered how the hell all of it was going to come together. Oddly enough, it all hit me once I saw the goblet. My mind immediately flashed to the patch graphic and the way it fell and hit the floor during the trailer (at which point I said "Oh -SHIT-!" a bit too loudly for the hour). Nanamo's death scene was BRILLIANT, given the animation contraints. They put a lot of energy into pushing that knife in us and TWISTING IT. They also did a brilliant job of making me DESPISE (and love, omg) Teledji before giving me the immense satisfaction of seeing him split in two. With two people dead in quick succession I began to fear for Raubahn's life, and when his hand got lopped off shit got even REALER. I understand the animation and rating limitations involved in the fact that he didn't bleed all over the floor, I even have a little pet theory that Ilberd's sword immediately cauterized the wound. ILBERD. Magnificent bastard. I liked him from the start but I NEVER TRUSTED HIM. They milked that bromance moment (*quietly hides ship*) too hard and got me super suspicious. Well, more than before. Either way, he was despicable and I love him for it. The fight! I loved that fight holy hell! Yes, yes, people complain about how it was too animu -- what else these folks expect from a Final Fantasy game I honestly don't know. It was a proper demonstration that these people did not get where they were by just waving around and clashing swords. They are -powerful-. The Scions' exodus was lovely. I'm not concerned whether they live or die, but I was moved by their resolve. In that moment they showed exactly how committed they were to their cause. Also Yda's mask getting cut made me squirm and squeal in glee. Thancred and Y'shtola -- that was touching. Y'SHTOLA GIRL YOU A STAR. Kind of literally, after that stunt. Minfilia -- I've...made my peace with her and was mildly pleased to see her turn back and go to the others. That is to say, I was pleased to see her at least IMPLIED TO BE DOING SOMETHING. If she had made it out I think my hatred for her would have returned in one swoop. ALSO, SIL'DIH WATERWAYS UNDER UL'DAH YES YES LORE GOOD. ALSO ALSO. BRENDT. BRENDT WITH THAT SEXY-FINE ACCENT (I soooo thought of Crofte when I heard him). I was DELIGHTED to see things come full circle with Alphinaud, my character and Brendt on a chocobo carraige again. I was also THRILLED to see Pipin, after having read about him in the Tales of the Calamity short stories that came out during the anniversary event. People are disappointed with Yugiri's 'oh well' appearance, but it made me smile. Everyone expected massive fear and ROROROR, but...acceptance. It was there. Tataru said she was pretty (as I cricked my neck from nodding vigorously behind the screen), and that was that. Acceptance. It was beautiful (AND SO WAS SHE HOLY SHIT). I don't think they'll give us more than that until expansion time, and I'm fine with it. ALSO. SHE LOOKS SO MATURE, AND STATELY, AND -NOT DAINTY AND WEAK-. She's beautiful and still looks like she can fuck a man up. She looks like a race of man, and has her distinct features in the scales, horn, tail and that fucking fierce hairdo (WERK.). I AM HAPPY WITH HER. I had a mini heart attack when I saw Urianger and the Ascians, but then I realized that he was speaking with Edilibus (that's his name right?), and so he may not truly be allied with them, and instead seeking an audience. When it was all over I just leaned back, wiped my brow and raised a glass to Square, because -- well done.Well bloody done. That was the most engaging story content I've ever played in an MMO without having to go digging for obscure lore or reading between-expansion books. Thank you for giving it to us in game. It was like a damn great season finale cliffhanger deal. I'm satisfied as hell, and really excited about what's to come. Bring on Heavensward!

I smelled treachery from him the moment they introduced him as a benevolent soldier bro. I liked him, but I did not trust him at all. I'm really satisfied with how he turned out!

Scandalous, Aya! Zhavi's example rings pretty true though! We only got one scene in after Zhav got in contact with me, but I think I had been pretty busy building my FC at that point in time. BUT. The connection is still there, and quite open! That's the way it gooooeessss.

I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU ANYMORE Agreed, Aymeric shocked and delighted me, listening to him and Alphinaud speak was great.

SOUNSYY YOU UPDATED YOUR LORE FACT! celebration time

In 1.0 it was possible! /notbitter. ...gods I miss succor. Holy Succor being gone is something I rail on from time to time. It was too beautiful for this horrid world. For those who missed out on the glory that was PLD pre-2.0: (seriously I love what the battle team did to for the other classes but PLD was such a huge step backwards) Holy Succor - Was a self cure about 1.5x the potency of a WHM's Cure I, but it gave you a buff that if any healer cured you while that buff was up, you + any party member in AoE range would get a super potent regen for like 10s. AND, the PLD gained enmity off of that cure+regen effect. Oh then there was Aegis Boon! Aegis Boon - Defensive buff which 100% guaranteed you'd block the next attack, nullifying the damage completely and actually restoring HP in proportion to the damage that would've been dealt to you. So back when Coincounter used to be really hard, a PLD could eat a 1000 Tonze Swing with Aegis Boon and instead of taking 4k damage (which back in the day was way more than most tanks WAR or PLD had) you'd gain like 900 HP back from it. /sigh Them were the days... /insert old man saying back in my day gif Aegis Boon sounds good, but wow Holy Succor seems broken as hell for the way the game goes now! It's a very -paladin- ability though.

Apologies for the double post, I didn't see this come up. How do you justify gravity? Or justify the physics behind an archer launching an arrow? There are certain things that are justified by forces beyond yours, ours, or anyone's means. Every change starts somewhere, you are correct, but sometimes the buck just stops. We can manipulate the effects, but not that basic understanding and the basic understanding is that there is no way to have a black mage in heavy armor. This isn't socio-political or a matter of consensus. It's for all purposes, a law of the universe Eorzea is based in. I'm not even certain that the devs created any lore about glamours other than "LOOK WHAT I CAN DO, YOU CAN TOO NOW. COME, LEARN." While Newton possibly ran out into town square and yelled that about his findings on gravity, which were eventually proven to be what we call fact (I'm taking some creative license here), we have yet to disprove gravity itself. It is a law of reality. It can be manipulated but not changed. (I'm rambling.) Back on point, considering that Eorzea is a fictional reality with its own physics and laws of energy, matter, etc, it is naturally written in that they are (gasp) laws. Immutable. We, as RPers, can hand-wave that off if we like and decide it doesn't exist in our perception but that creates chaos. And now we've entered into the realm of philosophy and archaic existentialism, which was the predecessor of modern science. Modern science being what proves and disproves theories about our universe. And finally, I am by no means a pessimist. I am, however, an obvious realist (if you hadn't guessed by now) and I am full of concern that there's such zeal for affecting change in a video game's very minor detailing system when there are so many things about our real world that could use the attention. Which is why I felt that "The Devs said No" was a proper response, because if they said No and "No means No" then we can devote our time and mental efforts to other enriching activities. Also, this. :frustrated: Cheers! -Black Hat ^ VIGOROUSLY POINTS TOWARD IN AGREEMENT

I get a fair bit! I tend to pace things alternately -- downtime/action/downtime/action/long downtime/LONG HARROWING ACTION FILLED PLOT/downtime/action

To have come here and posted looking for connections is not something that inspires random RP. Randomly approaching people in game does that. People typically respond to posts that state that a poster is seeking RP by -- yes -- scheduling, organizing, booking. It is a playdate, yes, because nothing will happen otherwise (among those who have read the post). Note also that the RPC actually represents a FEW of the roleplayers on the server. I very well understand that you don't want to be rude, and you don't want to be disrespectful, but...that doesn't make this any less offputting. I can only recommend that you actively approach and see where that takes you, because standing around waiting for someone to bump into your character randomly can be a more miss than hit situation. There is tons of random RP on Balmung. I see it every day -- people who approach others who are posting out proper hooks. Good luck, though.

Berrod usually starts off his Firesday face down in bed because he doesn't sleep much on the weekends.

This thread actually compelled me to spend the past few mornings (and parts of the evening) snagging/approaching/hanging around folks who seemed new, or folks who I generally don't know. Inbetween all the stuff that happened with people who know me... I definitely won't always have the time to keep doing that, but it's nice to see some new people with a foot in the door, especially since the roleplay helped them make connections with others. Lol, I'm not even sure if any of them are on the RPC.

I do English in the event that there is a name or term I need to hear pronounced.

I love the colors, this is amazing!

As I said, it wasn't anything to put you down (I just want to clarify that first). HOWEVER -- it is a thing that happens, and I was honest with my thoughts on it because hey, I'm only human, and other people have those thoughts too. My intent was to identify yet another one of the reasons things like that happen. Sure, one can use a different tone in another post meant to captivate roleplayers, of course one may behave differently and more cordially in a game, but people still see -that one post- and it may happen that -that one post- is what makes the decision for them; based on experience or otherwise. I've actually been in the situation where people did not want to approach me because my character was too lewd/sexual/forward, and because I cackled loudly and made dirty jokes too often in OOC chat okay so maybe i still do it but i do it around a certain crowd. I had to start presenting myself a little differently. Despite what I said, my views were on THAT post and on my state of mind when I read that post -- I have nothing against you/your character/your toon. That post gave me pause; and for some people that pause may be lasting. It isn't fair, it isn't pretty, but it is one of the things that happens. On the other hand, I could encourage people who are put off to give folks a chance and see (I do that far more often than is wise). Also yes good shamelessly promote the wiki, it really helps.

I kind of bodily throw myself toward them and hold them down until they stop screaming and and sobbing and then punch them with RP until they stop moving. I can't even describe it more accurately than that

I admit that I occasionally handhold a shy person or two when time allows. ...well more like grasp violently and bungee jump with them in my MEATY ARMS. While yelling loudly. At the end of the jump however, I DO let them go (they don't die, they just fall helplessly into a sea of contacts [and maybe bears]), and it's up to them to continue with what we've established. It's really all that can be done at that point. Most of the time I take the 'try to grin and bear it and see what happens' approach, if only because I don't have the time or resources to help them myself at the time. Other than that, I try to rumor-swap on the wiki if they have one posted up, or link them with someone else with the same issue who I know has similar interests.

But I made sure to use the qualifiers "Should change" not "To change" and "Can be seen as ostracizing" not "Is ostracizing" Ostracizing is "to exclude from a group by common consent" it's not really a strong word at all. It's exactly what you said might happen. I even went through a dictionary to make sure I picked the right one. So I'll ask you not also not read into my words anything more that's there either. I was careful in my word choice, people tend to pick apart the smallest thing here. Fair! However, the issue remains. It's a thing. An unfortunate, unfair thing perhaps -- though people are entitled to their opinions and their decisions based on what they see...but still a thing. I don't think anyone was going to address it, even I didn't want to for some time, but since this is a thread of solutions, I brought it up. What can be done about it though, therein is where the true discussion lies!

I'm gonna be the 'badguy' here and point a few things out. See the bolded stuff? That general...manner of presenting oneself tends to turn people away. No one will say anything, but they'll likely remember and decide not to interact with you based on that alone -- ESPECIALLY the ones who are a bit more shy. I'm not coming down on you or anything like that, but I feel that it is very, very important how a player presents themselves ooc. I personally read that post and found it unappealing. I personally questioned if I would want to RP with you based on the presentation of it and twisted my mouth and went 'eh'. Again, I have nothing against you as a person/player/toon/character but you're not selling anything to me there. That's just -me-, the guy who roleplays with almost anyone. Imagine for people who are more picky. Presentation and attitude go a long, LONG way and a lot of people who may not be getting RP should perhaps examine themselves and determine if that is part of their block. I'm quoting myself here so that we can see exactly what I said without having to scroll up. I am lazy. My post points out the consequences of a certain type of presentation, using my own impression as an example. Everyone is entitled to their impression. It IS an issue, it IS a reason why some people avoid interacting with others, based on either experience or personal shyness. I decided to bring it up because it's one of the touchy subjects that has yet gone untouched -- despite how important it is! It happens -- so let's address it. I didn't outright tell him to change his behavior, nope. I simply used it to bring up presentation as a topic. A very relevant, real topic. Ostracize is a very strong word too, because I referred to a single, personal decision, be it from me, or another player. I implore you not to read more into my words than what was said.

It's not fair perhaps, but that's not going to stop it from happening! It is one of the things to consider, and as such, I mentioned it. There's no reason to make excuses or defend it; it is what it is, and what happens because of it...happens.

Your work is so amazing ;_;

I'm gonna be the 'badguy' here and point a few things out. See the bolded stuff? That general...manner of presenting oneself tends to turn people away. No one will say anything, but they'll likely remember and decide not to interact with you based on that alone -- ESPECIALLY the ones who are a bit more shy. I'm not coming down on you or anything like that, but I feel that it is very, very important how a player presents themselves ooc. I personally read that post and found it unappealing. I personally questioned if I would want to RP with you based on the presentation of it and twisted my mouth and went 'eh'. Again, I have nothing against you as a person/player/toon/character but you're not selling anything to me there. That's just -me-, the guy who roleplays with almost anyone. Imagine for people who are more picky. Presentation and attitude go a long, LONG way and a lot of people who may not be getting RP should perhaps examine themselves and determine if that is part of their block.