Sophia_Grave

Hey there! I really vibe with being new to the MMO format RP. I struggled with it for quite a while until I got the hang of it. I'm a forum RPer , so it's different in almost every way. But I'm sure you'll pick it up! Don't worry too much about not knowing the story. You don't really need to know much until you want to get specific in your plot or character's background. Plus, you can always ask other RPers. Welcome and good luck!

COME BACK, SOPHIA, WE LOVE YOU. (But seriously, it's nice to hear from you again, and if you do come back I know more than a few people who would be thrilled. ) :love:! I was just lurking around to get a feel for things around here, but I'm thrilled to see a lot of familiar names! My schedule opens up soon until early spring so I'll most likely be around some!

Good to see someone trying to do a Garlean FC again. Might just get me playing again, if I can find the time.

My character Teetering Owl is a slightly batty old Sea Wolf Arcanist who is always willing to teach others how to be bitter old souls devoid of innocence like her better themselves! She's played as something of a hedgewitch, capable of healing through weird magic and questionable potions. I'm always interested in having someone else Owl can heckle for their own good or no reason at all

Because of the nature of RP, I firmly believe that playing the villain is a waste of time without a group of friends willing to humor your plot and who trust you enough not to do anything they're uncomfortable with. Ignore metagaming, OC/IC bleed. Even then, people still have the ultimate say on what happens to their characters, and the simple fact is, many are uncomfortable with not being a badass at all times. No one wants to be tricked, beaten, or hurt in any significant way, and an insignificant villain is no villain at all. Is it possible? Yes. Like Warren said, its absolutely beautiful when it does. But really, its always going to be a difficult dance, and you're constantly at the mercy of your OOC peers while simultaneously tasked with engaging them. My main, while not strictly a stache-twirling villain, is almost always tasked against most of my most constant RP friends. Sometimes, I'm unable to actually do much of anything, because the situation isn't quite right, or its too disruptive at the moment, or something along those lines. I have fun with it, but its absolutely maddening sometimes.

If you can drop Teetering Owl an invite at any point, that would be great <3

To be specific, what do we know of dragons from dragons' perspective? We all know what the Eorzeans think of them, but what actual concrete lore do we have about their culture, abilities, etc? I recall some, but I'm certain there's more. -Dragons (the biggest ones, anyway) seem to take names from Norse Mythology (Ratatotskr, Nidhogg, Midgardsomr). -Male and female dragons have little to no sexual dimorphism. -Dragons age so differently that they perceive just about everything differently than the races of man. Like I said, I know I've missed some good details around Anyx Trine or the Churning Mists. Has anyone picked up anything good?

"A Roe raised by Miqo'te? Probably picked up a trick or two. Avoid."

I wanted a garlean and livia seems to use the midder model, so i went with that. 3.0's new Garlean seems to be an Elezeb with rounded ears however, so that sort of defeats that idea. But whatever; until there's a Garlean race Midder does just fine

When it comes to quick and easy RP there's really no reason for people to splinter off into different areas when rabdom socializing is supposed to be the goal. If you want RP elsewhere, organize it, but don't expect people to begin drifting around just because a few are bored with the setting.

Nine times out of ten, Sophia will only approach someone with some sort of ulterior motive. She behaves however she needs to in order to make the appropriate impression. Sophia's only requirement for friendship/acquaintance is that the person is able to offer something useful to her. I've actually not had the chance yet to RP Sophia approaching someone based on legitimate romantic interest yet, but if I had, I'd imagine she'd definitely avoid the following: Physical: -Lalafell -Unhygenic -Weak/unfit Mental: -Meekness. This is the big one, a timid person is an instant no-go for Sophia -Unintelligent or witless. Being involved with Sophia is dangerous. She won't go for someone who can't handle a fair bit of intrigue. -Overly chivalrous or affectionate. Sophia absolutely does not want to be joined at the hip with anyone no matter how perfect, and she can't stand chivalry or being doted on. She fully expects any sort of significant other to give her plenty of space when she needs it. Overall, Sophia has a lot of bleed between her professional and personal life. 90% of her relationships are professional, but she does derive some internal happiness or pleasure from most of them, regardless.

How does your character deal with killing? Sophia wasn't exactly raised to be a killer, but war is a huge part of Garlean culture. She did her best to steel herself for the inevitable kills she'd have to make to further her cause. In her head, she's justified. She doesn't revel or particularly enjoy the act, but she does have a huge amount of pride in her ability to best her opponent or target. How did your character feel after her first kill? After the initial life-or-death surge of adrenaline, Sophia felt pride. In a life or death struggle, she came out on top. And then there was ambition. Death was simple; easy, even, under the correct circumstances, and the right death could change the world. Does your character mull over it later? At times, she wonders if a specific kill was necessary or not. She values life and prefers not to kill to do what she needs, but she will without a second thought if its the only option. She's definitely guilty when she kills someone she doesn't mean to. It also makes her feel weak, ironically, and not in control.

The point is that they stack with any and everything and are off GCD, so it can be applied at once the moment it is needed. Regardless, someone has to be the worst. Machinists have literally everything from buffs, debuffs, all CCs, and great burst, and mobility, so it makes sense for that to be them. Even then, they only go marginally worse/even with Bards. Even a full team of Bards, when played well, can meet any DPS check. As for ACT, look on Reddit, its documented by the guy who does the ffxiv plugin for ACT that it isn't tracked properly.

What are you parsing with? Last I heard, there's no parser available yet that properly tracks and adds Wildfire's damage and the second hit of Ricochet, unless ACT released something in the last day. Without it, they parse close to Bard, so seeing as Wildfire is a huge part of their rotation, they should be a fair bit stronger. Of course, they still need a buff it seems; no one's denying that. As I said, for all the work that one must put in to play this job efficiently, its really not worth it. They still have an uncontested debuff (Dismantle/Rend Mind) and TP/MP regen, and seeing as Gauss is more often a DPS loss than it is a gain, they have the mobility to stay safe, at least until Gauss gets a buff.

Now that ive had a chance to number crunch MCH, I would say they aren't as terrible as people seem to think. The random nature of the skills only fluctuate total DPS by about 5-8% in each of the dozen simulations I ran. At worst, a string of no procs lowers your dps by about that much. However. The skill : DPS ratio is WAY out of whack. This job is without a doubt one of the hardest jobs with the immobility of BLM, the support of bard, the tight rotation/priority of DRG, and the latency unfriendliness of Ninja. As of now, playing flawlessly is no stronger than bard if not marginally worse. Machinist isnt bad, but holy hell, they are not worth the effort. By the way, leave gauss off until 60; it js a dps loss until then.

Dark Knights deal consistent DPS, especially in the presence of a Monk and Ninja. Scourge and Low Blow are both twice as strong as Fracture and Brutal Swing. Salted Earth and Plunge are both free damage, and a Dark Arts+Souleater combo is 800 potency whenever Blood Weapon is up to fuel your MP, which is very often. But now for the bad. Warriors are still the grandaddy of Offtanking. Fell Cleave is delicious, and Storm's Eye is one of the best debuffs in the game, as it doesn't conflict with anything while building abandon. Even Paladins contribute a -10%STR debuff, healing, and Stoneskins. Dark Knight contributes nothing if a Monk is in the party besides (admittedly good) damage when OTing. What Dark Knights need to even come close is Reprisal and a slight change to Dark Dance. If Dark Arts forced a Reprisal proc when Grit is off, it would go a long way to helping them contribute at a fair cost. Reprisal still has a 30s CD, so no matter how you shake it, it wouldn't replace Storm's Eye with a change like this. As for Dark Dance, a mere dodge buff makes me cry. It simply isn't worth using Dark Arts (which is a pain to recoup as MT'ing single targets such as raid bosses) to buff it. Dark Passenger is tough to use outside of giant pulls, which is no bueno; that could use a MP cost reduction. Sole Survivor is just stupid. I haven't gotten Carve and Spit, but it looks like it does 3x450 potency with a minute cooldown? That's pretty cool if that's the case. Awful otherwise, as Souleater only deals a touch less and is a part of the Syphon Blade combo, which is needed to feed Dark Arts. I like they playstyle of DRK, though. There's tons to do besides build threat, and its a whole different ballgame when MTing vs OTing. I hope they receive the slight buffs they deserve. Haven't made any serious looks into MCH, but I'm worried. At 50, mine pulls good numbers for my ilvl, but I'm hearing that they're terrible at higher levels. I haven't even touched AST but I hear nothing but good things.

The amount of depth that went into both tribes is really great; I'm very impressed! The only thing I can possibly ask for is just more concrete lore. The blurbs in the Xaela section are pretty great, but at best we'd only be able to infer what their life is like based on those and the other lore bits we've gotten. Hopefully Auri lore won't be too well-hidden or too far into the game.

I was under the impression that Black Magic is far more forceful with its borrowing than White Magic. Doesn't it tear holes to and from the void and kill/hurt the immediate area that the aether is drawn from?

Fantasy materials and Aether. Do we know how strong Cobalt is? Or Wolfram? Or the Carbon-whatever that Ironworks gear is made from? Considering what the fauna is capable of doing or resisting, I don't think its a stretch to think that gunfire will have a significantly diminished effect on armor made from those materials. And then there are aether powers, which is another thing altogether.

I've already posted my thoughts in this thread, but something came to mind. Let's assume that 3.0 has zero content under lv50. No new monsters or areas under lv50. That would mean that anything related to the 3.0 jobs (at least, from 30-50) would take place in ARR areas. With that in mind, they could have EASILY relocated the 3.0 jobs to ARR areas, locking them only behind a lv30 ARR job and an xpac purchase. After all, you can't level a lv30 job in a lv50 area, nor can you do a job quest involving lv50 mobs, can you? Alternatively, let's assume that 3.0 does have content lv30-50 content specifically for the 3.0 jobs, even if its only job quests. What reasoning is there for an xpac owner who hasn't finished ARR to be locked out of that? It would make sense to lock them out of 50+ content, but 30-50 content? ARR itself has 50 content that anyone can travel to at lv1. Further, there are a dozen ways to adapt a lore-friendly reason for the WoL to be able to go to Ishgard before the events of 2.55. WoL could have met a friendly smuggler. Ishgard could have noticed WoL's work with the Primals and extended a city-only invite. WoL could have a long lost relative, because who cares? How hard would it be for a lv30 quest to pop up that sends you to Ishgard's town so you can pick up the new jobs? Any other Ishgard content would obviously be locked via level or MSQ completion anyway, right? I'm trying to wrap my head around it, but it doesn't make any sense. There will already be a massive disconnect in continuity if the player starts out as an Au Ra, yet they allowed that. But for some reason, they won't allow you to pick up a new job until the MSQ tells you that you can? The more I think about it, the more it doesn't make sense.

One of these days I'm going to do a write up for playing the antagonist in RP, but primarily, it comes down to communication and planning. Everyone involved (OOC-wise, of course) needs to be okay with your antagonist screwing things up for them, and you yourself need to be prepared for long term consequences for your character. I also like to work toward a clear goal that forcibly involves others. Its easy to be avoidant or run away for either side, and that's no fun, since conflict is the whole point. And remember, being simply a rude jerkface is a world's difference from playing the bad guy.

I've been looking for an IC smith/tinkerer for Sophia to patron. She uses a lot of gadgets and devices, and isn't 100% knowledgeable in all their inner workings. She could really use maintenance on her tools, and perhaps even some new ones altogether! So if you're interested, PM me or find me ingame ^^

The new jobs are gated. The Au Ra race is not.

I don't have a problem gating new content for the most part, but new classes should most definitely NOT be gated. Identity is a big part of games, especially in MMOs. Its pretty awful to force someone to play through 50 levels and another 40 item level after that just to be the job they want to be. God help them if they start out as a DPS; that's a good 30-40 hours of play, plus queues, 1st job exp penalty, learning the game, getting used to controls, rotations to learn, leveling for cross class, etc to suffer through just to start again as a lv30. That's utterly insane.

Its all networking, I find (OOCly, that is). I can only speak for myself, but the deeper sort of RP only came for me after I shopped my character around, found an FC/LS, and all that. It was definitely a bit draining and less fun than actual RP, but actually getting RP hooks via RP is pure luck and circumstance. Not to say that it doesn't happen, of course! Do you have an objective for the character as the writer? Like a personal arc or something you want Hammer to explore? If so, you can literally PM people you think fits in there and perhaps get something going. Or offer up Hammer to be involved in others' plots. There's also FCs and all that; I'd speak of my own FC but recruitment is actually closed right now since we recently had an influx of new members to assimilate (but definitely look up Aeon in the future :V). Anywho, that's what I did and it works for me. Results may vary. (Also, Bynn the Breaker is my favorite song on the Bastion soundtrack <3)