Flickering Ember

I'm currently involved in one but I think after this, it might be the last time I do it. I've been involved in several kidnapping plots over the years. But I always run into problems with them. The main problem is that it is very easy for whoever has been kidnapped to get bored. Even if there are plans to RP while in captivity, that person is dependent on scheduling RP for it to work. If schedules don't mesh very well, it quickly becomes problematic. I love kidnapping in RP plots though. I would love to find a way to make it work. It would probably kill the tension of it, but I think if I ever got involved in this again, I would want the story line to exist on an alternate timeline. That way at no point does the person have to feel barred from random RP and those close to whoever was kidnapped don't have to feel constantly stressed IC for as long as that person is missing. While it is only natural that those important to whoever was kidnapped would feel emotions over it, it can be something that not everyone wants to RP out over days. I am definitely interested in hearing if anyone has a good way of going about these kinds of plots. But even going into the plot with intent to combat some of these problems, I always run into the same ones.

Indoors -Coat rack -Kitchen sink -Ice box -Vanity -Wall mirror -A bushier, fuller leaved potted tree -Music box (The trinket/memento/jewelry box kind not a juke box but I do want one of those as well :>) -The option to put stuffed animals on your bed -Dream catchers -Western style door -A door that functions as a secret passage way instead of having to run through walls for such things -An open book table top item, to make it look like you are actually reading -Eisel and canvas -Dartboard -Japanese futon -Chess / card game set that you can place on your table top -Pitcher + juice glass food item -Stained glass windows Outdoors -Wind chimes -Bird house/bird bath with actual birds inside -A large oak tree with a swing -Bamboo trees -Food decorations for your campfire: Roasted yams/chestnuts, s'mores, fish, and kabobs -Brick/stone mailboxes -Gravestones -Hedge bushes -Christmas/Starlight Festival house lights! -Welcome mat -CACTUS DECORATIONS (C'mon, lots of us live in the Goblet!) -Garden statues -Ivy covered Gridanian house exterior Both? -A small fountain decoration for indoors and a larger pond-like one for outdoors -Outdoor/non wall mounted shrines

The thing about lore is that it isn't concrete. It isn't a textbook that you can pick up and educate yourself on the undisputed facts of Eorzea/Hydaelyn. It's closer to picking up the Bible--everyone has a different interpretation on it. Two different roleplayers could be looking at the same paragraph of lore (I dunno, could be about a place or magic or Ul'dah customs) and those two different roleplayers are going to argue/discuss on these forums, theoretically, about how they are different and which interpretation is more accurate. Hence why I've become increasingly dismissive of terms such as 'lore compliant' or 'lore following' etc. It doesn't mean much. Lore sources are subjective too. What is an acceptable lore source? I could argue myself that minion and mount descriptions don't count as lore since they're all ridiculous anyway. But no, really, I do think you are in your right to not see the tumblr infos as word of god. I do so because social media is very entrenched in our society at this point and it isn't the first time I've seen lore spread around this way. (Twitter lore tidbits for example) We have so little in FFXIV that it is understandable that people would chomp at anything like that. In the end, I don't feel as though the tumblr info should be used to say "No! You can't RP out fantasia!" but rather open dialogues such as : "How plausible is fantasia use out in the world?" "Is there more to it?" "What are the benefits and negatives of using it in our RP?" "Are there alternative methods of shape-shifting?" "What does fantasia mean for the RPC community?" I've also personally seen fantasia as a good source of RP when it doesn't matter how that person transformed but that they did so. In the end, probably the real problem with fantasia potion is its widespread use in RP. That's just not something we can fix, as you noted. We can't help what's popular.

Basically what folks are saying is, unlike most localization teams, the FFXIV localization teams are involved right from the get go of the writing, before it is even finished. They are allowed and often do step in to collaborate on what is written together. The localization and original story writing is a team effort and not something that is done entirely by the Japanese writers and then passed off to other languages.

I'm pretty happy about the clarification on fantasia. Not because I want to take away people's RP toys but because fantasia potions are such a common and easy way to RP a character's appearance being dramatically changed. It does seem, as has been noted, consequence free. I hope folks will continue to race/gender change as they please IC. But I am also hoping that the clarification on fantasia potions will encourage folks to think of new and different ways on how such changes could have occurred. Ad Freelance Wizard has brought up, race/gender changes can be incredibly rewarding when there is a story involved with it. I will still be accepting the canon of folks who RP fantasia potions. It's more fun for me to go with the flow rather than be contrary. I will be interested to see if there will be a change in the community for how race/gender changes are RPed out.

No one is saying you can't RP your character growing, putting on weight, getting a tan, being injured, following a new deity, etc. They're saying that not everyone might be accepting of the canon that you IC used a fantasia potion to make your height taller. Something like that depends on the player. Some folks might still RP fantasia potions, other folks might not. It all comes down to preference.

Minfilia: "Hello? Ember?" *The sound of Ember nomming noisily on something. Her lips occasionally smack as she chews* Minfilia: "Ember, where are you? Everyone is here and and ready to rid Eorzea of another primal threat." Ember: "Food!" Minfilia: "Ember?" Silence. Minfilia: "Ember? Ember! .....Goddammit."

Since I've already RPed with a couple of Au Ra in game, it seems like Ember's going down the path of "Whoa! That is so weird but cool. Please tell me more about your people!" route.

This is the armor set I really want. I have been waiting a long time for an armor like this that looks more 'wild' and less 'sophisticated' or 'pretty'. Seems like I am going to have to level machinist for it though, a class I was not planning on leveling. Does anyone know if these are going to be job specific?

Is this top ten favorite or top ten worst? I assumed favorites but a lot of your entries make it sound like you dislike them. o_o;

I think you can only fly in Heavensward content. So the new zones, I think. I am speaking explicitly from an RP lore standpoint though. Many people are content to accept what they see in-game as something that is legitimately canon and to be taken at face value, and while I am not suggesting that it's impossible for that to be the case, I just personally didn't imagine it to be normal for chocobo to fly. And so I was wondering, out of the many people whom I assume own personal chocobo, how many of them will decide they can suddenly fly and be bringing that aspect into ARR area RP? Will many chocobo suddenly be seen flying around as though it were an unordinary sight? (You might be asking what the difference is between a flying chocobo in Ul'dah and Ishgard though honestly I guess it's just that I might see more leniency with the latter since it was never before encountered in standard areas). OH! Okay! I understand now. I won't rp my chocobo as being able to fly but I am totally okay with other people Rping that! I believe one should be able to RP out any mount they can obtain tbh. I could see myself Rping Ember as flying on a dragon to get to places though. She is not adept at teleporting so prefers physical transportation.

I think you can only fly in Heavensward content. So the new zones, I think. As for flying mounts, I don't like the chocobos much for flying. It is a little silly. But I will accept it as magic I guess. Chocobos could have a natural affinity with nature magic. .... I know. I am stretching. >_< Does anyone know if CE digital is still available? I really want the dragon but I'd take anything over a black chocobo....>_> Sorry black chocobo fans...

I have been looking for help on this subject. Ember, as a character, is much less familiar with the idea of 'language.' Something that I have been wanting to put more often into her emotes is vocalizations and sounds, that aren't words. These sounds, while intending to be animal-like, are meant to communicate basic emotions: sadness, agreeance, disagreeance, happiness, approval, frustration, etc. a person can express these things through sound. They don't even need words. My only problem is that there aren't very many words to describe these sounds. I've tried googling several different words: vocalization, non-word vocals, onomatopoeia... But nothing I google seems to help me out. Here is a small list of words I have gathered so far, to help you know what I am talking about: So, yeah, not that many words. Does anyone else have any similar words that they could add? Or any lists that could help me out? A friend managed to link me this one http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animal_sounds It has been helpful but I am looking for more.

When I write my posts, I always measure my words as best as I can. Some of my longer posts can take up to an hour just to write. An hour to write a single post. I have believed for a long time that in the absence of tone, word choice is extremely important when communicating over the Internet. I am not sure if you are specifically talking to me with this post, but I feel that my post, as well as other posts agreeing with me have been fair and neutral. I certainly don't believe that choosing to roleplay a character that is specific to any one area is a 'wrong choice.' I support different roleplaying styles and feel that the community has much to gain from diversity. I do think that certain concepts can be more difficult to RP than others and because of that I do often choose character roles that I personally find to be easier. Different RPers are better in certain areas than I am. I can accept that I am not as good with 'local' characters as other people are.

I came in here to say exactly this. I'm a little confused on why people wouldn't think Eternal Bond is marriage. SE straight up said that they were adding in a wedding system but then double backed and insisted it wasn't a wedding. (Painfully obviously to not offend folks who stand by old fashioned 'traditions.') I guess people might get the idea that it might not be a wedding due to SE's statements on it/the fact that a moogle says s/he doesn't have any real authority. However, I truly believe 100% these statements were meant to be appease those who are anti-gay marriage. As for name changing, I believe that roegadyns at least are patriarchal. I don't think there is much evidence either way for the other races but I admittedly have not looked much into it. I feel like players bring in what they are used to in regards to name changing. (IE: 80-90% of women changing their last name to their husband's irl) Though, if I had to make a guess, Eorzea probably is generally patriarchal. (FFXIV generally seems to want to have Eorzea be a more 'equal' world but without stepping over a few of the traditional gender norms that society has not yet abandoned.)

Going back to the original topic, yes it is common for tanks to be under geared, as well as any other class. My equipment is usually many levels underneath my own. Sounsyy pretty much already stated the reasons why in an earlier post. Updating equipment every five levels is really costly, especially for someone who doesn't actively go out and grind gil. I usually rely on dungeons drops to gear myself leveling up. This also means that it is harder to replace with gear off the market board. I've found that dungeon gear can still be better than here a few levels higher than it. I did level up marauder/warrior to 50. Although I did have a few bad groups, most of my runs have gone well enough.

I guess I get around it by NOT RPing those types of characters. I make my characters flexible so they can be in a variety of areas. Ember is technically a citizen of Thanalan but lives off the land. She goes to Shroud frequently for herbs and a greater abundance of food but also visits La Noscea because she loves beaches. Coerthas she doesn't go to but there isn't a lot of RP there anyway.

Freelance, you are amazing. I am so appreciative that you've supported this website for as long as you have and will continue to support it from behind the scenes. Without the RPC I very likely wouldn't have the RP friends that I do today. I always love reading your posts and you are a genuinely helpful individual. I hope we'll still see you around on the forums after you shift completely to technical support. Thanks for all your hard work! :love:

They should just stop with every new piece of content being quest gated. Finishing 2.55 isn't a problem just because of SoF but the entire quest line is exhausting. This is why leveling alts is such a nightmare. Having to do the msq again and unlock everything hidden behind a quest--it is too much. What they should do is split the msq into segments instead of one huge chain. People can skip segments at their own risk or use the in game synopsis.

Same. I am following 70-something people, all Balmung folks. Not seen any drama. I have one time seen people talk about RPC on tumblr and it was all reasonable feedback that one of the mods even responded to. I guess I am just not following the people doing this? I don't have any examples to go off here. I don't think we can forcibly remove someone from RPC for doing that on tumblr but I can at least agree that tumblr is a part of the Balmung community too, not just RPC. We gotta take care of our community and that's all I'm gonna say.

Yeah, that graphic exactly. I predict SE losing a lot of money out of this design decision. Accessible content=more money

It's 100% true. A dungeon and a trial required to complete the msq for Heavensward requires ilevel 90. I find it to be a bad choice but doubt SE will change it.

I like that song. Fite me. *slowly raises hand* So do I.

Also, lol, hi, that's me. I'm a monk. Not a very good monk but a monk requires a lot of positioning for maximum DPS. Some folks have been able to master this positioning, shifting ever so slightly to the left or right depending on what part of their rotation it is. I have not mastered those precise movements and find that when I need to flank or attack from behind, I need to move a touch more than a more skilled monk. I found during Steps of Faith that I pretty much could not find a spot to flank without getting foot crushed. So at least for monks and maybe dragoons that could be part of the reason why you see people getting killed by that.

I can see why someone who dungeons or raids regularly might be mad with the PUGs and frustrated with the nerf. However, Steps of Faith was not designed for raiders. It is story content and therefore should absolutely be casual content. I don't think it's unreasonable to want people to know what they're doing before the queue. It's just that when everyone has to do this trial in order to see the new content in Heavensward, you're going to get a lot of people who don't do dungeons, don't do raids, and don't know what the etiquette is. It's for this reason I am really glad that they nerfed Steps of Faith. It was a great trial in the sense that it provided a very epic finale. What isn't great about it is its requirement to see the new content. I find it to be a poor choice in general to require anything beyond being level 50 to enjoy the expansion. That is really the source of the frustration though and the reason behind the nerf. Everyone has to do it. No exceptions. So even if you don't give a damn about dungeons, you still have to do it if you want to access new crafting, new abilities, level 60, and new jobs.