Enzo

Hmm in regards to lala's mixing with other races. It could be because I am young, not really a child, but not an adult either. That it is kind of grey for me. I can see the struggle adults would have OOC and the mentality of not wanting to be courting a child. I have had people refuse to role play with me just for being a teenager even. So children makes it even worse. But I also feel that from a IC standpoint there is no problem. And for some really really heavy role players totally immersed in the lore, they can overlook these things. Although most people are not that heavy. I do believe it is mostly and mentality thing though. The idea of seeing lalafell as children and coupling that with the wrong idea that you would be dating a lalafell only for the reason that they physically look like children is what I think causes most of the fear. But I believe most roleplayers look for things more than just physical attraction, as role players tend to be even slightly more into the details of things. And from a role players perspective I don't really see any problem with people doing the unconventional, and normally expect them to have a deeper reason for why they choose to do things. Something I would suggest. To help you stray away from the mentality that all Lalafell are children, (Really while I can understand the basis, they seem far too exaggerated for me to consider them children) is to think of it in reference to other MMORPGs. When a person asks me "What is a lalafell?" I normally tell them it is this games version of a gnome or a hobbit. And that is often what I end up thinking of them as. I don't know anyone that has any problems with relationships with gnomes or hobbits. Heck Lalafell males even have the hilarious facial hair you might see on a gnome in WoW. It is simply because this is an asian game, asian developers tend to go for smoother more cuter visuals than its western counterparts. Which is just a cultural thing. To them they think nothing of it. It is just our culture that has such an overblown stigma. (I suppose you could consider Japan irresponsible if you really wanted to though) Another thing is that most people who play FFXIV are people who most of the time are at least minorly interested in Japanese culture, or the culture that is brought forth and presented in the game (Also a part of Japanese culture) and the traits above are stuff generally things that if people were against, they would not normally be playing an asian game. So that coupled with the fact this is subscription based and not filled with random people, leads me to believe we all have somewhat common interests in respect to the game and can get along with the game presented guidelines. So I can't change your all's minds if you are set on it. But I wouldn't have too much of a problem having my characters date lalafells. I am a bit biased because I am younger myself and it is less of an issue, I am fairly well versed in/and a follower of Japanese culture, and because I somewhat struggle to see them as children (Maybe because I am younger myself and the closer I have to come to comparing myself to their exaggerated ridiculousness/childishness, even if it was when I was younger, the more it makes my brain hurt.) That is just my two cents. Take it with a grain of salt.

Having done a fair share of IM Rp, MMORPG Roleplay, and Board Roleplay. The only thing I can think of really different is that Board Roleplay and sometimes IM roleplay can have you playing any types of characters but most commonly heroes or people important to the story. While in a MMORPG roleplay you are still important to your own story. But interactions between players and people you don't know kind of take the spot light. Therefore in order to be respectful to others players often take the role of an everyman/woman. I.E. Just an average person living in the world. The best thing you can do is is get accustomed to the lore the best you can, which is just a lot of reading and knowing where to read, and learning the basic rules of MMORPG roleplay. Then it is all up to you to design your characters backstory from there. I strongly suggest reading the roleplay handbook if you have not already. http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1770 Wiki's are also a good source of general information normally as well. http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIV https://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/ The way you use Wiki's is you search a specific key term you are looking for like "Miqo'te" or you go through the tabs and hotlinks (Normally blue letters you can click) like "Race's -> Miqo'te" to get where you are trying to go and they have quite the fair amount of information. Lastly when you are scrubbed up on your basic lore. Post your idea for your character in the rp discussion and see what they think. Everyone here is extremely helpful and love to get new players settled in. Just remember to not make your character a Mary Sue (Good at everything, with no challenges or faults) My suggestion for making a character is to identify specific traits about your character, then ask why those traits came to be. Come up with an explanation in your characters history that explains why he uses those traits now and why he is who he is. Like "Jimbob is smart" the reason: "Jimbob grew up in Limsa and frequented the Arcanists guild. Spending most of his evenings reading books or tomes which he borrowed and studying them extensively" If you want to get even more detailed you can further your questions by asking "Why did he spend so much time at the Arcanist's guild and not other places?" "Where did he even learn how to read?" "Why is Jimbob's family in Limsa and not a different city state?" and it makes a chain of backstory for your character to build off of. When it gets big enough all you will end up doing is filling in the blanks and you will have a fairly nice connected story. A good resource for this method of backstory writing is the 100 questions to ask your RP character. http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=2688 I would suggest copy pasting it into a microsoft word file or even a notepad file and taking the time to fill it out when you are fairly caught up on your lore. Lastly, when it comes to meeting people. Just ask. Wether it be in game or on the forums. As I said everyone is rather helpful and enjoy new roleplayers. If you explain your character and his roleplay style on the forums I am sure you will find some people that click and in game all it takes is sending a PM to someone you find interesting that you caught roleplaying, complement their roleplay style then say you would like to roleplay sometime together. Not EVERYONE will want to roleplay with you. Either because styles don't agree or because they can't think of a reason for your characters to hang out. But there is a lot of people on balmung and you will certainly find people if you keep trying.

YESSS!!!!!!!!!!!! The server is still open and I managed to not only make my character but two extra, (Standard Hyur guy one. And Standard Doman unisex named hyur girl 1 <- Figured I might try Au Ra when it comes out) So I won't ever have to do this. Ever. Again.

I have done very little Coil and don't really think it is neccesary unless you are trying to get much higher there in the Ilevel. Definitely something you should do later. But initially the best way I can think to get gear is to get Crystal tower, Sycrus Tower, and World of Darkness as soon as possible and get those spammed for gear the sooner you can get Poetics and Soldiery the better. Of course finish the main questline (something I have neglected) and such. But I am il89 (just need to run like one dungeon to be able to get enough soldiery to zenith my weapon and be able to run World of Darkness ) and I have not done a ton of dungeons and coil. Although I will admit dungeons are better for soldiery/poetic spamming. You just always wanna make sure you get your weekly gear from World of Darkness or whatever.

WOAH WAIT. Do you think the whole out of combat you can't die from falling will still apply?! Imagine how high off of something you could jump and come out unharmed. Honestly it's very likely you won't be able to jump off the floating islands anymore than you can jump off the "edge of the world" areas they have in many of the zones that creates the barriers around each zone. Aww now that I think about it that is probably true But I mean flying mounts allow you to get to places you could not normally get to, so it may lift the restrictions at that zone to some extent :3 What happens if you dismount in the middle of the air over one of the gaps?

Hoping the opening as soon as balmung starts will not be as small as I imagine it will be I didn't expect this opening to be literally like a minute. :< A minute where I was still on the refresh while the option was available. Any advice for a person living on central standard time? Wake up at 2:45 or 2:30 or something? When should I be trying to get in and how long will the opening be? (From experience)

Damn, didn't want to have to wake up at 2 hours from now But seems like I am going to have too... Q^Q I was able to see Balmung open at 1:03 but when I entered my name it was like "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" then closed my FFXIV

Make an alt With as standard of a name or (We know Au Ra can come from Doma) a japanese ish name this Maintenance. Then keep your starter vial of fantasia until the expansion comes out and switch that idle character to Au Ra

WOAH WAIT. Do you think the whole out of combat you can't die from falling will still apply?! Imagine how high off of something you could jump and come out unharmed.

What excuse will you players be making for your characters as to be able to go to these places? Will you even go to them IC? What do you think their importance will be for RP? and what do you think the rarity of flying mounts would be in Eorzea? Obviously we don't see them much now. They might possibly become more common if heavensward reveals a lore reason like increased trade with eorzea and the technological advancement that allows richer folks to get single person airships. But if they don't? I wonder what our explanations will have to be to attain them :3

Does it say the mounts are there and you just can't use them? Or are they simply not there? If they are simply not there then contact a GM. But if it says they are there but you can't use them yet. Maybe you need to be higher level or something?

The influx of Doman refugees and their wanting to make the Toll home and the size it is growing to is what made me wonder if the Toll would become a city state

I am a bit contested on how SE does their servers. On one hand, I have played a LOT of MMORPGs. And while I have fairly nice internet and a fairly nice computer, I have always encountered some problems or a slight lag when playing the game at times. But with FFXIV? I encounter flawless servers that would probably keep me on the game even if my internet went out or something. I don't know how they keep such good connection while other even bigger games fail to. On the other hand, I think possibly the reason their servers run so well for me is because of them brutally hammering down on these server restrictions when they really don't need to. Their servers seem beyond perfect to me from what I have seen and moving from "Beyond perfect" to "Perfect" seems like a pretty nice trade off if it allows us to actually make new characters with who we want. I agree with freelance in that starter zones are no longer an issue. And people rather quickly migrate away from them even now so that should not be their excuse. I think the kick off after a certain amount of time should be reinstated. Like 15 or 30 minutes if they are totally idle. I feel like I heard some complaints that servers were not as good when that was implemented before. But I think it was more server infrastructure that was lacking than it was the feature itself. I really don't see why they shouldn't have this feature when it works fine for every other MMORPG out there. It would really get rid of people just taking of space. Then the second problem is that of Bots. I have encountered games with varying levels of bot control. And admittedly I do not see bots very often on FFXIV. But I have heard lots of stories regarding bots to the point where I can imagine they are an issue. So that is something SE needs to solve. Lastly I think they just need to upgrade their servers generally. I don't really know why they can't do this. Yeah it would cost money but they have a lot of players and wouldn't the gain in profits from allowing people to play with their friends make it all worth it in the end? I am no accountant. And I am sure there is a lot more in play here. But it is still making somewhat of a miserable situation for me as I don't have the money to transfer but want to make my new character on balmung. I am not getting up crazy early to meet ques or anything. But I naturally wake up at 6 am every day CST and have checked to see every server open except for Balmung. I have not been trying for very long (Since saturday) But I don't want to imagine becoming one of the horror stories of weeks and weeks without being able to get onto the server I want to play I still don't really understand why Gilgamesh can be open, with a population 9/8ths bigger than Balmung and Balmung remain closed...

Why does Gilgamesh open faster than Balmung when Gilgamesh is significantly bigger than Balmung?...

Normally I pick a class for what weapons it has available and what clothes it has available. What can I see my character defending themselves with? A sword? a Spear? A bow? Whatever that may be. That is normally the class I will pick. If my character is a big book worm and I don't even use weapons. I may go Arcanist just to get the book to read. I don't have to know magic. It is just an nice IC tool. I got whatever class fits with how my character would be in the world. Of course, don't forget that you can change your class at anytime. You can be able to use swords and bows at the same time. Not like you can only know one and have no clue about the other. A class can be a good basis lore wise. But does not strictly make itself something to be followed. I know people who have played other classes from final fantasy games as well, such as pretending to be a blue/red mage. There is no actual class for that in the game. But they believed that is how their character would be and made their character fit those roles (They did not use the names though. Just played like one) One of my characters is a Novelist, the other is a Explorer. Those are not classes . But I just make do with what the game gives me to make them like a novelist and explorer.

Can my character Xefjord Kiromeda get an invite? He is not my roleplay character, but is the only character I can play on Balmung until I can get my Roleplay Character made. Then I kick Xefjord out and put my actual role play character in. I still want to make connections though.

Well if it is taking in lots of new people, then eventually it will have to create some form of government to keep things civil. Because a camp filled with refugees and adventurers of large amounts may be in some trouble if there is a quarrel and no governance to handle it.

I made adjustments to the Lances article. Thank you for the information. I was not the one who wrote the article on Bows and Arrows, but I will review the issue in question. Edit: Bodkin arrows can penetrate armor. Most effectively chain mail and below. But while being able to do damage to plate armor, it is unlikely to do serious harm unless within a very close range NORMALLY. I think that is what the writer of the Bows and Arrows section was inferring.

With the rate it is growing it seems like it very well could be. Just my speculation. But is it something that could possibly happen after it gets big enough?

My character is a traveling Miqo'te whose first role play stop will probably be Gridania. Like you I have not made my character yet. But am willing to roleplay with you whenever we both get our characters made, even if you are not in Gridania (Travelers can go anywhere :3) Sadly I won't be tribal if that is what you were wanting.

The Role play Handbook and our wiki is a good guide. Any questions about lore can be asked in RP discussion and if you want to find people to tie your character in with from the get go (as opposed to being stuck in a everyone is a total stranger) situation, then you can go to the making connections thread. I am not new the the community but when I was there was a lot of supportive and enthusiastic role players in the community. That number has only grown. I am sure you can pm most people here and they will help you with anything you need (Even me.)

Hello! Welcome to the community. It is good to get a few levels on your character as that allows more clothing for your character to wear during role play. You also can't go from city to city very easily until level 15. When it comes to your hang ups? i would suggest reading The Role-Playing handbook here on the forums. More specifically its "The Lore, How to use it" It should give a pretty basic idea. There is not too many different speech mannerisms beyond lengths of time and space (Hours are bells, Days are Suns, then I think yalms is feet? (Or is that fulm? Q_Q) Not everyone knows these perfectly. But you can cross reference on the guide on the handbook. For your meeting new people situation I think it helps to communicate OOC with people and I am sure they're plenty of people assertive enough to take the lead and try to get you OUT of that new people zone. By introducing you to their friends for you, if you do anything -interesting- the word can spread about you or if you are some kind of craftsmen or salesman. Although there is a certain level of newbie ness you can't help. So I would just inform the role players you are interacting with that this is a problem you have and to please bear with you/help you out during role play, most players have no quarrels helping a newbie role player. The most surefire way I can think of getting out of newbie status with everyone is by making relations on the forums here and connecting your characters back story to other people or even getting involved in their plots. It can be something as insignificant as a guy they met while traveling to something as close as a sister/brother, childhood friend, ect. But that is not for everyone (For an example. I am an unreliable person filling character roles. So I just make my own unincluded back stories.) But the closer you make your character to someone elses, the easier it is to jump straight into none introductory role play. That is what the Making Connections thread on the forums is for (And for making present day connections when looking for a certain job role filled or just trying to meet people) When I get back into the game I will start role playing a fairly social traveler and can help you get into role play if you want and meet some people.

Fixed I suppose. I used the third from the top post (The next one I had authority over) to add the continuation. Slight gap. But so long as it is all on the first page Well I finished finally! I greatly appreciate all the help and support you guys have given. I hope this can be a good resource to the role play community.

WOW lol. I ran out of room to put Fist weapons Is there any way I can make the next post an extension of it?

It is not unbelievable to be able to use two weapons you know. You could always carry your daggers on your hips and your sword on your back :3 Switch between the two as needed. It is cool that you have implemented magic into your fighting with the daggers. I am not sure how sharp you could get ice (You could definitely get it pointy) but it could work effectively as a blunt weapon or a chill out stick (Get what I did there?)