Rhio

Not exactly. As far as new characters know, six years ago it became impossible to ignore the mess going on with the Empire. Five years ago the moon fell, and while we still don't know the scope of Bahamut's rage, it's safe to assume that it was a day of immense destruction. Houses were leveled, climates were changed, regions were destroyed, and a huge amount of the world was ripped apart in the blink of an eye. The impacts were large and far-reaching. However. After the end, while things got worse than they had been, they obviously were not unlivable. All three city-states yet stand. We've seen from official screenshots that settlements are all over, that people have expanded and built beyond the walls of Ul'dah and the spires of Limsa. For all the losses endured, life has gone on, albeit with the sense that what Bahamut wrought could happen again. So everything isn't crap. It's worse, but it's not bleak. Even if Eorzea did lose many of its adventurers on that day as far as the general population knows...

You can, but that brings up the question of why it is you're not using it in situations where it would be useful. This is a subject close to my heart, as given my choice of everything Rhio would be wielding a gun or dual-wielding swords. Or both. But those aren't in the game, so explanations have to exist for why she doesn't use these things. Generally, I think that guns are rare in Eorzea simply because the society as a whole does not have the ability to maintain them. Firearms are complicated devices, and even if you have one somehow, without the ability to get ammunition or powder it's not terribly useful. And short of the Barracudas, there's really no place which sells or maintains the weapons, leading you to a pistol that would have a very limited supply of ammunition (if any) and a distinct lack of options if it gets dirty or jammed or otherwise damaged. It certainly makes sense for your character to have a pistol, but it seems like something he'd be disinclined to fire.

I think that we all accept, however tacitly, that what's available in the game is the best possible approximation of a character's appearance, not an absolute rendering of what he or she looks like. Technically, someone else could make a character that looks exactly like Rhio in-game but doesn't really match what she's meant to look like in terms of character. She, Aysun, and Alothia all had the same hairstyle in game terms, but I'm relatively certain that all three would look different if the development team could individually model everyone's hair perfectly. Expecting other people to pick up on it before you've said anything is being hopelessly optimistic, but almost everyone seems to accept that we're dealing with the best approximation rather than a pixel-perfect reproduction.

Definitely. Rhio has plans... well, will have plans. Mal/Theo says hello as well, although she's even worse about posting on forums than I am. The beta is quite convincing.

The downside of reading through this thread, from my perspective, is that I think to myself "oh, I could write a column about this." Then I realized I already did. Generally speaking, for PvP to work as a fully proper mechanic, you have to either be willing to accept an outcome based on which character/class/whatever is better suited to PvP matches, or you have to go in with an expectation of one party or the other winning and then take actions to back it up. Neither one creates a very compelling game state. It's not that PvP can't work well as an addition to RP, merely that it generally doesn't. That being said, if there's a way to make it clear that your character is accomplished in PvP, it would make sense that you're a bit better in a duel against another player than someone who spends all of their time fighting monsters.

Solving this problem with multiple Tumblrs is like an alcoholic "solving" his drinking problem by expanding from beer to rum, whiskey, and wine.

Some of y'all know me, and some of y'all don't. Some of y'all might be with me, and... wait, that's not the intro I wanted. Trying again. For those of you who do know Rhio or me, usually both, no introduction is necessary. For those of you who don't, I'm Eliot, known in-game as Rhio. I've been around, but since my ability to maintain a presence on this forum is basically nil, with 2.0 and beta around the corner I'm trying to actually take an active role again. Most of the time I lurk without actively posting. The majority of my claim to fame, as it were, comes from the fact that I write about FFXIV and roleplaying for a living over at Massively. (I write about other things, but those aren't relevant here.) Depending on what you think of all that writing, this may or may not be a good thing. So, if we've met, hello again. If we haven't, hello for the first time.

Hope to see some folks there, possibly nursing the same grudge as everyone else.

I really should, but I'm terrible at keeping pretty much anything updated. I can keep turning in work on a regular basis and that's about it. Also I'd just wind up reblogging every cat gifset in existence, and no one really wants that.

Gamer Escape's stuff was also brilliant. I was lucky enough to run into their emissary, as it were, and it was a joy to finally meet him in person.

Getting in touch with Square is very, very difficult. I don't want to say a whole lot more than that.

But I really like voting!

*BOOM*

Bumping for the latest update, and my thanks to Asyria and Lunaticked for getting us to the point where this post at least contains enough information that people will not wonder "where do I get (Class X) in (City Y)?" I haven't had much time to play myself of late, plus I want to save myself to some extent for release, so even more thanks are due to my fellow roleplayers.

This statement is true for every game ever, whether or not there is any reason to expect Celes Chere. Celes would be unbalanced in a fighting game, however, as every match would result in an automatic win for her.

All advanced equipment currently seems to be crafted. Starter armor is available for sale. Repair NPCs are located in each city, usually near the market stalls, and they will give you the option of repairing your own equipment or having them repair your equipment. They can repair it to half durability, whereas your crafting can repair it fully. Be warned that the undergarments you wear require a new undergarment to replace it, as you cannot repair currently-equipped items.

Normally, when I cast an area-capable spell, there's a little button that appears saying "area of effect." Clicking it on means it's going to be an area cast, clicking it off makes it single-target. I've not cast offensive spells as a non-caster class, so there might be a trick to it I'm just not seeing.

Been using macros for switches since my brief time in the closed beta, and I can attest that they're a requirement of handling the interface. While there's a slight bit of lag here and there, it makes life so much easier. For that matter, the /eaction command is superior to the action menu in nearly every way. Fair warning, however: the number of lines for a macro tops off at 10, which can get a bit limiting as your ability selection broadens.

I will attempt to be more diligent with bumps! Also, help me, oh RPC! The more information we have here, the happier everyone is. Well, okay, mostly the happier I am so that we all know where to buy our equipment, but still.

Worked like a charm. Gavin has the right of it.

As do I. Windowed gaming is the bane of my existence. I really despise it, I dislike the fact that the only way I can get certain things done in FFXI is via windowing, and I really hated that STO had a nasty glitch that would occasionally leave you with a sticky "alt" key if you alt-tabbed out. (Alt-Enter would change to windowed mode, you see.) On the bright side, since I was windowed earlier tonight whilst cataloging the Gridania vendors, I can confirm that the windowed mode for XIV is not that bad. Fairly smooth and usable. I think I could get used to it.

Should work just fine, it's a documented function of the command. Typing /chatmode tell without specifying a name will just return the currently set chat mode.

This is not a problem. I mean, it is, but the game is designed to do this. It's not a bug. Windowed mode is your only real solution for it, I'm sorry to say.