Eva

:offtopic: Hurray for January 20th birthdays!!! (is also Eva's and mine, and makes it easy to remember/maintain ages and things) :ontopic: Now that I think about this, our company held a night of remembrance on the one-year anniversary of the night the game went down, which we treated as a "six-year-since-the-calamity" event. I don't think we held any expectation that every other RPer regard it similarly, but it's pretty tricky not to acknowledge the natural passage of time. :semi-offtopic: I will admit that this is also one reason why I seldom participate in forum RP. Causality and events happening either in-game or in the forum thread having consequences which may impact RP in the other medium seems like it could lend itself to a lot of confusion and this is just my own way of sidestepping that particular obstacle. I do enjoy reading the story threads and community forum RP posts though.

It seems like this thread has run a couple different avenues, and I think the discussions so far have been pretty interesting. Here's my contribution: To the OP I'll just echo what others have said, and that is basically just to RP what you want and what you're comfortable with. To me it doesn't seem extreme. My own character doesn't stick like glue to the actual game lore surrounding the classes/jobs, and her father was a seasoned dragoon who had pretty ill regard for the Wood Wailers and "lancers" of Gridania. There are enough RPers about that you will find a group comfortable with your level of adherence or deviation to/from the specific lore. And your explanation about being a non-tribal miqo'te who was adopted seems perfectly acceptable to me. I know of other miqo'te who have done similar things, or who have just walked away from that lifestyle. Eorzea is quite the melting pot, and I don't think anyone really needs to feel pigeonholed by racial/clan lore tidbits. Regarding the jobs/classes, I see no reason why someone can be a bard and not an archer, or vice versa. Strict adherers to the lore might disagree, but there are various types of musical instruments available and it seems to me that archery skills and an ability to sing or play an instrument are entirely independent of one another for all intents and purposes. I'm going to refrain from commenting much with regard to the White Mage storyline. As a character who is a white mage in all but name (if we have to pin down one of the specific given jobs), it seems too slippery a slope what with the given lore and I generally dance around certain aspects of Eva's background with healing magic. It doesn't help that we had different spells and different story quests in 1.0 and with ARR they pulled the floor out from beneath [many of] us. Pertaining to multiple disciplines, I see nothing wrong with this. I also rather like it when folks come up with creative alternatives to the jobs/classes listed for the sake of RP. I've known characters who considered themselves engineers or architects, or various other jobs apart from the handful we're given. Not to say there's anything wrong with a character who does fit one of these molds. Someone needs to do it. But multiple disciplines seems all right to me. And even more "grounded in reality" might be how these progress and change over time. Eva began as a weaver, learning slowly over a long span of time until she was something of a master at the craft. This since became more of a hobby as Dalamud grew closer and she realized she might be called upon to defend people. Much newer to her is practice with pikemanship. From birth she also possessed an innate talent at healing which she let go at a young age (for reasons) and only recently picked back up again. So she volunteers sometimes as a nurse. She's not a conjurer though, and only knows a little of conjury. In fact it may be fair to say she's more like Sylphie from the CJR storyline - carrying with it similar disadvantages and limitations. So she has experience, and perhaps even some level of expertise with three separate disciplines (and she's dabbled a bit with others as well), but I wouldn't think it's fair to say she excels at any of the game-specific jobs except for maybe weaving. Where Eva usually tends to shine more often is as a counselor, or advisor, and as a priestess. It has been an unusual progression for sure. But it seems to me that any character who is X job and sometimes Y job with Z craft skills is kind of two-dimensional to me, and somewhat boilerplate. I like characters who are maybe good or excel at one or two areas, and falter or are lousy at something else, but maybe that inexperience or failure in turn provides determination, or a passion for something like that turns them away from their area of expertise so that they can improve at another area they're more passionate about. Stuff like that, to me, is real. It's human, and it feels like more honest RP when I can see a character not just as the chosen job, but as a compilation of thoughts and feelings and motivations and flaws. TL;DR: Play how you want and just make sure you enjoy it!

Ha!! I was like, "that thread title looks familiar!" Welcome back! :thumbsup:

I treat a RL day as a game day. As the character has been keeping a journal over the past several years it's interesting to go back and look at her changes over time. I have disregarded them saying that 1.0 took place inside the span of a year (largely due to the fact that 1.0 encompassed two years worth of changes and personal growth and compressing that simply doesn't feel realistic). Eva is 34 years old biologically (but would be 38 based on the time skip since she was at Carteneau Flats on D-Day [Dalamud Day]). She added a year to her age since she feels like she missed her nameday (disappeared in autumn, returned in summer). RPing namedays is a lot of fun. Though for Eva it usually boils down to not telling anyone she's a year older and just lamenting about it in her journals and hoping that nobody finds out. But yes, absolutely... this character has grown in age and evolved gradually and appropriately over the past several years since 1.0 launch, and it has been a lot of fun!!

"Whoa Martus, check out the tits on this one!" The wiry miqo'te elbowed his mismatched friend in the ribs playfully as he whispered the words. Martus, a bearded highlander who easily stood head and shoulders above the red-headed Seeker, fumbled the chisel he held in one hand but his eyes looked up from the block of stone and fell upon the customer's midsection, ogling her curves a moment before turning back to the miqo'te and waving his hammer menacingly. "It's no wonder you're in trouble with that lady of yours all the time with those roaming eyes Puzh. Go make yourself useful and fetch me a slab of granite." Scoffing, Puzh finally broke his gaze away from the elezen customer's chest, eyeing Martus for a moment before huffing quietly and disappearing through a doorway. The gray-haired highlander cast the woman a second glance. She was dressed more modestly than most - particularly for it being in the midst of summer in one of the hottest places in Eorzea. Lavender sleeves concealed most of her arms, and a black pair of cropped pants halted just below her knees, but her expansive bosom was only partly concealed by the loose-fitting cotton shirt she wore. Her skin was pale gray, and blonde hair pulled back into a tidy ponytail. Small beads of sweat upon her brow affirmed his belief. The customer's eyes - a pair of circular amethysts - lifted from the monuments and statues she had been observing since her arrival in the shop. Her face turned towards the workbench, revealing a dark tattoo that resembled a gnarled branch. Martus quickly blinked and returned his focus to gently tapping hammer to chisel upon the block of stone set before him. He had heard that the duskwight were keen of hearing, and realized she was probably insulted by his companion's brusque choice words. Wiping her forehead with the back of her arm, she adjusted her garment a bit in the front, her lips parting a bit, "Excuse me sir, can you help me?" The woman's voice was soft and gave no indication of annoyance. He peered back at her from behind his stone block - this time at her face. He stammered for a moment, but was cut off before he could respond. "Welcome to Quillpoint Stonecuttery! I'm Ravia Quillpoint! I own this establishment, as you might figure." Martus breathed a sigh of apparent relief and returned to his sculpting as the raven-haired hyur bounded through the doorway. Her eyes also fell on the elezen's chest for a fraction of a moment before meeting her gaze, "What can I help you with today ma'am?" The duskwight customer met the woman's well-practiced merchant's grin with a relieved smile of her own, reaching out to meet her handshake, "My name is Eva. I'm from Gridania. I need a monument - something like you might find in a lichyard. A memorial." The midlander woman hummed, fingertips reaching to her chin as she looked the elezen woman over consideringly, "I'm terribly sorry for your loss, Miss Eva. We can certainly fashion something like that, but delivery to Gridania will be extra. Obviously you're aware that stone is heavy and difficult to transport throughout Thanalan." The negotiating game. Always this way with folks from Ul'dah. As if the heat itself wasn't bad enough, and being forced into lesser garments, and dealing with the boorish remarks that in turn elicited. The elezen smiled, eyeing the door a moment as if considering walking out, "Stone is heavy, really?" She folded her arms beneath her breasts, looking down slightly at the hyur woman's face which cringed only slightly at the realization her words had been taken for an insult. "Perhaps I'll find someone in Gridania with whom to do business. I came here on a recommendation because I heard you were the best, and that is what this monument demands." Pausing a moment, Eva lowered her arms. "My intention of course was to compensate you adequately for your efforts, including delivery from Ul'dah to Lavender Beds in the Twelveswood." The hyur woman, having smoothed the ridges on her forehead, smiled back at her and gave a nod, "You have heard correctly. We pride ourselves on our quality of craftsmanship. I simply wanted to make you aware that our customers are usually nearby, because of the high delivery costs. We will be glad to fashion your monument and see it safely brought to your home in the Twelveswood. Ah, what did you want the design to be." Eva smiled back at her, "Dark stone. Upon a pedestal. A masculine, bearded elezen man. Several wolves at his feet, as if awaiting his command." "Easily doable. It will be extra for the wolves." Of course it would.... The store owner continued, "Did you want some sort of engraving on the base?" The flaxen-haired duskwight chewed her bottom lip a moment and nodded to her, "Aye. Given name: O-S-K-A-R. Surname: H-E-L-V-I-G. Beloved leader, mentor, companion, and father."

We aren't always on-site, but we do use the place as a kind of hangout, and often train on the side yard. (Lavender Beds, Ward 1, Plot 15 - if you're ever interested or bored and want to see what we're up to). It's a small property (which we prefer) with individual rooms set up for those of the members who wished to sign up for that perk. The upstairs is set up like a lounge and the downstairs is a meeting room and office. As a mercenary group, one of the facets is recruitment, so we're not turning folks away who are looking for honest work and stuff and "drive-bys" would seem natural. We get some non-RPers coming around just wanting to see the layout or whatever. But we have some members who have friends in other companies who visit. And it would make sense for prospective mercs to stop by to inquire (we did charity work before this and sort of earned a reputation ICly that way). That said, if folks from other companies had work for us, we're available in that capacity as well. In either case, the building is open to any who would want to take advantage of those services we offer. I envision most FC's with any sort of mission statement (e.g. not some kind of insular club or whatever) work in a similar fashion where prospective members and customers are welcome and encouraged. The only thing that might ICly get you a hand slap (along with an OOC /tell explaining that it's only IC possibly!!) would be if you went downstairs to the meeting room or office, since that's usually reserved for company business. TL;DR: Yes, we like visitors!!!!

Most have you apply on a site because the site is mandatory/strongly encouraged because it's useful, if not necessary, for relaying information about events, character biographies, or even just chatting and getting to know your FC-mates. There's only so much information that can be posted and relayed in-game with the FC message having a short character limit and some people still not even bothering to look/read it. Also, most applications are OOC so having a Wiki profile doesn't help much! I agree with this! It's a pretty important medium to convey news, open discussions, and has a lot of benefits. To expand just a little on what Faye has said - and what I have done because I share your concerns about the email clutter - is you might create a separate email account for your character. It seems a little silly, but it has been especially helpful for us, and allows us to effectively compartmentalize things. Anything pertaining to our characters/game (including forum sign-up stuff, the RPC, art commissions, etc.) is all routed to that email address and it has made the "real life" email (which still gets more cluttered than I would like) a bit cleaner and easier to manage. Maybe setting up something like this may help.

I tend not to view this process as a waste of time, and a large part of my character's backstory revolves around how she didn't fit into a number of groups before finding a couple that she did - which in turn changed her in very profound ways. This being said, I do sympathize with that mentality of just wanting to get to the 'destination' without the frustration and effort of the journey. Everyone wants to find their niche and it isn't always easy. FC's have ongoing storylines and when I stop and think about our own I realize that it keeps me busy to the point where I often don't get to RP with folks outside the group as much as I would like (and will be more proactive in "branching out" in the weeks/months to come as well because as much as I love our FC members, I know there are a lot of awesome RPers out there beyond our own borders). I would suggest learning a bit more about the few that seem most interesting to you (which makes me also very much aware that our own Crystalline page here needs a major overhaul since we are very out-of-date), and then hang around with some of their members. It has been said - and I agree - that most FC's are very accommodating. We like when people visit our grounds in Lavender Beds (OOCly anyway, some of our members are ICly a little standoffish/paranoid, but we're mercs and many of us legitimately have chips on our shoulders) and we want to make sure members are a good fit for us as well. Even if you land yourself in a company that seems ideal at first but turns out not to be what you expected, you can still RP that mismatch as being illuminating for the character, and just another stepping stone along the broken road that takes him or her to wherever he or she is headed. There is the fact that you will have to be somewhat proactive to do this - which sometimes doesn't favor those who are on the shy end of the spectrum - but I have seen this proactivity rewarded on many occasions. Most FC's are relatively stationary and respond when interested parties come to them to join. One of our officers was holding a regular recruitment event (usually in Ul'dah outside of the Adventurer's Guild) which had mixed results, but offered an avenue for some RP with freelancers and those from other companies. I'll probably speak with her soon to see about resurrecting this practice, since it was a lot of fun and sent some of us out of our own comfort zone.

FWIW, when I do use dice (not always) it is meant as a supplement to what I think amounts to common sense. Character traits, specialization, environmental conditions, and all the other factors that come into play that offer advantages or disadvantages to either combatant then serve to weight these dice rolls accordingly. I also use the d20 spectrum to determine the severity. Like in low light I might give Eva as a duskwight a slight advantage for night vision and hearing. Or after a particularly brutal attack I might weight my next counter negatively (e.g. need a 16 or higher for it to appear to be a success rather than an 8 or higher). I use the dice, but I don't rely upon them. I let them be a guideline for me to introduce a random element to what would otherwise feel - to me - to be a scripted fight scene.

This - a thousand times over! We RP in a merc guild and training is one element of that. This may vary widely from group to group though, and I have known in my experiences RPers who would get very butthurt if their characters lost bouts. While I understand where some characters might go out of their way to avoid this style of RP, there is a lot of good that can potentially stem forth from it. I can firmly say that Eva would not be the character that she is if not for certain spars/fights that have transpired over her time and the RP that came afterwards. One thing some of us remember fondly is when she somehow managed to topple the leader of a previous company to which she had belonged (we can safely call it a bit of a fluke) and the rather unusual RP that eventually followed as a result. Like most things though, YMMV and everyone RP's differently and has elements that they like or dislike more than others.

I don't like getting mired in rolls and having to rely heavily on other websites and such. This seems fine for some media, but for MMO where I prefer action-based RP to move at a quick pace I would much rather cut through any and all minutia. The old addage 'better to ask forgiveness than permission' usually applies, and I'm happy to explain my reasoning if anything seemed excessive or whatever after the fact, but not during the RP itself unless it is of major concern to someone (to date I don't think it's been an issue, but Eva as a fighter isn't much of a powerhouse anyway). That said, I keep a d20 near my keyboard to serve as a guideline. I have used rolz.org on occasion as well just for when others wanted to see how I was doing things during a spar. But I prefer to structure things on a sort of turn-based system. And I only focus on my character and how she reacts. Unless my character is somehow taking initiative and attacking first (the RP itself often dictates this for me) than I roll twice - the first a "reaction" to the previous emote. The second is a sort of counterattack. Back when /random in 1.0 was a thing (I miss that so much) I would just use that instead of the d20. I also weight the die rolls based on the character's natural strengths/weaknesses as well as factoring in the opponent and any environmental variables. I'm always happy to share these numbers. For Eva, her defensive rating runs a bit higher since she's pretty overly cautious about things and quite nimble, and her offensive rating runs lower, since she lacks physical strength. I don't care how my character's opponent(s) determine their emotes. This is important to me. When I start getting bogged down in the math or seeing things as numbers, I totally lose the sense of immersion. In my mind I'd rather see a brute highlander bearing down on a buxom elezen and envision her leaping to one side to avoid the attack rather than getting mired down in how these things came to be. It's more important to me to visualize the actions rather than understand the reasons. Flukes happen. Luck is a thing. Except in really excessive situations I don't question when a sparring opponent is fighting flawlessly. Eva loses more than she wins. Ben wins more than he loses. Both win some and lose some though, but it's more important to me to convey the actions quickly but descriptively and keep the pace of the spar moving. Nothing annoys me more than when things get held up to question a dice roll, or the action is paused to have a conversation about why something happened. I don't mind quick little back-and-forths in /tells that take place behind the scenes (stuff a passer-by would never see), so long as the pace of the fight keeps moving. We used to spar a lot more in Everwatch in 1.0 but we've had a few in ARR in Crystalline (and will totally be scheduling some more) and they're a lot of fun when everyone's on the same page with things and when you know the people you're sparring with could even let go dice and just sort of wing it freestyle if they wanted. I do like the dice rolls for myself because they do make that 'random element' a bit more apparent. And just to give a quick example of how I might do a thing I'll set up a little scene between my two characters: Ben rolls (1d20): 14, 3 Emote: Blynbhar thrusts forward with his wooden practice axe, easily parrying off the blonde elezen's strike. Quickly drawing back there is an unnaturally awkward pause as he advances again, swinging the weapon laterally but a bit unsteadily. Eva rolls: 1, 19 Emote: Eva notes the falter and takes a step to one side in an effort to avoid the attack entirely. Her foot lands oddly, however, and she stumbles forward, the wooden weapon crashing violently into the breastplate of her armor, knocking her down backwards and off her feet. With uncanny agility though, she rolls to one side on the ground, thrusting directly at Blynbhar's midsection with her practice lance. The first roll is a reaction and the second is an attack, and I try to incorporate both in each emote. And of course I weight things. In the latter example, the defensive roll is low and she got knocked down, but the offensive roll was high, so the counterattack from the ground might still hit the mark, depending on how Ben wants to play it. And of course I think it's important never to actually emote a "hit" unless you are really comfortable with the person with whom you are sparring/fighting. I wouldn't mind if most of my friends that do the dice thing rolled a 20 and punched Eva in the face wanted to emote it so long as there was still room for some sort of a recovery. More important than anything else for me though is that a) the action is realistic and doesn't feel "manufactured" as turn-based combat sometimes feels (which is why I like lumping both the reaction and counter in one emote), and b) the action moves along swiftly. Sorry if this got a bit longwinded, but sparring is fun!! :love:

There was a post awhile back that adventurers are generally heartier and do not suffering the aetherial sickness that a commoner might, which is why most NPC's stay "close to home". I think certain restrictions being imposed during certain sorts of events seem reasonable to prevent godmode, but I also feel that it's an element of the universe of Final Fantasy XIV and shouldn't be forsaken just because of the possibility for abuse. In past RP I have suggested that it requires a certain amount of focus, and even once suffered a condition where one of my characters was unable to teleport due to this lack of focus, being unable to recall being attuned to aetheryte, or other aetherial sorts of blocks that made things a bit interesting. It's easy to have events where a DM-type-person says, "you can't teleport" for whatever reason - aetherial disturbances, whatever. I think most RPers wouldn't abuse it, and sort of self-impose these blocks in order to facilitate more interesting storylines. But like things like magic, abilities, etc. - players are going to vary in opinion with what is acceptable and what is not.

I'm sort of the opposite, only with celery. I hate raw celery to the point that just the smell of it induces my gag reflex. But if it's boiled (in soups mostly) I don't mind it so much. I used to hate green bell peppers raw as well, but my taste buds fairly recently changed and I don't mind them as much (but if I'm ordering a Subway I'll still ask them to hold off the bell peppers). I love the banana peppers and jalapeños though, and pretty much always have, so go figure. Onto other random food factoids, my all-time favorite food is probably baked cheese ravioli. :thumbsup:

I really dislike "alignment" in RP settings not only because it slaps a label or tries to pigeonhole characters in various ways, but also because more dynamic characters can change over time. When I do use them, I tend to think of the two-axis D&D system, but rather than 3 hard categories for each forming a tidy tic-tac-toe board, I look upon each axis more as a spectrum upon which characters my fall where they will, and migrate over time as events transpire which may help define or shape them. It's easier for me to define characters by their deeds and the psychology that exists behind them - what motivates them, and why. This isn't always a clear-cut "good vs. evil" or "order vs. chaos", etc. It may bear mention that "good" and "evil" mean different things to different people (e.g. different characters are generally going to view their deeds as serving some good, yet still may often be in opposition with one another). TL;DR: Alignment labels/metrics bug me.

I only have 9 toenails. (but I was born with 10) True story. :surprise:

From what I have seen there are a variety of thoughts on this matter, and the rigidity of that line that exists between IC and OOC. Two - in particular - seem to stand out being more regarded than most, and neither is exactly invalid. For myself I try to keep IC and OOC completely apart. If Eva or Ben has a bad day it doesn't mandate that I be upset in "teh meatspace" or any other such thing. I'm invested in the characters only so far as their stories go and that's really about it. I've jibed that I sometimes view them as I might children, but it really is much different than that, and I'm not going to OOCly get upset if someone picks on my character or whatever. The other school of thought seems to suggest that player become more integrated with their character and feel as they feel. While there's really nothing wrong with this, and I will admit at times to having come down from time to time with a severe case of "the feelz" at particularly dramatic moments in the game, it has never really asserted itself after I log out. I ponder or speculate and such, but I have known of RPers that do seem to invest their own emotions into what happens to their character and I've seen this lead to some pretty awful stuff in a few cases. So I guess for my part, some allowance to more completely experience and understand a character's emotions and motivations and thought process might not be such a bad thing. Stress comes in a variety of forms and those who manage guilds are apt to feel a certain amount of this no matter what - so I wouldn't dream of saying that if the game is causing stress you should log out or such. There are absolutely rewards - and good RP experiences is one valuable take-away that is worth whatever aggravation may come for me every single time. But I think if you're so over-invested in your character that any sort of negative things that happen to him or her are negatively impacting your life as a player than I think it's time to take a step back and evaluate your level of bleed-through, whether you're taking things personally that you shouldn't be, and possibly whether you are in the right guild or not. For our own guild, we prefer to experience the full spectrum of grittiness that Eorzea offers including some more mature topics like death, loss, and various other tragedies. This isn't to say that there aren't lighthearted moments as well, but I have known some RPers that only want to be the heroes of all the stories and who always have to be saving the day and such. Again, there is nothing wrong with this, but these types often don't fit in with us because they can be perceived as being somewhat Mary Sue. This is the reason that a variety of different types of RP guilds exist. Some favor that sort of always-lighthearted "cake and frosting" style RP and others want to cut right into the meat of things. That got a little longwinded. lol For the rest of it though, where RL thought processes might permeate the IC/OOC divide, it happens sometimes, and the best we can do is look for some sort of IC reason/excuse for it. I see it often when folks want to "ship" two characters, but often the reason is as simple as the character wants to see the other two characters together as well. I sometimes go in with a sort of OOC plan of what might happen on any given evening, and often when I log out I'm left thinking, "Well that totally went a different way than I expected." I just don't think that's a bad thing - particularly in Eva's case as she is more prone to get swept along with things than Ben who is more steadfast and set in his ways.

Eva's voice is too soft for singing very effectively, but she did take several years of lessons with the concert-style harp (the big one, not the handheld kind) and is quite skilled. Though has no aspirations to ever really perform publicly, she finds the activity relaxing and generally only plays when she's alone. We had to get a harp for our FC house for this reason, but to date nobody's really commented on it apart from it being a sort of oddity in the office. She's only dabbled a little bit with the more portable variety of handheld harp, however she doesn't like them and isn't as skilled since she never took lessons or learned. This is the only instrument she knows how to play. A friend's brother actually drew a picture for us of Eva playing her harp, pre-Calamity: Ben has no interest in musical instruments of any variety, or singing, or general merriment of any sort really. He's kind of a stick in the mud like that.

I think it's interesting that a lot favor DPS. And having done a lot of dungeons as both WHM and as DRG I feel like I should be surprised when I receive them on DRG, but it's honestly been pretty consistent across the board. I think a lot of folks assume tanks and healers get them all and I don't think this is the case - though I seldom tank. To throw one more thing out there, it is a minor pet-peeve of mine when there's a run going south and I pull out some epic awesome and somehow keep the run afloat and I'm thinking to myself, "Oh I'm going to get mad commendations after this," and then after the run is over... nothing. Also a bit of an addendum - when doing the CM or Prae runs for Storyline Roulettes as WHM I almost always give my commendation to the other healer, so long as they're doing a decent job. My other pet-peeve is when I get lumped in with another WHM (wat no sch available??) and we're just tripping over each other on buffs and cures and such. Since those runs really only require one mildly competent healer, I often change stance and nuke. If I see the other healer throwing a lot of nukes and party HP dropping, I figure they came in thinking the same thing and I resort to heals and let them be the pseudo-blm. In either case, if I feel we're working well enough in tandem and nobody pulls some super-epic stuff or is otherwise amazingly awesome, I'll give my commendation to the other healer. For the 8-man Trials this is not always the case though. (I do agree that it would be cool if we could give multiple commendations because there are some groups that just have good synergy and it sometimes sucks that you can only give one out. I have [seldomly] withheld commendations entirely when a party sucked or was ill-tempered, and wish I could store that one for later use. lol)

Fantasia is a super slippery slope for RP. I generally kind of don't really acknowledge it ICly either. I'm fortunate I think in that nobody that I RP with on an ongoing basis has utilized it at all (but we are mostly like-minded folk anyway) because it's just.... weird. I suppose if one utilize it I wouldn't have a major problem trying to RP through it, but if I were going to use it myself (and I have considered it), it would be after IC killing the character off and starting anew, but maintaining all that OOC progression stuff. I know someone that did something like this, in fact. What I think would bother me would be if someone who was, say, Elezen used a Fantasia potion to become a Miqo'te and then dubbed themself a nuhn and went on to change their entire backstory (I don't mean fabricating one for him- or herself but actually retconning). This - to me - kind of spits in the face of any and all RP that happened between me and the elezen. Did it never happen? Are we not friends? Do I even know you anymore?! I think it should be regarded as being extremely rare, and I think in certain situations its use can be seen as creative, so long as it doesn't carry with it any sort of retcons or nullify previous RP. An old female friend who is now suddenly an attractive roegadyn male could certainly create some awkwardness in an RP setting, and some fun problems to try and work through. But honestly my own preference is that I'd rather just sidestep the entire issue if at all possible. And for myself, if I ever use a Fantasia it will come with a name change and we'll be creating a brand new character (but we've kinda grown to like Eva and Ben so that may well never happen).

I've been dragging my feet on this for probably well over a year now. I keep going back to: "if someone wants to know more about my character they should try to seek me out for some RP and not peruse a page filled with spoilers" so in some ways I favor keeping it kind of minimalist. There's a lot of spoilers and other stuff besides. That said, I think I'm probably going to cave and overhaul my wiki page soon anyway.

I loooove it when tanks mark the mobs. In lower level dungeons in makes it easy for me as a healer to know which mobs I can Repose. And on DRG I hate not knowing if the mob I'm targeting has sufficient hate and all that. I don't tank very often but when I do I always try to do this as well, even though it slows me down a little bit. I don't get aggravated when DPS target the wrong things, but I also don't go out of my way to try and get hate back on mobs marked later in the sequence. I figure it's a kind of insurance policy and if they incur aggro and die it's on them. I can see instances where it's not necessary, mainly endgame situations where you have a brd and blm DPS just AoEing the crap out of everything. But this is one of those things I will absolutely give a commendation to a PLD who marks mobs so I'm not floundering about on DRG.

Definitely do not stress about this. If you are in a place where you are unsure whether or not you should be DPSing, you almost certainly should not be. With time and practice you'll find those gaps between spells where you can slip into Cleric Stance and do a little bit of damage to help speed things along. But this comes with practice, and you will be comfortable and know when you can do this and when you can't. If people hassle you about not helping with DPSing you might remind them that nobody can DPS at 0 hp. :thumbsup:

Just figured I'd start up another discussion by asking the simple question with perhaps a few follow-ups. What criteria do you follow when selecting to whom to give your commendation? Do you find yourself usually favoring tanks, healers, or DPS? Do you find yourself more critical of a particular role than others? Please explain/elaborate. For myself I'm not going to disclose everything because there are certain minor nuances that annoy me that are entirely independent of someone's skill level which may cause me to pass over them and select someone else for a commendation. But my general process is sort of like this: Positivity is important. I will usually write off anyone that says anything negative at all or sets demands/expectations in a pickup group. We all come into these things generally knowing how to perform our job. I look upon unsolicited advice as being rude. "Well X is my main job" doesn't justify to me talking down to another in the group. Conversely if someone is more tactful in the approach, it goes father (e.g. "Can I give you a little advice that might help? If not that's okay.") I don't normally do this myself, but when I see it I look upon it much better than "zomg ur doing it wrong. do this instead." Skill is important, but less so for me. I generally award based on my enjoyment level. If two of the three others in a 4-man are super-skilled with great gear and performing their jobs perfectly but are also arrogant or bragging or otherwise kind of jerks, and the average Joe has a positive attitude I will vote for him every time. When the positivity playing field is level I usually look to skill level as the second factor though. If one of the players is clearly going above and beyond I'll commend them. Communication is important too. Those totally silent runs are sometimes a little awkward. Everyone knows what to do but nobody says anything. Oh and nothing bugs me more as a WHM than getting stuck in something like Castrum or Praetorium with another WHM that doesn't talk. I'll usually try and suggest either they heal or I heal and the other DPS to help speed things along and so that we're not just wasting our MP and tripping over each other. Soliciting a commendation is a surefire way not to get mine. I don't care if you're 3 away from your achievement. Earn it. I've seen this a couple times and just kind of rolled my eyes. I was going to give it to the individual in one instance and opted for someone else after they requested it. Sometimes if it seems like someone is trying too hard or coaching the entire run and fishing for it, I'll withhold my commendation for someone else. I don't mind when folks offer advice or help people out and sometimes I think that's meritous of it. But I'd rather award the quiet DRG who is hitting his rotations and blitzing us through quickly because I think he deserves it. I admit some of this may be my own perception of things. But where it feels like advice-giving isn't genuine and feels to me more like a way to try and garner commendations, I look for someone I feel deserves it. If everyone is balanced (and nobody has ducked out of the run early before I can award mine, as they sometimes do) I will often favor the/a tank. And this is only because I find tanking to be the most difficult of the jobs, personally. This is only if I feel that the healer or DPS haven't excelled in some particular way. Generally speaking, and to simplify the thing, I generally try to give my commendation to the one person in the group that I feel I would love to party with again, for whatever the reason(s). In the end I guess they don't really mean all that much. We've seen people find ways around it and folks have had those gold reaper mounts since the first week. But I do kind of take it seriously, and I do get a little giddy after runs when I've earned some. I try to be helpful and polite and upbeat and positive without being "in your face" and I just do my job - whichever I'm on - to the best of my ability. So how about it? What sort of things do you give/withhold commendations for? Any interesting stories pertaining to this topic? Do share!! :bouncy:

Oh I've witnessed this happen too when I'm on DPS. With larger pulls this is far less viable and depending on the party makeup when I am healing I often won't nuke at all if there is that risk. I usually get a good sense of things from the first pull. I confess I'll let the tank's HP drop a fair bit [when there are smaller pulls] but I've learned what they can endure and a lot of times a single DS+Cure2 is enough to just about top them up again. That's not really the way Bene should be used though. At least, not imo. You are absolutely right though. Nuking should be a secondary thing and a healer's eyes should always be on the party HP first and foremost.

I think this varies depending on the spell/ability and TP cost. I recall reading some threads awhile back about DRG and at what point it's better to use the AoE abilities on multiple targets rather than plowing through them one by one (and a discussion of the effectiveness of Doom Spike). In any case, I think each job is a bit different in where the point lies that single-target DPS actions are no longer as effective/efficient as multi-target. BLM's MP pool is arguably much more expansive as a result of the ice aspect status (I do not confess to being an expert at BLM at all) so I think there's less qualms about burning through MP to cast Flare. I usually wait for at least 4-5 mobs before casting Holy though, figuring it's cumbersome to keep Aero on that many, but 3 is pretty easily manageable (would love it if we got something one day to extend the duration of the Aero spells, make them more potent, or something like ACN's Bane that transmits them to nearby mobs without having to recast multiple times). Basic rule of thumb for me on WHM is ABC though - "Always Be Casting". If not buffs, heals, then stacking DoTs, then nuking. I think the only times I ever break from this policy are where it seems like the MP pool might hit 0 for whatever reason and I know that cures are absolutely going to be needed, but even then I'm usually doling them out. I totally agree that there's nothing as noisome as a healer with a full MP pool that casts regen and just stands there when they could be nuking.