Hiro

I think this is more important for crafting since you actually can craft things for other players and have a material impact on the game world for others. You will have people IC asking you if you can craft certain things for them and they will surely expect you to do more than just emote handing them over an imaginary completed item. It makes me wonder how much stronger the OOC/IC nexus would be for combat classes if this game had one-on-one PVP dueling. At that point I think people would be singing a much different tune because of how much practical fun it is to incorporate gameplay and RP. I love PVP, I love dueling, but within the realm of RP even I realize that RPers aren't necessarily PVPers, and that PVP (the game function) is hard to really make interesting in RP. For instance, my character is for all intents and purposes a Ronin/Samurai and I represent this with DRK and NIN and glamours. Within both classes are skill and abilities that are essential to being successful in a PVP environment that I wouldn't utilize. Further, I realize I also put far more effort into PvP and PvE than other RPers, and others more than I, it tilts into unfairness sometimes. My time on SWTOR had that issue, especially when I was sitting in Ranked Expertise gear and the majority of the rest of the community were not nearly as far into it for various reasonings.

One thing I often have an issue with is development over time as a long time player. I've got a character that's been around since 1.0, the IC journey has had some ludicrous things occur, and in the scope of the RP and all the various combats that have happened, they've "seen some shit," while traveling down the road of Neutral Antagonist for some friends to what he is now. I found once 2.0 hit that his basic power level from experiences and the RP I'd accumulated on him was just... out of place, especially with the influx of new characters to the server the reboot brought in. As such I resorted to memory loss and just ignoring some of the superfluous fantastical things, I'd otherwise have kept as part of his backstory and experiences. That said, as someone who's had a character since 2010 I can't help but get a little put off when someone pops in claiming to have the same experience as mine because they effectively put it down on paper that they did whereas the entirety of my personal development has come over the span of four and a half years of roleplay. It's not as if they're doing something wrong either, on the same vein just because I roleplayed for four and half years on the character doesn't really mean I should be inherently more experienced or powerful than a character rolled as ten years his senior and a war/front line veteran.

I had a big rant over the firearms technology in an old thread... From the designs I've seen and knowledge of firearms history and technological advancements... Garleans follow the fantasy basis of Magitek, mechanics with fudged workings that are McGuffined simply by saying: Magic does it. It makes it difficult to gauge however I'd place them at: Late Percussion Cap styled weaponry. Personally picturing their weaponry with mechanisms similar to a late era revolver: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Army_Model_1860 With the same type of ammunition utilizing some form of advanced paper cartridge (alchemical magitek thing) or an early form of metallic cartridge. The weapons present elsewhere fall between flintlock, percussion, and early "needle" guns, as the bolt action rifles shown are reminiscent of such weaponry, which would also support the theory of Eorzeans have the advancement into Paper Cartridge ammunition though that would be considered high end. Given the whole theme of Machinist and how they look I'd wager they're individuals on the cusp of modern weaponry or engineering their own versions of "magitek" which would effectively the transition into metal cartridge ammunition. Also, a misconception that black powder weaponry isn't comparable to modern firearms in all aspects, in terms of stopping power and accuracy, Percussion Dueling Pistols were accurate for their use and were as powerful as an M1911 Colt, their penetrating power is really up to the type of ammunition used at that point. Just because your armor stops it does not mean your body can handle that sort of impact force. That said, as mentioned above, dodging bullets isn't something any considers practical in reality, it's why armoring over vital points and maintaining cover is a thing rather than standing, dodging, and deflecting. Given how Final Fantasy XIV has handled it... its definitely something up to preference. Having had the luxury of speaking with Koji during Fanfest Vegas for a while I did manage to get that they didn't really consider how Eorzea's, especially Garlean Magitek Technology, really lines up with our (Real Life's) modern history. We more or less chose things that worked with our image rather than trying to force together a chain of technological advancements. It's best to view it as: Garleans developed Magitek to it's point because they can't use magic, everyone else had free reign of magic and as such advancement of these sorts of technology is quite lacking though due to exposure to Garlean magitek and Cid as well as the necessity to counter act or at least understand their core mechanics has pushed advancement forward in a hurry.

Am I sensing someone Mav can wingman for? I noticed only a certain amount do as well, I wanted to up the feeling of desperation of the Quicksand by adding a free-lance wingman into the fray, lot of solo artists, so many get turned away. The Bro Code - Article 78 ... Someone needs to adapt the Playbook for Eorzean use.

On another train of thought: Information we receive has a high biased based on how we're presented it and from what perspective. For instance, the way "Chakra" is presented in FFXIV for the Monk story line leans some varying interpretations as to what it actually is and isn't. To the point, it could be inferred is that those who initially followed the Monk path understood their inner strength as Chakra or Chi wherein they're simply manifesting Aether in a different manner than say a Black Mage does. Same thing, different label. Aether itself has shown to be something that draws out aggression in things heavily influenced/tainted/saturated in it. Further it's pretty much thrown around that Aether is a lifestream/mako/mist/miasma/Star Wars Force-like Final Fantasy XIV phenomena, that can almost entirely be utilized as a universe McGuffin if necessary. A Warrior could very well, by all means, be channeling their Inner Beast (Chackra/Aether), and using it to strengthen/bolster themselves (wield Chakra/Aether), which really would lend to a lot of the logistics behind Aether in general, wherein they're channeling their inner "beast" is actually them opening themselves to a natural (or unnatural, maybe unrestricted?) absorption of Aether and drawing on the instincts it bolsters. On the note of similarities to Dark Knight and Warrior... conceptually I simply see a different in disciplines and general perception, the Wild and Untamed versus the Stoic and Calculating, one simply chooses a different path to reach the same "End" (IE: Tank). I think the overall draw really is that a lot of people would rather wild a sword and not that Dark Knight entails brooding or that sort. As it's been said in the thread enough, you don't need a class or a job to be Broody McNohugs or Sir HeartofIce. Also, I think the intention of the classes/jobs released in the expansion was to allow for less Lore restricted roles rather than another "Lone White Mage Snowflake" scenario.

Hiro isn't a natural flirt by any means, everything he's learned and acquired as far as what you could call a "skill set" he gained from reading, watching, and small isolated experiments. The Quicksand provided a good chunk of these examples and he's done a good job in demonstrating what he knows of words and his ability to mask insincerity, his only problem would be delivery, as most in his circle would expect. That said, any RPer who has openly flirted, been a wingman/woman, been shot down, successfully picked up, and provided any insight what so ever in this field has been Hiro's source of inspiration; you all have my thanks for that.

It is. People assume only amateur use it but in reality as someone who's learned from my uncle reverse grip has certain advantages over standard (knife wise of course) With swords it's utterly stupid to use. Aaron would laugh his ass off at someone fighting with a longsword using the reverse grip. In Iaido and Kenjutsu reverse grip is actually utilized as a defensive posture for dealing with faster opponents or those with knives. It's fancy and not a style in and of itself, better viewed as a technique or move with each use as you're typically utilizing the pommel and guard to strike points to create openings than debilitating blows, of course a pommel strike to the throat was typically viewed as a finishing strike. With regards to longswords beyond kendo and iaido I'm only aware of anything related to reverse grip being "duelist tricks" and the stuff used for showboating. According to a modern arts instructor I know anything within the realm of a 30 inch blade is suitable for reverse grip styles, course fantasy seems to love reverse grip for some strange reason.

As a generalist Kenjutsu practitioner of Kendo (12 years) and Iaido (15), I liken a lot of Hiro's combat techniques to the theories presented versus most of my actual experience in sparring and matches irl mostly because of how vastly different RP combat tends to go. As such I find it does allow me to step back and ignore realism knowing how dull it really can be ending a combat it an average of two blows, it also doesn't lend itself well to anything too fun with person to person interaction or blending with other RPers. I personally find even as I come in to combat I'm less... "gritty" than most sustaining only one or two actual wounds (substantial or no) versus the beaten, battered, and shredded many others I've interacted with tend to emulate.

There are now a number of unofficial keyboard attachments for the PS4 controller which health this immensely. I've since swapped from my keyboard and mouse setup to utilizing one such attachment as it not only allows me to hit Enter to type but now gives me better hotbar access for macros and keybinds along with a crossbar. Of course when I'm in RP I still default to my USB Mouse and Keyboard, you're also able to change the settings of the PS4 over to Mouse/Keyboard if you've got a USB setup. If you're lacking USB ports there are several reliable USB hubs that will function without external power as well. DOBE Mini Bluetooth Wireless KEyboard Controller Attachment (PS4) PS4 Chatboost (Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard Controller Attachment) - I utilise this and I've had no problems. Both options are around $30-$40, I've seen other variants running $25. From the reviews I would go with either of those two I presented though.

Keep in mind the inherent differences between a STR geared Tank and a VIT Geared one. As a warrior the trend has been for them to wear STR acc. once they hit the 10k HP mark while in a party and with items, healers are used to it in general. Paladins have only JUST reached this plateau and are far less geared/skilled for it. Further the gear sets that are STR based for Tanks are also low in mitigation this means that a VIT PLD not only has better soaking ability they won't dip in HP nearly as fast as a STR PLD. As a newer healer I absolutely despise STR PLD's (and I mean the ones who think they're gearing like 10k HP WARs), you're the mitigation tank stop pretending like your STR and CRIT rate matter. If a dungeon run is slow a PLD with STR gear vs one with VIT gear isn't going to speed anything up nor are they going to be any better or worse at holding aggro. If they're losing aggro it's likely due to something else other than VIT and STR, more likely skill/rotation/acc. FF isn't a difficult game in terms of core concepts, it favors the Tri-Force/Holy Trinity and does it well. Tank, DPS, Healer. Unfortunately it does mean you're somewhat stuck to your given role, unless you have Holy. Mmm, Holy. Even then, DPS should be more than capable of doing their job without outside assistance in their area of expertise... And clearing up misinformation: 30 points into VIT is far more valuable to a PLD than 30 points into STR in the overall game. Top out don't try and baby subpar stats.

Just to elaborate: "Mature" as a tag for some, and what I am reading here, is the themes that most shy away from in terms of casual RP. Cloaks, daggers, not withheld, it's more of the nitty-gritty side of things. People who are the darker side of life, people who thrive in situations where fluffy happy-go-lucky types simply do not have a place. It's a strange monicker, I agree, but it's why I port the tag and run small LS's revolving around it. I've noticed it as a tag related to MUD's and LARPS more than MMORPGs where it seems people attribute "Mature" to eRPer or willing to eRP and participate in events where there is blood and/or gore. This has thrown me off more than once. I can see the miscommunication as it affected me when I first joined FFXIV with "Mature Roleplayer" in my search info and people mostly associated it with murder and erotic RP rather than what I had come to know it as a "theme" much like "dark". As for the thread I run with a fairly tight group that are always looking for more with regards to information brokering and more of the cloak and dagger espionage style plot lines rather than thievery, assassinations, and outlaws. The LS is for our core group and people who are more inline with the plot lines, but we enjoy including those who wish to be our branch into other aspects of the underworld, merchants, assassins, etc. eyes and ears everywhere after all. We may not be your cup of tea but if it piques your interest (or anyone elses in this thread) feel free to drop me a PM or find me in game.

One thing I am taking away from this thread specifically right now, which I feel could be elaborated on a bit more: - There is precedence for realm travel and thus, minus our lack of reasoning of how's and why's, it is a perfectly feasible element of a character concept. *Beyond cliche's, sueisms, etc, why is this so frowned upon? I see a lot of people go "RP what you want" in general however here it seems this is one of the few things within realm of possibility that seems to have been labeled taboo. *Can it be done tastefully? How much is too much and even then is this just such a stigma that it's really going to alienate one from the general community? There seems to be a lot of dislike of such concepts in general, and rather than execution, it seems a popular sentiment that the concept itself is distasteful more than anything. This is to say that the feeling I've gotten here is that no matter how well executed or handled the character is, peoples prejudgement is to avoid interaction or on an OOC level frown upon the use. * All things fair, while there is no solid reasoning as to why certain events that solidfy multiple realms as a thing, it doesn't technically need to be explained. Where does our OOC/meta knowledge actually interfere with any given individuals immersion? - Final Fantasy XIV is technically presented as a realm of possibility and wonders, I see a lot of people delving into realism as a reasoning (myself included a lot), however it seems that events surrounding the game, world, and story is about unprecedented and mold breaking events, circumstances, and sentiments. * I've noted a lot of preference towards realism and conformity, avoidance of mold breaking, etc. How does this preside over in a world described as above? * Wouldn't it seem more accurate to utilize the statement: Unless lore specifically states otherwise it could happen? Multiple occurrences, rareties, etc. I personally feel a lot of people may be restricting themselves based on what is established and detailed lore instead of what has precedence or is acceptable in the meta rather than the world itself. Perhaps this is a branch in another topic direction.

Dat episode T_T BoKorra would have been so much more rewarding >>

Well, it's not as if the Lightning event was done in an awesome way either. Some people treat those as OOC styled events though as outside of their occurrence they don't seem to affect anything in the world.

Sitll doesn't redeem the lows they put my Bolin through (mostly role wise) T_T