Aya

If what you were saying actually applied in FF, the Garelans would have actually conquered Eorzea by now. I think you're accepting Garelan propaganda at face value (and assuming that their air ships lack weaknesses in their armor, lets not forget that they're still... AIRSHIPS which are not exactly known to be the most rugged vessels ever created, even in Fantasy).

Because dragons still have maneuver superiority to chocobos and basically anything else we could put into the sky, and would shred any 'airborne chocobo cavalry' with laughable contempt. The Garleans wouldn't even have to laugh, because no weapon that can be carried by a man on bird-back is capable of penetrating their armor. Quantity has a quality all its own! Given that Dragoons are capable of defeating Dragons on the ground, the advantages of air cavalry should be obvious! In terms of the Garelans...! They never think anything can penetrate their armor. But how wrong they are! Now we'll be able to have mounted gun-wielding cavalry to support the lancers. It would be glorious ruin to all Chocobo-enemies! Eorzea shall dominate Hydelaen as once did the Mongol Hordes our world!!!

So, I don't really know about the particulars of flying in Heavensward. It may juts be strictly limited to the WoL? I figured its probably a more general thing from the way its being discussed here, and that's always been my assumption, but anyway, it certainly colors my feelings on FF XIV flight. I honestly don't much care for flight in MMO's, I think it has a tendency to detract more than add. I especially feel like the idea of chocobos (or other obviously land bound creatures) flying is immersion and mood breaking in this game. Yeah, magic, blah, blah, blah, that's really not my point. You see a Fat Chocobo flying and have to accept it as canon and all of a sudden it feels like there's no reasonable frame of reference with which to take in the game world any more. Its just silliness, which is all good and fun in its time and place, but I feel like it creates an incredible amount of friction with the feel of Eorzea they've otherwise created. Honestly, I'm left wondering why Chocobo mounted flying cavalry haven't dealt with the Dravanian threat (and Garlean airships) centuries ago. I missed this, and.. but.. no, I really won't know what to think of it until I see it and how prevalent it is. There's still this whole.. sea of clouds thing that I can't quite wrap my head around either... Anyway, there's no chance that Aya herself will fly. Except by airship!

Hmmmm... I'm not going to name ten I don't think! I really quite liked Hard Mode Longstop. Something about the big pulls, and then being able to use a well-timed LB to skip the final phase of the last boss just made it feel like a rewarding place to run for the daily I actually really like the aesthetics of ST (much more so than Labrynth, or bleh, WoD). I enjoy just looking around while I'm there! Keeper of the Lake, although I don't like running the dungeon itself, has a terrific vibe from being inside of the airship wreckage (at least until after the second boss). I really like the original Qarn, it gave a really nice "Indiana Jones" feel My least favorite would have to be Ampadoor City - the look of the place and the monsters made me feel physically ill the first time I ran it, like I was having to fight my away across a moldy sandwich. I'm still impressed at the artists ability to convey something so disgusting so effectively, but I can't really fathom why they would spend such talent and energy on that.

Tch (words added to meet minimum post length!)

~That moment when the shrouded Yugiri meets an Au Ra Warrior of Light~

Do you really think there's a correlation between having ground through the full MSQ and making Natalie happy in instances?

I wish you the best of luck with that one.

Its not vitriol, its astonishment (and disappointment). #1: Because you're going to lose players due to attrition. #2: Because the more players the healthier the MMO. #3: Because I like making new friends, and because if the game were actually welcoming to new players I'd like to invite my other friends to play it. I'm glad that you're perfectly happy - and I guess I'm glad that there's a game out there to cater to your particular needs (it is a big gaming world afterall!). Maybe it does work out the best for them-they obviously want to make their MMO about story and that appeals to some players. It does not appeal to me, and the doubling down on this approach at such an expense to accessibility I just find disheartening. I am honestly a little surprised that anyone would prefer the game actively discourage the joining of new players, or new players from participating in current content.

Really? Well, don't worry, you'll get your wish!

Final Fantasy is a game entirely apart form Warcraft, and is fully entitled to make its own mistakes. That doesn't mean they aren't mistakes - and from my perspective this is clearly one, given the effect it has upon discouraging bringing in new players. Generally speaking, people rarely buy a new game to take part in two year old content or spend six months of grinding before being able to enjoy the current game with their friends. I have no doubt FF's expansion will still be successful. I also have no doubt that this sort of design will turn away some potential new players. It negatively impacts my own judgement and enjoyment of the game (since I won't even bother making the Ishgard-based alts I was considering), and has had a negative impact on any anticipation I may have had toward Heavensward. None of this has a fig to do with Warcraft, or any of FF's other MMO competitors.

Speaking just for myself I'll just say that I have no interest in any form of "outbreak", "plague", or similar epidemic based RP. There are all sorts of problems and negative implications that come up from these. Among these are that it alters radically a character's RP in a way that won't make any sense to those who don't accept it as canon, its so wide-open that it leaves you unable to craft simultaneous or near-future story as well, and really (the bottom-line for me) its not fun. If treated believably and plausibly its simply awful and terrible. A vehicle for meaningless suffering against an intangible foe. That might make something of an interesting horror story, but I can't see it making for RP that I'd actually want to engage in.

That's -really- terrific! I love the idea, I wish I had the resources to have one :-]

That's been more of an issue recently because the Eternal Bond purple text is now a permanent fixture for some reason. Before, it used to be that if you saw purple text, you were instantly alerted to maintenance times. Now it's all "ugh EB info not even gonna look". So true... what used to be a useful flag made useless by over-use.

Unbelievable Rhea! That's a masterpiece :-]

Duh! Nat always laughs at things that remind her of herself! (I'm really bad at this...!)

They're as bold and grand as her assets, but, ahem, perhaps not quite as shapely. That said, I prefer for them to be discovered via RP rather than exposition! I also consider "flaws" as a general subject entirely separate from "abilities" or the lack thereof. Aya doesn't use magic, but that's not really a flaw so much as a fact of life (she's also not a blacksmith, a leather-worker, an amazing cook, etc, etc). Her flaws are deep run faults that work to prevent her from being more than she is, and sometimes interfere with doing what would be best. That's of course.. beyond her generic blondness and ceaseless desire for shoes and baubles

Well, at least we know Dog's good at something: wishful thinking Gotta be rough on a guy to only be liked for his legs.

Dogberry wouldn't know how to roast a Lalafel if we gave him the fire and spit.

Aya likes to take short day-trip like vacations to Vylbrand (Limsa Lominsa and Costa primarily!) usually for just one or two nights, traveling via air ship

No, but I disagree with your assessment of the discussion which seems quite heavily focused on the intent and judgement of the moderators over the course of the fifth and sixth pages of the thread.

I 100% agree with your very original post in this thread, and think the title of the thread alone is an attack upon the Moderators and their intent rather than an attempt to broach discussion of the rules. There's nothing wrong with disagreeing with the rules, and if that's what the OP intended he had routes of doing so without taking a shot at the moderators in the process.

Ten times is very generous (and I would anticipate should anyone actually reach that threshold, there would be a moderator review before anyone were actually banned... no one involved in the admin of this forum seems to be the type to want to ban anyone - even for a week!). There's no reason to be so harsh toward the moderators, or to start ridiculously entitled threads for the explicit purpose of attacking them for doing exactly what they were asked to do (obviously not in the manner the OP wishes, but that's exactly my point - disagreement over such a minor action as a warning should not be grounds for getting bent out of shape). Our moderators are volunteers, doing the best they can, and offering the community an outsized share of their time, energy, and effort. Its like screaming at the guy who volunteered to referee your sporting event for free. If you have a problem with moderation, take it to a polite PM.

Ridiculousness and silliness. Our moderators do the absolute best they can. They're wonderful people, volunteer people doing the best they can to carry out a set of expectations based upon some sense of what the community wants. It will vary from person-to-person, that simply can't be helped! Give them a break. Just get along, sheesh, its not that complicated.