Verad

The point of a "rant" is not to be relevant or useful. It's to get your feelings out in the open and possibly get the support of like-minded people. And I'd like to know what triggered that.

There are a number of people who have specifically said that they view level as more than a metric of investment - although I think it's a dubious method of determining investment, at best, for both the logic I've described, however absurd, and for the more practical and likely reasons others in the thread have mentioned. So yes, some people in the thread are arguing that. They're just not on this particular conversational track. But I disagree. You are in complete control of the scene at all times, regardless of character power. But you are in control in a way that people who value immersion find to be uncomfortable and refuse to acknowledge. You, as a player, always have the ability to walk away, ignore, and retcon as necessary, regardless of IC character power.

I'd like to know what triggered this relevant and useful PSA full of information that people didn't know.

Is that an argument you do not agree with? Do you trust powerful characters whether they are done well or poorly? I am honest with myself - I recognize there is no done well or poorly. There is whether I like them or do not like them, which may have nothing at all to do with quality of execution. Certainly level has little to do with it, and I would ask that people who insist on viewing level as a metric of character power chastise the 60s for playing 15s as much as they do the 15s for playing 60s.

People are relying on this argument of investment, but I have to say that somebody who has played this game for a long time and has remained at a low level is showing a level of commitment that can't help but make me doff my hat towards them. Imagine all the temptations of playing the game - the story of the MSQ, the content, the gear, the vanity items - in front of a person for such a long time, and for them to say "No, thank you, that would be out of character, for it would put me at a higher level" speaks of a dedication I can't help but admire. But the emphasis on combat, on stakes, on story-building, all points to this being yet another variation of the same god damned argument people always have - "I will only trust a powerful character given it is done well," with "level" being another restriction on "done well."

I'm sorry Verad. Before 2.55 Kage was 50 in everything and was Final Witness. I'm sorry my lalafell still has issues downing a hidden ishgardian evil lady. You should be. Absolutely you should be. Missing out on game content is the price you pay for enhancing immersion by making sure your character's level matches his abilities. Do you have any idea how aggravating it is to see somebody playing some poor civilian in the middle of the Burning Wall, where even a side-eyed glance from a Golden Fleece ought to leave the character in a pool of its own blood? Maddening. Simply maddening.

I can't stand it when high-level characters portray themselves as weak.

Do you feel ashamed for having chosen an at-present weaker class and a burden on your party, then? Is that the frustration?

You seem really upset about this. Don't worry, they'll probably fix it.

As a NIN, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing with two separate aggro-dump skills. Somebody give me ideas that don't involve taking the tank's aggro to troll an annoying healer.

You should explain further, because this seems like a uselessly semantic distinction right now.

If you are reading this, then you should RP with the OP. It will absolutely be worth your time.

Taking notes on how to make everything dubious.

Roll 1d12: Memenu's new physical form is explained by: 1. Completely unexplained. She is simply ripped into a new vessel. She's as confused as anyone. 2. A cult of lalafell worshippers. 3. Garlean experimentation. 4. Beast tribe ritual practices. 5. Voidsent machinations. 6. One of Verad Bellveil's plot devices. 7. A final fight with a dragon warping her form. 8. Ascian intrigues. 9. A long-term financial scheme on the part of Lolorito. 10. Improper handling of Zantetsuken. 11. Godbert Manderville screws up somehow. 12. Roll twice.

I think you're misreading me slightly, but that's understandable given how the thread started. My goal is more to understand the details of her situation before providing any specific suggestions for going back than to implicitly say "You can have what you want without going back to Ishgard, so don't do it." The fact that people might be mean to her if she goes to Ishgard is fine; I'm told that's some of that conflict thing people are all about, and I doubt the society is going to be portrayed as so uniformly absolutist that there can be no possible leeway for her if she goes back as-is. Placing bets on a questline dealing with somebody harboring unjustly accused heretics even now. Personally I think working with a false identity is her best bet, and to that end OP might be able to find some good criminal groups to help her achieve that and get her into the city on the sly. There's also some good cat-and-mouse to be done there as she maintains the charade in the face of questions and skepticism from the locals.

A couple of questions before I jump in with any concrete suggestions: You say she's "technically considered" to be a heretic. Having read over your wiki, it appears that she's got a mix of guilt-by-association with somebody convicted of heresy compounding her actual crime of fleeing a work camp. It is not clear if she is an actual no-fooling hail Dravania full-of-scales heretic. Is her current legal state the result of bad luck and the wheels of Ishgardian justice catching her between the cogs, or is she genuinely heretical? Is it necessary that she maintain the same identity she had in Ishgard prior to her escape, and if not, is there any reason she would not attempt to forge a new identity in order to get in? Why does she want to go back to Ishgard specifically, instead of establishing herself as well-off in any of the other city-states?

It's an idea only as interesting as its potential to go horribly, horribly wrong. Otherwise it's an interesting aesthetic decision for explaining why your character has certain abilities or an excess of aether, but no more or less than any other aesthetic decision. So that's my question: instead of "how could we make this work," what about "How could this go wrong in ways that are useful for roleplay?"

We are awake, active, and still running small-scale events. The Fate-14 rules are currently undergoing a revision to clarify issues revealed during Scales and to give players extra abilities so there is more of a difference between characters in combat. We are also, as always, welcoming anybody working on their own roll system who wants feedback.

By that definition, I don't think we can say much one way or the another about conflict being unjustifiable, because we don't know much of anything about their lore or their story - only their appearance. If it turns out that there's longstanding antipathy between Ishgard and the Au Ra clans, for example, suddenly there's a justifiable in-setting conflict, one that a number of Ishgardian RPers are going to need to incorporate. I don't know if that's likely or not, but it's a possibility. Or maybe they have very harmonious relations and then there's even less justification. But that's one possible definition. Vetiver's definition seemed to have more to do with whether it might make other players uncomfortable, or whether the conflict served some kind of thematic purpose. So to continue in that vein, if we find it's possible that this kind of conflict is justifiable through in-game lore, is it still unjustified for other reasons?

What defines a justified fictional conflict?

More blunt or blunt-but-not-quite weapons would be nice: maces, flanged or otherwise, flails, mauls, etc.

What was hostile about that? The italics? The implication that your choice to watch the JP version from Day One was a minority one? I'm confused.

I must have missed this somewhere: What exactly is the difference in Haurchefant's dialogue?

I've been supplying low-quality materials to firearms manufacturers for years. With the rise of the MCH class people are starting to catch on, but it will take years more before guns that can't penetrate cardboard are entirely cleared out of the market. It is only through these efforts that we are not a Garlean province. You're welcome, Eorzea. Also something something anime, low fantasy isn't the standard, when will somebody make an MMO that caters to that already?

I certainly wouldn't expect this to be a full statistical survey given the nature of the project (that's not a strike against this), but how do you address the problem of a small sample size and the problem of self-reporting in public fora? I think that might be especially an issue here if people are hesitant to admit they've felt unwanted in open discussion where other people can see, so do you plan to have a private means for such players to come forward?