Melkire

Thank you for tl;dr, it helps a lot (no sarcasm, I'm being sincere; tone is difficult on the internet). If I might be a bit forward, I'd like to ask: who doesn't care about who? I can tell you that (relatively) new folks who are vocal are heard (EDIT: even if not acted upon, "heard" is different than "addressed"). You and Graeham, for example, are two folks who immediately spring to mind, folks that don't feel like they're being fairly treated. I can only speak for myself, but what I can say is this: I've seen Graeham all of once in-game, and it was while I was bunnyhopping around Revenant's Toll looking at my gear trying to decide what I wanted to upgrade. He was at the Mail Moogle or something. I don't think I've ever seen you, Kellach, in-game. If you've ever been in my vicinity, I must've missed you due to some distraction. As someone who seems to be on when you folks aren't, or else is busy when you folks are on, is there something more I should be doing? Should I have sent Graeham a /tell going, "would you like to RP sometime?" Should I have sent you a PM here asking the same? I've mentioned before that I don't really have the time to spare, but if it's really on me, I'd like to know. And if it isn't on me, who is it on? Is it on Warren, who I only ever usually see roleplaying during the Grindstone, and during those times he's really busy officiating and managing a few dozen different conversations at once? Is it on FreelanceWizard (who, by the by, I have never roleplayed with despite wishing to, with the exception of a single passing during a Gus Pumpkinweed event), who perhaps might be on when you two are also on but when I'm not? Is it on Sounsyy, whose schedule and availability I'm not even remotely familiar with? Is it on Random Free Company Member #473? The claim that many a roleplayer has or may have adopted the "screw you I got mine" attitude might have some basis to it, but I'm really curious to know who is expected to address this concern when the folks who claim to care don't have the time and the folks who claim to have the time don't care. EDIT: And then there are folks like Black Hat. :<

In my opinion, the biggest contributing factor to this problem is that, after a while, a lot of these posts start to sound the same, and when so many people starting sounding the same, it just becomes noise. Noise is easier to filter and tune out than to sift through. Case in point, after posting this I glanced upward to see that Kellach had posted while I was typing my own post out. I glanced through it just now and what I see (being honest here, not offensive) is more of the same "nobody wants to help the little guy find more RP" argument that, to me, has become noise that I have to tune out. Why am I tuning it out? Because I don't have the time to dedicate to helping a bunch of new people out with roleplay. I've got one new contact I picked up recently who I'm helping to ease into the game and into RP, and that's already a stretch in that I have trouble getting to them. Copious free time, I do not have (most of my posting and moderating on the RPC is done from work). Which is perfectly fine! If someone isn't comfortable selling themselves, they shouldn't feel obligated to do so. But expecting to find RP here without selling yourself, the way many of us have had to do, is a little like having your cake and eating it too.

[/Moderator Hardhat] ...I miss Billy Mays now more than ever. What I wouldn't give to have him read through the OP. [Moderator Hardhat] EDIT: Underneath the Mean Girls presentation, this is actually really sound and helpful advice, imo.

Hiding these things, while possibly worthwhile, doesn't stop this from happening, at least not according to my previous moderating experiences. People respond more frequently to people they know or have interacted with before. That's just how it is. That's just how people are. Thought I'd point that out.

Oh. My. God. Were enough interest already expressed and commissions already open, I'd so ask for a variant on the icon. That's ADORABLE.

I'd like to think so, but some people will tell you no. What I can say is that many discussions and topics here in recent days & weeks have been far more heated than usual.

"Concrit" as in "constructive criticism." I'd concrit Zhavi but I'm hard at work right now. I'll leave it to the next poster.

I recently had the good fortune and wonderful experience of participating in large-scale in-game freeform RP combat that has gone on to inform the "What You Are in the Dark" thread (a big thank you to Roen and to fellow participants), so I'll do my best to answer these questions as they pertain to that experience. Every other RP combat scene on this scale that I've participated in has generally been governed by dice. In all cases, large-scale RP combat took hours to complete. Posting speed / timestamps usually determine what happens first and in what order. There's some level of unspoken mutual agreement that taking action, whether offensively or defensively, implicitly means you're going to await at least one other person's reaction and interaction to and with your action before taking action again. How many "steps" or "levels" or "number of actions" there are to your single emote generally matters less than being brief and concise (as opposed to verbose para rp). For this reason, we experienced a lot of "one defensive action, one movement, and one offensive action" emotes. It was really comparable in many ways to how Tactics games like FFTA work. This one's tricky. I think going in there was, again, an unspoken mutual agreement regarding where on the low fantasy vs high fantasy scale this scene was to take place, and so we knew the range in which to play in. Not too mundane, but not too over the top, either. The usual one on one guidelines of intending damage, dealing damage, taking damage, and selling damage still applied. Intent-to-hit was a big thing, with occasional Effect-of-hit thrown in by an attacker who REALLY wanted something to pan out a certain way (shooting someone at point blank range, say). In either case, it was again understood that it was up to the recipient of damage to determine what degree of damage they found acceptable for their character to take. There was a lot of trust involved, and a lot of unspoken concessions made by all sides. The nature of the scene required that it be played hard and fast, which led to said concessions. That can be a turn-off for those who might not be willing to see their characters downplayed or trumped up to degrees they might not be comfortable with.

My honest suggestion is to grind out soldiery as best you can and get yourself decked out in i100 gear from Revenant's Toll as soon as possible. It's a little tricky given how difficult it can be to grind tomestones without having Expert Roulette unlocked, but unless I'm mistaken Main Story Roulette and Low Level Roulette at LV 50 do give soldiery tomes (can someone in-game atm confirm this please?) Grinding CT and Binding Coil for i80 and i90 gear generally isn't worth it, in my opinion, because you're up against seven other people who are rolling greed on it, and up to three others (if you're DPS) who are rolling Need against you. Now contrast this to soldiery farm which, once you have enough tomestones, guarantees you a piece. Some of the higher level post-50 dungeons also drop i80 gear, tokens you can trade in at Toll for i90 pieces, and i100 pieces, and for these drops you're only rolling greed against three others and Need against up to one other. Please bear in mind that I'm running current content and am not familiar with the difficulty in gearing up enough to get into the dungeons that drop those things. EDIT: Missed the part about roulettes. RNG can be a bitch. I feel you.

[align=center]~Some Moons Ago~[/align] The deck creaked as wet footfalls slapped against the planks. Skippers swore and bruisers cursed and the Storm gathered. He could barely make her out up ahead, her own paws scrambling for purchase on the waterlogged wood as she kept low and darted this way and that. She was taking advantage of her size and poise. She was beneath notice. He wasn’t. She’d get clear. He wouldn’t. There were worse places to be held up by the Maelstrom, but he’d come to Wolf’s Den for one reason and one reason only, and he didn’t have the time to spare for not-so-pleasant pleasantries with officials, let alone these officials. Greasing palms, coin after coin, had finally paid off. He’d been holed up in Naldiq & Vymelli’s at Moraby Drydocks when the word came. Surprise had been the order of the sun. She wasn’t in Limsa. He remembered wondering why she wasn’t in Limsa. Did she know? How could she? He’d brushed those thoughts aside. Matters were arranged to proceed without him should he prove absent at a vital moment. Not a bell later, he was boarding the ferry. Wolf’s Den wasn’t a particularly large platform, situated out in the open water and tethered to the rocks as it was. A retired Maelstrom vessel served as a den for games of all sorts; cards, dice, darts, drinks, and brawls were all welcomed here. Much of the space had been set aside, though, as a staging area for combatants to enter the Floating Colosseum in pursuit of fame and riches. What little deck was left, inside or out, went to the ferries. He hadn’t expected to spot her so soon, or so easily. He’d seen her coloration, and he’d seen the kink in her tail. He’d seen her ears swivel, and her nose sniff, and her eyes widen. Then she turned and ran. She was making for the Braveheart now. So he followed, shouldering aside men and women alike, leaving a trail of the disgruntled in his wake as he poured on the speed and broke for the old lass himself.

WANT. FULL STOP. I can settle for the samurai-esque ponytail and the combovers for now, though.

I guess it's a good thing I mentioned that I know this is Final Fantasy at least three times isn't it? Besides, if we're not basing weapons and combat on the basis of reality, which we are and so does SE for that matter, then let's just all wield lightsabers and lock s-foils in attack positions? Or can we keep talking about weapons and realism and how that pertains to fantasy? In all seriousness, we're actually getting this. Please look forward to it.

It Keeps Happening. Chaos Theory. Malcom Was Right.

They also show up in a THM quest or two, iirc. I'd read it! I would as well!

Famitsu is reliable, they're the premier Japanese magazine for video games.

Drastic change never occurs peacefully. But on the idea of Lolorito assuming power and the dynasty changing - there are hundreds of examples through history of noble houses coming to power the same way. I do not think this is crossing the line of believability at all. Didn't say it did. :thumbsup:

[removes moderator hardhat for a moment] Fighting you. [replaces moderator hardhat] Wiping out an entire opposing end of the political spectrum rarely ends well, as far as I know. The sudden radical swing to the left or right or whichever-direction-you're-using can be painful for a population unless the transition is smooth and seamless.

Plutocratic oligarchy? Is that a thing? Can it be a thing?

I'd argue that Lolorito ascending to the throne, if that indeed happens, would be the ultimate vindication of Monetarist beliefs, ideologies, philosophies, values, and what-have-you. You'd have someone who rose in prominence on the strength of their coin, and then parlayed their resulting influence and power into the greatest sociopolitical position in the land. I don't see how that would constitute a win for Royalists. A dissolution of the Syndicate might qualify. Mind you, this is coming from someone who sees Monetarism as an extreme case of "the worst of capitalism" and Royalism as an extreme case of "the best of monarchies".'' EDIT: Slight edit from "totalitarianism" to "monarchies". The former would imply that a sultanate sans Syndicate wouldn't have anyone or anything to keep them in line.... which might be true, but I don't want to go making that assumption without anything to back it up.

Never thought I'd say this, but I'm more excited for Jurassic World than the new Star Wars. That said...

Technically speaking, the Raen are the ones portrayed as recluses and the Xaela are the nomadic travelers. People seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that it's the other way around just because Yugiri, a Raen, led the Domans to Eorzea.

I've always been under the impression that Limsa Lominsa on the whole was the least racist of the four city-states. They also render aid more readily to the Domans than anyone else bar House Fortemps (praise Haurchefant). Racism on an individual level exists there, yes, but by and large Limsa Lominsa is so tolerant that they have beastmen (Qiqirn and Mamool Ja) within the city. This level of tolerance and variety seems common in hodge podge melting pots that benefit so heavily from maritime trade. Historical giants like the British Empire, though.... ehhhh.

[Moderator Hardhat] We're far afield. Topic is "irregular race/nationality combinations," not "dissect what other people have been saying in an attempt to start personal fights." Get back on topic or I'm locking this down. Warnings WILL go out to the next few people who toe the line. Temp bans too, if necessary. [/Moderator Hardhat]

[Moderator Hardhat] Please keep discussion on-topic. Image macros a.k.a. "memes" that don't further discussion can result in sudden derails. There was staff discussion on this, and the consensus was that images are fine so long as you're also furthering discussion on the topic or related notes. Otherwise we're just inviting folks to troll and/or derail threads in order to provoke the staff into locking them. Thank you! <3 [/Moderator Hardhat]

Looking back over Yugiri's dialogue, I'm almost certain that she was predisposed to think that Eorzeans would discriminate against her kind based on prior contact with Garleans. I figure if you're roleplaying a Garlean character who "recently" left the Empire (say, past decade or so) after having been involved in the Othard campaign, you'd know about the Au Ra. Might also have a chance of knowing they exist if you're a member of a trading/pirate vessel & crew based in Limsa that sails that far east.