Gegenji

... It's this little bit that gets me. Mostly because I saw someone talking casually of just "going back and forth" between Gyr Albania and Kugane. The trip from Limsa to Kugane is already two months... plus whatever the travel time is from there to the Fringes (or, heck, to Ala Mhigo proper). It's like... that's not something you can just do, aetherytes notwithstanding. And even then... wouldn't it take quite a lot of personal anima (not to mention the teleportation fees) to be just jumping back and forth? But more on the point of the topic (and less my own personal whinings), I definitely think that a decent amount of time needs to have passed from the beginning of Stormblood to the end. Not just for the travel times to Kugane and back again... but the on-foot travel and - perhaps more importantly - the amassing of forces for the various events. Getting everyone together for Doma Castle isn't something that happens in just a day, right? I mean, we're talking about gathering together troops and executing operations that lead to the liberation of not one, but two nations. That's not something that happens in a matter of days. As such, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing whatever rough time-frame you have there, Sounsyy. Figuring that all out just on its own might be a fun discourse.

Oh thanks for this clarification! Still, I wonder how expensive or difficult is for someone to order a soul crystal to be made. I believe isn't a trivial matter to have that setup to be a Job, taken they are supposedly "advanced" warriors. Making a soul crystal itself is likely not entirely a difficult task - the Machinists of Ishgard apparently have a great enough supply to utilize them with their aethertransformers. The issue lies in the knowledge and skill that needs to be imparted into the crystal, as I don't think any lore states how easily or quickly such information can be "absorbed" into a new soul crystal. For example, if a Black Mage were to take a blank soul crystal with them... how long until it can successfully be passed on to another? Or can special ones like the BLM (and possibly SCH, given the need to tether a Fairy to it) not be created anymore without further delving into the processes in which the older ones were made?

Dearest Annunu, I write to you from the less than illustrious Castrum Oriens, just beyond - yet still falling under the shadow of - Baelsar's Wall in the Fringes of Gyr Abania. Given the speed at which the Alliance is seeking to finally press their advantage against the Garlean menace that holds such sway in the area, there hasn't been much time to improve the quality of life around the facility as of yet, but I seek to make do. I have managed to acquire one of the officers' chambers through no small efforts of my own, and while a bit spartan for my tastes, I believe I can manage for the interim. I have even heard tell that the Warrior of Light himself has deigned to make an appearance in this grand operation, which is certainly going to be a great boon for our forces. While I have not seen him myself, I figure that is because the Grand Companies are likely keeping him busy with various odds and ends until we have determined the best way to utilize both his physical prowess and the general influence someone of his stature brings to the fore. They certainly seem quite complacent in assigning him menial chores and guard duties given his position. As for me, I have been tasked to provide my tactical expertise to aid in Vice Marshal Pipin Tarupin's plans for assaulting one of the key Garlean facilities in the area - Castellum Velodyna. Given the ample time allowed to the enemy forces to build up and entrench themselves in this land, the campaign will be troublesome enough even without this tactically important location effectively corralling our forces through the Striped Hills and thus into the lowlands of the Peaks. A location which is overlooked by not one but two Garlean facilities - one of which is less Castrum and more giant weapon platform. It will likely be crucial for our forces to disable that facility and, as such, securing a more direct route for our forces is of utmost importance in my mind. The issue remains, of course, how to assault such a well-positioned and well-defended location. Sabotaging the supports is out of the question, of course, otherwise we effectively cut off our own advance... and simply throwing numbers at the entrenched enemy will just deplete our forces with negligible effect on our enemy's. As such, my mind turns to something a little more subtle - some manner of misdirection to disorient the enemy and striking in the confusion with a spearhead force to seize control of the facility, preferably with the Warrior of Light at the forefront for maximum disruption. I cannot speak overmuch of my ideas here, lest this letter get intercepted by the enemy, and as such will simply have to speak with the Vice Marshal on the matter later. For now, though, know that I greatly miss your steady presence at my side and do hope to swiftly return to yours once this whole mess has been properly sorted. Perhaps then we can finish our journey - so rudely interrupted by this war effort - to visit all the holy stones of the Twelve, and finally be joined in holy matrimony. You remain at the forefront of my thoughts as I aid in directing our Alliance's forces, seeking to secure a brighter future for both us and our descendants. And, Twelve willing, it shall be so. Forever yours, Tmesis Oan Tactical Advisor to the Maelstrom Castrum Oriens, the Fringes of Gyr Abania

Here are my answers to my own post: :chocobo: Buy a house, build it into a shop, build a network of rpers who would have characters who'd frequently use this type of connection (or have so many clients you're always busy), and get into lots of trouble. :chocobo: Find many ways to twist your deals into fun adventures and possible trouble with others (e.g: Grumpy mage who you stole the tome from, the angry monster that killed one of your mercs, or that man who always tries to barter even though you told him the prices were set). :chocobo: Rare cure-alls, relics from the past (allagan, mhachi, etc.), varied delicacies not known to the region. ( I have no ideas on specifics thus why I asked what you all think ) :chocobo: Controlled chaos. As someone who ostensibly plays a crafter character in my little dork of a smith, I guess I can try to take a crack at these questions. 1.) Having a location for your work DOES help, as you have said, but it's not strictly necessary. Especially as a simple merchant type, you could probably try and find stalls and the like that your character can plunk down in and look like you're selling your wares. Especially with how hard to get housing is right now, it helps to have that alternative. I use an FC room right now, but prior to that (and before the advent of apartments) I'd mostly have to use things like the Smithing Guilds or just take my client to a door somewhere and have to use our imagination as I described the smithy on the other side. Having a group of steady RP buddies is definitely a good thing, but hopefully by playing your merchant well, you'll also attract walk-up RP pretty easily. Especially if you provide a service that is just generically useful (making/repairing weapons and armor like Chachan does) or is attention-grabbing (like your rare and strange items vendor, especially if you pitch it right ICly). Getting into trouble definitely can draw attention and create RP, but so can needing or wanting something and needing help to get it, or exploring somewhere and hiring help to do so safely. 2.) The stuff above touches a bit in this point. Just the ins and outs of trying to run one's own business and make ends meet have a lot of potential for story and interaction. Acquiring items, selling items, advertising, how your character spends their downtime when finally off work. All of that combines together into a decent flow of your character and their story. That mingled with the general unknowns of interacting with others - whether they be rival merchants, potential customers, hired muscle, or just folk you bump into on your off hours... can lead to a bevy of experiences. 3.) There is a whole wealth of potential in just the idea of "rare items." Don't just limit yourself to things that actually exist in game, make some stuff up too! Feathers from a plaid chocobo, the teddy bear of a former ruler, a strange weapon from a far off land. Even generic items could be passed off as rare with a good mercantile spin to it. A potato that looks like the Sultana! A signed poster from a famous Bloodsands fighter. There's a lot to be had here. And, finally... 4.) I think the secret to RP is just to have fun, but still be respectful of the wants and wishes of those you RP with. Enjoy yourself, but don't do it to the point where you're hampering other people's fun in the process. And, as always, communication is key. So, um... yeah. That's my take on all that.

Depending on whether or not my hunch on how Omega will go is right... we could potentially fight the tree later. If they make NeoExdeath a battle in the next "wings" of it. He did get pulled into the Void rather than disappearing like the others.

... Sorry, I read that and I just thought of this again: cuELXU0OEs4

And a lot more crystals involved. Remember, Gilgamesh was able to summon a Primal version of his little buddy with just a crate of crystals and wanting his friend a whole lot. I suppose it makes sense they're summoning progressively stronger versions to some degree too, you know? That's your god the WoL is beating up. Are you going to believe your god is weaker than some mortal being or that you just didn't provide enough offering to summon them in their "true form"? Add in tempering to add to that zealousness and, well... it just keeps going. The only limiting factors, I suppose, are how much aether (via crystals or other means - like Nidhogg's eyes) you can attain and how many followers you can gather.

Helping old ladies is what Chachans do best! So put him up for Event A! ... Though if it goes SUPER long I might have to duck out for the Grindstone, but that's... like... six/seven hours after the start time.

I can make a pretty educated guess that people on Mateus stay in our discord / don't post here because people on Mateus are like those on Balmung and have jobs, kids, school, life, and they don't want to spend their leisure time coming here and repeating themselves again and again, much less when some people seem determined to be offended. I can't even post in the PuG rant thread about an overzealous healer without it becoming, "But hey, what's up with Mateus being such a mess amirite?" No thanks. I think there was a bit of a misunderstanding here. I'm not saying that Mateus folk have to come here and continue to parade "hey, we're not all terrible." I'm talking about on the server itself, that it'd probably help the whole situation of "I went there and everyone's bashing Balmung" or what have you by helping provide the positive spin. Which - from the sound of things - give your bit about helping people get settled, you are. Also, it definitely sounds like you're getting a bit burned out about rallying the cause over here because I MADE the PuG thread and thus get notified every time there's a post in it. And the only "wow Mateus" posts were when I made an offhanded comment about the shout chat and then we moved on. :dazed:

That was actually why I was looking for the relevant thread, I remembered Kilieit had made that tier list and linked it somewhere... but didn't have the link on hand. :blush:

I was hunting for the relevant thread since I think something similar got asked not too long ago, but I seem to be selectively blind and cannot find it. Hopefully someone else will see it and provide a link, since I think it included a fan-made "tier list" of job-class versus how believable playing one is. ... Mostly because how "easy" it is to play a Job in RP is going to depend on the job itself. White Mage, as you said, is kind of restricted due to only the Padjali being the only real "practitioners" of it save for the Warrior of Light. Same with Dragoons now that the number of active practicing Dragoons was listed in the lore book. Conversely, however, you have Paladins - which include the Sultansworn, along with a bunch of Free Paladins who just go around helping people. You have a whole retinue of Machinists being trained up in order to modernize the Ishgardian military. However, even with the more "restrictive" jobs... there's ways you can explain away why your character has those skills without horribly breaking the lore. The Dragoon list is for active duty members, it doesn't include those in training or those who may have retired. Your character could have stumbled across a soul crystal and writings about Succor while delving into an Amdaporian ruin. Even with Red Mage, there's another tack you can take with it. The RDM quest giver is the last of the "Crimson Duelists," a specific group of RDMs who aided the Ala Mhigan forces. That doesn't mean there aren't other groups of RDMs out there. And, on top of that, he's been pretty open in his teachings - considering he trains up three different people by himself in handling Red Magic. So... there really isn't a definitive answer. What jobs you can "play" ICly depend heavily both on how you explain it for your character, the group you're RPing with and how far they're willing to bend the lore, and just how restrictive the job is based off the lore to begin with.

I think the big issue, if I can be frank, is that this is the vocal minority. The key word being vocal. Even if it's only a few of them, they're making enough noise and hullabaloo to cause these sorts of problems. I saw the same thing when I had shouts on in Ul'dah on my little Mateus alt - people bashing Balmung and talking about how they "escaped" and whatnot. Sure, it might be the minority of folks who have this mindset, but if the only opinions you see are from that minority, it's going to color your opinions on the server regardless, isn't it? So it may be a tiring thing, but those who don't have that same opinion often need to speak up and be heard as well. Many are doing that and they're understandably awesome for doing so. They just have an upward battle to fight since it's so much easier to tear something down than to build it up. But those that are speaking up to try and counteract that vocal minority? Give them a shot. Ignore the loud few and just see for yourself what you can find. If you can find a welcoming community of folks to RP and hang out with, then does it really matter what the blowhards on their soapboxes in Ul'dah shout chat think?

... I... what? How did you manage that?

Maybe they're just supposed to be other members of the Scions who just so happen to also have the Echo... but not all the other cool tricks and status that the WoL has? I dunno. It would definitely be a step in the right direction if they either used a plural - Warriors of Light, and just having your PC being the chosen head - or giving a proper name to the other Primal-slayers beyond just "your buddies." I never really thought much about it, but now that it's been brought up... it definitely doesn't seem fair that the WoL has at least seven other people who help him out on a regular basis that get no recognition at all.

I think four months is a good enough gap for a lil' bump. I've gotten Chachan caught up to the MSQ in SB and am likely going to be looking for some RP, considering the alternative is likely lazy-leveling PLD on him or RDM on Gogon. I also have a Mateus duder I might start working on some more, but I'll make a thread for him once I feel he's ready. Until that point, if someone's in the mood to hang with a friendly dork of a Lala, just lemme know so we can plan something! EDIT: And if we've talked before about potential RP but never followed up on it... I'm still up for it! Just gimme a poke on one of my Lalas!

So, a thought occurred to me while listening to the theme from the final battle of the MSQ. ... Do you think the WoL will ever learn or get to do some of the crazier stuff we've seen the Echo's capable of? I mean, like, we've seen body-hopping back during Leviathan (and all the Ascians do this and they all apparently have the Echo or something?)... but Zenos literally possesses a Primal and takes control of it. Because, I mean... there's vehicle fights and stuff where you get new abilities and whatnot on a special bar. Is there feasibility in the future of basically getting to do our own Shinryu vs. Omega giant monster battle? Because the only new trick the WoL seems to have learned is that you can serve as a shield to block others from being tempered. Which is neat, and adds a new approach on "how to deal with Primals" if you have enough Echo users to pepper among your forces... but compared to WE BECOME AS (false) GODS, it's kinda lackluster.

Yeah, things are pretty good login-wise save for that forced logout period. Which, really, is only an "issue" for me during the weekend when I have the whole day to goof off in-game. And I've been using it more as a transition point - work on one Lala until the logout, login with the other and work on them! :thumbsup:

If I may further poke at a couple points... This is probably the only part of your post that's actually true. But news flash: It's also true of every other server at this point. In addition to this, housing - while useful for RP - is not a required thing. RP has happened prior to housing and, to some people, the addition of it has actually hindered the amount of "in-the-world" RP that is occurring. More people is going to mean that, as the numbers grow, you're going to see more of that regardless of whether or not they have a house. Which might just be a good thing for seeing people RPing, which leads into the next point... I'm not omnipresent, but I do know there's certainly more than that. I just now did a player search for all with this flag up and it came to 67 (compared to Balmung's 189 at the same time). And honestly, that doesn't really mean much seeing as a ton of people don't even put their flag up when they RP (I myself often don't). I should also point out that I'm fairly certain the dearth of visible RP could also be due to folks needing (or just wanting, really) to get their characters caught up with the game - either getting their transferred characters up to date with SB or leveling their newly created alts from scratch. I know I haven't done much RP with the drop of Stormblood myself on Balmung, and I'm sure there are many others. It's going to take time, but once the leveling rush settles down I'm sure RP in general will pick up all over. Anyone and everyone who's ever been on Balmung is laughing hysterically at this right now. Also, I ALWAYS am able to bypass this by hitting cancel and getting right in. There's literally zero wait time. The reconnect thing here is a pretty sound suggestion. It definitely helps get past queues of that size. And, keep in mind, a lot of people were also moving to try and escape the 3k+ queues that were happening on Balmung and the like prior to the noon-time disconnects. It may be a bit crass, but it could definitely be a lot worse. I'm a BLM main. My queue is usually no longer than 20 mins. I haven't gotten 90'kd since early access and launch day. And as stated already, you don't have a wait time to get back online. DPS queues have always been pretty lengthy due to people being unwilling, unable, or just uncomfortable with taking up the role of tank or healer. Add in an expansion that adds two new, flashy DPS to try out without new tanks/healers to go with it (something Heavensward, I think, was smart in doing), and you're going to get even larger DPS queues. Also, keep in mind that the dungeons and raids all pull from the entire data center for its members. So, as long as you're on the Aether data center, you're going to be having to deal with players from Balmung "clogging up" the DPS queues anyway whether they have migrated to Mateus or not. In addition, I can attest to not having a lot of 90k issues myself - I think I had all of one or two and that was during Early Access and the time of the Raublock. If you're having connection issues, it might be worth look into seeing if it's being caused by something else. Also, if you DO get kicked... using the cancel-reconnect trick mentioned above hopefully with help get you back in quicker. I can't speak to this as I don't do many hunts. But is this attitude somehow different on any other server???? Sincerely doubt it... Is there any proof that the people pulling early are transfers from Balmung? And, even if they are, that isn't indicative of Balmung players in general. That one person could just be an impatient jerk. I've seen plenty of hunts on Balmung where people have called it out and given timers and whatnot before pulling. Plenty of courtesy. I've seen quite a number of prices nosedive. Another point to make here is that, again, there's a lot of MSQ content for people to play through, and two new combat classes to level. Also, I don't believe the bonus XP for creating/transferring applies to crafting? I'm not 100% sure on that. In either case, like with RP... I think it's just a matter of folks having other priorities right now. Once that all settles, then people will level their crafters and their gatherers and the increased number on the server will see more supply and thus lower prices. Here's the part I genuinely get angry at. What the HELL is a "real native?" Anyone who joins a server for any reason is a "real native." Someone being there FIRST does not equate to any special rights or privileges. This attitude is revolting on all fronts. Not sure what the purpose of your post was. Telling RPers not to go somewhere when their options are already limited seems likely rooted in selfish desires of some sort. As for this bit... I'm going to take a bit of a different tack and apologize that your server has suddenly become such a focus for attention. With the lockdown of Balmung, RPers needed a place to go, so some server was going to get the influx as they decided on a new "alternative." It could've just as easily been Zalera or any of the other servers on the bonus XP list, it just happened to be Mateus due to its RP community stepping up and drawing attention to the server. So, it does seem that at least some of Mateus' RPers want people to come there and for the community to build up. Whether it's more or less than the folks that wanted to keep the small server feel... I don't know and, unfortunately, it's a bit irrelevant at this point. Mateus is the go-to now for people looking for servers to RP on. There will be growing pains. There will be conflicts, but - as some of the others have said in various tones - these sorts of things are going to happen as the server grows, which it would have anyway. At least, that was the intent of the bonus XP, right? Whether it was RPers from Balmung or anyone from anywhere else or just new players in general... Mateus was going to attract more people from the bonus alone. So, my best recommendation is just to try and see the plus sides in all this. Once everyone's leveled and settled and what-have-you... just think of the benefits. As the "new RP hub" there's going to be more RP if that's your jam. And the added population - especially with an RPer's bent for the fashion endgame - means that the MBs are going to get a lot of love too. Just keep positive, and I hope things end up great for everyone over on Mateus. I have an alt over there myself that I'm slowly working into RP-level status and hopefully he'll be able to delight your character or one of your friends' characters with his little clockwork creations.

Considering that if you have access to all the +XP stuff, you can easily get four-times XP on kills up to around level 30... I'd argue you can get a lot of difference. I got a character on Mateus from creation to done with his job-unlock in two days of after-work play. Even with the slowdown to double-and-change past 30, I could figure you could pretty easily get to 50-60 within that two week period. ... Maybe even get close to leveling two jobs decently high on a character because adding the Armory bonus just makes things even more ridiculous. I did the maths in another thread.

The Qestir do seem to have their own written language as shown in one of the Reunion sidequest lines. Traders are given a "piece of vellum with Qestiri markings" to show that they're allowed to trade in Reunion. Whether this shows that the Qestir allow for written words, or if it's simply an exception to accommodate foreign traders is up for interpretation. Oddly enough, I read into that as being more as having, like... a wax seal of approval. There isn't actually Qestir language in long-form there, just them putting their stamp of approval on someone being there. More like a signature more than anything else, if that makes sense.

I have a Qestir I haven't really done much with, so I can't speak on how I'd do it myself... But I've seen a few takes on it. One is just writing your emotes in such a way so that it basically tells the other person what you're trying to make your Qestir say. Like, /em glanced irritably at their empty glass before looking up at the bartender. It was fairly obvious they wanted the lack of drink rectified. I've also seen people use little chalkboards and notepads to just write out what they want instead... but that seems to kinda defeat the purpose for me, so I personally wouldn't recommend it.

I was just saying the analogy was bad.

Is it all that surprising? They're trying to get people to move to low-pop servers. Once the server isn't low-pop anymore, why continue to give the bonus? Then you're giving people a choice between a low-pop with a bonus and a mid-to-high pop with the exact same bonus. You'd basically be fast-tracking yourself to another Balmung or Gilgamesh if you didn't drop the bonus once the server was out of the low-pop rungs. The bonus is not getting dropped till after it's labelled as congested, and no longer allows transfers/new characters. (if I'm understanding correctly) Meaning that those characters should continue to get their bonus for at least 1 character to hit a level 60 class, no? As it stands right now it's like you walk out into your yard where your 7 kids are playing and tell them the first 4 that comes inside the house each gets 3 cookies instead of one. Then the moment all 4 kids show up inside you say "Oh okay you no longer need these" and strip them of their cookies lol. That's... a kind of a bad analogy? It's more like an apartment company trying to fill up their various apartment buildings. So they have a "limited time" rent situation where new renters in certain apartments have a reduced rent. Once they hit that threshold, they would want to drop the rent bonus for that building so that the other low-resident buildings can get some attention. Should the people who moved in and got that reduced rent suddenly have their rent inflated back up to everyone else's? No, of course not. And so, I would hope that if you had that +XP bonus, it'll last until you get at least one character up to 60. However, new arrivals to an already congested server shouldn't get it.

Is it all that surprising? They're trying to get people to move to low-pop servers. Once the server isn't low-pop anymore, why continue to give the bonus? Then you're giving people a choice between a low-pop with a bonus and a mid-to-high pop with the exact same bonus. You'd basically be fast-tracking yourself to another Balmung or Gilgamesh if you didn't drop the bonus once the server was out of the low-pop rungs.

Is that what it is? I had a feeling I was running dry on MP so much easier lately, but I had assumed it was just because I was spending more time spamming spells without having to Cleric Stance dance or something. It definitely feels weird having to hit Lucid Dreaming or detonating my Fairy just to keep my MP up.