Gegenji

... You know, there's a type of screenshot I haven't seen in ages around here. AFK-catcher screenshots. Finding someone AFK (or AFK crafting) and just taking a screenie of them, usually from a goofy angle. Quite difficult from the low-camera angle of a Lalafell without aid of a mount or something similar. Obviously, it isn't something that shouldn't be done all the time - it'd be kinda rude to the "catchee" if they start feeling like they have to always been on guard to avoid being "caught" - but they were something I remember enjoying back in the earlier days of the RPC (when it was all in good fun, of course). I remember a few folks having a sort of competition going on with trying to catch each other in increasingly out-of-the-way spots. Good times. Anyway, I have taken a few such shots - though not nearly as many as were taken back during the hay day of such things - so have a Sounsyy (from back during Early Access even!), Delial Grimsong, and a Zhavi.

Given the location (Ishgard), the big bad in question could very easily be a Dravarian considering the whole Dragonsong War effort. They're big, powerful, tend to require a lot of effort to bring down, so having people hunting it and/or requiring help to do so would certainly make sense. And even with the whole resolution of the War at the end of Heavensward, it's still stated that those of Nidhogg's brood are still out there causing problems. This could be one of them! Alternately, a powerful Voidsent is always a good fallback for power monster. Either summoned, snuck its way across the Void somehow, or a previously bound one that has been released from its servitude/prison. While not part of Black Magic itself, summoning Voidsent was a big part of Mhachi proceedings in bigger and bigger bids for power... so that could tie the Black Mage into things.

To delve more into the matter, if my assumption and recollection is correct (which it probably isn't)... since you can't do such things as burn or freeze or shock or anything like that without aspecting your aether, you're just left with what aether is at its base - life energy. So, manipulating that means diseases, pathogens, and decay. And if that's the format you're sticking to, then it's not too far-fetched to believe that the Arcanists would hone and improve on those techniques. So whether the specialization is intentional... or that it's a restriction that they simply chose to embrace... is hard to say. Then again, as I mentioned, I could just be horribly misremembering. :lol:

Welcome! And, I think it actually got mentioned in the Umbral/Astral magic debate earlier... but I think it had something to do with the fact that Arcanima (the magic Arcanists/Summoners/Scholars use) does not use elements like Conjury/White Magic or Thaumaturgy/Black Magic. It's "unaspected" aether. And so... somehow that turns into pathogens? Something like that. However, I don't know if there's actual lore in-game that references this stuff or if it's extrapolation based on theories by the players.

Chachanji as an NPC... my mind immediately imagines him having a spot somewhere in the Armorer quest lines. Either the quest-giver, or someone who plays part in the training like the Kugane smith in the 60-70 quests. He's normally kind of reluctant to take on pupils, but the Warrior of Light would likely special snowflake his way into getting the little dork's assistance. Blanstyr might be there too. Gogonji, though... would be more tricky. I would see him as being an interact-able (or perhaps not) NPC that you would see just sort of "in the background" for a lot of the major military operations that take place during the story. Never directly identified or pointed out, but there nonetheless. If he did have his own quest-line stuff... I could see it going two ways: a.) Utilizing the WoL's presence and status to basically serve as a distraction while he and his do some covert information-gathering and sabotage and the like. "You just... go over towards that Castrum and do what you do best: drawing attention and causing damage." Or, b.) Actually have the player doing some more covert, information-gathering/sabotage stuff themselves. This could likely work if the character is a job fit to either tactical or sneaky stuff like Scholar or Ninja. Though, given his ego, it would be a chain while you effectively have to "prove" yourself to him. "We'll start you off with something simple: go and observe the enemy movement patterns and report them back to me. Don't screw up." ... Judge would just be in a leadership position for any PvP area. Being unnecessarily loud and interjecting if anyone does anything rule-break-y and flinging cards at them. Would likely just be RP-walking on Bench on an eternal path around said area.

Really, given how the situation played out... it doesn't seem all that surprising that M'rahz is taking M'zhet under his wing. Not as a Nunh, but as the leader of the tribe. He's thinking to the future of it, and he sees Zhet's tenacity and resolve as potentially good traits to have. However, Zhet also needs the strength to claim the title of Nunh and then hold onto it. What's interesting to muse on, however... that even if Zhet does ultimately succeed and claim the title of Nunh from Rahz, Rahz could technically still serve in that leadership (or, at least, an advisory) position while still a Tia. After all, with the apparent respect Zhet has for Rhaz now, I'm pretty sure their final challenge won't result in death or exile or anything like that. So, rather than having double-duty like Rahz has now, Zhet could handle the Nunh duties while Rahz carries on being that inspiring leader. That honestly would be an interesting tribe to see, really. One where a Tia is effectively the leader, but is not the best choice for Nunh. The other option, of course, is that there is a Seeker matriarch who is the leader. Or perhaps even a council of elders sort of situation.

Yeah, that'd be awesome! Let's set something up! Wow, didn't expect such a quick response, haha! :blush: Anyway! I'm all for setting something up. Just lemme know what times are good for you... or you can always give me a poke via PMs/chat room here... or if you see me in game on Chachan or his older brother Gogonji. :thumbsup:

Another protector of others! Yay! Chachan might make for a good friend, I think. He's all about protecting people and - while he doesn't do it as directly as he used to in his somewhat childish rush into Paladinhood - he current does so via the high quality armor he crafts. So, while he might not fight at her side (though he can still scuffle if needed, he just doesn't like to die to his inherent pacifism), he could help with armor crafting and general equipment maintenance! ... if she's likely to frequent Ul'dah or Limsa, of course. And can handle his cheerful, if a bit worrywort, personality.

I expected less reception but I was tired when I wrote that. I have one question: Is there any other way to RP? Does it have to be in game? Just a thought, of course. It's still closed cause of 4.0 release. I find it funny.:!: Welp, I tried that....Didn't turn out too well, oh well. Heh, anyway, I've been on both but Balmung is too many people and Mateus when I was there was no-mans land. Just wish there was a group in Exodus to do this with. There ARE other options! The Town Square here on the forums has frequently been used for play-by-post RP (though it's kind of quieted down as of late, doesn't mean you couldn't spin something up!), and the RPC chat system has rooms dedicated for RP that are also being criminally under-utilized. On top of that, people have had some degree of success RPing over Discord and/or Skype. And, if you really want to get fancy... you could technically put together a cross-world group and go into a dungeon or something similar with interested parties to do RP there!

Thanks so much, everyone! I'm exciting about getting started! It's just that... I can't log into the Wiki to make profiles for some reason? I thought I did everything I needed to? :< The wiki is linked to the RPC, so use your login credentials here to access there. Then, to get started, just do a search for your characters' names. There won't be anything, so you'll get an option to create something. You should be good to go from there. :thumbsup:

Oddly enough, I don't have any "long-lasting" characters. Though, that's mostly due to me having so many different character ideas kicking around that I always have something new I want to try - and the setting of whatever I'm RPing in (or even just the available classes and feats) can generate more new ideas. So, the length of the character's "survival" tends to just depend on how long I have been playing that particular game or system. So, by that logic - even though I never really RPed with him - the longest-lived character is probably my Night Elf Hunter in WoW. I created him back in Vanilla and didn't really hang him up until around the end of Pandaria - though I did take some large breaks from the game, like a good few months to a year just before... whatever expansion had Icecrown Citadel - the one with the Death Knights. For longest RPed character, it might actually be Chachanji! I mean, I've been playing this game and RPing as him for... what, three years now? Not quite as long as those who have honed and adapted a single character across many a system... but not too shabby!

I may be mis-remembering, but is the small village-y place near there also part of that Castellum? If so...

If I recall correctly, MUDs basically were kind of the precursor to MMO-style games. Or at least RP in MMO-style games. As such, I don't think SE would even consider a "backward" step like that, especially for such a small niche group of its player base. Sure, they provided the RP tag and lore material, but developing a whole extra (if outdated) game specifically to cater to that group? Doubtful. That said, there's nothing keeping us from doing something... somewhat similar? The RPC chat has multiple room options marked as being for RP - and you can even make your own custom rooms (and password lock them if you want to do a private scene without someone barging in). So, while it's not a MUD, it's still another way to do RP without being in game... along with the Town Square section of these forums, and other external communication options like Discord and Skype (if anyone uses Skype anymore, of course). The idea that SE would make a MUD, unfortunately, strikes me as horribly unfeasible.

I do like that description for AST healing. Just don't activate any trap cards on us. Also, I do believe AST gets Redraw in the HW-levels, which should help a bit with the card RNG. Plus there were some other changes (specifically to the... Arrow and Spire, I think?) that make them more useful... so less cards should be "dead" cards and you can take another pull if you get something you don't want. :thumbsup: Plus, AST is apparently like the best healer right now, I think? So you'll be in a good place once you're all caught up.

Quoting someone tends to give them an alert that they've been messaged, so doing that would likely help grab Verad's attention. Anyway... If I'm not mistaken, you really can't just Duel people out in the open like you can in WoW. You'd have to go all the way to the Wolf's Den PvP area in La Noscea if you wanted to do that. ... And even then, that is less a show of your character's skill and aptitude and more your own personal mechanical skill at the game. Furthermore, the PVP move sets for the various combat jobs are different from what you use in PVE, so there's the additional mechanical knowledge of how to specifically battle in the provided PVP environment. And that's not even getting into the PVP meta of which jobs do better there than others, especially in a 1v1 situation. It just adds what I feel is an additional requirement to the RP situation that doesn't need to be there. You can't just say you're a solid fighter, you have to have honed PVP skills to "prove" it rather than portraying it via writing like everything else in RP. ... Of course, I suppose at its basest level even creating character sheets and learning an external system like FATE-14 or Sasarna's DnD-Lite is ALSO an additional requirement that just as easily might not need to be there. So, in essence, using the in-game dueling system (if any) to show combat prowess is just as good as any of the other systems in that it has its uses but also has its flaws.

I was not properly utilizing Samurai's Blood Gauge to maximize my phat deeps. And two of the combo finishers add additional Blood Gauge when done from either behind or to the side. I was unaware of this. However, SAM is still not DRK or any other tank so they should still not be hanging out with you in front of the boss. Or running around pulling things for you. (I literally don't know how DRK works past 60. I just pulled up the DRK wiki, saw they had an energy gauge thing too, and ran with it for the sake of the joke.) :blush:

Welp, I've been properly schooled. I looked up a "proper" damage rotation and that confirms the burning the 3-Sen for Kenki to get a bunch of Shintens oGCD. And I honestly never noticed that two of the three combo finishers actually require positionals for bonus Kenki. Go figure. At least I do Meditate during phase changes. ... Thaaaaat all said, "in front" is still not one of the positionals, so SAMs still shouldn't be sitting in front with the tank eating cleave damage.

I guess, but again - as you agree - it's not something you should actively be taking extra damage to use. If you have situations where you can use Third Eye to get it to proc, then by all means you should try to get that in there. I try it all the time with the final boss of Temple of the Fist and the aforementioned Omega fights. But purposefully running into stuff and eating cleaves and the like to get extra procs is where I draw the line. Also, turning the 3 sen into Kenki is more valuable than doing a Midare? What? I mean, the +60 Kenki is useful and all... but is it really worth dropping a potential 30k-ish single target hit for that? Maybe if you have Guren off cooldown, but otherwise I don't think I've ever really been so low on Kenki that I needed that big of a boost to it. ... Maybe I'm just not spending enough of it. Either way, that's a discussion for elsewhere, I think.

That's literally it. You see castform shapes when you present equipment in the various crafting quest lines. And yet you have no way to do a similar thing and show off equipment in your house. Terrible for those RPers who delve into those roles - can't show off your work! This is already confirmed: Oh, awesome! Less terrible art from me then. :lol: ... Unless... hm.

That's literally it. You see castform shapes when you present equipment in the various crafting quest lines. And yet you have no way to do a similar thing and show off equipment in your house. Terrible for those RPers who delve into those roles - can't show off your work!

I'm not much of an artist, but I may have something I might sketch out for this... a housing item I've wanted for a while now. Though, to be fair, it's technically something we've seen in game already, but it's just not something you can make and have in your house/apartment/FC room. I'd just include a screenshot of it from one of the many times you see it, but I doubt that'd count. :lol:

I think "I'm gonna tank like daddy!" SAM may be a trend in the player base. I usually run healer in roulettes, and more often than not (more often than DRG and BRD even!) if one of the DPS is going to need extra healing, it's the SAM. Usually it's because the SAM is standing on top of the tank soaking up all the big frontal hits and will not move to the rear of the boss like a sane person. Do they have directional attacks that make them think they need to be there? As someone who is now currently maining and enjoying SAM... they have no directionals, no. What they DO have is Third Eye, which you can activate just before you take damage and reduce it a bit. It also has a couple follow-up abilities that activate once you'd soaked a hit, but they're super later in the levels: Merciful Eyes (58) is a small potency self-heal and - what you'd really be using it for - Hissatsu: Seigan (66), which is a 200 potency attack you can throw out if you have the Kenki energy for it. And, apparently, it's a belief for some SAMs that to maximize their leet deeps they need to be activating Seigan as often as possible. So they stand in stuff they really don't need to be standing in to eke out that extra bit of damage. Which, frankly? I find pointless and more likely than not going to be having you short on Kenki for the important things - like your evasive moves or boosting your Midare damage. What I do with Third Eye-Seigan is use it for those unavoidable AoE attacks like... Dimensional Whatever that's used by all the bosses in the Omega raid, for example. There's no need to be standing in unnecessary extra stuff, especially since for 10 Kenki more (aka, at max level, two more combo hits) you can do a 300 potency attack (Hissatsu: Shinten) that doesn't require you to eat an attack. It should be noted, of course, that this is all under the belief that you have Seigan to begin with. In Crystalis or Hullbreaker NM (or even HM)? You don't have it, so there's no reason to try being a mini-tank. At all.

I was unaware such a bug existed... :surprise: But anyway, my two cents on low-level dungeon tanking as PLD is to basically do your MP combo with Flash as your "finisher" on group pulls. That way you can keep spamming it and keep from running out of MP. You won't do great damage, of course, but as long as the enemies are beating on you and not your DPS/healer, they should be able to handle that part.

I think I quoted my Trial roulette today pretty succinctly in an LS: [18:12][1] That feeling when you realize you need to do Caster LB on the tear in Chrysalis because your SAM melee DPS is running around trying to soak meteors like a tank. I seriously watched the guy run PAST the tear and towards one of the falling meteors instead. I don't even know. Also, got Hullbreaker NM for my 50/60 to lazy-level BLM. Got ANOTHER SAM, but this one decided to do a different tank tact and pull EVERYTHING on the island right before the last boss. Got the tank and himself killed, and we only got out of a full wipe because I kited everything around while the healer rezzed the tank and healed me a little with each pass while I kept aggro with Swiftcasted Flares until the tank had peeled off enough of the mob and killed it that he wouldn't just drop dead again. Is it Idiot SAM Night or something?

I could see a couple reasons why that could happen? Not sure if they are the actual answer or something else, but, I feel it could've been possible that... They were developing some level of OOC attraction, and were upset to find that the gender of the player didn't match the gender of the character? There's some manner of personal belief that playing the opposite gender is bad, perhaps due to known situations of males playing up female characters to get attention and items? Perhaps they just aren't quite able to separate the player and character, and the idea of romancing (or doing other things) with a player of the same gender squicks them out a little? Those are possible explanations that just readily pop to mind, of course.