YesGood

And you don't even have to do-- I should specify again-- a direct walk-up-and-say-hello. Yes, that's awkward and it rarely happens IRL unless it's at a job fair or something. I recall all the times I've ever started a conversation with someone. Looking over in a book store and seeing someone reading a book I like or overhearing an order in a cafe and asking if that drink is good. If you tend to hang around a place that's of interest to your character, like the market or a tavern, the docks or a training ground, other characters might have similar interests. It's another reason I feel compelled to start up a training LS. Just a group of individuals who spar against one another and form connections with expert and novice fighters alike to keep their skills sharp. Anyone who'd be interested to watch could hang around there too. But I'd be much more likely to start it -after- meeting people in character who share such interests. I should also mention that when people say they don't like seeing closed groups and they're scared to walk up to people, it's not helping to promote just joining an LS or an FC -JUST- to make it easier. Emphasis on the 'just' there, because people who rely on their groups for contact often either end up forming cliques, unintentionally, and only show up when their new friends are about RPing or they feel neglected because LS/FC-mates aren't giving them the RP they joined for. While LS and FCs are great, if you can't build up the courage (not to say you can't have help but practice does contribute a lot to building up your self-esteem) to attempt walk-ups, then you're probably not going to be able to contribute as much as you'd (or your guild leaders) like to the overall LS/FC purpose. Guilds consist of like-minded people and your officers and such can be DMs and they can outline the guild plot and organize events and they should be making sure all the members are happy but it's an equal-part members contributing to the guild itself by going out and working towards the purpose and actively getting involved with one another rather than hoping that their leaders will come get them. That, of course, really only applies to joining an RP LS/FC, not for OOC ones. I've just seen people try to join guilds for RP because they feel like they'll have more of a chance to get attention and character develop and friendships but they end up feeling neglected and leaving again for a guild they think will do better for them.

I always find myself typing too much too. And honestly, it's great when you're in a pair or a small group where you don't have to worry about A. Washing other people's RP away with a wall of text and B. People responding too soon or not waiting for you to finish. I love my multi-para RP, and while sometimes I'll get into a mood where I can match others for their one-liners or three-liners (no offense to those of you who choose to RP that way; I -do- understand that with an avatar and /emotes and the environment already there for you, you can skip all the superfluous details), most often I sort of... gently encourage others to meet my pace. As often as one might feel obligated to post less, others can be encouraged to post more. It does good, I think, to give others a reason to 'step up their game' so to speak. For all of you that are shy IRL and afraid of jumping in with people who might be too fast-paced or elitist or too busy to even acknowledge you, I should say that I suffered the same feelings, especially in WoW. I always felt like the best RPers, who wrote the way I did, were paired up or in House guilds (And I was terribly bored of Elven Houses in WoW), going along at their own little pace. While they -claimed- they'd accept walk-up RP and such, most often they were just OOC until they met up with a bunch of their friends. I was terrified of even being on a forum; that people would decide they didn't like me here and it would carry over into character, based on how highly opinionated I can seem at times. I avoided all the forums until now. But really, like in WoW, I realized that I just have to keep putting my character out there. She's a fantastic character to me, although I'm a little biased, and I'm not a terrible roleplayer. I know this. And I'm sure many of you are confident in your skills, just not in the reception you'll receive from other players. I'm not going to say I hate people that ignore me because I understand many of them are caught up in what they're doing or they're busy. That's not their fault-- whether it's because you're with friends and you've got tunnel vision or you're just not 100% focused on others, you're going to fall a little shy of the super focus on every single line or paragraph that -might- be focused on you. There are plenty of people, I'm sure, roaming around who'll walk up to you any time or take your walk up and you'll make new friends. It's important, regardless of whether you decide to meet up with people via pre-arranged meetings OOCly or you join a linkshell to try and break yourself of the fear. Be bold. Don't wait for people to come to you and don't be afraid of what will happen when you go up to them. They're just characters in a game with people behind the monitors, writers just like you. If they don't like you or they snub you, let it roll right off your back and keep going because there are other shy people out there like you who might not be able to get the reinforcement you can get from the RPC, who deserve to be RPed with too. For those of you afraid that you're not going to be able to keep up with large groups, I actually did something in SWTOR that helped me quicken my pace a lot without sacrificing the size of my posts. I got a Cantina job. I know it sounds cliche and so many people are like "Ungh, I hate tavern RP" but when you're working as a waitress or a bartender, you can write big posts and acknowledge people, help them build their characters and hone your ability to acknowledge multiple people without making them feel like you're rushing through them. It's also a good way to keep up to date on events with RP characters and make good friends. You don't need to have a super social character to do it, just one that wants or needs a job or who is mildly interested in seeing how others are interacting.

Ro there~ I was reading this and vaguely recalled another thread relating to time? There's some more things on there, but maybe this would help, too. http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=454&highlight=ilm+fulm+ponz

Welcome! Hurray WoW-players! I think a lot of people aren't 100 percent on the lore yet; I'm not and I've been hanging around, reading like a crazy person for a while. I -have- played other FF games, but rest assured that the only one(s) that have anything in common with this are FFXI and FFXIV 1.0 (And FFXI isn't really connected, lore wise, but all the character races were pretty much the same). Nothing from the older FFs are really connected to one another, with a few exceptions. You'll still see the Cactuar and the Chocobos and the inevitable Cid but otherwise each is unique so that should make things a lot easier. If you have any questions people here are happy to help. Rolling a Hyur that's young and possibly inexperienced is a great idea on how to discover the lore OOCly as you do ICly or in game, IMO. So, again, welcome~

Laellia and Asyria -- You guys were right. (Mostly Lae, only because she suggested I call around more.) I was pretty tuckered out this morning but I called a Gamestop a ways off and they told me they'd sent that last copy over so they could gut it and put it up on display. (ARGH!) I called back today, got the same guy as yesterday who was extremely excited to tell me that the person who'd wanted to buy it right after I called yesterday evening read the specs on the back of the box and realized their computer couldn't handle the game. He'd decided to keep it in the back for a while and sure enough I called back. So we went and picked it up. It was already open because of the whole 'gutting' thing but otherwise everything was there. Noooow it installs. Thank for very much for all the support, it seems as though mah luck has changed.

Thank you guys very much~ I've been held up by Garryson's and I think I need more details about Lothaire but then I should be bueno.

@Laellia - If I were in Baton Rouge that would totally work. Q_Q But I live a quarter mile from my front gate and a couple miles from my nearest neighbor so... *sigh* But I could beat them up and take their chickens. @Penniless - I suppose it's all I can do, really. I was just so excited and it was ridiculous that we were only fifteen miles away from the place and we couldn't drive over there for two minutes for me to buy the game. ARGH. @Rock- I've seen some Sword Art and My Girlfriend, but not the first two. Heard some good things about Attack on Titan. Guess I will watch teh anime and do teh sketches I promised.

Europa - http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=3026 Is for EU players, apparently. Intermission - http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1902 is another OOC hub. You can also check the linkshell directory http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=15&filtertf_srvr=Balmung and look through the ones for just Balmung. I hope this helps but I may have been braindead.

Fankyuu. Q_Q <3

So I got a new, swanky computer, I have internet, I have arts, I made a gigantic character wiki (considering I didn't play Siobhain back during the original)... I finally convinced myself to come back, I got enough money, and I got all excited. No digital downloads for sale. Okay, I can deal with that, it'll only be a few days before stuff starts to get fixed, right? Nope. Okay... Well, I guess I can put together a bit of extra cash and go buy the hard copy. Amazon is out? And Ebay. Aaaand Target and Wal-mart. Literally every Wal-mart within 75 miles of my house. Things are beginning to look a bit dire. So I call the computer stores and the Gamestop. One of the two Gamestops three towns over got -one- copy in for the PC just a few hours before. They'll hold it for me for a couple hours but people have been buying them out, still. Can't go right now? That's okay, let's drop the groceries off at home. Thunderstorm. Maybe they can hold it over night? First thing tomorrow I can be there. Oh, well someone is already there that wants to buy it, so if I'm not coming in today, so sorry... *rubs forehead* Thunderstorm concludes after an hour and a half. Today was just a very disappointing day. Does anyone have -any- suggestions on how one might procure the game other than sucking it up and being a big girl?

Hrm... Wait a second... This Sin Darius? Ignore how terrible this picture is since I drew it back when 1.0 came out.

It saddens me to absolutely no end to know this is on Gilgamesh (because I decided I'm going to Balmung).

The Mentorship thing looks like it'll be great. I feel inclined to join it, even though I've been RPing for a long while, just so I have access to help for FFXIV lore that I'm not 100% familiar with yet. As others have said here, walk-up is intimidating. I've been shot down so many times, it's depressing. At least in WoW they had the add on MyRolePlay which flagged people as RPers and showed whether or not they were open to walk-ups and in character (assuming they updated it, which many did, religiously). So, there's a few ways to approach it, depending on you and/or the situation. 1. Write up a 'troll' post. Trolling, in this case, by the definition rather than the common usage. If you're in a tavern or you're in the middle of nowhere and you think there's an RPer nearby that you'd like to RP with but you don't want to ask them OOC and arrange it, try writing up a post to show that you're an RPer. Siobhain Surtsthalwyn comes to rest from her long journey against the nearest wall. She mutters something to herself loud enough to be overheard, the tone of her voice belying her exhaustion. "Every gil... He took every gil." As though on cue a rumbling that carried farther than even her words sounded from within her toned stomach. The thunderous noise died off too slowly, turning her already pale carmine skin a deep red in mortification. (Some characters are kind enough to take this as an opening to walk up and offer some kind of aid at the sounds of hunger or concern overhearing she might have been stolen from. Admittedly, though, Siobhain is kinda huge so anyone who could successfully steal from her, most probably don't want to get involved with.) While maybe not a great post since it's an example, this is 'trolling' for me. It would draw, likely, someone's (who was within range and not terribly distracted by something else) attention. Many 'good' or 'lawful' or maybe even 'flirtatious' characters might be inclined to approach, for the reasons above. This might actually be a bit too subtle for some people, but when I'm up in the air about trying to RP and I don't want to go into OOC-zone, I'll post something like this that can catch the attention of another person. If they ignore her? She goes on her way. No harm, no foul. Most importantly, it's not something I have to retcon in the event no one notices it, like... a sword sticking through her gut. 2. In some cases, like taverns mostly, people try doing something similar but they don't give any reason for someone else to walk up. If a character plops down in a chair and buries their nose in a book, chances are, no one is going to interrupt them unless they recognize them. However, if the character looks up after a while and focuses on one RPer, looking them over none-too-discreetly and paying attention to his or her conversation, he might find a reason to approach them or the constant, creeper staring might catch their attention. Be careful of overhearing whispers, though, many people consider it meta-gaming. 3. And of course, your other option, as per other suggestions, is to send a PM to the person and make sure they're open to walk up and not AFK or something. Either way, I like to encourage people to be bold, even if their character's aren't the super social type. Find a plausible reason to walk up to a stranger-- what caught your eye about them in the first place?-- then go ahead and dive right in and don't be embarrassed if they're AFK or OOC or sad if they don't include you. Good RPers love when they're approached and many are too shy to approach others. Like K'nahli's example, you can leave a good impression on someone, even if they can't RP right that second.

Lol! I'm glad someone feels the way I do!

I've recently decided to go back to a bit of GW2 while I wait for digital downloads to become available (because I don't want to risk buying a hard copy for extra money and not being able to play anyway). So is there anyone who's playing on Tarnished Coast by chance?

Dis sounds good. So far, with one of the takers I got to RP with members of a very nice FC on Balmung through skype. It was going great for Sio (or as great as it can given her personality) until... like... half a dozen Miqo'te popped up and she had to beat a hasty retreat before her head exploded with the cuteness. Her platonic affection for Miqo'tes is an -actual- weakness. Like... a crippling, handicap-type weakness. I knew I wanted her to like it so RPing it to contrast her otherwise extremely serious personality was very fun for me. I realize, in the future, this could probably get her killed as not all Miqos are kindly and cutesy and some would probably stab a Roe in the throat just to say they could. This... pleases me...

I would like to do that, methinks. Sio and Aysun must meet somewhere someday so that maybe, just... maybe... one Miqo will let that big ol' Roe rub her ears without fear of being outed for a crazy ear fanRoe.

I am suuuuper happy you like it, dear, for I was a-feared you were going to be all "ARGH! WHY'D YOU MAKE HER LOOK LIKE A MAN'QOTE?!" I dunno if anyone even looks at this thread anymore but I'm open to doing three bust shots in the same style as Aysun's above. I'd like to see how this style goes because it's pretty comfortable for me and I'm enjoying it. If you're interested in having a character used as a guinea pig and you've got some refs or a post up in the 'reference for fanart' thread, go ahead and tell me here and link away. I'll see what I can do. If they're easy enough I might be able to squeeze out a few more. Warning: My male characters look kind of strange; prepare yourself, emotionally, for some possibly wonky male toons. Edit: So I got three takers in like... the span of two minutes. So I'll open up three more for a total of 6. 1. Lothaire - Character under... reconstruction? 2. Garryson - Complete 3. Ursula - Can't work on this one until a screenshot, some references for the hair, or at the VERY least, a hair color is given. Sowwie. 4. Bea 5. Xenedra 6. Otte You'd be doing me a grand favor by putting up this stuff here for my easy ref: 1. Link to the character wiki or a fairly accurate screenshot 2. If you don't have a wiki up yet, any additional details from the collar up that might not be included on your in game avatar (a dozen earrings, a pierced nose, etc.) 3. If you don't have a wiki, the eye color because screenshots are sometimes a pain in the butt 4. Whether your character is masculine or feminine or extremely androgynous. This usually helps me out a bit and prevents me from making super girly men when it's not appropriate and vice versa.

I dunno what's happening to me, my females have become manly! Maybe it's because of the perspective or maybe it's the flat colors. Either way, I tried to do this in PS and it gave me an error about how I didn't have enough RAM to save-- so I screen shot-ed it into Paint. Apparently it's not a good idea to use an inches x inches canvas or something? Maybe it's because it's the freebie version. Sorry if I butchered her, Aysun. Q_Q

I also like this. I wish any game with racial factions or main cities had some written-out laws, because you have to assume in order to maintain some form of peace, they have to have 'do's and 'do not's.

Welcome! I've never played 11 myself, and though Tera looked really interesting I never did get a chance to try that either, but I hear that 14 is really only like 11 in the basic race department. The Mithra = Miqo'te, thing, and so on. The lore is pretty fun to learn though I, personally, am having some issues remembering all the names. I hope you enjoy yourself and if you ever have some questions that I may... though somehow I doubt I will know as much as so many others here... be able to help you with, feel free to poke me any time. I think you'll enjoy the community here.

If I recall, the hype for SWTOR was pretty good too, and that was... well... it was TOR. I think they had good reason to believe despite how many people were talking about it that it wouldn't be as great as success as they hoped. People -surely- would've still had preconceived notions and disinterest just because of what happened with 1.0. I'm sure they thought they were well prepared for everything and only realized they weren't when the huge number came flooding in. Kudos to them. If the game is good, after all is said and done and the floaters are swept away in the sea of 'WELL, THIS ISN'T WARCRAFT', they'll still have a, likely, large and stable player base. So long as no catastrophes happen between now and then.

Welp, since I still can't buy the game, I've done the best I can do with the budget allowed-- in the character creator. I find that while I thoroughly enjoy the male Hellsguard nose, the female version sometimes bothers me. The little patch of dark skin on the underside of my favorite nose doesn't reach back as far as I'd like. I dunno. The males look like lions, the females look like Gerudo with funky spots on the bottom.

Aren't they worried about how many people who are already playing or who haven't started yet getting too frustrated and leaving early? I mean, I imagine they must be and the game's only been out for what... a week and a half? But people are impatient. It seems like the cross-server thing they implemented on WoW which may exist in FF, would just help out so much with not having to worry so much about how many servers you have. I don't think anyone expected like twenty new servers, three just seems like such a small number, right?

In theory that would work but it depends on the bugs. A lot of the problem here is the volume of people. You can't test the floodwalls when it's calm as glass outside. And you can't find the bug fixes if people aren't finding the bugs for you. And you can't find bugs or bug fixes if the entire server is turned off. True this is what the betas are intended for but since we are past beta, they really can't fix the problems without the servers being online. You're right. It just seems like it would be easier to try a fix then open the servers and let people come in, if not, do it again. It just seems they're getting hopes up and trying to micro-correct it in tiny increments so that the servers might be able to hold juuuuust a bit more after the last person gets in there. I know that's impossible and ridiculous of me to think. ^.^;