Reth

Unfortunately I am also of the opinion that OOC achievement should at least loosely connect with the IC power and backstory, it at least helps a little bit with immersion to be noticable And equally as bad is the fact in the back of my mind it has really stopped me from diving into Roleplay in this game. My character concept is meant to be an aging, retired warrior of great prestige, and though I've leveled to 25 and leveled armor smithing enough to make a set of plate armor, it's nowhere near enough to content myself with the backstory I created for him. Now if this was my main character - no problem - I'd keep leveling him, but I'm one of those people who has a main on another server and came to Balmung for RP. As a full time worker with a partner who takes up most of my weekend I don't have the time to dedicate to leveling up another character, and that really kills my motivation to RP at all. My fault, I know, I'm just having a whinge. Love a good whinge.

I'm new to FFXIV so nothing on here yet, but I think kidnapping stories hold a lot of potential. In a previous game almost 10 years ago I played as a Human Bard who was kidnapped by Drow and taken to the Underdark, where his keepers were trying to understand the magicks he was able to draw forth with his music (Bardic magic was rare in this setting). It originated as an OOC discussion where the myself and a few select members of the Drow community wanted to RP together, but it resulted in some of my most memorable experiences roleplaying there, and a Games Master who took the role of Lloth even started a lasting storyline of hunting my character down with Driders after he escaped. I think if you're going to do a kidnapping arc, make sure it gives you potential to RP with multiple people you may not have met otherwise. I think it could get a little stale if you only get to speak with your one kidnapper.

Lilia Lia, (Sorry I'm having some real problems with the formatting of this forum, quotes are working really strangely for me) This is -exactly- the kind of thing I wanted to know before I made a fool out of myself, and I can easily adjust my character accordingly - since that factor of the character was not overly important and I can work out something else. Thank you very much for your honesty.

Thanks for the great responses all, both for the words of encouragement and the honest answers, it has given me a lot to think about and the talk about flaws helped me flesh out a whole new depth to my character's backstory that I have in mind. I was toying with the idea of having a Miqo'te male, who was raised by Hyur (for reasons I'll save as my character's secret for now), who has potential to explore some self identity development. His adoptive parents are alive and well, but he was left behind as a babe by his genetic parents for a very miqo'te-culture specific reason, so I'm going to try my best to be accurate to his miqo'te genetics and lore while embracing some awkwardly adopted Hyur mannerisms, including a Hyur-given name. I'm hoping I can pull this off without appearing cringe-worthy, and as per all of your advice, subtlety. Beyond his backstory, I think I will let his personality develop naturally as I meet new people. This thread has given me a lot of motivation, so I will hopefully see some of you in game on Balmung soon. I've leveled myself up high enough to wear an in-character appropriate outfit. I like how this discussion has developed, so any more input is welcome.

Newcomer to RPing Online here, with a bit of beginner's anxiety. With my limited experience I know there are some things that really irritate the common roleplayer, so before I get in character I've been reading up on the Etiquette provided in the help threads posted here, but I was looking for something a bit more personal from the community. What are some of the warning signs that put you off a new characters? What are some of your pet peeves? What should I, as a new player, avoid doing if possible to become respected part of this community? Some examples might be, "Oh great, another female Miqo'te" or "Oh great, another character who was orphaned with a dark mysterious past". And lastly, how do you personally find the balance between creating an interesting character without going full Mary Sue? Thanks, and sorry if threads like this is one of your pet peeves.