Aedan Marceaux

I felt this was worth repeating. Cliques exist, anyone denying it is delusional. However, cliques existing, in and of itself, is not inherently bad. They form because people enjoy the company of others with whom they've had positive experiences. They're getting what they want out of their group, so they have no need to open up their group to others. It's akin to recruiting for companies/linkshells. Recruitment is open when more people are needed/wanted, and closed when that need/want is met (and to induct the new members into the "clique"). Good points were made on both sides of this discussion, so there's nothing to regret in regards to posting it. My two cents... *shrugs and kicks the dead horse*

He shouldn't have needed darkside to hold threat. Absolutely should have had it on, regardless, but shouldn't have been necessary to keep aggro. That, my friend, was just a terrible DRK, period.

As with Valence, outside of the relic weekly quest, expert is all I run anymore. Those tome rewards, to me and many others, aren't really worth the headache of running old, generally bring content. Now, I'm not saying it's an end all type situation, but I imagine it is still a concern of theirs. The very fact that you guys are saying "they'll find a way to make people run it again" is evidence itself. Yes, I'm sure they would were it an issue, but that is still time and resources spent on "how do we make people want to do old boring stuff again" versus "what cool new things can we implement?" Of course, I'm aware there may well be separate teams on either project to offset the loss of resources a bit, but still. As to the Atma fate farming bit, outside of the first month maybe... I've not really seen too many fate parties save for the occasional few in the PF. Turns out to be more of a bandaid than a fix, really. Same with the Qarn thing. So now all of the capped players have to run it one more time... a large chunk of which are likely running it with their (likely also capped) friends. *shrug* Again, not arguing against jump potions... I personally want them. Just mentioning a possible concern.

An issue that comes to mind (and may have been mentioned in this thread already) is if people are able to jump their alts to x level, that takes their characters out of the pool of people running dungeons. Less people in the pool, the more painful it is for truly new people to get through them. You could argue that's what the roulette are for, but let's be honest, how many people do you think actually run leveling roulette every day (if even at all). I, personally, only do it now three test a week for the relic weekly quest. The same idea can be applied to fates (not that there are tons of people doing them now, anyway). Everyone jumps to cap, less people doing fates. All of that being said, omg I want jump potions for my alts.

Ten hours+ in and not even out of chapter one... I feel I've gotten my money's worth thus far. I can't speak to the story as, again, I've not gotten that far into it... but what I have encountered (with kingsglaive and Brotherhood included) I've enjoyed. Combat... is fun... but the block/parry/counter system is buggy at best. Perhaps my skill level is just shit, but I'm pressing square at different times for the same attack and still either getting smacked or rolling/dodging. There are certain things the game didn't explain, or if it did, I missed it.... such as stamina refresh. Thankfully, because I'm a nerdy collector, I bought the guide... and the guide explained the stamina refreshing technique. Driving the car (thus far) has been a little underwhelming. I didn't expect to do jumps off of landscape or anything crazy like that, but I had hoped for a little more freedom than a rail driver. Delving into all of the side quests and nooks and crannies is quite enjoyable for me... and is the obvious reason as to my being 10+ hours in and not even out of chapter 1 yet. A weird quirk to me is the respawning of "treasures" out and about in the world. Cooking items I get... they regrow... but that greatsword I picked up "respawned" an hour or so later and I was able to pick it up again. I mean... yay, now I have two of the same sword to use for Noct and Gladdy, but... dunno, just feels weird to me.

I just...this is one thing I don't really get. Can someone define clique for me in this concept? Just because a group of 2-? different people enjoy or are used to RPing with each other doesn't mean you need to address it or DO anything about it. Are they friendly to other members? Are they not alienating others? Do they hold RP out in the open, friendly to other members walkups? If they are then leave them them alone imo. Too often I see this leveled at people who just enjoy each others company when they themselves are more inclusive than the people lobbing the word around. This has been my experience with cliques as well. Groups of people that are familiar with rping with one another. In and of themselves, they're not harmful. However, when they begin, like you said, alienating others.... such as stopping rp with one person to then focus back on their clique rp.... then it becomes an issue. Beyond that, lots of good advice thrown around in here. The only thing I haven't seen/may have missed someone say is to have a website. FFXIV has very little in game to help you with organization. A message of the day that has a very finite amount of characters allowed is hardly enough to give people a clear heads up of upcoming events and keep people in the loop. Having a website of some sort (I personally enjoy enjin) can help tremendously with event planning and organization, announcements, policies (such as officer expectations), etc.

So... running A11 today... and yeah, I know it's the PuG killer so I don't expect miracles when going in there on my own... but this was just, dumb. Zone in and one of the healers says he's new. We explain mechanics and engage the boss. New healer misses the air duct to jump onto the boss. Okay, that's fine... it's his first time. He then dies again during the "hectic" phase due to standing in everything, including propeller wind. Other healer can't keep up (because the rest of the group is also struggling to stay out of bad... you know, that thing you practice doing since level 1)... so we wipe. We rehash the the mechanics, reengage... deja vu. At this point, one of the DPS mentions that being new isn't an excuse for failing mechanics and states they're giving it one more shot before leaving. Rehash once more, engage.... the healer gets on the air duct, but fails everything else. As promised, the DPS leaves and most of the group follows suit. Here's the kicker.... The healer then states, "yeah I guess I should go youtube and watch this fight" ... . . . Maybe it's just the elitist in me, but seriously? The content has been out for over a month and a person who is new can't even take five minutes (if that) out of their day to watch a guide for the fight? I get wanting to go in blind and experiencing it as though it's new, but after a month in... that's something you shouldn't put on PuGs, imo. You want the blind experience? Run it with friends, FC/LS-mates, whatever... Blugh....

This was my thought as well... teaching it to newborn/created Padjal since, I would imagine, they don't just suddenly know every thing there is to know of white magic the moment they're chosen. Either way, even if it isn't other Padjal, I would personally feel uncomfortable, still, roleplaying a WHM that was taught in this manner. It means I have a character that rubbed elbows with the leaders of Gridania and, likely, holds a high office him/herself due to their training.

It doesn't say word for word, "Oh, by the way, those chosen few... we mean the Padjal." But I do feel it is pretty heavily implied. The elementals said, "K, you guys can do this again...." and ever since the Padjal have been the stewards of the art. Edit: And it is "being revived" in their (the Padjal's) hands. It's a big leap, in my opinion, to take that to mean the Padjal are training other people. Edit 2: I can read good. "Overseeing its careful instruction..." Fair enough.

I have to echo Oli, here. I don't think any of the information presented here is particularly new. We already knew the teachings of the Warrior were being taken in by the Maelstrom. We already knew Bards were slowly re-emerging and the like. We already knew soul crystals existed and were important parts of most (or all) of the Jobs... especially black mage and white mage. If anything, I'd argue that this offers less information than what we already know from in game. Again, referring to the black mage, the whole bit that says a soul crystal is required... lest the one attempting to cast the magic be consumed by it/burned alive from it. EDIT: I will say, however, the bit about not just anyone being able to pick up a soul crystal and immediately being a master of all the knowledge it possesses is a nice bit that is new. Or, at least, new to me. Refreshing, either way, to see it written plainly by SE.

Fair enough. My sincerest apologies. I retract my statement in that regard and offer advice in its stead: blacklist is a thing, both in game and here.

I... honestly feel like I already answered those questions you asked, Caspar, but I will try to go point by point through your post in an attempt to clarify. This is not meant as offense or disrespect, just clarification for points I think you may have missed or misread. I don't feel I made a claim saying that it was.. I am well aware that those that frequent the RPC either as simply a lurker or even a poster are but a small fraction of the total Balmung (and other servers) player population. It honestly doesn't. I am well aware of players that don't even know of this site's existence that still find a lot of RP. I'm personally not sure how those are considered exceptions when they still would have the same circumstances in each case. The player in question decides to bend/break the lore in some fashion. Other players that are not comfortable with bending/breaking will likely avoid interacting with said player. Their membership to this site or lack thereof doesn't come into play, there. Those that bend/break the lore run the "risk" of running off players that enjoying staying within the lore's boundaries. And yes, the roles can be switched as has been evident in this thread and other threads on this site. "I see it more as a heads up, particularly to those that feel entitled. Namely, those that think that they deserve to receive RP no matter what their character concept might be. I daresay there are a handful of said people in this very thread." It serves as a warning to those that may otherwise feel entitled, as I stated. Forgive me, but I don't get your point here. People speaking in private about others not in their circle? This is... new... bad...? Again, as mentioned above, those that would otherwise feel entitled. I can't speak to this as I don't necessarily have evidence one way or another. I do, however, get the feeling that this was meant as a jab at myself which, honestly, I don't recall crying foul. I simply explained and clarified... and even stated that I don't expect people to agree with me. I honestly don't feel like adhering to the lore "shrinks" the world in any way, but if that is the way you wish to see it, so be it. As to who it serves? Those who enjoy roleplaying within the boundaries of the lore. Those that like keeping themselves within the guidelines and rules of another person's narrative. It is sudden and unreasonable, but it's not our world... it's SE's. As to its worth? Are you wanting a monetary value? I would argue that those that like to stick within the lore find it quite worthwhile to stick to the lore. Depending upon the player's stance on the lore, then yes... it is fair to fault them. If they wish to stick to the lore and the lore has been presented as thus.... then... yeah, it's their own fault for turning their nose up at the lore that they're trying to follow. If they don't care about the lore, then how are you going to fault them for not following it? If they don't care... then they don't care. They can have their fun among their circle of friends that don't care. Again... this leads to that whole policing/witch hunt thing that seems to be on everyone's mind. No one is going to get on and hunt people down for not following the lore. But if you claim to follow the lore, are given evidence from the people that write the lore, then turn around and say ,"nah, ignoring that." ... I don't know what else you should expect other than being told, "Hey... you're doing it wrong."

I don't think anyone will just state "You can't do that." We all know better than to say that. Problem is what actually happens on this site and has shown up at least a few times in this thread... folks will easily say "Oh sure, you can do that, but don't expect me (and sometimes 'anyone') to play with you if you do." Which is, in my opinion, actually more destructive to people's confidence. I, personally, disagree. I would rather be told flat out that whatever it is I'm choosing to do will have some sort of consequence. Of course, again, this is personal opinion. However, destructive or not, it is the truth. As you said yourself, several people in this thread alone have commented whether they would or would not interact with particular concepts. I see it more as a heads up, particularly to those that feel entitled. Namely, those that think that they deserve to receive RP no matter what their character concept might be. I daresay there are a handful of said people in this very thread. There was a post with a picture on my Facebook the other day that I feel fits this situation. The picture read, "We live in a generation of emotionally weak people. Everything has to be watered down because it is offensive, even the truth." It's not a matter of being destructive. It is a matter of giving fair warning to those that may otherwise feel entitled. A fair warning of the truth.

You will not speak ill of Xargdoon. He is a collection of Estinien's memories that were suppressed when he was possessed by Nidhogg, and created by the Ascians in an attempt to have a more controllable Azure Dragoon should Estinien break free. (sorry not sorry) I think the issue is the variance on people's acceptance of lore-bending. What the boundaries are for what someone "can" or "cannot" play, kept solely in the purview of "will I RP with them." There are some that cleave super-close to the lore, using the restriction and provided lore alone to thrive through creativity through limitations. Others delve more into the "what if" gray areas and bring forth fanciful ideas - swerving away from the lore to varying degrees. There is fun to be had all across the spectrum, especially on a server as populous as Balmung, depending on your own preferences and comfort. And there's equal chances that any of them can be played poorly, just as even the most overpowered or bog-standard character concept can be interesting in the right hands. It's just the more fanciful ones are more quickly... written off... and (perhaps rightfully at times) have a bad stigma to them. Sometimes for good reason, sometimes not. I just don't think it's enough reason to dismiss wanting to play more fanciful characters out of hand. After all, this is a fantasy MMO, right? Maybe some folks just want to play something fantastical now and then. I'm not disagreeing. Different tastes, different styles. Neither side of the spectrum is wrong, as I stated in my first post in this thread. My point with the average bit was to state that you can't take personal experences, in this regard, and turn around to claim it as whole truth fact. I was simply requesting clarification on his part, ir.. the off chance that some such study actually does exist out there. His personal experience is that he found characters that stretch the lore in some fashion are more compelling. My personal experience was the opposite. Neither is the whole truth fact for the entire server because, as you and now I have stated, different tastes. The problem that a lot of posters in this thread seem to be glancing over is that, as far as I've seen, no one has said "you can't do this". All I've seen is people with different tastes saying "you play what you want, you have every right", a few suggestions for following or bending the lore. Then a fair handful of people come in seemingly taking that as an attack..policing and witch hunts. As said in my first post, I don't see policing or witch hunts happening, nor do I expect them to start with this newfound information. And as to Xargdoon, full credit goes to the sister thread with regard to the 11th dragoon.

Honestly not trying to be an ass with this question... but where do you get this "average"? Is there an actual documented study out there stating as much, or is this your personal experience? Because, on average, in my personal experience, those players that have stayed within the boundaries of the lore have created far more compelling stories and interesting characters than those that stray off to, for instance, be the 11th dragoon.

My oh my, so many topics touched. It's difficult to know where even to start. Firstly, I don't think anyone is trying to police anything. Granted, I may well have missed something among the many posts that veered this way and that, but all I've seen, to paraphrase the thread in its entirety with regard to "dragoons: yay or nay?" was the OP posting a capture of a snippet from the lore book, and people either refuting it or saying "well, this is the lore, now." I don't recall reading anyone saying, "Dragoons, you MUST follow this or the RP Police are coming for you!" Now, personal opinion... I do think it a bit silly that so many people are attempting to refute or work around what is stated while still claiming to be "lore adherent" (I'll touch on this a bit below). This book is written by the people that created the game you're now playing within. It's their world and their story, not yours. If you wish to call yourself "lore adherent/abiding/following/whatever", then it stands to reason that you should find a way to work within this newfound information, rather than around. That being said, if you choose to ignore it, as has been said countless times in this thread... not everyone has to agree with your decision. No, there won't be a witch hunt, but there will likely be people that deny you a chance to RP with them or write off the encounter with your character as an encounter with someone who is mad. Onto the point of lore adherence: McBeef made a good point, one with which I completely agree... the very existence of your character within this world (again, SE's world, not yours) is lore bending/breaking/grey area (for the purposes of the rest of this post, I will refer to it as lore breaking). You are inserting your fanfiction character into a narrative that is not your own. That being said, where you go from there is entirely up to you. You can either a) acknowledge the fact that your character's existence is as stated above and try to keep that as the only time you lore break, keeping yourself as best you can within the known lore, or b) acknowledge the same and continue to lore break whenever you find it convenient for your personal fanficiton within another person's (people's) narrative. Here's the secret: Neither option is wrong... and honestly, no one is policing it outside of their own personal circles/companies/linkshells. At least, I've yet to see any policing happen here or in game outside of those particular areas. As to "special snowflake" being considered mean... well... that's a game of context and semantics that all bases itself around opinion... so... yeah. Now, to the topic at hand: Those who have roleplayed dragoons that wish to follow the lore stated within the book... there are several options (certainly not all of them) that come to mind as possible solutions. SE uses the word "normally" when describing the amount of dragoons in active service. Since they don't go into detail as to when a "normal time" may be, that 30 likely could have been +/- any number during the time your dragoon was alive. Claim to have been one of the 30 +/- that the book states. With the end of the war, it's now down to 10, most (if not all) of which have been named/seen in game. a) This means your character could have retired for any number of reasons: age, injury, no longer needed, turned to adventuring, etc. b) Your character may have run off for any number of reasons: flat out fear, political upheaval within Ishgard, etc. c) Your character is dead. d) Flat out retcon. Does it suck that SE slapped this down? Yes. Of course it does. But that is the danger of roleplaying within those grey areas of the lore... once light is shined upon it, you need to react. You can either react by adhering to the lore and doing one of the options listed above (or one of your own creative devising). Or, you can choose to ignore it and continue to push your own fanfiction into another person's narrative. Either way, I have serious doubts anyone is going to go around on a witch hunt, policing what you do or don't do. I have strong faith that large majority of the community will do as stated above: choose not to RP with you, or write off the encounter as an encounter with someone who's mad.

I'm just waiting for the inevitable swarm of "elitists" to come in and make it a server rule. "Ermagerd! You're not using the icon! You're not doing it right. I can't RP with you!" Sure, it's a nice tool, but I honestly think that people are already (day 2) getting too serious about it.

To be fair, that pull is rather annoying as a tank... in terms of "mechanics". The rogue doesn't move until he's done doing his stealth crap... and the mob on the far right (caster? archer? never paid enough attention to what he's doing exactly) doesn't move either. The only mob that moves is the one in the center... and the other two are spread too far apart to hit with -insert aoe threat move here-. So, depending on the decisions of the DPS (and possibly healer) in the group, that pull can get out of hand pretty quickly. Personally, what has seemed to work best for me thus far as a DRK, is unmend the rogue, then quick tab target to the middle and lunge, then drag the middle to the right and unleash. Eventually, assuming the DPS didn't go apeshit on it, the rogue joins the rest of the group and I'll unleash once or twice again and it's smooth sailing from there. Not calling you out by any means, but it really is simply a small matter of patience on that pull as everything is spread out so much that it's a bitch to get snap aggro on everything as a tank.

Just ran it again last night and it was vote abandoned at Ozma. Coming up on two weeks now where I haven't seen the end. I would love to post a cheerful thing like you, but again... as Gegenji mentioned above, the positives aren't as salient as the fact that I've not found a group able to clear weeping city for two weeks. Experts have been going fine beyond that.. nothing special, just fine.

So apparently Wiping City is holding true to its name, now. I feel like groups are doing worse now than they did on launch day. I haven't gotten past the second boss in about a week and a half now... It's really quite depressing since I only need one more penny for my plans...

Our doors are currently closed to new applications as we're reworking the company a bit and trying to settle real life issues and schedules. Still feel free to look over our site. We may open recruitment again in the future.

Depending on character gender, some of the Scion gear in the cash shop may help you in this endeavor as well. Papalymo's arms. Yda's feet. (although her attire is set as one piece, as opposed to Papalymo's which is separate) Otherwise, moonfire, allagan, alex/midas or ironworks are probably your best bets. At least best that comes to mind atm. Edit: Some parts of the darklight pieces look a bit "plate-like" as well.

Plenty of personal development, plenty of events, plenty of RP! And now that our newest recruits are inducted fully into the madness, we're ready to snag some more people for the madness! Our doors are open again! We're looking for those adventuring types to join in our madness of getting leves, hunts, and various other contracts done for the gil and good of Eorzea! If interested, head on over to our company site and take a look at what we have to offer then throw up an application if all sounds good. Any questions can be directed toward Roderick or Eerika Blackstone in-game, here, or on our site. Thanks!:moogle:

Man oh man the recruits just keep coming! We've had another very successful recruitment drive and have a good handful of new recruits that have joined the family. As such, as of this post, our doors are closed for recruitment. This is to promote healthy relationships among the members we already have before we drown ourselves in a sea of unknown faces. Recruitment may open up again in the future, so if anyone is interested in joining the insanity, do feel free to hop over to our site and look about. If you like what you see, feel free to toss up an application. When we're open to recruitment again, we will look over the applications in the order they were received and start sending out tells. Thanks all and happy hunting! :tonberry:

Apparently I live in a trashy part of the world... getting non-stop Rattatas....