Myal

I... I'm honestly impressed you managed to whip out that image so quickly... We are!

The twist is: "roda" is actually an Indonesian word as well. Haha. In any case, great list! I always think that Indonesian words and names are very fitting for a fantastical setting. I was this close to using my real name for my character, but then figured that it'd feel weird.

Wait! I thought now is 2:30? Is it that daylight saving thingie in effect? [EDIT]: Aw, it is, isn't it? I'm sorry I didn't make it...

I thought... I thought this was for Saturday... Yar, it was for Saturday where I am and then the time got jumbled up in my mind then I thought it was for Saturday there and... I am very, very sad right now.

Can't wait! I'll go with Fulala, a level 19 MRD.

I... detest this. I actually quite like FF XIII, and I don't hate Lightning. But somehow I really, really hate this. Perhaps I just dislike dimension-hopping elements in general. Yes, I know it's not unprecedented and yes, I'm aware that this being FF, there would be a perfectly logical, convoluted, FinalFantasy-ish reason for it to happen. So yes, this might be just an irrational hatred on my part. Oh come on, are these really necessary? I am well aware that I need to "deal with it", but these dismissive gloating are not helping.

Most are probably old players. They were quite a few Japanese players in Besaid.

Yar, actually, I don't really know about the trend. Hopefully there are room for various styles.

Mm, note that I completely disassociate the "story character" from the "RP character". I agree that the story character is a great warrior, a small percentage of a small percentage of the population. However, Myal the RP character is not that. She doesn't have dangerous encounters on a daily basis. She'd probably never see Ifrit all her life. If by some creative writing she actually met him, she'd probably be an enslaved drone, useless on the sidelines (so invite me to these events at your own risk, haha). Frodo is an extreme example, of course, but it's still an example of how a weak character could survive, no matter how he survived it. Myal is by all means not Frodo. She's good enough to beat an unskilled bandit in a one-on-one battle, but would most likely lose when outnumbered or ambushed. She's competent enough to not be a hindrance in a crowd battle against a random, large beast, but would probably run away when things go south. If this was an action movie, she'd be the one who knocks the strong bad guy from behind while he's busy fighting the strong good guy. Surely (I hope) this style of RP is a valid choice? Aa, then I agree. Provided they are talented and/or hard working warriors.

With respect, I feel that the main scenario quest of 2.0, as revealed so far in beta 3, does make it pretty clear that there are many such people. They are, however, a minority of adventurers, who are themselves a minority of characters in the game world. That minority, though, is written such that it includes all PCs. I don't really get that impression, though? Could you explain a bit more? We do have a spoiler tag! Sure, untrained people would have higher chances to die in this dangerous world, but I'm sure that the majority still survive. Else how could society persevere? Sure there are hundreds of people who died in epic battles, but surely hundreds survive, too? Does that mean that all hundreds of them are battle experts? That's the point about Frodo, though. Our character is the main hero of our own story. There could be many reasons why a character could survive mortal, dangerous odds without resorting to "they're just a natural born warrior", just like Frodo. And anyway, Merry and Pippin survived, too. I'm not saying that he'd be ridiculously slow with a dagger. I'm saying that he'd be slower. And that he doesn't really have any reason to do so, considering that knives have served him well. NFL players learn MMA to gain edge in the field, but would a skill in axe-swinging lend anything to a knife fight? You said that an MMA athlete outperform others who only train in one particular style, but aren't they all hand-to-hand combat? Wouldn't a person who is skilled in sword arts be better served in learning other various sword styles rather than suddenly picking up a lance? Bear in mind that I have nothing against those who want a character that's proficient in multiple weapons, especially if it's related to their livelihood. I'm just explaining the rationale behind a character who prefer to just hone their skill with a single weapon.

Doesn't that just give more ground for the idea that players learn class/job skills easier than non-players? If the quest lore even acknowledges that we as players can learn skills that would take a normal person years to learn, and it only takes up a few weeks or so, then it would stand to reason that the game already justifies playing a character who has unlocked the potential of all guilds. This is coming back to the story/RP segregation discussion, isn't it? I consider the "story player character" and the "RP character" separate people altogether. There are of course this particular, special person who could learn year-long skills in weeks. There's nothing that suggest that there are many of such a person, and my RP character is not one of such amazing geniuses.

Aaa, but if a rich man goes bankrupt he ceases to be rich. When a count goes poor, he's still a count.

But isn't Ul'dah a sultanate? There should be a concept of nobility there, even if only for show and title. Though I do consider royalty "nobles".

I'd love to be a part of this!

Considering that the whole WAR quest is about stopping a character who fails at being a berserker despite having a lifetime of training as one, I'd say it's pretty hard. Also, people in the PUG guild quest make comments like "Whoa, it took me years to learn that!" Mmm, I don't think having an Echo automatically means that you are good at battle. There are some non-combatants in the Path of Twelve, after all.