Kismet

It's been said already but I'll echo it for emphasis -- yes, Zope has the right of it.

I'm a little confused. If Blue Mage is never released as an actual class in FFXIV... then what?

It is very hard to make a character that does not have at least SOME traces of yourself in them. YOU are the one playing them. If another person were to take over and play the same character, the result would not be 100% the same. With that being said, most guides I've seen or tests I've taken that are meant to help writers and/or RPers gauge if their character is a Mary Sue/Gary Stu or not? They tend to suggest that you don't make your character too much like yourself. If your character is "pretty much you", then that's usually a red flag. This is just my two cents that I wanted to throw out there. As for my own characters... Hmm. Y'raja has my sense of sarcasm. Astrid shares my love of adventure, passion for cooking, and fondness of swimming. Finally, Lhei definitely gets her superiority complex from me.

I have to add this as second theme song for Y'raja, because I suddenly remembered it a moment ago. This is totally her with relationships (especially the bridge). :lol: p7bDv4lWzQQ

[align=center]~13th Sun of the 1st Astral Moon, 1572~[/align] Oh, Ingrid. You bare the rare gift of Black Magic. I was quite young when it first surfaced within you. You were around fourteen or fifteen, so I was nine or ten. A freak accident is what many at the Thaumaturge's Guild called it... Mutyro, your mentor, and a large portion of the room around him in any direction. Frozen solid underneath several layers of ice. Your fingertips looked frostbitten. Mutyro's expression forever fixed into that of a silent scream. Everyone's eyes were wide with shock, including mine, but none were wider than your own. Who could ever anticipate you would possess such an abnormally large mana pool that you could pull off the long-forgotten spell of Freeze, let alone that you would even know how? You lacked the control and focus of seasoned Thaumaturges, despite being the top of your class. Luckily, this is also the reason that Mutyro did not die, bless the Twelve. I feel that it is, at least in part, my fault. You innocently showed me the amazing new ability one lazy afternoon, demonstrating by freezing a flower and the surrounding patch of grass. You thought it to be an unimpressive improvement upon a simple Blizzard spell. I convinced you to perform it during your next performance review. Neither of us had any idea that Ingrid's attempt to freeze an entire barrel of water before her beloved mentor would turn into... Why do I recall this story now? Five years have passed and you have changed much. You climbed a ladder no one else could dare to tread, mastering spell after spell. Discovering or learning dark art after dark art. The look in your eyes when you practice your magic now is not the same as it was when we were little. You look kind of scary now. I wonder if you would get mad if I told you that. Is... Is that how I look whenever I wield a sword? I always thought Lamont was only joking when he said stuff like that, but... That event of freezing Mutyro, despite its horror, garnered massive attention both negative and positive. Teachers whisked you away for hours or even days on end, gleefully watching as their new guinea pig tested theory after theory. I disliked this greatly, but you did not mind. I could not object if you were willingly participating in all these experiments and intense lessons. Meanwhile, I could not even conjure a puff of smoke, let alone a fireball. You and I have always been on completely different wavelengths, haven't we? Besides our blood and our knack for magic, there is only one other thing we share so closely, word for word. Our love for-- [align=center]~[/align] ((The final half of the sentence has been scribbled out so violently that the paper is torn.))

You should be proud! Your simple question gave birth to a brilliant conversation that has spanned several subjects that are at least within the same realm of your original post! That's quite an achievement!

This x 500. I don't care if SE supposedly says that they want certain pieces to look "iconic". If that's truly how they feel, they shouldn't tease us by having NPCs strut around in multiple colored versions of the Acolyte's Robe and whatnot. (It's not endgame armor, but the general point still stands!) Making several colored textures for the same piece of armor is NOT difficult. *starts grumbling too*

Booooo! @ the joke More seriously, Midlanders have like... maybe two 'long' hairstyles, but they're not as long as the female Roes' two longest hairstyles. =(

Just the size, the color's okay. =P

I love the female Roe style. That's sexy as hell!

I like this idea! You get a gold star! The only feedback I have to offer is not on the idea itself, but rather your posts... The formatting of your font is a huge strain on the eyes. =x (I knew if I didn't say it, somebody else would've...) Also R&D means research and development...

[align=center]~24th Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon, 1577~ [/align] [align=center](10/23/13)[/align] What... What am I doing? It is early morning now and I awoke holding that girl... Holding Alice in my arms. We are at the Hermit's Hovel near the Floating City of Nym. I did nothing untoward, I swear. But, my memories of the night prior are vivid in my mind. The feeling is still burning in my chest, my fingertips, my tongue. I am stroking her cheek as I scribble this... For some time now, I have wanted to kiss those lips. And last night, I did so. Alice confessed to me that she was falling in love with me. Are 'falling in love' with someone and 'loving' someone two different things, two different phases of being in love with a person? I am unsure. Some would say it is, some would say it is not. I tried my best to deter her. I feigned ignorance, acting as if she only meant the claim in terms of friendship. I had no choice but to address the situation directly once she worded it in such a way that was impossible to deny. I admitted to her that I had no idea she would be so persistent. I... kind of turned her down in a roundabout sort of way. I needed to focus on my job. I cannot date my employer's client. Is that not indecent? I must stay professional. Mixing business and pleasure is not a practice that typically ends well. Not to mention that my past... I just... I do not want Alice to get involved in any of that. I do not want her to be sickened by me. Anyway, it is no surprise that things between us quickly grew awkward. She did not take my reaction well and considered ending our contract. We could not just pretend that entire conversation did not happen, despite my pleas. We took shelter within the unclaimed house from the heavy rain, sitting on the bed next to one another in silence. After a time, I began to tremble. I did not know what to do. I was going to lose my friend. I would never see her again. Why did she have to become so attached to me? What if I die? What if I accidentally hurt her? What if... Seeing me shake, Alice climbed down to the lower floor and sat at the desk, quietly crying. I could not bear it. It all felt so stupid. I am asking myself questions that do not need to asked. I like this girl. I like her so very much. I had been falling in love with her myself all along. Am I being young and impulsive? Oh, definitely. Do I care? Not much. We could not go back to how we were. It was this or nothing. So I walked up, demanded that she stand, and pulled her close to me. I told her what I wanted and she allowed me to kiss her. And so we kissed... and kissed... and kissed. I wonder if I got a bit carried away? I found myself teasing her in the beginning, before it progressed to something rather steamy. Kissing her brought out the most raw, unrestricted part of me... For a time, the animal within me arose. I did not have to be this polite, selfless knightess for once. I could be greedy. I could be rough. I could make her tremble and whimper before the passion of my touch. I made her succumb to me, belong to me. I called her a demon, a witch. She had done this to me. I was not myself. No... That is wrong. I was more myself than I had ever been in a very, very long time. Alice asked me if this meant we were officially dating. I said yes. ...I only hope I do not regret my actions.

[align=center]~6th Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon, 1577~ [/align] [align=center](10/6/13)[/align] Thirty-two suns have passed. I never... How could I imagine that a person could surprise me so much? In such a small amount of time? Alice opened herself up to me one day. It was the second time I had ever brought her to the Sanctum of the Twelve. She adores it there. We ended up speaking of many things, mostly about me. Alice wanted to know so much about me. My interests, my quirks, my thoughts, my habits, my childhood. Pray do not get the wrong idea. It was not invasive in the slightest. I found it charming, much like her. I find myself talking to her freely. No one I have ever escorted anywhere before was so curious about me, let alone actually found me worth speaking with. The fact that she knows nothing of my awful sins likely plays a large hand. However... I cannot describe it. I can be myself in a way unlike before when I am at her side. I do not feel afraid or restricted. The only anxieties I ever possess are worries of impressing the girl. Worries that are needless. Alice is rarely, if ever, displeased by anything I tell her. Me? Amazing? An odd conclusion to hear one draw about a woman such as myself. Alice's nameday will be four suns from now. I very much want to give her a nice little present, but I am going to be busy during that time period. I am considering forging her a pair of earrings, but my goldsmithing skills are mediocre at best. I really love having her as a new friend as opposed to just being some charge I never talk to, so I want to show her my appreciation!

I personally think designers can figure out how to continue to motivate players who've already unlocked things in a system that would've supported account-wide unlocks. It's not impossible. *shrugs* I'm sure there's other games that do it just fine.

A handful of you are much braver than I, because you have openly voiced things about the whole "nobility rarely handled with sensibility" thing in a way that was very appropriate. I didn't want to say anything myself because I was quite unsure that I could do so while still sounding open-minded and/or while lacking hostility towards the matter. That aside, I suppose I could sum a lot of my feelings up as... Play what you want. No one can dictate what you do in that regard. However, I just wish people would do SOME research as opposed to none when it comes to jumping into these sorts of things and just making assumptions.

I wanted Y'raja to have a theme song that invoked feelings of either traveling or storytelling... So I eventually ended up choosing this. It was just so appropriate. It totally sounds like the kind of song I could imagine her singing collaboratively with other bards. (Actually, most of Y'raja's "life soundtrack" would probably consist of Abney Park songs. I love them.) Bnv6P2cVq1Y For Astrid, her theme song is heavily tied to her past (and the secrets she's keeping in regards to it). The most I can say is that she has issues with bloodlust, but at the same time, she won't let that stop her from doing anything she can to protect others. E0DaEIQeySk

It's also really sad because Coerthas is, in my opinion, a GORGEOUS zone. It's so absolutely beautiful to me. But the quests that happen there. God, the quests... They make me hate that place so, soooo, sooooooo very much. :evil:

I understand what you're saying, but I only used Copperbell as a random example. Perhaps I should've said Stone Vigil or something... But the point I was originally trying to make still stands. While I highly doubt that it is the norm to skip that much stuff, I honestly would not be surprised if there are people who mostly did FATEs and side quests all the way up to lv 50 without completing a large percentage of the main storyline. I mean, my WHM is almost 50 and I haven't even started the chain of quests that lead to Garuda yet... If doing a bunch of bland, run-around story quests weren't in my way, I could do it right now. <_<

Think that's the Coliseum set out of Dzemael Darkhold. Now we know what Elezen like to wear into combat... >.> I know what it is. I found some of the light armor before and sold it for some decent gil. My question was an IC one.

There shouldn't have to be a main storyline-tied reason for a dungeon to exist in an MMO. It can and should have a story, yes. But does it have to be part of the main story? No. MMOs are about content and demonstration of mechanics more than presentation of story, even in MMORPGs. It's supposed to be an MMO with RPG elements, not an RPG with MMO elements. Skipping quest dialogue doesn't change the issue. Just the fact that I'm forced to fight a strictly story-related boss fight and cannot move on at all through the content until I do so, is (in my opinion) unnecessary. And, frankly, kind of silly. I never said that quests should not be in place at all as a 'gating system' for reaching new areas and whatnot. Although, to answer your question, one possible thought is that you could simply make it so that all dungeons have a level requirement for entry and that's it. But that's too simple. No one wants anything just handed to them, right? Perhaps there is a quest line one must go on specifically for unlocking that dungeon. Or perhaps you must find a certain item that drops off a mob and use it as an entry token. These are far from the best ideas ever, but at least it would not block a level 50 player from doing Copperbell Mines for example just because they didn't finish their story quests. As niche as the games you mentioned may or may not be, FFXIV doesn't fit that mold. FFXIV does not have a marketing campaign of a hardcore, ball-buster game. Why? Because it's not one. They want to cater to everyone from the diehard MMO vet to the fresh-off-the-boat MMO newbie. XIV is not aimed at some teeny-tiny niche group of players who have never seen the light of day and want a game that will break their soul. SE knew that kind of harshness is exactly the reason why FFXI turned some people (myself included) off. XIV, in its current form, is a much more accessible game than XI ever was.

I think you misunderstand. No one is saying that the story should not be there at ALL. As you said, this is a FF game. People expect story. But we cannot forget that there is an MMO element here as well, and people play MMOs to experience content with others. If something is holding the player back from experiencing said content with others, then doesn't that defeat the purpose of playing? We also must not forget that not EVERY FFXIV player is necessarily a FF fan. Some may have never even played a FF game before, let alone an MMORPG. As a business dealing in the MMO market, you must cater to a much wider audience than you would with a single-player game. SE is well-aware of this. They've made an MMO before and they're not stupid. I'm not saying that this is something that will make or break the game. It's obviously not. However, I think that finding ways to mix the main storyline with ANYTHING the player decides to do (without shoving it down their throats or using it to hold content hostage) is a very possible thing and not too far-fetched of an idea to grasp. But that's just me. Could not have put this better myself. My feelings exactly.

I didn't mean to imply that I thought you meant anything you said objectively, either. I know what you were getting at, I was just tossing my two cents out there on that. The effort/popularity thing aside, I personally believe that the gothic subculture doesn't have as large of a following in the present day. That is, not when it comes to teens. Gothic culture (as we know it in 2013), is no longer what it was thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago. From my experience, I've seen less and less teens as traditional goths in the current day. (They're still around, of course. Just drastically less in number that the amount seen in the early 90s.) In the past decade, not necessarily otaku culture in particular, but geek culture seems to have taken on a stronger presence in the current day than goth culture has. Mind you, I'm still only talking about teens as the audience here. However, I can only speak from what I've witnessed. Perhaps it's different in certain parts of America, or in different parts of the world. Maybe there is a stronger following than I know of and I simply haven't heard of it yet. *shrugs* Back to the flavor of the player base thing, there is a correlation between a high number of teens and stupidity, but neither causes the other. Perhaps we'll be lucky and if there is a strong teen demographic for the WoD MMO, they'll mostly be mature ones? Who knows.

Dat plate bikini. Is that supposed to be a costume? Or does she actually charge into battle wearing that thing?! :lol:

Skipping the cutscene does not make it so that you do not have to the quest itself, though. Skipping cutscenes will not magically grant you access to dungeons or primal battles. All I'm saying is that I feel that it would be really nice if the developers made it so that players had a variety of ways of unlocking the same content. You'd have to put in the same amount of effort, but you'd have more than one way to go about it.

Emphasis on story is absolutely fine. But if I wanted to be force-fed a story, as opposed to having the choice of experiencing a story or not, I would go and play a single-player RPG.