Lydia Lightfoot

Fwends are also acceptable! I'll likely be on Lydia for quite awhile tonight, though, rather than Marsazio, but I'll be on him starting around 9pm Pacific time. Of course, Lydia likes to meet people too, so, hey, either way! xD

Last night was so funny - Marsazio has been staying at the "airship port inn" in Ul'dah, because he disliked the rooms at the Quicksand (he's said they were sticky... which... probably). There's no such inn we can get to in-game, but there're counters there, and it makes sense that a big hub like Ul'dah would have a small inn right there at the port. Anyway! Several times that he's met new friends, if it's my last RP of the evening he's invited the new friend to have ice cream at the cafe there, since it's become something of a routine for him. So last night, he saw a couple of people seem to have a big argument, and thought it would be nice to cheer up the one who'd seemed downtrodden by it. Upon asking the potential new friend, though, she and a friend she was with informed him that strange men asking unknown women if they want to come with him somewhere to get ice cream is weird. Marsazio was just like... what's weird about it? Ice cream is awesome!

o7 Thanks for looking into everything!

Beast & Barrel Tavern is decorated nicely but no host nor patrons as of 9:11 Eastern on Sunday, 4/15.

Kick it up a notch. Make another one on another server and make a tumblr for it and go around pretending everything you're doing is what he's doing (which is what you're actually doing). Layers. Layers and layers.

Just imagine that you're one of the writers of those old Forgotton Realms novels, and think about how many idiots he probably heard about out there writing roleplay about their totally super cool character Dryhzzz't. Dude just rolled his eyes like pizza pies and moved right on from it.

It's like... roleplay inception... the guy is roleplaying you roleplaying your character...

C-c-c-combo breaker! Marsazio had a conversation with a hyur last night, thus ending the chain of "for some reason, only miqo'te characters seem to approach Marsazio to make friends". He was starting to wonder if maybe he smelled a bit like tuna or something... One of his new friends did this very excellent digital "sketch" of Marsazio, which is meant to be an IC drawing that their character did... after having met him. I don't know why. Maybe a bounty? Well, he hasn't done anything bad, as far as I know, but it'll be neat to find out. Still looking for more new friends, of course!

Oh hey, it's Haname! Marsazio met her last night. Glad to see you settled in well on our server!

It's how you can tell when you need to plug your au'ra in for a recharge. The ring gradually changes from blue to green to yellow to red. When it starts blinking in the red stage, you'd better get to an outlet, stat.

Recently, Marsazio learned that there are two different kinds of miqo'te, and although he learned the superficial differences between them, he's found it challenging to try and tell which type a particular miqo'te happens to be without coming across as impolitely staring at their face. Awkward! He also discovered an odd sort of food called a "cakewing", which was... well, some sort of buffalo wing but also cake. Strange! He'd also, during a game of "challenge or revelation", discovered that people of Eorzea will in fact sit on a pie if they're dared to do so. Hilarious! Marsazio's been having an excellent time meeting random new friends - though I've yet to have any who came from here at the RPC. Don't be shy! He's a bit odd, due to being foreign, but he's a cool guy!

Oh, I forgot to put a picture! Well, it's not very good, since my good laptop's still not back yet... but here's one from my "meh" laptop. Sorry about the terribad lighting!

A key difference between Aeva and a ninja, though, is that a ninja can probably hit somebody with a thrown brownie. Yay, inside jokes!

I have a new character, and he's looking to make some friends! I'll likely set up a basic wiki for him eventually (but I'd rather spend the time doing RP). His name's Marsazio Eshem, and he's a hyur wanderer recently arrived in Eorzea who's come all the way from Ivalice (though since we know very little about FF14's version of Ivalice, he'll be reluctant to share many specifics about his homeland, for as he says... "Things there are dangerous and uncertain, and I would be remiss if I inspired urges toward tourism at this time."). I've been playing him for a few days now and he's made a few contacts, but I sure wouldn't mind more! What's he like? Well, Marsazio is a jack-of-all-trades sort who keeps his stomach full during his travels by doing odd jobs in the places where he arrives. He'd say he likes to help people and doesn't expect much in return - usually a roof over his head for a night or two and some provisions would be fine enough. He doesn't have any magical aptitude, but he's intelligent and worldly just the same, and can defend himself with scrappers' competency with a sword, knives, and barehanded. Though he can be a bit reserved due to his uncertainties about the local cultures (and not wanting to accidentally have any misunderstandings), he's good-natured and likes games, jokes, and general mischief. Oh, and he has a beard, because men with beards get a +1 on Handsome skill checks, and that's just science. Currently not looking for rivalry/antagonistic contacts - I'd rather he get better-established first. Flail at me if he sounds interesting to you - you can flail at me here, in-game, or Lydia#8192 on Discord.

You guys could always exchange Discord info, maybe?

No staff/participants are at Mandragora Munchies, 7:17pm EST 4/7

Just a bit of holiday hiatus, but the Reliquarian's Guild is definitely still around (and zipping into action once again now that we're through the annual December slump that happens with RP groups).

Community: "We want a better glamour system. The one we have sucks super hard and eats up all of our inventory." Devs: "What if we give you 20% more inventory?" Community: "I mean, that's kind of useful, except I have so many glamour items on my retainers that it really doesn't solve the problem, it just means I can carry a few more of my glams without needing to run back to my retainer." Devs: "Well, we'll overhaul the glamour system, then!" Community: "Hooray!" Devs: "Here you go!" Community: "This... is the same glamour system, mostly, except now it wants to permanently eat items. Which, okay, I guess that means I can go to my retainer a little less often again, but then the glamour thing isn't really very flexible... why not just retire the existing system altogether?" Devs: "You're welcome! :)" Community: "That isn't really an answer..." Devs: "Please look forward to it!" Community: "To... to what?" Devs: "You're welcome! :)"

Aw, I was supposed to get an interview... and then forgot to bring it up... and then time passed... I'm glad you guys had fun while it lasted! That's quite a stretch of time to keep it going, and really well-done of you all to manage it so long!

I'll echo some of the others - there's a big enough pool of roleplayers that there's literally never been a day where if I went to one of the major cities and ran through I didn't pass by total strangers who were RP tagged or in a <##-RP> FC. I think the problem isn't a lack of newcomers, the problems are instead: 1. Lack of support for content providers by non-providers. What Maril said is true - the players who are content providers will feel discouraged and lose enthusiasm if they begin to feel as if their effort to host activities for others isn't appreciated. That doesn't mean they want a bunch of praise and ass-kissing, it just means that it becomes the responsibility of the non-providers to either find the time - make the time - to show up at some of those activities, or, provide feedback to the content provider as to why their activity isn't drawing their interest. Else, the inevitable outcome would be that the content provider may feel as if they're wasting their time putting effort into things people don't seem to care about, and then... maybe they stop. 2. Loss-paranoia among FC leaders. Every FC leader out there is going to be concerned about other FCs trying to recruit from them, since the existing players are our pool of players. I run an RP activity group which is open to anybody from any FC (or no FC), and while we have an FC structurally at our core, I make a point never to solicit anybody to join said FC (and participation is open to anyone, so there's no "incentive", either). However, nearly every effort I've made to try and coax interest in getting involved with the group, out of leaders of FCs, has been met with this... fear I guess is the best way to describe it, and at worst they've outright declined to become involved, and in the best case I get indifference. Guys, you're going to have to not be insular if you want your FC to thrive in the current conditions. 3. Sentimental attachment: I've seen this one kill more players than anything else. This is where an FC is clearly dying or dead, but the individuals in said FC cling tenaciously to their continued existence in said FC. They even acknowledge that it's going nowhere. Its time has passed, the leaders aren't around, there's no activities going on, etc. Arguably, from an exterior point of view, they're getting literally nothing out of continuing to be a part of it, and they certainly seem unhappy. Their own enthusiasm for the game and RP in the game is waning because their friends in the current group have been dropping off... and yet they won't branch out. They won't consider that there's dozens of other FCs that are active that they could join. The current one might become active again, they'll say. The leader claims they're going to be coming back soon, they'll say. So-and-so and this-other-person are just a little busy with RL and they'll be active again in a few weeks, they'll say. Yet time and again, I've witnessed this to turn out that the ones who are gone don't come back, and the ones clutching to that hope end up just eventually fading away themselves. Players, do yourselves a favor - cut the sentimentality, for your own good. If your FC isn't making you happy, find a different one. Remember! Being in a different FC from your old friends doesn't mean you can't still also RP with those old friends too. I roleplay regularly with people from a dozen FCs. You can too. 4. People transferring off of Balmung even today: Stop it. Stop it right now. By all appearances, that's a one-way trip forever and there are players out there who would love to be able to play on Balmung and literally can't (and likely won't ever). If you really want to quit the server, that's okay, but please, please, please consider the option of not transferring, and instead consider the option of trying to reach out to the community to find out if there's somebody who has a friend who wants to play on Balmung who can't, who might be interested in trading accounts with you. We have the means now, for cashbux, to bypass most leveling and most of the story. There might be a player out there who's interested enough in Balmung that they'd be willing to get you a brand new account with a character who has an MSQ pass and several level 60 jobs. They might be willing to buy said character Mog Station outfits and emotes and so forth. Yep, it'd cost them quite a chunk of money to do that, but for some players who just want to be able to play with their friends, that might be worth it. All of that said, I will point out: We are almost certainly heading for a server split. They did it in FF11, so they have precedent. Stats on Balmung have shown that although the active population has lowered, we're still nearly double their volume for an unlocked server - and the majority of those who transferred off did so during the queue and 90k woes immediately following the launch of Stormblood, and they had incentives for transfer. Transfers off are basically a trickle now. There's no logical outcome for us at this point but a split. Do yourselves a favor and don't pretend that it's not going to happen. Avoid being surprised by it. Expect it. Plan for it. Stay tuned to the community so you can be aware of the general consensus as to which server the other roleplayers are going to once the split comes.

I'm not sure what to say regarding RP on Ultros - I've honestly never heard of it having any sort of RP community, though I imagine just about every server probably has a small handful of players on it who like to RP. I play on Balmung, and if you have a character there still, you're welcome to check out my social group, The Reliquarian's Guild, and come poke your nose into some of our activities and general RP. I'm not sure what experiences you had on Balmung previously which caused you to, as you say, "halt your efforts", but I can say with certainty that the community is definitely large enough that it's very possible to have widely varying experiences just depending on which chunk of that community one happens to become involved with... and, with a community so large, it's likely that if one chunk didn't work out, another one might, and the two chunks may very well never end up overlapping.

Please don't transfer off of Balmung - there are players out there who'd love to be able to play on our server and can't. Consider trying to work out a trade with someone, there's probably someone who would buy you a new account (and probably level boosts, etc) in trade for the one with Balmung characters, so that they could have fun with friends of theirs on Balmung. Once a character is transferred off they can't ever come back, so even if you didn't trade accounts with somebody, you might one day want to play on Balmung again and it wouldn't be an option if you transferred off.

I play a straight halfie mid/high hyur and I get lots of RP (and almost none of it is people trying to get in her pants). I'd say that's not a reason why you aren't getting RP. Maybe you're just getting bad luck and ending up finding players who aren't a good match for your interests? You're welcome to come check out what my guild has going on, if you'd like.

Hello Zofia, welcome back! If you're looking to make some new friends, consider checking out the Reliquarian's Guild (linked below). There's no FC-joining requirement in order to become a member of the guild and participate in our activities, and we're always hoping to see new faces coming by.

Feel free to reach out to the Reliquarian's Guild if you want some help catching up on what you've missed - but we're on Balmung, and, I don't want to hijack this thread. I'm only mentioning it since you'd asked about seeking connections. If you opt the route of checking out Mateus, I can only wish you luck and lots of fun!