Teadrinker

If Leveva is handing out soulstones there's been nothing to indicate it nor would she have any to hand out cause it was just her and Professor Mace who had permission to be in the realm. I tend to fall into the camp that the art would likely require one else you're probably looking at a lifelong journey to attune to all of the gates and have a limited spell repertoire unless you get expedited though it for main plot reasons I.E. Kyokuho. Even having a Soulstone, the WoL still had to attune. This all pretty much falls into that 'conjecture' zone, people will play it how they wish.

The orchestra version of Revolutions is so much better than the version with Susan Calloway I didn't even recognize it at first. I'd ask how Baelsar survived but at this point does it even matter? Maybe it's not really him. Maybe everyone is body-snatched. It's a little too easy to summon primals these days. I remember joking with some folk that how neat it would be if Yotsuyu actually got her memories back and ended up stabbing herself and we get a seppuku emote at the end of the MSQ. So when she pulled the knife out I was like "Oh damn, I was joking." but tbh I'm really pleased in the direction it all went. I really didn't expect SE to have it in them to pull the proverbial trigger like that. Loved it. Her entire primal encounter is the best one since Thordan/Nidhogg imo. Not really because of mechanics but because of the story the fight tells while you're doing it, holy shit. I was just flat out impressed, it was beautiful. Yotsuyu woke up when she saw her parents at the Castrum. She went back because she genuinely wanted to give Gosetsu his persimmon. That slayed me. There are a few things that are clunky about her story. Pacing, delivery and all that. But gauging it alongside most of the stuff Square delivers she's one of the best characters they've written in...at least a decade in my opinion. Loved the primal fight, loved the twist at the end even if it would be nice if anyone ever stayed dead ever. The ending of Stormblood and the last 2 patches pretty much placed the bar 6ft under so it's not hard to exceed but I haven't felt this good about an MSQ since 3.3. It's not as good but it's nice to at least feel some hype again. I liked the direction they went with the player piloting Alphinaud in favor of telling more of the story vs. WoL does/is present for everything. If it makes the story more complex and opens doors for things like supporting character development and worldbuilding then I need this, give me more. On a sidenote, it's nice they expanded on wtf happened with Zeno's body because it's been a bit of a funny headcanon that while everyone was singing at the end of Stormblood, Elidibus was behind them grunting and hauling his body into a portal and hoping no one noticed him. Also how did Zenos cut his head nearly off and now he can spea...eh yanno. Whatever. Additional sidenote/edit: The villagers all tolerating Yotsuyu cause little girl says she's not scary was pretty eyerolly and made no sense considering the extent of her crimes. That was probably my least favorite part. I think it would have been much more powerful if they'd all spit on her or something but tolerated it cause Hien is their Lord. She was written to die at this point, would have added another layer of tragedy.

It's never easy discussing powergaming with people and in my experience, which differs from Franz's, they take offense almost every single time. More often than not they know they're doing it but get super embarrassed about being called out, no matter how delicate you are, so they tend to flip that embarrassment it into anger at you. Clearly you're the one at fault and just squashing their character even if you're just trying to get them to tone it down a little so other characters actually have something to do. The following is just the "My Opinion/Suggestions" train with no brakes. I'm not sure of the context here but if this is your FC then establish standards and enforce them. Not everyone will like it and not everyone will be a fit, that's just the nature of the game and RP. If it's not your FC then it might be time to find one that is more in tune with your preferences. If this is just a plot you're running then hey...it's your plot. There is a caveat here, if you're in a generally lore abiding FC and want to run a FC campaign that is bending lore all over the place then don't do that. You're asking for trouble. Play that out with folk who are on board and don't push headcanons on people. I've DM'd things and had to tell people no for various reasons including the one you've cited. Like your character is a magitek engineer, why is he trying to roll for knowledge on black magic, stop it. Or sometimes someone who's shined a bunch messages me something and I'll just say "Let's give X a chance to try and figure this one out." I also actively message the quieter people, especially when I drop a clue that is of their flavor and urge them to try and speak up. Sometimes people just need a friendly nudge to get over the shyness. Personally, I'd be massively disinclined to acquiesce the specifics of what you described if only for the reason it turns a group plot into a solo campaign and that's just...the very definition of powergaming. As far as the opinion train goes, if a character gets gutted with a sword and suddenly sprouts an arm with an CNJ staff in it or something I'd...well first I'd probably stare at my screen for a few minutes. And then I'd politely tell them no and perhaps this campaign isn't for them cause we're not jiving on the same wavelength. Figure out what tastes work for you though and stick with it. Eventually, you'll find a group of people who are on the same page and these problems will generally cease to be. It does take time though.

I feel like a lot of the criticism of the events other people are taking time to throw pretty much amounts to "This buffet had hash browns on it instead of sausage and now I'm mad." If you don't see a type of event happening that you want to see then spearhead it. Organize it, throw it.

At that point the best thing I can suggest is set reasonable standards within your campaign for your character's power levels and what drawbacks they'd have for using this power. It sounds like you'd have to devise them and come to her for approval for them. "My character rolls X and Y to do Z but then I have to roll 123 to see how much damage I take for doing so." Something to this effect would probably go over well. At this point, FFXIV's standards don't matter because you are now inside a DnD campaign with totally different power levels and spells and whatnot. Do what is fun for you.

Your question is a little confusing. What we can do here is provide you with a comprehensive explanation of the FFXIV Summoner Lore. However you wish to take it and adapt it for your DnD campaign is up to you. SE tends to treat Aether like a very very vague tropish power source that flows in everything. If you're looking for booklike math standards to help you apply it to DnD dice then you're going to find this lore wanting unless you and your DM devise the parameters and limitations yourselves. A lot of the questions you are asking have no standards or precedents set in the lore so the best lore knowledgeable people here are going to be able to do is speculate until SE Word of God's some of them.

There is nothing wrong with IC Racism. Just getting that out of the way. The Xaela are a very tribal people. I think racism towards them, especially from characters from more uptight backgrounds, is totally normal. Hell, tell my Ishgardian about the Goro tribe and watch their reaction. Racism is a very real and canonical thing in the world of Eorzea and you can't really blame people for RPing that way. If you and your friends are not open to walkups at the moment but you still want to RP in a public hub then just use party. This solves 99.9% of issues in my experience. If someone is still engaging in RP with you and you're in party and you're not interested then politely let them know that you're not up for that right now but thank them for the interest. If they continue, blacklist them. Worst thing they can do then is just....jump on you on something and in my 4+ years on Balmung I've had something like that happen a grand total of maybe 2-3 times. Maybe. If you want to play a Xaela but aren't open to RP that might involve racism or friction between tribes then...you might want to pick another race, honestly. Or at the very least a less aggressive tribe. It comes with the territory.

Gdamn Maril. Coming in here with a laser pointer and graphs and stuff. I can only speak purely for Balmung. But to sort of chime in, this is one of those things where it's very much "perspective vs. reality" and when to discern between the two. It's easy to feel like RP might be dying or low on a server when you have a swing of bad meetups, ghostings, a few events where you sat like a wallflower, whatever have you. I highly suggest checking the RP event calendar and even if you think an event isn't for you, even if you think the premise is dumb, even if you think it's a tad lore spotty (I had some friends cringe at the idea of disco pants) you should still go. GO. GOGOGOGOGO. Try to hop in the goings in, send characters that you think could jive with yours tells. Go say hi. Propose a toast. Go TRIP over someone. Go spill a plate of food on them. DO SOMETHING. The worst thing that could happen is you realize "Wow this is dead and nothing is working, k I'm out I guess my character stayed home reading tonight". The best case scenario is you meet cool new folk. Maybe you'll swap Discord info with someone. Maybe you'll make some new friends. Maybe you'll get invited to a LS. Now, all of a sudden, the RP is popping on the server again. I despise the word clique. Always did, always will. It's basically a word that tries to to make people feel like garbage for having an established friend group and not feeling entitled to, or simply not having the time, to reach out to every person they see. It's sort of a boogeyman people like to point fingers at when RP isn't going their way. Do group of friends that RP together exist on Balmung? Completely. Such behavior is normal. Are they closed to meeting to people? In my experience? Hell no. In fact, most RP FC's and LS's are constantly actively recruiting due to server lock. They've got RPC pages, Tumblr pages, Discords. There is a degree of pro-activity that needs to take place in searching but if you're not willing to put forth that then you can't really complain about a lack of RP. To be honest? There is more RP here that I wish I could try to join that I simply don't have time for or have a conflicting schedule. Taking that step is hard though. It can be hard to get out there and meet new people because the reality is: You're not going to jive with everyone. Sometimes you're not a match for an FC. Or maybe you join an LS and realize that the RP just doesn't interest you as much as you thought it would. Maybe they prefer to RP in Discord and you don't. Maybe you feel like you're a better writer than them or vice versa and it makes you uncomfortable. Maybe their lore make you gnash your teeth. It could be a zillion things but the reality is not every group fits all. It's not a bad thing, it doesn't mean RP is dying. Just means you gotta keep your head up and keep putting yourself and your character out there and I say that as someone who has had to do it themselves many times. The last thing I'd like to note is summer is on the horizon and a patch lull is upon us. You're going to have people going outside more (Vitamin D wtf is that can I get it in the Quicksand?) going on vacations, spending time with the partner and kids, whatever have you. There is a natural ebb and flow to populations in MMOs and the RP community isn't immune to this. It is, however, something that is only worth worrying about a very small percentage of the time. This is not one of those times. This is the stuff I always think whenever I see stuff like this so finally just putting it to paper. Or text. Hope some of it is helpful and I'm not just bloviating in your face. o7

Came by to say the same! Very well organized and loved the overall concept and idea! 10/10 am going again.

Much like in real life, some places are just not appropriate for children. RP venues like bars, mercenary houses and your contract killer hideout probably qualifies. It's not out of the realm of IC plausibility and does not OOCly make you a jerk for making them "No Baby Zones." It's also important to keep in mind they they chose this direction with their characters and it is not your responsibility to keep them supplied with RP tailored to their needs. I think the NPC caretaker suggestion is fabulous and would suit this couple quite nicely. That way Junior (who is likely also an NPC) is taken care of , they can keep playing the grimdark killer angle and you don't have to design events around them.

Be it Viera or some other kind of other non canon race or dimension traveler etc, I'd avoid it ICly with my characters completely just to keep their sense of their world and reality intact.

One of my personal pet peeves is when people start RPing in such a way to obviously garner reactions from people behind the keyboards. In this particular scenario, much like real life comedy, you can't really force it. It just happens. When people speak of "The character got placed in a hilarious scenario" it generally implies a degree of unpredictability and unexpectedness to the scene that added to the humor. Basically don't try too hard. People will notice and you will alienate them. That being said it's entirely possible to make NPCs and things like this that are running jokes. A mission giver, a mentor with a bad attitude, and my personal favorite low hanging fruit: cultural differences! Though the latter does require RP partners who aren't too sensitive to that sort of thing and can discern fiction and RP from reality. To be honest, I find the 'comic relief' tag translates very badly to PC's and tends to make them one trick ponies that lack character development so you want to be careful with how hard you lodge them into that mold. Unless you want the sort of 'sad clown' fellow. There's an angle you can go for. If you find you're bad at quippy one liners and jokes are not your forte than i would caution with selecting and designing a character that is so far out of your writing comfort zone. I've seen people do this and it just leads to them feeling really unfulfilled with the character and like they are "failing" at it until they reroll.

The more you describe this person the more I just come to the conclusion that this person wasn't RPing to write or develop an OC or tell a story, have events etc. This was just a person filling in missing crap in their life vicariously through your characters. And the second they found something they thought was better they scooted along. You had a bad experience, yes, but I honestly wouldn't even call all that RP at this point. You just ran into an asshole. It happens. Let me ask you a question. Do you even wanna RP anymore? Tbh you could walk away right now no skin off your back. It might be good to get some space and re-evaluate if this is a hobby you even want to pursue at this point. Idk if I read it right but did you say you're transferring with her? Why are you even still talking to her at all? RP and all the drama aside, this person is not your friend. Boil this down to basic human behavior and decency and I'm sorry to report but they have consistently treated you like crap. Ya gotta just realize it for what it is and shut that door, friend. You'll be amazed at how much better you'll feel afterwards.

There is an Alexander top I just use as a dress. My character probably bought it at a stall in Limsa. There are very very few items out there that I think anyone would give you grief over using. I think some of the Warrior artifact gear has specific lore stuff behind it but even then I've seen people use it ICly and I really don't care. It's just an axe. It's just some armor. If you like a certain suit for battle then use it. If there's something from a raid that looks like something your character would wear casually then go get it. Only thing I would say might warrant some kind of IC explanation is if the thing is glowing neon pink or something but even then it shouldn't stress anyone out. So wear what you would like imo.

Not so rare that you can't play one. Though more often I tend to see characters that use the greatsword weapon but don't ICly use dark arts.

I love Sharlayans. This character sounds fine to me, really. One thing I would advise is if she studied in the colony before and during the exodus you're probably looking at a character that is in their mid thirties at the youngest. I'm not sure about lore explanations for your gilded alloy but there is probably a metal out there suitable for it. Just don't choose one that conducts it instead of dampens I.E. silver. Alternatively, I know characters that just have regular ol guarded storehouses for the plunder they obtain. You'd probably need to develop the backstory about why she chose to stay in Eorzea after the Exodus or if she returned to the Old World and left again. Does she have family? Where do they live? Why is she here now? How does she feel about the politics of her homeland? All fun things to think about.

From what you described it's possible you've got a bio somewhere of your character that details things like favorite foods etc and he's using it ICly and thinking it's generally pretty harmless. I generally don't disclose anything on a bio that I wouldn't feel comfortable addressing ICly/OOCly if it came up. I would just send a message saying "Hey, it's a little weird he knows all these stuff and she hasn't told him. Let's just go ahead and keep it organic going forward." It doesn't necessarily sound like he's a weirdo or being possessive OOCly so I'd chalk it up to misunderstanding until proven otherwise - especially if you guys are already friends. Just set a boundary, be firm and if he crosses it again remind him. If it just goes on and on then yeah you might want to consider ceasing RP. Sometimes you can be great friends with people but the RP cohesion just isn't there and that's okay too.

Hm. The change looks good with a darker background. I think it's safe to say the theme isn't finalized. There's several things being considered, a few of which cost money and all of which cost time. I'd think holding off further aesthetic changes until the theme is finalized is a good suggestion.

I haven't seen any announcement from SE about it or concise proof an exploit actually existed and also can't really confirm any bans. However, the way it's described is particularly shrewd. I just saw blips on tumblr of people saying there was one getting people banned but those were pretty easy to dismiss since the OP's of them seemed to be unaware of SE officially announcing Balmung opening. I imagine if it was actually a thing we'll hear something about it in the next Lodestone news posting regarding actioned accounts. Either way, seems Balmung's been locked for general character creation at this time. https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/news/detail/80cd4583bf743600105b947d6906d0909189e479

I'm not a fan of the change.

If you can get an avatar or two on Balmung then I would suggest doing so. You can decide what to do with the character shell later via fantasias, name changes, etc. As far as your next question my answer would be: Why not both? Browse around the FC and LS sections, wander about in game, see who you meet.

I'm not entirely sure the auracite found/used in the Ivalice lore is the same as the type found in Sharlayan and used in the Moenbryda quests. This is likely a case of those 2.0 quests having been written and released waaaaay before anyone in the office went "Hey, let's go get Yasumi Matsuno and have him do an Ivalice thing for 14!" So both items use the name "Auracite" due to FF recycling lore names between it's worlds to begin with. We'll probably get more information on this with further updates of the Return to Ivalice raid.

Goblin?

This is nice. I've had a few people mention to me about picking up FF so we can play and I had to tell them "Yeah, you can't play on my server though." And they just look at me funny. The server thing really is archaic for a lot of people.

/digs modhat out of closet Let's try to keep it civil on day 1 fellas.