Valence

I don't think there is any definite and specific lore on that (maybe hidden in some quest tidbits?), but the way I see it obviously is that from an OOC development standpoint, they weren't going to model cities the size of all the wards combined together with unique plots for every house. I mean, you even have subwards that are the same as their parent ward but with a 90° rotation so... yeah, it's instanced. I see it like the Goblet for example having 12 wards (it was 8 before), being just a city with 12 districts inside. Since it was specifically created for adventurers (like all housing areas), it's not that dissimilar to IRL modern suburbs where all the plots more or less follow the same patterns.

Oh, now I remember what I wanted to add now that we are talking about movies. Immersion is probably a little like suspension of disbelief. If the latter breaks, your immersion breaks. If on the contrary, it strives, because it makes you believe, then you are all the more immersed.

Immersion to me isn't about your character being you. This is a slippery slope. Immersion is about immersing yourself in the story others and you are weaving together. The character just happens to be your medium, and since the story is supposed to create emotions and feelings, you will get attached to them of course. Like any writer. Edit: well ok, I can see why some people prefer the former and would play as such. Not my cup of tea and I generally avoid such roleplayers like the plague. They are just incompatible with the latter and they rarely make interesting or fleshed out narrative characters, but that's just my opinion.

((other rather interesting stuff from Valance cut, I'm just not quoting it all because it's a long but well constructed post. Go read it.)) The problem with comparing this to open RP is open RP is there to get noticed. If petty crime open RP happens and doesn't draw a response, what is the point other then chest beating? Once a direct action draws a response, a story begs a resolution. Lolorito is a grand example of a 'good' kind of antagonist to play. He rarely acts overtly, he manipulates situations to his own end. If he stays subtle there'll be a lot of grumbling about him but nothing actionable. Because he doesn't drop to the level of 'stupid evil' he doesn't warrant a direct punitive response. In fact he's positioned himself to where a direct response would probably have the actor fall on the wrong side of the law. Lolorito is the best sort of example of a RP-able antagonist. I wish I'd have thought to mention him in my earlier post. Well I mean, we could even take Thordan. He's portrayed as a villain for the reason the game and narration takes the bias for a conciliatory and open/liberal society, but politically he's actually very pragmatic, protective of his nation, and overall, is a perfect sovereigntist. The ends justify the means, etc. It doesn't sit well with our own usual view (and yet, not so sure those days), and the narrative that takes a very western progressive and liberal view. The same way people can have a hard time separating IC from OOC, I find they have a even harder time to keep political neutrality in their take on the world. Of course everyone will have more or less strong political views on everything OOCly, but that's 1) not necessarily the case for their character and especially 2) not necessarily how the world works. The world is neutral. As soon as you try to shift the balance of the world to suit a message through your story, like the FFXIV story does very strongly with with some black and white strokes by the way, then you have to accept that not everyone will subscribe to that view, and I find it safer to just take on the principle that everything is neutral as a basis. It's all about cultural relativism, which is absolutely atrocious at times IRL, but pretty mandatory in my opinion for roleplay. So... Seeing petty thieves trying to cut purses in public RP is pretty boring in my opinion. If that's what float people boats, sure. But having actual "villains" show up and behave in the boundaries of the law, being very amicable and socializing, is where it shines the most. It is always fun to make goodey two shoes characters and white knights grind their gears by showing up and speaking about touchy subjects. Or just offering a very debatable point of view like "Thordan did nothing wrong, peasants". "Not everyone is born equal and some cultures are better than others" and whatnot. Is that something that a mustache twirling villain would say? Sure. But not only. Just open your eyes and you will see plenty of your average joe around you IRL to have similar beliefs. And people don't do that a lot because they get immediately dogpiled and shunned by other characters most of the time. Which is to be expected and pretty rational. If you have someone from the nazi party showing up at a commie rally in 1939, you might expect it to end up like that, or worse. This is why I said it's a vicious circle. Nobody plays it, with that fear in mind: everyone is good, so playing a baddie would be social suicide at the very least. And they are right to do so, because alone, that wouldn't work. The question wouldn't even be asked if there was a good ratio of characters with "different views".

I don't quite get why would "villainous" characters have to systematically be A) Caught or B) Escape law. This seems to me to stem from a very black and white, goodey two shoes view of society and the world we live in, even if said world is Eorzea. No, especially if said world is Eorzea, which is supposed to be a violent, often unfair world. Are we speaking about a psychopathic serial murderer? A voidsent summoning rotten thaumaturge? Well okay, sure. Nobody wants to be around such types. And those characters only exist as true opposites, antagonists for the sake of enhancing protagonists as said above. But in the majority of case, what about a craven? A weak willed thief? Your run of the mill curthroat? A merc with grey morals? A ruthless bounty hunter? A crooked politician? Why would those have to automatically be subject to some kind of fate dooming them to be eventually ending their lives in prison or dead, or just evading whatever is supposed to be after them? So, what about all those shades of grey? Why would someone like Lolorito (don't tell me he isn't portrayed a villainous character) would have to be doomed from the beginning? It boils down to the view people tend to have on society and Eorzea. Or everything else for that matter. We are ingrained by movies, novels, books, stories, that most of the time "end well" with good endings. Well, the world isn't like that. Bad stuff happens. Bad guys don't always get "caught". Lots of petty crimes especially, get unnoticed, or even condoned by the society itself. The 5 Eorzean city states are perfect examples of that. The world is grey. People tending toward black aren't necessarily going to be doomed more than someone tending more to the white. Pure evil characters as I said above? Yeah. Pure white knights might have troubles at times too by the way, but it's not always told because most people play good aligned characters, in stories that often have to end well for them. Those radical white knights tend to be more inconspicuous due to that, but otherwise, extremes tend to shorten the lives of their characters. More generally, depending on the world you play in, you can place it on a scale ranging from dystopia to utopia. Naturally, good aligned characters would have a harder time in the former, while villains a harder time in the later. Eorzea is probably more on the side of good than bad, but it still remains pretty grey. I'm saying that as someone that plays a character that is neither good nor bad. Especially not evil (very selfish and anarchist) but her views can vary a great deal from your common adventurer. It has placed me in positions where my character can get dogpiled on heavily by all the party or other characters because they all are good, brave eorzeans. You know, the common trope of playing a rogue in a party of paladins and clerics. It can be tedious, and pretty demeaning to the character's image for other players since they are pitted against your character and can often see her/him as someone despicable that they don't like. This vicious circle is incidentally one of the other reasons why most grey characters tend to die out, or just gather in specifically dark or grey FCs/groups.

Seeing the dwindling numbers of parses for the job compared to its BRD kindred (or any other job anyway), it's rather telling, and appalling. It wasn't already not really glorious in HW, but now, it's just dead Jim.

My mistake, should have checked. But I think my point still stands.

I suppose it paved the way for a Calamity. Also, nobody said that a Calamity suddenly happens in seconds (even if it can last long past that). Take the Great Flood for example, it didn't happened in a matter of minutes. People had limited time to prepare. I took time to just come, and happen. With that in mind you could perfectly argue that Silvertears was just the beginning. After all Bahamut happened in a matter of mere sennights past that if i'm not mistaken.

Personally this all comforts me into my middle line position where I believe there is a strong common tongue, possibly hyuran, as hinted in the lorebook, but that doesn't mean all those specific languages are extinct, or not spoken anymore besides. Especially Hingan.

The Seekers revere usually Azeyma, while Keepers tend to worship Menphina. It doesn't mean that it's systematically the case and that all of them do so or shy away from other deities, quite the contrary. Those are just the most common faiths found in both traditional societies. Keepers also believe that vivid facial paints for hunt call on the favours of Menphina, giving their bearers lunar powers.

No, you are probably right. You have lore telling you on one hand that Garleans never managed to retro engineer a single piece of salvaged allagan tech, that they are immune to aether spells/casting so they have a hard time feeling it and yet their scientists seem to show a good and smart grasp at it, even if unusual. I think the more exact conclusion is that in the field of aetherial studies, they have a smart and very rational knowledge of it, quite peculiar compared to Eorzeans. In the field of energy though (ceruleum engine), well... that field doesn't require much aetherial knowledge other than distillating it and burning it in a combustion engine.

Press F to pay respects to MCH o7

Where did you get this snippets of lore? I can see aether reserves not being as great as before, but I don't think it'd affect much with the ability to manipulate aether. We still see older characters manipulate aether to create power spells such as the BLM in the 30-50 story and Louiseaux using the power in his staff in his attempt to bind and defeat Bahamut. From a more magitek standpoint. Garleans, while not being able to cast magic, are still experts in aether manipulation with magitek. I can see magitek experts developing some sort of shield or bind, or even implant that can suppress the ability to cast magic. For the snippet of lore my apologies for not having it under hand right now, but I am fairly sure Sounssy does. It's found in a quest in Hawthorne Hut if my memory serves me right. Or maybe I'm confusing it with that lorebook excerpt above... Being old doesn't necessarily mean your whole aether runs dry, and maybe it's a generality more than a certainty. I don't remember the exact words of that quest. But I could assume that yes, Louisoix might have been more powerful in his youth? After all his staff Tupsimati is powerful itself not because of its user, but because it directly siphons the land's aether. Meonbryda also uses it against Nabriales with a certain potency even if it's broken (she knows how to use it and that's it). I wouldn't say that Magitek is manipulation of aether, baring the fact that yes, Ceruleum is a distillate of lingering earthy aerther. But it's used as a crude and powerful form of energy to power everything they have. They don't especially show a huge understanding of aether manipulation all in all. Aetherochemistry is however a very advanced field of aether knowledge, but that's the specificity of Allag.

What did he smoke? Repelling shot doesn't deal any damage anymore...

As long as it's not a doomsday device sucking aether better than a voidsent horror and drying all the land around, I really, really doubt anyone would care. Black Magic and Succor were outlawed because they were doomsday weapons. Especially employed by so many people on an unprecedented scale of destruction. It wasn't just about a single black mage or white mage sending Flare after Flare and whatnot. It's on the scale of what Mhach and Amdapor did (but especially Mhach). Ozma, the Void Ark, gargantuan amounts of aether used to fuel their wars and magic creations. That they are or not today isn't even the point anymore. It's a taboo. It gets a rep bad enough that using the slightest, most harmless aether drawing art will make eyes twitch.

Aether personal power and presence varies a great deal all during the life for everyone. Aether declines with age, or at least with old age. Which means less reserves to use, aether harder and harder to manipulate, etc. Basically, being old physically also dulls magic.

That is... more or less what a MCH actually already is. They put fancy ammo in their guns, use the aetherotransformer to gather up their aetherial personal energies, transform it into lightning aspected energy, and power the gun with it, along with all kind of fancy effects you might think of when they press the trigger. The turret also works the same way. The only difference i see is that you would capture surrounding aether instead of your own. So potentially way bigger reserve but maybe less bursty energy at disposal (cf CNJ vs THM).

Again, mostly referring to expert runs.

Well, the nodes collect, of course.

DRG and MNK have had respectively the most potent and the most steady, solid AoE in HW. DRG had (and still has) a crazy insane AoE potency at the cost of a TP running dry after short bursts. MNK has always shown a very steady, stamina enhanced AoE with a strong move (Rockbreaker) that could consistently almost outdo a BLM AoE (which was frankly mediocre for a caster AoE), and outdo absolutely any AoE besides SMN when using Perfect Balance with it. Monk was great on sustained AoE, and average on AoE power. DRG wrecked everything but if the other DPS was sloppy, they would have to stop short of TP pretty fast. It is a myth and has been a myth for years. All DPS classes have good AoE potency. Some better than other sure, but they are all good at it. Especially Nin, with very few AoE flaws and almost on par with DRG on potency alone, but on a more sustained basis. Nin has always suffered in the mind of people because Death Blossom used to be mediocre before its buff to 110 potency (almost 140 per GCD once Huton-ed, and closer to 160 with poison). I also hear that current Nin in SB is absolutely dreadful for AoEs, more than ever. The Ten-Chi-Jin skill or HellFrog Medium is that insane. That's my main gripe yes. There is no excuse not to use AoE on pulls equaling 3-4 or more mobs for all DPS classes. The healer should manage as I said, but yes, you are definitely right, you never know what you can stumble upon. I think I have almost never seen a healer failing at 2 trash pulls though. The whole room with 4-6 pulls? Sure. All the time. Those tanks are crazy. You do that with your friends and people that you know can handle it. But 2 pulls? Anybody can do that and I have yet to see a single situation proving otherwise. And that's all I'm asking really... Gear shouldn't be an issue in expert. Min ilvl is perfectly fine for more than baby pulls and can easily sustain a 2 pulls by 2 pulls process. This is of course just my - unflinching opinion - but I must also admit that I never got bothered that much with it in HW, except when I was playing a specific job, which is SMN, for which the smallest pulls were a living nightmare to handle (killing them way too fast, countdowns and buffs and aetherflow not lining up for the next one, etc). I'm absolutely mad about it in SB due to the specificity of MCH, where the AoE rotation and the single target rotation don't mesh at all and actually screw up with each other badly. You want heat to be above 50 but below 100 for the single target one because your skills are heat dependant, but they aren't for the AoE rotation. The AoE rotation is basically a SpreadShot spamm follow by flamethrower during overheat. Having to revert to single target after the AoE rotation is a nightmare when Barrel Stab isn't up (stupid 2min CD), unless you want to keep Flamethrower out of the AoE rotation to painfully build heat back up again (and murdering it in the process). So yes, I'm venting. It's not supposed to be absolutely composed. Rational yes, but blown out of proportions, I can agree to that.

DPS that are grabbing for the tank are as infuriating as anything. Even when I would like bigger pulls, as a DPS I will never ever start breaking dungeon basic etiquette and just be outright rude to everyone else. I have already left dungeons when someone pulled that trick on me as a tank. I want to insist that I wrote above "in experts" for a reason. My vent wasn't much addressed to leveling dungeons (below 60 at least). In leveling dungeons you can have jobs that still don't have access to their AoEs, or just tanks and healers that have mediocre leveling gears, which is to be expected and alright. Leveling dungeons aren't about your full max level toolset. I still hold to my view for experts though. Or lvl50, lvl60 dungeons as well (lvl50-60 roulette). Most of the tanks in HW used to pull at least 2 packs of mobs at once most of the time. Everyone was doing that, healers were fine, tanks were fine with it. I don't know why suddenly they are all doing baby pulls. The point that healers can't keep the pace is moot in my opinion when they just have to pop a regen or cast a cure once or twice during a baby pull. With two pulls at the same time, nobody will make me believe it requires even 50% of healing uptime from the healer, as bad as they can be. Anyone spamming cure will just overheal that. The point that some DPS are more suited to AoEs, is, frankly, bullshit in my opinion. Unlike all tanks suddenly doing the smallest pulls possible in SB, DPS actually using their AoEs in experts are few and far between, and it has been that way since the first umbral calamity or something. I play one of the jobs that has seen its AoE absolutely gutted by SB (MCH), and I'm still pulling big numbers over 3 targets. Any DPS class has the AoE toolset to deal with packs, and not doing so is 1) not optimal, and 2) shitting on the other DPS player that is trying to AoE but can't do it half the time because you are mowing down the mobs one by one. Tanks running out of CDs when the DPS take too much time killing the packs? I guess yeah, but at the same time some of the mobs are probably dead and if not, dying. The tank doesn't have to pop ALL the CDs at the start of a pull anyway. You don't do it for a boss, so why would you on pulls? Honestly, I have seen a few runs where everyone was AoEing properly and big pulls just melt in a matter of seconds. Ah, maybe some DPS jobs that run out of TP very fast? Generally not fast enough that the pull isn't dead by then, but sometime they have to use invigorate yeah. Who wouldn't take that as a crossrole anyway? And I'm a MCH. I refuse to believe they have TP issues because I'm spamming Tactician all the time, either for myself, or most generally for others. like DRG, SAM, when they actually try to AoE. No, there is just that myth in the heads of players that some DPS jobs are shit at AoE, which is bullshit. Some are better than others yes, but all of them are good at it. Yes, even tanks and healers, and even PLD now. And some of the DPS jobs that are the least played with their AoEs are DRG, MNK, SAM and Nin most of the time. How silly is that? Besides SMN, they probably of the best AoE potency, even if on a shorter bursts.

Of course, they aren't going to redesign all the game textures so that every localization gets their signs translated as well. I know some oddballs like Blizzard do because they have huge wallets and a strong policy of detail over localization, but that's far from being the rule, and neither in cinema. Also, if we went by the rule "I play in english so everything said literally or ambiguously in english is therefore true to my lore", I don't know then. A few months ago I started a thread to investigate if the "Gem of Shattoto" as referred to in the english version is one and only or refer to a type of jewel where there is many/several. I had to go dig in the french translation (which is always, always more literal even if cheesy), to see that it's the second option. Had I gone with the rule "the english translation is my only compass, the rest is irrelevant", then I would have taken the opposite conclusion that there is only one damn BLM soulstone in the lore. Which sounds a bit like saying there is a mistake or something ambiguous in the english loc, but it's true even if in contradiction with the rest. It would be like saying the various typos and contradictory mistakes in the english lorebook should be ignored. EDIT: if anything, my current take on the matter is similar to the OP. Hingan, Doman, Sea Wolf and whatnot, are all ancient (or less ancient) languages that have faded off progressively to make way to the common tongue. It's a bit like the Galactic Basic in Star Wars to my eyes. And yes, I still believe that Hingan is probably spoken plenly as Hingan in the reclusive islands of Hingashi, out of ijin's ears range though.

More exactly, White Magic aka Succor draws upon the Land in the exact same fashion than Black Magic. Not from the Elementals. This is also why it destroys the planet as surely as black magic when abused. Succor is not Conjury, for which you pray and get attuned with Elementals to borrow from the land (or else Elementals would just have to block everyone from using Succor, and we wouldn't see The Stillglade Fane Police running around and pointing fingers at trespassers and whatnot). Now the control over Succor is strongly enforced by Elementals and Padjals, but I suspect it wasn't that so in the time of Amdapor before the Elemental got pissed and flooded everyone. Pure speculation on my part on this specific bit but I also suspect that the WhM soulstone plays a role as important as gems of Shattoto for the BLM. Red Magic takes aether from the user like Thaumaturgy/Arcanima does yes. And like Conjury can. Or like a BLM or any WHM can. Red Magic however still remains a combination of Black and White magic, and as such, can draw upon the land like the former do. I don't have the specific quote under hand anymore from the RDM questline, but if I remember correctly it's said that RDM founders especially imposed upon themselves not to draw from the land: it is thus a self imposed constraint and not especially part of the mechanics behind the magic. I doubt Red Magic is banned for the simple reason that nobody's really in contact with remote places in Gyr Abania but it's ultimately hard to tell how that illegality of old magics dating back from Amdapor and Mhach was seen and enforced in Gyr Abania and Ala-Migho before their fall. However, I wouldn't bet my hat that if someone with conservative views was explained that Red Magic is actually just a combination of the two magics that lead the world to the 6th Umbral Calamity, that they would turn a deaf ear over the matter. (Do we have more info on how the Crimson Duellists were seen at the court of Ala-Migho?)

The compressed wind clusters instead of standard chemical ammo system is only true for the machinist relic Ferdinand rifle. All other machinist guns work like standard guns as far as I know. I'm also not totally sure where you got that only centurions and higher get gunblades? The usual low level conscript and auxilliaries seem not to get any for the most time yes, as the usual rabble and low rank of the military, but their standard soldiers sure have gunblades.

Tanks doing baby pulls in expert. DPS using their single target rotations on trash pulls. Both combined together is 10 times more infuriating than each of them separate when you are the second or third DPS (aka healer).