Valence

The only difference with already existing flintlock weaponry is that MCH guns seem much more refined and advanced to me, especially that they don't use flintlock but the aetherial appendage the MCH carries with him to channel his/her own aether into the weapon and turrets.

It's cool to be a tank with instant queues I guess... When you can also screw up the two other party members that were doing pretty fine on a whim cause the third one is going bonkers... I think that's the thing that annoys me most. Spoiled brat tanks that have absolutely no consideration for the rest of the folks and thinking only about themselves... On the other hand, I'm eternally grateful to all those tanks that stay and wait with us for another to join when we managed to kick someone so awful, or someone just disconnects. Props to them, when they could do like half of their kin and just give the middle finger and leave us on our own. On regen, I learned not to cast that as soon as I could on the tank while getting more experience over time... I have had tanks absolutely refusing any regen whatsoever but most of them just shrugged it off and rolled with it, some with good results, some with a few scratches for me... Until I learned I guess. Even if I perfectly know that any tank should be able to hold a single regen very easily without any problem, I just tend not to do it until he gets his aggro first you know, just out of civility. It's a bit rude and makes you look a bit clumsy/noobish/uncaring otherwise. Had a nice storyline Ifrit run today. Tank kept trying to cuddle me (as a MNK) and point Ifrit on my face, while BLM was not even trying to hit the nail. We almost wiped is the funniest thing there... Also, no Green Sprouts.

No one is under any obligation to tell anyone they rp with about anything that would be defined as an in-character secret. In fact, it's a fairly terrible idea to do so, because on the one hand, you have players who will magically "know" the secret IC once you tell them OOC, with no actual investigation. On the other, you'll have players who no longer feel comfortable actually investigating that plot thread because they can't be sure they're not somehow meta gaming by even suspecting it because you already ruined the secret OOC. It's literally no one's business unless they find out in character. I don't think I would enjoy playing with people that would meta OOC knowledge like that and suddenly know IC secrets out of the blue. However, I like to know who i'm RPing with, in the exact same vein. If the player thinks I would be annoyed by something in his/her character background and decides to hide it... Well, speak about trust and healthy RP relationship... I guess? In any case, that already hints at RP incompatibility and differences of views. That's why I find the straightforward approach pretty clean and neat. No place for ambiguity, no place for ensuing drama.

I have very difficult times with anime hair colours, so I would choose 2... But my opinion is inconsequential since FFXIV universe is literally filled with anime hair colours.

She looks intriguing!

As long as you are straightforward OOCly with the people you roleplay with...!

So much the all of this. I was SCH for a while and went back to WHM, but I do feel your pain. Or when I'm trying to Stoneskin and Protect. I've started slow-casting SS 2 before I drop protect, and they backpedal really fast when they realize, 'Hey, I didn't get a protect on me'. Like someone else said, it's the dog who realized you didn't throw the ball. My other beef is when they pull a room without saying 'Hey, can you handle x?' I mean, I get wanting to speed through pulls, I do. I like fast dungeons as much as the next guy. But the ones who only grab one grouping, let me drop my Medica II and then decide to run off and pull the rest of the room (usually resulting in my almost death) is just redonk. Yeah pretty much. Though I tend to see medica II as pretty pointless and risky against packs of mobs. If the tanks does it job, no need for wide AoE regens and better to just count on a targeted regen and a bubble in my opinion. Medica II really is for when things start to go sour... It's an enmity magnet. But yeah, even with just a regen, a tank suddenly getting the brilliant idea to go aggro everything often has funny results. Then you see him running after the mobs that are running after you in circles when he realizes he did a mistake... And then blames you for using regen. I mean, what? I'll blame him for using half of his skills too while we are at it... I can even stop using cure altogether! Because you never know, it might draw aggro too!

They could be working for... I don't remember the name of the collective? The ones that do the finest silk and clothing in all Eorzea? There is a bit of lore around them to be found.

It happens often to me as well. I barely have the time to cast protect at times. Or sometimes the DPS are not ready and come later on in the fray.

I like that... I should do the same someday.

I'm trying to set up a similar project of external RP cooperation/shenanigans with other FCs as well, so colour me interested!

Someone already said it more or less above, but I find that backstory, while important, is eventually totally secondary to the character concept and the story you want to tell yes. I see many, many people coming up with the backstory and then deducting everything, and while I can totally understand that to each his own way of doing, I still do think that's a mistake to avoid, and a big one. The backstory is a mere tool here only to serve your overarching concept and story. It's here to make your character stand out and colourful, not the other way around. A backstory is not gratuitous. If something happens at X or Y point, then it has to be meaningful and bring something to the whole character. Were you to go the usual trite road of "parents killed, etc", and even with such an overused concept, you can make it actually work if it serves to make a specific point in your story. Was your character exiled at some point from his family? Was your character raised by a totally common family of average farming joes? The important question is WHY? Just because you find it cool, or because it means that your character is a crass ignorant when it comes to literacy (for the latter example)? And then, what does it imply? How will he react to that in his everyday life? etc etc. One of the most important questions to my opinion to ask yourself is, "how would I describe my character with 2 or 3 keywords?" Not more. It's easy to tell if a character stands out or not when you can or can't answer that simple question. "Oh yes, I remember about that silly character that literally craved food, of any kind, and would do pretty much anything for it!" or "Oh right, that uncouth, rude grizzled vet that will only respect you if you show mental fortitude?" One of the best ways to see if it works, is to ask other people what they kept in memories from your character. What immediately struck them. Personality. Direction. Originality.

How I wish they went with the metric system :dazed: ( kidding, I get why they did that, would have been weird otherwise, but it's such a nightmaaaare )

Mh... I read that compilation many times and probably have missed some details it would seem.. I'll go with the explanation as well that elementals exist in the rest of the world, albeit in a lot less concentrated and powerful fashion, or at least isolated. Sounds reasonable enough. Trying to figure out how Hearers would hear things outside of the Shroud, that all.

It becomes harder and harder to justify these sorts of things as you go backwards in the timeline, though. Adventurers showed up in huge quantities around the events of 1.0. If your hypothetical character is in their twenties now, that means they were conceived around the time Ala Mhigo fell, which is before that influx. A miqo'te mixbreed would more-than-likely be raised as one or the other, not a mix. In Keeper society, being the child of a Nunh or a Tia wouldn't mean anything at best or lessen you in the eyes of the tribe at worst. Your father figure, in a matriarchal society that emphasizes the female component, would more than likely not be teaching you culture from another society. You could argue that all of these things somehow happened, certainly, but it stretches the suspension of disbelief. It's not any better in the reverse, either. A Keeper mother in a Seeker culture would similarly not be spreading the culture of their tribe when surrounded by alpha-males and breeding stock. If we've going to the "Eorzea is racist as hell" angle, it'd also be either ignored or at worst, suppressed since it would sully the tribal lineage. Admittedly, that conclusion is based off of the stereotypes we're shown, but both Keeper and Seeker lore seems to denote that Ethnic Heritage means more than anything to them, which is why Nunhs exist in the first place. You absolutely could decide to play one of these mixes. There are undoubtedly real-world equivalents people could draw on for inspiration or support to show it could happen. The more likely part is how Edgar mentioned: You downplay it most of the time and only bring it up if things go in the direction where it would become relevant. Concession time: I'm not drawn in by the various half/kin/other templates people add to characters, so my obvious biases are fairly obvious. That being said, I wouldn't tell anyone not to do these things, I'm just wanting to let people know the trail ahead might be rougher than it could be otherwise. Grognards gonna grognard, but it's with good intentions. Well that's exactly the thing that can make it interesting: not a dual education or anything silly like that, but a character that will have the opportunity or choice (or not) to go explore the other side of his/her legacy and bring some shenanigans in the process. Can be trite as hell, or rather nice if fleshed out properly. Or the character can just say fuck you to his/her upbringing and go to the other side he/she never knew. Or, the character can also be the direct target to mockery, bullying, whatever you fancy. It's with that in mind that I think cross bred characters can have a justification to be played. If it's just "because rule of cool/edginess", well yeah... Of course.

I think my character could actually help with that. It could also make her overcome her unwillingness to get back to the Shroud for background reasons. But she is still a Hearer, one of the only things she is very good at. If you are willing to insist a bit ICly for that to happen and make her yield her initial refusal, i'm totally up for it. She can be found most of the times around Uldah or even Limsa those days, though i'm not opposed for the meeting to happen anywhere else if you ever decide to go with it. The only major hurdle I see is how to bring that up for both character because you know, she doesn't exactly go around with a huge nameplate above her head where it's written "HEARER HERE"...

I work around this with Edgar by intentionally making his Keeper attributes dominant and the differences brought on by his Seeker blood very subtle, so when the inevitable explanation time comes, I can play it off as them simply not noticing because they were hard to spot to begin with. This is an acceptable way to skip around it, but it does lend itself to two other potential hang-ups: The first is that you're telling someone their character isn't attentive enough to catch this in the first place, and the second is that if it never comes up, it's a worthless trait in 95% of your RP. That ties back to what someone else said about examining why you'd want to do it in the first place. Universal "you" in this paragraph, not calling anyone out specifically. I just want to highlight that even the solutions offer potential problems. I wouldn't call it 95% worthless most of the time... Especially in that example between Seeker and Keeper, which would imply a really, really interesting twist to explore between both societies, that are complete opposites. Be it a seeker mother with a keeper father, or the other way around. It brings up a lot of considerations on what was the childhood of the character, how they were seen by both sides, etc... That's also why I asked in some other thread I don't remember if cross breed offspring are fertile or not. If not, that tends to solve half the issue at least, can't go past the first generation...

Decidedly, I seem to have a lot of questionnings today... So. Allagans look like Hyurs right? At least they use the hyur model ingame. We also know that the Hyur came to Eorzea very recently compared to the other races... Which is, way after the Empire of Allag. Are Allagans really hyurs then? Or something else? Or is there a twist somewhere that makes Allag a hyur civilization that rose up in their original place of origin, spreaded all across the planet including Aldenard, and then crumbled, leaving their hyur offspring only in a certain remote place (not Aldernard)?

What's the basis for this, though? The only evidence I ever see people cite for this is that singular quest, which is pretty ambiguous, and I haven't run across any other lore supporting that any hatred for interracial couples is that strong/common. It's not only that, it's the rampant racism that is depicted and lore-canon everywhere. It was clearly stated by the writers that races live with each other because they have to, but in reality they just co-exist, while mistrust and racial slurs are common occurence, not just in Ishgard but almost everywhere. With that in mind, it would seem weird to see hybrids and cross race couples not to be seen as an abomination by most. Now, then, nuances, everywhere. Because the mainstream says that it's disgusting doesn't mean that it never happens, at the contrary. Where exactly is "everywhere?" Gridania is pretty xenophobic (race doesn't necessarily have much to do with it, just an aversion to "outsiders"), we're told Duskwights are generally disliked, and Ishgard is pretty darn racist, but aside from this, where do we see racism, particularly in the form of cross-species couples? You say it's "rampant," but I haven't really seen it much in game, if at all. It this point it just largely seems like the headcanon of role-players who've decided they want racial tension in their RP. Well unfortunately I don't happen to keep bookmarks for everything so I will have to ask someone else to come with what the writers/devs wrote on that, but I clearly remember it to be about how racial segregation and how every races tend to be wary and xenophobic to each other is pretty central to the depiction of the universe they are trying to sell us. To clarify, I never said that hatred or disgust for cross race breeding is rampant lore wise, I said that lore and writers says that racism is rampant throughout Eorzea. That's lore, but don't quote me on that until someone comes to prove me right or wrong with the correct sources... It would not be the first time I misread something! So with that in mind, and if that's true, my point is just that if the mainstream (especially institutionalized like in Ishgard, or out of traditions in Gridania) entertains the idea of racism strong enough, it seems only logical that for those same ideas, the concept of cross race breeding is abject. To be clearer, the examples of racism ingame are legion. The examples of hatred specifically targeted at hybrid offsprings, not so much indeed. However the first premise to me makes the second one pretty much a given, or else it doesn't make much sense.

Heh, new question... I know I may have an obsession with elementals, but do elementals only live in the Shroud, or can some of their lesser ones, or in a way lesser quantity or organized fashion, live everywhere else? Do we have info on that in lore? I am not sure how to approach their existence (or non existence) outside of the Shroud?

What's the basis for this, though? The only evidence I ever see people cite for this is that singular quest, which is pretty ambiguous, and I haven't run across any other lore supporting that any hatred for interracial couples is that strong/common. It's not only that, it's the rampant racism that is depicted and lore-canon everywhere. It was clearly stated by the writers that races live with each other because they have to, but in reality they just co-exist, while mistrust and racial slurs are common occurence, not just in Ishgard but almost everywhere. With that in mind, it would seem weird to see hybrids and cross race couples not to be seen as an abomination by most. Now, then, nuances, everywhere. Because the mainstream says that it's disgusting doesn't mean that it never happens, at the contrary.

We know or suppose that they are not only issued from Hyur, right? Just that the most prominent families are?

I will probably sound like a downer, so don't take it too much at heart or anything... Now with that said... I have done an art school (not in the US though, so the market and the schools might differ). Several actually, one for the first three years and then a master's degree. I can honestly say that if I found a job is also because I got lucky at one point or another. Not that i'm bad or don't deserve it, but I consider myself lucky eventually considering the amount of artists that just don't end up doing what they wanted to do in the first place... The thing with art is that you will encounter many, many, many hurdles. The market is overcrowded. There, you have it. Way too many artists. Truckloads of artists and art schools sprouting like mushrooms because it's the cool thing the young want to do for their studies. Drawing and getting paid for it? Awesome! That's what ignorant people tell you when you tell them what you do for a living... Well, that's not what you do, no. It's not just drawing (depending on the art job you get), it's an exhausting process that can be draining like anything else. It has codes to follow, an industry, and rules, like any job. Each subjob in art having its own specificity (animation? video game? illustration? comics? freelance? web or digital design? etc). So, the market is overcrowded, and most artists don't have the actual necessary skills to get hired or get a job proper. Internships at best. Which of course leaves opportunities if you actually are really good at it, but even then... Still many people very good at it. It's to say how many artists on the market there is. Pay? It pays shit. It used to pay a decent amount of money in the past, but now that everyone wants to be artist, that young students sell their art for naugh, which makes the prices drop like nothing else... And with all those artists, well, you will get paid bread crumbs. Unless you get into comm and advertisement, but that's... maybe not what you want to do... I mean, what pays the less is exactly what you will find the most draining, skill intensive: drawing, painting, etc. And finding steady jobs involving that is just... A nightmare. Most of the time, just little commissions here and there. You will basically have to live like a freelance. It's possible of course! Just have to have the right mindset for it, and the good contacts. And don't tell me that pay doesn't matter... That's just a kid's dream, unless you have someone else to pay for your living I guess. Money is important, so it has to be weighted properly. The industry also asks for a lot of skills. Art is like music. It takes entire lives to perfect. Your skills when getting a degree are just... the basics. Even as a junior, it's not always easy. Sometimes the level to reach just looks unreachable. Well, you have to work a lot for it. Especially in traditional/digital concept art, where the concurrence is huge, and the skill requirements, drastic. And the market... tiny. Also, depending on the country you live in, you might get exploited a lot. You don't mind doing overtime, right? 'Cause you love your job and it's just drawing nice little things right? Could do that all day I bet!' Just think about the video games crunch time scandal in the US. Not saying that's always going to be the case, but it's a possibility. So, if you are really willing to do that for a living, then... brace yourself, and be aware of what's ahead. Then... good luck! So yes, I almost forgot. I feel kinda lucky because I work where I wanted to work eventually, as an artist in the video game industry. But also... I wanted to work if possible in what most want to work in, like concept art, or that kind of stuff. Well, I ended up in level build. Not too far away I suppose, it's still a job that asks for clearly art skills, it also involves 2D and 3D art stuff besides. But... i'm actually happy not to have ended in concept art. I don't have the backbone for that. The skills? I could have them. I just don't have the motivation for it anymore. I am already thinking to move up to producer and stuff like that if the opportunities arise... So yeah. I used to love art. But now that I do 8+ hours of it everyday, I guess I don't see it the same way anymore at all. And that's what's the most vicious thing for me. I don't do art for a hobby anymore. And I know I would if I had another, unrelated job. Hope my little experience helps...

It happened to me once... Only and single time in my healer life, I forgot to heal the tank... Just some days, your mind is elsewhere. I apologized after that. Shit can happen.

So... after hearing horror stories from FC mates on how they met an 'icemage' in the Aery, and then a monk that was only spamming forbidden chakra, I queue up for my daily leveling for my own monk... Wondering what will be the other DPS in the party while starting up Amdapor Keep Hard, I notice that the icon is not quite right... Pugilist. So, having a hard time believing it, I ask him if he forgot to put his soulstone or something... No answer. The heal is also a bit stunned to see that. I examine the guy and... Well yeah. level 59 pugilist, no job level... I facepalm hard when I see him aggroing the mobs before the tank, and then first boss, same, which of course leads to a wipe in less than 15sec. Well, we kicked him instantly after but... Why dude. Why.