Havoc Snow

See, this is what doesn't make any sense to me. Basically what you're saying is that if I were in a FC that was RP and PvE oriented I'd effectively have to pick one or the other, because for whatever reason you can't balance both within a single entity. But if I were to split that, make an RP LS, and a PvE FC, somehow managing two different groups makes it easier to balance? How does that logic make any sense at all? At least with a dualistic FC you have the benefit of insuring that everyone progresses together, where as if you split it so RP is in LS and PvE is in FC, you run the risk of being left behind and replaced if you give priority to RP over PvE. Ultimately it doesn't make sense why you would need to keep the two separated from one another if you were going to split your focus anyways.

Actually, that isn't what I was talking about. You may get a bad player, or a ninja. And then you can tell your friends, and their friends, about said bad player. And if they're bad enough, or pull the same behavior enough, they will find themselves without people to do dungeons with. How is blacklisting someone on your server any different really than the very slim chances of you ever seeing that person again in the DF? I mean beyond the obvious that one is a voluntary action. If I play with someone on my server and they're an asshat, I blacklist them and I tell my friends about them, they get black marks but ultimately in a large server like Balmung that's not going to matter a whole lot, they'd have to be a COLOSSAL douchebag for the entire server to hear about them and I've never met a person that was so bad they were server wide blacklisted. Same situation, only I'm using the DF. Some guy is being an asshat, the dungeon is over and I go on about my business, and chances are 10,000 to 1 I'll never see that guy again anyways so who cares?

That argument makes no sense. o.0 Shared storage and the buffs provided by housing items and such are extremely useful for PvE/PvP-focused guilds. There's also name recognition, and it's possible that completing runs as an FC (since the game tags you) will provide achievements/notoriety, which is a significant draw in terms of team building and recruitment (no one ever sees what LS you're in). Honestly, the FC/LS set-up screams to me that it's the perfect solution to "Do I go with a PvE guild or an RP guild?" I can get my RP from the multitude of connections made via linkshells, all the while sating my hardcore gaming thirst with a PvE-focused free company. All you've proven to me is that FCs are good for PvE/PvP, but not that they NEED to be OOC. Like I said, why can't you have your cake and eat it to? Why does being in an RP Guild have to be mutually exclusive from being in a PvP or PvE Guild? Just because we RP means we for whatever reason can't also be a progression based guild? As you said, that argument makes no sense.

I didn't find Wow's community have changed much before or after Dungeon finder. When I was with a group I knew, they were awesome. When it wasn't even if it was same server it was a coin flip. I got plenty of abuse with people from my same server tanks who couldn't tank shit, healers who couldn't heal shit, DPS who attack whatever they want and ignore Cc, etc The only thing DF cut out was "wait around 3 hours looking for group because I'm a mage" That's why I think DF is seen as so bad. You get to see more of Wow's community in a quicker period of time.. and alot of it is shit people. On the otherhand dungeons are always more fun with friends rather than silently compitent types who never speak up. Pretty much this. If I ran with my Guild on WoW I was pretty much guaranteed to have fun and get through it without much issue. If I ran with a PUG I picked up from shouting in trade chat or LFG it was a 50/50 chance I was going to have a bad time. There's a common misconception that just because you're on the same server as someone they aren't going to royally suck, or they won't ninja your gear. This couldn't be further from the truth, after all you never know when someone on the Duty Finder is from your server (unless you ask), and during Phase 2 and early Phase 3 I got ninja'd a LOT on gear, having healers roll on +Int gear or an Archer that was rolling on every piece of caster gear he could get because it was All Class instead of DoM. The Archer was even on Balmung so.... yeah. Like I said, people fearing that Duty Finder will be the end of server cohesion are just being paranoid.

I never understood why RP and PvE were seen as being so vastly separated. Why can't one have their cake and eat it to? The Blades have an OOC LS made for PvE organizing and what not while our FC is treated as being IC. The only reason I could see the argument that FC needs to be OOC would be if you never intended to actually play the game just because you were an RPer. Also as far as I've seen so far, the only FC buffs they have are things like higher yield when gathering and more XP. Here we go, found the list: The Heat of Battle -Increases EXP earned through battle by 5%. -Duration: 24h Earth and Water -Increases EXP earned through gathering by 5%. -Duration: 24h Helping Hand -Increases EXP earned through crafting by 5%. -Duration: 24h A Man's Best Friend -Increases EXP earned by companions by 5% Brave New World -Increases the attributes of all members under level 10 by 10%. -Duration: 24h Live off the Land -Increases Gathering by 5. -Duration: 24h What You See -Increases Perception by 5. -Duration: 24h Eat from the Hand -Increases Craftmanship by 5. -Duration 24h In Control -Increases Control by 5. -Duration: 24h That Which Binds Us -Increases spiritbonding speed. -Duration: 24h Meat and Mead -Increases duration of food effects by five minutes. -Duration: 24h Proper Care -Slows gear wear by 10%. Back on Your Feet -Reduces duration of Weakness after being revived by 10%. -Duration: 24h Reduced Rates -Reduces teleportation fees by 20%. -Duration: 24h

First of all I just want to start by saying that the claims that duty finders have a negative impact on communities is just superstition. I've been in Beta since Phase 2 started and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I have never been so frustrated trying to play a game than I was sitting in front of Copperbell or Hauke Manor shouting for hours trying to find a group. On the other hand when the Duty Finder was added the very first group I got into was Brayflox and the people I ran with were incredibly helpful since it was my first time running it, they were chatty, friendly, and I was actually sad I couldn't play with them again (perhaps the only downside I can say to the Duty Finder). Now with that being said, I'm all for this idea despite the above sentiments. Personally though, I'm not going to join a group with someone to talk about the weather or chat about your dog/cat. When I get into a group or a dungeon the most I usually talk is to explain a boss fight or something, anything else is just slowing things down especially when I'll likely need to run the same dungeon another 10+ times. tl;dr: The Duty Finder isn't a bad thing, and neither is not wanting to talk and only wanting to progress in a group. However I am all for a server specific dungeon crawler group.

Pretty much what Ildur said, we know next to nothing about either of the two continents really, but least of all about Othard. As mentioned, they did have Primals though we can assume now that being under Garlean control means whatever Primals they did have they are long gone now. As far as culture, geography, environments, etc go we haven't the faintest clue. For all we know Othard is comprised of entirely non-Eorzean races, which would make playing any of the races currently available not possible. I'm all for originality but sometimes an idea just isn't feasible. You could end up making a Lalafell from Othard only to find out Lalafell have never set foot on Othard soil in the entirety of Hydaelyn history and your entire storyline suddenly becomes null and void.

Hah! I did that for beta 4 and I don't think I'll do it again... I am getting too old for going on 2 hours sleep. I'll just wake up at 6 or 7 am like a normal person. Plus I am still not sure if I get early access. FreelanceWizard is probably right. I did want to upgrade to CE to do early release, but SE hasn't told us yet how 1.0 players can upgrade to CE (last I checked). A legacy promo from back in the day? Or the collector's edition upgrade? Just to clarify: If you paid for the original game back in 2010, but did not pay for 3 months of game time you do not qualify for early access. If you paid for the original game and did pay for 3 months of game time (qualifying you for Legacy status) you qualify for Early Access. If you pre-ordered the game and received a pre-order code, you qualify for Early Access. To my knowledge the CE Upgrade is not available yet and won't be available until launch, so there is no way to preorder it.

Only Legacy Promotion members (people who paid for 3 months) and people who preordered get Early Access. If you bought 1.0 but didn't pay for the Legacy promo you'll need to wait until the 27th.

It is my understanding the only way to upgrade an existing 1.0 account to a CE account was with a PS3 version of the CE, or by using the Digital Upgrade option at launch. Sadly, I think you may have wasted your money either way unless you can find some way to get SE or GMG to fix it for you.

I don't think any aggression was intended there, but yeah. No point in making a profit if you're just going to lose it when you're being stomped by your previous employer later. It did cross my mind that Garlemald would try to hire them on, it just seems like too dangerous a deal for them to take. Why would you be stomped by them? The Garlean Empire aren't trying to commit genocide or wipe out Eorzea (unless you count Nael), they're ultimately trying to save it even if their methods are incredibly extreme. From what we know so far Garlemald is to some extent aware of the existence of the Ascians, and they are also opposed to the Primals. Both of which are things we the players are directly opposed to, so if they weren't so... tyrannical... they'd actually make fantastic allies. So long as your company didn't directly interfere with them I highly doubt they'd bother with you. For all we know, the people on Othard (the first continent the conquered after their own) are living happy, meaningful lives free of Beastmen and Primals. We just view them as evil because they're a foreign force trying to invade us.

I'm going to put my money on blood sport. We have football, rugby, that sort of thing in the real world, Eorzeans have gladiatorial combat and war games. More than likely it's not real combat, not in the sense that we're actually trying to kill each other. It's just training combined with sport.

I wasn't aware I was being up tight or anything, I was just making an observation and giving my opinion. No need to be aggressive or defensive about it. Gercho makes a good point, to some degree, about being run out of business if Garlemald took over, though the Garlean Empire has made use of free agents in the past (they did so during the story of 1.0) so it goes without saying they aren't above paying Eorzean mercenaries. If your mercenary group didn't take the job, someone else would which is why I just pointed out that a group that only cared about making profit and not about borders or morality probably wouldn't pass up work even if it was from Garlemald. Still, that's just my opinion and you're welcome to completely disregard it, I just felt I needed to defend my position since the response was so aggressive.

Technically the remnants of Garlean influence left in Eorzea or no longer a large government, they're a rogue agency. Gaius lost support from the motherland when political issues arose in the courts back in Garlemald so he's acting entirely on his own now, which would make them a large military force but not a large government. If you're going to pick and choose your clients in that way then you're not really true neutral, you still have a moral ground you're standing on. If you wanted to be truly neutral mercenaries you'd work for anyone, anywhere, doing anything so long as they could pay you.

If you're talking about getting an EU preorder code then you're in luck, this was actually an error on SE's end, not GMG where the 18 digit code was spitting out EU 20 digit codes. It was posted somewhere on their twitter they were aware of the error (my friend bought her copy from GMG and had the same problem), I'd advise just trying it again since according to the same friend she put the 18 digit code in again last night and it gave her the proper code. If this isn't what you're referring to then sorry for the inaccurate response!

H is for Hildebrand Damn, beat me to H! I is for Iifa Tree

There are plenty of structured military groups here on RPC, though most of them are either knights or like my own group "Patriots for Hire," people who fight for Eorzea for a profit. The idea Gercho is proposing seems more like true blue mercenaries, people who would work indiscriminately for Eorzea, Garlemald, or even the Beastmen if the coin was good. Correct me if I'm wrong of course.

While it's possible, I feel like it's unlikely. Any gear that is above Common (that is with a white name) or that isn't Aetheric (pink name) seem to be intended as being unique. Even though they don't provide a set bonus to my knowledge, they still come in a set. That is because while these are good pieces of gear, it is my impression they're also supposed to serve as costumes. Because of that it's not likely they'll add palette swapped versions of them as higher level gear, or if they do it won't be for a long time and will probably be crafted.

Based on a search through XIVDB it would appear that the blue set it not available to players, the closest you will get is the Acolyte set.

Unless Dark Knight uses an Axe now I don't see that happening. Remember that Jobs are just extensions of their Class, they don't use different weapons from the base class and non of Marauders abilities strike me as being very Dark Knighty. And to answer the question I already got the class I want, Black Mage, though if not that then a REAL Summoner class... even though I know that won't happen.

I smell sabotage and corporate espionage in our near future.

I read your info on the Grim and I don't know that they would be opposed by the Blades, they basically follow the same ideals the Blades do. Especially this part:

Everyone is having this, more or less.

Not familiar with the reference sadly, though I'm sure there is some interest for such a thing. The only road block you may run into is that in RP most people fall on either side of the fence, good or bad, very few people walk the middle of the road and don't care about morality. Good luck to you either way!

There are actually a few groups on Balmung that fit a lot of what you're describing, so you might want to check them out first and see if they don't fit your needs. My FC, Blades of Nald'thal is one of them, and I suggest also checking out XI:7 as well. If neither of them fit your needs it at least proves that there is an interest for structured military type RP.