Curtis West

Ah alright, I had no idea about this separation, or that RPers did this. Wonder how many do? I kind of took it as character = the guy/gal you play the game with.

Sure, untrained people would have higher chances to die in this dangerous world, but I'm sure that the majority still survive. Else how could society persevere? Sure there are hundreds of people who died in epic battles, but surely hundreds survive, too? Does that mean that all hundreds of them are battle experts? That's the point about Frodo, though. Our character is the main hero of our own story. There could be many reasons why a character could survive mortal, dangerous odds without resorting to "they're just a natural born warrior", just like Frodo. And anyway, Merry and Pippin survived, too. I'm not saying that he'd be ridiculously slow with a dagger. I'm saying that he'd be slower. And that he doesn't really have any reason to do so, considering that knives have served him well. NFL players learn MMA to gain edge in the field, but would a skill in axe-swinging lend anything to a knife fight? You said that an MMA athlete outperform others who only train in one particular style, but aren't they all hand-to-hand combat? Wouldn't a person who is skilled in sword arts be better served in learning other various sword styles rather than suddenly picking up a lance? Bear in mind that I have nothing against those who want a character that's proficient in multiple weapons, especially if it's related to their livelihood. I'm just explaining the rationale behind a character who prefer to just hone their skill with a single weapon. 1) Society would survive because not everyone "adventures" and does the super dangerous things our characters do. You can imagine cities full of people who do not go out and dungeon crawl. PCs (imo) are a small percentage of a small percentage of the population, the ones who actually survive dangerous encounters - aka above average warriors. I think the LotR analogy is getting too confusing for me... Frodo was perhaps more lucky than skilled, but was surrounded by the BEST warriors pretty much, no? Also, he didn't go out of the Shire by his own choice and when he did he had one specific "quest." I don't think most people play MMOs like that. 2) I'd think there are plenty of reasons for developing skills outside of just the one, as others have mentioned. Also, the idea that he will get slower with a dagger is not really true... because both activities are the same as far as muscle use goes. Again, I am specifically NOT talking about skill here, or if the person's skill with the dagger will deplete due to focusing on the axe. I'm pretty much disassociating any particular weapon or discipline, and focusing on the athletic ability of the characters. Skill is very subjective and can vary due to a myriad of reasons, there is really no point to discuss it. The idea that someone is "good" at Paladin but not good with a lance (in my opinion) is merely a fact of them not using a lance (less skill/experience). It's not that they are naturally worse at it, given they are talented and/or hard working warriors.

Does a knack for surviving automatically imply skill in combat, though? Maybe a character is just quick on their feet. Maybe they're cunning and avoid dangers to begin with. Maybe they're just plain lucky. After all, Frodo survived that crazy journey of his and I'm pretty sure he would never be able to wield a halberd even if he trained all his life. I'm not sure about that. Suppose there is a knife expert. He doesn't have extraordinary strength: he just has good stamina, a nimble feet to close in on enemies and the precision to strike soft, weak points. Could he wield a great axe? Could he even lift the thing? You might argue that considering that he's talented in combat, if we gave him some months to train, he'd be able to use the great axe reliably. But then he'd be less nimble due to all the lifting muscles he'd develop. His hands would be less accurate due to the heavy strain he'd constantly give them. He'd be less of a knife expert. Why would he learn a great axe at all, then? From his point of view, it'd be better to just continue to hone his skills with knife, to be even more effective using the ability that had served him well all his life. 1) Seeing as how most of the activities have some sort of fighting involved when outside of the city, would many characters opt for "I am just an explorer" role that specifically excludes them from combat of any sort? I agree that a warrior of high ability will likely be all of those things you outlined, but they'd be foolish not to know how to kill somehow, with their life on the line and all. Given at how dangerous the world can be outside the city limits, an untrained or even a character of average fighting ability can get pwned for good. When I try to put myself in the shoes of my character, it's often a life or death situation (which is why he didn't rush off to fight the Empire like everyone else at the end of 1.0, afraid to die) when faced with the forces of Eorzea... I have had trouble putting away the fact that it's a game and my character can't really die. Frodo was also a main hero of the whole story, which I'd argue probably doesn't apply to every character in XIV. Think of the side characters, or the other hundreds of people who died in those epic battles. That's likely a better comparison! lol 2) Actually the idea that you lose agility when you're big isn't really the case. It's one of those things (like wielding a single weapon makes you better than having experience in multiple weapons) that makes sense on paper but... consider again gifted athletes. (After all, warriors are by the very nature gifted athletes first and foremost.) Those guys in the NFL are HUGE, 240lbs of muscle (if not more) and very quick. Athletically inclined people can do this because of fast-twitch/slow-twitch muscle fiber composition. (You can google more about this if you care to, I wont bore you.) My thought is that our characters are basically "NFL equivalent" compared to the rest because they simply overcome odds, travel in time, can face down huge threats and survive over and over again (IC'ly). With this in mind, a character wielding a knife is likely quicker than if he was holding an axe, but neither of those skills impair the other. Growing lean muscle doesn't equal being ridiculously slow with a dagger. Both of these activities (as well as any fighting in general) are short-burst, high intensity, and anaerobic. Basically as far as one's body, there is no difference. The only difference is in skill with the weapon... which we are not taking into consideration here, because this is about potential ability.

Hell yes! Also, people should totally post under fake names for an element of surprise

Hey this is a great idea, I'm up for it. However is this canon or non-canon?

Perhaps the forums aren't the best place for anyone who can't stand others respectfully disagreeing with them. As I was reading through the thread, I wanted to reply to so many people! But you guys have gone on for 3 pages and now I can't possibly do that. How dare you!? (Just kidding.) My replies could be categorized in 2 points: 1) Perhaps my analogy wasn't clear enough, but people seem to think that I was talking about a character's skill with various weapons ("Mary Sue" was thrown around a few times, which I had to look up!). That is not the case. What I did talk about is one's ability. Skill takes dedication, effort, and time to develop - that I agree with. It would be quite unrealistic to have an 18 year old girl who is the best mage ever period. However an 18 year old who is talented/gifted/dedicated falling into Conjury, and then spreading her knowledge over time to other disciplines to become very good at all magic - perhaps being absolutely brilliant in one particular style, seems plausible to me. After all, our characters are special. No no, I don't buy into the whole "Main storyline hero" plot, but rather the realistic expectation of my character to NOT die as easily as an average warrior. He is above being fodder, and I think if you do not want your character to even be considered talented, you also have to face the fact that they would realistically die early on from something a talented warrior may survive (think dungeons, ambush, etc.) So, I assume if my character, or anyone else's doesn't die off easily, and survives these crazy "adventures" they are in fact either naturally talented or very dedicated and hard working. 2) If we assume most if not all PC characters are talented in one way or another, much like a talented / naturally gifted athlete, they can be above average at any fighting style. That doesn't mean they will be. Things like personal laziness, no exposure to other ways of fighting, or other character specific circumstances can prevent a talented warrior from developing as much as he or she can. Given that multi-classing is encouraged in the game because of the adapted abilities of various classes to aid the "main" one, I am not sure why that doesn't filter into IC as well? Or at least it seems like some people were stinking to their character being good only at X and Y, but not mentioning that to be really good at X and Y, they need to be also pretty skilled in W and Z! And possibly A, B, and C too! I don't understand why a character would prefer to be limited in what they know well (even though OOC'ly the player may have 50 everything), given that the best results come from cross-training both IRL and in-game. *** That's it for my replies. I wanted to bring up another point though, which is physical vs magical ability. I personally have a wall between the two, meaning that one can either be skilled in one or the other. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think a talented warrior can mix the two equally well, or are they different sides of a coin?

Haha yeah I can see circumstance playing into what you start off doing, for sure. That said if Uther is a talented warrior (or just one who works super hard and doesn't spare himself) I don't see why he'd not be great with the axe, sword, or whatever else. In my mind at least, it's not the use of a particular type of weapon that decides the overall skill, it's the character's innate physical ability. *Edited something small in the OP that I missed.

As I was doing some browsing for a potential class to settle on with my character, I noticed a trend here. Maybe it's because of the traditional Final Fantasy job roles ("Hey I am the white mage!") but it seems people tend to pick one job to be their main to RP with, and level (or completely ignore) the other stuff OOC'ly. Coming from a non-FF background I must ask... why? It seems to me that a talented warrior (or mage) would be pretty good at nearly any weapon. It doesn't add up to me that a character would be good at archery but not any good at any other type of fighting... and this goes double for close range combat. The mentality of the player seems to be of that old FF mindset where a character is the job they play. In this context, where one can switch jobs so easily though that mindset feels outdated. My analogy is sports related. Many of the NFL players are gifted athletes. In fact, in High School over 50% of all NFL players were playing Quarterback. They were simply great athletes, the best in their high school. Once they get to college, they specialize more, and once in the league they play the best suited position based on team needs and their best skills. A gifted warrior (or simply a hard working one) is very similar in my opinion. She can wield most weapons above average, but when in a group with similarly skilled warriors, she must take up her absolute best weapon that suits the party. To double up on the sports analogy, athletes that go into Mixed Martial Arts seem to outperform other martial art athletes that train only in one particular style. This relates to the common thought of "If one trains with one weapon, they are likely more skilled than someone who trains with multiple weapons." In theory, it sounds right, but in reality cross-training seems to beat out stand alone training. What would make this sports analogy unbearable is this: Many NFL players train in MMA to gain an edge on the field. Meaning that combination of various sports (not just styles within a sport) seems to improve the performance of athletes. Just like a great NFL player is really a talented athlete who went into NFL rather than being exclusively good at football, I see a kick ass pugilist as an awesome warrior who happens to be using their knuckles! Given this information, I am curious what other people think on the matter. Will your character play an overall good warrior/mage who kills things with just about anything, or a more classic FF role? I still have no main class picked out for Curtis, but I will likely do whatever fits the group I am in, for the reasons I outlined; there is no need to pick just one.

I for one would like to head your more detailed examples or thoughts as to why. Just as something to keep in mind myself and watch out for. I'd like to avoid as many land mines as possible, and other people's experience is something I really value. Do you mind dropping me a PM, or maybe addressing the details here. I am sure people would understand your tone given how you feel about RP at the moment. Still if you prefer to keep it more positive, please send a PM, I'd love to hear more from you

Oh that's who played those characters. Husband and wife I believe? I barely started to explore with the husband (I don't recall the name) before I had to go off on an afk that lasted... well the whole event

Ultimately, yes. Although I believe the RP people are on Gilgamesh for beta.

Curtis regards the newcomer with a nod. ~~~ Hey welcome! I'm new to the MMO RP scene too, and also have been brushing up on lore. We can be newbie buddies if you want If you have any RP questions though, feel free to get a mentor. Those people have been great in my experience. Hope to see ya around, PM me if anything

Exactly the reason it was created! You're welcome to join and supplement your other "main" RP guilds with some crafting/gathering adventures @Myllor I am also in a "full time" guild, and wont have time to seek people out for things, but we may pull together a website and have a "Request Board" on there. I am more than happy to filter those and notify appropriate ELU crafters/gatherers. We will have occasional events, and also likely help with other guild's events. I don't aim for this to be a primary source of RP for people. It's mostly just a cool idea that would add some IC flavor to crafting/gathering and hopefully make those hours leveling up pass by quicker. Oh and also for profit.

If they are just nuking vendor prices, that's fine... not many people vendor things for profit. It's different than saying the fish wont be valuable and will only have merit to the angler. Sort of like saying "Hey I caught the biggest fish this week according to the Fishermen's guild rankings"... that's disappointing. I mean, it's nice but that shouldn't be the reason to fish. I want some gil!

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