Can be a bit tricky. For myself, I tend to stay away from the central story plot of the game. As you've said, not everyone has gotten to the end to see the spoilers-spoilers-spoilers-spoilers. And since my characters aren't technically an integral part of what's going on in the MSQ, my character wouldn't really have the knowledge to gossip extensively about it anyways.
Now, I do reference some current events if I believe my character would be privy to them. Liiiiiiiiike, um, oh Leviathan being summoned. You and your character or anyone else might not have gotten to that in the story, but Patch 2.2 just dropped and that's what's happening in 2.2. I consider what is happening in the latest patch to be the "current" events. Just like Revenant's Toll has grown from campgrounds to small city in reference to the storyline. Whereas, if you're at the start of your storyline, technically, Mor Dhona should still be a small camp out in the middle of nowhere with no people living in it. Yet, the game is progressing. (One of the things I love about FFXIV is that it's a living game and has been that way since 1.0.)
The other day I RP'd with someone in Limsa who's character was referencing events from the Lv15 MSQ. OOCly, I got the reference, but my character, who did not participate in such events, was pretty oblivious to the finer, darker details of that quest. But I played along like it was just another day-in-the-life sort of thing. Aleport gets attacked by Reavers, big whoop right? Likewise, the crap your character gets put through in the MSQ can, for the most part, be hand-waved away as everyday happenstance, and that's easy to RP with to the general populace.
What most RP'rs caution against, in regards to roleplaying strictly by the MSQ, is that eventually you're going to get in deep and do some things that are pretty god-mode-y, special snowflake, chosen one esque. And opening up your RP by casually talking about Ascians and slaying Primals all by your lonesome and being the savior of Eorzea and stuff like that might be met with a bit of resistance.
Now, I do reference some current events if I believe my character would be privy to them. Liiiiiiiiike, um, oh Leviathan being summoned. You and your character or anyone else might not have gotten to that in the story, but Patch 2.2 just dropped and that's what's happening in 2.2. I consider what is happening in the latest patch to be the "current" events. Just like Revenant's Toll has grown from campgrounds to small city in reference to the storyline. Whereas, if you're at the start of your storyline, technically, Mor Dhona should still be a small camp out in the middle of nowhere with no people living in it. Yet, the game is progressing. (One of the things I love about FFXIV is that it's a living game and has been that way since 1.0.)
The other day I RP'd with someone in Limsa who's character was referencing events from the Lv15 MSQ. OOCly, I got the reference, but my character, who did not participate in such events, was pretty oblivious to the finer, darker details of that quest. But I played along like it was just another day-in-the-life sort of thing. Aleport gets attacked by Reavers, big whoop right? Likewise, the crap your character gets put through in the MSQ can, for the most part, be hand-waved away as everyday happenstance, and that's easy to RP with to the general populace.
What most RP'rs caution against, in regards to roleplaying strictly by the MSQ, is that eventually you're going to get in deep and do some things that are pretty god-mode-y, special snowflake, chosen one esque. And opening up your RP by casually talking about Ascians and slaying Primals all by your lonesome and being the savior of Eorzea and stuff like that might be met with a bit of resistance.
