1) How large/prevalent is the Roleplay community?Â
It's pretty darn big and is spread across multiple servers. You'll find many WoW veterans like yourself, to people who are brand new to RP and MMOs entirely (how I started!)
2)I've noticed there aren't Official Dedicated Roleplaying servers, but that isn't exactly uncommon for MMOs. Which server(s) are the defacto RP servers to play on?
Balmung is the unofficial RP server, but is currently locked for the forseeable future (no new/transferred characters.) Mateus is the next largest, then there are smaller communities on the likes of Omega (EU) and Jenova, etc. If you're big into RP, I would probably recommend Mateus for a new FFXIV player!
3) What is the Walk-Up or Pick Up RP scene like?
Can't really answer this for Mateus as I don't play there, but on Balmung it's pretty big. Mostly centred around taverns (one in-game tavern called the Quicksand, think of Goldshire without the awful rep). On Balmung at least, there's a lot of open world RP and I've met random people RPing in the streets or in the middle of random zones. You'll probably find the same on Mateus!
4) (For those who know) Is there anything like MRP or TRP3 for FF14? Essentially user-addon Roleplay tools that are commonly used? (Also, in an unrelated note, are addons even allowed in the first place?)
Sadly, add-ons are not really that big of a feature (parsers are technically not allowed, but you can use them if you don't use them to talk shit to other players in game). Most people indicate what kind of RP they desire by having a very small blurb in their search info (kinda like a hover tag? Something usually like "RPer. Has tattoos. May steal your pennies. /Send tell for RP!")Â
5) What external resources would you advise to look into for character/lore questions to help 'get up to speed' with the game's lore so I don't accidentally trod all over it?
The RPC forums themselves are great place to ask questions, and Sounsyy posts are very reliable for correct and well put together sources of info. The best way to get up to speed from scratch is simply to play the game and immerse yourself in the story.Â
You will quickly gain an idea for what kinda character you want to make, then from there you can research those particular themes/ideas for the character (e.g. you wanna make a healer catboy, so you look up conjury and miqo'te lore!) There is also a lorebook you can purchase from the SE store or find a PDF of somewhere. I would start with naming conventions, the world events, and maybe start looking into jobs you are interested in. Some job types have iffy lore about them, so if you wanna be cautious of this, I'd take a look at that.Â
6) (For those who know, PT:2) Is there any "Server Canon" that might help to be aware of? -- Server Canon is a byproduct of a lot of Roleplayers (and I mean a lot) all have intertwining stories, where their guilds and communities are so closely connected that it results in what amounts to be unofficial "Server Canon".Â
I don't think there's much of a server canon at all? RP tends to revolve around guilds/free companies etc. and there's not a huge amount of collaboration to do this, sadly. It sounds kinda neat though! (I might be forgetting an example where it might have happened, or something obvious.)
Hope this helps!
It's pretty darn big and is spread across multiple servers. You'll find many WoW veterans like yourself, to people who are brand new to RP and MMOs entirely (how I started!)
2)I've noticed there aren't Official Dedicated Roleplaying servers, but that isn't exactly uncommon for MMOs. Which server(s) are the defacto RP servers to play on?
Balmung is the unofficial RP server, but is currently locked for the forseeable future (no new/transferred characters.) Mateus is the next largest, then there are smaller communities on the likes of Omega (EU) and Jenova, etc. If you're big into RP, I would probably recommend Mateus for a new FFXIV player!
3) What is the Walk-Up or Pick Up RP scene like?
Can't really answer this for Mateus as I don't play there, but on Balmung it's pretty big. Mostly centred around taverns (one in-game tavern called the Quicksand, think of Goldshire without the awful rep). On Balmung at least, there's a lot of open world RP and I've met random people RPing in the streets or in the middle of random zones. You'll probably find the same on Mateus!
4) (For those who know) Is there anything like MRP or TRP3 for FF14? Essentially user-addon Roleplay tools that are commonly used? (Also, in an unrelated note, are addons even allowed in the first place?)
Sadly, add-ons are not really that big of a feature (parsers are technically not allowed, but you can use them if you don't use them to talk shit to other players in game). Most people indicate what kind of RP they desire by having a very small blurb in their search info (kinda like a hover tag? Something usually like "RPer. Has tattoos. May steal your pennies. /Send tell for RP!")Â
5) What external resources would you advise to look into for character/lore questions to help 'get up to speed' with the game's lore so I don't accidentally trod all over it?
The RPC forums themselves are great place to ask questions, and Sounsyy posts are very reliable for correct and well put together sources of info. The best way to get up to speed from scratch is simply to play the game and immerse yourself in the story.Â
You will quickly gain an idea for what kinda character you want to make, then from there you can research those particular themes/ideas for the character (e.g. you wanna make a healer catboy, so you look up conjury and miqo'te lore!) There is also a lorebook you can purchase from the SE store or find a PDF of somewhere. I would start with naming conventions, the world events, and maybe start looking into jobs you are interested in. Some job types have iffy lore about them, so if you wanna be cautious of this, I'd take a look at that.Â
6) (For those who know, PT:2) Is there any "Server Canon" that might help to be aware of? -- Server Canon is a byproduct of a lot of Roleplayers (and I mean a lot) all have intertwining stories, where their guilds and communities are so closely connected that it results in what amounts to be unofficial "Server Canon".Â
I don't think there's much of a server canon at all? RP tends to revolve around guilds/free companies etc. and there's not a huge amount of collaboration to do this, sadly. It sounds kinda neat though! (I might be forgetting an example where it might have happened, or something obvious.)
Hope this helps!