What exactly is a linkshell?

[Moonfire]

As the subject implies.... I will admit that I have no idea what a linkshell is. Can someone fill me in plz?!

[Grott]

IC it's a two-way magical (I think) audio-only device that allows one to communicate with anyone else who owns a corresponding pearl.

 

OOC it's a guild.

[Merri]

Abodo more or less hit the nail on the head, to an extent. In short, a linkshell is a grouping of linkpearls, which are just little pearls that have the ability to transmit audio across large distances. So, there is technically a difference there. Your character has a linkpearl, but is a member of a linkshell. A linkshell can dish out a hefty amount of linkpearls, and all of those pearls will be connected to eachother.

 

In 1.0, they were used as "guilds", but come 2.0 they're basically falling back to being a social tool, with Free Companies taking the place of guilds. You'll see a lot of RP linkshells popping up, simply because you can have multiple linkshells, but you can only join one free company.

 

While there's bound to be RP free companies, I know some people will opt to join an endgame free company, or one that isn't necessarily related to RP, which means having an RP linkshell is the only viable option for them. Unless they have alts or prefer to freelance.

 

Lore-wise, there are ways to disrupt linkpearls. The Garleans have technology that can nullify linkshell transmissions. Magical/aetherial disturbances can also mess with them. Outside of that, they're basically one of the main means of communication across vast distances in Eorzea. They're like cellphones. Pretty much everyone has one.

[Grott]

In 1.0, they were used as "guilds", but come 2.0 they're basically falling back to being a social tool, with Free Companies taking the place of guilds. You'll see a lot of RP linkshells popping up, simply because you can have multiple linkshells, but you can only join one free company.

 

I actually was wondering about this and I'm glad you reminded me. Do you know what the general consensus is on former Linkshells becoming Free Companies?

 

I feel like being in a Free Company kind of helps solidify the idea that you're in a group of like-minded RPers working toward a mutual goal, (especially for former shells that see themselves as a company, militia or establishment) but my concern is that there are quite a few Linkshells out there that look interesting, and depending on the character, someone could easily fit into multiple shells. 

 

Do you know if Linkshell leaders plan on getting more serious and becoming Free Companies, or if, in an effort to convenience the community, are staying as shells so that members can join multiple groups?

[Moonfire]

Thanks for the info! It's refreshing to see that they actually have an IC explanation for chat channels and guilds.

 

I will most likely look for an endgame Free Company that also RPs. They are hard to find though so an RP Linkshell sounds nice  Plus I personally like only being in one guild so the linkshells sound like a perfect solution to more social networks. Bravo!

[Eva]

As a LS leader-type-person I want to know more about what they plan to do before making this decision for our group.  I think there are a handful of us who are enthusiastic about having a sort of "base of operations" with regards to FC headquarters, and there are others who prefer to keep their FC option available for something more endgame-oriented or more suitable to their tastes.  Unfortunately there's just not a lot of info out there right now about how heavily endgame-centric something like this is going to be, though it has been mentioned that your FC can "level up" and might require some effort on the part of members for upkeep and such.  So it's entirely possible that a core group can own/maintain the FC while the LS expands its reach to others, or several FC's could make up a larger LS.  I think there will be a lot of options, but we'll probably know much more as Beta rolls on. 

 :cactuar:

[Grott]

I think there are a handful of us who are enthusiastic about having a sort of "base of operations" with regards to FC headquarters, and there are others who prefer to keep their FC option available for something more endgame-oriented or more suitable to their tastes.

 

Granted no one has all the answers yet and I understand that. But does anyone know just from other MMO experiences or from 1.0 what the likelihood of End-game RP is? I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to add into the RP experience, though in the games I've RP'd in, I've rarely seen it.

 

As for the "base of operations" I think it's a great idea, though I can see a few Linkshells not needing one. While others, I can't see working without one.

 

Maybe for 2.0 RP shouldn't shy away from the Free Company idea and instead strengthen the communication between RPers as a whole to make up for not being able to hop shell-to-shell? I realize I'm not a Linkshell leader, nor in any of the meetings, but I have noticed a big stress on communication, and community in general, recently.

 

Just some thoughts.

[Eva]

Thing is, you can kind of hop from shell to shell.  In 1.0 with linkshells it was possible to have up to 8 at once, and folks could be talking on all 8 concurrently (which made it tricky sometimes but clever use of filters made things easier to manage).

 

Most RP communities that I've read about don't seem to have any problem with their members belonging to multiple linkshells.  Different LS's may peak at different times based on time zones and such, so it makes sense OOCly, and it can make sense ICly as well.  There's a lot of great possibilities for RP, and the IC stress that a character may feel from spreading him-or-herself too thinly across many groups.  Or a character that is a member of multiple groups may help serve as a bridge and some cross-LS events may spurn from that.  Lots of possiblities for good RP stem from this sort of arrangement.

 

I personally hope that the requirements to "level up" a Free Company are not so taxing as to be an imposition to those who prefer to RP more.

 

Endgame RP can, and has happened.  We did this a fair bit in FFXI.  Often the in-game story may serve as some sort of parallel and there may be some lead-up RP to a particular battle.  The fights were most often conducted OOC with the focus being on winning the fight and then some sort of follow-up RP would happen afterwards.  Every group that RP's will handle things like this a bit differently though.  But I can see it being too difficult to actually RP while in the midst of a battle.  I'd rather my tank be focusing on keeping hate than worrying about answering some IC question, for instance.

 

Once the structure of Free Companies is better understood, and what the benefits and costs of being involved in one, I think it will be much clearer for most to make that distinction.  That whole "can only be a member of one" caveat makes this kind of an important decision for people.

[Merri]

In 1.0, they were used as "guilds", but come 2.0 they're basically falling back to being a social tool, with Free Companies taking the place of guilds. You'll see a lot of RP linkshells popping up, simply because you can have multiple linkshells, but you can only join one free company.

 

Do you know if Linkshell leaders plan on getting more serious and becoming Free Companies, or if, in an effort to convenience the community, are staying as shells so that members can join multiple groups?

I'll sort of tag onto what Eva said in that it's probably up in the air for a lot of people right now. I know with my Linkshell, Blue Skies, it's going to strictly be a linkpearl unless we get the option to join multiple free companies. Reason being that a majority of us Blue Skies members right now are also a part of the same endgame linkshell from 1.0, which will become a free company come 2.0. We also want to be as open to as many people as possible, and if you can only have one free company, it'd bar some people from being able to join.

 

We don't know a terrible amount about free companies right now, but I feel that from what we do know, a free company will basically fit two uses for an RP group. One being access to a free company building. An HQ, basically. That would have a plethora of uses for RP.

 

Second being if said RP linkshell also does endgame related activities. They'd be able to get the free company buffs via leveling up and what not.

 

However, just because one doesn't have a free company doesn't mean you couldn't make use of an HQ. I know with Blue Skies, one of our plans is to pool together money and just have a player-purchased house function as an HQ, and allow everyone in the pearl access to it.

 

But really, I think it just boils down to waiting and seeing how things unfold over the coming months up to release.

[Grott]

Fair enough. Thanks for the info.

[Moonfire]

 But I can see it being too difficult to actually RP while in the midst of a battle.  I'd rather my tank be focusing on keeping hate than worrying about answering some IC question, for instance.

 

 

Well you can still be IC during a fight. In real life you don't talk much when you are working hard or in a fight so your character wouldn't either. Then again ALL my skills and everything I do in the game I consider part of my character. I know some people don't (which I still don't understand) so I could see them not wanting to stay IC.

[Eva]

Fair point. And I'll admit there's usually a certain amount of suspension of disbelief involved when going into a MMO fight, but I can appreciate how some might insist they're in-character at all times no matter what. From my own past experiences, for most combat events - particularly tougher fights - there often needs to be some sort of communication prior to the event, or even to some extent during it. And while this communication may take place in-character, there are certain aspects of it which usually simply cannot realistically happen this way. For instance, "at 50% health the big monster will do an AoE move and everyone but the tank should get far away". Yes, this can be adjusted in such a way as to be stated in-character, but what if no one in your group is a seasoned monster hunter or would plausibly know this IC?

 

My point with that remark was simply that some folks treat endgame/progression as something independant of RP, and it can be detrimental to a fight if a paladin is barking orders IC to the others rather than firing off job abilities to preserve enmity, or a healer misses casting a vital cure because she's busy emoting some invocation to her deity, etc. This may be fine if everyone is on the same page, but there are RPers who will prioritize the success of the outcome of the fight over the value of a meaningful RP exchange mid-battle.

 

This is admittedly a bit off-topic for this thread though, but I would be glad to debate on another thread a few of the shortcomings to "RP purism" in a real-time MMO setting.

[Grott]

I'm not sure I really understand what you mean by talking about abilities IC. I can see how it'd work for like "Burn him down" and using a fire spell, or "Slow him!" and casting Slow, but I can't ever see my dragoon saying "I'm going to use my Jump attack!" IC without everyone, including myself, laughing our asses off behind the keyboard. This isn't Pokemon. 

 

As for IC raid bosses, Eva brings up a very good point about needing some OOC to communicate and thus not completely wipe. I feel like most of the fight could be done IC though. I think if, before the fight, someone decided to throw out "((this guy does an AOE at 50%. Tank, I need you to work on your placement so we're out of his cone of attack.))" that'd suffice. I don't see why you couldn't say things like "I'm going to need some back up." IC if you need your off-tank to take some threat off you. Everyone can see your health, it shouldn't be too cryptic. At the same time though, heavy RPers should realize it is a boss fight and you might have to deal with "((got aggro))" or "((no MP))" instead of a long drawn out speech about how your power is waning and you lack the strength to continue casting spells or whatever. (Idk what the usual excuses are. I don't RP mages.) In the end, it's all about what's more important to the group: downing the boss, or making a good story... Though I can't really see how "we all got our asses handed to us by that boss" is a good story.

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Sorry, this has gotten terribly off-topic. I don't mean to spam your _{"What exactly is a linkshell?"} thread with "THIS IS HOW YOU CAN RP IN A BOSS FIGHT!"