Hi! New to FFXIV roleplay, have some questions about the climate of the RP community and other things.

[Aevarra]

Hi there! ^^ So, I'm a very experienced roleplayer, I've done it in WoW for years and years. So the typical things about "Go to RP hubs, find an RP FC, don't god mod" etc are already learned  Thing is, I'm totally new to FFXIV roleplay. I've never really been into the final fantasy series beforehand either to be honest. So I do have a massive lack of knowledge of the lore of the ingame world, and I've an ignorance to most of the differences between WoW and FFXIV roleplay. So, I do have a main question that inspired this post, and it has to do with who I plan for my character to be.

So, she's a Miqo'te, but the main aspect about her that causes me to wonder is her profession. I had a sort of "Ninja/Conjurer hybrid" thing in mind. She started off as just a ninja, but due to her inability to learn how to properly do Ninjutsu later down the road, she decided to work on something else entirely to augment her current skills, and felt conjury was the most fitting and useful to her. I'm somewhat attached to this idea, since I very much love both of those classes. The thing is, from my experience in WoW RP, I've had a few contacts within that community that would definitely consider having two combat classes to be a huge sign of your character being a Mary Sue. I have no idea what the RP community climate is like here in comparison, is that something many people would bat an eye at? That's my main concern, and would love to see it answered. A side (sort of) question that fits into that, any tips or advice for RPing someone like this? I have almost no knowledge about where one would have to go to learn to be a ninja, or how the magic of conjury actually works, or the racial history of Miqo'te or anything really relevant to the character idea like that.

A couple more brief and general questions;

- What are some of the good RP hubs? The only real place I've seen RPers in great number is at The Quicksand, are there other locations that are good? I haven't seen the other city's adventurer's guilds be nearly as active here on Balmung.

- How necessary is joining an RP FC when someone wishes to RP? Are walk-ups common? I see people sitting alone in Quicksand sometimes, do I just walk-up and say "Hi"? Or?

- Lastly, are there any tips you would give somebody like me? I mainly ask because it's easy to miss crucial information. In WoW, we have mods or "add-ons" you can install that alter your game, and having a roleplay add-on that lets you write a custom RP profile others can see, and this add-on was CRUCIAL for WoW RP. Thing is, I didn't learn about this until years down the line, and it felt like I had severely missed out for all that time before I had it. Maybe not an RP-addon specifically, but is there anything that might seem obvious that is important for someone to know early on?

I know this was a loooottt of text I apologize ;-; . I thank you in advance for any help!

Edited March 24, 2018 by Aevarra

[Unnamed Mercenary]

17 minutes ago, Aevarra said:

The thing is, from my experience in WoW RP, I've had a few contacts within that community that would definitely consider having two combat classes to be a huge sign of your character being a Mary Sue. I have no idea what the RP community climate is like here in comparison, is that something many people would bat an eye at? That's my main concern, and would love to see it answered

 

FFXIV RP tends to vary. In my experiences, people weren't generally a named job with  a soulstone (as those are typically rare/restricted/ancient practices being revived). Having a background in multiple fiends is usually seen as fine, "within reason." As in, people might eyeroll a bit if your chacter is uncharacteristically skilled and incredibly young. Each of the in-game classes typically have their own fields of study and few would generally be a master of more than one. Which is to say, it's not problematic to dabble and try stuff out!
 

21 minutes ago, Aevarra said:

What are some of the good RP hubs? The only real place I've seen RPers in great number is at The Quicksand, are there other locations that are good? I haven't seen the other city's adventurer's guilds be nearly as active here on Balmung.

 

Ul'dah in general is probably still considered the main RP hub, but Kugane's usually lively too, on the far-eastern side of Hydaelyn. You'll find RP in just about any city with marketboards though.
 

21 minutes ago, Aevarra said:

How necessary is joining an RP FC when someone wishes to RP? Are walk-ups common? I see people sitting alone in Quicksand sometimes, do I just walk-up and say "Hi"? Or?

Varies between RPers. A lot of people will say if it's out in public in /say, it's probably fair game. Although there are other people who also do their private scenes in public places in /say as well. If you're worried about not getting noticed or interrupting, you can send a /tell to some of the people involved or check their search info if they have a walk-ups welcome blurb. For me, if the Roleplay icon is on, I'd call it fair game.

In terms of Free Companies and Linkshells, they're definitely useful, but not required to find RP. THe RPC hosts listings for some, but it's nowhere close to the full amount out there.

 

25 minutes ago, Aevarra said:

Lastly, are there any tips you would give somebody like me? I mainly ask because it's easy to miss crucial information. In WoW, we have mods or "add-ons" you can install that alter your game, and having a roleplay add-on that lets you write a custom RP profile others can see, and this add-on was CRUCIAL for WoW RP.

 

FFXIV has no developer-supported mods, so you aren't missing anything there! And of the mods out there, most are for hunts and/or parsing and fall into a "don't talk about it in game because you could get banned" status. The RPC cannot officially endorse any mod, no matter how useful or benign.

Forum-wise, some useful resources would be to make a Player Directory post with some basic info about you, the player. (Although you'll find a lot of people put their characters here too...). Things like RP preferences, availability, high/low/medium RP and what that means to you, etc. A Making Connections post is also useful if you're looking to advertise your character to others, of if you see someone else's listing you're interesting in. Character Workshop is also available if you've got questions about character building, backstories, or working with the lore on a character level.  I'd check out the Lore Discussion board as there are a ton of threads there with useful information. (Formatting may vary as we recently migrated forum software and many links will point to the old forums).

Lastly, make a wiki page! (Basically our version of an ever-changing character sheet). There are some ready-made templates to start with ranging from simple wikicode like Deidre's template, to more advanced ones with a lot of wikicode and html/css like the D'lyhhia templates.

[Aevarra]

17 minutes ago, Unnamed Mercenary said:

FFXIV RP tends to vary. In my experiences, people weren't generally a named job with  a soulstone (as those are typically rare/restricted/ancient practices being revived). Having a background in multiple fiends is usually seen as fine, "within reason." As in, people might eyeroll a bit if your chacter is uncharacteristically skilled and incredibly young. Each of the in-game classes typically have their own fields of study and few would generally be a master of more than one. Which is to say, it's not problematic to dabble and try stuff out!

Is that so? If that's true then it's good to know, thanks.  A ninja without ninjutsu is more or less a rogue anyway so that's not a big deal for my character concept. I'll change that, just changes the flavor just a little bit ^^. I figured it was fine because when I briefly looked up conjurer lore I remember seeing it brought up multiple times that white mages shouldn't be RPed as because that's something only the Padjal and the Warrior of Light (which you wouldn't RP as) are. So when I read that I kept taking it as sort of softly and indirectly implying that the other post-30 jobs were fair game. Or, most of them anyway. I'd imagine any that follow the same "You are one of the only one of these jobs in the world" jobs would be absolute no-nos. I'm glad that misconception's been corrected, I suppose if the other post-30 jobs are that uncommon then it being looked down upon would make sense! Are there any post-30 jobs that you'd consider fair game at least? I don't know much about most of them but one that jumps out right away as 100% okay would be bard. Are there others?

As for the rest, I thank you for the time . It seems the times when it's appropriate to walk-up is sliiiiiiiightly more strict than WoW but not by a whole lot, I could get used to that :). The idea of making a wiki for your character is especially foreign to me, is this a common practice? I'll definitely be looking into that!

Edited March 24, 2018 by Aevarra

[Unnamed Mercenary]

It's important to note that the Classes are not their Jobs, even if the game makes it seem like one of the Jobs is basically a better version of a Class.

A Conjurer and a White Mage both heal, but the way their magic works is completely different, as an example. Magic just tends  to be one of the more discussed topics with a LOT of threads and posts. Some Jobs are also much more accessible than others, like becoming a Bard or Paladin. Others are actively trying to train new people like Monk, Warrior, Astrologian, etc). White Mage and Black Mage are probably two of the more restricted-ish ones lore-wise. But for each character with a named class/job, there are plenty more who jut RP and wouldn't say they're associated with a particular guild or form of study. Like someone running a bar. Or an adventurer (although that -IS- technically a class to the game client's code).

 

If it's something you've played through, the Unending Journey book in the inn rooms is a cutscene player. You can easily revisit most scenes of interest. 

 

For wikis, I'd say it's extremely common practice among FFXIV roleplayers, even among the ones who don't post on the RPC. Some people also make use of tumblr blogs as well.

[Sounsyy]

Hey there Aevarra and welcome to the RPC and Eorzea!

 

As far as Classes vs Jobs goes, its easiest to think of the "classes" as professions which are taught and standardized by their respective guilds throughout Eorzea. Everyone who learns from these guilds learns the same stuff, more or less. You can learn how to be a fistfighter/brawler outside of the Pugilists' Guild, obviously, but you won't be a Pugilist with a capital P, a debt collector and prizefighter of Ul'dah. Conjury is another good example. From the guild, you learn to become a mediator between man and elemental and use the power of nature to cleanse, heal, and protect - but you can also learn Conjury in places like Ishgard and Sharlayan, places which don't believe in the elementals, so the culture surrounding the conjury you learn is slightly different. 

 

Whereas "Jobs" are professions which are no longer actively taught in Eorzea at all, or are rarer professions which require some specific prerequisites to make sense. It's not to say that you can't RP as any of these jobs, it's just that each one usually requires more specific Backstory elements in order for it to make sense. And as you pile on more "jobs" that your character knows, it starts defying the realm of believable that such and such character has done all of these wondrous things. It's not that it can't be done, but it just requires a little more specifically structured backstory. 

 

19 hours ago, Aevarra said:

A side (sort of) question that fits into that, any tips or advice for RPing someone like this? I have almost no knowledge about where one would have to go to learn to be a ninja, or how the magic of conjury actually works, or the racial history of Miqo'te or anything really relevant to the character idea like that.

 

Ninjutsu is a style of combat originally developed by the various warring clans of ancient Hingashi, an archipelago east of the continent of Othard. Ninjutsu later was brought to the nation of Doma on mainland Othard, where the ninjas you interact with in the Ninja Questline come from. So this sort of profession would most likely necessitate a history in the Far East. I did see though that you were looking at being a Rogue or normal knife wielder instead, which is focused around the Dutiful Sisters of the Edelweiss in Limsa Lominsa. Knife fighting is relatively common in Limsa, even outside the guild, but the Rogues' Guild specifically is a sort of underground pirate police in the city-state. 

 

As for the other stuff, I've a couple links that might be helpful:

• Racial Lore can be found here (Miqo'te are towards the bottom of the post)
• Eorzean Aetherology Lore (for conjury, I recommend the Aetherology 201 and Conjury 402 links)

Hope this helps! ^^

[Aevarra]

1 hour ago, Sounsyy said:

Hope this helps! ^^

It helps a lot, thank you!

I haven't read your link on Aether yet, about to do that now. I did read through the racial one though! Or, specifically, the parts about Miqo'te. The Seekers of the Sun seem rather restrictive based on what I'm reading. Their naming conventions always involve the first letter of the tribe they're from, followed by an apostrophe, then their given name. It says they tend to originate from patriarchal miqo'te tribes with a single breeding male that has formed a large harem, etc. How closely should all of this be followed? Would a Seeker of the Sun who doesn't have a name like this be common? Would a Seeker of the Sun from having a single mother raise her on her own like the Keepers of the Moon be at least a little common? If not, would people bat an eye if I roleplayed my Miqo'te as the opposite clan I created her in? (Don't exactly feel like buying a name change or character re-customization and all that because I was ignorant when I created her so long ago, hah). 

Anyway I really appreciate the help so far ^_^. The replies I've gotten from you two have definitely swayed me away from some of the ideas I had in mind, and they're replaced by new ones which I assume are a bit more realistic and common in FFXIV's setting :). In WoW the large majority of RPers you come across are going to be strictly RPing as their in-game class or at least something very close to it, so I was a bit stuck in that sort of mentality coming into this. I certainly am not very interested in her being a ninja after what I've heard about them. If "Rogue" specifically means someone who has had ties with the Rogues' guild then I'm not sure I want her to be that either. Probably going to go with her learning knife fighting and all the things that come with it from a less structured environment instead ^^, though maybe she could have taken enough of an interest in conjury to give THAT guild a visit, for reasons I haven't exactly thought up yet.

Edited March 25, 2018 by Aevarra

[Sounsyy]

24 minutes ago, Aevarra said:

The Seekers of the Sun seem rather restrictive based on what I'm reading. Their naming conventions always involve the first letter of the tribe they're from, followed by an apostrophe, then their given name. It says they tend to originate from patriarchal miqo'te tribes with a single breeding male that has formed a large harem, etc. How closely should all of this be followed? Would a Seeker of the Sun who doesn't have a name like this be common? Would a Seeker of the Sun from a more traditional isolated mother/father family be common? If not, would people bat an eye if I roleplayed my Miqo'te as the opposite clan I created her in?

 

You'll find that there's actually several Miqo'te RPers out there who don't follow Seeker of the Sun naming conventions or tribal lore. While in game, it's very uncommon to see a Seeker Miqo'te without a tribal designation (though there are some of mixed clan heritage who use Keeper of the Moon naming conventions and vise versa) or Nunh/Tia surname for males - it's quite common in the RP community. There's many reasons for this occurring, ranging from not knowing the lore beforehand to just not liking the lore. We've come to refer to these Miqo'te as "City Miqo'te" as opposed to traditional "Tribal Miqo'te", Miqo'te who have either been adopted by other races and have been raised outside a traditional Seeker lifestyle, or the character's parents abandoned tribal lifestyle for whatever reason, took up residence in one of Eorzea's city-states and led a more monogamous, nuclear-family lifestyle. There is evidence of Miqo'te who do this in lore. 

 

So if you want a Seeker of the Sun, without the tribal lore and naming conventions, you can make a backstory which skirts around why they or their parents/extended relatives/adopted family aren't part of a tribe. This can also lead to interesting character interactions between Miqo'te who are from a tribal background thinking your character's customs are weird ICly, and so on. 

[Aevarra]

5 minutes ago, Sounsyy said:

it's quite common in the RP community. There's many reasons for this occurring, ranging from not knowing the lore beforehand to just not liking the lore. We've come to refer to these Miqo'te as "City Miqo'te" as opposed to traditional "Tribal Miqo'te", Miqo'te who have either been adopted by other races and have been raised outside a traditional Seeker lifestyle, or the character's parents abandoned tribal lifestyle for whatever reason, took up residence in one of Eorzea's city-states and led a more monogamous, nuclear-family lifestyle. There is evidence of Miqo'te who do this in lore. 

This is great news for me, thanks so much for all of the help.

The switch between RP communities has been really jarring and made getting started a bit intimidating but I feel I can create a much better character now without doing anything too "out there", which will definitely help me along with things

[Unnamed Mercenary]

The general feel of the server will probably be a little different from what you're used to in WoW. Since FFXIV doesn't have dedicated RP servers, things tend to have more of a home-grown kinda approach. According to others, we also takes some bits from FFXI's RP conventions here and there too, but quite a few people who now RP in FFXIV also RPed in WoW, or at least played the game, so there should be a good amount of overlap.

 

Balmung itself is pretty diverse as well, since it covers basically the whole gradient of RP preferences. One of the things that had helped me really break out into the open was attending some events where I could get to know some people on a consistent basis. For me, that had ended up being adopted by some friends/their RP friends and getting involved. Another pretty big one was the Grindstone tournament, which has been an even held every week since FFXIV 2.0 launched. (It's changed a bit here and there and grown much larger, but it's a good way to scope out differing RP styles and possibly get to know some of the other RPers around!) If your Saturday evenings (North American timezone) are free, I'd check them out! They're always open to new people, whether that means attending, helping assist with healing, or just RPing at the event, as there are a number of spectators too!

[Aevarra]

17 hours ago, Unnamed Mercenary said:

One of the things that had helped me really break out into the open was attending some events where I could get to know some people on a consistent basis. For me, that had ended up being adopted by some friends/their RP friends and getting involved. Another pretty big one was the Grindstone tournament, which has been an even held every week since FFXIV 2.0 launched. (It's changed a bit here and there and grown much larger, but it's a good way to scope out differing RP styles and possibly get to know some of the other RPers around!) If your Saturday evenings (North American timezone) are free, I'd check them out! They're always open to new people, whether that means attending, helping assist with healing, or just RPing at the event, as there are a number of spectators too!

Thanks for the advice! I'll look into the Grindstone tournament and see if I can give it a visit :). Would help to see how people RP in this game a bit more before I jump into it myself ^^