Help with character development!

[Grott]

My intentions for Kayle are to have him try to make a living and name for himself working in Ul'Dah, but his gaze is drawn north, both to his birthplace and the Tower of Ishgard.  He'll be a Gladiator, and probably a Paladin out of duty.  To himself, to his ideals, and for the ones he cares about.  But for him, eventually it means eventually taking the road north.

 

Sounds like a fun ride. Can't wait to see how the character turns out.

[doctorgalactic]

And chances are, the game will provide a lore-friendly reason why that is.

 

Maybe.

 

I'm not holding my breath.

 

I think we're getting off base here a bit.  Kayle's intrigue into the Dragoons, and potential inspiration to become one are his own.  Your understanding of the lore essentially only allows Uther (or anyone else who exiles or otherwise excommunicates themselves from pre-game Ishgard) to be the "true" Dragoons.  The fact of the matter is, the majority of people who will be playing that particular job will not have a back story identical to yours. Or, they will bandwagon and a lot of of them will, which depreciates the unique qualities of your character that you very clearly worked hard to develop.

 

I've given my character an aspiration beyond what his current situation enables him to do.  Mincing words about what it means to be a real Dragoon is something that in my opinion should be saved for RP purposes, not game defining stances.

[Shuck]

 

I've given my character an aspiration beyond what his current situation enables him to do.  Mincing words about what it means to be a real Dragoon is something that in my opinion should be saved for RP purposes, not game defining stances.

 

I'm not entirely clear what you mean by this. We're discussing character backgrounds, which are strictly for RP purposes.

 

Also, it doesn't really fall into "mincing" words. There's a lore background, and definition for what is, and isn't a Dragoon. Nobody's trying to hamper your imagination here, but again, MMO's in particular tend to allow players to do things that don't necessarily make sense in the overall scheme of the game's story.

 

For example: Every time a character goes into a dungeon, the critters within will behave exactly the same, every time. The bosses will have the same monologue, if they offer one, every time. If it's a dungeon with a story? That story will be the same every time. There isn't an assembly line out there with endless Big Bad whatevers. It's a concession of sense made for the sake of play.

 

The multiple players running around as Dragoons are the same sort of thing. A concession made for the sake of play. People want to play these classes. That's cool. The storyline of the game itself says that pretty much nobody makes it into that super-special secret club. That'd be dandy as well, if it weren't for the sheer volume of people present in the world, all wanting to play that class, most of whom will never roleplay, or even invent a backstory for their character.

 

So, rather than change the story (And honestly, from what I've seen in Beta, there's no shortage of "You are the Chosen One!"), they just wrap it all up in it's own little pocket (instances and solo-quests), and tell every player the same bit.

 

When we then take that into an arena where multiple people are contributing to a combined narrative (roleplayers in a roleplaying community), we're going to have to accept that our characters are not necessarily going to be everything the writers of the main-quests make them out to be. Honestly, the mechanics of the game don't support the "Chosen One" business, but that's another kettle all together.

 

Back on point: With that in mind, it's important to respect the boundaries set by the world, and it's history. Your character should make sense in the context of the world that they exist. Liberties can be taken here and there, but there are a few lines you just don't really want to cross. The Job system is wonderful for gameplay. The lore surrounding the jobs themselves makes a lot of this background business a mess (they're all basically super exclusive little sub-societies).

 

Do I wish they didn't do it that way? Yyyyeah, I kind of do. I mean, it gives the Jobs a sense of identity in the world, but it also excludes the players (by and large) from ever truly being a member of their lofty ranks.

 

I suppose in the end, you're right in saying that the lore interpretation of Dragoons in this particular case is elitist. It is. Unashamedly so. Because they are elites. But, we didn't make it that way. We're just kind of rolling with what we're being dealt.

[Gideon Aryeh]

Not to take anything away from what has been said but I just want to put this out there. If there were any time to find Dragoons outside of Ishguard and maybe (again maybe) even training people it would be after the god of all dragons attacked wouldn't it?

 

I know one of you guys stated why would someone pick up someone else's cause?

 

Well because Bahamut just turned your homeland into barbecue, I mean that would seem like a good reason to want to be a Dragoon to me no matter where you are from.

 

I hope SE adds that storybit into the Dragoons now. I mean I'd figure Ishguard would have had those wanting to be Dragoons arriving in droves after the Calamity. Now of course them getting in is another thing of course due to the city being closed off.

[Grott]

Not to take anything away from what has been said but I just want to put this out there. If there were any time to find Dragoons outside of Ishguard and maybe (again maybe) even training people it would be after the god of all dragons attacked wouldn't it?

 

I know one of you guys stated why would someone pick up someone else's cause?

 

Well because Bahamut just turned your homeland into barbecue, I mean that would seem like a good reason to want to be a Dragoon to me no matter where you are from.

 

I hope SE adds that storybit into the Dragoons now. I mean I'd figure Ishguard would have had those wanting to be Dragoons arriving in droves after the Calamity. Now of course them getting in is another thing of course due to the city being closed off.

 

This is a really good point, and I can imagine a lot of people would try to go the dragoon route after Bahamut's attack, as a means of hopeful retaliation or cautious defensive skills in case of a future attack. However, Ishgard Dragoons aren't just guys who kill dragons out in the world because they don't like them. To them, it's religious. It's a holy war, and it's no one's business but theirs. They've been in isolation for a very long time and from what we can gather about ARR, they've also been in eternal winter since the calamity, so I doubt they have the time or the will to train outsiders when they're probably thinking this is the climax of their holy war. Of course, this is all speculation.

 

I just think the best way to be a dragoon out in the world, while being from somewhere other than Ishgard, is to learn the skills from a retired dragoon or an exile or something. It sounds elitist to say "You can't be a dragoon unless you're from Ishgard or know someone from Ishgard." but really, those are the only two lore explanations the game has provided. I'm not trying to hog the class to myself or anything. If everyone in the game was a dragoon, I'd be okay with that (overseeing the logical issues of having no healers or tanks). This is just going off the lore provided.

 

After the Fall of Dalamud, I imagine a lot of people would learn some dragoon fighting techniques, especially if they were lancers already, from some exiled or retired dragoon, or some student of a student of a dragoon. That doesn't make them dragoons, even if they're just as skilled. I'll go more in-depth with an analogy I had earlier that I think works here. Say I'm a regular guy, and a mugger attacks and robs me. I might decide "Never again", and learn Shaolin Boxing as a means to protect myself. This doesn't make me a Shaolin Monk, despite learning the fighting style they're known for. I don't meditate with them, I don't follow their religious beliefs, I don't live at a temple. I'm just a guy who knows how to fight like them. Dragoon, to the people of Ishgard, is a lifestyle, not just a martial art. This is the big break between lore and gameplay.

 

If SE does release a bit of lore saying "Ishgard has sent out dragoon instructors to certify strong enough lancers in case of another Bahamut attack." or "Ishgard has opened its gates to allow hopefuls to stand in front of the Dragon's Eye and become official dragoons." or something of that nature, I'm not going to argue it. I'm just following what they've told me, and if they tell me something else, I'll follow that too. They make the lore, not me.