Character Creation Dilemma!!!

[Trickery]

Short Version: Of the four characters below, which is you least favorite?

 

Longer Version: Sooo, I spent a lot of time messing around with character creation. I made a ton of characters, but finally settled (or thought I'd settled) on the three I'd be using at launch. I'd specifically planned three characters because:

 

1) I wanted one character in each Grand Company.

 

And

 

2) I'm horribly addicted to alts and if I allowed myself more than three, I'd never get anything done (has happened countless times before in other MMOs).

 

Anyway, I'd settled on my characters, but during this last Phase 3 test, I spent a little time on my old 1.0 character and remembered why I liked him so much in the first place. I'd been all set to just scrap the guy or remake him into a Miqo'te or Roegadyn, but after messing with him for awhile, I found myself getting attached again.

 

So, help me decide!

 

 

 

A: Seawolf Roegadyn. Confident, brash, sea going warrior. Has a penchant for belting out a myriad of lewd drinking songs during battle and bar room brawls.

 

B: Wildwood Elezen. Calm, charming, and ever so slightly haughty. Very much used to living quite lavishly, but loves the urban lifestyle and has become addicted to the thrill of adventuring.

 

C: Keeper Miqo'te. Young, inexperienced, but knows how to pull through when it counts. Was raised in a rather odd religious cult dedicated to Nald'Thal and wears the two faced paint to represent it. Has some mental issues due to the unusual upbringing.

 

D: Highlander Hyur. Humourous, down to earth, and very much a jack of all trades. Comes from a rather well off family from overseas. Has been trained in a myriad of martial and mental disciplines, but left for Eorzea to get some real world experience before beginning any sort of specialized training.

 

 

Anyway, my dilemma here is which one to cut. I really like all of them, but I know if I allow myself "just one more character" that it'll eventually become a huge downward spiral of me constantly creating and recreating characters and never actually playing the game itself past the first 20 levels or so.

 

For reference, I enjoy playing both male and female characters and don't mind if all of my characters wind up female. I also don't mind playing the super popular race (a.k.a. Miqo'te) as long as the character design is unique.

 

So, just kick your least favorite character off the Island! Doesn't matter the reason (RP story doesn't look interesting, characters looks bland, etc).

 

Thanks!

[Teardrop]

I choose C; because there are already too many of that kind in these here parts...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*and by that I mean, grey-skinned half-masks (see sig )*

*what, did you think I meant Miqo'te? well, now that you mention it...*

[Mynk]

Voted C for reasons similar to Teardrop.

 

Out of the four, I can't in good conscience say no to more female Roegadyn or Elezen, so it comes down to C or D. Between them, while I know you say you don't mind if all three end up female, you also say you enjoy playing both male and female, and having a male in there would give a bit more variety in your RP. =)

[Y'sehr]

I also vote C. Just not as interesting or pretty.

[Asyria]

I voted B.

 

A could be my own rogedayn female! Or close. She sounds like fun. The world needs more drinking brawling women. Don't ask me why, though. o_O

 

B I'm not sure why I don't like her... but I don't. Wong vibe, I guess.

 

C is simply intriguing. I like how she looks, and even if there's a lot of catgirls around, I don't think that's much of a reason not to play one. The whole face paint and unusual upbringing makes her original, too.

(Not to be mean, but any "because there's too many of them" votes don't really count since the OP specifically said they don't mind Miqo'te being popular...)

 

D I don't feel anything special about, one way or the other. I guess he's too Generic Human Adventurer, in a way? At first glance, anyway. At least I don't get that same weird vibe as B. But he'd be my second choice for a least favorite.

[Teardrop]

(Not to be mean, but any "because there's too many of them" votes don't really count since the OP specifically said they don't mind Miqo'te being popular...)

 

Except they DO count, because he asked for people to vote and give their opinion, and that is the voter's opinion .  The voters are voting their own opinion, not his .

[Asyria]

(Not to be mean, but any "because there's too many of them" votes don't really count since the OP specifically said they don't mind Miqo'te being popular...)

 

Except they DO count, because he asked for people to vote and give their opinion, and that is the voter's opinion .  The voters are voting their own opinion, not his .

 

Fair enough ^^;

[Fluffysmartass]

I think A and D are most interesting!

[Eva]

D I don't feel anything special about, one way or the other. I guess he's too Generic Human Adventurer, in a way? At first glance, anyway. At least I don't get that same weird vibe as B. But he'd be my second choice for a least favorite.

 

I voted D as my least favorite for this same reason.

 

While miqo'te are certainly abundant I don't know many characters in general who have done much with regard to Nald'Thal. I think it was one of the least popular choices during the "which deity?" poll that Kylin had conducted awhile back, and I admit I actually like how the split face marking resonates well with that dynamic.

[LeCard]

voted B out.

 

A) Sounds fun, and really who could say no to more female Roes

 

B) seemed like the most bland story of the lot

 

C) Ok so, giving C the don't leave me puppy face isn't fair... (also interesting story idea)

 

D) Interesting to see a character that can make full use of the class switching ability provided in this game.

[Trickery]

Long post incoming!!!

 

Thanks for all of the responses. I like being able to see what people are prioritizing when they vote. It's also helping me see some of the deficiencies that are already popping up in these characters, as well as some of the things that it looks like I'm doing right.

 

Anyway, yikes, no love for the Miqo'te! I'm kind of curious how many of those votes are just knee jerk "Miqo'te Population Control" votes, since whenever I see race recommendations it's almost always against Miqo'te since there are so many of them.

 

I choose C; because there are already too many of that kind in these here parts...

 

*and by that I mean, grey-skinned half-masks (see sig )*

*what, did you think I meant Miqo'te?  well, now that you mention it...*

 

Voted C for reasons similar to Teardrop.

 

I also vote C. Just not as interesting or pretty.

 

Yeah, I've kind of noticed more of that face type cropping up. I remember making it awhile back as a sort of Chimera concept and was really excited about it. Since then, though, I've seen that particular combo pop up all over the place. I actually made a male version of that Miqo'te earlier, but right after I made him I jumped onto this site and saw another user that had joined and had the exact same character, all the way down to facial features and hairstyle.

 

I think the problem is that it's an odd look, but because of that it's super recognizable. For people who just make generic characters, it's hard to tell them apart, so you don't really think much if you run into them. For face paints like this, though, it's such a specific look that it seems like the 2nd or 3rd time you run into it, you're already completely over it. Kind of hard to explain.

 

Anyway, I liked the look at the time, but now I'm not so sure.

 

C is simply intriguing. I like how she looks, and even if there's a lot of catgirls around, I don't think that's much of a reason not to play one. The whole face paint and unusual upbringing makes her original, too.

 

While miqo'te are certainly abundant I don't know many characters in general who have done much with regard to Nald'Thal.  I think it was one of the least popular choices during the "which deity?" poll that Kylin had conducted awhile back, and I admit I actually like how the split face marking resonates well with that dynamic.

 

Her story was actually the part I was most excited about with this Miqo'te. The second I put on the two sided face paint, my brain already started churning out a crazy backstory for it.

 

I think I was most excited because a large part of my roleplaying background comes from a World of Darkness forum game that I spent three or four years playing on and off. In those games I always played characters/clans/tribes with an abundance of mental flaws that I'd have to overcome while RPing. I just love playing deeply flawed characters just trying to get by in the world. Seems like that always brought about the best RP stories.

 

B I'm not sure why I don't like her... but I don't. Wong vibe, I guess.

 

B) seemed like the most bland story of the lot

 

Hmmm. I'm kind of curious what's giving you the bad vibe. Maybe it's how the highlights in her hair make it look like she has devil horns? Or maybe just the prissy rich girl trying to break into adventuring story?

 

I have to admit, her story is much less fleshed out than the other characters. I made her specifically because I like the way Elezens look in the Dragoon AF armor better than the other races. Her background is basically just what I came up with spur of the moment by looking at her and trying to imagine what her personality would be like. Someone mentioned that she looked Cleopatra-esque, so I kind of just ran with that.

 

I still need to flesh her out more. I'd probably try to work jewelcrafting somewhere into her background to help explain the wealth more. Or I'll just come up with something else altogether.

 

D I don't feel anything special about, one way or the other. I guess he's too Generic Human Adventurer, in a way? At first glance, anyway. At least I don't get that same weird vibe as B. But he'd be my second choice for a least favorite.

 

I voted D as my least favorite for this same reason.

 

I think the generic vibe comes from me trying to make him a jack of all trades character right from the start. Roegadyn were too big, Lalafell were too small, Elezen were too supple, and Miqo'te were female only at the time when I was making him. I could've went with a Midlander, but to be honest, they felt a little TOO generic for me, so I went with Highlander. It helps that at the time there weren't many people playing Highlanders, either.

 

One of the big draws of this character for me, though, is that he's kind of like duct tape. He fits in pretty much everywhere as a temporary solution.

 

His story's main theme basically revolves around personal independence and breaking free from limitations. He doesn't need to be the best at everything, he just needs to be competent enough to not be tethered to someone else.

 

It also makes it so that he's really not limited in what stories he can participate in. He's pretty much the epitome of a choose your own adventure book. He can wander off anywhere, join pretty much anyone, and do pretty well in it. He just gets in trouble when he starts coming across things that needs a specialized skill set that he can't provide.

 

Hmmm... maybe I'm more attached to this character than I gave myself credit for.

 

I think the main issue I have is that, story and personality wise, it just doesn't seem like he has enough character flaws. At the moment, it seems like his only real flaw is that he can't stand toe-to-toe with a specialist in a particular field. Just doesn't seem to be a big enough drawback to being able to do pretty much everything else competently. I'll have to work on that a bit more.

 

Anyway, looking at the results, it seems like the Seawolf is really the only one that's pretty much completely safe.

 

Things definitely don't look good for the little Miqo'te, though.

 

 

She's not happy about it. >.>

[moody]

C because "Young, inexperienced, but knows how to pull through when it counts" is almost a trope for female Mi'qote and I'll be happy if I never have to deal with another character who "has some mental issues due to the unusual upbringing". That's almost a trope in and of itself. 

 

Now, tropes aren't in and of themselves bad things. What makes them work is the details around them and this character summary doesn't have those. She has mental issues? What mental issues. Where do they spawn from? Is this "I want to act silly?" and then excuse it by "I have mental issues" or is this "The character has PTSD due to [specific] horrors experienced in her upbringing and they affect her like this, this, and this." or is this simply a lack of knowledge about the outside world that presents itself as naivety about social customs others commonly understand and she will get over that lack of knowledge over time or is it simply "She has a learning disability because the priests liked to feed your mi'qote paint chips for sacrament."

 

The above is my personal preference and some people like different things. YMMV, etc etc. Your others seem much more like characters though, while this one seems more like a concept to justify the cute appearance. 

 

Edited for clarity.

[Kari Illderthane]

Voted D as well, I generally find Jack of all trade characters rather boring. The fact he isn't good or bad at anything just seems a bit meh to me. Even though the character wouldn't be able to stand toe toe with someone using their skill set, your character can employ all the skills that he has learnt to fight against someone. I just haven't had a good experience with Jack of trade characters since they can seem to do everything makes them powerful in their own merit.

[Trickery]

C because "Young, inexperienced, but knows how to pull through when it counts" is almost a trope for female Mi'qote and I'll be happy if I never have to deal with another character who "has some mental issues due to the unusual upbringing". That's almost a trope in and of itself. 

 

I promise that I had her back story much more fleshed out in my head. I purposefully went with trope-like descriptions in order to give a very quick, 3-point summary/impression of the character without forcing everyone to slog through a mini-novel in order to find the main points. You can write it off as a failed attempt to be kitschy.

 

The "mental issues" were going to be more along the line of things like self disassociation, depersonalization, and schizotypal disorders rather than cutesy things like regression and multiple personality disorder. I tend to jump to the darker side of the spectrum when I'm playing characters with mental illnesses.

 

One of the problems that's cropped up already, though, is that it's really kind of hard to fit a character like that into Eorzea at the moment. I mean, yeah, Eorzea's a screwed up place right now, but all of the serious mental issues seem to be isolated to the Empire side rather than with the adventurers.

 

Plus, if I was being honest, her entire back story is basically just a super convoluted way to justify the half and half face paint. I was discussing this earlier and someone brought up that face paint like that should accentuate the character, not BE the character, which is a pretty good point.

 

Voted D as well, I generally find Jack of all trade characters rather boring. The fact he isn't good or bad at anything just seems a bit meh to me. Even though the character wouldn't be able to stand toe toe with someone using their skill set, your character can employ all the skills that he has learnt to fight against someone. I just haven't had a good experience with Jack of trade characters since they can seem to do everything makes them powerful in their own merit.

 

This is actually an issue I've been batting around trying to remedy. I used to RP with this character in 1.0 and there was never an issue, but I think that's 'cause the RP was strictly of a social nature. Combat prowess was almost never brought up outside of opening lines like "Oh, so what do you do for a living?" "Meh, a little bit of everything." It seems like it'd be a much more prominent problem if there was ever a more conflict oriented story.

 

Another reason that he comes across as rather generic is because I tend to come up with traits for some of my character's on the fly rather than fleshing them out beforehand. If someone asks me a question that I haven't really thought about earlier, I'll usually answer in the way that seems the most natural, then work that into my story later. I think it's fun when they take on a life of their own like that, 'cause then there are situations where even I'm not sure how my character will react, but afterwards after I've thought about it, the actions always make sense.

 

It's fun for me, but unfortunately doing it that way makes for a terribly boring and generic bio before I've gotten some RP out of the way.

[Aysun]

I voted B because I am retarded and can't read after a day at work. I meant C. Mostly due to the commonness and I'm afraid you might grow annoyed with having that face paint permanent after awhile! I just really like how that Elezen looks..

[Teardrop]

I meant C. Mostly due to the commonness and I'm afraid you might grow annoyed with having that face paint permanent after awhile!

 

I know I'm ready to tear my own face off by noon time...

[Asyria]

So, long story short...

 

Roegadyn in safe because she's a Roegedyn.

 

Miqo'te is dropped out because she's a Miqo'te.

 

Elezen is mostly okay because most think there's someone worse (I haven't seen many reasons to specifically keep her so far as much as reasons to drop someone else )

 

Highlander is mostly okay because he's cool though the jack of all trade thing can go both ways. About that... The funny thing with this is even if it will take longer, he COULD eventually reach max level in all classes and so would end up being a specialist in everything.

 

I also note that you Trickery, seem to really like the Highlander and Miqo'te characters. You didn't say much about the Roe, maybe because few people voted her out and those didn't post their reasons... And you did speak about your Elezen, but also admit you worked on her the least.

 

Now I don't know if you intend to let the vote make the decision for you or are using it to bounce ideas with us, but I know what I'd do (aside from just, y'know, keeping all four ^^; )

[FreelanceWizard]

Honestly, I voted to cut the miqo'te because the concept pitch is my least favorite. From my past experience, "mental issues from upbringing" is something of which I'm wary, as it often ends up being "Melodrama Machine" despite (or sometimes because of) the best efforts of the player. Also, depending on how broken that character is, she may end up not being a lot of fun to play in the long run.

 

That said, I think all of them could be interesting characters, so you should pick the ones that speak to you most. I find writing up a wiki page for a character helps me decide whether I want to keep a character or not.

[Lightningtear]

Honestly I like your A character. The character background isn't too new but she herself is rather pretty for that race and I think the Rogas could use more character of their kind who are more than just joke characters in the background. Unfortunately many larger races tend to see little use, and have the women even scrutinized. So while it might get few votes I really like your A of all the characters.

[Trickery]

Alrighty, sorry for the super late response!

 

Anyway, thanks everyone for your input, it really helped me mull over a few things. Mostly it just made me examine exactly what I was looking for in a character.

 

Looking at it objectively now, I think I fell into the trap of trying to make some of my characters super unique and forgetting the most important thing: That the character I make should be fun!

 

My Roegadyn I love too much to give up and I figure that I'll have a blast with her. I'm also much more attached to my Highlander than I thought and I remember having a fun time with him during 1.0, so I'll be sticking with him as well.

 

Where I fell into the trap was with my Elezen and my Miqo'te. Pretty much the only thing I had in mind going in with them was making them stand out and adjusting their stories to match their looks, which didn't turn out too well either. I was concentrating too much on being unique and not enough on actually making a character that would be fun for me to play. So... I've decided to scrap both of them.

 

Instead, I'll be replacing them with this little lady:

 

 

She's not particular special. She doesn't stand out. She's not unique (she's a Miqo'te, how unique could she be?), but she just FEELS like she'd be fun to play. That and one of my favorite Final Fantasy characters is still Rydia from FFIV (you can chalk that up to nostalgia since it was the first Final Fantasy I played), so I've always had the desire to play a green haired Summoner character in FFXIV, I just could never get past my distaste for playing the popular races and the character type always seemed to fit either Midlander or Miqo't'e the best. Since I've pretty much gotten over my "NEED TO BE THE LEAST PLAYED RACE SO I CAN BE A SNOWFLAKE!" syndrome, there really wasn't any reason NOT to play this character.

 

I think I'm finally pretty much happy with my collection of characters.

 

Now I just need to work on their stories more. My Roegadyn is going to be my Tank/Brawler type, so she's easy enough to flesh out. This Miqo'te is going to be my all things magic character, so she should be easy enough to flesh out as well.

 

Think I'm going to need to do a complete rewrite of my Highlander though, since he's exceptionally bland. He's going to end up with the unused classes (Lancer/Archer/Musketeer when they add it), so I'll probably adjust his story to fit those classes, since he won't be a jack of all trades anymore.

 

I'm sure I'll come up with something. Characters that are fun to play tend to write themselves once I start RPing.

[Doyle]

Think I'm going to need to do a complete rewrite of my Highlander though, since he's exceptionally bland.

 

Funny enough, D (Followed very closely by A) was my favorite because he just seemed the most approachable and down to earth. (down to Eorzea?) Fleshing things out some is great, but IMHO, I don't believe characters need super-elaborate backstories to be interesting.

 

Anyway, looks like you've got things figured out now.

Also, Rydia was awesome!

[Selsix]

I like how you scrapped the elezen even those she technically beat the miq. Still, the new miqo'te looks nice. Love the green. 

[LeCard]

I am glad that you could find a solution that made you happy. after all, it is only the person who has to play them that needs to be happy with the character in the end. 

 

I am also glad that you were able to use others comments to see where you were just trying to fill what the "character should be" instead of having a character that suited you.

 

Nostalgia is a great thing, and can definitely make playing a character just that much more fun.

 

I wish you good luck with their story creation (my P.M. box is always open if you ever need and extra set of eyes to bounce ideas off). Find something you will have fun playing and then enjoying the game.

 

[ArmachiA]

I'm happy the highlander isn't out. He's hot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What?