Greetings and Questions

[Quillian]

I'm going to be playing in the open beta (phase 4) that comes out here soon, but I haven't received my key or anything yet.  I'm here because I'm interested in roleplaying as I play through FF14 and I thought I would go ahead and get into the RP community a little bit.  Some things about me:

 

-I've RPed off and on over the course of 12-13ish years now.  This has been through forum RPs as well as in tabletop games (D&D and Rifts) and most recently in the form of MMORPing (Tera).  

-I'm a huge Final Fantasy fan (as everyone here would be, I'd think).  

-I'm fairly friendly.

-I used to be a much more hardcore gamer, but I currently just don't have the time or the money to play everything that I want as much as I want.  This means that, as far as availability goes for FFXIV, I may be around periodically, but not necessarily consistently.  

-I'm planning to play a Male Hyur Arcanist (Scholar).  I want my character to be fairly serious and more of an analytic mind/tactician.

 

Now onto the questions!  

-How are you?  You doin' well?

-What classes are sought after in parties?

-What races are seen around the most?

-How far in advance does SE typically send out the beta key?  Any ideas?  

-Are there any guilds (I guess...Linkshells?) that I might want to look into?  

EDIT: - Which server would you all recommend for me to join? Will Gilgamesh be too slow, population wise, as far as RPers go? Or would it be wise to jump in on another RP server that doesn't have as many people so that I can get better entrenched in the Server's RP lore?

 

Thanks in advance for your help and thank you for taking the time to read this introduction post.  

[sanguineFenrir]

Hello, and welcome to the community! It's always a good thing when more people get involved in roleplay, and the members here are very open and thorough in helping new roleplayers, whatever style they may be. I'll start with your questions:

 

I'm doing relatively well. Like many here, I'm waiting for beta, and the last few days have been taking their toll. I've managed to stay busy by doing some art requests for forum members.

 

--As in other games with random dungeons, for the first 30 levels, 15 of dungeoning, you'll probably see high demand for tanks (Marauder/Gladiator) and healers (Conjurer only at low levels; role expands to include Scholar at 30+). Of course, you can play whatever you'd like whether that's one class or all, and still find groups for parties, whether in dungeons or out in the field. (Since you're considering playing Arcanist, that starts as DPS and then has the opportunity to branch into Summoner, another DPS job, and Scholar, a support and healing job.)

 

--We see a lot of Mi'qote around here. Elezen, Lalafell, and especially Roegadyn are less common by my experience. Humans are more middle-of-the road but are starting to become more unique, and Highlanders might be rarer than Midlanders. I wouldn't let this have too much of a bearing on what you choose though--play whatever appeals to you.

 

--I've heard that they send it out one day in advance, and possibly late in that day. I'm expecting Thursday myself, but I'd love to have it sooner so I can start the download.

 

--You can browse the Linkshell Hall forums if you'd like. If you're on Balmung, Corvus Cinis seems to be very friendly. I myself am a member of a small dungeon-running LS, The Whispered Spiral, and a mage-society Free Company, Mysterium. If you'd like to roleplay your arcanist with other mages and scholars while developing your character, we'd love to have you!

 

(This of course is a very small sampling of the available linkshells--we have a lot, on both servers--ranging from more morally gray ones to companies, merchants, trade, or just general adventuring. If you go on Gilgamesh, I can recommend Driftwood Coast, which is looking for new players to help build the FC together with.)

[Nel Celestine]

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I'm doing great, yourself?

A mix mostly.  But if I had to say any one, it would be healers.

Miqo'te are the most common, Roe's being the least.

I'm not entirely sure.

I addressed linkshells in the video

There is a good topic for the server discussion here >

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=3465

[Yeldir Melfusor]

Welcome to the party. I like the sound of your character - then again, I'm always a sucker for those philosophical RP's.

 

As for your questions:

 

-How are you? You doin' well?

You bet!

-What classes are sought after in parties?

It'll be tanks once again. Anything that can act as a tank will be king of the Duty Finder.

-What races are seen around the most?

Cat people, hands down. We're up to our ears in Miqo'tes.

-How far in advance does SE typically send out the beta key? Any ideas?

It varies. If you were in any of the prior betas, you're already in phase 4. May I ask how you went about getting your key?

-Are there any guilds (I guess...Linkshells?) that I might want to look into?

Well, I only know the Gilgamesh side of things. On that note:

EDIT: - Which server would you all recommend for me to join? Will Gilgamesh be too slow, population wise, as far as RPers go? Or would it be wise to jump in on another RP server that doesn't have as many people so that I can get better entrenched in the Server's RP lore?

Balmung definitely has more RP'ers, from the get-go. A lot of returning characters and a lot of pre-established linkshells are ready to go. Most of them are level 50, which is either good or bad, depending on how you personally want to play the game. Most of these 50-laden linkshells are eager for new players to show the ropes, both game-mechanics-wise an RP-wise.

 

On the Gilgamesh side of things, we don't have quite as many people... For now. Rough estimates can be made by looking at recent entries in the player directory subforums. We're trying to make up for that by being extremely inclusive, which means lots of public events with no real entry requirements (and minimal rules), aggressive recruiting (especially from major internet communities like Reddit - this has begun to pay off already), and a go-get-em' frontiersman attitude.

 

Each community has a different feel to it already. I'd recommend you take a long look at the events subforums, and the kinds of people and posts within them. They're quite revealing, and will help you make your decision.

[Desmond Aryll]

-How are you?  You doin' well?

Hunky-dory. Thanks for asking.

 

-What classes are sought after in parties?

DPS are the most common (damage dealers like dragons, lancers etc) so healers, (like Scholar) and tanks will be more sought after.

 

-What races are seen around the most?

The Miqo'te and Hyur are seen the most. Roe's the least.

 

-How far in advance does SE typically send out the beta key?  Any ideas? 

No key for me yet. Scuttlebutt says in the next couple days.

 

-Are there any guilds (I guess...Linkshells?) that I might want to look into?  

That really depends on what you want out of it. If you plan on playing now and again, I would suggest one of the more casual RP linkshells. They can be found on both Balmung and Gilgamesh. For now I would just lurk, take note of who is interesting to you. Maybe try a few on for size once the game launches.

 

Hope that helps!:thumbsup:

[Syggfryd]

Welcome! Now, to answer your questions:

- I'm doing very well, thank you! I lifted weights for the first time in a few months, so maybe a little sorer than I'd prefer, but nothing I'm unfamiliar with, haha.

- In general, a majority of players go with the damage-dealing classes, but parties naturally have more spots for these roles. So...the only caution I could give is that a lot of Legacy players are going to flock to the Arcanist class right off the bat. But don't get intimidated about that. If anything, you'll just have a lot of people around you to help you learn the ropes!

- The Hyur and Miqo'te races are far and away the two most popular races. Elezen seem to be the least popular, particularly women (who tend to have teeny heads). Roegadyn are also pretty darn uncommon. Again, females even moreso.

- When did you request the Beta key? If you registered back in July, I think you should already have it. August people might have to wait until the 17th, when registration officially opens again. At that point, you should get it pretty much instantly, or you could try applying again.

- Explore the Linkshells section of the forum: it has a wide variety of groups there. (Some of them also have Free Companies for more guild-like involvement) There are definitely options that would cater to your off-and-on schedule.

- You'll find RP on virtually any server. There will be a good number of RPers on Gilgamesh, but the general (and Reddit) population will also be extraordinarily high over there. If you're looking for the highest RP per capita, that will most likely be on Balmung. Be forewarned that Balmung is a Legacy server, though, so there will be a lot of lv50 players around while you're still at the very bottom. Whatever you choose, you'll have a good time, so don't kill yourself over the decision. I'd honestly recommend looking for the Linkshell that you like most, and pick your server based on that. You're always welcome to start a character on both, too!

 

Hope that helps, and I hope you have fun!

[Quillian]

Thanks for all the prompt replies everyone.  It's encouraging to hear back so fast because that means that the community is alive (possibly fairly new) and it thriving.  

 

Hm hm hm.  Where to start...

 

I see the pros and the cons of each server.  With Gilgamesh I'd have plenty of people my own level, but with Balmung I would have more experienced players in multiple ways.  Probably I will be going with Balmung because, while it will be full of older players, it'll still have plenty of new players when the full release happens. Also, the game itself is not very old, so the lore and RP community has plenty of time and room to grow.

 

 

I liked the idea of searching through the event forums.  I will see what I can find with that.  

 

Thank you all for your help and I hope to hear from more of you soon.