Apologies for the delayed response--
As far as staying IC, I only am if I'm out of a group or raid. The reason for this was because I...*cough* didn't care for grouping with a lot of other RPers, either because of level differences or...a literal play-skill difference. I can't tell you the number of times I essentially got stuck in a RP group in an instance or public overland raid and the RPers for some reason didn't know their class very well or the zones we ran. Don't get me wrong, I tried my best to help them learn, but...the end results for those zones didn't look pretty. I guess it's a matter of keeping business from pleasure-- unless if I know most of the groupmates. In addition, one thing that bothered me was the RP macros tied to certain abilities. I don't know the macro capabilities of this game yet, but having the tank emote that he points to the mob and says something whenever he taunts (and taunts a LOT) is annoying. Though, that isn't to say I didn't have it on some of my long reuse abilities. But like I said, if I know the group or we are purposely going in a zone/instance or other dungeon for the purpose of part RP, part loot/progression, then that's fine.
As for my characters...this is where I think I'll have the most problem, but it should be fun. Traditionally I have my Rogue, Druid (healer), Bard, some kind of mage or two, and Paladin. I always start any game with my Rogue, and he ends up being my main, my pride and my joy. Unfortunately, there's no out-right rogue class (in the traditional sense). Further, my Rogues usually (if they're able to branch out to that class) are Assassins. The difference with all of these classes on a per-game level is maybe a different name and a slightly different personality, if not just a little bit more due to class (and sometimes other) restrictions based solely on the game's mechanics.
I often look at the game's lore to decide where my characters come from, how they integrate to society and even pick up the few personality quirks. For example, in EQ1, Kelethin is a city belonging to the Wood Elves. In EQ2, it states during the War of the Fay, the Wood Elves were about to loose it to the Dark Elf and Troll/Ogre forces invading the continent. Tunare, the Goddess of the Elves and such created a blessing in the form of Fae, these small (Gnome-sized) humanoids with fairy wings. After they drove back the invaders, the Fae stayed with the Wood Elves and helped rebuild. As of EQ2, it's almost a complete Fae city now, with a lot of the Fae subtly insulting the Elves, and for some reason the Elves don't notice or care. My Assassin, a Wood Elf, has his quirk of hating the Fae for that reason. Not to mention he hated the Lizard folk as well, the Iksar, but that was pure racism (probably because hearing ''softskin" and other...less polite terms was hard not to reply with "new pair of boots").
I just feel like I'd be playing the cliche 'amnesia' type with my characters at first, and I hate it. My previous characters had ties (or were members of) certain city groups, and after reading or doing on certain, maybe less-known quests, it's like I would have the proof to say, 'Yeah, I work for them, they kinda run like -this way-, and I'm doing -this kind of work- with them-" Another example was the Freeport Emissaries my Assassin belonged to. There were very little quests, and even less NPC's of that organization. If you did them, you'd realize you did some work for the Overlord for that city, and that they're the secretive right hand (even above the city guard) of the Overlord. And then, Assassins who do their Epic quests become members and even have a secret zone they can zone into. It was kind of difficult to RP, because even other RP Assassins didn't even know about it or realize what they were doing on the quest (or maybe they just didn't care?), but Having a ring that put a buff on your character that, if read, told the person you belong to that group made it neat and almost put an official stamp on your RP story.
Ok, now I'm just geeking everywhere, sorry!
But while I'm at it, I was wondering if FF14 had special quests for lore-specific weapons or other special, named weapons? EQ2 Had heritage quests where you could get well-known weapons (most often from EQ1) that mostl6y had distinct appearances. Most often, since the story when you do the quest assumes you are the only character ever to receive it (even though the quests are open to everyone and are easy to find), most people did not RP that they have that weapon. But..I noticed that if no one I RPed with, or the community around them, had the weapon or at least RPed it, I would RPly take ownership of it. Those weapons, and a server-first weapon I discovered as well...it was a difficult and temporary mob to get it from, so I feel better definitely taking ownership of it (and defining what it does, since it wasn't quest related. With a blade like Soulleech...yeeaahh).
Finally, WHAT I want to RP is difficult to define, especially if I don't know the lore. Naturally as I'll go through the game I'll pick up on 'current events and world happenings', which will help, but I just really miss RPing and could probably make up some small back-story stuff I could work with if anything asks. I don't like drawing the RP attention strictly to myself, anyways. But I'm for Mature RP and Random encounters in the city, for sure.
Sorry for the long post!!
As far as staying IC, I only am if I'm out of a group or raid. The reason for this was because I...*cough* didn't care for grouping with a lot of other RPers, either because of level differences or...a literal play-skill difference. I can't tell you the number of times I essentially got stuck in a RP group in an instance or public overland raid and the RPers for some reason didn't know their class very well or the zones we ran. Don't get me wrong, I tried my best to help them learn, but...the end results for those zones didn't look pretty. I guess it's a matter of keeping business from pleasure-- unless if I know most of the groupmates. In addition, one thing that bothered me was the RP macros tied to certain abilities. I don't know the macro capabilities of this game yet, but having the tank emote that he points to the mob and says something whenever he taunts (and taunts a LOT) is annoying. Though, that isn't to say I didn't have it on some of my long reuse abilities. But like I said, if I know the group or we are purposely going in a zone/instance or other dungeon for the purpose of part RP, part loot/progression, then that's fine.
As for my characters...this is where I think I'll have the most problem, but it should be fun. Traditionally I have my Rogue, Druid (healer), Bard, some kind of mage or two, and Paladin. I always start any game with my Rogue, and he ends up being my main, my pride and my joy. Unfortunately, there's no out-right rogue class (in the traditional sense). Further, my Rogues usually (if they're able to branch out to that class) are Assassins. The difference with all of these classes on a per-game level is maybe a different name and a slightly different personality, if not just a little bit more due to class (and sometimes other) restrictions based solely on the game's mechanics.
I often look at the game's lore to decide where my characters come from, how they integrate to society and even pick up the few personality quirks. For example, in EQ1, Kelethin is a city belonging to the Wood Elves. In EQ2, it states during the War of the Fay, the Wood Elves were about to loose it to the Dark Elf and Troll/Ogre forces invading the continent. Tunare, the Goddess of the Elves and such created a blessing in the form of Fae, these small (Gnome-sized) humanoids with fairy wings. After they drove back the invaders, the Fae stayed with the Wood Elves and helped rebuild. As of EQ2, it's almost a complete Fae city now, with a lot of the Fae subtly insulting the Elves, and for some reason the Elves don't notice or care. My Assassin, a Wood Elf, has his quirk of hating the Fae for that reason. Not to mention he hated the Lizard folk as well, the Iksar, but that was pure racism (probably because hearing ''softskin" and other...less polite terms was hard not to reply with "new pair of boots").
I just feel like I'd be playing the cliche 'amnesia' type with my characters at first, and I hate it. My previous characters had ties (or were members of) certain city groups, and after reading or doing on certain, maybe less-known quests, it's like I would have the proof to say, 'Yeah, I work for them, they kinda run like -this way-, and I'm doing -this kind of work- with them-" Another example was the Freeport Emissaries my Assassin belonged to. There were very little quests, and even less NPC's of that organization. If you did them, you'd realize you did some work for the Overlord for that city, and that they're the secretive right hand (even above the city guard) of the Overlord. And then, Assassins who do their Epic quests become members and even have a secret zone they can zone into. It was kind of difficult to RP, because even other RP Assassins didn't even know about it or realize what they were doing on the quest (or maybe they just didn't care?), but Having a ring that put a buff on your character that, if read, told the person you belong to that group made it neat and almost put an official stamp on your RP story.
Ok, now I'm just geeking everywhere, sorry!
But while I'm at it, I was wondering if FF14 had special quests for lore-specific weapons or other special, named weapons? EQ2 Had heritage quests where you could get well-known weapons (most often from EQ1) that mostl6y had distinct appearances. Most often, since the story when you do the quest assumes you are the only character ever to receive it (even though the quests are open to everyone and are easy to find), most people did not RP that they have that weapon. But..I noticed that if no one I RPed with, or the community around them, had the weapon or at least RPed it, I would RPly take ownership of it. Those weapons, and a server-first weapon I discovered as well...it was a difficult and temporary mob to get it from, so I feel better definitely taking ownership of it (and defining what it does, since it wasn't quest related. With a blade like Soulleech...yeeaahh).
Finally, WHAT I want to RP is difficult to define, especially if I don't know the lore. Naturally as I'll go through the game I'll pick up on 'current events and world happenings', which will help, but I just really miss RPing and could probably make up some small back-story stuff I could work with if anything asks. I don't like drawing the RP attention strictly to myself, anyways. But I'm for Mature RP and Random encounters in the city, for sure.
Sorry for the long post!!
F&AM, A&ASR 32°