Hi! Can I have some advice?

[RainingVeins]

Hello,

I think people are slightly going off my FFXIV RP character - and I wanted to have a new MMORPG RP experience! I Googled and it said to try this but I am completely and utterly out of my depth with where to find the essential lore to create a character, what servers or areas I should frequent, little things that are specific to RPing in this game. Would someone be able to offer me a link or two to resources? I don't want to come in like a wrecking ball with no knowledge of how to play aha!

Thank you!

[TheOtherTed]

I'm not sure that lore means as much in this game as it does in other games.  A big part of that is the variety of power sets you can choose with each archetype.  Take tanks, for instance - in FFXIV you can start with one of 4 or 5 starting jobs, but here, the Tanker archetype chooses from 11 primary power sets and 22 secondary sets.  Thus, there is no "archetypal" tanker, and therefore no official lore that you can tap into.

 

I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I almost never consider the in-game lore when making a character.  My MO is to come up with a general idea for the character I'd like to play, and see if I can find an archetype that has the toys that would make it work.

 

As for RP, Everlasting is the official unofficial RP server, but all servers are likely to have some themed super groups ("free companies" in FFXIV-speech) that may or may not have their own internal lore, as well as their own RP guidelines.  Check out the Servers section below.

 

Also, don't worry, we were all wrecking balls at some point.  Run solo missions until you get used to your character's strengths and weaknesses, then maybe try some repeatable team challenges like Frostfire in The Hollows.  Once you pick up the do's and don'ts of teaming, you'll have the experience, and therefore the confidence, to try tougher teamed content.

[chase]

Welcome, RainingVeins,

As TheOtherTed indicated, lore is somewhat flexible here.  One of the things that City of Heroes really did well was to provide deep enough lore for the lore-hounds while keeping things open enough to allow others to introduce any superhero-themed-trope to the world without appearing misplaced.

I even recommend not burdening yourself by tying your character directly to lore events.   Although we're all rather adept in handwaving away timeline wibbly-wobbliness, I've got college characters that originally started their hero career during the crisis of the first Rikti invasion (May 23rd, 2002 ) and some of them have yet to graduate almost 23 years later.   It's somewhat intuitive to include the events of the tutorial in your initial story, but that originally came out in 2011- some people will RP that event as happening just a few days ago and some will have volumes of personal story developed, married, had kids, etc, since then.   Amazingly, most of us are flexible enough RP'ers that these vast differences rarely come out, but it does hilight the benefits of bring-your-own backstory too.

For more evidence, check out the Federal Bureau of Super-powered Affairs database https://fbsa.wiki/wiki/Main_Page.   You'll find people creating entire worlds of backstory without it ever really clashing too much with the game's.  Or check out the game's wiki https://fbsa.wiki/wiki/Main_Page.   

Or ask any specific questions.  There are so many directions you can take that when i tried to make a broad outline here, it got out of hand quickly.


Regarding "places to go"
- Everlasting server is your best bet to find roleplayers.
- Many hang out around atlas park.

- Pocket D (a hidden-away superhero nightclub) used to be very VERY common, but so many people have made their own social spots in the "supergroup bases" areas that I don't know how hopping any one place IS anymore.
- The homecoming discord has sections for both "Roleplay" in general or the "Everlasting" server that are great ways to find people or in-game events.
- There's also a City of Roleplay discord and an Everlasting Roleplay discord that are excellent for developing connections. 

There are probably more, but sadly my time's been so short lately, I barely get to log in.