Leveling generates a lot of Free Company Credits which are used to buy the various buffs but can also buy fuel for subs and airships. The latter can be very profitable and not all GM's put those credits back into the guild.
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Just be careful with many of those "taverns" many are actually brothels or "nightclubs", and they may try to ERP with you.
Your best bet to just meet people will be in town around the aetherytes, especially Gridsnia/Limsa. Different servers have different cultures (RP heavy, or many people from a specific country, etc). As server hopping becomes a thing, feel free to bounce around. If you find a group you love, you can even consider transferring to that server.
Nothing wrong with a blogpost, between all the titanmen trash it's a nice change of topics.
While we are on the subject here...
Been wondering about this myself. What kind of conversation people are expecting from other people that would deem a dgn run sociable? I understand that, getting into one and saying hello and no one responds can make you feel like it's anti-social. This I get. But beyond the greeting, what then? Personally, it's not like I have thoughts or a topic in mind to discuss with someone and even if someone brought up a topic, if I'm not savvy to it or share an interest, I have no idea what to say.
I hear "back in the day" being added to those type of threads and what I (vaguely) remember in those days is discussing strat before clearing a dgn(in old mmos). Had to discuss who was gonna be puller. Had to discuss who was gonna be responsible for CC. Had to do an inventory check. Typically waited an extra five minutes cuz one of us failed the check and had to run back into town to get needed items. Designate kill order and then on we finally went. I don't know if you could call all that "social". The social during these type of things was usually when someone had to brb (which happened a lot as kids cuz of aggro mom/dad/sibling or washroom) where you finally had time to actually type something. Otherwise, the real social thing happened in teamspeak. Or mumble. You just kept talking smack with your newfound acquaintances, occasionally letting out profanities cuz you messed up something. Or Brian tripped on a switch. Again. Or some group accidently aggroed a freight train of mobs and ran in your direction (some dgns in the day were open world too). Then you go back to talking more smack with your acquaintances until your actual guild members and/or friends finally logged in. Then the run ended. You turned everything you collected to appropriate hub. Maybe chatted some more, left the group, then joined your buddies for some hardcore raiding. Or fooling around.
Idk, like, it's a topic I'm mostly indifferent now but I just don't know what kind of social experience people are expecting in game, now that there's all these tools out of the game that provide a far better social experience than ever before. Are we certain this isn't nostalgia for the old days simply tugging at your social strings?
If I'm feeling sociable in the dungeon, I'll make side jokes about what's going on, or minor commentary. Nothing really scripted.
Wanna say I did something dumb like "Momma needs a new pair of shoes" when I pulled a random crank in Halatali (followed by "Ahh, bust!" when it spawned bombs and not a treasure chest).
From that a sprout giggled and we all had a few laughs/jokes about whatever was going on.
Mostly though if I want to have some conversation, I've had the most luck in activities with others where you're locked into an instance or you're doing something as a group. Treasure hunts are pretty good...
Fishing voyage is another good spot to strike up conversations since there really isn't anything to do outside of fishing... some people probably a little bored in there.
tl;dr: Small dumb dad jokes go a long way in what is an otherwise fairly boring dungeon run/fishing/whatever. Usually leads somewhere.
In Matoya's Relict there was a player who said that the poroggo in the last segment that parts the lava is, "Frog Moses." Ever since then, I will say it every single time I get to that part. Sometimes followed by, "Let my Poroggos, go!"
Any time a dungeon has a segment like that, where there timed progression blocks, you can usually get out a joke or two. That's about it really. Though, if someone is asking questions or wants to talk about something dungeon related/game related, and they're doing it while on the move/without getting anyone killed, I usually don't mind chatting. Though I don't often fully engage.
In FFXI socialization was really common. Every EXP party eventually had to take breaks, either due to healer needing to AFK, mages needing to rest for MP, or everybody died but no sweat, the RNG has a level 60 bud on the way to raise!
Lotta talking while in combat too, because spells had longer cast times, and melees did most of their combat through auto attacks. If you weren't doing the most damage, you usually weren't tanking, so you could be insanely chill. But even if you were tanking, Utsusemi had a recast, and it wasn't hard to talk while fighting. Especially at lower levels.
I remember I actually spent about a year or two playing FFXI without a keyboard entirely, because I got really proficient with the digital keyboard and "quickly" entering the text with the D-pad and X button (PS2 player for 9 years). I had actually joined in endgame LS before I got my first keyboard, and even before I had one, I'd been able to chat during EXP parties. But I mean, missions and exp in FFXI were entirely conducive to socializing, because to get any real progress done, even with a good party, you were going to be at your task for several hours. Usually the longer a piece of content takes, the more people will idly chat, as there is plenty of time to be somewhat idle and chat. Not a lot of stuff like that in XIV.
Just for the updating, I follow your advices and things have becoming better: Social Relations Day
Thank you very much!