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Announcing the December Version Update!Follow

#27 Dec 01 2014 at 2:14 PM Rating: Good
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I'm hoping they'll add a "Wanted" version of Charybdis soon.
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#28 Dec 01 2014 at 3:26 PM Rating: Good
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Kuwoobie wrote:
I'm hoping they'll add a "Wanted" version of Charybdis soon.

Only if RDMs are last allowed to lot on Neo-Joyeuse.
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#29 Dec 01 2014 at 8:12 PM Rating: Decent
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While Neo-Joyeuse already exists somewhat in the form of Xiutleato, I have to admit I would not mind having a second one of those. One with the piercing element still intact, hopefully.
#30 Dec 02 2014 at 1:38 AM Rating: Decent
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Sogoro wrote:
SirEaglestrike wrote:
And the community went back to job exclusion WELL before the concept of JP's came into being, it's one of my greatest annoyances, seeing how I play a THF, like it's an actual DD. And I can certainly pull off the numbers for it to be so, but good luck getting too many randoms to understand that...


I feel like people should know by now that your ability as a thief is pretty darned good.


Some people do understand that, yeah. But there are still people, like a bunch of the people shouting to do content, who when I /tell about coming on my THF, laugh and go "I don't even let <personal friend> come on THF and he's the best I've ever seen."

Well, you haven't seen me, then...
#31 Dec 02 2014 at 2:42 AM Rating: Excellent
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Gildrein wrote:

[dev1246] New Seekers of Adoulin Quests

  • Two Seekers of Adoulin quests will be added in the December version update.


  • No One Expects the Weatherspoon Inquisition
A web of trickery and a treasure of old bring two sides into conflict. But what is the real evil that must be faced?
Screenshot


  • Eye of the Beholder
A lauded exorcist whose incantations continue to expel the undead comes under the watchful gaze of a would-be disciple. What truth lies cloaked beneath the shadows?
Screenshot


http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/45302

Edited, Dec 2nd 2014 3:46am by Szabo
#32 Dec 02 2014 at 7:12 AM Rating: Good
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SirEaglestrike wrote:
Sogoro wrote:
SirEaglestrike wrote:
And the community went back to job exclusion WELL before the concept of JP's came into being, it's one of my greatest annoyances, seeing how I play a THF, like it's an actual DD. And I can certainly pull off the numbers for it to be so, but good luck getting too many randoms to understand that...


I feel like people should know by now that your ability as a thief is pretty darned good.


Some people do understand that, yeah. But there are still people, like a bunch of the people shouting to do content, who when I /tell about coming on my THF, laugh and go "I don't even let <personal friend> come on THF and he's the best I've ever seen."

Well, you haven't seen me, then...


Logic says if he never invites THF's the only one he has ever played with would be the "Best".

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#33 Dec 02 2014 at 11:37 AM Rating: Decent
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Seriha wrote:
Personally, I recall my time during Abyssea basically being available to tackle multiple roles with but a trip to the moogle.

It was this "ease of access" that destroyed all the challenge in this game for a long time and in my opinion was the beginning of this game's decline. Sorry for once again going on a huge rant about this, but you (and many others) seem to see that time as the golden era for FFXI; I see it as the death knell for FFXI, the time when linkshells died and the community withered. You say bosses and events should be the hard part, I agree and that's not what Abyssea was. You could solo any boss in Abyssea, but after a long journey we ARE actually starting to reach this point where there are truly challenging battles in the game again.

That said, CP farming is not mandatory. I wouldn't make assumptions about what the special equipment will be, and if you did any incursion you'd be raking in the job points anyway. Have you tried incursion? It's insanely hard to get a good augmented JSE cape, you'll be doing incursion for a long time trying to get one and earn a lot of job points and nice CP capes in the process. To top it off, the variable level system allows you to make a challenge out of it for any party setup. I'm surprised I don't see more incursion groups shouting.

Note that I have one account, and only two jobs that I use, and I have done all the content that's out there. If no one was doing it, I organized it myself. Don't see incursion shouts? Make one yourself. Figure things out. I've organized pet burn incursion runs because I couldn't find a conventional party, and they work. Go learn it on your own, discover strategies, discover weaknesses, venture outside your comfort zone to accomplish your goals.

Seriha wrote:
I could again remind that XI has 22 jobs, but some folks seem a bit too enamored at the concept of enforcing the existence of mains, in turn designing content around that premise.


I'm very firmly in the camp that believes this should not be a game of versatility. With all the gear that can be swapped and optimization that can be done, this is a specialist's game. Too many people feel entitled to be able to play 10 different jobs and feel competitive with the top players in 10 different jobs, and keep up with the top players in gear, merits, and capacity points all just to be able to "have fun." Is it impossible to have fun while other players are doing more advanced content than you? I can't help but feel like the majority of your angst comes from jealousy, and the only advice I can offer is: organize the events you want to do, with the setups you want to use. People are out there just waiting for a shout. Waiting for you. If your jobs aren't strong enough to do that content, then find content that'll make you strong enough and do that. There's so much frustration in this game around not being able to do events you want to do, the only way to fix it is by more people taking the initiative to organize groups. I see this as the biggest problem in MMOs in general, no one wants to lead and everyone wants to follow. I'm often guilty of this myself, leading is so much work! But someone has to do it, and if you eliminate the need for leadership, you end up back where we were in the Abyssea/Voidwatch era: No challenge, no commitment, no community.

Edited, Dec 2nd 2014 9:40am by Pergatory
#34 Dec 02 2014 at 12:01 PM Rating: Good
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#35 Dec 02 2014 at 7:09 PM Rating: Good
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Abyssea for me was amazing, a huge revitalization to the game it sorely needed. It's probably eaten more of my time in this game than any other area/content.

The "withering" period for me was actually the years prior to that, where for a while all we were getting was sporadic WotG updates and the VNM system with convoluted pop/upgrade system and few worthwhile things to go for.

Also, just going to put this out there: it's very hard to convince someone to try to be a "leader" when they themselves don't know how the content is run. it also doesn't exactly help convince people to stick with you, either.

Edited, Dec 2nd 2014 8:16pm by Fynlar
#36 Dec 02 2014 at 9:29 PM Rating: Good
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Fynlar wrote:
Abyssea for me was amazing, a huge revitalization to the game it sorely needed. It's probably eaten more of my time in this game than any other area/content.

The "withering" period for me was actually the years prior to that, where for a while all we were getting was sporadic WotG updates and the VNM system with convoluted pop/upgrade system and few worthwhile things to go for.

Also, just going to put this out there: it's very hard to convince someone to try to be a "leader" when they themselves don't know how the content is run. it also doesn't exactly help convince people to stick with you, either.

Edited, Dec 2nd 2014 8:16pm by Fynlar


Contrary to what a lot of people seem to claim, the reality seems to show you have the opinion that best represents the population. Most people I know quit during the end of ToAU/WotG era, and quite a few people returned to the game, or picked up the game and stuck with it starting during the Abyssea era. I think people are just bitter that all their work at 75 got outdated by abyssea, even if it helped breath new life into the game overall.
#37 Dec 03 2014 at 2:28 AM Rating: Excellent
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Akihiko Matsui wrote:

Details on the Upcoming Version Update

Hello, adventurers of Vana’diel! Matsui here.
I’d like to give you all a preview of the content coming in the December version update.

In the December version update we’ll be adding quests that continue to explore the lore of Adoulin. These new quests will focus on the witches of the Blackthorn Coven as well as the exorcists, which were only touched on very briefly in the main mission scenario. Look forward to expanding your knowledge on the lore of Adoulin even though the main scenario has concluded!

On the battle-side of things we’ll be adding a system known as “Gifts”.
Gifts are a new element of character growth that is derived from job points. They will allow you to earn various bonuses depending on the total amount of job points that have been spent.

We’ll also be introducing a feature that allows you to create separate log windows as an element to enhance the community. With this feature, you can freely separate the logs into, for example, a battle log window and a chat log window. The opportunity to chat with other adventurers is surely increasing due to Unity Concord, and I hope you are able to put this feature to good use.

We originally planned to implement battle content involving the Xol Triumvirate, the “linkshell 2” feature, and increase the participant cap for Unity Concord chat this month; however, we determined that further testing and adjustments are necessary and we are now aiming to implement these in a future version update. I apologize for making you wait.

With that said though, we will be adding an element known as “Chacharoon’s Support” to the monster rearing system, adding new notorious monsters for wanted battles, and making various other additions and adjustments with one-hand weapon enhancements headlining the list.

The version update is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 10 (JST), and I hope you are looking forward to enjoying all the new content.

Among the items scheduled for implementation with this version update, there are still some that are currently in testing. Please keep in mind that we may remove certain items from this implementation list in the event that bugs take an unintentionally long time to fix or balancing issues occur during the development process.

Missions and Quests

  • Additional Seekers of Adoulin quest 1
- Create text
- Create cutscene

  • Additional Seekers of Adoulin quest 2
- Create text
- Create cutscene

  • Chacharoon's Support introduction event
- Create text
- Create cutscene

  • Celennia Memorial Library
- Add text

  • Starlight Celebration
- Create related items

  • New Year's event
- Create related items

  • Login Campaign
- Set new items


Areas and Monsters

  • Unity: Wanted
- Create notorious monster data
- Adjust battle balance
- Set rewards
- Place "Ethereal Junction" in the related areas


Content and Systems

  • Unity Concord
- Increase Unity chat participant cap from 64 to 128
- Add objectives to Unity: Wanted
- Add equipment that can be enhanced
- Add areas that can be teleported to
Due to the need for further adjustments, increase on the Unity chat participant cap has been pushed to a future version update.

  • Linkshell2
- Add system that allows you to equip two linkshells at the same time
- Adjust the linkshell UI in the main menu
- Adjust chat channel UI
- Create related text commands

This feature has been postponed to a future version update pending further adjustments. Some elements of the UI have been altered but will be unavailable for the time being.

  • Monster rearing
- Add the "Chacharoon's Support" system
- Set effects
- Adjust balance
- Set items that are sold through "Chacharoon's Support"

  • Trust
- Change the icons for Trust magic based on roles
- Create icon data
- Change the sort order of Trust magic when sorted
- Add a bonus effect to Galadar, Zazarg, Mihli Aliapoh, and Najelith alter egos when specific alter egos are summoned
New Trust magic icons are available on the Windows and Xbox 360 versions when the icon type is set to 2.

  • Adventuring Fellow
- Address certain event equipment

  • Records of Eminence
- Add tutorial objective
- Add objectives for Unity: Wanted

  • Waypoints
- Add map icons that display the Waypoints in Adoulin areas
- Add a system that displays the map of the Waypoint destination for Adoulin areas

  • Survival Guide
- Add "Survival Guides"

  • Home Point
- Add "Home Points"

  • Battle content with the Xol Triumvirate
Due to the need for further adjustments, this has been pushed to a future version update.


Battle System

  • Job points
- Create the "Gifts" system
- Adjust UI
- Add gifts for each job
- Adjust balance of gift effects
- Create the "Superior" system

  • Weapon skills
- Increase the power of certain weapon skills
- Increase the TP bonus for certain weapon skills
- Adjustments so that certain weapon skills that had bonuses applied to only the first hit will have the bonus applied to all hits
This adjustment is focused on enhancing the weapon skills of one-hand weapons.

  • Adjustments to the calculation of accuracy rates
- Increase the accuracy rate cap of one-hand weapons
- Increase the accuracy rate cap of pets called via Call Beast, wyverns, avatars, and automatons

  • Summoner
- Add new Blood Pact for Carbuncle
- Add new Blood Pact for Ifrit
- Add new Blood Pact for Leviathan
- Add new Blood Pact for Ramuh
- Add new Blood Pact for Titan
- Add new Blood Pact for Garuda
- Add new Blood Pact for Shiva
- Create effects for new Blood Pacts
- Adjust the balance of the new Blood Pacts

  • Blue mage
- Add new blue magic spells
- Adjust the balance of new blue magic spells"

  • Puppetmaster
- Remove the animation lock for the job ability "Maneuvers"
- Change the type of weapon damage for Harlequin and Stormwaker frames from hand-to-hand to blunt damage


Items

  • Unity Concord related items
- Add new equipment

  • Synthesis recipes
- Add new equipment recipes
- Add new food recipes

  • Magic maps
- Add more maps that are sold in shops
Certain magic maps that were only obtainable via quests will be sold.

  • Superior
- Create equipment that supports the gift effect "Superior"

  • Furnishings
- Create new furnishings

  • Porter Moogle
- Add support for event items


UI

  • Chat log window
- Add a system to display two chat log windows
- Add and adjust the "Window" option under "Config" in the main menu
- Add a "Chat Log Setting" option to the "Config" under the main menu
- Add a feature that displays a time stamp in the chat log
- Add the text command "/timestamp"

  • Linkshell2 adjustments
-Adjust the linkshell UI under the main menu
- Adjust the chat channel UI
- Add the text command "/linkshell2"
- Add the text command "/makelinkshell2"
- Add the subcommand "linkshell2" for the text command "/search"
- Add the subcommand "linkshell2" for the text command "/nominate"

This feature has been postponed to a future version update pending further adjustments. Some elements of the UI have been altered but will be unavailable for the time being.

  • Gift adjustments
- Add Gift UI to the Job Points section of the main menu
- Add item level and Superior sections to the Profile section of the main menu

  • Map icons
- Indicate Waypoints that have not been unlocked on the map

  • Auto-translate function
- Add to the auto-translate dictionary

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/45316

Edited, Dec 3rd 2014 4:13am by Szabo
#38 Dec 03 2014 at 4:25 AM Rating: Excellent
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SirEaglestrike wrote:
Contrary to what a lot of people seem to claim, the reality seems to show you have the opinion that best represents the population. Most people I know quit during the end of ToAU/WotG era, and quite a few people returned to the game, or picked up the game and stuck with it starting during the Abyssea era. I think people are just bitter that all their work at 75 got outdated by abyssea, even if it helped breath new life into the game overall.

This is definitely a part of it, but even then, I'd consider those disenfranchised by the shift a minority.

When I logged in during the Abyssea era, I basically had the following things I could do:
- EXP and Merit.
- Quest for Empyrean armor slips.
- Kill NMs for Empyrean armor slips or +2 items.
- Kill NMs to work on Empyrean weapons.
- Kill NMs for specific useful standalone items.
- Work on Magian Trials for useful weapons outside the Empyrean line.
- Collect Atma and abyssites.
- Work on Abyssea-related quests and missions.
- Make gil via cruor or chest farming.
- Farm specific items from chests like dark rings, TH sashes, or Empy boots.
- Merc services for any of the above to willing buyers.
- Help friends or shellmates with any of the above.

Now, I think there's a gross simplification on what was and wasn't soloed during the time, and maybe a casual forgetfulness of the ease of dual-boxing a pocket WHM, but I will fight to the grave to make it known these activities were far more pick-up-and-play friendly and overlapped more than Adoulin content. And barring some Magian objectives, this was all solely Abyssea content, not including Salvage/Nyzul/Dynamis/Limbus or whatever else may have been kinda sorta useful.

As for Adoulin content, if you're geared "like crap" (Sparks gear or worse), the only real endgame content available to you would be Skirmish, but that relies on finding warm bodies. Again, the common theme for issues in Adoulin progression is finding the bodies. It's so freakin' easy to say to join shouts or start your own group, but that's being ignorant of server conditions, the time of day one logs in, and as some have tried to stress, actual available jobs. Plus what Fyn noted in confidence as both a leader and follower. Now, Delve may be low-mannable these days, but again, people are going to want others decently geared. Maybe even the ol' MMO Catch 22 of "You have to have beaten the content in able to participate in it!" is in play for PUGs. NA in NA primetime? Sure, your luck goes up. NA in JP primetime? Baka gaijin!

Point for point, the available casual activities for Adoulin don't quite stack up to those of Abyssea. Yes, I could backtrack and still EXP in Abyssea, but we're not getting CP/JP there. Field/Popped NMs with useful gear? Arguably a bit too hard for the gimp soloists, nevermind some of the new Union things. Trials are no longer a thing, for better (yay targeted progression) or worse (***** day/weather). As I've said before, Dynamis and Limbus also have a priority now due to reforging, which is easily 3 hours daily where you ONLY get base pieces, -1s, and currency. The EXP is a joke and CP/JP obviously don't exist. Take out an WKR on your own? Teehee.

So, forgive me for scoffing at the notion that Abyssea was XI's death knell. The year or two before it sucked, yes. The year or so after wasn't too hot, either. The time in between? Well, it was pretty great to not have to suck up to some jerkface just because he'd be 1 of 18 to field an alliance. Then again, there were usually multiple jerks. Dozens of friends in an MMO? I don't need that. Just give me a handful and I'm good. Less drama. Less logistics. Less waiting around. Play the game, don't let it play you.
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#39 Dec 03 2014 at 8:26 AM Rating: Default
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Seriha wrote:
So, forgive me for scoffing at the notion that Abyssea was XI's death knell. .


The ******** aside, the reason people say Abyssea killed XI was because any content that could come after it would have to be like Abyssea or it would be a failure. When you freely hand people sirloin steaks for free for over a year then tell people they'll have to work for it..of course anything will seem "worse" in comparison.

The second reason people say Abyssea killed XI was not because our work at 75 cap was negated, but because if you started off in XI during and post Abyssea at the time, it negated the low and mid level exp parties ontop of the content. Remember: Most of XI's playerbase were already established players, so when they wanted to level they could use their infinite amount of stones on a new 30 and powerlevel or pay for a cleave party of some kind, however a new player does not and will not have that luxury, especially taking into consideraation all they have to do that most people no longer does because..once again, Abyssea negates the need for such. Only the level caps and rank 6 progression retained value.

You didn't even need to do CoP largely anymore. It would be fine if it was a natural progression type of deal, but Abyssea literally killed large portions of XI in one fell swoop, rather than progressively.

The only reason XI revitilized was because XIV flopped, because if you recall, when it launched, a sizable portion of XI's community moved over to it thinking it was going to be a better FFXI because it had the look and feel of XI (who didn't think of La Noscea as an HD La Theine Plateau/Lufaise Meadows/ (Misery) Coast when they first seen it?) XIV was also the reason the "year or two" before Abyssea sucked because they put their all into XIV only for Wada to shove it out the gate long before it was ready. So you did see a lot of people come back. You also seen a lot of people up and leave because a lot of content people liked doing (yes liked, not forced to do like typical cynical people seem to state) were no long needed or had interest. This is why post Abyssea it was "hard" and why people say Adoulin "killed XI" because it went back to making you actually work for what you want rather than turning you into Demi Gods or straight up Gods (brews) and relying on power you only get in certain zones to give you a false sense of progression.

So sorry to break it to you but the "Abyssea killed XI" goes deeper than "Waaah my Hagun is now worthless."

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#40 Dec 03 2014 at 9:47 AM Rating: Excellent
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First off, I won't argue that XIV's production (and flop) hurt XI. I'd also put some weight on Tanaka just being an all around stubborn motherfugger, but we know your lurv for him clouds judgment at times.

And now that you've got a totally pointless food analogy out of your system, the only thing you've really proven with the rest of your post is that you can't wrap your head around the concept that fair and meaningful progression can come without the God Mode you opted to highlight and scorn. Old content gets old. Get over it. Caps were abolished and it didn't really teach anything meaningful for the old school leveling process even when they were a thing. Abyssea killed leveling? So did EXP Rings, bonus campaigns, FoV/GoV, and Trusts if we want to run with this doomsday logic. Or maybe the hassle of leveling is where it was decided the game's challenge wouldn't lie. Well, at least until a totally new leveling system arrived via CP/JP. And its only challenge is pure, unadulterated time sink.

When your game gets top-heavy, new blood or returnees need to be able to get to the top ASAP. Forcing them to wallow in the mid-levels, especially with no form of matchmaking or cross-server system for the antiquated content you seem to be insisting they play, just yields frustration. Abyssea didn't "kill" FFXI. Treating the game in 2012 like it was 2007 is what did damage. Players got smarter. The "steak" you're pimping was more the realization we'd been getting a poo sandwich prior with bad RNG, lockouts, and 21+ hour respawns. Competition from other games also became more numerous and intuitive. The lives of some players did change.

I'll give credit to the current team for attempting to modernize things as they're able with what little they have available in manpower and resources, but that's about where my praise will end. Nostalgia can't carry the game forever.
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#41Theonehio, Posted: Dec 03 2014 at 11:51 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) The ironic thing about your post Seriha is you're arguing against XI out of pure nostalgia (in a bad way.) Meanwhile I stated nothing out of nostalgia. Also your "get over it" is kind of funny - Get over what? What am I not over? I'm pretty sure I've played XI since the Japanese 2001 Beta till now. If I was fixated on a specific period I would have quit XI at x period I disliked. Logic is a funny thing.
#42 Dec 03 2014 at 1:09 PM Rating: Good
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Theonehio wrote:
Stuff that makes no sense... blah blah... abyssea stuff


Sorry but abyssea didnt kill FFXI, it just transitioned it into an mmo that was more fit for the modern era.

Large portions of FFXI made no sense.
Time sink =/= Content
Stuff wasn't balanced at 75, not even close, if you werent a certain job, you had nothing

How is abyssea not good for new people? Give me a person with 1 stone, and i will build their time up to 200+ minutes, they can zone out, level break, return etc. And never need more than that 1 initial stone...>EVER<. You only NEEDed stones at the very end to challenge Shinryu...thats it...end of argument. You are 100% wrong. Even new people at 30 both 3 years ago and now can find leech spots in parties, you act like you had to buy gil to get a fell cleave, to level a first toon in abyssea. The party setup of 18 people getting exp at once, capping at 600+ exp a kill, and not requiring time sensitive exp chains to maintain is what made exp in abyssea good.


Seriha is right though, the only people who were butt hurt about abyssea 'killing' ffxi were people who were in top teir LS/relic builders who abused whole link shells into thinking devoting 18+ peoples time to farm 1 persons relic was a good idea.
#43 Dec 03 2014 at 1:37 PM Rating: Default
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And let us not forget the infamous Salvage bans. That involved a lot of veteran players who updated the wiki and would do the math to figure out how stats work.
#44 Dec 03 2014 at 1:40 PM Rating: Default
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dustinfoley wrote:
You only NEEDed stones at the very end to challenge Shinryu

Huh? The Shinryu fight was in an area that didn't need stones (hence the temptation to afk skill magic in there). 10000 gil per fight, period.
#45 Dec 03 2014 at 3:47 PM Rating: Excellent
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Elwynbelwyn wrote:
dustinfoley wrote:
You only NEEDed stones at the very end to challenge Shinryu

Huh? The Shinryu fight was in an area that didn't need stones (hence the temptation to afk skill magic in there). 10000 gil per fight, period.


The stone was converted to another KI that was consumed on entry to the fight it self. Just get a stone and pay you could enter the zone at will and stay forever, enter the fight arena and you lost the KI.
#46 Dec 04 2014 at 3:00 AM Rating: Default
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I felt Abyssea wasn't very good. Mostly reused assets, making it very eco friendly. I believe the 3 add ons introduced a grand total of 4 songs and a handful of new models, the biggest addition was new Job AFs and weapon models but little new elsewhere. It was heavily battle related and everything else seemed to be prioritized very little. Some really weird fps drops near those teleportation points too.

Job balance went straight out of the window with powerful atmas and stupid proc system. There was a huge gap between a good player and a bad one. I saw no reason why I would let a paladin tank the boss without atmas when a thief could faceroll it using 3 really good ones (hell, that thief could probably just solo it). If you didn't have atmas you might as well just not do anything until you've obtained them. The most difficult part of farming the stuff was to get the right proc, the bosses themselves became really easy over time.

The game really needed raid content and voidwatch didn't seem like a good answer. Eventually everything about voidwatch became faceroll. Ludicrous low drop rate on items that were relevant. The crafted items were nowhere near as good as the ones that dropped.
#47 Dec 04 2014 at 3:13 AM Rating: Excellent
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It's not that FFXI is getting old since Abby. It's FFXI getting stale because you are pretty much doing the exact same thing pre-75+ with the same approach only with different names and skins. Even the same augments for and against the current FFXI are getting stale because they are saying the exact same thing they have been saying years ago - it's imbalanced, it's too easy for veterans, too hard for casuals, requires too much time sink to get anywhere, requires X jobs to do Y content, requires X setup/gear to join...etc

FFXI greatest flaw and probably the cause of so much heat from the player base is that it has a handful of roles in party and 22 jobs with half of them don't really fit into any of the roles well enough. If your job is not the best in at least one of the roles then you're pretty much outside the window: Healer, Tank, Melee DD, Ranged DD, Magic DD, Buffer and Debuffer. This causes a lot of balancing issues as it's really difficult to make different jobs to fulfill the exact same role differently with the same results.

FFXI needs something of a good shuffle to jazz it up a bit. FFXI needs to become fresh again. It needs to break out of the hole it has been digging since merit-points party. Abby was that Jazz but it didn't go far enough to change the whole landscape, just the player base configuration and it wasn't extremely well executed to keep the game fresh. Yes, I liked Abby in a way that it killed the old FFXI and tried to take FFXI into something different but it didn't turn out that well because it didn't fix the largest flaws of FFXI. The age old arguments came back eventually with expansion and FFXI was back into the same stale seat.

For FFXI to be fresh again, it needs to change its foundations. I'd settle for a highly imbalance and massive update that would completely change how FFXI is played rather than doing the little dance with adjustments that only circle the same thing over and over again.

Edited, Dec 4th 2014 4:14am by Oddwaffle
#48 Dec 04 2014 at 5:26 AM Rating: Excellent
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Oddwaffle wrote:
FFXI needs something of a good shuffle to jazz it up a bit. FFXI needs to become fresh again. It needs to break out of the hole it has been digging since merit-points party. Abby was that Jazz but it didn't go far enough to change the whole landscape, just the player base configuration and it wasn't extremely well executed to keep the game fresh. Yes, I liked Abby in a way that it killed the old FFXI and tried to take FFXI into something different but it didn't turn out that well because it didn't fix the largest flaws of FFXI. The age old arguments came back eventually with expansion and FFXI was back into the same stale seat.

See, someone else is essentially getting what I said with this earlier:
Quote:
Treating the game in 2012 like it was 2007 is what did damage.

The overall timeline puts Tanaka back at the helm, no longer distracted by running XIV into the ground. Abyssea was christened a mistake, much to the delight of its detractors, but learning from that or even prior mistakes didn't seem to be much of a priority. It became business as usual, which led to...
Solonuke wrote:
The game really needed raid content and voidwatch didn't seem like a good answer.

With a side of a terribad Legion. Now, I'm someone who believes raiding should never be the primary focus of an MMO, but pretty much everywhere you look, you'll see a profoundly large chunk of developmental resources spent on placating what one could effectively call a sub-20% of a given game's population, with that further sliding to under 10% for people who might actually beat said content. Why does that remaining 10% fail? There's no singularly specific reason, but things like time, skill, leadership, and the availability of competent peers are certainly up there. The remaining 80% of the population are those who would more than likely love to see the content, and aren't unskilled, but either understand their limitations or simply can't play enough to even hope to be fairly considered while said content is current or unadjusted. Perhaps Abyssea's greatest strength, once all three parts were in play, was it flipped this norm on its head. Reasonable effort yielded reward. There wasn't really any going 0/200 on drop like a VW item. There was no needing 17 others just to make sure you could proc enough if you were after more than just a clear. Was Abyssea perfect? Nope. Times of congestion really sucked. Fighting over popped mobs like Gukumatz was also a throwback to olden day blah. Yet, I'd rather endure Abyssea's faults than wait around for Sandworm or Ixion to pop just to lose it to botters and position hackers, be scheduled for Einherjar and Dynamis twice a week, and depending on how much further back you went, struggling for Kings and wiggling other things in like Nyzul or Salvage. There is such a thing as "too much" endgame, which is a dangerous line XI toed in part because it was so afraid to let old things go because of precedent, nostalgia, or whatever coat of paint you want to slap on it.

"But Seri, I like hard fights! I like working with lots of other people for a common goal!" Well, let's not confuse my perception of focus with wanting to outright eliminate that option. It's not uncommon for people who partake of such to want something unique to show for it, to effectively show off. Again, ego is not something I believe that spurs good content design. On the reward side, tackling the harder things and with more people should only yield the things others could via alternative methods, but more quickly relative to the difficulty. Or to put it in Abyssea terms, if one easy mob dropped 2 seals, the "hard mode" would drop 8. "But no one would do the hard modes because..." I'd say that better puts into perspective those who really want to raid, along with all the related politics and drama, and those who don't. Let's stop pretending those who don't are terrible people and deserve content table scraps. This is really one of the ugliest aspect of appealing to the traditions of MMOs. Let titles and vanity be the prizes, not functionality.
Solonuke wrote:
I felt Abyssea wasn't very good. Mostly reused assets, making it very eco friendly.

I'd put this squarely on XIV being a vampire to the game, but at the same time, has Adoulin improved much? Recycled seal fights. Recycled Divine Might and single AA counterparts. Recycled Avatar battles. Recycled "merit" system. Recycled Artifact, Relic, and soon Empyrean gear. Nevermind pulling up the old models for Sparks stuff. One of the boldest steps the game could've taken, casting aside RMEs, was nixed because people couldn't let go and the appeals to tradition were honored. Now, there's a fair chance that if you want to be decent at any job these days, you've gotta spend 3+ months slaving away in menial content. Yes, things like this fall under the umbrella of new players and returnees needing to be able to get current at a reasonable pace.
Solonuke wrote:
Job balance went straight out of the window with powerful atmas and stupid proc system. There was a huge gap between a good player and a bad one.

The first is true even without Atmas in play. The second also applies, with a further winknudgenod to third-party tool use. Of course, the road never traveled was those who yearned for difficult play never actually had to use Atmas. Subtle precognition into people being fed up with XI's alliance game, perhaps? Or just further affirmation that hardcore challenge isn't the priority of the masses? These aren't difficult questions to answer, but it seems to me the answers are ones some don't want to acknowledge. You know, stupid casuals ruining gaming and such.
Oddwaffle wrote:
For FFXI to be fresh again, it needs to change its foundations. I'd settle for a highly imbalance and massive update that would completely change how FFXI is played rather than doing the little dance with adjustments that only circle the same thing over and over again.

I know I've been back and forth between a couple posts trying to weave a related narrative while ultimately attempting to further on the conversation, but this really just comes back to treating the game like it's not 2007 anymore. FFXI absolutely NEEDS features that simply aren't present, like good matchmaking systems and cross-server functionality. Any time I see the devs say something like this is impossible, I see, "We don't have enough time and resources to make it work." That's a dangerous slope to be on. "Quit being such an armchair dev, Seri! You don't know what it's like!" I know what it's like to be a player. I know what is fun to me. I know what isn't. I know what I've seen work elsewhere. I know what I've seen that hasn't. If all of that collective mind jumble can't congeal into meaningful critique, feedback, and suggestion, then I'd love to know what the missing piece(s) is/are.

So, more apt to this quote, I'm going to agree. Some people have come to hate me in the past because I spent so much time wanting to "fix" Red Mage to better align it to lore, franchise mythos, and enjoyability within the hands of the player. Rebuttals happened, many more often mere personal attacks than fair back-and-forth. Heck, all of this has probably contributed to the occasionally adversarial tone I take up here and now. And no, this isn't me saying that fixing RDM will fix FFXI. Rather, the devs need to channel into similar desire and boldness to enact change. Not just for RDM, but all the jobs. Don't fall into the trappings of MMOs where the only places good things come from are full party+ content. Don't subscribe to the notion that something can only be worth it if it is rare or hard to get. Give players reason to come together at the spur of the moment, not after memorizing a wiki and watching youtube videos simply as a qualifier. Call me cynical, fine, but that's the direct result of seeing the worst of what these games bring out of us as people and players. Perhaps the benefit of seeing and enduring this darkness is the optimism in the belief that we could do better, way better. If MMOs have cultivated us into being a bunch of collective cornhole coiffures, maybe, just maybe, there are things wrong with MMOs. Or we can just be lazy, do nothing, and declare people suck. That's worked so well up until now, hasn't it?
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#49 Dec 04 2014 at 8:49 AM Rating: Decent
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I could care less about re-use of assets and the sort. Give me a sense of progression and give me a reason for that progression and I'm good. This currently is in the game. Even trying to be a one job champion I still have plenty more to acquire, so I know the multi-jobbers have lots to do as well. And I'm not exactly invincible and one shotting things yet so the improved gear is good. Otherwise all this game is the atmosphere and by god does nostalgia help with that.
#50 Dec 04 2014 at 8:57 AM Rating: Excellent
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PlayOnline wrote:

All Worlds Maintenance (Dec. 9)

At the following time, we will be performing server maintenance to accompany the version update. During this period, FINAL FANTASY XI will be unavailable.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience.

* This maintenance will be accompanied by a version update. After maintenance is complete, the update will automatically begin after you press the "Play" button. After that, please follow the instructions on the screen.

* The World Transfer Service will be unavailable starting 30 minutes before the maintenance. Please wait until after the maintenance is completed before attempting to use this service.

* You may receive errors such as "POL-1160" or "POL-0010" during the download process due to heavy server traffic. If you are unable to access the update, we ask that you please wait a while and then try again.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding in making this a smooth version update.

Downloadable file sizes for the FINAL FANTASY XI version update are as follows.

[File size for clients with expansion data disk installed]
"PlayStation 2" Version
Downloadable file size: Approximately 37.7MB
Windows Version
Downloadable file size: Approximately 42.5MB
Xbox 360 Version
Downloadable file size: Approximately 50.1MB

[File size for clients without expansion data disk installed]
"PlayStation 2" Version
Downloadable file size: Approximately 26.8MB
Windows Version
Downloadable file size: Approximately 31.5MB
Xbox 360 Version
Downloadable file size: Approximately 39.1MB

* Details of the version update will be announced separately around Dec. 9, 2014.

[Date & Time]
Dec. 9, 2014 9:00 to 13:00 (PST)
Dec. 9, 2014 17:00 to 21:00 (GMT)
Dec. 9, 2014 12pm to 4pm (EST)
Dec. 10, 2014 2am to 6am (JST)
* The completion time may be subject to change.

[Affected Service]
- FINAL FANTASY XI

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news23858.shtml

Edited, Dec 4th 2014 10:14am by Szabo
#51 Dec 05 2014 at 4:13 AM Rating: Excellent
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Screenshot

Gildrein wrote:

[dev1247] New Mog Garden System: Chacharoon’s Cheer

  • What is Chacharoon’s Cheer?
Chacharoon’s Cheer is a new system courtesy of the eponymous Qiqirn that provides a variety of bonuses to players using mementos gained from monsters raised in the Mog Gardens.
These bonuses have a variety of effects that can aid adventurers during their forays throughout the world of Vana’diel.
Screenshot
Screenshot

* Players must have completed the quest “Chacharoon’s Cheer” to receive these effects. This quest will activate once players have reached a Monster Rearing rank of two.

  • Monster Mementos
When caring for a monster in the Mog Gardens (petting, receiving items, or feeding), playershave a chance to receive a memento from that monster. Mementos increase the types of effects available from Chacharoon’s cheer and add new items to purchase from the Green Thumb Moogle.
* Monsters of the same family may provide different mementos based on how much they have grown.
* Players will receive a lamb memento key item at the start of the Monster Rearing tutorial event. Those who have already completed this event will receive the key item upon entering their Mog Garden.


  • Selecting which Effects to Receive
Speaking with Chacharoon and selecting “Discuss a cheering effect” will enable a player to choose which cheer they would like to activate.
Only one cheer can be in effect at a given time, but it is possible to change the effect in exchange for a particular sum of shining stars.
* The amount of stars required varies on the desired new effect.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/45344

Edited, Dec 5th 2014 7:30am by Szabo
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