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I would like to know if there was any talk of another expansion pack.

Yes yes, I know TAU isn't even done yet, but I am just curious if they have anything in mind yet.

And that also makes me wonder on a side note - who actually writes the mission storylines? Lets face it, the stories (in my opinion) are what makes FF11 different from other MMORPGs.

Where can I read the writups?

I've thought about this sometimes... getting paid to read forums 5 hours a day sounds like a pretty sweet deal, but I'm not sure I could handle it. It would drive me absolutely insane to read some of the dumb **** that gets posted here and not be able to respond.

"Every item in the game should be Rare/Ex!"
"SE is getting cuts from the gilsellers!"
"Crafting should give skillups with every synth, like in WoW!"
"There aren't as many people in Valkurm as at the NA launch, so the game is dying!"

/BLAM

Nice to hear. Observe that that the choice between meeleing avatars and not, is the same choice as slow exp per hour or not. A bone thrown to SMNs that make the choice between keeping avatars out and not to not be equal to speed of exp would be nice.

For example the classics:

* Halved perpetuation
* Removed perpetuation
* Resting with avatars out (both fight and idle)
* Resting with avatars out (only idle)
* MP drain on avatar attacks that go to SMN
* Perpetuation is only temporary and you regain MP slowly after dismissing (think drowning in some games. You loose oxygen, then you reach surface and regain it)
* Convert (lolrdm)
* SAM moves: A-move; Less perpetuation, something negative. B-move; More damage, higher perpetuation. 5 min duration, 1 min recast.

For example the extremes:

* Nerf cure spells
* Set max exp per hour to 3k globally
* Make avatars deal ********* of melee damage

Resting with avatars out tend to be the most popular choice from what I've heard. It lets you sacrifice mobility and subjob use for some MP regain while having avatars out. Making it more or less equal with BLM who nuke, rest, nuke, rest. (Maybe also the possibility of being able to say "sorry can't heal" is part of why it is popular)

Also as stated hundreds of times, allowing SMN to keep avatars out more enhances "FUN" and nothing else. The melee damage is very low, and spirits are very random.



It is funny how you say "It'd just turn the job into a weak version of BST or PUP" when the fact is that the job has ALREADY turned into a weak version of WHM. Not to mention the original design was a weak version of BST or PUP that the community didn't accept.

Avatar melee is just a question about fun. Should SMN be fun? Yes or no? If yes, let my avatars melee without ruining for my party. If no, then the job is fine.

Bottom line is that it is a VERY reasonable demand to be able to have meleeing avatars or spirits as a SMN. Ever see a SMN mob summon + dismiss? No, they have free avatars and spirits that work just how you expect them to work. Why not do the same for players? (Not asking for 2 hour that does 2k damage to whole zone or spirits casting thundaga III, just being able to have them with me without leaving me dry from MP)

First off, thanks for all the info. Found it an enjoyable read. :o)

Seeing as perhaps you'd want something new to consider at a possible next summit, I've always had a problem with space limitations. There have been ways that this has been addressed such as the Armor Storage NPC for various armor sets and Event Storage NPCs for Event Items. I'm also aware that they're adding to the Armor Storage NPC in the form of Relic Gear. However, I still use certain pieces of Relic and AF gear while others go unused sitting in my Mog House. Being a collector, I still have the weapon AFs for several of my jobs.

My idea is something along the lines of a modification of the Armor Storage NPC to something similar to the Event Storage NPC. Restrict this to AF and Relic (NQ and HQ) pieces so we could store certain pieces while keeping our other ones. For those that aren't aware, the Event Storage NPC holds individual event items while the Armor Storage NPC requires an entire set. Any AF or Relic piece that you're not using you can store while keeping out the pieces you more commonly use. Meanwhile, also keep the Armor Storage option available for easier access. Perhaps even have the fee for a storage removal of a single piece equal that of the entire set. This can further include AF weapons and Relic Accesories (Belts/Capes).

Thanks for your consideration :o)

Yea, "Keeping Avatars Out" needs help. I remember while level smn I actually tried to keep the avatars out and see how it goes. Needless to say my mp was out by chain 3.

you dont keep it out for entire chains ><.you take out for TP 100%+, BP, then release.Toss a few cures and rest.If you do it that way, chains keep going, your MP stays above 50% at all times, and you actually contribute to party.

Hi, I run FF on my Mac when I travel.

Personally I wish I didn't have to use boot camp. I wish I could just have it on mac, it's a convenience thing. I feel dirty at times with windows on here, I lie in the shower to try and get clean....

oh hell that was out loud again....

I remember when the "most popular" thing was disco. ><

I have a few comments for you two, both exo and pikko so here goes.

First off I appreciate the summit you did and thanks for the input. I applaud the "no rmt" because s-e already knows about it. They have known and you bringing it up again wont help them solve any better. I thank you wholeheartedly for your input.


Now for things I want to say on my behalf for future meetings:

First off on Crafting: I am very dedicated to crafting and I think its pretty great. I'm lvl 99.8 goldsmithing and I have loved it the whole way. I'm going to be lvl 100 within a short time. Now there are two things I would like to bring across to you of concern, which I truly hope you can relate to s-e next summit.

First and foremost: I know there are thousands of people on my server but only a select few of them are very high in any one craft. As it stands there is no way for other people to know I exist unless they know me personally or see my name in the auction house. I often have people check me in lower jeuno and ask me to make something which I am more than happy to do. I love crafting, and I like signing things. I keep signature crystals of all types on me at all times for whenever this happens. But if nobody knows I exist even if they are in the same zone as me I cant help them unless i shout and advertise my craft lvl, which I don't like to do for reasons of spam.

The request: I would really like to see a search function built into the game for crafting levels. You can search for job levels but not crafting levels. I don't know how s-e could implement this but I would think it really helpful if they could implement a separate search function than party that allows you to search for crafters of a specific guild and level. There are people searching vanadieel over at any given time for XXX crafter lvl and they just don't know any names. So they end up waiting or not getting their item. A search craftskill feature would be really great and make me incredibly happy.



Second on the crafting agenda: High quality crystals. The NPC that is responsible for guild points is the only source of high quality crystals to sign items with. However they only allow one crystal purchase at a time. This is a very great frustration to me because if I want three stacks of inferno crystals I have to talk to the npc, scroll down the menue, select the crystal, select yes and then repeat the process 36 times. It can take me literally 10 minutes to flush out all the crystals i want from the NPC. Which really ends up wasting unnecessary time and just plain sucking.

The request: I would like to see high quality crystals (inferno, terra, cyclone... etc etc) purchasable by the stack, at the cost of 12 times a single. So terra crystals cost me 200 guild points for one, I would like to be able to purchase 12 terra crystals for 2400 guild points in one fell swoop and be done with it. The auction house allows you to purchase normal crystals by singles or stacks. Why should signature crystal sales for guild points be any different?



Other suggesgions: This is really kind of already discussed but I think it still warrents getting out officially. You already discussed end game and drop rates to s-e in your current summit and how crappy drop rates are bad. It's true, I have seen a screenshot of kirin...the king of the sky gods... dropping one single wind crystal. I can only imagine the pain that linkshell felt that day. But there is another issue, and this one is in my eyes equally important.

FFXI has evolved from the olden days of when it first came out. Back in the beginning everybody was low lvl and nobody could equip god gear, let alone take them down. But today times have changed and I wager a good 80-85% of the servers's populace have at least one job at 75. This creates a very big problem when the one and only source of the items is on a 21-24 hour respawn timer and some on a 1 a real life week respawn.

Yes I'm talking about mobs like Fafnir and Nidhogg. I'll give some math. Suppose 85% of a server has a lvl 75 job and 35% of those jobs can use any one particular abjuration (thats about right I wager). Lets say a server has 10,000 players. That means that 10,000 players x 85% (lvl 75's) x 35% (number of 75s who can use ) == 2,975 players, which I will round up to 3,000 for simplicity.

If 3,000 players want an item such as Neptunal Head, and only one spawn is possible on average per day it would take 3,000 days to supply a server, or nearly ten years. Now take the Kings, which spawn at a rate of only 1/7 the time. These items will take approximately 7 times the time to get enough out to make evryone happy, or 70 years. Now add the fact that only a few of the possible 3 or 4 items drop per kill and you have a very big problem. If a 21-24 hour respawn has 4 items that can drop that are abjuration and only one of them falls in one kill you just multiplied the time to get enough out by a lot more.

Simply put, the job lvls of the ffxi community have evolved to the point where the old system of attaining end game pieces of equipment is outdated and can no longer sustain the incredible strain of demand. You cannot compare the world of vanaadiel end game when many people got their pieces 3 years ago to that of today. You just cannot. There are just THAT MANY MORE of us.

Now I'm not saying these pieces should be easy to get or common. But the current system makes it so a new player to end game will have an impossibly hard time getting certain pieces. Really we may as well not even try.

Now add the fact that certain end game shells THROW AWAY!!!!!! (and i bolded that because its both important and true) such pieces and you have an even bigger problem.

On all servers there are established HNM shells. The best of the best. They have been doing end game for years and some of them have all the pieces of gear they need. They no longer need abjuration. BUT some shells (actually MANY shells) have a policy that they will not sell abjuration or give it away. This is to prevent conflict and drama and I understand where it comes from, but at the same time it pains me more than anything to see pieces of end game gear wasted. There are monks in some shells with zenith gear and summoners with hecatomb simply because nobody in the shell needs it anyore and policy of the shell forbids drops going outside the shell.

The reason these shells still camp the land gods is not for the abjuration but things like riddill. Fafnir is the prime example once again. Many end game shells camp fafnir simply for the riddill, nothing else. If abjuration drops it gets tossed. This abjuration is already an impossible bottleneck and seeing the precious very few that are created destroyed is a pain unlike any other.

The request: I assume and can only hope s-e is doing this with the Nynzle (sp) Isle assault--- Make certain items obtainable elsewhere. Abjuration is the prime example here. The demand of the playerbase is too high for one source of 21-24 hours spawn to sustain, and if it gets destroyed even harsher.

Again I am by no means requesting this be made easy to get, as its some of the best gear available. But as it stands certain pieces are not incredibly difficult to get, they are literally impossible. No matter what one does they are beyond their reach..... period... end of story. That seems broken to me.



So those are my three suggesgions to you guys for the next summit meeeting. If you read this I would at least aappreciate a reply to let me know your opinions. I'd like to know you heard my requests.


EDIT: I edited that for spelling. It was so important to me I took the time to weed out as many typos as I could to make it pleasing to the eyes.

Edited, Mar 4th 2007 8:21pm by Melphina

Hm... now that the LS community has been mentioned, something else just occurred to me. I know a few FFXI players that don't readily have PC access or don't like using the Linkshell Community via a web browser (Having to log in using their POL ID and password). Considering this, SE already has a tool for navigation purposes, the POL.exe. It would be great if the LS Community would be accessible through the Playonline program rather than having to use a web browser (though I like having it in any form myself :o) ).

Byebye.