Today, Square Enix announced several changes in store for future version updates for Final Fantasy XI. The Warrior job, as well as the Empyrean weaponskills Victory Smite and Ukko's Fury will be seeing refinements, NPCs that participate in Bastion battles will no longer perform Area of Effect attacks to allow for more effective Martello protection, and several new details on the new Nyzul Isle Uncharted Region battle event have been released.

Full details on today's announcements can be found below.

If you want to give your opinion on the job and weaponskill changes, the Bastion changes, or the new Nyzul Isle, the ZAM forums has you covered!

Bastion Adjustments

[dev1062] Bastion Adjustments

• Bastion Mage NPCs will no longer cast area-effect elemental magic spells.

Job Adjustments: Warrior

[dev1063] Job Adjustments: Warrior

• Warrior Job Adjustments
  • Critical hit damage enhancement will be removed from the job ability “Blood Rage”

    Previous effect：　Enhances critical hit rate and critical hit damage for party members within area of effect.
    New effect:　Enhances critical hit rate for party members within area of effect.

  • The TP critical hit rate bonus for the weapon skill Ukko’s Fury will be reduced.
    *This is the same adjustment mentioned in [dev1064] Weapon Skill Adjusments.

*Adjustments and testing will be conducted in two phases.

• Phase one:
  Balance adjustments (as above) introduced to test server, feedback collected.
• Phase two (introduction dependent on results of phase one testing):
  Enhancement of job abilities Double Attack and Critical Attack Bonus.
  Internal testing and balance adjustments to be followed by test server introduction and feedback collection.

Job Adjustments: Weapon Skills

[dev1064] Job Adjustments: Weapon Skills

• TP critical hit bonuses for the weapon skills “Ukko’s Fury” and “Victory Smite” will be lowered.

Nyzul Isle Uncharted Region

[dev1048] Assault: Nyzul Isle Uncharted Region

*The following content is in development. Specific details may differ from the release version.

Overview
The Nyzul Isle Uncharted Region is a challenging new battle mission designed for level 99 adventurers.
This mission is an expansion of Nyzul Isle Investigation featuring increased difficulty and new gameplay elements requiring players to make dynamic decisions in the course of battle.

• Prerequisites
  • An installed and registered copy of the FINAL FANTASY XI expansion Treasures of Aht Urhgan
  • Mercenary rank of Private Second Class or above
  • Level 50 or above
  • A party of three to six members
  • Possession of the Imperial Army I.D. tag key item

• Undertaking the Mission
  1. Go to the commissions counter and receive an Imperial Army I.D. tag.

     [Test server only]

     1. For test purposes, the following NPCs will function as follows:
        Rytaal: Will grant I.D. tags unconditionally, and increase player token count to a minimum 10,000.
        Sorrowful Sage: Will increase player token count to a minimum of 10,000.
        Runic Portal: All destinations will be available.
        *All teleport destinations will also be available when speaking to the Moogle GM or the NPC Sharin-Garin.
        *The unlocking of teleport destinations will not be accompanied by a system message.

  2. Apply for the mission as you would a standard mission, then enter the battlefield from the Nyzul Isle staging point.
     *Nyzul Isle missions occupy a unique position in Assault. You will not be able to manually set level restrictions, and no Assault Points will be gained for successful completion.

     [Test server only]

     1. For testing purposes, players will be able to attempt the mission solo. (The corresponding text will still make reference to the 3-6 party member requirement.)
        However, certain mission objectives may not be completed with fewer than three players.

  3. After entering the battlefield, use the Rune of Transfer on the initial floor to select your destination.
     *Adventurers undertaking the Nyzul Isle Uncharted Region mission will always begin from the first floor, regardless of their progress.
     Before transporting to your destination, obtain any temporary items you may need from Vending Box.
     
     
  4. Upon arriving at your destination floor, examine the Rune of Transfer to receive your mission orders.
     *Certain objectives may not be completed when undertaking the mission with fewer than three party members.
     
     
  5. Upon completing the mission objectives, examine the Rune of Transfer to proceed to the next floor, or suspend the operation and return.
     1. Proceeding
        After completing Floor 100, you will be returned to Floor 1.
        - "Travel to Floor ###" will transport you to the next floor.
        - "Travel to Floor ???" will transport you to a random floor.
     2. Returning
        To return, select "Exit the Assault area."
        You will be rewarded with Nyzul Isle Investigation tokens.
        *Tokens will not be awarded to players leaving via magic spells or time limit expiration.

• Differences from the Nyzul Isle Investigation
  • The "Travel to Floor ???" option will appear when proceeding to the next floor.
  • The mission will always begin from the first floor, regardless of your previous progress.
  • Monsters will be stronger to provide a suitable challenge to high-level players.
  • New notorious monsters will appear.
  • Notorious monsters will no longer drop Vigil weapons.
  • New mysterious items and corresponding appraised items will be added.
  • New equipment rewards will be added.
    *These items will not yet be made available on the test server.
  • Alexandrite and the corresponding cotton and linen coin purses may be obtained.
    *These items will not yet be made available on the test server.

We are also considering measures to prevent overcrowding.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.