Dev Tracker - News, Discussions

The recent adjustments made to the weapon skills that can be used by red mage were not meant to make them into sword specialists. Instead, the intent was to broaden the choices available when it comes to close range combat.

Naturally, red mage has a lot of utility during battles, and as such we have no plans to increase their sword skill rating.

There are no plans to increase the damage mage jobs can do via weapon skills.

In regards to black mage, we'd like to make some adjustments since they are not able to use the TP gained when successfully landing a magic burst. However, it’s not practical for black mages to be in melee range when taking on high-level content, so instead of enhancing weapon skills, the development team would like to give black mages other avenues to use TP.

One plan that is being worked on at the moment is to introduce an ability that consumes TP to boost elemental magic spell damage. This is one way to improve black mage's damage dealing capabilities.

Greetings, everyone.

I was able to collect a few more answers to some of the other questions that appeared in this thread.


There are no plans to add Bahamut as an avatar for summoners. We would like to focus on adding new elements and adjustments to the current avatars.


We feel that monks are already dealing a steady amount of damage through all their auto-attacks, and as such we do not have any plans to enhance their weapon skills.


This is a really fun and exciting idea, but we still haven’t finalized the necessary development time and resources required for Rhapsodies of Vana’diel. We can’t make any promises at the moment, but we’ll look into it as a future idea.


We’d like to treat Relic, Mythic, Empyrean, and Ergon weapons very carefully. We understand that these are very special for their owners, but we need to proceed carefully giving consideration towards other equipment and battle content. We’ve been receiving a lot of feedback on these extraordinary pieces of equipment, and we will try and look into adding an additional element; however, we would like some time to discuss this.

Greetings,

If you're still plagued by storage woes and your Mog Houses are overflowing with items, you'll want to hear what we have planned.

Previously we mentioned that we have plans in the works to add a second floor to your Mog Houses, and to coincide with this we're looking into making it so you can have two Mog Safes. This means that not only will you be able to store more items, but you'll have plenty more room to add even more furnishings.

We realize there have been requests for Mog Wardrobes expansions, but this is something we need to look into very carefully as it places more stress on the client side compared to other storage features. If we were to add one more Mog Wardrobe we expect that it'll affect the client's behavior.

With that said, we're planning to start out by adding one more Mog Safe, and then continue to look into the possibility of another Mog Wardrobe.

New Battle Content: Vagary

Vagary is battle content where you can fight against the Xol Triumverate that makes an appearance in the Seekers of Adoulin missions.

Vagary was designed as content that is high in difficulty. You can undertake it with 3-18 people, but regardless of the number of players you enter with the monster difficulty will not change. If you’re looking to clear it without much difficulty, 18 players is recommended, but if you are aiming to increase your prospects of rewards you may want to challenge it with fewer members.

Empyrean Equipment Enhancements

It’s not possible to upgrade Empyrean equipment so they have item levels. There are two possibilities: item level 109 and 119. In order to upgrade them, you will have to obtain items from Vagary.

Empyrean-equivalent Equipment for RUN/GEO

We’ve added new equipment that is equivalent to Empyrean armor for rune fencer and geomancer. The equipment can be obtained via new quests.

Upon obtaining them their item level will be 109; however, by obtaining items from Vagary you can increase this to item level 119.

New Gift Category

We’ve added the “Superior 2” Gifts category as well as superior 2 equipment. Materials for superior 2 equipment can be obtained from Vagary.

Unity Concord

We’ve added new targets for Wanted battles. Additionally, we’ve made it possible to summon alter egos in Wanted battles. It’s also possible to summon your adventuring fellow; however, we’ve confirmed a bug where they will disappear once the battle begins. We are currently looking into a way to fix this.

We also added the new option of “Currently accepted area” to the menu when selecting a destination to warp to.

Records of Eminence

We’ve added new objectives. Additionally, we added a special bonus to the amount of capacity points earned when completing certain objectives for the first time. This bonus will be applied to your character automatically when you complete it. Each bonus is around 1-3%, but there are a lot of objectives you can get them from, and completing them all will bring you to around 50%.

Battle Content Adjustments

Alluvion skirmishes: Yorcia Weald
We’ve added to the information that is displayed. Additionally, we’ve made it so the monsters that spawn vary depending on the type of Eudaemon used to enter.

Walk of Echoes
We’ve made adjustments so that Surge Walks occur more frequently back to back.

We made adjustments to make this content easier to get into based off of requests from players.

Battle Balance Adjustments

We increased the damage of magic bursts. We’re planning to add new magic spells in the May version update as a further adjustment.

We also made adjustments to enmity and increased the cap three-fold. Additionally, by lowering the amount of enmity generated through damage dealt, there won’t be any concerns about managing enmity despite the increase in magic burst damage.

In regards to dagger weapon skills, there was an error in the formula for calculating the modifier for Rudra’s Storm when you have 3000 TP, and since this made it too strong we adjusted it. Even with this adjustment, thief and samurai are still very strong, and we are looking into adjustments for warrior and dark knight.

Additionally, we made adjustments to enfeebling spells such as increasing the damage over time and effect duration of poison, and we also fixed the effect duration of blind and paralyze. We also increased the magic accuracy of Distract and Frazzle, so please be sure to try out all these changes on red mage.

We’ve also made it possible to summon alter egos in more content, made it easier to access high-tier avatar battles, and more. Be sure to read up on all the details.

Job Adjustments

Red mage
Considering the effect of the adjustments made to Rudra’s Storm, we unlocked certain sword weapon skills for red mage.

Dark knight
We eliminated the effect decay over time of absorb-type spells. We’d like to increase dark knight’s damage output slightly and we will be making adjustments in the future.

Bard
We decided that the diminishing effects over time for Etude were not commensurate with the songs’ power, so we eliminated it.

Ninja
To coincide with the poison adjustments, we increase the damage over time of Dokumori: Ichi.

Summoner
We thought that it would be best to enhance pet jobs a bit more, and once of the ways we decided to do so was by adding new Blood Pacts to avatars, increase the area effect of certain Blood Pacts, and increase Blood Pact effect duration depending on your summoning skill.

Additionally, we’ve made it so the effects of Glittering Ruby no longer diminish over time.

We also sped up the activation time of Blood Pacts, and this was done to prevent avatars from disappearing before Blood Pacts are activated.

Puppetmaster
As we received a lot of feedback that there are situations where the Soulsoother Head casting Protectra and Shellra becomes disadvantageous, we decided to increase the area of effect and casting time of these spells when used by the automaton.

Additionally, it’s now possible to increase the effect duration of maneuvers.

Item-related

We add new synthesis recipes and furnishings. Hot water will come out of the Shower Stand item when it is morning and evening in Vana’diel.

We also made adjustments to the experience point and capacity point bonuses given by rings so that the effects do not wear off as quickly.

By the way, we also implemented “Excalipoor” in this version update. I’ll let you know how to obtain this sometime in the future, so please look forward to it.

Mog Gardens

We focused primarily on additions and adjustments that were requested on the forums for this version update. As there were many comments mentioning that there was no indication how long your assistants were contracted for, we decided to display this information. We’ve also made it so there is an announcement so you know when a contract expired while gathering.

As for the auras of darkness and light, we wanted to implement this at the same time monster rearing was introduced, but it was not ready in time, so we implemented in the March version update. Currently it’s only possible to rear two monsters at the same time, but in the future we will be increasing this.

Additionally, it’s now possible to get rid of unwanted flotsam directly without receiving it in cases where your inventory is full.

/lockstyle Feature Enhancements

We added a “style lock” feature. By using this feature, the graphical appearance of your character will be locked. As long as your weapons are of the same type when changing them, the lock will remain active until you remove it or fail to meet the proper criteria.

Additionally, the criteria for which equipment can be used with style lock was made very broad, and you’ll be able to display equipment that is not useable by your current job.

Quality of Life Adjustments

Linkshell messages for both LS1 and LS2 will be displayed when logging in.

We added a text command to check the linkshell message for LS2.

We added an “emote list” feature.

We made adjustments to the log window.

We changed the sorting method for the auction house list.


The emote list feature in particular is a great adjustments since it was difficult to tell which emotes could be used until now.

Annoucements

*The video shows off a trailer of FINAL FANTASY Grandmasters as well as character art.

FINAL FANTASY Grandmasters

FINAL FANTASY Grandmasters is being planned and developed based on the following points:
Being able to play in the world of Vana’diel
Being able to play the game easily with a smart phone
Being able to have an MMO experience

While there are different aspects between FINAL FANTASY Grandmasters and FINAL FANTASY XI such as how the character appear, we originally had a lot of trouble deciding how we wanted to make it. From the beginning, we had wanted to shrink the size of the characters, and we had a designer from Krooz create concept art. Based on the concept area we created 3D characters. We were stuck trying to really elicit the signature features of Galkas and the cuteness of Tarutarus, and went through many trial and errors for how to display FFXI’s Romanized monster names in Japanese katakana for FINAL FANTASY Grandmasters.

Based on the announcements made during the press conference, we received a lot of questions asking what real-time cooperative battles were. When you are in a field area, the players you see in the same field will be moving in real-time. If you come into contact with a monster in the field, you’ll be moved to a battle. Battles will take place with four players, which includes yourself. As this is an active time battle, you’ll be able to chat and communicate in real-time with other players while you wait for your gauge to fill up.

Finally, in regards to the current development status, the FFXI development team checked the scenario during the week of March 23, and made adjustments for it to be implemented in the beta test. We’re currently on track with preparations to start the beta test in April, but we’ll release information on the official site.

Event Schedule

Starting in May we will kick off the Goddess’s Gala event and also hold the Discount Campaign and Return Home to Vana’diel campaign.

Additionally, as of April 2 we started the Egg Hunt seasonal event and the Spring Alter Ego Extravaganza, so be sure to check them out.

Conclusion

Recently we have been performing version updates every month, but in order to implement Rhapsodies of Vana’diel we will be making changes and performing version updates two times in a three month period. However, in between this time period we will be able to address minor things. The next version update is scheduled for mid-May, and we will also welcome in the 14th anniversary of FINA FANTASY XI.

I felt the need to let everyone know about the Vana’diel Project directly, which is why I decided to hold a press conference. Additionally, I felt it important to directly answer questions about the Vana’diel Project, so I wanted to spend time during Freshly Picked Vana’diel doing so. Thank you all so much for all the questions.

The entire team will be working extremely hard to make Rhapsodies of Vana’diel the best it can be for players, and we appreciate all of your support.

You will be happy to hear that we’ll be introducing new Phantom Rolls for geomancer and rune fencer in the May version update.

In the May version update we’ll be making adjustments to the mechanics of Nyzul Isle Investigation as well as other Assaults so that they can be undertaken by smaller groups more easily. We’ll be announcing the specific details on which Assaults will be addressed and what will change in the near future.

Hello,

We’ve been receiving quite a lot of questions and feedback on the enmity adjustments made in the March version update, so I’d like to respond to some of the larger topics.

The reason why we made adjustments

With the implementation of the item level system, both characters and weapon skills were adjusted, and as a result the amount of enmity generated by damage dealt increased. This caused the enmity cap to be reached too quickly, which made it difficult to control enmity.

Due to this situation, we made adjustments by increasing the enmity cap and simultaneously decreasing the amount of enmity generated through damage, thus allowing for a longer period of controlling the target enemy.

Targets easily rushing back line jobs

While adjustments were made to decrease the amount of enmity generated from damage, enmity generated from abilities, support, and healing spells saw no large changes, and it’s become difficult to maintain enmity on targets like in the past.

However, this means that the weight of enmity generated from abilities and spells has become relatively larger, and this has made it so warrior, paladin, and rune fencer, who possess many of these, are able to more easily control their a target.
(Of the jobs designed to be a tank, we feel that ninja is lacking in the ways to gain enmity, and we are planning to make adjustments to this in a future version update.)

Prior to the adjustments, the weight of enmity generated from damage was higher, and as there were many cases where emphasis was placed on damage dealing efficiency when selecting a front line job, there was a situation where it was becoming more difficult to choose a job that was proper for enmity control.

Due to this, we’d like to make it so each job is able to elicit their own unique characteristics by increasing the necessity for enmity equipment and abilities that control enmity.

In the event you need to protect back line jobs, we’d like everyone to try various methods for maintaining enmity such as adding jobs that possess a wealth of enmity generating means or utilizing support-type jobs to manipulate enmity.

Back line alter egos taking hate too easily

The development team is aware that back line alter egos are easily pulling hate. Since alter egos function based on a special routine for each character, it’s difficult for fine enmity control, and we are currently looking into adjusting the amount of enmity generated by tank-type and healing/support-type alter egos.

We have some updates on assault adjustments.

We’re currently planning to adjust the difficulty and mechanics for the following assaults:
Lebros Supplies
Evade and Escape
Azure Ailments
Imperial Agent Rescue
Additionally, in regards to Nyzul Isle Investigation, we’re planning to make adjustments to the objectives for activating all lamps in an area simultaneously and extending the duration of how long the lamps stay active.

If the aforementioned adjustments pass our internal check phase without any issues, these changes are planned for the May version update.

I have more information to share with you about assaults and future changes.

The adjustments we made recently were to the assaults that were difficult to complete solo, due to difficulties such as the placement of the mechanics.

Other assaults that are difficult when playing solo such as Lost and Found, Orichalcum Survey, and Building Bridges, become easier with more party members a group has. However, these missions can be completed solo so we have no plans to make any adjustments beyond what we have discussed at this time.

Additionally, we have no plans to make further adjustments to the mechanics for Nyzul Isle Investigation.

[dev1263] Rhapsodies of Vana'diel

Joining all of FINAL FANTASY XI's stories into a grand culmination of tales, Rhapsodies of Vana'diel will see the return of characters across many previous missions and quests. Characters new and old weave the threads of an epic adventure that will span all of Vana'diel.

Progressing through Rhapsodies of Vana'diel will increase the maximum number of alter egos a character can call forth and provide a wide range of other perks.

* The new missions will be divided between three major updates.
The May Update will introduce the first chapter of the saga along with an all-new area and fresh battle content.

Greetings,

We have received several questions in regards to Superior gear, so we'd like to explain the concept for Superior in general.

Superior gear was introduced to allow powerful item level gear to be created by crafters, which horizontally expands ways to increase your item level.

As many of you already know, equipment introduced post Adoulin were given item levels. The concept here is to have players obtain equipment with item levels corresponding to the difficulty of the current content, and having their stats increase according to these item levels.

However, there are various ways to play FFXI, and there are those who enjoy their time in Vana'diel without participating in high-level end game content.

We considered introducing high level items without the EX trait which could be purchased through the auction house or synthesized by high skilled crafters; however, if we introduced this powerful gear without restrictions, it would have allowed players to simply purchase powerful item level gear from crafters or the auction house.

This goes against the concept of players completing specific tasks to increase the strength of their jobs and growing their character.

For this reason, we introduced the Gift system where players can obtain gifts by accumulating job points, which is similar to leveling up. With the introduction of the Gift system we were able to add in Superior gear which has become another route for players to gain item levels without going through end game content.

Superior gear is designed so that Superior 1 allows players to aim for gear with item level 119 so that they might challenge the end game content, and Superior 2 opens up equipment with even greater stats. We would like players who don't have the opportunity to participate in end game content to use superior gear as another way to increase your item level and grow your character.

[dev1264] Alter Ego Adjustments
Alter egos will be able to be called forth in high-tier mission battlefields and Voidwatch.
All alter egos will have the following attributes increased:

Accuracy / Magic Accuracy / Ranged Accuracy / Evasion / Magic Evasion / Defense

The following alter egos will enjoy increased enmity generation:

Curilla / Volker / Trion / Valaineral / Gessho / Mnejing / Rahal / Rughadjeen / Amchuchu

The following alter egos will enjoy decreased enmity generation:

Kupipi / Mihli Aliapoh / Cherukiki / Karaha-Baruha / Ferreous Coffin / Joachim /
Ulmia / Koru-Moru

The skillchain attributes for Naja Salaheem's weapon skill Peacebreaker will undergo the following adjustments.
Pre-Update Attributes Post-Update Attributes
Fragmentation / Compression → Distortion / Reverberation
Players will be able to call forth alter egos in the following quest battles by progressing through the Rhapsodies of Vana'diel missions:
Shattering Stars / The Beast Within / Breaking the Bonds of Fate /
Achieving True Power / A Furious Finale / Survival of the Wisest
The following alter egos will be made obtainable by progressing through the Rhapsodies of Vana'diel missions:
Semih Lafihna / Halver / Zeid II / Lion II
Progressing through the Rhapsodies of Vana'diel missions will enable players to call forth up to four alter egos simultaneously.
* This limit is scheduled to be increased further in subsequent version updates.

[dev1265] Unity Concord

Alter egos for Unity Concord leaders will be added.
These alter egos are special in that they can only be called forth under certain conditions.

Players are unable to acquire them using the same means as ordinary alter egos, but instead will temporarily gain the ability to call them forth when their personal evaluation in their Unity has reached a certain level.

There is no limit to how often these alter egos may be summoned, but switching Unities or entering a new Unity ranking tabulation period will deactivate them. The alter egos may be called forth again once the player has re-received the appropriate level of evaluation.

The following alter egos may be called forth.

Pieuje (UC) / Ayame (UC) / I. Shield (UC) / Apururu (UC) / Maat (UC) /
Aldo (UC) / Jakoh (UC) / Naja (UC) / Flaviria (UC)

* Players may only call forth an alter ego of their Unity leader.

The amount of accolades required to undertake Wanted objectives will be lowered.

The amount of accolades required to undertake Wanted objectives will be lowered.
Content Level Pre-adjustment Post-adjustment
75 300 → 200
99 500 → 400
119 2000 → 1500
122 2500 → 1800
125 3000 → 2100
128 3500 → 2400

We're looking into lowering the recast timer for the Fight command. We originally placed a longer recast on this command to restrict users from rapidly controlling monsters; however, we're considering adjustments that would lower the timer to match the current content pacing.

With that said, pet commands allow players to create new strategies, so it'll require some time to look into balancing this.

The reason why we decided to continue the content timer upon defeating the boss is because unlike other content, the regular monsters inside of Vagary drop useful items and these monsters will still remain after the boss has been defeated.

In the event that we decided to extend the time by 5 minutes after the boss is defeated, this will take away any remaining time and give players a hard 5 minute extension. Due to this, we would like to carefully consider which option is better.

Certain “knockback” attacks used by monsters generally will take into account the amount of “Knockback” resistance the character has, and the amount of distance traveled will change based on that. Additionally, if you are able to dodge the attack, you will not be knocked back.

However, if a target is hit by certain area of effect attacks that were implemented before December 2014 with party members or pets present, party members and pets will be affected, which results in the distance traveled being based on the party as a whole.

The monster attacks that are being reported are of the latter, so these reports are working as intended.

Hello, everyone.

Allow me to apologize for any inconveniences you’ve experienced due to this issue. Our Support Center has just created and uploaded a new Knowledge Base article on how to resolve this error, so I urge you to read it over and try out the suggestions.

In the event this does not help solve the FFXI-3001 error, please respond back to this thread and I can relay the information to the development team for further investigation.

Thank you very much for your cooperation!

[dev1266] Mog House and Mog Garden Adjustments

A second floor will be added to Mog Houses.
About the Second Floor
A second floor will be added to Mog Houses, enabling players to place more furnishings than ever before. However, there are several differences between the first and second floors as given below.

Size
The second floor is slightly bigger than the first floor.

Moogles
As there is no moogle on the second floor, players will be able to change the layout in the center of the floor as well.

Wall Layout
Furnishing may be affixed to walls in more spaces at a total of four height levels.

Remodeling
Room style may be freely switched between San d'Orian, Batsokan, and Windurstian themes.
* Only the second floor's style may be changed.
* Potted plants may not be cultivated on the second floor.
* Furnishings place on the second floor will not grant moghancement effects.

Constructing the Second Floor
Moogles located in the player's Mog House will give the player some details about the second floor, which will be constructed when players complete the following quests and then re-enter their Mog House.

Growing Flowers
A Lady's Heart
Flower Child.

* Players who have already completed the above quests will need to first speak to the moogle about the second floor, leave their house, and then re-enter and speak with the moogle about second floor construction once more.

Heading to the Second Floor
Players will be able to go to the second floor from the entrance of their Mog House.
* Players who have been invited to another's Mog House will not be able to switch floors. To access the second floor, invitees must first leave the Mog House and be invited again once the inviter is on the second floor.

Mog Safe II
Players with a second floor in the Mog House will be able to access a secondary Mog Safe. The Mog Safe II is identical to the original Mog Safe, and the number of items that can be stored within increases in line with the number of items storable in the Mog Safe.

During layout, spaces currently occupied by a furnishing but can have another furnishing placed on top of the existing one will now display in green.

It will be made easier to distinguish which section of space you have selected while laying out your Mog House.

Players will be able to choose between two different methods of moving the cursor when placing furniture.

A new option to disable furniture camera collision will be added.

Mog Gardens will undergo the following adjustments.

Monster Rearing will have a new maximum rank of four, with three new creature types added. Additionally, players will be able to have up to two creatures join their garden per Vana'diel day.
New Chacharoon Cheer effects will be added.
A New vendor NPC will be added to the Rearing Grounds.
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If you wish to discuss or submit feedback on this topic, please use the dev1266 tag.

Introducing Escha - Zi'Tah
Progressing through the Rhapsodies of Vana'diel scenario will grant players access to a new area known as Escha - Zi'Tah.

Escha - Zi'Tah is home to a wide range of beastly inhabitants, from weaker creatures that roam the periphery to fearsome foes and notorious monsters that inhabit its inner reaches.

Escha Silt / Escha Beads
Defeating enemies in Escha - Zi'Tah will reward the victorious with escha silt and escha beads, unique currencies obtainable from the region.

Escha Silt
Escha silt is used to purchase special temporary items from NPCs and to traverse portals linking different sections of Escha - Zi'Tah. They can also be used to obtain vorseals, which are detailed below.

Vorseals – mystical sigils usable only in Escha - Zi'Tah.
An NPC in Escha - Zi'Tah will offer a bevy of divine prowess in the form of charms known as vorseals in exchange for escha silt. The effects granted differ by vorseal, but they combine in myriad ways to offer multiple blessings at once.

Obtain new types of vorseals by progressing through Rhapsodies of Vana'diel content and defeating the monsters that dwell in Escha - Zi'Tah.

The effects from vorseals will fade away one hour after entering Escha - Zi'Tah, but this timer can be reset by leaving and re-entering the area.

Escha Beads
Escha beads are spherical objects that can be wrested from the corpses of notorious monsters residing in Escha - Zi'Tah and can be used to engrave equipment found there with arcane glyptics.

Geas Fete: New Battle Content
Extraordinary notorious monsters can be summoned in Escha – Zi'Tah after fulfilling certain conditions.

Calling forth these notorious monsters requires tribulenses, special key items obtainable in exchange for escha silt as well as a grisly trinket specific to each notorious monster. These key items are consumed upon the monster's appearance.

Defeating these monsters will award the victors with precious spoils as well as escha silt and beads.
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If you wish to discuss or submit feedback on this topic, please use the dev1267 tag.