Dec Updates

[Brin]

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/update/ff11us/20051213fMt7e1/detail.html

[Event-related]

image Several new quests have been added, including a quest to obtain the summonable avatar Diabolos, and an event that culminates in a battle with the mighty Wyrmking, Bahamut!

The following changes have been made to the Fellowship system:

-Several quests that raise the level limit, etc. of your adventuring fellow have been added.
-The variety of weapons and armor available to your adventuring fellow has been expanded.
-Several new options are available at the Rendezvous Point.
-The following changes have been made to the items required to change the weapon wielded by your adventuring fellow:
Ganko -> Hibari
-If the player character’s TP is at 100% or higher, adventuring fellows using the combat style “Fierce Attacker” will now make an announcement when their TP reaches 90%.
-The weapon skill choices of adventuring fellows using the combat style “Fierce Attacker” have been changed.
-Adventuring fellows using the combat style “Soothing Healer” will use enhancement magic on the player character twice as often as when using the basic “Healer” style.
-The equipment of adventuring fellows will no longer change in Promyvion areas.
-An issue where adventuring fellows would deal more damage to lower level monsters than the player has been addressed.
-The incorrect attack and delay of adventuring fellows using hand-to-hand weapons has been addressed.
-The correct amount of damage will now be displayed when “Everyone's Grudge” is used on an adventuring fellow.
-An issue wherein certain areas of equipment became unchangeable after selecting the option “Fashionable equipment” at the Rendezvous Point multiple times has been addressed.
-Adventuring fellows will no longer leave immediately after being called by a character in an alliance of 4 or more members.
-The quest to investigate the Emptiness has undergone the following adjustments:
>Adventuring fellows will gain increased experience rewards for completing layers beyond the first layer of Promyvion - Holla, Promyvion - Dem, and Promyvion - Mea.
>The position of the “???” target in the second layer of Promyvion - Holla has changed

After beginning the escort leg of the quests Escort for Hire (Windurst), Escort for Hire (San d’Oria), and Escort for Hire (Bastok), if players do not talk to the NPC within 5 minutes, the NPC will disappear.
*After talking to the NPC even once, the NPC will remain for the duration of the quest (30 Earth minutes) without further contact from the player.

Players will now be able to check to see if Limbus is occupied.
[Battle-related]

The following measures against MPK (Monster Player Kill) have been implemented.

-If a player is KO'd or moves to a new area while fighting a monster outside the radius that it remains within when not engaged in battle, the monster will not begin attacking others in the surrounding area. Instead, it will simply disappear.
After being drawn out of that radius during battle and released, the monster will disappear, and then reappear after a short time in its proper location. In addition, the monster that reappears will be the exact same monster that disappeared, and not another monster of the same type.
This rule will not apply to notorious monsters.
image

-Monsters that have been rendered immobile with the "Bind" spell will not attack anyone other than the party or alliance that it is targeting.

New field areas of Dynamis have been introduced: Dynamis – Valkurm, Dynamis – Buburimu, and Dynamis – Qufim. In contrast to existing areas, only a maximum of 36 people can enter the new areas after meeting the specified requirements. However, the 3-day waiting period for reentering any area of Dynamis still applies.
*Players who have not installed the expansion disc FINAL FANTASY XI Rise of the Zilart or FINAL FANTASY XI Chains of Promathia, or who have not registered the expansion content, will be unable to enter Dynamis - Valkurm, Dynamis - Buburimu, or Dynamis - Qufim.

The following features will accompany the release of the new areas:
-New story developments
-New items that can be used to improve relic armor
-New items available only in the new Dynamis areas
*Relic equipment and ancient currency that players could earn in previously released Dynamis areas will also be available in the new areas
*The entry points for the new areas of Dynamis will be known as “Hieroglyphics,” as opposed to “Trail Markings” for the previously released areas.
Related Information>>

The NPC Sagheera will now accept relic armor for restoration.

Beastmasters will now receive 100% of the experience gained for enemies defeated with a pet summoned by the “Call Beast” ability.

The beastmaster ability “Reward” will now include a “Regen” effect. The amount of HP restored will be determined by the level of the pet and the type of pet food used.

The dragoon two-hour ability is now “Spirit Surge.” In accordance with this change, the recast time for “Call Wyvern” has been reduced to twenty minutes and will only be available when the main job is set to dragoon.

Spirit Surge
Adds the wyvern's strength to the dragoon. While this ability is in effect, “Jump” abilities are affected as follows:
*The ”Call Wyvern” ability cannot be used while “Spirit Surge” is in effect.

Jump
Temporarily weakens an enemy’s defense.

High Jump
Enemy’s TP is reduced by a percentage proportionate to the amount of damage inflicted.

Super Jump
As seen from the enemy target’s position, the closest party member behind the dragoon has his or her enmity reduced by half.

“Diabolos” has been added as a new summonable avatar.

The maximum number of usable merit points has been increased in all categories in the following manner:

Combo total and sub-categories:
HP/MP
Attributes
Combat skills
Magic skills
Others

Combo total only:
Individual job categories

The location of certain monsters in the Phomiuna Aqueducts and the Sacrarium has been adjusted.

The behavior of certain notorious monsters in Lumoria has been adjusted.

Certain notorious monsters in the Sacrarium will no longer use the weapon skill “One Inch Punch.”

An issue wherein the delay between disengaging from an enemy and being able to attack once more not being equal to the delay of the weapon equipped has been addressed.
*This delay is calculated after considering “Haste” and “Slow” effects.
[Item-related]

The chance of obtaining the beastmaster broth ingredients skull locusts, king locusts, and snapping moles through harvesting or mining has been changed in the following areas:
Giddeus/West Sarutabaruta/Zeruhn Mines

The variety of items obtainable through mining in Ifrit’s Cauldron has been expanded. The chance for pickaxes to break has also been adjusted in this area.

The "pitchfork" and "pitchfork +1" obtained during this year's Harvest Festival event have been added to the list of storable special equipment.

The "Crow Jupon" set is now eligible for exchange with a key item voucher from the storage NPC.

"Patissier" and "Stewpot Mastery" have been added to the key items available through the Culinarians' Guild contracts.

New synthesis recipes have been added.

Items marked as “Rare” have been removed from the rewards obtainable through the Brigand's Chart quest. This change will reduce the chance of empty treasure chests appearing.

Monsters that appear during the Pirate's Chart quest in the Valkurm Dunes can now detect characters that are using “Sneak.”

New items bearing the same names as the previously released “Albatross Ring” and “Penguin Ring” have been added. In contrast to the already existing items, the duration and recast time for the enchantments on the new “Albatross Ring” and “Penguin Ring” will be six times shorter, while the number of charges will be increased by a multiple of six. This adjustment lowers the risk of the enchantment effect being wasted while maintaining the same total duration.
*The previously released “Albatross Ring” and “Penguin Ring” will remain unchanged. However, using the enchantment on both the new and old version of one of these rings at the same time will not provide double the effect.

The icons for the following items have been changed:
Justaucorps/ Justaucorps +1/Vermillion Cloak/Royal Cloak/Black Cotehardie/Flora Cotehardie/Blue Cotehardie/Blue Cotehardie +1/Black Cloak/Demon's Cloak/Duende Cotehardie/Vampire Cloak/Healing Justaucorps

The following item names have been changed:
Gawaine’s Axe -> Gawain’s Axe
Millenium Horn -> Millennium Horn
[System-related]

New terms have been added to the auto-translate feature.
Category Term
Controller Directional pad
Controller Expansion port
Controller Trigger
Controller Xbox Guide button
Place Names Dynamis - Valkurm
Place Names Dynamis - Buburimu
Place Names Dynamis - Qufim
General Terms Kodoku
Job Abilities Spirit Surge
Avatars Diabolos
Pet Commands Camisado
Pet Commands Somnolence
Pet Commands Nightmare
Pet Commands Ultimate Terror
Pet Commands Noctoshield
Pet Commands Dream Shroud
Pet Commands Nether Blast
Pet Commands Ruinous Omen

When using the "Seek Member" function under "Party" in the main menu, the resulting list will now include all party-seeking characters in the region without first narrowing the search parameters to a level range close to your own.

An issue wherein it was impossible to directly target and invite a character that had selected "Autogroup" has been addressed.

When choosing to register a friend within FINAL FANTASY XI after receiving a “Let’s be friends” message, an issue where the decision to accept was not properly confirmed has been addressed.
[Other Content]

Changes to Ballista:

-The rook locations in the Pashhow Marshlands and Meriphataud Mountains have been changed.
-An issue wherein characters recovering from a “Stun” effect were temporarily unable to dig for or shoot Petras has been addressed.

An issue where the difficulty level of fishing varied depending on the client used has been addressed.

The new Fish Ranking feature announced on the official FINAL FANTASY XI website on December 2, 2005 will be introduced at a later date.

Beastmasters will now receive 100% of the experience gained for enemies defeated with a pet summoned by the “Call Beast” ability.

Good news for the BSTs

 

[Raesvelg]

Yeah, that pretty much cinches it that Leave will cause the pet to despawn if you pull it too far.

And I often wish that SE would be more specific than "new recipies have been added". >< New recipies in what crafts at least would be nice...

 

[neophytal]

wow, i love huge updates like this

* so excited about diabolos....
* good news for BST like said.
* good news for DRG....
* MPK moves look to be a step in the right direction
* increase in merit point categories ALLRIGHT!!! yay
* i wonder what lumoria NM was adjusted?

 

[Rappa]

No fishing competition? Dammit S-E, quit dangling neat things in front of us and yanking them away! :nono:

Looks like they are finally fixing the attack off attack on melee thing, about time.

As for BSTs, getting Regen from Reward is pretty sexy and full xp when using jug pets. However, they still haven't said if Leave will make mobs disappear yet. I guess we'll find out.

New DRG 2hr jump abilities are kinda disappointing.

*EDIT* Just noticed the thing about escort quest NPCs disappearing after 5 minutes. THANK YOU S-E! I hate going to do Eldieme escort quest and seeing some asshole's npc just sitting there at the zone, making me have to wait forever for it to despawn.

*EDIT2* WTF?! "An issue where the difficulty level of fishing varied depending on the client used has been addressed."

 

[Brin]

If the "Call Wyvern" cant be used during 2 hour.....I wonder if that means you cant even have the wyvern out in the first place. I do LOVE the effects of the jumps though. If that cant save a pty's life I dont know what will XDDD

The first Jump weakens def.....the high jump lowers the mob's TP......and the super jump will half the enimity of the person behind the DRG. I so love being a 'hate' controller. Awesome....

 

[Neyla]

Yeah, I'd have to say they're trying to make up for gimping Leave, though we don't know for sure yet. If so, we'll have to adjust and probably use more food. Jug pets give 100 percent? That would be fine if jug pets fared better against XP mobs. Throwing a naked level 5 WHM tarutaru at the mob would sometimes be better.

 

[Vondoom]

Looks like they finally caught onto the attack cheat.

Maybe I won't dread camping/fighting Despot so much anymore.

Ignore this post. Damn you and your speed Rappa.

 

[Brin]

New DRG 2hr jump abilities are kinda disappointing.

Well dont forget....our 2hr doesnt just effect our jumps.....it increases our performance overall. The jumps are just an added bonus

 

[Rappa]

The first Jump weakens def.....the high jump lowers the mob's TP......and the super jump will half the enimity of the person behind the DRG. I so love being a 'hate' controller. Awesome....

You only get to do this once every two hours though so it's rarely going to be useful. I mean, lowering a mob's defense is cool but a lot of weapons already do that and they can do it every fight. Draining TP is useful I suppose if you could do it more than once every 2 hours. The -enmity thing's just weird though I suppose it could be situationally useful. *shrugs*

 

[Lecan]

I honestly believe, more so than ever now, that Leave will cause the mob to despawn now.

Let's look at the implications of what they're doing.

Just like a DRG's wyvern, BST pets have crap for defense and mbos that spam AOE could potentially be bad. 3:00 on a pet food timer was terrible for situations like this (Ie: Parties), and changing this would be necessary to facilitate BST's in a more party friendly environment.

Typically, BST cannot use jug pets for exp because they lack the HP and defense required to last an outright fight. However, in party play it is completely the opposite. Most party camps do not facilitate natural pets to be used and thus jug pets must be utilized, allowing us 100% exp with jug pets will allow us to party without worrying about penalty.

This all leads up to that they had to make BST more party effective because they would lose significant soloing ability because of the MPK changes.

Or.. perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

 

[kodi]

Yeah, that pretty much cinches it that Leave will cause the pet to despawn if you pull it too far.

And I often wish that SE would be more specific than "new recipies have been added". >< New recipies in what crafts at least would be nice...

Yeah, I think you are right, but..... No Exp Penalty for having the pet out. That's a H*U*G*E change to the BST job.

Sounds like they are going to have BSTs use reward to have the pets heal instead of using Leave and waiting for them to heal up. Also, it will make a lot more sense for BSTs to join regular parties with a /WAR and use one of the HQ jug pets. Since you don't have to worry about releasing to avoid the exp penalty you won't be going thru the jugs so fast.

I need to lvl my WAR sub now.

 

[Brin]

But your just thinking of it in bits and pieces. All together, it could be used together in a great way. Its not meant to make us a better pty member all around....its supposed to be like all 2hrs are supposed to be......a 'save yer ass' ability.

In a tight bind.....say you end up with a bad pull in a pty. Using my 2hr i'll already be enhanced in every way....on top of that.....I'll Jump to lower the def of mob, which is better than nothing, and kill help to finish off the bastard sooner. While were laying the dmg into him, he's gonna be collecting alot of TP which is where High Jump comes in. Then you dont have to worry about their special attack. Then, the member who has the aggro, is in danger of dying, and is needed to be alive to get out of this bind.....say....its a WHM who just used Bendication....well...my Super Jump just litterly erased that Bendication. What do you think about that?

 

[Raesvelg]

I honestly believe, more so than ever now, that Leave will cause the mob to despawn now.

Let's look at the implications of what they're doing.

Just like a DRG's wyvern, BST pets have crap for defense and mbos that spam AOE could potentially be bad. 3:00 on a pet food timer was terrible for situations like this (Ie: Parties), and changing this would be necessary to facilitate BST's in a more party friendly environment.

Typically, BST cannot use jug pets for exp because they lack the HP and defense required to last an outright fight. However, in party play it is completely the opposite. Most party camps do not facilitate natural pets to be used and thus jug pets must be utilized, allowing us 100% exp with jug pets will allow us to party without worrying about penalty.

This all leads up to that they had to make BST more party effective because they would lose significant soloing ability because of the MPK changes.

Or.. perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

I'm of similar mind on this.

Improve BST party play (and I've often thought that BST was under-utilized in party play already, even with the XP hit they take if they can't Leave their pets or have to use jugs), slightly improve the duration a mob will stay alive when charmed/called. Make the new pets easier to obtain in theory.

And either way, not gimping Leave/Hide are huge glaring blind spots in SE's attempt to eliminate MPK.

 

[Rappa]

Well the way I see it, "Power Surge" HAS to be less effective for the drg's melee than something like "Mighty Strikes" or else all of the wars are going to start complaining about how drg's 2hr just takes their 2hr and makes it better. I guess I was just hoping the Jumps during the 2hr would do something really amazing and to me these abilities just don't sound that great.

And God I really hope Leave doesn't make mobs vanish because I was planning to level in the Bos[tab] pretty soon on my bst.

 

[GhostinmyShell]

Everyone is laughing at this picture in my household:

 

[Raesvelg]

Well the way I see it, "Power Surge" HAS to be less effective for the drg's melee than something like "Mighty Strikes" or else all of the wars are going to start complaining about how drg's 2hr just takes their 2hr and makes it better. I guess I was just hoping the Jumps during the 2hr would do something really amazing and to me these abilities just don't sound that great.

The effects are nice, but not overwhelming. I kind of expected to see a Gravity effect on one just... well.. because. But I suspect that the regular Melee attacks *might* get a little better, but if I were going to expect a serious change from the ability aside from the status effects, that would be to have Jump attacks also HIT a lot harder.

And God I really hope Leave doesn't make mobs vanish because I was planning to level in the Bos[tab] pretty soon on my bst.

I'll bet you 5 gil they've included Leave in the fix. Get used to the idea...

 

[Mai Ikari]

Nightmare as a Blood Pact. @_@

That is all.

 

[Lecan]

I'll bet you 5 gil they've included Leave in the fix. Get used to the idea...

Yeah, looks pretty much like BSt are going to have to start leveling cooking, I can see them being easily exploited by crafters since they'll have little to no choice when it comes to buying pet food and jugs now (much in the same way NIN have little choice but to buy shihei at 12k a stack).

/sigh Fucking SE.

 

[Neyla]

Cooking is cheap to level. There's really no excuse for BSTs to not have it to at least 60, which would cover all your pet food needs and most of the jugs, though you wouldn't get HQ on Carrie.

 

[Lecan]

Just an expense I didn't want right now, I had planned to level alchemy, then maybe cooking or goldsmithing or something.

Regardless of how cheap it is to level, it's still time consuming, inventory consuming, gil consuming, and overall.. annoying as hell.

edit: Hmm... thinking this through.. perhaps even if they nerf leave it won't be as bad..

If they still give us at least 5 seconds before the mob despawns, we could potentially use leave to get full exp, recharm it, then use pet food to regen its HP...

Of course, that's a big if at this point..