New Expansion?

[Mai Ikari]

I'm Sure that going by your theory of complete immmunity vs all narutal elements in that zone the opo-opo there must be demon monkeys from hell capable of withstanding scorcing hot lava. apply this to goblins/hecteyes/scorpions as well.

The reason Geomancer can't happen is because monsters usually reside in places that they're strong against or neutral to elementally.

...wait, what?

 

[Celvantes]

I think Skaw means weather patterns in given areas vs what element the mob is based upon. For instance, Antica are earth based and sandstorms are a frequent weather pattern in Altepa.

I believe it would kind of be like casting magic by using the draw command on a mob in FF-VIII... it wouldn't do much good because the magic the mob could cast would be the same type they would be strong to.

DRG have a B- in Staff, so they're not great with it... but Staff is simply an inferior weapon, so it's not really gonna change anything if they have a B- or SSS rank in it, the massive damage on polearms will always win. Godly for MP, mediocre for damage. If any DD deserves an A-rank in staff, it's MNK. But it wouldn't be anything worth using on MNK either, so why worry about it?

Racial Abilities would take away one of the few things that I've always liked about FFXI... there's no real distinction between the races. Yea, various races are the best at certain jobs, but it's not even a 15-stat gap between the strongest and weakest race in any stat. That's bad, but you can live with it, and a taru PLD isn't doomed to failure just because he's taru and not hume. Go adding racials (the religious Elvaan get a JA-based heal, to borrow from WoW) and suddenly you -do- have an infinite gap between the race best-suited to a job, and other races. Either it'll be something so insignificant people will wonder why they bothered, or it'll have a serious effect on gameplay and fuck over said Taru PLDs (or Mithra if Taru get said healing ability).

If I remember correctly (again, no site access here), the dps on a Kinkobo is nothing to laugh at. When combined with the crit hit+ and added accuracy from pamamas (though you would lose meat/sushi benefits), it gets even better. I'm not suggesting that it be a *main* weapon for DRG, but certainly a viable alternate if, say, they're on a limbus floor with nothing but bones. Why would MNK deserve an A- in staff? They need a viable piercing alternative (though their piercing claws aren't bad). DRG would stand to gain the most from being able to adequately use polearm. Full Swing is no Penta Thrust, but it sure as heck hits *hard* at 300% and Retribution is no slouch at 100%.

That and I don't like seeing weapons wasted. I went a full two years in this game before I ever saw staff weaponskill animations, and that was only because I was levelling staff

As far as racial differences, that's one thing I've always disagreed with FFXI on. There *should* be differences. Every race *should* be able to play every job, but some races should be able to play some jobs *better.* Racial abilities shouldn't break a job, but they should help it out a fair amount.

 

[Skaw]

I think Skaw means weather patterns in given areas vs what element the mob is based upon. For instance, Antica are earth based and sandstorms are a frequent weather pattern in Altepa.

No, what I mean is Antica are earth based. And they're mostly found in Quicksand Caves. With Wind affiliated Beetles and earth affiliated Cactaur. What a winning combo.

 

[Skaw]

Icy wastelands/frozen tundra:
glacier/xarc/ugg range What's this? people can actually in ugg range from about 60-75exp there? Ya dont say?

Because everything in those zones are weak to ice, right? Nevermind the fact that Gigas are ice based, as well as snolls. Bats are wind based, and weak to wind - not ice.

Underwater areas... I was actually thinking about the fact that all of Sea is supposedly underwater from what I hear. I doubt the worms in korr tunnel are water based if you wish to consider that zone as completely water based. Sg might present a slight problem.

Worms, Bats, Spiders, and Gigas might not be strong against water, but they aren't weak to it either.

Dessert areas: Oh yes living in a dessert must obviously give a monster immunity to being roasted alive with fire! That was sarcasm.

Because Sand is obviously made from fire. Geomancer draws from the earth, not the atmosphere. Maybe Meteoromancer would work, but no Geomancer.

Your point on the monsters in that zone being supposedly immune to it was stupid.
If I go beat something in the boyahada tree with a stick does that mean the crab is immune to the stick because it lives in a tree? Hell no!

Again, Resistant/Netural. Not immune. Crabs only get Stone cast on them when MP is an issue.

There's alot of thunder weather in misireaux coast and Li'telor. Does that mean that everything in that zone is immune to thundaga 3?

Geology, not Meteorology.

AH yes.. the jungles of khazam are nothing more than glorified dirt piles. It is obvious from this statement that flattening the lizards and spilling thier guts out with a large boulder would not actually kill them.

And my point is that Lizards are neutral to earth, along with Pugils, Tonberries, and Sahagin. Bees are resistant, and everything else is earth-based.

While we're in that region lets explore your expert opinion of ifrit's cauldron. I'm Sure that going by your theory of complete immmunity vs all narutal elements in that zone the opo-opo there must be demon monkeys from hell capable of withstanding scorcing hot lava. apply this to goblins/hecteyes/scorpions as well.

Let's check the type of mobs found in Ifrits and their elemental affiliation.

Opo-Opo: Earth.
Goblins: Fire.
Scorpions: Earth.
Bats: Wind.
Wyverns: Wind.
Raptors: Fire.
Hecteyes: Dark.
Bombs: Fire, though weak to it.

Congrats. Geomancer can own bombs like nobodies business. Everything else is either neutral, or resistant.

Very rarely will you find a mob sitting around in an area with an elemental affiliation it's weak to. Bombs are just about the only thing, because of them being Arcana, and spawning only around fire/heat.

 

[Westyle]

How about some new armor slots? Such as a slot that lets you equip stat ammo items without costing you your ranged weapon or a slot that lets you wear a staff on your back (halo thar elemental staff price jump). Some other stuff though I can't think of anything. Maybe bracelets, elbow pads, knee pads, robe/coat to go over body.

It would also be nice if we could finally see capes or have some full body robes or skirts.

 

[Skaw]

Capes, unless done rather ugly(not animated, flat sprites,) are a big drain on system resources. PS2s would choke to death. Some new acessory slots would be pretty nice, though.

 

[Mai Ikari]

If I remember correctly (again, no site access here), the dps on a Kinkobo is nothing to laugh at. When combined with the crit hit+ and added accuracy from pamamas (though you would lose meat/sushi benefits), it gets even better. I'm not suggesting that it be a *main* weapon for DRG, but certainly a viable alternate if, say, they're on a limbus floor with nothing but bones. Why would MNK deserve an A- in staff? They need a viable piercing alternative (though their piercing claws aren't bad). DRG would stand to gain the most from being able to adequately use polearm. Full Swing is no Penta Thrust, but it sure as heck hits *hard* at 300% and Retribution is no slouch at 100%.

That and I don't like seeing weapons wasted. I went a full two years in this game before I ever saw staff weaponskill animations, and that was only because I was levelling staff

As far as racial differences, that's one thing I've always disagreed with FFXI on. There *should* be differences. Every race *should* be able to play every job, but some races should be able to play some jobs *better.* Racial abilities shouldn't break a job, but they should help it out a fair amount.

Kinkobo is already an alternative weapon for DRG, probably their single strongest alternative... problem is that, like I said, they can just use a blunt polearm for significantly more damage in almost every situation. I think that alternative weapons should be like Great Sword, which is genuinely more useful than Scythe in some areas, though DRK's rating in Scythe is better. GS has the damage, and the WS strength, to actually mean something. Before Bourdy's existence, Kirin's Pole was DRG's best source of blunt damage, and that's a full 30 DMG behind Ice Lance +1, a larger gap than the 25% damage penalty of most strong-to-piercing mobs.

I don't like seeing weapons wasted either, but SE obviously loves it. Club is an utterly shitty weapon type before level 55, and mediocre after. Staff's primary purpose is apparently Spirit Taker. Relic weapons are, as a whole, a pointless waste of gil. The WS's even moreso, Geirskogul is a slap in the face to DRG, AGI modifier and Shock Spikes?

I mentioned MNK as the primary for A-rank Staff, simply because MNK seems to be the blunt specialist, may as well give them the ranks to match it. I wouldn't mind being completely restricted to blunt weapons (besides Vampiric Claws) if we could make full use of... y'know... blunt weapons, but we can't.


Now Celv, tell me, you're a Hume PLD. How would you like it if one day, SE just suddenly made Elvaan better at PLD than you could ever dream of being as a Hume. Shells stop asking you to tank, laughed at you wanting a relic shield, in favor of elvaans with slightly weaker gear, due to their racial strength in the job. Would you really be happy they added racial differences? I doubt it. You really have to remember this is a game that has left beta stages, there are some basic game mechanics that people expect to remain in place, especially once they're irreversibly committed to a race.


@Westyle / Skaw

Arn't they discussing adding some sort of sub-weapon slot usage for 2-handed weapons, which is kinda what you're asking for? Hard for them to actually add accessories to the 4x4 equip grid without it looking really out of place, or adding 4 new accessory slots, which if you ask me, is kinda excessive.

 

[Celvantes]

I'd love it if they could animate capes. Knightly, Shadow and Valor Mantle would look friggen sweet. Epic win, even though it'll never happen.

Or how about this... you know how the tunics of male elvaans will flutter when they're casting spells? HOW ABOUT GIVING THAT ANIMATION TO EVERY OTHER RACE AND GENDER?!!!!

I'd like expanded NPC fellow storyline.

Come to think of it, I'd really get into an expansion if it was a solo only campaign - make it just like any other FF game where you inherit NPC party members as you go along. Since we're going into the past, how badass would it be to be able to link up with Gilgamesh, Zeid, Shantoto, Aldo, etc. when they were still adventurers (or close approximations)? SPOILER (Highlight to read): Heck, even Prishe was around back then.

All I'm saying is that something other than the old "Beat this BCNM" or "Make it through this dungeon" would be nice. Having to go it alone with only the capabilities that your job offers along with whatever NPCs are provided to you would make an interesting challenge. Jobs that are easier to solo with (NIN, BST, DRG) would be made equal with jobs that aren't by providing fewer NPCs or providing them later in the campaign. Also, NPCs could take different jobs themselves to complement what you bring to the table. For instance, if I were to go as a PLD, Aldo would be a THF type of NPC whereas if Gregedor were to go as SAM, he'd be more of the PLD or WAR type that we see in the opening cutscene.

Being able to temporarily play as beastmen would be cool. Using some kind of machine, you could morph into one of the mobs in a zone. While you couldn't chase after particular players (that would cause a lot of griefing), if someone 'aggroed' you, you could then control the actions of the mob. Player-controlled mobs would be clearly marked and would give more or less exp than a standard mob, depending on how well the player fought (this would prevent someone from PLing a group by just letting them kill a controlled mob that never fought back). I'd love to play as a mob going up against an exp party. Sure, I'd die, but it would be cool to see the game from the monster's perspective. How much harder would a Quadav be, for instance, if he attempted to shell bash your spells instead of just using it randomly?

@Ikari (you posted just as I did)
Point, I wouldn't want to see a race *totally* surpassed, but you could give job benefits that helped in a indirect way to multiple jobs while still giving an advatage (and making races unique). For instance:

Galka (DD/TANK): A Rage abiility that would basically be like getting a racial Berserk (but only for 30s/5min cool down). It helps in being a DD but doesn't make you exponentially better. On the tank side, it would be another hate JA to add to your list (and compensate a bit for lower damage).

Elvaan (DD/TANK): A Discipline ability that would slightly improve evasion and accuracy (say, +5). 1min duration and 10 min cool down. Evasion helps NIN and slightly aids PLD (our evasion sucks anyway) and the accuracy helps DD roles. Again, nothing groundbreaking, but it helps.

Hume (Jack of all Trades). A Leadership ability that boosts all party stats by 2 for a minute (with a 15 minute cooldown). Again, +2 is nothing phenomenal, but it's certainly nice. Humes are supposed to be the most balaced race, and this really helps out with everything. Staggering this with multiple humes in the party would help with BCNMs/bosses.

Mithra. (Jack of all Trades leaning towards DD and NIN tanking). The Claw Rush I mentioned earlier still would fit in here. Level-based slashing damage every 5 min. For DDs, it's extra damage output. For tanks, it's an extra hate JA. Again, nothing job unbalancing.

Tarutaru (Mage Extrordinaire). Acumen would provide the player with +5 hHP/+5 hMP for a minute (10 min cool down). Again, nothing groundbreaking, but it helps the giant Tarutaru mana pool.


Could a Mithra mage use Claw Rush for some extra damage? Sure. An Elvaan BLM could use Discipline if he rips hate. A Tarutaru PLD could use Acumen, especially before Refresh. They don't help out as *much* as if the races were playing the jobs they were "meant" to play, but they're still valuable.

 

[Skaw]

I'd say synergy bonuses for being in a party of the same race and/or nation would be better than racial bonuses.

 

[Negorissimo]

Capes would be a great addition to this game. SE can make the animation simple to avoid massive lag.

 

[Romper]

I can't even begin to imagine how they would work Mystic Knight into the game. Are they gonna remove en-spells fom RDM? Or give Mystic Knights Tier II En-spells?

They wouldn't have to get rid of RDM's en-spell abilities. Just give Mystic Knight tier II (III from merits maybe or enlight/endark), and give the tier I at a slightly lower level then RDM. Make en-stone like 10 for mystic 13-14 for enaero 19-20 enwater 25-26 enfire 33-34 enblizzard 40 enthunder 45 then start tier II at 50. Mystic Knight can be worked the RDM en-spells just need to be tweaked, but still lands RDM to receive enthunder before 75 I would imagine maybe a 3-5 level difference of when RDM receives the en-spells after mystic receives theirs.

 

[Khajit]

To hell with visible capes! Do you have any idea how many people would be then running around looking like bums because of the hobo mantle?(amemit)
It sounds good in theory but in reality it will make everyone look like crap.

 

[Tristam Green]

To hell with visible capes! Do you have any idea how many people would be then running around looking like bums because of the hobo mantle?(amemit)
It sounds good in theory but in reality it will make everyone look like crap.

Dark Knight in Abyss wearing a Yellow and Black polka-dotted cape (Psilos) lol

 

[Negorissimo]

To hell with visible capes! Do you have any idea how many people would be then running around looking like bums because of the hobo mantle?(amemit)
It sounds good in theory but in reality it will make everyone look like crap.

Ahhhh but gay people can be gayer with a visible Rainbow Cape, for that Liberace feel. ;D

 

[Burne]

Only 5 months away. We will probably find out some new info within the next few months.

 

[Khajit]

Ahhhh but gay people can be gayer with a visible Rainbow Cape, for that Liberace feel. ;D

Yeah but the gay people wouldnt have anything to wear to coordinate with it makng the capes only look tacky. Tacky clothes displease the gaydar of miros and he would immediately respond by atempting to remove the clothes of every singe mage ingame and hump them in a disturbing orgy of taru screams.

 

[Kamui]

he would immediately respond by atempting to remove the clothes of every singe mage ingame and hump them in a disturbing orgy of taru screams.

...kinky.

personally, i don't think visible capes would be all that great. I mean, you would cover up the armor, and let's face it, some that armor is pretty good lookin on some characters (namely, Mitha)

 

[Celvantes]

Yes, but capes look badass, especially if they fly out behind you as you run.

It wouldn't have to be anything too stellar - NWN2 had good looking capes that didn't seem too hard to animate.

Maybe instead of the linkpearl logo next to our name, we could get some kind of LS color stripe on our back armor (a la Warcraft)?

 

[Xalioniaf]

Yes, but capes look badass, especially if they fly out behind you as you run.

It wouldn't have to be anything too stellar - NWN2 had good looking capes that didn't seem too hard to animate.

Maybe instead of the linkpearl logo next to our name, we could get some kind of LS color stripe on our back armor (a la Warcraft)?

That would...change every time you change your linkshell...
stuff like that works for games that don't let you hop around guilds at will.

 

[Celvantes]

Well, not the *whole* cape, just a color strip on one side or something... maybe the collar.