Q&A Panel Transcript
FFXI Stratics: Are there any plans for expanding the current weapon types? (For example, a whip?)
Sage Sundi: There's always the possibility, but it's extremely difficult to balance all the jobs whenever a new weapon type is introduced. So currently there are no plans for it.
FFXI Stratics: It's very difficult to complete a fully upgraded Relic-weapon because of the amount of ancient currency required. Are there any plans to allow players to trade Dynamis drops, like a Griffon Hide, to the Goblin NPCs for currency?
Sage Sundi: We understand that it's really hard to get those items from Dynamis, but it's going according to the developer's plans. We don't want to the weapons to lose their value by making them widespread and we've been monitoring players' progression ever since the introduction of Dynamis.
Matt Hilton: So far it's going according to what the developers have intended. It's one of those items that not every player is meant to have, so those that do earn it have a huge sense of accomplishment.
Audience: Stroper Chyme is a normal monster, not an NM, so why is it wrong to charm it?
Matt Hilton: Basically it's a form of griefing to take and hold control of any monster that players are hunting for a specific drop. That's why GMs will often ask players to release the monster if they are only holding it to keep it from other players. It's definitely less of an issue now that the item it drops is EX.
Audience: Are Blue Mage special abilities going to be based on TP or MP?
Yasu Kurosawa: There will be announcements at a later date. Sorry for the boring response...
FFXI Stratics: Are there any plans to reduce or remove the three-day waiting period before a player can re-enter Dynamis?
Sage Sundi: There are several reasons we made the three-day interval restriction. Dynamis is basically a private zone, which limits the amount of people that can enter it at one time, so we can't have many players reserving them too often. Also, we want to control the amount of Dynamis items that are in circulation. Finally, if a group fails a specific zone they have a second chance to challenge it within the same week.
Matt Hilton: If it was only a one-day interval there would be a lot more congestion for the more sought after zones like Dynamis-Xarcabard or Beaucedine.
FFXI Stratics: Melee has accuracy food and mages have MP boosting food. Is it possible there could be some avatar- specific food in the future? For instance, increases avatar accuracy or attack.
Matt Hilton: Right now there are no plans at this time, but, and this is a direct quote, there will be "something" added for summoners in the near future, not necessarily related to food...
Audience: What kind of graphic upgrades can we expect from the Xbox 360 version?
Yasu Kurosawa: The Xbox 360 version will support 720p, so that will look great running in your living room. Many people prefer to play on their PS2 because they can be comfortable in the living room with a nice TV and stereo system, so the 360 version will provide an even better experience for those players. Our goal is to surpass anything that we've done for PS2 and PC. It'll still utilize the same models and textures, but it will look very nice.
FFXI Stratics: One of the biggest debates in the summoner community deals with the stat found on the artifact armor "avatar: enmity: -". Who receives this effect?
Sage Sundi: The enmity status is related to the avatar, not to the summoner. It's useful to use "avatar: enmity+" when you want your avatar to keep the hate.
FFXI Stratics: All the cool upgrades are usually aimed at melee classes like weapons, armor, etc. Every weapon type even has one quested weapon skill related to it; wouldn't it be nice if there were questable spells, too?
Sage Sundi: It's definitely a good idea. Maybe we should create more mage-related opportunities that can differentiate players because now only melee have such a wide variety of weapons or armors to stand out, right?
Matt Hilton: We definitely are preparing to add new songs and summons, and the development team does think its okay for some players to have certain spells that maybe others don't so we're looking into the possibility of doing something along those lines.
Audience: With the recent server down time is there any way that Square Enix can keep us up to date with what's exactly going on? "Maintenance has been extended" doesn't really explain anything.
Sage Sundi: Every time we change something within the server, whether it is hardware or software, we have to reboot the entire system in a specific order and it can take up to two hours. So working for two hours then doing the reboots can takes up to four hours. We will take the suggestion about keeping players more up to date back with us to the development team.
Audience: Players can go into monster's cities (Davoi, Giddeus, etc.) but why don't the monsters ever come into the player cities and attack? Maybe once a month have a type of event where players have to return home to defend their city.
Yasu Kurosawa: Maybe for an event that could be very interesting...
FFXI Stratics: Almost all high-end or endgame content requires large groups of people to complete. However, the rewards for completing these tasks are generally individual in nature. Are there any plans for future endgame content to provide communal rewards for all participants instead of only rewarding whoever gets the loot?
Matt Hilton: Basically that's what we began to implement with the ENM battles, a chance for smaller groups of players to work together for a group reward like exp and items. It's only one of the first steps we've begun to implement, so keep an eye out for more.
FFXI Stratics: Does the spell "Deodorize" have any use? *audience applauds*
Matt Hilton: While there are no monsters that are based solely on smell, there are monsters that will continue to chase you no matter how far you run away. Those monsters are also active to your smell as well as the initial aggro method (sight/sound). Running through a stream to wash off your scent and deodorize work very similarly.
Audience: Will Xbox 360 require an extra fee to play since Microsoft charges a fee for Xbox Live?
Yasu Kurosawa: Microsoft will have the free Silver Xbox Live service and Final Fantasy XI will be playable through that, as well as the Gold Xbox Live service which requires a separate fee.
Audience: What do you plan on doing about economies that are affected by gilsellers? Is the banning of accounts still continuing?
Matt Hilton: Economies are created by players, it's not possible for us to step in and dictate the prices for highly sought after items. We also can't wipe entire price histories and say "Start over." Everything is run by the players.
Sage Sundi: We're still banning hundreds of accounts a month for real money trading.
Audience: Do you have any plans to "nerf" the Black Mage job?
Matt Hilton: This is a big topic in the community because of the interview our producer Tanaka-san had with 1up.com where he mentioned that they are looking into ways to adjust the class. That's the only information that we have to go on right now.
Sage Sundi: When we release the expansion we will use that opportunity to take a look at new and old job balances.
FFXI Stratics: Are there any plans to add new missions to the three nations? Or is Rank 10 the final mission level as far as those are concerned?
Matt Hilton: We're happy with all of the effort required to achieve Rank 10 and don't have any plans to increase it beyond that right now. That doesn't mean that we won't be creating new mission based storylines in the upcoming expansion, though. You could always go for Rank 10 in all three nations!
Audience: Are they ever going to add Nomad Moogles to Mhaura and Selbina? *audience applauds*
Yasu Kurosawa: I'll take your enthusiastic response to the development team! *laughs*
FFXI Stratics: Are there any plans for more increased storage for Mog House or storage?
Sage Sundi: That's similar to the graphics in that it's a limitation due to the PS2 memory and we cannot expand too far. We're looking into new methods right now.
Matt Hilton: The problem is expanding the storage or slots for over 1.6 million characters would definitely cause a large strain on our current systems because the PS2 isn't aging well. We are looking into ways to relieve the stress on players' inventory as seen by the new NPC storage additions in the last patch.
Audience: In the promotional footage of the new expansion, a civilized city is shown in the background. Will it be possible to change allegiances to that new city?
Matt Hilton: Unfortunately, we can't answer any Aht Urhgan related questions...
Yasu Kurosawa: I do have some good news for you, though. Soon we'll be announcing a large event that will involve bringing some of the development team here to clear up a lot of player questions, so please look forward to that.
FFXI Stratics: Are there any plans to allow summoners to access blood pacts that the Avatar Primes use in the BCNM battles?
Matt Hilton: The answer that we received from the development team about this question had a big smile at the end of it. We're considering various things like this and that's all we can say for now! They're really having fun with summoners!
