New Stuff - February UpdateFollow

Howdy. I'm in town, so to speak, to help Wintaru with a computer problem, so, meh, here you go.

Chat Filters

Other things to do, amazingly enough. Perhaps I'll be back some day, who knows. I'll look you up if I do return to the game though.

Slow day today though, so amid lounging around I peeked in to check on Wintaru's troubles, and thought I'd contribute that little blurb since I'm not so much over my crack addiction that I don't keep an eye on playonline.com.

I'll be disappearing again shortly.

Hey now this is no fair. I hijacked a thread just by posting. Posting on-topic no less.

Ah well. Back to your regularly scheduled Nata-free thread. ^^

/wave /cheer /etc Monty ^^

This just in:

Guild Contracts

In the next version update, there are additions and changes to the items required to fulfill guild contracts. These changes will reflect the new synthesis recipes that have been added since guild contracts became available. Please be aware that the item required to fulfill a current contract may change after the update has taken place.

A new key item called "Alchemic Ensorcellment" will become available for purchase with alchemy guild points. Also, the number of guild points required to purchase the key item "Anima Synthesis" will be reduced.

The development team hopes to bring you these improvements in the February version update.

FINAL FANTASY XI Development Team (2/9/2005)

Sweet fishing will be fun. I hope SE will finally get rid of those fcuking fishbots. That 24-7, anon taru fishbot in Qufim is really getting on my nerves.

If this is WoW I'd long PK'd his ***.

The annoying part is that all you need is one script writing god to make the bot and one crazy uploader to distribute the bot and destroy the system. I'd say its only a matter of time.

I wouldn't be surprised if bots start to show up within a month. At least SE tried.

That makes it tempting to go take fishing back up again! ^.^ I can't wait for the update.

While this is true, the new fishing system will eliminate them in town's as well.

This just in....

Job Related Adjustments

The following job-related adjustments are scheduled for the next version update.


Merit Point System Additions

There will be several additions made to each job category, providing new job-specific abilities. There are two conditions for obtaining and using these abilities: the job to which the ability pertains must be set as the main job, and the main job level must be 75. The limit for adjusting existing abilities will also be raised.

Changes to the Shield System

In the current system, blocking an attack with a shield negates all damage. However, in the new system, shields will only reduce the amount of damage taken. In addition to the basic defense bonus, how often a shield is used and how much damage is reduced will depend on the type of shield equipped. Also, the frequency of shield usage in battle will increase substantially with this new system.

White Mages

-The white magic spell "Banish" will inflict more damage on undead monsters.
-The spell "Banish III" will become available.
-A new job trait will be added.
-New methods of obtaining the spell "Raise III" are being considered.

Samurai

-The effect of the samurai job ability "Third Eye" will be adjusted. -A new job trait will be added.

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These new features are currently in the final stages of testing and will be ready for eager players to experience in the February update!

FINAL FANTASY XI Development Team (2/14/2005)

It looks like it will skillup a lot more quickly this way. I don't know how easy it is for a PLD to cap their shield skill but it's not even an option for me as a RDM. This would be nice.

Looks like they understand that they must do something to counter the new MMORPGs ... Strange, so much new things and improvements in only one update :p

Yeah, cause, you know, blocking an attack completely once in a blue moon by the sheer grace of God is better than blocking most of the damage more frequently. Would be a travesty if players actually get to use thier shield on XP mobs with any regularity.

I'll give it this... if it ends up being like Guard (blocks damage based on the skill), then most shield users are going to be grumbling untill their Shield skill catches up to thier level (which it will hopefully do with the increased activation). The way it's stated, the only thing we know for sure that will affect the damage reduction is the type of shield (whether they mean "buckler" or "kite" or "tower", or whether they split it up by Defense rating isn't clear), but this might be even better, since higer level characters would have better shields to match thier higher Shield skill. Of course, if the damage is reduced based on the model of the shield (buckler giving less, kite shield giving more), I bet the Hard Shield's price will skyrocket (and Sioux'll make me give it back so she can sell it >_>; ) since it's the only kite shield I know of (maybe a couple more) available to classes other than Pld/Drk (and this would give anyone but Paladins and Dark Knights the shaft, but what self respecting Dark Knight uses a shield for anything but farming?).

Actually, now that I think of it, what they might do is make bucklers kick in more frequently, but kites deflect more damage (so I guess bucklers would be better for skilling up, where as kites would be better for tanking). Might even out... gonna have to wait and see I guess.

So either way, there'll probably be some growing pains as people actually start to get levels in their Shield. But hey, at the end of the day, you still have Evasion and Parry to dodge/block all the damage, unless they do something similar there.

The new Merit-point based Job abilities seem like an interesting idea. Until they raise the level cap, I can sorta see this stuff being something of a novelty (although who knows, they may put some stuff in there for melees to be more effective in god battles and such, and for that matter, what the hell do I know about high level play?). I like this idea a lot... I almost wish this level of customization was available at lower levels so more job and equipment combos would be viable.

Whitemage Job ability... Will be fun to see what this is... I can't honestly see what they need, but then, I didn't see why Thieves needed Assassin till I bothered to check out what it did.

Samurai ability... hellsyeah. Congrats guys, and I hope whatever it is that you get, it does you all justice :D

[Edit]: Typolameeeeeeeeeoooooo

Edited, Mon Feb 14 10:13:59 2005 by GailC

This patch is really starting to interset me, even though it looks like the wont ever be raising the level cap but make it so you can progress a good bit without hitting level 80.


60 was nice, but getting 75 is starting to look really appealing.


...and sheild? pfft who needs one of those bulky things? Just gets in the way anyway :P