Teh Official(?) Update ListFollow

Heres the list of updates in this most recent patch. There are some serious changes going on here, I look foward to seeing how all this will affect gameplay. Copy/pasted from here

The charts detailing the new merit point abilities and certain BCNM dropoints didn't carry over well, so I've just linked directly to pictures.

[Event Related]
The story of the Chains of Promathia continues, opening the way to the new area of Al'Taieu.

The new region "Lumoria" has been added.
* This region is not included in the Conquest and will not be displayed in Region Info.

New quests centered in the Chains of Promathia areas have been added.

Numerous changes have been made to the Ballista system.
Details here >>

Multi-tickets for barges and manaclippers are now available for purchase.

The following changes have been made to the barge system :
-It is now possible to board barges from the same landing at which you disembarked.
-A new route for South Landing via Newtpool leaving from Central Landing has replaced
the Central Landing via Newtpool route leaving from South Landing.
-The number of barges operating per day has increased from four to five.

Mannequins are now on sale.
Mannequins can be purchased in Mhaura from the NPC Fyi Chalmwoh.
Also, mannequins of a different race can be purchased at a discount price by trading in an old mannequin.
Those wishing to purchase a mannequin must first complete the quest "It's Raining Mannequins."

It is now possible to choose the exit area after clearing certain battlefields. The battlefields and their corresponding exit areas are as follows :

* The exit area cannot be chosen after clearing a battlefield for the Chains of Promathia story. For Mine Shaft #2716 only, it is necessary to speak with a Moblin NPC in Newton Movalpolos after clearing the battlefield.

BCNM Droppoints

Even after completing the quest "Return to the Depths," it is now possible to take the shortcut to Mine Shaft #2716 by trading an Ahriman tear to the NPC Tarnotik in Oldton Movalpolos.

Forest carp are now accepted for the quests "The Rivalry" and "The Competition."

The reward for a single moat carp in the quests "The Rivalry" and "The Competition" has been changed to match the amount received when selling the fish to other NPCs.

The rewards for the quest "Inside the Belly" have been adjusted.

[Battle Related

New battlefield types known as Empty Notorious Monster (ENM) quests have been introduced.
Details here >>
Several new features have been added to the battlefield system.

- Best Time Record Holder -
When entering a battlefield, the record for the best time will now be accompanied by the record holder’s name.

RecordHolderImage

-When cleared by a party, the message will read, "That record is held by (number of)
adventurers, including (name of first member to enter the battlefield)!"
-When cleared solo, the message will read, "That record is held by (name of record holder)!

- Event Scene Skip -
It is now possible to skip the event scene for battlefields you have already cleared.

New notorious monsters have been added to the Chains of Promathia areas.

A section of the monsters in the Chains of Promathia areas has been adjusted.

The behavior of certain monsters has been corrected.

The behavior of the Morion Worm has been adjusted.
A certain amount of time after it has been engaged in battle, the Morion Worm will retreat under the ground, ending the fight.

The location where monsters reappear after using the ability Mijin Gakure has been adjusted.

The limit for adjusting existing abilities using Merit Points has been raised.

The abilities available for Merit Point usage have been expanded.
These abilities have been divided by job type, as listed below.
There are two conditions for using Merit Points on these abilities: the job to which the ability pertains must be set as the main job, and the main job level must be 75.

MeritChart1
MeritChart2

If the target of a ranged attack moves out of weapon range, the ranged attack will now automatically miss.

The shield system has been altered.
Shields will now reduce the amount of damage taken instead of negating all damage.
The frequency with which a shield is used, as well as the amount of damage reduced, will depend on the type of shield equipped.
To coincide with these changes, shield usage will now be determined after any evasion effects are considered.

The blindness effect caused by the white magic spell Flash and the black magic spell Blind will now be considered as different status effects. Accordingly, Flash will no longer cancel the effect of Blind.

The white magic spell Banish will now cause more damage against undead monsters.

The white magic spell Banish III has become available.

-Banish III WHM Lv.65
The damage for Banish III cast by monsters has been adjusted, and paladin-type monsters will no longer have access to this spell.

The white mage job trait Divine Veil has been added.
The job trait Divine Veil enhances the effect of the job ability Divine Seal. When cast after using Divine Seal, the effect area for spells that remove status ailments will increase from a single target to a small radius.

New methods of obtaining the white magic spell Raise III have been added.

The samurai job trait Zanshin has been added.
After gaining this job trait, samurais may attack again immediately after missing a target.

The effect of the samurai job ability Third Eye has been adjusted.
Magic, songs, and breath attacks will no longer cancel the effect of Third Eye. Also, the effect will extend to anticipating multiple-attack techniques that target a single opponent.

The Super Jump ability of the dragoon’s wyvern will now be called Super Climb.

[Item Related]

A new feature regarding the storage of artifact armor has been added.
Artifact armor for each job consists of five parts: Head, Body, Hands, Legs, and Feet.
If you trade all five parts to one of the NPCs listed below, you will receive a key item called a "claim slip" in exchange for your artifact armor. You can retrieve your armor at any time by talking to the NPC and paying 1000 gil.

-Taulenne (Northern San d’Oria)
-Sinon (Bastok Markets)
-Tesch Garanjy (Windurst Woods)
-Caruvinda (Lower Jeuno)
-Ratonne (Tavnazian Safehold)

Several shops have new goods for sale.

The available amount of curry powder, holy basil, and ground wasabi has been increased.

Logging is now possible in the Misareaux Coast.

Logging results in the Lufaise Meadows have been adjusted.

With some exceptions, fish obtainable through fishing will now be bought at half the previous price by NPCs.
Conversely, the number of guild points gained per fish for Fishermen’s Guild contracts will be multiplied by 1.5, and the new point limit will be recalculated based on this new value.

Changes and additions have been made to the items required to fulfill guild contracts.

A new key item called "Alchemic Ensorcellment" has become available for purchase with alchemy guild points.

The number of alchemy guild points required to purchase the key item Anima Synthesis has been reduced from 3000 to 2000.

Various new items have been added.

New synthesis/desynthesis recipes have been added.

It is now possible to trade cluster cores and snow lilies.

New graphics for fishing rods have been added.

It is now possible to add a maker’s signature to the food item brain stew.

The icon for the item urushi has changed.

[System Related]

Major improvements have been made to the fishing system. A new NPC has appeared near the Fishermen’s Guild to explain the changes.
Details here >>

Search comment categories have been divided.
The previous four categories have been divided into seven: EXP party, Mission, Quest, Battlefield, Item, Synthesis, and Others. Newly added subcategories such as Seek Party and Find Member allow for more specific comments and searches.

New text commands for setting search comments have been added.
There are two steps to setting a search comment using text commands. First, compose a comment of up to 3 lines using /seacom. Second, set a category and subcategory with /seacomup to register the comment.
　
1. Composing a Search Comment

/seacom (/sc) [line no.] "[mes.]"

Search comments can be up to 3 lines long. Enter the line number of the search comment window, and then type your message.
If you wish to enter spaces before the message, the entire message must be enclosed in quotation marks.

Example :
/seacom 1 Hello!
/seacom 2 Invite me to your party!
/sc 3 " Please!"

The first, second, and third lines of the search comment window will be entered as "Hello!", "Invite me to your party!", and " Please!", respectively.
At this point, your comment has yet to be registered and will not be displayed in searches. This is accomplished by setting the category name and subcategory number with the /seacomup command.

* Messages cannot exceed 40 characters for each line. Lines longer than 40 characters will be truncated.

2. Registering a Search Comment

/seacomup (/scu) [category name] [subcat. no.]
Category names and subcategory numbers are as follows :

-Category Names
expparty, mission, quest, item, synthesis, battlefield, others

-Subcategory Numbers
1 Seek Party, Want to Sell, Need Made
2 Find Member, Want to Buy, Can Make
3 Other

Example :
/seacomup expparty 1

Your search comment will be registered under Seek Party within Expparty, and will be displayed in searches involving these categories.

* If no category is specified, the message will be registered in Others. If no subcategory is specified, the message will be registered in 3 (Other).

Chat filters have been refined to allow separate settings for NPCs you are currently fighting and other NPCs.
It is now possible to separate NPCs with red names (those you are currently fighting) from NPCs with yellow or purple names (other NPCs) within the chat filter settings. This means that you can view log messages concerning the NPC you are fighting without interruption from other NPC actions.

The names for several chat filters have been changed. Their respective functions remain the same.

When entering and leaving the Mog House, the camera will now move to a position behind the character.

An issue concerning the screen remaining dark when entering or leaving the Mog House has been addressed.

[Known Issues]
The log window messages concerning the monster abilities Tortoise Song, Goblin Dice, and Dispelling Wind are occasionally inaccurate.

Edited, Wed Feb 23 12:43:55 2005 by MagicWeaponZill

Edited, Wed Feb 23 12:51:19 2005 by MagicWeaponZill

Forest Carp prices will go up most likely, but I don't see Moat Carp prices going down. In fact, they may go up since turning in 12 moat carps usually costs you 2800 (4000 - 12x100). Now you'll get 20 back for moat carp and 30 back for forest carp. Ouch.



woot! Now PLDs can Flash and RDMs can blind. That should help a lot with the tanks taking damage.



This is huge. Among others, Erasera.



This should be nice for you SAMs. Suddenly +Accuracy gear may not be as valuable for SAMs of a certain level as +Attack or +STR.



Just so I'm clear, it's now more difficult to catch fish and they NPC for less. Is this not classic SE? Yeah, I know about more interaction, more skillups...that's beside the point.


{Thank you.} {Thank you.} {Thank you.} {Thank you.} {Thank you.}



Now I will no longer cycle in and out of my MH 17 times before remembering I was facing the other way.

I didn't see a level for Divine Veil...man I hope I have that ability when I log in next :)

That was only because /THF gets TA at 60; THF/ needed some way to distinguish their SATA from others' SATA.

In the case of WHMs, I don't see a need for it to be a level 60 trait, but it should at least be 38+.

Yes, but I think that was done, so they don't camp and hold the frickin' thing for hours at a time.

I know a lot of people with multiple jobs 60+ will be incredibly happy about the AF storage fix. I'm incredibly happy about it and the only AF I have is my hammer.

The new whm skill is cool, and numbingly useful, but I was looking foward to something more exciting. Ah well, I can't complain. This will make my job a lot easier.

If anyone can report back on what level this skill is I'd appreciate it.


I'm also pretty curious as to why the new sea region isn't on conquest. Tu'Lia is.


This new ENM is especially odd. What I'm most curious about is the fact that all (I think all) the ENM areas are in capped zones. Does this mean the ENM battle will also be capped?

Yeah, I know it won't effect the killing of it, however I am sure that we will see the price of it jump. I am not positive on this, I haven't been "tracking" the price, but didn't it jump when they changed the spawn points around?

I dunno, maybe I just picked this to rant on. It just that as of late, my normal farming has been crap, fangs, silk threads, tree cuttings and moss drops have been crap. Spent hours and hours a couple of weeks ago trying different spots and mostly wasted my time. I am comming up to my biggest purchase so far, Gluttony Sword, and the future looks bleak. Prices are jumping like mad on some "normal everyday" items, silent oil for one, 10-12k now in Jeuno. I use these alot, while in xp, quests, missions and while helping others. I always carry these around, so mages have 1 less person to worry about when the time comes. Ahh well, when the server comes up I will go find some low level gobs to take my frustrations out on.

If this makes the price of the Morion Earrings go up, woohoo! I've got 2 of them for my blm, but I wouldn't mind selling them if the price skyrockets =P. I paid 110k each for these...if they hit 500k I'll sell. I camped Hoo for 11 hours straight to get that damn Monster Signa to sell off just so I could buy those earrings. Like everything in this game, you gotta work for what you want (or know some wealthy friends that can donate to your good cause).

the new search comment additions seem lame. whoopee doo i can macro in my comments now.

so much for hoping to farm with my higher level job while seeking for my lower level job.