ZAM FFXI Premier Site Q &A Part IIOct 23rd, 2010 at 3:53 PM by Vlorsutes

In Part IV of their Premier Site Q&A sessions, the Final Fantasy XI Development Team tackled questions from the ZAM team regarding the new Scars of Abyssea add-on scenario. Japanese translations of all questions and answers are available below the cut.

1) Bastion is a new battle system that allows for players to gain large amounts of experience points, cruor, and resistance credits, used to purchase the normal quality Empyrean leg armor, in relatively short periods of time. Currently, it is very difficult to make any progress in Bastion if there are very few other players there, as the resistance fighter npcs offer very little support. This leads to battles lasting only a few seconds after they start and very little experience gained. What plans are there, if any, to adjust Bastion to allow for it to be more low-man friendly?

We are aware that at certain times of day players may find themselves severely outnumbered in Bastion battles. To give small groups a fighting chance, we intend to give NPC Resistance fighters a boost in power, as well as to make clone wards more resistant to damage.

That said, the Abyssean hordes will not be routed so easily. Especially in the event that martello cores have attracted the attention of scores of foes, we urge that players expend all effort to perform resistance operations in advance to gain every possible advantage in the forthcoming battle!

2) Currently, the normal quality Empyrean feet armor pieces can only be obtained through golden chests in the new Abyssea areas. This unfortunately has caused some issues since their inception, ranging from players in alliances lotting on them despite not having the jobs for them leveled to not seeing a single piece drop in a several hour farming session. What plans are there, if any, to allow for players to obtain these particular pieces more readily and will these changes also allow for more control over what players get what pieces?

With the next version update, we intend to make Empyrean Armor pieces more readily available from small golden pyxides. This should solve the problem of players obtaining nothing for several hours.

This will also make it feasible for players to focus their efforts on obtaining these armor pieces by increasing the drop rate of small chests, rather than having to settle for experience and cruor gains while hoping for the fortuitous appearance of a large chest, as is often the case now.

3) As with the previous add-on, the tier II and tier III Voidwalker Notorious Monsters in the new Abyssea areas only have a single spawn in the their respective zones with an hour long respawn after they are killed. While this was a minor nuisance in the Vision areas, it's become a far bigger hassle in the Scars areas due to the tier III Voidwalker NMs being one of the few sources for the items used in the HQ2 Empyrean Armor pieces. Was this intended as a means of keeping players from obtaining the HQ2 Empyrean pieces, and if not, what plans are there to potentially adjust these NMs?

The placement and spawn rate of Scars of Abyssea NMs were set as they are to preserve balance and control the acquisition rate of upgraded Empyrean Armor. We realize, however, that due to the sheer number of players competing for the upgrade items, they are currently more difficult to obtain than we anticipated.

We intend to address this in the next version update by reducing the respawn time for certain NMs. While the specifics are still under discussion, we anticipate that the delay will be reduced by about half. This should provide many players with a long-awaited opportunity to upgrade.

Japanese Translations

1) 「バスティオン」という新しいバトルコンテンツが追加されたことで、比較的短時間でも大量の経験値、クルオ、そして両足のエンピリアン装束の入手に必要な抵抗軍戦績が入手可能になりました。現在のバスティオンは、抵抗軍NPCのサポートが弱いこともあり、少人数での攻略は難しいものがあります。そのため開始してから数秒で終了してしまい、少量の経験値しか入手できない状況です。将来的には少人数でもバスティオンを攻略できるように調整を行う考えはあるのでしょうか？

Answer -

時間帯によってはモンスターの数に比べてプレイヤーが少なくなっている状況もありますので、共に戦ってくれる抵抗軍のNPCの強化や、防壁である”Clone Ward”の耐久度アップなどの調整を予定しています。これによって少人数でも防衛しやすくなると思います。それでも、パルスマーテローに追加されたマーテローコアが多く、攻めてくるモンスターが 増えた場合は、防衛を成功させるために主役であるプレイヤーの皆さんの活躍が欠かせません。事前に工作任務を高い評価でクリアしておくなど有利な状況を整えて、モンスターからパルスマーテローを守ってください！

 

2) 現在、両足のエンピリアン装束を入手する唯一の手段は新しいアビセアエリア内の金の宝箱しかありません。そのため実装開始直後から「アライアンスメンバーのうち、装備可能なジョブ以外のプレイヤーもロットに参加する」、「数時間戦闘しても、入手できない」といった問題が起こっています。将来的にはより入手しやすく、かつどのプレイヤーが入手できるか、明確に切り分けることができるようになるのでしょうか？

Answer -  次回のバージョンアップにて、通常サイズの金色の宝箱からもエンピリアン装束を入手しやすくなるように調整しますので、「数時間かけても何も入手できない」という状況は発生しなくなる予定です。

これにより、経験値やクルオの取得をメインにしながら大きな宝箱を狙う以外にも、エンピリアン装束の入手を重視して通常サイズの宝箱の出現率を上げるような遊び方も、より選びやすくなると考えています。

3) 先の「禁断の地 アビセア」では、新エリアに生息するアビセアンの第2段階および第3段階は各エリアに1体しかおらず、また倒されてから再び出現するまでに1時間ほどかかります。「禁断の地 アビセア」では、それが大きな問題ではありませんでしたが、同様の仕組みである「アビセアの死闘」に出現するアビセアン第3段階は、エンピリアン装束の強化に必要なアイテムの数少ない入手方法の1つとなっています。これはエンピリアン装束の強化を制限するための意図的な仕様でしょうか？もし違うのであれば、今後はアビセアンに対しての調整を行う考えはあるのでしょうか？

Answer - 「アビセアの死闘」におけるノートリアスモンスターの配置や再出現までの時間は、エンピリアン装束を強化していく速度のバランスなどを考慮して設定してあります。ですが、現状ではライバルが多いことなどもあり、想定しているバランスには至っていないと思いますので、強化に必要なアイテムをもう少し入手しやすくする予定です。

そのために、次回のバージョンアップではアビセアンを含むノートリアスモンスターの再出現までの時間を短縮しようと思っています。まだ調整中ではありますが、これまでの半分くらいの時間で再出現するようになる予定ですので、より多くの皆さんにチャンスが巡るようになります。

Tags: FinalFantasyXI, News

Comments

Post Comment
a different approach
QuoteReply
# Nov 19 2010 at 5:57 AM Rating: Default
__DEL__1591985560227
1 post
the general theme that you guys keep talking about is more storage expansions.. after awhile it still gets cumbersome sorting through all the items you need while changing jobs. one thing WoW has over ffxi is that the gear you have currently equipped is not in your inventory. as well in the next expansion they intend to add some kind of "curtain", where you can store multiple gearsets which would have the same effect. out of inventory. so rather than add more spaces all the time, why not instead have the server store specific gear for each job that you set ahead of time. this would also save you guys what.. at least 5 mins to change a job? it would be more beneficial really, but i dont know how feesible it would be considering that ffxi isnt where it used to be in popularity. i myself used to play for 5-6 yrs and quit before the lvl cap went to 80. so i understand about changing jobs all the time. i had 9 jobs at 75, so you can imagine the space needed. the other thing to do is that if youre not on a job very often, just sell the gear instead of muling it, and throw away retarded rare/ex gear lol, like 2 leaf mandragora buds, etc. there are ways, you just have to find them.
▲ Page top
Skill ups, storage and RDM
QuoteReply
# Nov 09 2010 at 7:37 AM Rating: Decent
Ruisu
View User Forum
Scholar
Avatar
***
1,570 posts
Skill ups in general have become a bit of an issue due to the decrease in parties and mechanics of certain jobs. Healing and Enhancing skills, for example, are pretty much only raised through stuff like beseiged because of low proc rates. At the same time, there's not much in the way of helping players bring skill levels up to snuff without personal risk (most notable at the higher levels). One suggestion the devs might want to consider is skill-up scrolls (not my idea, but one that has been floating around the suggestion forums for a while).

Storage is becoming an issue, and the fact that the mog safe seems to be at capacity is not helping. Mog locker is also not going to be enough with the new gear being introduced and any future upgrades headed our way in the future. That's something the devs might want to look at as well.

Lastly, and pardon my saying this, but what's the deal with RDM? Are we going to see mechanics in place to support the job's move to the front lines in parties, or has that idea been scrapped altogether? If we do have something coming our way, please consider making it come at the lower levels. Won't be worth it to level as a backrow caster for 85/90 levels and then finding oneself finally able to melee in a party. That sort of shift is something the class needs to grow into, and the 30-55 range would be ideal for that.
____________________________
Products of boredom: 1 2 3 4 5
Besieged
Hopes for FFXIV: Fencer | Red Mage
▲ Page top
Storage
QuoteReply
# Nov 06 2010 at 8:09 PM Rating: Good
__DEL__1591985447363
1 post
I would propose something like expanding you're mog safe into sub-sections through a series of quests. Still have your 80 main safe for furniature and quick access of things and then break it down into a sub for each gear slot, an example would be say 40-50 slots for weapons, 30 slots each for head gear, body, hands, ect and 40-50 for accessories (capes, rings, earrings, neck, waist.) Not only would it be more than enough space, but organized as well.

Just some food for thought,
Nickb of Sylph
▲ Page top
Additional Abyssea Restrictions
QuoteReply
# Nov 06 2010 at 9:13 AM Rating: Good
__DEL__1591862247541
3 posts
I am aware that all of you who take advantage of the lv 30 requirement to enter Abyssea to leach will be upset by this...

They need to raise the lv restriction from lv 30 to lv 70 or 75 to enter Abyssea. I do not care that people use the current requirements to lv jobs to 85 with no idea of how to actually play the job, have gimp skill stats, and basically waste their time in the game by popping chests rather than enjoying the long standing job system. By allowing players to enter Abyssea at lv 30 to gain experience points, SE has completely unhinged the balance of the game. Very few parties are ever made in the old areas and everyone is required to either leech in Abyssea or solo to lv 70.

Storage in the game seems to be ok until you consider the people that lv, and play, several jobs. I only have 5 jobs 75+, lving 2 more as we speak, and have no room to hold gear for all of them. Yes, there are storage NPCs, but they require full gear sets and I know not a single player that buys a full set of anything... When you gear your character you get the gear that benefits you the most, typically mixing and matching pieces of various sets. If you are anything like me, you tend to switch from job to job on a daily or weekly basis. If you do multiple endgame events you may end up changing from job to job for each event. This makes storage NPCs very painful to use. I have several mules I use to hold gear and crafting materials. I do not believe this should be necessary, unless you are able to set the mule's status to non-playable and store rare/exclusive items on them. If they allowed this, and moghouse access to all non-playable mules, I would not have a complaint about paying a little extra each month. Even though I do not feel we should be charged extra to hold gear for each job we wish to play. SE needs to implement an easy to use system for storing gear for all jobs that can be accessed from the mh menu.

On the subject of Trials... SE could not have chosen a worse way to add frustration to players of FFXI. I am not only refering to the people doing Trials, but the people trying to level their jobs, kill NMs for gear/quests, or those farming materials for crafting. Why SE chose experience mobs or NMs required for other things in the game as targets for Trials in beyond me. Causing normal players to act in the maner of RMTs that horde mobs/NMs has caused me to lose all excitement for completeing Trials.

One last thing. This is one of my oldest complaints. I have read several times over the years that SE created Ninja as a ranged attack job. If this is the case, why are there no weapon skills for throwing? Might I add that this is the ONLY weapon class that has no weapon skills? Another complaint is the cost of both crafting the ammo or buy it from an NPC is horrible. 57,960 gil for 1 Fuma Shuriken from the vendor? 5,738,040gil for a single stack of ammo, of which you may use 3 stacks in an hour? This needs some serious adjustment, even if SE adds no weapon skills to throwing. The auction house only shows a record of 2 sales made of this item, and one was to the player that posted it. The items required to craft these are so expensive/time consuming to acquire, that there is no reasonable person willing to make them.

Edited, Nov 6th 2010 11:31am by ravensfather
▲ Page top
End it forever
QuoteReply
# Nov 01 2010 at 6:23 PM Rating: Good
__DEL__1592790752610
3 posts
I think they should just make job specific storage areas in your mog house.
Drop 80 slots to each job for a storage area and end one of the biggest flaws forever.
I don't care how it's executed, just as long as this annoyance just goes away.
▲ Page top
Storage
QuoteReply
# Nov 01 2010 at 8:12 AM Rating: Good
__DEL__1593970232235
*
61 posts
I can't even begin to consider getting certain gear I might need due to lack of space. Not being able to store the AN level 68 stuff etc. is really killing my inventory space and telling me to get a mog satchel is not the answer. I would really really like to be able to store the AN gear sets and the new 78 Abyssea sets. Also obviously the new AF3 aswell.
▲ Page top
NON-Abyssea
QuoteReply
# Nov 01 2010 at 2:25 AM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1591985237181
1 post
Since almost everybody plays Abyssea nowadays & you can't find anybody willing to do anything else around the game, when the plans to make things more accessible to solo or small groups, but more solo as things go (such as nation missions, BCNM, Garrison or Dynamis, to name a few)? It's a pity really to plan a Dynamis run and then cancel it because you don't have enough people for it or spend time getting a Garrison rare/ex item and watch it decay in your mog house 'cause no one's doing Garrison anymore. Well I want to do all those things, I want to enjoy the game, not fall into an Abyssea tiring routine.
I'm looking forward for improvements on this old part of the game.
▲ Page top
WRONG QUESTIONS!
QuoteReply
# Oct 27 2010 at 5:48 PM Rating: Default
__DEL__1591822443552
26 posts
Multidude wrote:
Actually unless they boost the amount you get per synth, then no. The price of a stack would reflect the same price per piece. You can't even start to compare the two synths btw. It's two different crafts, and the materials are nowhere in the same ballpark when it comes to cost either.


Yes, boost the quantity of a successful synth, that's the entire purpose of my question (Which is actually a demand). And no, I don't feel like comparing the two crafts of Expendable Medicines and Fireworks... And Ninja Tools... Which is two different synths... And it's much cheaper buy 99 tools which is the equivalent of a stack of 12 meds... So yeah, that's what I'm pointing out...

Tanzyr wrote:
Garota's on the right track with the suggestion about inventory space, but I contend that the problem isn't lack of room to store things, rather lack of a universal storage solution for rare/exclusive items.

With Abyssea areas making things ridiculously easy to have insane amounts of jobs leveled to 85 and many players still preferring to be geared appropriately for their levels, not to mention new players coming to FFXI that haven't tasted the fruits of fast exp "skill killers," better storage is required.

Enter the Trophy Item NPC's - one for weapons, one for armor in every location a regular Armor Storage NPC resides and act PRECISELY like the Event Item Storage NPC's. Imagine storing all your AF weapons, and NM dropped weapons (Nadrs, Tungi, Avatar/Sky God weapons, etc) that you invested so much time getting in one place. The same would apply to level 50 JSE that prior to 2010's updates were still a pain to obtain without assistance.

I never understood the apparent retardation that governed why +1 armor sets could not be stored, but its clear this mindset is hopelessly out of date and needs to be addressed, and while my proposed solution doesn't really accommodate this issue, the normal Armor Storage NPC's should have their abilities expanded for this very reason.

To summarize, SquareEnix, grant us rare/exclusive NPC storage solutions for *ALL* r/ex weapons and armor (no silly restrictions) and expand current Armor Storage NPC's to accommodate +1 gear sets!


Ugh... I told you not to question my logic and you have to overcomplicate the matter and make me have to think and type more than I feel like typing... The problem with your "Universal Storage Solution" is that not everybody has complete gear sets, NQ or HQ... If they do, they've got some serious OCD or extreme E-Peen+1...

My "Storage Solution", in earlier days was purchasing furniture in particular Mannequins. Having purchased all 8 dolls, I was able to store an extra 56 Items and at the same time make my Mog House look creepy with oddly posed inanimate people. In May '09 there was an update where mannequin storage capacity was upgraded, even now, my storage limit is 80, even though I should technically have 224 spaces due to those 8 pieces of furniture.

As far as Rare/Ex Items are concerned for Storage, you can toss them anywhere between your Gobbie Bag, Mog Satchel, Mog House, Storage, Mog Locker and even Random purpose NPCs. And yes, with people leveling many jobs to 85, there's very limited space to place gear and weapons that are job specific. Even with Trophy Weapon/Gear NPCs, it would take too much time to drop off and pick up select items in a moment's notice.

Also, the matter of storing HQ gear sets with current Armor NPCs, well... As I mentioned, not everybody has complete sets. I'm going to use myself as an example, I did not bother Upgrading all AF through Limbus, only select items that would benefit me most, so this solution would not benefit me as well as other players. Same goes for any other incomplete gear sets, some people are either only able to obtain certain Items from a set due to many reasons or they choose to be selective on the items they pick out from a gear set due to their use in certain situations.

I'm so sorry, but your solution is too intricate and selective that it does not seem too realistic/achievable. My solution is simpler and only requests more immediate storage slots in a player's physical inventory. In conclusion, SquareEnix please listen out and take Tanzyr's recommendation into consideration (Even though mine is better), but we all know and we've heard your excuse too many times... PS2 Limitations...

Edited, Oct 27th 2010 7:53pm by Garota
▲ Page top
EXP Parties at lower levels
QuoteReply
# Oct 26 2010 at 8:02 PM Rating: Good
__DEL__1591820035599
Sage
*
100 posts
With the incredible amount of exp potentially gained in the Visions and Scars areas, (Which I am not complaining about) parties at lower levels have seemed to dwindle as friends are allowing lower level players to leech experience by being chest openers. Also with the introduction of Magian Trials, many time-honored camps are taken over by trial goers. Are there any thoughts on improving lower level parties to make them more appealing than to risk obtaining experience through either strict level synch or abyssea leaching? Or at least a possibility of an alternative way of obtaining the skillups that have been left behind due to constant synch parties at lower levels?
▲ Page top
WRONG QUESTIONS!
QuoteReply
# Oct 25 2010 at 12:05 PM Rating: Good
__DEL__1591822443552
26 posts
What we REALLY need to know is, "With the introduction of so many new items, players have very limited inventory space... So... Give us more item slots..." Also, another good question would be, "Stack Silent Oils, Prism Powders, Echo Drops and other similar stackable/expendable items to 99." Even though those are not really questions... They're both a BIG deal... Especially since... Just because, don't question my logic...
▲ Page top
WRONG QUESTIONS!
QuoteReply
# Oct 25 2010 at 6:32 PM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1593970331385
1 post
Garota wrote:
What we REALLY need to know is, "With the introduction of so many new items, players have very limited inventory space... So... Give us more item slots..." Also, another good question would be, "Stack Silent Oils, Prism Powders, Echo Drops and other similar stackable/expendable items to 99." Even though those are not really questions... They're both a BIG deal... Especially since... Just because, don't question my logic...

Nobody wants to pay 100k for a stack of Prism Powder.. Lol..
▲ Page top
WRONG QUESTIONS!
QuoteReply
# Oct 25 2010 at 10:20 PM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1591822443552
26 posts
Oh true... Because there would be no conceivable way whatsoever that a stack of prism powders would be the equivalent price of a stack of Shinobi-Tabi... It's a damned shame they allowed fireworks to stack to 99, those prices sure did sky rocket, remember?
▲ Page top
WRONG QUESTIONS!
QuoteReply
# Oct 26 2010 at 12:16 PM Rating: Good
__DEL__1593375017434
Sage
***
1,596 posts
Actually unless they boost the amount you get per synth, then no. The price of a stack would reflect the same price per piece. You can't even start to compare the two synths btw. It's two different crafts, and the materials are nowhere in the same ballpark when it comes to cost either.
▲ Page top
WRONG QUESTIONS!
QuoteReply
# Oct 27 2010 at 5:46 PM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1591822443552
26 posts
Why is typing quotes so complicated in ZAM? Oh well...

Edited, Oct 27th 2010 8:07pm by Garota
▲ Page top
WRONG QUESTIONS!
QuoteReply
# Oct 27 2010 at 9:59 AM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1624234722470
View User Forum
12 posts
Garota's on the right track with the suggestion about inventory space, but I contend that the problem isn't lack of room to store things, rather lack of a universal storage solution for rare/exclusive items.

With Abyssea areas making things ridiculously easy to have insane amounts of jobs leveled to 85 and many players still preferring to be geared appropriately for their levels, not to mention new players coming to FFXI that haven't tasted the fruits of fast exp "skill killers," better storage is required.

Enter the Trophy Item NPC's - one for weapons, one for armor in every location a regular Armor Storage NPC resides and act PRECISELY like the Event Item Storage NPC's. Imagine storing all your AF weapons, and NM dropped weapons (Nadrs, Tungi, Avatar/Sky God weapons, etc) that you invested so much time getting in one place. The same would apply to level 50 JSE that prior to 2010's updates were still a pain to obtain without assistance.

I never understood the apparent retardation that governed why +1 armor sets could not be stored, but its clear this mindset is hopelessly out of date and needs to be addressed, and while my proposed solution doesn't really accommodate this issue, the normal Armor Storage NPC's should have their abilities expanded for this very reason.

To summarize, SquareEnix, grant us rare/exclusive NPC storage solutions for *ALL* r/ex weapons and armor (no silly restrictions) and expand current Armor Storage NPC's to accommodate +1 gear sets!
▲ Page top
Post Comment

Free account required to post

You must log in or create an account to post messages.
© 2024 Fanbyte LLC