Hot Off the Final Fantasy XI Forums!
With the hype surrounding last month's version update slowly subsiding, players are looking forward to what the future has in store for Final Fantasy XI. Though right now details are scarce, the fine folks of the Community Team have given us glimpses at what awaits us.
The overwhelming difficulty of the Legion battle system released in last month's version update are under review from the development team, most notably a revision on the HP levels of enemies for fights involving only 18 players. For those wanting a more old-school feel to the events they partake in, the Limbus battle system looks to be receiving an expansion similar to the recent addition of the Nyzul Isle Uncharted Region.
Besides these changes, players can look forward to the implementation of new icons for status effects such as Regen and Refresh, as well as two-hour abilities. These icons, in addition to showing up in the status effect bar near the top of the screen, may also appear as image supplements for macros, letting you use an image to represent a particular spell or job ability rather than just a name.
Lastly, though this is still in the discussion stage, plans are in the works to allow players to view maps for areas that players currently aren't in, as well as allowing for players to use markers on those maps.
When new details on these and other plans for Final Fantasy XI are made public, we'll be sure to keep you updated! If you want to talk about the changes to Legion, the upcoming "Neo-Limbus", the map changes, or the new icons, feel free to do so on the ZAM forums!
From the official Final Fantasy XI forums:
Howdy everyone!
Two weeks have passed since the version update and we are certain that some of you are starting to conquer this content. We have received a ton of feedback on this new battle content and would like give some comments.
• Difficulty
Since this battle content is for high level players, the difficulty is pretty high but that doesn't mean that it is impossible to conquer. It can be conquered by giving some thought to your battle tactics so please keep on trying to find the best path.
(The battle concept differs depending on the battle field and the key is to change tactics depending on the behavior of the 3 monsters that spawn simultaneously.)
• Battle Balance for 18-person/36-person versions
We are considering lowering the difficulty for the 18-person version.
o Difference in the Amount of HP
The only difference in the difficulty for the 18-person version and the 36-person version is the amount of the monster's HP. For the 36-person, the monster's HP will increase by 50% compared to the 18-person. However, considering players’ attack capability, the group of 36 will have double the power compared to the group of 18 and the amount of the monster's HP is not balanced properly based on this ratio.
To balance the ratio, we are considering lowering the monster's HP for the 18-person version to be half the amount of the 36-person version.
o Adjustment on the Cost
The cost to participate in Legion will be double in the case players participate in a 36-person version, but looking at the loot, this ratio does not fit so we are considering cutting the cost to half of the current cost to balance out the difference in the number of participants.
• Items exchangeable with Legion Points
Item that can be obtained through the exchange of Legion Points will get better by achieving new titles from Legion, but as a result, the choice of items are very small in the beginning, so we are considering to open up all of these items from the start. In addition, we are planning to add an advantage where the amount of Legion Points required to obtain each item will decrease by conquering Legion.
From the official Final Fantasy XI forums:
In regards to the future of Limbus, the basic overall system will remain the same but we are planning to add a new route for high level players. Unlike the renewal of Dynamis, the general direction of this renewal will be more like an advanced expansion of Omega/Ultima.
We are working at full speed so that players can try this out on the test server so please wait just a little bit longer!
From the official Final Fantasy XI forums:
Viewing maps of other areas
Greetings!
The other day on the JP forums there was a suggestion to make it possible to view maps of other areas by selecting the map from the key item list. The development team decided to look into it and while they are still discussing this more in depth, they came up with a couple of ideas.
• Viewing the map of other areas
We are discussing to see if it's possible to view the map of other areas by preparing an area-selection interface similar to the area search and display the map of the area players select. There are areas with multiple maps, but for these we are considering to display the map of the area in order.
• Markers on maps of other areas
We are also looking into whether or not it's possible to place markers on the maps of other areas when displayed. We are starting to see some possibilities so the design is being worked on at the moment. As long as everything goes well, you will not only be able to view the map of other areas, but also place markers on them as well.
However, in regards to sharing the marker placement with party members or displaying the location of party members in other areas on the map, this would be difficult since the method for handling the data in multiple areas needs to be solved first. We will continue to look in to the possibility, but please understand that this is quite difficult to make happen.
• Balance Adjustments
Along with the discussion on the feedback we have received, we are also reviewing the balance on acquiring the area maps. As of now, the methods on how to obtain maps vary depending on the area. Some you can purchase from NPCs, while others you receive as a reward for completing quests. Overall, we would like to make them easier to obtain.
Once we get some more information on the solidified plans we will be sure to let you know.
From the official Final Fantasy XI forums:
For the new UI that is currently in development for the Windows version, we will be enhancing the resolution and revamping icons for enhancements, abilities, magic, and other items. These new icons require resident memory, so unfortunately due to their being a lack of this for the PS2/360 we will not be able to implement the same icons for these versions of the game; however, we are planning to switch out the enhancement icons to be the same as the Windows version.
Below is an example of Regen and Refresh:
And here are the two-hour abilities for each job:
Can you tell which is which? These designs are still under-development.
We will be changing the graphics for other spells and abilities as much as we can. One of the objectives for this is to display the icons in the macro palette to make them clickable, as was requested in the past.
Also, in regards to the PC requirements to be able to easily play the updated Windows version, we expect it to be a bit higher than the requirements from ten years ago. However, I believe that recent PCs are at more than suitable level.
Once all the details are finalized I will let you know.