Freshly Picked Vana'diel 31 Digest

Hi, there!

To coincide with the February version update, Producer Akihiko Matsui held another Freshly Picked Vana'diel to go over some of the new content and discuss other topics pertinent to adventuring. The following is a digest of what was discussed.

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

Hello, everyone. Matsui here.

Thank you for tuning into Freshly Picked Vana'diel 31, which happens to the first broadcast for this year! We thank you for your continued support! This month we held the stream prior to the version update, and focused on the February version update as well as a bunch of other information.

For those of you who were not able to catch the broadcast live, or just simply want a recap on all the information the archived video is available below and I've organized this digest.

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Table of Contents

• Version Update
• Battle Content: Omen
• Escutcheons
• Battle Content: Ambuscade
• Job Adjustments
• The More You Know – Vana'diel
• Fujito's /shout

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• Version Update
  (00:02:31)
  This segment of the show focused on the major aspects of the February version update.
  
  
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• Battle Content: Omen
  (00:03:23)
  Video showed live gameplay of the new route introduced to the Omen battle content. There are no bosses within the new route but there are many monsters; therefore, this route is recommended for those who are trying to collect job cards. Players are also able to extend the time limit by 30 minutes.
  
  Aside from the above additions, we have made adjustments to existing mid-bosses, especially for the Glassy Thinker who has been adjusted so they don’t use their special ability, Pain Sync, continuously. With this change, players should be able to attack more frequently than before. Additionally, we have lowered the damage players take from this ability, in case you are by hit them.
  
  
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• Escutcheons
  (00:15:19)
  Previously we mentioned that we’re planning to implement equipment that is comparable to relic for crafters. In this version update, we introduced new shield equipment for crafters, and a quest to upgrade them. The quest we are introducing this time is just the first step and players will be able to upgrade the equipment further through quests added in future.
  
  
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• Battle Content: Ambuscade
  (00:20:25)
  We introduced new enemies for the Ambuscade in February. Players will face off against the Velkks first, and the Adamantoise next. In the show we gave a tiny hint about creating strategies to use against each target. If you're curious, be sure to check it out!
  
  (00:22:32)
  We also showed off some of the equipment players can receive as a reward.
  While the magic attack attribute is lower for this month's gear compared to other waist equipment of same item level, the magic damage property is higher, so this equipment is useful when casting lower-tier spells repeatedly. This new equipment also has an attribute to shorten the cast times of elemental spells, so we recommend using this along with other existing equipment.
  
  
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• Job Adjustments
  During the show we talked about adjustments made in this version update.
  
  
  • Geomancy
    (00:23:38)
    The values of the following geomancy colures have been decreased.

    Indi-Focus / Indi-Attune / Indi-Vex / Indi-Languor /
    Geo-Focus / Geo-Attune / Geo-Vex / Geo-Languor

    The magic accuracy and magic evasion from the spells listed above were being calculated differently, causing the effect values to be much higher than what we presumed to be. If we were to balance this by boosting other jobs, it would have made boosting from equipment inadequate; therefore, we have adjusted geomancy back to correct values.
    
    Along with this adjustment, we have greatly reduced the magic evasion, as well as battle and magic skills from enemies simultaneously. In general, the higher the level the enemy is, the higher the reduction rate would be. Due to this balancing, geomancers' performance will decrease when using the above-mentioned geomancy colures on enemies. We made sure that buffs/debuffs based on the difference of the enemies' status/skill is balanced so players don’t feel that there is no method to defeat them.
    
    
  • Enfeebling Spells
    (00:27:29)
    • The values of the black magic spells Distract III and Frazzle III values have been increased
    • The duration of the following black magic spells have been increased.

      Distract / Distract II / Distract III / Frazzle / Frazzle II / Frazzle III

      The duration of these spells will take full effect even if the spell has been half-resisted. We are aware of requests to change the system so that the spells aren't resisted similar to geomancy; however, red mage's enfeebling spells can take various roles. By changing it to work similarly as geomancy colures, there is a concern where it will break the balancing between jobs. For this reason, we currently made adjustments to the values and the duration. Also, enemy's magic evasion has been greatly lowered in this version update, so we would like the players to try it out by making tweaks in their equipment or support jobs.
    
    
  • Songs
    (00:30:09)
    • We have also raised the values of certain songs.
      Please check the version updated information from February 10, 2017 for a list of songs being adjusted with this update. As part of balancing adjustment, some values of songs from the Song + property has been lowered; however, the base values have been increased, so the values will be higher than what it was up until now, no matter which skill obi or gear is used.
      
      
    • Heirloom necklaces (Adoulin's Refuge, Arciela's Grace, Ygnas's Resolve)
      (00:34:51)
      We have been receiving requests on forums and other sources to let players obtain this equipment again; however, due to quest progression flags from Seekers of Adoulin, and the addition of +1 versions, it has made the method of obtaining this quite complex; therefore we are having difficulties making this possible. However, we can take a different approach where instead of making it available as a mission reward (make it so you can obtain a similar item with the same stats), then it may be possible to resolve this issue, so we're currently looking into this approach. Please be sure to let us know your thoughts on this on the forums!
  
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• The More You Know – Vana'diel
  (00:48:43)
  In this segment, we had viewers guess the word which should replace the “???” area, and then revealed some hidden Vana'diel lore. If you haven't watched the stream, try to guess the answer to the below! The answer will be displayed within the spoiler box below.
  • There was a plan to add ??? in Vana'diel.
    
    Add different eras.
    Currently when you check the Vana'diel clock, you can see the crystal era, but there were plans to introduce other eras into the Vana'diel lore. When the development team introduced time into the game, they went ahead and added years as part of role playing feature for players, and felt adding different eras would be easier to talk about specific events; however, they decided this was probably too much, and stayed with a single era.
    
    
  • Non-combat NPCs are ??? than the adventurers.
    
    Non-combat NPCs are stronger than the adventurers.
    This is based on level one adventurers, but the non-combat NPCs have 100 HP, which is higher than the players at this point. The reason why we had to add HP to the NPCs is due to the system where if the NPC's HP was set to 0, it would cause the servers to crash; therefore, they needed to set some values to the non-combat NPCs as well.
  
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• Fujito's /shout
  (1:02:19)
  Fujito made announcements about current campaigns and events.
  • Valentione's Day
    Rewards include items such as aprons, so be sure to get it before the event concludes later this month!
    
  • Mid-winter Battle Content Campaign
    This campaign features battle content such as seal battlefields. We also have received suggestion to hold a new battlefield campaign in March, so we’re currently working on this moving forward.
    
  • February 2017 Login Campaign
    We have introduced new head equipment, the Arthro's Cap! With the HQ version of this item, players will be able to earn an item related to crabs, so be sure to try it out once you get it!

From the next Freshly Picked Vana’diel we’re going back to broadcast every odd number month, so the next one is in March, which is next month! We’re working hard to make it something which everyone can enjoy, and feel the FINAL FANTASY XI 15th year anniversary spirit, so stay tuned!

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