Level 99 - Trial of the Citadel

[SirDayne]

I would like to see some sort of job advancement (not merits) mission/quest/battle once we hit level 99. This is an idea that while similar to Final Fantasy I's job upgrades, but would be different.

FFXI's AF1 armor mentions alternate names (or titles) for the jobs we play as, which is more or less a title that's said but not really done anything with.
Black Mage = Wizard
Red Mage = Warlock
etc.

In FFI you were able to advance your job to an upgraded version which granted new spells and abilities. e.g.
Black Wizard got new spells, Warrior became Knight and gained access to low tier White Magic and able to equip all weapons and armor.

So basically, tl;dr:
I am suggesting a new job advancement system for Level 99 jobs that indicate mastery of a job. You would have to complete a challenging (but not impossible) quest in a new dungeon [The Citadel] and fight a final boss in order to earn the right to your new job title.

Once completed, you would gain access to powerful new spells and abilities earned via Trial of the Magians or story-based quests. Subjobs would be disabled (or very gimped) on the "new jobs" in order to maintain game balance.

Black Mage => Black Wizard (WIZ)
White Mage => Devout (DVT)
Red Mage => Warlock (WLK)
etc.

Feel free to add to this.

[svengalis]

Sounds like you want a totally new game LOL.

[Zatias]

I opened the thread expecting a book burn in Garbage Shitidel.

Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pass. ; ;

[Camate]

Though this is slightly different than what you are requesting, there have been comments on the JP forum (and I have seen traces of it here as well) asking whether the level cap will ever reach 100. While the current plan is to keep it at 99, if there is enough feedback asking for level 100, we may just look into it. So please let us know what you think!

It seems like there have already been a lot of JP players who posted they prefer level 99. There were also some suggestions by players asking if it would be possible to take just one job to level 100. However, this would just make it so people start requesting we increase the number of jobs you can take to 100, and so on and so forth. Without making it complex, we would prefer just to think about whether we will keep it at 99 or move it up to 100 across the board.

[SpankWustler]

I'd prefer to just stay at 99. It's the traditional level cap in many Final Fantasy games, and it seems like being level 50 would open several new cans of worms for several sub-jobs.

Besides, a level is just a number. Looking at things pragmatically; new traits, spells, and abilities come whenever they're developed rather than when we level up.

[Asymptotic]

100 is a much nicer number to look at than 99.

There may be some balance issues to look at with support job abilities, but I mean, there are already abilities that have been set to main-job-only (such as Yonin/Innin).

As a result, I'd definitely prefer 100. It's a nice round number.

[Symbiote]

Every FF game has stopped at 99. Why should XI be any different? I say get it to 99 and be done with it.

100 might be a nice number to look at, all fancy with its snazzy triple digits. I, however, would like to see some continuity within the FF series. Even if the only saving grace is the cap of its levels.

[Asymptotic]

Every FF game has stopped at 99.

FFVII? FFVIII?
Level cap of 100.

I, however, would like to see some continuity within the FF series.

Too late.

[Economizer]

While the current plan is to keep it at 99, if there is enough feedback asking for level 100, we may just look into it. So please let us know what you think!

First off, only being able to take one job to 100 is stupid. It reeks of the parts of the merit system where you can only choose certain skills to get a boost to, or to the quests that might have three different choices of gear but you can only have one at a time. Personally, these can suck to an extent - you have to choose to specialize more on one job then others, which defeats the point of FFXI's very unique and well made job change system. While it is tolerable in its current form, something like limiting one job to be able to go up a level like that is too far. Thankfully, you made sure to not put this on the table, but I'd like to make sure it remains off the table, and in the trash.

Before I delve into what it would really mean to go to 100, here is a bit on the level number. Level affects like Level 5 Petrify would work on us again, something we thought we would finally defeat at level 99. This somewhat sucks. On the bright side, gear like the Multiple Ring or the Divisor Ring would work once again.

Ultimately, while there may be spells and abilities that you get at level 100 that would be very powerful, but we can't really know what these are currently. But we can know what we'd get from subjobs by getting that super precious level +1.

Ignoring stat/skill boosts, Warrior and Monkwould grant no specific improvements.

• Thief would grant Evasion Bonus III, (~13 evasion upgrade).
• White Mage would grant Clear Mind III, Divine Veil (Divine Seal makes debuff removal AOE), Magic Defense Bonus III (~2 MDB upgrade), Divine Benison, and Holy.
• Black Mage would grant Magic Attack Bonus III (~4 MAB upgrade), Elemental Celerity (Elemental Casting time -15%), and Freeze.
• Red Mage would grant Composure (extended duration to self buffs), Resist Petrify III, Fire II, Enthunder II.
• Dark Knight would grant Attack Bonus III (~13 attack upgrade).
• Beast Master would grant Aquan Killer.
• Bard would grant Dark Carol.
• Ranger would grant Accuracy Bonus III (~13 accuracy upgrade), and Dead Aim (increased crits for ranged attacks).
• Ninja would grant Resist Bind III.
• Samurai would grant Store TP III (~5 sTP upgrade).
• Dragoon would grant Accuracy Bonus II (~12 accuracy upgrade), and Super Jump (Massive hate reduction, and a brief invulnerability effect while in the air).
• Summoner would grant Max MP Boost III (+20 MP), Elemental Siphon (more MP), and the Blood Pact Double Slap.
• Blue Mage would grant the spells Self-Destruct and Frightful Roar and any traits that you'd be able to create with those.
• Corsair would grant Random Deal (can possibly reset one non-2hour, non-Random Deal job ability timer for each party member in range).
• Puppet Master would grant Martial Arts II (H2H delay -20), and Resist Slow II.
• Scholar would grant Clear Mind III, Protect III, Stona (Add.White), and Ice Spikes. It would also grant an additional charge of Strategems, and a 40 second recharge reduction, to one minute and twenty seconds per charge.

Basically, the main improvements would be on the jobs White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Dark Knight, Ranger, Dragoon, Summoner, Scholar.

White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, and Scholar would get major improvements as subs. White Mage would become better at debuff removal and get Holy, which while unlikely to open up new possibilities for other jobs, would be a usable proc in Abyssea. Black Mage would become a more powerful sub when using elemental magic on a main like Red Mage or Scholar, in addition to getting Freeze (procs). Red Mage would grant Composure, making it a more combat effective sub - and would probably be important for Ninja, Paladin, and Blue Mage. Scholar would get Stona for aiding healing jobs, but mainly the extra strat charge and reduced charge time would greatly aid jobs that currently sub it.

Summoner would become slightly more viable with more MP regeneration, Dark Knight better at attack, and Ranger better at aiding subs using it for weapon skills. Samurai gets an extra five Store TP, making X hit builds that much easier. Dragoon might open up new possibilities with Super Jump.

-

While I can't say no to more power offered like this (and for this alone, I think it is a good idea), I do think many people (primarily Red Mages and Black Mages) would complain endlessly about this, and "giving away their key job abilities!"

I like the possibilities that would be opened up from this, so I think it is a good idea.

[Asymptotic]

Composure sounds like one of those JAs that would be unavailable as a support job, just like Solace/Misery/Yonnin/Innin. It's hard to argue that level 100 would do anything for a specific support job because you never know what they might change around or restrict to main job only.