Hello,
Matsui here.
We are just a couple days away from the release of Seekers of Adoulin and the development team is putting on the finishing touches. (The main tasks being the testing and fixing of any bugs that were discovered by the dev or QA teams.)
However, there are a couple of things that I wanted to let you know ahead of time, so I broke free from the development tasks for a bit to write up this post.
First I would like to talk about missions and quests.
- Missions and Quests
One of the biggest requests we have received for the past couple years was to add quests that have a deep story and allow you to feel more of the world and lore, so for Seekers of Adoulin the entire event staff has been using all their power to respond to these requests. (The amount of materials for the new continent's lore is seriously huge.)
Due to the fact that the translation work volume is extremely large, there are some quests that had to be pushed back from the upcoming version update; however, I believe that there is still quite a large volume of quests to be implemented.
Also, with the version updates to take place after launch, we will be adding quests and putting material on topics to go along with the main story missions as they are added, and we are striving to make it so everyone can directly feel the world being pioneered and all the changes that take place.
Next, I would like to discuss the level design in Seekers of Adoulin. Equipment, content, and jobs are not something that we can separate from this, so I would like to explain our thoughts on this by including them all.
- Level Design of Seekers of Adoulin
For those players who have reached level 99, the main focus of growth is equipment. We envision a play cycle where players take on content with their current gear in order to collect equipment with better stats, and then take on more difficult content to procure even better equipment.
We are currently working to make it so there is a common gauge for equipment and content (let's call it content levels for the time being), and to create index data that will allow those who are implementing equipment and content to have a more objective understanding of the equipment stats and monster strength. Ultimately I would like to be able to release information indicating the content level to all of you adventurers. While this is still in a phase where work needs to be done, I'm getting the feeling that things are coming together bit by bit.
The parameters for monsters that await adventurers and pioneers have been decided by the above content levels and index data.
We've eased up on the AoE damage of monster's special attacks, and we've also eased up the status ailments from added effects so that they last for a maximum of 60 seconds. Also, we've made Amnesia and other difficult to cure status ailments have an even shorter effect duration.
In regards to the addition of two new jobs and the increasingly difficult job adjustments, I believe that making adjustments so that regardless of the enemy all jobs are able to deal the same damage or making adjustments so that regardless of the content all jobs can clear it using the same strategy are not fitting adjustments for a game with 22 jobs. Job adjustment is fundamentally content adjustment. For any content, if there are only enemies that are strong against magic, magic based jobs will no doubt take a hit. We will pay even more attention to whether the content that is implemented is open to all jobs and be more thorough in sharing information between the people who are implementing the content. We're aware that there are still some uneven aspects to strengths and weaknesses of certain jobs, but the job lead and those making content adjustments are aware that only modifying the job parameters will not accomplish this task, and will be continuing to make adjustments.
Once I start writing it often times gets quite long. If you are feeling tired while reading this, go ahead and take a break and come back later.
Moving on, I would like to talk about Seekers of Adoulin related content.
- Seekers of Adoulin Related Content
In regards to battle content, we will first be implementing Reives and Skirmish.
- Reives
Reives are essentially a means to pioneer. Battling with monsters who are in the way of pioneering and clearing out other natural obstructions to increase the colonization rate is a world-wide endeavor.
By increasing the colonization rate it will be possible to gain various boons such as making it easier to progress through areas and making it easier to gather materials.
Also, as an individual reward, you will gain points known as Bayld, which you can then use to exchange them for equipment and other things.
- Skirmish
Skirmish was shown the other day on YouTube Live and it is a type of end-game content. For the upcoming version update we have prepared two types of Skirmish. The difficulty is by no means low, and we've prepared fitting rewards, so if you have the confidence please try and take on the challenge.
We plan on expanding both of these contents as areas open up.
Also, we are working on developing content that a tier higher from Skirmish as well. This battle content is planned to expand with each version update.
- Mog Gardens
During VanaFest we showed off all of the content we felt we were going to be able to introduce, and many of you were hoping to be able to experience it when the expansion launches, but we plan on releasing the Mog Gardens content as Adoulin is colonized.
Content-wise there are a lot of aspects which require a lot of time for testing, but Fujito is working hard to deliver this content around summer time as planned. (Fujito plans on making a comment separately on this, so stay tuned.)
Finally, I would like to talk about some other content. While content listed below is not everything, I wanted to discuss some of the more noteworthy aspects.
- Play as a Monster
While Play as a Monster was originally being developed on a separate time schedule from Seekers of Adoulin, due to the fact that adjustments will be made to follow player growth post-Seekers of Adoulin, the speed of work on this has slowed down for the moment.
We are overcoming the technical hurdles one by one and are continuing to work on adjustments to fit Adoulin, so we would like to show it off on the Test Server or with a live stream when the time is right.
- Storage
We are working towards making it possible to use storage from all rental houses. While we are still performing testing, we are hoping to make it possible around the spring to summer time frame.
- Expansion of the range for party invites
Similar for this, we expect it to be around the spring to summer time frame. At the same time we are planning to expand party invites and the /yell feature to the Chocobo Circuit.
- Fishing
We expect fishing revamps to take place around the summer to fall time frame. We also plan on implementing this to the Test Server for you all to try out, and your cooperation would be most helpful.
- Synergy and Evolith
This is somewhat off in the future, but I feel revamps to this are necessary and have value. Once we are at the stage where we can let you know the specific plan we will inform you.