Greetings,

To coincide with the February 2016 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.

Quote Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui View Post

Matsui here.
Thanks for tuning into Freshly Picked Vana’diel.

This was the first version update of 2016, and during the broadcast we talked about the content as well as various other information.

For those of you who were unable to tune in, or for those of you who want to take a look at the content again, I’ve put together a digest of the show.



Table of Contents:
Fujito joined us on the stream once again, and Itani from the Community Team went blond to really make a statement for the first stream of the year.
  • Relic, Mythic, Empyrean, and Ergon Weapon Reforging
    (1:55～)
    A quest was added to reforge relic, mythic, empyrean, and ergon weapons. In order to accept the quest, you need to have reforged your weapon to item level 119. By completing the quest, you’ll be able to evolve your weapon to an even more powerful form.

    The damage value, combat skills, aftermath effect, and other aspects have been adjusted, and the stats have become worthy of saying that the weapons are in their final forms. Additionally, after reforging bows and guns, you will be able to dispense special ammunition by using the enchantment.

    (4:45～)
    By the way, if you’re curious, the following is a list of the aftermath effects for the reforged relic weapons.
    • Relic Weapon Aftermaths
      Item Name Aftermath Effect After Reforging
      Spharai Subtle Blow +10, Kick attacks +15
      Mandau Critical hit rate +5%, Critical damage +5%
      Excalibur Regen 30 HP/3 sec, Refresh 3 MP/3 sec
      Ragnarok Critical hit rate +10%, Accuracy +15
      Guttler Attack +10%, Pet attack +10%
      Bravura Damage taken -20, Regen 15 HP/3 sec
      Apocalypse Haste +10 (Ability-type), Accuracy +15
      Gungnir Shock Spikes, Attack +5%, Double Attack +5%
      Kikoku Subtle Blow +10, Attack +10%
      Amanomurakumo Store TP +10, Zanshin +10
      Mjollnir Accuracy +20, Magic Accuracy +20, Refresh 5 MP/3 sec
      Claustrum Damage taken -20, Refresh 15 MP/3 sec
      Yoichinoyumi Ranged Accuracy +30, Snapshot +5
      Annihilator Enmity -25, Ranged Attack +10%
      In regards to the aftermath effect for Gungnir, we wanted to leave that lightning-like bite to it, and turned it into what it is currently.
  • Unity: Wanted
    (12:14～)
    New notorious monsters have been added to Gustav Tunnel, Fei’Yin, and Cape Terrigan. Each of these monster’s behavior was created by different staff than the monsters up until now.

    The goblin that can be found in Gustav Tunnel has some new mechanics that haven’t been seen before. All three of these notorious monsters will put up a nice fight, so be sure to give them a try.
  • Geas Fete
    (14:06～)
    We’ve adjusted the size of the combat zone for Geas Fete based on the feedback we received on the forums.

    Originally the size of the content zone for confrontation-type battles was a decided value; however, we made some special adjustments for this.

    To start off we temporarily made the combat zone smaller, and sought feedback to find out which aspects were troublesome. As a result, comments were mentioning that overall there were no inconveniences with this, and we decided to implement the very first option we gave in the survey conducted on this issue: “Only adjust the size of the battle area for the area around Eschan Portal #9 in Reisenjima.”
  • Domain Invasion
    (16:25～)
    Many adventurers had been talking about Spike Flail. Simply removing this attack would cause an increase in the use of other special abilities causing an overall increase in difficulty, so instead of doing this we made adjustments to tone down the strength of it. Please let us know your thoughts on this adjustment.
  • Directly Picked Vana’diel
    (18:02～)
    In this segment, which utilizes the survey feature of Nico Nico Live Broadcasting, the development team directly explains certain tidbits of knowledge that may be common knowledge to some, yet a mystery to others.

    (18:47～)
    Question 1: When fighting King Behemoth, do you rely on Treasure Hunter?
    We received the following answers to the survey:
    1. 55.6%: As much as I can with thief as my main job.
    2. 11.5%: As much as I can with thief as my support job and Treasure Hunter equipment.
    3. 19.9%: No.
    4. 13.0%: Never fought King Behemoth.
    While I’m divulging specifics about the workings of the system, there are portions of the reward slots that are not affected by the effect of Treasure Hunter.

    Specifically in regards to King Behemoth, one of the reward slots will be either the Pixie Earring or Defending Ring, and Treasure Hunter has not effect on this.


    (27:42～)
    Question 2: Of the following items, which one of them has a synthesis recipe?
    We received the following answers to the survey:
    1. 15.1%: Mochi for each of the races
    2. 13.3%: Olde Rarab Tail
    3. 46.4%: Pickled Rarab Tail
    4. 25.2%: Mithran Rice Cake
    The answer is Pickled Rarab Tail. This is an item that was created by Fujito and Mocchi from the Community Team. When Mocchi was in charge of player events and wedding event support, he felt it was quite funny changing into the figure of an elderly man and walking around, and we ended up implementing it after looking into whether we could do this.

    Here’s the recipe:
    Dark crystal, Rarab tail, Mhaura garlic, Kazham pepper, Kitron, Sea Foliage, Rock Salt, Smooth Stone, Water Barrel
    You’ll need to be at the expert level in cooking to make it.

    (39:14～)
    Question 3: Which of the following heroines is the youngest?
    We received the following answers to the survey:
    1. 59.1%: Iroha
    2. 8.3%: Arciela
    3. 6.5%: Prishe
    4. 26.1%: Aphmau
    The correct answer is Aphmau who is 15 years old. Iroha has been training with her master for over 14 years, so you can add about 2-4 years on to that for her age. Arciela is 18.

    We first started setting specific ages from Treasures of Aht Urhgan. Since we were introducing a new country, in order to create a proper history we felt it necessary to set an elaborate timeline.

    For some reason this conversation turned into a story about my high school days, but this is just the digest, I will spare you the details on that one.

    Oh, and if you want to know how old Shantotto is, she is… ack… I can’t seem to… mov…!
  • What If Vana’diel…
    (49:11～)
    Shirai from the PR and Marketing Team joined the stream for this segment where we explored aspects of Vana’diel that could have been.

    (49:54～)
    What if #1: Lion was supposed to be the final boss.

    When we were first developing the game, we created various storylines, and this was one of them. This was an idea created by the scenario lead at the time, Kato.

    The whole reason this idea came up was part of the movement to invigorate the starting areas that players would leave after leveling up. The idea was that Vana’diel has alternate dimensions, and the starting areas would be overrun by high level monsters.

    We used this idea for Dynamis and A Crystalline Prophecy.

    (55:32～)
    What if #2: Relic weapons were supposed to break.

    Originally, weapons were supposed to break as you use them. I wasn’t the one who suggested this, and in fact, I was one of the people against it.

    There were concerns that if weapons and armor did no break that there would be distribution-related issues, and because of this we had been talking about a breaking element.

    At that time, we anticipated it would take one year to complete a relic weapon. Imagining that something like that could break was just a bit too much.

    (59:05～)
    What if #3: Cid was supposed to be a Unity leader.

    Unity leaders are fundamentally the famous NPCs of Vana’diel. Valeriano, Octavien, and other NPCs were also possible candidates at one time.

    Unfortunately, when considering the balance between jobs, race, and gender, Cid was not selected.
  • Announcements
    (1:01:01～)
    We’re holding a large number of campaigns and events both in the game and outside of it. Be sure to check out the schedule.

    Valentione’s Day
    (Friday, February 5, 2016 at 12:00 a.m. (PST) to Friday, February 19 at 6:59 a.m.)
    If there are any items you weren’t able to get last year, this is a great opportunity to grab them.

    Vana’diel Rainbow Campaign
    (Tuesday, February 9 at 11:00 p.m. (PST) to Tuesday, February 16 at 6:59 a.m.)
    This is a large campaign that we will be holding that spans seven weeks.
    We’re already in the midst of part one with the first week, and part two is kicking off today. Hopefully all the bonuses come in handy for your adventures.
    →Announcing the Second Week of the Vana'diel Rainbow Campaign!
  • Future Plans
    • Mounts
      (1:09:38～)
      During the stream we introduced new mounts other than chocobos. It’s taking us a bit of time to make adjustments to the movement when mounted, but we’re working hard to implement these as soon as we can.
    • Mog Courtyard
      (1:21:20～)
      We’ll be implementing a new option to the “Remodel” section of the Mog House menu—the Mog Courtyard. We showed this off a bit during the stream, and we’re also planning to implement new furnishings meant for the outdoors.
    • Job and Battle Balance
      (1:26:25～)
      In the February version update we made beneficial changes to the damage caps. However, we’re not stopping the adjustments. We’re aware that the end-game content requires a high amount of accuracy, and we’ll be testing this carefully moving forward, making adjustments bit by bit.
    • Domain Invasion Adjustments
      (1:27:11～)
      We’re aware that it’s currently difficult to see announcements for Domain Invasion if you can’t check Unity chat. We’ll be making adjustments to the respawn times of these notorious monsters.
  • Wrap-up
    (1:29:42～)
    On Thursday, March 31, we will be ending service for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. We’ll be continuing service for the Windows version, so we are currently looking into plans for migration.

    The next version update is scheduled for April, and I’ll see you during Freshly Picked Vana’diel!