Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LV Digest (10/30/2019)

We are pleased to present the full digest of the Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LV!
If you missed the live stream, or if you just want to watch it again (and again), check it out below!

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https://sqex.to/wUcYt

* Don't forget to select 720p option to watch the video in HD!

Patch 5.1 Special Part 2
Continuing from the previous LIVE letter, we covered more of the upcoming content that will be implemented in Patch 5.1!

Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty Patch Trailer
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https://sqex.to/YRRHS

We kicked off the broadcast by revealing the trailer for Patch 5.1.

Upcoming Content and Features from Patch 5.1

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We went over the content that will be added in Patch 5.1.

The Blue Mage Log, which is being added in Patch 5.15, is a new type of content that requires a party that consists of only blue mages (without using undersized parties). The footage of the Singularity Reactor shown in the trailer is referring to this new content. We’ve prepared amazing rewards that you can be proud of, and the content itself is very entertaining, so we hope you’ll give it a try!

We also went over details on the following content, some of which includes gameplay footage.

New Extreme Trial - The Minstrel's Ballad: Hades's Elegy

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We showed gameplay footage of the early parts of the trial, which you can see in the video. The theatrics in the battle have made it longer than the typical Extreme trial. To balance it out, we’ve increased the rewards so you’ll receive two totems each time you complete the trial.

Job Adjustments

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Please refer to the job guide for additional job adjustment details. In this segment, we mainly explained the reasoning and direction we took for these job adjustments.

Ninja

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Ninja received many significant changes across the board.

Mudra and Ninjutsu were changed into GCD actions to preserve the playstyle of using Ninjutsu, while lowering the job’s busyness and reliance on low network latency.

Ninjutsu can no longer be weaved between weaponskills, which reduces the number of actions over time, but Ninjutsu potencies have been increased accordingly to balance the damage output.

Shadow Fang has also been changed to reduce busyness. It is no longer part of a combo and will now inflict a DoT by itself.

Trick Attack has been adjusted to balance out the increased personal damage, as well as improve its usability.

Ninja’s new playstyle can be seen in the video, so be sure to check it out!

Though it may take some time for long-time ninja players to adjust to these changes, we hope that you’ll be able to enjoy ninja’s new skill rotation, without the stress of excessive busyness!

Samurai

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Compared to Patch 5.08, samurai’s overall damage output has been increased through the changes to the Meditation status effect and usage requirements for Shoha.

You may notice that the potencies of some actions were reduced with this patch. Because the changes to Shoha increased samurai’s damage by too much, we balanced it out by lowering some other actions’ potencies.

Worry not, we assure you the adjustments have increased samurai’s damage output overall!

Summoner

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For many of the summoner adjustments, players may need to try them out themselves to see how they’ve changed.

Frequent use of pets is one of our core concepts of summoner in 5.0, and Egi Assault was made into an ability with that in mind. However, this caused excessive busyness for the job. As with ninja, Egi Assault has been changed into a GCD action to alleviate this. To put it into perspective, this removes about six actions in their opening rotation.

Certain actions with recast times that did not line up with their ideal usage timings were also adjusted.

Bard

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There were many varying opinions in the bard feedback that we received. For example, some players were fine with bard focusing on personal damage, while others asked for more party support in exchange for personal damage. Though we had an incredibly difficult time making a decision, in the end, we decided to keep as much of bard’s current personal damage as possible while adding support effects to their songs. (The effects are lower than what they were in the 4.x series.)

Any further increases to personal damage or party support would require a trade-off of the other, so we’d like to settle with the current balance for now.

Tank Role

The adjustments made to tank jobs mainly focus on improving their defensive abilities.

Monk

Monk’s damage output remains unchanged, but Mantra was slightly too powerful and has been adjusted.

Regarding how the DPS jobs were adjusted, the melee DPS were balanced around monk, while ranged and caster DPS were in turn balanced around melee DPS.

Dragoon

Adjustments were made to improve the job’s quality of life and damage output.

Machinist / Dancer

Adjustments to these two jobs were made to increase the overall damage output.

Red Mage

The adjustments to red mage are a direct increase in damage output. Because of Dualcast, red mage unlocks many of its actions at lower levels, making it difficult game balance-wise to increase the potencies of the spells themselves. Instead, the potencies were increased by adjusting the traits.

The changes to Acceleration are intended to make the opening rotation less affected by procs.

Black Mage

Black mage is currently very strong, so their effectiveness will not be changed. The only change is to Triplecast, which makes their remaining number of uses more obvious.

White Mage / Scholar

White mage and scholar mainly received quality of life adjustments.

Astrologian

MP consumption has been lowered, personal damage output has been increased, and Minor Arcana has been adjusted to reduce busyness. Additionally, changes such as Collective Unconscious adjustments have improved the effectiveness of damage reduction.

Crafting & Gathering Revamp

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As mentioned in the previous Letter from the Producer LIVE, Disciples of the Hand and Land will receive significant updates between Patches 5.1 and 5.2.

We showcased gameplay footage of the new recipe tree window. The recipe tree is a convenient new feature that displays the materials required to craft an item, as well as where to gather them!

As for crafting actions, many actions had similar effects, making it difficult to understand the crafting system. To improve this, many crafting actions were adjusted, changed, or removed in Patch 5.1.
We wanted players to be able to intuitively figure out what to do next during a crafting rotation, so effects of the actions were adjusted to be more understandable.

Currently, we believe many players simply copy and use a crafting macro they found online to craft an item, as they feel crafting actions are complicated to understand. This alone wouldn't be a healthy direction for a game, and also made it difficult to come up with challenging recipes or worthwhile content for crafters.

To address these concerns, we decided to revamp the system to make the crafting process more intuitive.

Of course, our aim isn’t to require all players to research the crafting system from scratch. Instead, we’d like to revamp the system to be enjoyable and understandable enough to follow along for anyone who may be interested in crafting.

There may be some inconveniences at first, such as old crafting macros becoming obsolete, but we ask for your understanding as we take our initial step towards making crafting and gathering more enjoyable.

The revamp will be continued in Patch 5.2.

Ishgard Restoration

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Ishgard Restoration is scheduled for Patch 5.11, and will periodically receive content updates in subsequent patches.

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Pictured above is the Firmament, the area you will be working together with other adventurers to restore. In Patch 5.11, you’ll start off the restoration by putting together a base of operations for workers.

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In the second image, the gauge displayed at the top of the Skybuilder’s Board shows the progress of the restoration. This will gradually fill as adventurers turn in specified collectables. When the gauge is completely filled, it’s time for concerted works!

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Concerted works are a cooperative activity where you’ll be working together with other players on your World. These are similar to FATEs; however, you can confirm the starting time beforehand and anyone can participate as long as their class is set to Disciple of the Hand or Land classes, regardless of their level.

As a reward for contributing to the restoration, you’ll obtain tickets which you can exchange for various items. The video shows some of the hairstyles and other items you can obtain through tickets.

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We also will be adding scratch-off tickets, which are planned for implementation in Patch 5.2. Additionally, Diadem will be revamped into instanced content for gatherers.

New GATE – The Slice is Right

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Put simply, it’s a mini-game where you avoid falling stalks of bamboo as Yojimbo cuts them down. There will also be intermission phases where you can earn additional MGP!

Check out the video for gameplay footage of this new GATE!

New Tribe Quests - Pixies

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We've applied the quest sync, an automatic level adjustment system to the tribe quests so you can use them to level up your secondary jobs.

Additionally, the Pixie tribe area will be quite photogenic, and we encourage you to take various screenshots there using the group pose feature!

Gameplay footage of the Pixie tribe area can be seen in the video, so be sure to check it out!

PvP Updates

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As we wanted to preserve the sense of community within PvP, we had allowed for up to eight party members to register together for Frontline. However, we received a lot of feedback that pre-made parties were too powerful, and the current matching system is bringing in many participants, so party size for registering for a duty has been limited to four players.

Adjustments were also made to Battle High, which now increases the damage dealt and potency of healing actions, which should create a thrilling battle experience.

Onsal Hakair (Danshig Naadam)

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This new Frontline ruleset is best explained as a new map for Seal Rock. In Seal Rock, teams fight to retrieve data from Allagan tomestones, but Onsal Hakair (Danshig Naadam) focuses on fighting to claim the ovoo that appear in the battlefield.

Once an ovoo has been claimed, it will be rendered inaccessible, meaning that there’s no need to defend an ovoo after it’s been claimed. This causes the state of the battlefield to constantly change, and you can expect many brawls to break out!

Onsal Hakair is planned for Patch 5.15, so even if you’re new to PvP, we recommend you give it a try after you’ve finished the main scenario quests and alliance raid.

And yes, we’ve also prepared new reward mounts!

New Game+

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We showcased the New Game+ feature using gameplay footage. Please refer to the patch notes for additional details.

As mentioned in the previous Letter from the Producer LIVE, the main scenario quests for A Realm Reborn will be adjusted, so we’ll be including it in New Game+ after that has taken place.

We also have future plans to gradually add other story quests, such as the Crystal Tower series and job quests.

The Copied Factory

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We showed off a sneak peek of the beginning of the Copied Factory, the first installment of the new alliance raid dungeon, YoRHA: Dark Apocalypse! Please look forward to the story and battles that will be taking place here!

You may notice YOKO TARO’s attention to detail, such as the music changing when the first player reaches a specific area on the map, or purposefully removing the music from certain locations.

The Epic of Alexander (Ultimate)

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We showed off gameplay footage of the entrance cutscene.

This fearsome battle is jam packed with various mechanics that were seen in the Alexander series!

If you’re planning to try it out, we recommend that you challenge it at a comfortable pace! And as usual, we’ve prepared special weapons and titles as rewards.

Even if you aren’t going in yourself, you can still join the excitement by watching groups competing for world first, or solving the mechanics that appear in the encounter! So once again, please look forward to it!