Letter from the Producer LIVE XLII Digest (2/27/2018)

[Fazraye]

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


http://sqex.to/QBH

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

Regarding Patch 4.2
We answered questions that were gathered from the forum regarding Patch 4.2.

0:01:36
Q: On the day of patch release, it was difficult to participate in instanced battles due to congestion.
Are you planning for any counter-measures to mitigate the congestion, such as moving instanced battles to the end of the quest series?

A: We apologize that we had to undergo emergency maintenance on the day of the patch release.

In Patch 4.0 there was a similar issue with instanced battle congestion, and to players it may have seemed that the same issue was being repeated. We had measures in place for Patch 4.2 based on our previous experience; unfortunately, due to human error, there were congestion issues with instanced battles again.

Instanced battle quests are intended to provide additional immersion into the story, so we would like to carefully examine where in the scenario the battles should take place. We will also continue to take measures against congestion so that players will be able to participate in the instances on the day of patch release.

0:05:34
Q: While there were adjustments for all three tank jobs, we still think that paladin is the most efficient of the three. Will there be increases to warrior and dark knight’s support abilities and DPS?

A: Party supporting abilities are a part of the job’s identity, so we won’t make adjustments that will allow using actions with similar effect across all jobs.

0:06:45
Q: The adjustment made to dark knight’s The Blackest Night ability was nice; however the effects of Dark Passenger and Shadow Wall feel low compared to the MP cost and length of the recast time. I would like to see dark knight’s defensive properties expanded.

A: Since the major adjustments to warrior, the development team has received requests to adjust dark knight.

Looking at the usage rates of each job within the tank role, we believe that the balance between them is currently quite even, so we are carefully considering how we should adjust dark knight.

Content is balanced around the recast time of buffs, so a reduction in recast time may not always lead to strengthening the job.

Dark knight is under careful consideration at the moment, so please wait a bit longer.

0:08:22
Q: For tank accessories, it seems much more useful to meld Direct Hit onto the new crafted accessories than using accessories obtained from the new tokens and Savage raid. Are there any plans to adjust the stats on the accessories in the future?

A: We believe the issue here is that the first groups of players trying to complete the raids quickly are in favor of pushing their DPS. Also, by the time players are able to obtain Savage accessories, their item level would probably have increased, so at that point, it’s up to the individual to consider to continue using DPS-focused gear.

We have received some suggestions that tanks should not receive any effects from Direct Hit. We understand the sentiment on this will be split, so we are carefully discussing this at the moment.

0:09:47
Q: Do you have any plans to buff or provide support abilities for jobs that didn’t receive any adjustments in Patch 4.2 such as samurai and red mage?

A: We have no plans to make any adjustments to red mage at this time. We believe increasing red mage’s DPS while retaining its current abilities would cause a disruption to balance.

Since the buffs to monk, players have been asking for some sort of buff to samurai. Keeping in mind the concept of the job, instead of adding party support abilities, we are considering an increase in samurai’s personal DPS.

0:10:46
Q: After the recent changes, black mage became much smoother to play!
Some party support abilities would complete the adjustment, are there any plans to add any or make adjustments to do this?

A: We believe everyone is very focused on their main job right now. However, we’re making sure that each job feels different to play, so we do not have any plans to add any new support abilities to black mage in the 4.x series. As with samurai, we believe jobs with high DPS are supporting their party by dealing high damage.

Also, there seems to be a trend where players believe they are at a disadvantage when there is a certain job in the raid. There won’t be a major advantage or disadvantage no matter what setup you have. This type of trend gives a negative impression to specific jobs. We would appreciate if the community would stop being swayed by this trend.

0:13:04
Q: Do you have plans to add a system that would allow glamour stored in the dresser to be used through the previous glamour method without the use of a plate?

A: We are currently receiving many calls from players saying they converted the wrong gear. Converted items are not gone completely, they can still be used as glamour. You will be unable to equip them, but if you are using the item for glamouring purposes only, then it’s safe to convert them into glamour.

We may change or adjust how converted items cannot be used as normal gear; however, it may affect inventory size, so we haven’t decided on this yet.

We’re also developing a system that’ll allow glamouring directly using the items stored inside the dresser.

0:16:25
Q: Do you have any plans to increase the amount of items that can be stored inside the glamour dresser, or add more glamour plates?

A: Adding more glamour plates is possible, but it would increase the amount of data passing through the network, which would increase the chances of the servers going down. If we are to increase the number of glamour plates, there is a need for us to carefully look at everyone’s data.

We also have to choose between increasing the areas in which the plates can be applied, and increasing the amount of plates. At the moment we’re currently looking to increase the number of plates available, but we would like to slowly increase the areas where plates can be applied as well. We will be looking at player comments to determine the balance between the two.

0:19:14
Q: Would it be possible to add optional items, such as Yda or Aymeric’s outfit to the armoire or Calamity Salvager?

A: Calamity Salvagers check the character’s achievements for reclaimable items, so it would be difficult to include optional items as they do not have achievements tied to them.

As such, we’re looking to address this via the armoire, but as this requires changing item data, this will take some time. Please wait a bit more.

0:20:41
Q: The dye information is lost when storing items in the armoire, making it hard to store items that are dyed rare colors. Would it be possible to retain the dye information for items stored inside the armoire?

A: In order to store as many items as possible in the armoire, we conserve space by cutting down on as much stored item data as possible. By including dye data, the amount of data required increases dramatically, and so we have no plans to address this at the moment. We will instead be increasing the amount of items that can be stored in the armoire.

0:21:59
Q: To accommodate new players, cutscenes in Castrum Meridianum and The Praetorium main scenario dungeons cannot be skipped now. Are there any other dungeons or trials that are scheduled to be adjusted like this?

A: We stopped including cutscenes within content, so we don’t feel we need to make further changes. Alliance raids may be adjusted in some fashion. We feel that the rewards for Castrum Meridianum and The Praetorium aren’t balanced enough, so we’re planning to enhance the rewards.

0:22:51
Q: In the Jade Stoa (Extreme), there’s a strategy where you use tank limit break to ignore the second Roar of Thunder, but did the dev. team plan for this strategy?

A: We did not foresee this. Like the meteor phase in the Second Coil of Bahamut – Turn 4, we are happy that players have found a strategy that even the dev. team did not foresee to cleanly solve the mechanic.

However, if you’re going to use tank limit break in the Jade Stoa (Extreme), we recommend to discuss with your group beforehand.

0:25:29
Q: How do you feel about the current progression of Omega: Sigmascape compared to what was originally assumed by the development team?

A: Many more players than expected cleared Omega: Deltascape (Savage), and we are seeing the amount of players who are participating in Omega: Sigmascape (Savage) has also increased. We’re streaming during the second week of its release and there seemed to be many players who were working on clearing Savage v3.0. Please enjoy the content at your own pace, and don’t feel rushed to clear.

0:27:07
Q: For the Marid mount that can be obtained through the Ananta beast tribe quests, could you add an effect to the feet while in the air, to emphasize that it’s flying, similar to the Fenrir mount?

A: Personally, I wanted some sort of effect as well. However, due to the amount of resources required, adding effects to all flying mounts would lower the amount of mounts we can implement. It will be difficult to take on all requests, but I will put in some feedback regarding the Marid.

0:28:10
Q: The characters really stood out in the Ananta beast tribe quests, which made it really fun.
I’m looking forward to the next beast tribe quest series, but will we see Namazu or Lupin?

A: The next beast tribe will be Disciples of the Land/Hand specific.
While I can’t go into specific details just yet, popular characters will be involved and we believe it’ll be exciting. You may see some characters that were involved in the main scenario as well, so please look forward to it!

0:29:10
Q: In Triple Triad, even if we’re able to collect rare cards, because there are limitations for the card set up, we are limited in the cards we can use. Would you consider easing up on these limitations?

A: We’re discussing how to ease up on the limitations.
We haven’t decided when to implement adjustments, so please wait a bit more.

0:29:50
Q: It can be quite difficult to locate the minion I would like to summon as there are quite a lot of them now. I would like to see some adjustments made, such as making tabs for each type, to make it easier to find the minion!

A: We’re having the UI team look into this, and we’re considering some type of adjustment.
If you have any ideas or suggestions, please leave some feedback on the forums.

0:30:56
Q: You’re able to participate in the Fashion Report from level 15, but is it possible to get a high score with just low level gear?

A: It’s not always necessarily possible to get a high score at lower levels. It’s not suitable for everyone, but we implemented Fashion Report as means for players to want to start glamouring.

In terms of MGP rewards, you may think there’s no reason to get higher than 80 points, but for new players who just started their adventure, we would like them to feel that they’ll be able to enjoy glamouring as their levels increase.

As a side note, there were three players who were able to get a perfect score of 100 for the first week’s theme.

0:32:18
Q: it’s become difficult to complete various large-scale FATEs because the number of participants has decreased. Do you have any plans to give incentives to players by adding rewards, or adjusting the strength of the boss?

A: We believe adding rewards would make players feel that they need to complete the same objectives again, so we are planning to make adjustments to their strength.

0:32:42
Q: When can we exchange 99 totems to obtain the mounts from Susano and Lakshmi?

A: This will be implemented in Patch 4.25.

0:33:17
Q: When will fishers receive a new secondary tool? Compared to other Disciples of the Land, their stats are lower because of the secondary tool. I’m looking forward to a secondary tool with strong stats.

A: We balance fishers without including the stats on the secondary tool.
Also, the durability of the secondary tool will also drop while fishing, so to compensate for this, we have added GP.

0:34:24
Q: Do you have plans to introduce mounts that seat four to eight players?

A: We may implement this sometime in the future.

0:34:53
Q: Do you have plans to expand on the stats of the chocobo companion?

A: The coding for the companion system is quite complex, while we would like to introduce additions and adjustments, we will need more time to address this little by little.

0:35:52
Q: It’s starting to become difficult to find new emotes in the long list. Would it be possible to make it visually easier to find them, such as adding “New!” next to them?

A: The UI team is currently looking into this.

0:36:43
Q: Could you let us know the status of the mobile app?

A: We’re looking into releasing it by Patch 4.3, and we hope to show this in a future Letter from the Producer Live. The app is tied to in-game data using a large-scale server, so we’re carefully preparing the final tests.

Other Questions
1:23:19
We answered some questions we received from attendees of the event that were not directly related to Patch 4.2.

Q: It’s difficult to catch an octopus in-game, which means I’m not able to make takoyaki.

A: We’ll make adjustments so you can fish up more octopuses.

Q: Do you have plans to introduce mannequins as furnishing?

A: We’re working on implementing these.

Q: Do you have plans to add any Alpha merchandise?

A: We should have some plans. You’ll find out more about Alpha in the story later, so please look forward to it!

Q: Would it be possible to load locations from specific content to use with group pose?

A: We currently have no plans to load locations you visited in the past as backgrounds to take screenshots. However, we would like to make it possible to add locations that you were able to visit only once.

Q: Would it be possible to play old FF games from the toy box?

A: Systematically it may not be impossible; however, there are matters related to rights, so I cannot promise anything. Personally, I would like to do something for the games that we pay homage to, like with Return to Ivalice, which are hard to play on current game systems.


The Forbidden Land of Eureka - Anemos

During the broadcast, we showed gameplay of The Forbidden Land of Eureka.
We explained details regarding the area and its unique elemental battle system, so be sure to check out the video.


0:38:45
Upgrading Eureka weapons are connected to a side story in the Forbidden Land of Eureka, so they are not a requirement to explore and experience the content.



Elemental level caps will be increased when we add the next Eureka in the future.


For those of you playing a healer job, we ask you to resurrect any KO’d players you may come across. However, for those of you playing solo, the field is pretty large, so if you are KO’d in deep parts of the field by yourself, it may be hard for other people to rescue you.


During the broadcast, we showed some of the details covered in previous slides using live gameplay in the fields of Eureka.
0:48:45

• The map of Eureka is large, similar to an open field. You’ll also find an Aetheryte in Eureka.
• You will not be able to ride any mounts until you complete your exploration.
• In order to make it easier to play solo, there are shops that sells items which may be useful during battles in the area.
• By targeting a monster, you’ll be able to check their element. In addition, the Magia board will display the element strong against that enemy offensively and defensively.
• Spinning the Magia board will allow you to switch your elemental affinities. There is a cost required to rotate the board, but that cost will be recovered over time. You can also recover this cost by touching the Magia melder located at the base.
• Furthermore, the Magia melder can adjust how many Magicites are assigned to each attribute. You’ll need to decide how you would like to distribute the Magicite carefully based on your own role, number of party members, and their structure.
• Notorious monsters may appear under certain conditions and these monsters will drop rare items. The contribution to the fight works the same way as FATEs so all players participating in the fight will receive the right to obtain a reward.
• Assigning yourself the “looking for party” status, others will be able to search for you through the player search feature. You can use it to seek players with similar elemental levels as yourself on the spot.
• Monsters within Eureka are very tough, and it’ll be important to think of elemental relationships during battle. Compared to monsters encountered outside of Eureka, monsters within Eureka will follow you for a much longer distance, so it’ll be very difficult to shake them off.

Eureka Gear and Weapons
1:03:50


We’re planning to add new ways to upgrade the gear and weapons as we introduce new parts of Eureka in the future. Eureka introduces a brand-new system, so we made it straightforward this time for upgrading the equipment.


Players will receive AF3 (job-specific equipment) weapons with special effects, and gear that are dyeable as a reward.


Items earned through notorious monsters include gear designs that FFXI players may be familiar with, and gear that players wanted the role restrictions to be removed from. There’s also a feature similar to the lockboxes which offer random item.



We pushed back the release of Eureka to Patch 4.25 so it can be played once everyone has nearly completed gathering their token gear and defeated the raids. Eureka involves exploration, weapon upgrades, rare item collection, and can be enjoyed by players with varying play styles, so please look forward to it!


Special Guest Section
Guest: Sound Director Masayoshi Soken

1:31:28
Q: In the past you mentioned that when you made the music for Costa Del Sol, you put some breath mints inside an empty cup noodle container and shook that to make the sound. I would like to know if there were any other unique stories similar to this one!

A: From 4.0, there have been lots of tribal-like instruments, and there’s an NPC in Azim Steppe that is playing a matouqin. For this sound I used an old Japanese stringed instrument called kokyu and tweaked the sound a bit.

1:33:14
Q: I would like to know the lyrics for the Jade Stoa.

A: The lyrics were written by the Lore team, Oda for the Japanese lyrics, and Michael-Christopher Koji Fox wrote the English lyrics.

1:34:49
Q: I really liked the arranged version of the FFVI songs featured in Omega: Sigmascape. Could you let us know what kind of difficulties you had, or anything you were particular about?

A: There are many arranged songs in FFXIV, but I believe it’s much more difficult to arrange a song than making a new one. For Sigmascape, we’re using songs from FFVI, but we had to look into the time it took for the battle to see how long the song should be arranged for. We also made sure to make the songs true to their original versions, while arranging it to match the current generation.

1:36:11
Q: I like the song which plays in the Ananta beast tribe quest. What did you have in mind when creating this song?

A: My colleague composed that song. I believe they are excellent melody makers.

1:36:45
Q: Is that actually the sound of a steam whistle used by the Phantom Train in Sigmascape V1.0?

A: When we use a real sound, we use a company that specialize in recording sounds from real life. For the Phantom Train, the actual whistle sound was used. We combined several whistles together. Not only for this sound, but whenever we use sounds from real life, the staff from the Sound Editing team makes adjustments to them to match the game.

1:38:39
Q: When are you planning to release the Stormblood soundtrack? I’m looking forward to it!

A: I has been six months since Patch 4.0 was released, but during that time we continued to develop the soundtrack. I believe we can make it sometime this summer; however, there’s so much in there that it won’t fit in one disc already, so we’re currently looking into ways to keep it as a single disc. We’ll be sure follow-up on this once we have the release date, so please wait just a bit longer.

1:40:25
Q: I would like to play 4.0 songs with a piano. Do you have plans to release the piano score?

A: So far we’ve released two piano scores for FFXIV, but they’re sold out and hard to get. The demand for them has increased since we introduced the Performance feature, so we decided to restock them. The music sheets are made so it’s easy for those who are beginners or intermediates, so I believe it should be easy to use with the Performance feature.

1:43:55
Q: I like the Metal song from Alexander. Do you have plans to add hard rock songs similar to this one in future trials and raids?

A: That’s really dependent on the type of content.

1:44:41
Q: What are your musical roots? Who is your favorite musician?

A: I’m not sure about the roots, but both my parents were into music, so it’s probably from there. As for my favorite musician, I like Rage Against the Machine. Recently I’ve been listening to Cymbals, and various other music. I love rock music, and love classical music as well.

1:45:56
Q: Please let me know if you have plans to change any of the other existing mount music. Also, do you have plans to add more variations for the general mount music?

A: I understand there’s a request to change the BGM from the general songs, but for mounts that may have split opinions on which BGM to use, we use the general one. We’ll continue to consider changing the BGM based on everyone’s feedback, but the amount of data we can apply to mount BGM is also becoming very tight, so please understand that it’ll be difficult to answer all the requests.

1:48:54
Q: I loved the orchestra concert! Do you have plans to do a live concert for the PRIMALS as well?

A: We’ll be releasing our very first CD album “The PRIMALS” and we’ll be going on a live tour in Japan, and also planning one in Seoul, Korea.

The Eorzean Symphony orchestra concert for our North American and European players have been finalized as well! The concert will be held in Los Angeles, California, and Dortmund, Germany. For Los Angeles, we’ll be performing at the Dolby Theatre known for hosting the Academy Awards!