May 2019 FINAL FANTASY XI Digest

YES!!, thank you. this is really amazing to see the game increasing even now. I would like to offer some suggestions!
On our combat skills, when I equip a weapon, like say a dagger with +246 dagger skill and +246 parry. My skill list indicates my parry increasing, yet my dagger skill remains the same. I'm sure it does increase, though is this a glitch or just missing update for weapons? I would like to know for certain that I am getting my skill increases.

Update monk: One thing I noticed is that nearly every class has some access to an off hand weapon. Either Dual wield, or a strap. That increases amount of attacks or benefits 2-handed weapons. Sure monk is a 2 hand held weapon. Though they don't get any addition benefits as they cannot use straps or anything else in offhand slot. I ask if Enabling straps for use for monks in off hand could be possible or a special item that can be added for that slot.
Also many people prefer other DD's over monk due to various reasons. I would like to see monk abilities get other adjustments that can hinder foes in ways that could be beneficial. Either similar to merited Chi Blast. Though more along the lines of Preventing enemy abilities(Amnesia?), stop spell casting for a time(silence) or even crippling defense(similar to def down by %? through a skill perhaps similar to counterstance, get great opportunity at a severe cost)
Maybe even allow sub SCH to make an AoE of Mantra, Focus, Ect. Something That could make Monk beneficial to the party then just another plain DD. Heck if it required an item to do any of this or boost party in some way besides just health.
Of course its starting to sound more like a Support job though Pure DD would need some adjustments to WS's in some way or synergy with a sub job that works best for certain mobs? (Such as higher intimation rates or resistance to enfeebling spells. vs that mob)

MERGE ALL SERVERS Down to 5(?)

More Augments for More Items not just REMA or High tier gear. Give options for lower items to be augmented with any relevant ability that may prove useful (EXP: Rajas ring[old not to valuable anymore] can be augmented with method similar to Monisette with relics, or any other NPC that deals with similar items) something that though its decent but could be better, if that's all we got why not augment with something to make it more viable until we can (if we can) get something truly better. I wouldn't mind being able to do this with my SnowTip stones or Through orboro with plutons , ect.
different augment for REMA. as many items that are somewhat easier to obtain or nearly similar damage output are available. Why not add other options such as Hp drain, Tp drain, Paralysis, "killer" effects, or some other status ailment with a 1% (?) proc rate available to be augmented to ONLY REMA and changeable at double the cost of original augment.

Perhaps give Trust Additional Abilities Based on their Level Above 119 (with completion of quest that allows for this). EXP: party of 4 PC's and 2 trust, each trust should be lvl 123 , one being a DD(tenzen?) other Healer(kupipi?) both have greater access to abilities, spells, weaponskills, their respective Job would.

release full synergy info for trust. it would change whom many would use for the better understanding of how they can be used in fights.

HD DLC! its common now, if its a separate Install file or Disc that does nothing more then improves graphics fidelity, screen response(refresh) rate. or a complete over haul of many key maps/dungeons/areas. Then totally worth price for DLC.

Just keep up great work, thank you. Excellent game, beat all the other main title entries. I want to beat this one.

thnxxxxxxxxx

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MERGE ALL SERVERS Down to 5(?)

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I'm against server merges. I'm actually quite happy with the state of my server, where I rarely have to wait more than a few seconds to get into ambuscade, and there's still enough people around to get help for stuff. Most people are at endgame, so the likelyhood of common interest in an activity is high, particularly if it's relevant to an active campaign. I don't want to be folded into some other community I don't know anyone in. I can still recognize the names of tons of people on Shiva, even those I've never directly interacted with, both Japanese and English. Some people like the quieter servers, which offer the perks of always being able to find camp spots and less RMT presence.

All I think they should do is lower the cost and eliminate gil restrictions of server transfers, but lock down asura, since from what I hear, there is a wait for many contents on that server (which is bigger than shiva ever was even in the heyday).

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Originally Posted by Amarok

Thank you for starting this video digest series, it is most welcome.

If possible can you update us on the issue of lag in Dynamis D since the introduction of the equipment rank point counters? This is the only part of the game where lag is seriously detrimental to playability on a regular basis, and seems to be server side lag.

It is possible this lag is only felt by the NA / European players to this large extent given that the network round trip is so much further from Japan. It is such an issue that players are having to adapt their play style around the delays (avoiding gear changes, not running too far without waiting for statues to load in front of them etc). I worry that the fact this issue has gone on for so long without corrective action is because either you are not aware of it, or are unwilling to fix it.

Please look into this as Dyna D is still the main event to keep us in the game currently, and I'm sure many are fed up with how it kills the enjoyment.

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While I understand the frustration; and considering this is the first video of a new series--so we have yet to determine it's core information as its "new" to us... can we at least start out without a "Thank you for this starting...video digest series..." BUT... begins gripe.

Perhaps the gripe is valid; my point is "save it" for a future post... kinda kills the "thank you".

Cheers

Square Enix Thank YOU for continuing to develop support and service FFXI! FFXI players enjoy so much about FFXI and we're active in FFXI because we truthfully believe FFXI has fantastically constructed design at it's core in terms of a MMORPG.

::: Let me address the modern changes as far as my personal perception of them.

Mnk > Dreary - Solution > Remove current job trait for subtle blow. Add new job trait potentially named "Battle Force" creates tiers of I to XI same as old job trait subtle blow and will continue to provide the subtle blow effect as it currently is and in addition will increase auto attack damage and weapon skill damage without any weaponry type penalty as follows. Tier I - auto attack dmg +7%, WS dmg +5%, Tier II auto attack dmg +8%, WS dmg +7%, Tier III auto attack dmg +9%, WS dmg +9%, Tier IV auto attack dmg +10%, WS dmg +10%, Tier V auto attack dmg +11% WS dmg +10%, Tier VI auto attack dmg +12%, WS dmg +11%, Tier VII auto attack dmg +13%, WS dmg +11%, Tier VIII auto attack dmg +14%, WS dmg +12%, Tier IX auto attack dmg +15%, WS dmg +12%, Tier X auto attack dmg +16% WS dmg +13%, Tier XI auto attack dmg +17% WS dmg +13%. Itemization; on the MNK relic body add new effect that reduces the recast timer of Formless Strikes ability by 5 mins (300 seconds)

Whm > Well done! One objection being the natural recast timer on Esuna preferably set somewhere between 15 and 25 seconds due to the loss of the area of effect utility.

Rdm > Well done! Dia+Bio adjustment recommendation > decouple these and allow both spells to be active simultaneously on enemy without limitations.

Rng > Dreary - Solution > Dead Aim retains all it's existing values + Add archery skill increase corresponding to Dead Aim job trait as follows; Tier I +15 archery skill, Tier II +20 archery skill, Teir III +25 archery skill, Teir IV +30 archery skill, Teir V +35 archery skill, Teir VI +40 archery skill. Itemization; create new 1-hand axe ambuscade + SU4/SU5 class weapons that give +8% rapid shot, -6 enmity, HP+65 Accuracy+50 Ranged Accuracy+50 Magic Accuracy+50 Magic Damage+217 Axe skill +269 Parrying skill +269 Magic Accuracy skill +255 Detonator: +50% damage, velocity shot: +30 Ranged Attack.
REMOVE +haste values from all RNG job specific equipment and reforged versions {Artifact, Relic, Empyrean} judiciously REPLACE with +values for +double shot +triple shot +rapid shot +snap shot.

Drg > Well Done! Potential improvement > lower recast use times on High Jump, Super Jump, Spirit Jump, Soul Jump. High Jump moved to level 30, Super Jump moved to level 35, Soul Jump moved to level 50.

Pup > Well Done! Career puppetmaster players would need to give further input, my knowledge of the job is not sufficient.

Dnc > Well Done! Potential improvement > Healing Waltz moved to level 5, Curing Waltz moved to level 10, Curing Waltz II moved to lvl 20, Curing Waltz III moved to level 35, Curing Waltz IV moved to level 45, Curing Waltz V moved to level 70, Add Curing Waltz VI at level 87... Or just over-haul the entire job to mirror the FFXIV DNC with A+ Throwing skill, DNC job specific equipment itemization to enhance / +values to +store TP +conserve TP +Ranged accuracy +Snap shot +Rapid shot. If FFXIV DNC concept is implemented, DNC job added to user list of all throwing type weapons in game.

Going forward!
Potential improvements to unadjusted jobs!

Pld > Reduce reuse timers of Sentinel to 180 seconds, Rempart to 120 seconds, Palisade to 120 seconds. Create new divine magic Area of Effect spells: Banishra recast 30 seconds, Banishra II recast 30 seconds, Banishra III recast 45 seconds, Holyra recast 45 seconds, Holyra II recast 60 seconds, Flashra recast 45 seconds, Reposera base duration 15 seconds recast 60 seconds all of which would have +additional enmity properties to them. Reduce reuse timer of Shield Bash to base 60 seconds. Reduce recast timer of Flash to base 30 seconds. Reduce recast timer of Reprisal to base 120 seconds + increase duration to base 90 seconds. Create new spell Crusade II: Duration 900 seconds, Cost 50 MP, Recast 30 seconds.

Sam > Reduce reuse timer of Sekkanoki to 120 seconds.

Brd > Songs created to grant +magic accuracy values and +magic attack values

Thf > Reduce reuse timer of Conspirator to 120 seconds. Reduce reuse timer of Bully to 60 seconds. Reduce reuse timer of Steal to 90 seconds. Reduce reuse timer of Despoil to 90 seconds.

SMN > Overhaul select avatar's favor function as follows; Fenrir's Favor, reduces magic accuracy of enemies within area; Leviathan's Favor, reduces magic evasion and MND of enemies within area; Ramuh's Favor, reduces critical hit rate evasion of enemies within area; Titan's Favor, reduces STR of enemies within area; Garuda's Favor, reduces DEX of enemies within area; Shiva's Favor, reduces magic defense bonus and INT of enemies within area; Cait Sith's Favor, reduces magic attack bonus and inflicts addle upon enemies within area.

Magic Burst mechanism > Successive magic bursting penalty needs to be a significant compromise between when no penalty was imposed and what is currently imposed now. The current penalty for successive magic bursts is far too oppressive. Something in the ballpark of around 33-40% of what the current penalty is for successive magic bursts would be MUCH more diplomatic to all jobs that have access to elemental magic, dark magic, divine magic and elemental magic blood pacts.

BLM > Potential improvements: Reduce reuse timer of Elemental Seal to 90 seconds. Reduce reuse timer of Cascade to 30 seconds. Reduce reuse timer of Enmity Douse to 180 seconds. Level 5 New job ability: Toggled on/off or recast 5 seconds with duration 2 hours ~ Ethereal Kinetic (Telekinesis): Allows for auto attack damage based on weapon equipped from 21' (21 yalm) range while in engaged stance where magic accuracy value is substituted for ordinary physical accuracy for current melee accuracy formula. INT switches and replaces DEX for accuracy and +critical hit rate formula while active. Increases weapon type delay by 33%. Builds TP with same formula as current physical auto attacks.

NIN > Higher Tier Ninjutsu enfeebling and damage spells or adjustments to add strong +values of magic accuracy and magic attack bonus to the existing Stealth job trait. Create job trait tier Stealth III. Overhaul Subtle Blow job trait as outlined above in potential job trait improvement for MNK (the "Battle Force" concept).

WAR > Reduce reuse timers for job abilities of berserk defender aggressor to 45 seconds each. Reduce reuse timer of warcry to 90 seconds. Add +Store TP value to effect of warcry (suggested range +12-16). Reduce reuse timer of provoke to 20 seconds. No limitations on maximum amount of +Fencer value gained from equipment bonuses. Itemization: Allow WAR to equip Aegis, Ochain, Srivatsa, Priwen, and Genmei Shield (well at least some if not all of these).

Thank You SO Much for your attention and consideration of these development and content design suggestions.

In the previous versions of FFXIConfig, there was one panel that had three resolution settings on it. I usually set the two on the left side of that panel to a value of 1920x1080. The one on the right side was a Font resolution setting which I would set to a value of 1280x720. This mostly affects the font in the chat log. It defaults to 0x0 and when it has that setting, it uses one of the two setting to the left instead. But having the Font resolution set to 1920x1080 makes the font in the chat log very small. I like it a bit bigger which is why I set the Font resolution to 1280x720.

In the new layout of FFXIConfig introduced in this update, I have found those two settings to the left on the old panel (they are not on the same panel any more). However, I am unable to find the Font resolution setting. It is not there. You have left it out. There is no way to change that setting any more, although it does still exist in the registry (and is still set to 1280x720 on my systems).

I chose -ra spell class for the suggested pld aoe divine spells because it would be a 10' {10 yalm} area from the casting character same as the geomancer specific -ra spell class elemental magics.

A few things I would suggest:

Unlock comments on the videos, there is really no reason to have comments locked.

To community teams, please consider posting more often on the official ffxi reddit sub.

Consider a 2nd chance for subscribers that have been permanently banned from the official forums to be allowed to post again.

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Originally Posted by Pixela

Consider a 2nd chance for subscribers that have been permanently banned from the official forums to be allowed to post again.

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As far as I'm aware, to get to this point you have to have a series of "strikes" beforehand, so they have been warned enough. If they have been permanently banned in the first place, it's not the kind of people we want back.

Thank you for all the comments so far!

All your feedback is valuable to us during our development process and we’d like to use this as a place where we can talk with our Western players and grow together. We’ll start responding to some of the feedback we have received this week and next, so we ask for your patience just a bit!

We’d like to continue discussions with everyone, but first, we wanted to explain the reasoning behind why the development team decided to make adjustments to the white magic spells Esuna and Sacrifice.

The onset of this was the fact that compared to Afflatus Solace, the chances to use Afflatus Misery were extremely few and far between. From there, we wanted to separate Esuna and Sacrifice from the overall concept of Afflatus Misery, which is to have the white mage on the front lines trying to take damage first.

We are aware that there were times where the previous method was useful and some previous strategies will become obsolete. However, when looking it as a whole, we have determined that the new adjustments will increase situations where it will become more effective.

If the community believes that this decision was a mistake, then we’ll consider reverting the changes made to Esuna and Sacrifice. We’d appreciate if you could please continue to leave your comments and let us know which method (old or new) was more effective.

We’ve received a lot of feedback stating that the icon is too similar to the Refresh icon and it’s difficult to tell the difference. Thank you for the feedback! As this affected much more than what we envisioned, we’ll be changing the icon. Please note that graphical changes are done separately from feature development, so we’d require some time to make this change.

I think that the drastic increase in the cooldown of Esuna hugely offsets any increase in usefulness it may have gained. I can understand viewing it as more powerful and thus needing a longer cooldown than before, but 2 minutes is absurd.

While I don't really support the previously posted idea of changing the avatar's favor effects to enemy debuffs, I would like to see one of them changed to an accuracy buff. While Fenrir has one, it varies by the moon phase and thus is unreliable.

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Originally Posted by Sirmarki

As far as I'm aware, to get to this point you have to have a series of "strikes" beforehand, so they have been warned enough. If they have been permanently banned in the first place, it's not the kind of people we want back.

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It's actually incredibly easy to get banned from the forums. Under the current policies you can get banned for incidents of simply being negative, even without being rude or using coarse language. I've seen it happen. I know several perfectly decent and reasonable people who've been banned forever from th e FFXIV forums. Their rationale for being ridiculously strict to the point of absurdity (better not say anything that doesn't paint SE in a glowing light) compared to how hard it is to get punished in game is that the forums face the public, in contrast to the game which is technically private and random passerby who don't play the game can't see it. I'd argue it's even easier to get punished here than in League of Legends, and that's pretty darn easy, even without ever uttering a curse word.

Peoiple make mistakes sometimes, it doesn't mean they're bad people, the support team really needs to lighten up a bit.

Firstly, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for this opportunity to give feedback!

Regarding Afflatus Misery

I agree that the uses for this ability were limited. White Mages at times struggle to work on the front lines - not necessarily because of damage taken, as we have useful tools for resisting damage (equipment, barspells, stoneskin), but due to debilitating status ailments like petrification, stun, silence, sleep, terror, doom, death, knockback, and paralysis. Most White Mages prefer to work from the back lines, and that's completely valid. I also agree that splitting vital tools like Esuna and Sacrifice from Afflatus stances is very desirable.

However, playing White Mage is all about speed, quick reactions, split second anticipation, and timing. It is not a job that lends itself well to swapping stances regularly, as this introduces a small but highly significant delay to play. I need to be ready to respond immediately to situations. I need my basic tools to be there, ready to go. I simply do not have the time to swap stances to access vital tools. This actually includes the old Esuna - it was awkward to use due to stance and target restrictions, though its effect was valuable.

Afflatus Misery is already fun for players who enjoyed playing at the front lines in more relaxed situations - capacity points parties and casual play, the lower floors in Omen, and even against Wave 1 monsters in Dynamis. Some go even further. While the situations for this are somewhat limited, and require a certain player mindset, they do exist, and I personally know several White Mages who greatly enjoyed using Misery in this way. They are very disappointed in these changes.

In short, I think the original intent for these stances was solid. Giving White Mages who are enjoying casual play (or are looking for a different experience) more fun front-line centric tools is still a suitable use for Afflatus Misery, while White Mages who need to focus on supporting party members in heavy duty, rapidly changing combat scenarios still prefer Afflatus Solace. Because White Mages are healers, of course this will mean that Solace will see more overall use - but White Mage devotees will still enjoy the opportunity to expand White Mage's horizons with Misery.

The essential thing is not to unlock particularly powerful or essential tools (Esuna! Sacrifice!) behind the stances. That way there is no requirement to flip flop between them. It just doesn't work for WHM.

Regarding Esuna and Sacrifice

The old Esuna was unique. It was the only way (outside of Divine Veil - restricted to once per 10 minutes) that most White Mages could natively remove area of effect status ailments. In today's FFXI, almost every boss move inflicts status ailments to everyone in range - often multiple at once. White Mages need a tool to address this. Esuna was that tool; it was definitely awkward to use, and needed to be improved, but its premise was sound.

The new Esuna is very similar to the old Sacrifice - something we already had. It is admittedly slightly more flexible - troublesome effects like paralysis and slow are easier to deal with - but this is offset by the heavy restrictions. The recast time, MP cost, and Afflatus Misery requirement mean that I probably won't be able to use the new Esuna as much as I used the old Sacrifice. In fact, with Sacrifice altered too, I feel as if this change has reduced my ability to remove status ailments effectively.

The new Sacrifice is conceptually interesting. I like resistance to status ailments. However, with the restriction to Afflatus Misery and the inability to select an ailment, this is impractical to use and of limited value. Again, I have lost a valuable ailment removal tool.

Being able to remove Amnesia is a valuable tool. I greatly appreciate the development team considering this as an option for White Mages. However, I would much rather prefer to see this as a separate spell - even if the MP cost and recast times are large - than to incorporate it into Esuna.

In short,

• The new Esuna is not very different to the old Sacrifice - it's not new.
• The new Sacrifice has limited practical application.
• I do not have time to swap stances frequently in battle. It's also not fun. I really hate it.
• Most White Mages can no longer remove area of effect status ailments reliably (which is VITAL against boss monsters in today's FFXI)
• Removing large numbers of status ailments from a single party member is now slightly safer, but much slower, more costly, and more awkward.
• Removing Amnesia is valuable, but not when connected to Afflatus Misery and Esuna.

I have gained very little, and lost some vital tools, with this update. Reverting these changes to Sacrifice and Esuna would improve my White Mage experience.

If I may make some suggestions, however, these tools were already somewhat flawed in their original incarnation. Making them better while retaining their original purpose and functionality would be a wonderful boon for White Mages. And, as you have said, removing their dependence on Afflatus stances is essential.

The old Esuna was difficult to use because of the stance restriction; as I have mentioned, swapping stances in combat is too slow for a fast-paced job like White Mage. Furthermore, good White Mages do their best to help their party resist debilitating status ailments using barspells, Addle, and so on; if the White Mage resists the effects due to being well prepared, they can't remove them from (likely less resistant) allies with Esuna. The self-target requirement meant White Mages on the back lines either couldn't use Esuna at all, or had to pair it with Sacrifice, a stance change, and a lot of movement - there just isn't time, and this could easily wipe a party if the White Mage was taken out of action - potent paralysis, sleep, petrification, silence, stun, terror.

Relaxing restrictions and improving these issues would be a great boon to White Mages. Perhaps even allow it to be cast on party members and still act in area of effect, even if a greater cost/recast/new stored power charges requirement is involved - completely making regular status removal spells obsolete isn't desirable after all. Maybe there could be an interesting way to prioritise ailments to remove with barspells or some new mechanic too.

(While I'd like to recognise that this shouldn't overshadow our mythic weapon Yagrush, as someone who has a Yagrush, I also recognise that White Mages without one really struggle with AoE status ailments. Given the ubiquity of AoE status ailments in FFXI today there should be something usable and powerful for them, even if it's not a powerful as Yagrush itself.)

The old Sacrifice was incredibly useful, but hard to use when a target was afflicted with effects like paralysis and slow. Perhaps a prepared White Mage could completely block absorption of selected ailments by using bar-element and bar-status spells - barstone and barparalyze to block slow and paralysis, for example.

To make Afflatus Misery more frequently used, I'd suggest giving it more tools to make front-line White Mages more effective (and fun!). Effects like the accuracy bonus and Enlight from Auspice and the speedy, cheap and low-enmity Curas are nice for front-line work - other things in this vein would be welcome. Just make sure those tools aren't so powerful that they become a required piece of a back line White Mage's kit - there should be nothing to encourage stance swapping. This was Esuna's problem - while it was a nice timesaver for front-line WHM, it was such an incredibly valuable tool that it sometimes encouraged lots of awkward and dangerous strategies - it shouldn't be restricted to just Misery.

Also, as a semi-related issue - would it be possible to make Auspice not overwrite enspells like Enaero? It's very frustrating when I am playing RDM to have our well-prepared and hard-working White Mage constantly removing my enspells.

And finally, a completely unrelated and selfish issue - I really want to be able to cast Stoneskin, Blink and Aquaveil as single target spells on my party members. Any chance of this? :D

Thank you again for giving us the opportunity to feed back on these issues - it is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for putting time and effort back into this rich, diverse, beautiful, open world we all love and enjoy. This is probably too much to ask for but could you give a RDM Protectra IV & Shellra IV? I mean... Don't you think it's about time? If not that then maybe /toss a struggling red mage a Blizzard VI. Preferably in scroll form. One of the things I've always loved about this game that made me WANT to play was the acquisition of spells. Whether it be your first memory of walking down to the dreary dungeon of Regine's Magicmart in Port San d'Oria or the awesome time you had in the Necropolis hunting for the Genkai 1 scroll back when it was like a 1% drop rate and I don't care what the stats say cus I'm pretty sure I killed almost 400 of those effing undead before that papyrus dropped... I think the only thing worse was Carby's Ruby but I digress. But please keep up the hard work! And we look forward to the many more awesome spells you will introduce yes? Oh and more cutscenes??? The 'Dawn' CS at the end of Promathia particularly comes to mind. Oh the feels. Arigatoo gozaimazu. Ganbatte kudasai.

May the Goddess Altana protect you on your journey.

Cron's Mule <Cerberus>

This @Cronus have you tried using /sch for subjob, it's got some amazing job abilities if your role in the party as a RDM is primarily buffing+healing. Tier VI spells won't be handed out to RDM unless SE would invent Tier VII spells for BLM.

As one of the handful of players who have attempted to keep the English speaking players up to date with what's going on on the Japanese forums in the past, I greatly appreciate this new Digest and the expanded information available in the text summary. Thank you.

I have one small request in the interest of increasing cross-language communication.

Can you please start posting the Freshly Picked announcements on the English version of the POL frontpage at the same time that you announce it on the Japanese version? Simply knowing in advance without having to open an extra webpage would be rather helpful.

Also, I understand that we're not likely to get any form of live translation during a Freshly Picked broadcast itself (due to the technical restraints involved and lack of even Japanese closed-captioning,) but what about the archived YouTube video? Might it be possible to get human-translated subtitles for the archive? Even if it's only possible to support a Japanese transcript officially, an official text-based transcript would go a long way towards opening up the amount of information that non-Japanese players can possibly have access to by giving fan-based translators something to more easily work with.

https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Marvelous_Cheer

Can we make this available in game via a battlefield, quest, questline, npc vendor?

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Originally Posted by TullemoreAsuraFFXI

https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Marvelous_Cheer

Can we make this available in game via a battlefield, quest, questline, npc vendor?

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It's the current prize from the current screenshot contest: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...21-%28NA-EU%29

Not everyone has access to post here to enter the contest.

Regarding the changes to White Mage spells Esuna & Sacrifice.

I feel the changes should be reverted. There are a lot of veteran White Mages who used the strategies afforded by the old mechanics.

Sacrifice allowed us to quickly yank a target, usually the tank, out of danger or severe inundation by sacrificing ourselves. The new sacrifice is not a sacrifice. It randomly removes only 1 from a smaller pool and only benefits the white mage which already has massive amounts of magic evasion available to resist ailments.

Old Esuna helped bridge the gap for players without Yagrush. Getting directly hit with ailments or sacrificing myself first to then quickly aoe wipe off status down effects was invaluable.

The counter arguments:

WHM shouldn't ever take damage or ailments.
* Devotion/Martyr sacrifices HP.
* Almost all WHM buffs are aoe around the caster.
*Current Misery is about taking damage.
It's about strategy of when to use spells and abilities.

We got amnesia removal
I feel it's a nice addition, but with it's high recast/mp cost doesn't feel like a justification to change things.

I propose a compromise. Allow Sacrifice and Esuna to have both the new and old changes, toggled with Solace and Misery.

Solace: Sacrifice multiple debuffs, halves duration. Esuna removes aoe only debuffs on caster.
Misery: Sacrifice 1 debuff for resistance to caster. Esuna single target high recast/mp and remove amnesia.

I feel Misery should be switched from WHM taking damage to WHM doing damage.

If unable to add spells/abilities.
Change Martyr. Change Full Cure. Remove Cura spells and just have misery lower Curaga mp cost based on stored Misery.

We successfully launched the new installer on Thursday, May 16, and hope that it met your expectations. If you ever find yourself needing to reinstall the game, you can get back into playing with minimal fuss!

As the servers are located in Japan and Dynamis – Divergence is popular content intended for a large number of players, our Western users are unfortunately more likely to experience lag than our Japanese users. We are continuing to monitor the situation.

We discovered an error in the game data and will fix it so that equals the maximum value from before the change. We apologize for any inconvenience that this issue has caused.

With regards to turning other spells obtainable for merit points into scroll form, we are considering doing this for other jobs when it’s their turn to receive updates.

We have no plans to do this at the moment.

Each alter ego has its own strengths and weaknesses, and we have not designed any to be a one-size-fits-all for each and every situation. That is one of the reason we chose to have Pieuje permanently in Afflatus Misery. Part of the fun of the Trust system is in finding the right alter egos for the right situations, and we hope you will have fun exploring this system to its fullest.

We have no plans to adjust the cooldown times at the moment.

Our thought process behind this is that we want you to choose from among the two merit categories, and if you were able to easily switch on the fly, there would be no reason for us to have these two separate stances, and it would be difficult for each one to properly display its strengths.

The decision to remove spells from merit categories and to move them to scrolls is a good one.

Please consider converting all merit category spells to scrolls for all jobs. The jobs that have 6+ category two options due to elemental separation in particular should have this done so that the category can be reduced to 4-5 choices, hopefully with interesting and wide-reaching replacements. 頑張って下さい。

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

We have no plans to adjust the cooldown times at the moment.

Our thought process behind this is that we want you to choose from among the two merit categories, and if you were able to easily switch on the fly, there would be no reason for us to have these two separate stances, and it would be difficult for each one to properly display its strengths.

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Honestly, there is already no reason for there to be separate stances for WHM. It was a bad idea when it was introduced, and remains so. I say get rid of them entirely.

I know that's not the point that you're trying to get across with this statement, but it's true.

The stances also don't really have strengths and weaknesses. The strength of Misery is that you've moved my old ailment removal tool Sacrifice, which I could previously use at will in Solace, and locked it behind a 1 minute timer. That's a punishment, not a strength, and I hate it. It also comes with the bitter aftertaste that you've removed our key ailment removal tool Esuna as part of the deal, so I'm not inclined to look upon the "strengths and weaknesses" of the stances favourably.

Stances make sense in the following situations:

• Force a player to choose a correct stance for an encounter and ride that stance for 90% of the time.
• Encourage frequent stance swapping to access abilities locked by the stance timer (ostensibly SCH philosophy, but that's a whole different can of worms.)

Neither of these really make sense for WHM. We need all our tools on the table for most fights, so lockouts are pointless. We need to react quickly, so flapping around with slow stance swaps is dangerous, awkward, frustrating, and unwieldy. I hate it.

The only situation where these stances sort of made sense was the front line/back line divide (which these recent chances are moving away from!), but even then, there's no need for an explicit stance job ability. Cura and Esuna already only work when up close. Auspice accuracy/enlight effects obviously only work when not engaged. Was there really any reason for the stance in the first place? If, for mechanical/code reasons, there needs to be some "visible" aspect, make them job traits that are always active, in parallel.

I still maintain that some of these tools (particularly Esuna) needed updating anyway (my previous suggestions covering that), but that's phase 2 of the WHM plan. Phase 1 is still reverting this unwanted change.

I think it's really important to emphasise that faffing about with stances isn't the way to solve player dissatisfaction here. The changes to the spells are the key issue - the stances are just the lockouts that exacerbate the problem. If the stances are too restrictive for these tools to work properly in a decent form, we shouldn't be talking about their timers - they just need to be removed.

Ultimately, I don't really care about the Misery cooldown time because I'm just not going to use it 99.9% of the time. So this hasn't made Misery more accessible to me, as was the intent. It's made it less accessible, and taken away some of my key tools. I hate it.

Please revert these changes and come up with something different, preferably taking into account everyone's feedback here on the forums. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that the only response to our feedback has been about stance cooldowns so far, because that's really not what 99% of the feedback has been about. I was really hopeful when you guys asked for feedback, but now I'm starting to dread that we're stuck with this accidental nerf.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yoji_Fujito

With regards to turning other spells obtainable for merit points into scroll form, we are considering doing this for other jobs when it’s their turn to receive updates.

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Big fan of this - please don't forget RDM, which has already received an update but also still has merit spells!

To address the Afflatus Solace and Afflatus Misery adjustment. The complaint occurs mostly from the changes displayed ->
~
The effects of the white magic spell Esuna have been changed.
Esuna now affects a single target.
Esuna now removes all of the following status ailments, and does not require the caster to be affected by them.

Poison / Paralysis / Blind / Silence / Curse/ Disease / Plague / Petrification

While under the effects of Afflatus Misery, Esuna will also remove all status ailments removable with Erase, as well as Amnesia.
The recast time has been increased from 30 seconds to 120 seconds.
The MP cost has been increased from 24 to 178.

The effects of the White Magic spell Sacrifice have been changed.
When transferring a status ailment, the duration will be halved.
Silence and petrification may now be transferred.
During Afflatus Misery, the caster gains resistance to the ailment transferred, and hence will not become afflicted.
~
Some of this is beneficial to the player. Esuna's effect potency and removal of Amnesia should be retained. All Sacrifice potency and benefits while under Afflatus Misery should be retained.

What is detrimental is the vast increase in reuse timer and mp consumption on Esuna which was crippled by the loss of it's area of effect component.

To keep Esuna as a single target spell, that adjusted spell needs to have the MP cost returned to 24 MP or reduced to below 24 MP and the base reuse timer of the spell lowered to the range of 5 to 6 seconds or just completely remove the reuse timer for the spell. That is the only way to compensate for the removal of the area of effect capability the pre-adjustment Esuna had.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TullemoreAsuraFFXI

To address the Afflatus Solace and Afflatus Misery adjustment. The complaint occurs mostly from the changes displayed ->
~
The effects of the white magic spell Esuna have been changed.
Esuna now affects a single target.
Esuna now removes all of the following status ailments, and does not require the caster to be affected by them.

Poison / Paralysis / Blind / Silence / Curse/ Disease / Plague / Petrification

While under the effects of Afflatus Misery, Esuna will also remove all status ailments removable with Erase, as well as Amnesia.
The recast time has been increased from 30 seconds to 120 seconds.
The MP cost has been increased from 24 to 178.

The effects of the White Magic spell Sacrifice have been changed.
When transferring a status ailment, the duration will be halved.
Silence and petrification may now be transferred.
During Afflatus Misery, the caster gains resistance to the ailment transferred, and hence will not become afflicted.
~
Some of this is beneficial to the player. Esuna's effect potency and removal of Amnesia should be retained. All Sacrifice potency and benefits while under Afflatus Misery should be retained.

What is detrimental is the vast increase in reuse timer and mp consumption on Esuna which was crippled by the loss of it's area of effect component.

To keep Esuna as a single target spell, that adjusted spell needs to have the MP cost returned to 24 MP or reduced to below 24 MP and the base reuse timer of the spell lowered to the range of 5 to 6 seconds or just completely remove the reuse timer for the spell. That is the only way to compensate for the removal of the area of effect capability the pre-adjustment Esuna had.

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It makes literally zero sense to take a spell, even with enhanced capabilities, that was cheap and AOE, and make it both expensive and single target. Normally AoEs come at a higher cost th an single target effects...

Greetings, everyone. Matsui here.

Thank you for all your feedback on the white mage job. It took us a little while to read through all the posts from each region, particularly because we wanted to hear your experiences after you tried them the recent changes for yourselves.

We have reviewed each and every message you have given us and feel we have a good grasp on what the pain points for white mage players are. The development team is going to discuss what our next steps should be.

It may take a little while before we have any more news, but I wanted to inform you that your voices have been heard and share with you what the current status is.

Thank you again for all your opinions!

First, we would like to thank everyone for all the discussions related to the white mage adjustments. We’ve looked over the feedback we’ve received from across the globe and have decided to make further adjustments to white mage in the next version update scheduled for July.

The main goal here is to make Afflatus Misery a stance that specializes in recovering status effects. We’d like for Afflatus Misery to have priority in situations where players are affected heavily from status effects and make it possible to select their stance based on the enemies they face.

By merging this goal with the adjustments made in the May version update we believe it will cover most of the feedback we have received. As such, we’d like to explain how we’ll address the two major points that were pointed out to us.

■ Ways to recover area-wide status effects have decreased
Previously Esuna was used to recover area-wide status effects; however, we have changed the specifics of the spell so that it only affects a single target which created an inconvenience amongst our players. In order to address this, we’ll make spells other than Esuna and Erase have an area-wide effect while Afflatus Misery status is in effect. However, this still lacks in the number of ways to recover multiple status effects; therefore, while under the effect of Afflatus Misery we’ll also reduce the recast times for several white magic spells, which includes Esuna.

■ Sacrifice can no longer absorb multiple status effects
While under the effects of Afflatus Solace player would use Sacrifice to absorb multiple status effects from the tanks, which is no longer possible. By using Esuna, players can now recover even more than absorbing. Due to this, we have no plans to make any further adjustments. Even while under the effects of Afflatus Solace, players can recover many status effects, and if you require recovering any negative status effects that require Erase, we’d like players to switch their stance and make use of Afflatus Misery. Also, we’ve decided that the white mage who cast Sacrifice gains the resistance, considering that they can also gain the effects of Divine Caress as well. As such, we have no plans to make any further changes.

Regarding Esuna while under the effect of Afflatus Misery, we did look into lowering the MP cost, as well as making it area-wide. However, in order to avoid situations where Esuna becomes too powerful, and to avoid needing to make adjustments to monsters that usually requires Esuna, we have decided to make the above balancing adjustments.

Hello Producer Matsui. Thank you for listening to our feedback, and thank you for your work on this aspect of the game. We're all very happy to see our White Mages get some care and attention!

I have a comment about this statement:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

In order to address this, we’ll make spells other than Esuna and Erase have an area-wide effect while Afflatus Misery status is in effect.

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I humbly urge you to not go ahead with this change as it is described here. Making all Status Removal spells become area-wide under Afflatus Misery would mean that White Mage's Mythic Weapon, Yagrush, suddenly becomes almost useless. We worked hard to make our Mythic Weapons, and Yagrush specifically is one of the few Mythic Weapons that truly changes how a job is played, thus bringing a lot of value to the effort to get it.

I do not have an alternative proposal in mind unfortunately, but I am sure I am not the only one that has this concern about Yagrush.

Thank you again for your time and consideration!

I think the idea seems fine as Yagrush users will still be able to have 100% AoE Status Effect Removal while under Solace so we won't have to worry about swapping to Misery and can continue to benefit from Solace's effects. I would suggest rebuffing Sacrifice, or at least allowing Esuna to remove all status effects (while remaining single target) when under the effects of Solace.

Thank you for listening to feedback. I still feel like Sacrifice doesn't have a significant use post update. It doesn't make sense to call it Sacrifice any more, it's just a self buff to WHM now. WHM has access to a lot of magic evasion that being silenced or petrified is rarely an issue.

If it cannot return to it's former use due to Esuna, I would prefer the spell be removed altogether if it would give us spell space for barlight and bardark which would be much more useful.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

The main goal here is to make Afflatus Misery a stance that specializes in recovering status effects. We’d like for Afflatus Misery to have priority in situations where players are affected heavily from status effects and make it possible to select their stance based on the enemies they face.

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These proposed changes unfortunately don't solve the issues that have been raised.

The aim of making Afflatus Misery a stance that specialises in removing status effects is fundamentally flawed.

I understand that there is a desire to make Afflatus Misery "more useful" and more frequently used. This is a legitimate observation. I also understand (and fully endorse) the improvement of White Mage's ailment-removal capabilities, particularly in area of effect. However, the solution to these two problems does not lie in their combination.

There are very few fights where the removal of status ailments is so divorced from healing HP that any distinction via stances makes sense. In any dangerous encounter where we actively require the benefits of Afflatus Solace in order to successfully keep our party alive, we also need to be at peak ailment-removal capability. Of course, there are very niche fights where this isn't the case, but if the intent is to make Afflatus Misery more useful, "niche" really shouldn't be the aim.

Take Caturae monsters in Omen as an example. Single target and area of effect damage is high, both because the enemy uses high potency techniques and because it does so rapidly. Ailments are, for the most part, either applied in wide area of effect, or in large numbers to a single target. Choosing "better healing" or "better ailment removal" here is pointless because both are needed to the same extent, constantly, without artificially induced delays. This means that neither stance will ever have "priority", to use the wording used in this announcement. We will have to flip between stances. I do not have time to flip stances in challenging encounters. It is incredibly inconvenient and limiting for a job that needs to be able to react quickly and decisively.

More importantly, it's also not fun. It's actually deeply irritating.

I remember that one of the original intents behind Sacrifice/Esuna was to start by Sacrificing ailments, running in, swapping stances, and then using Esuna. The fact that very few people did that, despite it appearing powerful theoretically, should illustrate that the principle of stance swaps mid combat is flawed in reality.

I'd like to acknowledge that White Mage having more tools for area of effect ailment removal is a really positive step. I say this as a Yagrush owner. I'd like to see more development in this area, though ensuring Yagrush's ultimate supremacy is of course important too. However, attaching this capability to a stance is the wrong step. Furthermore, restricting the area of effect bonus to exclude Erase means that this isn't a suitable replacement for the old Esuna at all.

Honestly, if Afflatus Misery isn't useful, please just remove it and transfer all its boons to the spells themselves. Please don't try to make it relevant by making the job harder to play. That's not fun - it's a nerf.

In short, please abandon the concept of making Afflatus Misery an ailment removal stance.

A few ideas:

Changes to stances:

• Afflatus Solace becomes a job trait with identical effects that is always active, and accumulates stored power through healing, including via regen, blocking damage on party members with barspells or stoneskin, or removing status ailments.
  
• Afflatus Misery instead changes stored power accumulation to be via raw damage taken and enfeebling effects received, without taking into account effects like barspells, magic evasion or damage taken gear, Stoneskin etc, and possibly include a bonus based on damage dealt as a proportion of damage received. It has no effect other than to change the power accumulation method.
  
• Stored power is accumulated as charges indicated in the buff bar.

Changes to spells:

• Esuna keeps its current Misery effect but can no longer remove Amnesia. Its MP cost and recast time are high, but are reduced with each ailment it removes. No dependency on any stance.
  
• Sacrifice keeps its current Misery effect and is renamed "Treatment". No dependency on any stance.
  
• Amnesna spell added, with a long recast and moderate MP cost.
  
• Panacea spell added. Consumes an Afflatus stored power charge to remove a single status ailment in AoE around targetted party member. If cast on self, replicates the old Esuna effect - removes two bonus effects without consuming stored power, but with an increased recast time. Asclepius increases the potency of this effect, just as it did with Esuna.
  
• Holy spells, Banish spells, and Cura spells consume stored power charges.
  
• Stoneskin, Blink and Aquaveil may be cast on party targets at the cost of a stored power charge.
  
• Auspice no longer overwrites enspells, but is otherwise unchanged. No dependency on any stance.