"Freshly Picked Vana'diel 3" Digest

Greetings,

To coincide with the January 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. Below is a digest of what was discussed.

*Video to be added soon.

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

Hello,
Matsui here.

For this round of Freshly Picked Vana’diel, I’d like to go over the content of the January version update as well as give a preview of the February version update.

Table of contents

• Campaigns underway and the survey
• New high-tier mission battlefields
• New objectives and the future of Records of Eminence
• Pet improvements
• Reive adjustments
• Other additions
• February version update preview
• Future fishing adjustments
• January version update wrap-up

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Campaigns underway and the survey

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

During the stream we talked about the below campaigns:

• Mog Bonanza 2014
  The winning numbers will be announced on February 13th.
  
  
• New Year’s Alter Ego Extravaganza
  During this campaign you can obtain special Trust alter egos such as Tenzen, Joachim, Valaineral, and Mihli Aliapoh. The campaign will end on February 2nd, so be sure not to miss out on this opportunity.
  
  
• Repeat Login Campaign No. 7
  This time around you can exchange your login points for the Lion alter ego. When we created the Heroine’s Holdfast battlefield, we added special battle animations to Lion, and they are very cool, so please be sure to check her out.

Thank you to all who participated in the December survey. We’ll be compiling the results and releasing them shortly.

We are also planning to hold another survey. Based on the results of the survey we would like to improve Vana’diel even more going forward, and we would really appreciate your participation!

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New high-tier mission battlefields

*During the stream a portion of the Kam’lanaut battle was shown.

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

Continuing on from the Ark Angel battlefields that were implemented last version update, we prepared revamped battles with the Zilartian brothers. Both artifact reforging materials and battlefield exclusive items can be obtained in these new additions.

Also, in regards to the high-tier mission battlefield congestion countermeasures, when selecting a difficulty level of “Difficult” or higher for battlefields that require a Macrocosmic Orb, we’ve made it possible to obtain certain artifact reforging materials.

I apologize for the battlefield congestion, but we will continue to look into countermeasures as we keep an eye on conditions moving forward.

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New objectives and the future of Records of Eminence

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

We’ve added new objectives that involve battling nostalgic notorious monsters as well as objectives that involve spoils such as geodes. We really hope you accomplish these objectives while you are out and about adventuring and that it leads way to talks of the past.

We’re currently working on objectives related to synthesis; however, we are planning to make adjustments to the synthesis system itself so that you can all enjoy this aspect of the game more. Due to this, we’ll be doing this prior to the addition of the objectives so that there is a proper balance for Records of Eminence.

With that said though, I understand not having any synthesis-related objectives is a sad thing, so we’ll be adding some very basic ones in the February version update.

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Pet improvements

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

We’ve made improvements to pet stats more than ever before to match stats on players’ equipment so that pet jobs can function in a variety of situations. As an example, we’ve significantly boosted the power of avatar’s physical blood pacts.

We’ve also made changes to increase the ways of obtaining the materials needed for “Salubrious Broth” used by beastmasters.

We’re currently looking into other adjustments to making pets easier to use as well as food that will affect both the master and the pet.

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Reive adjustments

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

We’ve made it so the colonization rate increases more easily when completing colonization and lair reives.

We’ve made adjustments so that up until about 60%, the colonization rate increases extremely quickly. In the November version update we made adjustments so that the colonization rate would weaken wildskeeper reive boss monsters more, so please be sure to try them out with this additional adjustment.

We realize that the number of adventures challenging wildskeeper reives is falling and it is making it difficult to play, and we are in the midst of looking into a system to entice players who have already obtained rewards to challenge the content again as well as a system that will make it easier to enjoy this content with only a few players.

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Other adjustments

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

We’ve added the new “/ignoretrust” text command so that you no longer target other players’ Trust alter egos. Please be sure to utilize this in situations such as reives where there are a large number of alter egos out.

We’ve also added new synthesis recipes. The additions will allow you to create equipment with item levels 114 and 115.

We’ll continue to make adjustments and additions to synthesis as well as plans to stimulate the auction house.

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February version update preview

*The stream showed off a tiny preview of a new area.

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

I’d like to give a brief overview of the February version update.

• New Seekers of Adoulin missions
  
  
• New skirmishes
  These skirmishes will involve search and destroy for monsters, so in addition to regular monsters there will also be some notorious monsters. While I can’t get into the details just yet, we are still planning to make this somewhat relaxed content since it is skirmish.
  
  
• New Records of Eminence objectives
  
  
• New Monstrosity monster families and expansion of supported areas
• Adjustments to infamy and prestige in Monstrosity
  
  
• Adjustments to existing Delve content
  Currently, Delve has been adjusted for 18-man groups, but we will be making adjustments so it can be undertaken by a party of six.
  
  
• Rune fencer and dancer adjustments
  We’ll be making adjustments so that rune fencer can function better as a tank and dancer can function better as a special-type of healer in party settings.
  
  
• Addition of relic-equivalent equipment for geomancer and rune fencer
• Ability to reforge relic equipment
  In the February version update it will be possible to reforge all five pieces of relic armor to item level 109, as well as three pieces to item level 119.
  
  
• New Trust alter egos
  During the stream we showed off Prishe and Ulmia as new additions, but we will be adding many more.
  
  
• Addition of the new area “Outer Ra’Kaznar”
• Addition of new monsters
  During the stream we showed off a glimpse of the new area without any monsters added, but in the development version of the game we have finished adding monsters and the atmosphere has changed quite a bit.

We are still in the midst of working on a lot of other elements to be added. We will be introducing them on the official site soon.

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Future fishing adjustments

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

I apologize for the long wait, but we are currently working on the fishing adjustments that were previously announced to be implemented in a version update after March.

With these adjustments fishing skill will play a much larger role and the amount of elements that involve fighting with the fish will be reduced. I apologize for the inconveniences associated with the changes in fishing difficulty due to current play conditions, but we will be working hard to make improvements.

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January version update wrap-up

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

While the January version update was comparatively a smaller scale one, we’ve adopted a plan to hold version updates every month so that we can answer your requests more swiftly and continue to add new content at a more rapid pace.

The February version update, on the other hand, has a ton of content and I hope you are all looking forward to this and a great year of FINAL FANTASY XI.

See you during the next “Freshly Picked Vana’diel!”

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