Greetings, everyone!
The 20th anniversary AMA held on Reddit the other day received an overwhelming amount of questions! We thank you all to those who participated.
For those of you who missed it, all the questions and answers can be found on /r/FFXI, but we also organized a full summary of everything we answered below for everyone to read at their leisure.
A: We aren’t considering this at the moment. Enabling character transfers between accounts would foster account-selling RMT.Quote:
Hi! My brother and I have shared an account since NA launch. We have other accounts now but we’ve always wanted to play together on our original characters. Have you ever considered a character transfer system or simultaneous login? Perhaps with a fee?
A: We would if we could, but considering how the game would be need to be decoupled from PlayOnline, as well as the data format and development tools overall, this would be no easy feat.Quote:
Even if there are currently no plans, would you please consider requesting a bigger budget and dedicated engineers to replace the PS2 development kits by creating new systems and a modern development environment for FFXI and then migrate all existing data and assets in order to resume major version updates? Even if it takes several years and incredible effort, many players feel it would be worth it for the game's future.
A: We currently have no plans to do this.Quote:
Over the years, Relic Weapons have started to lack power when compared to other weapons, for instance the Mandau is not seen as a good weapon to use. Are there any plans to bring Relics up to their counterparts?
A: We have no plans.Quote:
There was a few cross over events between FFXIV and FFXI in the past. Might we one day get a story that definitely links the world of Vanadiel with that of Hydaelyn ?
A: While it is possible, we learned that we’d have to revamp several aspects of the backend. We’d need to see if there’s enough demand to justify the development costs.Quote:
Would it be possible to add an item that allows race/gender change, similar to FFXIV's Fantasia system?
A: We would like to consider this for the future.Quote:
Would you be willing to consider bundling XI + XIV subs again, like they were during XIV 1.0? Even if it was a slightly more expensive subscription, I think that would allow more XIV players to try the game with minimal inconvenience to them.
A: It would be appreciated if you could please report them to STF. Also, if you can detail what those bot characters are doing that's causing you trouble, that would help us during our investigations.Quote:
Would it be possible to add a player into blacklist as easily as it is to add someone in a party? Something like /search all player name > option "add to blist". This would make it easier to blacklist "players" that have names like 'qhguiqmhdgiq' .
A: The player restriction for the contents you have listed are there to help lessen the server load. Therefore, for content that are congested we will keep the restrictions, but for others we may consider making adjustments.Quote:
Would you please consider allowing solo characters or parties with fewer than 3 members to enter Delve, Incursion, Vagary, and Dynamis - Divergence areas? A lot of players prefer to play alone these days, but the minimum requirement of 3 players prevents them from accessing the aforementioned content, unlike Omen or Odyssey.
A: We are not currently considering this.Quote:
A graphical update could be possible, maybe with AI upscale to reduce the amount of work. Do you consider it?
A: We'll observe the congestion surrounding Odyssey and consider this.Quote:
Would you please consider allowing players to store multiple Moglophone key items for Odyssey Sheols A, B, and C similar to the “Mystical Canteen” key items for Omen?
A: While we agree with you, the cutscenes data is tied to the area itself, so this would be difficult to address currently.Quote:
Is there any plans to make rewatching cutscenes easier? The stories of FFXI are excellent but it can be very troublesome to look for the Minstrels and footprints.
A: Valaineral was adjusted in light of the paladin adjustments, and also to differentiate him from the logic for Trion. In a similar way, we may update other alter egos alongside job adjustments if we find any that may exhibit odd behavior.Quote:
Could it be possible to upgrade some more trusts like Valaineral was? If the non-unity healers, or unity damage dealers got similar reworks it would provide some incentive for people to branch out more into the lesser used Unity leaders
A: We attempted this in the past, but the current UI system is extremely tied into the fundamental system. We learned that updating it would inflate development costs by an overwhelming amount and had to abandon the endeavor.Quote:
Can the development team please add quality of life additions to the UI such as official mini-map support, new moveable and adjustable sizes for UI elements, UI elements to keep track of skill chains and what can combo into them via visual indicators and assistance, along with other great UI features that Final Fantasy XIV currently offers players?
A: For FFXI, there's no concept of being in or out of battle, and it was always possible to change equipment at any time.Quote:
Was the game always planned to have gear swapping in and out, or did that come
along later in development, or after launch?
A: Recent adjustments have all been buffs; with that said, the reason for nerfing many strategies in the past was because they enabled players to defeat any enemy, regardless of difficulty, by employing that strategy only. Outside of these situations, we’d like to continue with only buffs moving forward.Quote:
Has there even been any thought put into better balancing options that players use that the devs consider too strong, instead of out right nerfing them into the ground to remove the option entirely? I mean... Savage blade spam with Naegling on everything is okay, but we can't have summoner and black mages perform their actual jobs? +25
Context:
Mages have always been on the receiving end of nerfs over the years. Death Bursting was one of the primary strats used for making aeonic weapons when they were first added which led to a ""burst wall"" being implimented down the line, effectively putting black mages in particular on the sidelines (it effects all mages in general though). Later on, players started using summoners to conduit burn these NMs, and while that strats is still used today... a majority of content has been penalized with a ""bloodpact wall"" as a countermeasure to prevent this option. Even without the use of astral conduit, this option of balancing renders multiple summoner parties effectively useless.
A: We currently have no plans to improve their tanking capabilities as these jobs are well-suited for DPS.Quote:
While Paladin and Rune Fencer enjoy widespread use, other tanks like Ninja and Puppetmaster are used more for specific things. Likewise, Warrior and Dark Knight can somewhat tank (or ‘off-tank’), but lack proper tools to maintain enmity or operate without a fully team supporting them. Are there any changes or items that are being considered to allow these less capable tanks to be a little more useful?
A: As you may be aware, there are recipes that require multiple skills, and the rate in which an HQ be made is based on the current skill cap, which also balances the economy, so we have no plans to change this.Quote:
Are there currently any plans to allow omnicrafters? Will we be able to level all crafting processions at once?
A: Also, we never imagined it would be so widely used or as a battle strategy. Nowadays, we consider it as part of the FFXI experience.Quote:
I love the FFXI gear swapping meta, was the game always planned to have gear swapping in and out, or did that come along later in development, or after launch?
A: Although we considered this in the past, we can't simply make the enemies stronger due to how Besieged has elements like key NPCs in Al Zahbi getting kidnapped and the keeping track of consecutive victories, so we're leaving it as-is for now.Quote:
Besieged is pretty much broken now, each time it's happen, it only last one or 2 minutes. Have you plan to fix it? Because it was one of the most awesome content of the game. +1
A: We've received many reports from our Western players regarding this so we're going to address this. If it continues to be an issue after the fix, please send in your feedback again.Quote:
Recent events on Asura server show that a character can single-handedly stop server's effort to down Mireu by causing it to repeatedly Spike Flail, killing everyone even beyond arena bonduaries. Would it be possible to mitigate the move effect on players that are not primary targets, like it happens for players' AoE effects?
A: The items you listed are supposed to be obtained from another content, so we currently have no plans to add or increase the cap.Quote:
Would you please consider adding S. Astral Detritus to the list of items which can be purchased with Hallmarks from Ambuscade or increasing the amount of Heavy Metal Plates, Riftdross, and Riftcinder that is purchasable each month? +16
A: I'd like to see it too!Quote:
There are many locations mentioned throughout the game which we never had the opportunity to visit (Mithra homelands, Rhazowa in the north, etc) Was the "full" world map ever drawn up / is there a possibility of it ever being released? +16
A: Alter egos move automatically and aren't meant to be commanded. Therefore, we won't have a feature like the one you are requesting.Quote:
Is it possible to make trust mechanics to have a command to attack and/or buff instead of the player character going into combat everytime?
Matsui: The dance scene in The Voracious Resurgence with Prince Trion.Quote:
A lot of Square Enix games have the most spectacular cinematic cutscenes. If you could have that team make a cinematic of anything you wanted in Final Fantasy XI, what would it be and why?
Fujito: The last scene in The Voracious Resurgence. Even visualizing it, it looks like it's going to be something wild.
A: We aren’t considering adding anything in particular at the moment, but if we were to add them, we could make them work as alternate appearances for existing pets. As for their attributes, adding a clearly superior version of an existing pet family would render the existing ones useless, so it’s possible that jug pets of Apex monsters would not be as powerful as you might imagine.Quote:
Any chance of Apex Jug pets?
A: Equipment processes are running during that one second, so this would not be possible.Quote:
Can you please consider removing the 1-second lockout on the /equipset command?
A: Since this one is a live camera shot, we wanted to show players in it.Quote:
During the earlier years of Final Fantasy XI, the Live Vana'diel cam used to roam across several areas of Vana'diel; seeing all of these amazing locales was one of the main reasons that inspired me to get into this game and explore what I saw on the live cam. However, today it only circles around Mhaura and doesn't leave town; was there any reason for this change?
A: I’d like to renovate our development environment, which currently relies on specialized tools.Quote:
If Matsui-p had unlimited money and resources, what would be the one thing he would like to do the most with FFXI ?
Other than that, I’d like to revamp the UI, re-organize the tutorial, release an expansion, and hold a live in-person event in the US.
A: The amount of information available on the site is much greater than what you may be imagining, so if we make into a book, it may end up becoming like a dictionary. We also have videos, so we ask you to enjoy the content from the website.Quote:
Congratulations on the 20th anniversary, and thank you for many years of service. Would you consider publishing some FFXI content in the form of companion books? Having a book of "We Are Vana'diel" with interviews, art and lore would be amazing.
Matsui: There’s a lot I’d like to name, but a recent example would be the feature that enables alter egos’ logic to be implemented with simplified language.Quote:
For whoever would like to share, what have you created or been a part of in Vana'diel that is special to you?
Fujito: The framework for the raft that travels from Palborough Mines to Zeruhn Mines. I created it with the hopes of demonstrating it in action in front of other companies, but the debugging process was a lot of work, like piling on a bunch of Quadav and seeing if they would make it to Zeruhn Mines.
A: We don't have any concrete plans right now. Most of all, I’m worried that a Vana’diel without other players would be bland, like a beer that has lost its carbonation.Quote:
Would you ever consider working on a single player offline version of FFXI similar to the Dragon Quest X Offline that is coming?
A: Both DEX and AGI affect frontline jobs’ melee attack and defense.Quote:
Kannagi (katana Empyrean weapon) has an AGI+50 stat and its weapon skill, Blade: Hi, has an AGI damage modifier, but AGI only benefits ranged attacks, not melee attacks. Gandiva (archery Empyrean weapon) has a DEX+50 stat and its weapon skill, Jishnu's Radiance, has a DEX damage modifier, but DEX only benefits melee attacks, not ranged attacks. This choice of weapon stats and weapon skill damage modifiers seems backwards. What was the reasoning behind these stat choices?
A: Will let the department in charge know that we have received such a request.Quote:
Are there any plans to release the music of FFXI on vinyl? We have seen Square Enix release a lot of vinyl records of other final fantasy titles in recent years, and that makes me wonder when will this game get the same treatment.
A: We look at the operational data to see how many players are playing, and also look at player reaction from the forums and social media. We are using all your feedback as reference as well.Quote:
When you come out with something new, how do you measure its success?
For example, when you come out with something like Odyssey, what metrics are you looking into to see how well it’s doing?
A: Thank you for your feedback. As for the free play duration, we'll look into this.Quote:
Any chance we can see the game released on modern consoles? Would be great to see this on PS5 with a free to play up to a certain level like XIV to pull in loads of players. Consoles are lacking mmos and it’s a real shame.
A: This is somewhere I'd like to go one day as well. If there's a chance, I would like to make it so we can go there in the future.Quote:
Why was the ruined city of Tavnazia never added as a playable zone in CoP or w past version in WOTG? From the moment I saw the opening cinematic I had always anticipated it would be part of the game at some point and not just a distaint view at blue blade fell. We've all been to Blueblade Fell in Lufaise Meadows, and that's the closest we've gotten to the Tavnazia. Is there are chance we'll ever get to see the city in person?
A: Regarding your first question, it didn't really deviate from our expectations. As for the second, once the congestion situation calms down, we'll consider easing it as well.Quote:
I've really been enjoying Odyssey lately and despite the difficulty, the v20 fights have been really fun and pushed me to do new jobs / tactics, but I did have two questions about Odyssey.
First, were there any tactics that players took to beat the Gaol NMs that were a surprise or that the dev team found particularly interesting?
Second, I hear a lot of newer players talking about how difficult it is to get into Odyssey, particularly since the structure of the content is so exclusive even when trying to farm Sheol C for segments. Many don't even want to bother with it, comments on the livestream a few weeks ago show the same frustration. For more experienced players, the loss of segments upon failure means people aren't likely to experiment to find new strategies. Have you or would you consider providing an alternate, limited means of obtaining segments or moglophone iis (for example: weekly/daily RoE, issue one MPII every 72hrs) to allow/encourage players to participate that are having a difficult time getting into segment groups or want to experiment more with new boss strategies?
A: We should've structured it that way from the beginning; however, we would need to change general aspects, such as the network packets, so this would be difficult.Quote:
Would it be possible to see additional effects of weaponskils/blue magic/pet abilities landing at the intiial time of use alongside damage dealt? Also, would it would be possible to see an enemies buffs/debuffs whilie targeting them, similar to seeing a party member's buffs while targeting them?
A: We're preparing a battle area with an all-new appearance.Quote:
With the curation of new content like Voracious Resurgence, are there any plans on implementing new zones?
Matsui: Halver and Curilla. Since my personal character started in San d’Oria, they took care of me during cutscenes and missions.Quote:
Who are your favorite NPCs in Vana'diel and why?
Fujito: They’re all quirky and lovable, but I don’t have any particular favorites.
A: We’d like to consider decoupling it if possible, but it would be no easy feat since FFXI is an application built to run on the PlayOnline framework.Quote:
Are there any plans to replace play online with something easier and quicker to login with?
Matsui: We implemented everything that was initially planned for in Rise of the Zilart, and I was relieved with a sense of accomplishment. As a developer, I enjoyed working on Treasures of Aht Urhgan, as I had the opportunity to design some unique jobs.Quote:
What was your favorite story/expansion and why?
Fujito: Wings of the Goddess. Being able to walk around all those areas in the past stirred up a lot of nostalgia, and I really like the story too.
A: To determine a target, the auto-target system evaluates factors such as whether an enemy is close to the front of other characters within range. As you’ve pointed out, we believe the fact that it targets enemies outside of auto-attack range is an issue.Quote:
The auto-target feature in FFXI is very clunky. In events where multiple monsters are on screen, it almost always seems to target the monsters that are the farthest away for some reason. Especially in Dynamis and Odyssey where you are limited to a specific time, this is very annoying as it wastes time. Sometimes, poor auto-target leads to loss of TP, due to the new monster being "out of range" when you use your WS at the same moment where auto-target activates a far away target. Or the player now has to run through several large monster models just to attack the next monster if he doesn't switch to something closer before that. Are you able to adjust autotarget between the current default setting and another preset, such as "Nearest Target"?
The system was sufficient back in the day when the game couldn’t gracefully handle as many monsters as it currently can; however, it’s true that it’s become less suitable for the battle styles of current players. There’s a lot of aspects to this that we’re unsure if we can adjust, so we’ll try requesting an investigation first.
A: Ambuscade is aimed at players who just hit level 99 and are lacking the equipment they need to participate in content with item levels. Since Ambuscade rewards can be customized, we could only add a limited number of them. There were two categories of ranged weapons, crossbows and guns, which we unfortunately had to narrow down to one.Quote:
Hi there! I was wondering... why there isn't an Ambuscade Marksmanship weapon? Every other quested weapon skill has a new weapon attached to it, except for Detonator. My thief would love a new weapon for firing Gashing Bolts!
A: Do you happen to have more examples of the type of messages that are affected? We’d like to look into it.Quote:
Layered Zones (instances like Odyssey, Omen, Ambuscade, Legion, Salvage, etc.) drop messages under even light load. This is caused by their message prioritization working differently than normal areas. In normal zones, messages related to yourself are given highest priority (e.g. "YourCharacter received the effect of Haste.") In layered zones, your own messages appear to be lowest priority. Are you aware of this issue and do you have plans to fix it?
A: We haven't looked into them since we have alter egos but we understand how you feel. That said, the Adventuring Fellow system is complex, and the way certain aspects of them were designed with a maximum level of 99 has made them difficult to investigate. It's something we haven't been able re-evaluate due to other priorities.Quote:
Can you upgrade Adventuring Fellow to 119 and allow them to stay out permanently? These are loved content and people put a lot of time into them, they should be more useful.
A: From time to time, we've re-evaluated quests that proved to be huge hurdles when progressing through missions. However, the quests you've mentioned were intended to be challenging, so we've yet to consider adjusting their difficulties.Quote:
There are a few low level quests that have level caps that are very difficult to complete because no one is doing them. Are there any plans to remove or possibly raise level caps on quests like "The Big One" or the summoner "Trial Size" quests?
A: The packet data sent and received by FFXI is very small, and the game is structured in such a way that increasing the amount of data wouldn't do much for the game. So rather than being unable to do so, it's more accurate to say that it'd be a meaningless change. If you're referring to the network delay, I believe that tends to be more noticeable on Worlds with higher server loads, and would ask that you consider playing on another World.Quote:
The game was designed for 56k modems, with a peak download bandwidth requirement of about 6kb/s (2.5kb packets every 400ms). Modern internet connections have much higher bandwidths. What prevents you from modestly increasing the bitrate to provide a more responsive experience?
A: This would be very difficult; it's not as simple as converting the assets and having them ready to use.Quote:
Players point out that FFXIV (a newer game) is receiving its first graphical update and are curious if FFXI ever plans to make use of the higher polygon models and better resolution textures that are shared between the games. They additionally ask if any assets from the canceled FFXI mobile game would make an appearance.
A: We primarily monitor the forums and the feedback we receive. Other than that, we also gauge how much attention a certain topic gets by keeping an eye out for places like this thread, where players are sharing their opinions.Quote:
To the Dev.’s response about adding a Fantasia system like FFXIV, players want to know how the Dev. team plans to look into demands. (Would it be survey, poll, live stream, etc.?)
A: They are working as intended. The attributes of the reward items were taken into account when determining the current drop rate.Quote:
Are you sure that Shinryu's drop rates are working as intended, and if so, is there a mechanic to increase the drop rate that the player base is unaware of?
A: The current cap is 8.Quote:
What is the current cap for Mastery Rank value? Is Mastery rank 9 or above currently possible?
A: This is something we could at least consider; however, please note that should the change cause the servers to go down from congestion or affect other content, we'd have to take responsive measures, including reverting the change.Quote:
Follow-up: To the Dev’s response about considering making adjustments to player restricted content based on congestion; players would like for the Dev. team to consider unlocking Incursion, as its very difficult to find players to participate in it.
A: Given our current situation, it'd be quite difficult to implement a thorough in-game guide. The basics of the game are covered through Records of Eminence objectives, so please give those a try.Quote:
Like with the Play Online redesign, client download parts and other subtle convenient new player fixes — are there any plans in the works to make it easier for newer players to be introduced into the world of Vana’diel? As someone who isn’t all that versed in the game, it is all very overwhelming on what I should or shouldn’t be doing. Guides help, of course, but I feel like this should he supplemental not required to figure out the basics of the game. Not to mention the clunkiness of the UI and usage of macros being rather essential and totally unexplained besides for outside resources. I’m rambling but you get the idea!! Thank you for doing this AMA anyways : ) Love the game no matter how confused I may be.
A: It'd be great if we could make that sort of balancing adjustment, but doing so would require changes to Domain Invasion to ensure that the number of participants won't fluctuate once it begins; in other words, we wouldn't be able to have players join once it starts. This would remove a lot of the freedom the content currently offers.Quote:
Are there any plans to make Domain Invasion bosses scale more appropriately to the total number of players online on the server?
Another option would be to scale the monsters' strength based on the number of participants, but this means monsters would grow stronger with more people, and would result in a situation where the players who arrived first would be annoyed if others were to join midway.
Both options would only lead to trouble, so we've kept the current method.
A: It'd be nice to have some type of merchandise!Quote:
Are there any plans to add more merchandise? If not anything new, a rerun of old merchandise would be nice.
A: When we first began planning the implementation of the command, partial keyword searches were one of the things we considered. However, using the command while large numbers of objects are being moved around puts a lot of stress on the client (to the point where it would freeze the screen for a few seconds) so we decided to go with complete matches instead to speed things up. As such, it's not impossible to implement partial searches, but it's highly likely that we'd be unable to make it perform well.Quote:
Can you implement partial keyword search to /itemsearch command?
A: The animation designer who originally worked on it has already left the team, so the truth remains a mystery; however, I believe it was the result of their fervent efforts to make it look stylish.Quote:
How come Elvaan males have fancier casting animations (their clothes actually animate?) than the other races?