[dev1003] Abyssea Adjustments (more Empyrean whining, whaaaat??? /facepalm)

[Harukusan]

Honestly obtaining +2 armor is a joke. If people are camping the same NMs as me just for seals/+2 items, I let them join me to reduce the competition, instead of complain about it. On the other hand, other people who generally work on Empyrean weapons are the reason why it gets so congested. Only close-nit friends work together, besides that, it's just like FF has always been. Beat the others to the claim and you can have your prize.

Honestly the feeling of accomplishment has severely died over the past few years, and the only thing left was relic weapons. The trend has been and still remains to be the group with the fastest trigger finger always wins. What's so great about it when it takes minimal effort to actually fight/kill said NMs?

Oh, by the way, the sever merges will probably be the death of all of us. I'm not looking forward to being crammed in with twice as many people like a Tokyo metro at rush hour.

[Zackan]

how do i send a pm.... i want to ask great guardian something

[Rambus]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...vate-Messaging

more comments to try get pms here, atm i do not think you can.

[Vold]

As always, we appreciate all the feedback you all provide regarding Abyssea.

We spoke to the development team in regards to all your questions about [dev]1003.

To start, we would like you all to keep in mind the FINAL FANTASY XI 2011 Roadmap where we showed that we have continuous adjustments planned for Abyssea in the future. While the portions that we would like to adjust are by no means small in number, due to the fact that there are some things we would like to add after monitoring their implementation, as well as those that take a bit more time to implement, we will be releasing adjustments gradually.

Also, currently Empyrean armor has become the most powerful equipment, but as an ultimate goal we are planning to add numerous items so that you can select what you wear depending on the situation and slot. This is similar to when the level cap was 75 and you have Relic, Salvage, Einherjar, and Limbus-related gear to utilize.

Now, for the good stuff:

•Additional Methods of Obtaining Empyrean +1 Seals
With the new battlefields that will be added, players will have another venue in which to obtain +1 seals. With this factored in, the chance of obtaining seals in order from highest to lowest will be notorious monsters first, followed by the new battlefields, and lastly quests.

There will be two tiers of battlefields, one for a 3 person party and another for a 6 person party. By taking on a battlefield the possibility of obtaining +1 seals are as follows: 0-1 for the 3 person party battle and 1-2 for the 6 person party battle. While you cannot aim for specific seal rewards, we will make it possible to select which battlefield you can attempt depending on what job and slot you would like to obtain.

•Obtaining Seals via Quests
While adjustments are not being made during the upcoming version update, in regards to repeatable quests specifically, we would like to make adjustments to the necessity of having to leave and re-enter the area. We also plan to adjust quests where the reward may not necessarily be equal to the level of difficulty required. Due to the fact that we’ll need to adjust each quest individually, making changes all at once will be quite difficult; however, we would like to start making adjustments a bit at a time.

•Additional Methods of Obtaining Empyrean +2 Items
Due to the fact that it was a bit difficult to completely solve everything during the upcoming version update, this is something that we would like to continue working on in the future. We’re working diligently so that disputes arising from heavy congestion can be avoided.

•Notorious Monsters’ Weaknesses
For the upcoming version update, we are only making adjustments to blue magic, however, we would like to continue to make adjustments to magic and weapon skills in the future. At any rate, we plan to make adjustments on the basis that no job will become the be-all end-all.

•Empyrean Feet
We are not making adjustments for this during the upcoming version update, but there is a possibility that take some form of action in the future and are continuing to look into this. Currently, compared to other equipment slots, Empyrean feet are definitely harder to obtain; however, we will be thinking about this carefully as to not lower the difficulty excessively.

Thanks for the response, Camate. It's good to have a little bit more detail on what the team is up to.


Personally I'm looking forward to the battlefields. If they are interesting and fun I see no reason not to do them, and I suspect seals will not be the only rewards. Even if they are by some chance, it's another option. It's better than not having it at all when you might actually need it. Specifically during the weekend.

In regards to +2 items, it is understandable to make adjustments for those and monitor the situation for a bit as with anything else you implement. My only concern was that these suckers get put on Glavoid and company and we're still fighting each other over this stuff for another 3 months give or take a couple weeks before we see more adjustments. We've been knee deep in drama since Heroes was released. I've had to fight over Tunga okay. TUNGA OF ALL THINGS. You know, the lil Yoda wannabe guy that single handedly keeps the chig population going strong simply by "befriending" adventures on a regular basis, if you catch my drift. I've probably given birth to a few hundred chigs myself over the months during experience groups. Nevermind that it's easy when you're prepared, okay. In soviet chasm, Tunga experiences off YOU. Most of the time it's going to go down like this until you show up to specifically kill it. So you know, to see people fighting over that thing is just crazy. Hell, I welcome the competition of it all. I thrive on that stuff when it's fair. But not at the cost of pointless crybaby drama.

Anyways, I still don't know what the overall plan is for +2 items but hey, it's something more than things staying as is. It'll help someone somewhere at the very least.

[Xilk]

Camate, to be blunt, do we really need more situational gear? Sure, most jobs can almost full-time their Empyrean +2 armor and still be at the pinnacle of their job, but all Red Mages in particular got from that deal was another situational armor set, half of it to be macroed to one spell set, and half of it to be macroed to another, and all of it macroed to yet a third spell set! I'm not saying that the armor isn't incredibly potent, mind you, but when you're a job as versatile as that, more gear "depending on situation and slot" isn't exactly music to your ears. I dunno, perhaps I'm just being bitter and selfish, here . . .

(Not to mention that most Blue Mages don't even care about their Empyrean Feet, which is really a sort of a shame . . .)

To be blunt, YES! Situational gear is something the FFXI team does wonderfully. It is fascinating and interesting for players and gives us more options to explore. I think the ffxi has done a fantastic job w/ gear abilities to come at battles and NM's from different directions w/ so many job possibilities and strategies (including gear) to use when approaching a battle.

and I love my blu empyrean feet! (no I don't full time them, but for nuking they are fantastic!)

[Xilk]

•Notorious Monsters’ Weaknesses
For the upcoming version update, we are only making adjustments to blue magic, however, we would like to continue to make adjustments to magic and weapon skills in the future. At any rate, we plan to make adjustments on the basis that no job will become the be-all end-all.

This is VERY interesting. I can't wait to see what weaknesses are used! (BST READY MOVES< YES, PLEASE)

[Meyi]

This game is easier than its been in years, and seriously people are complaining its still too hard? It will take literally minimal Effort to get a piece of +1 Gear.

Teugghia is still evil though. :/ She's not afraid to be stingy with seals, even with yellow proc.

[Satyr]

My only real issue with gear that comes from abyssea right now is AF feet. I spent over 8 hours plus a ton of stones the last time I went feet farming. In over 8 hours of AF feet farming we got .....0 YES 0 Zero Nada Nothing pairs of AF3 feet. This is just poor game design. I am almost tempted to just say screw AF feet for jobs that I play. Nothing in this game has been more tedious than AF3 feet. HNM camping, pointlessly long COP missions (8-3 tower escourt), crafting.... none of them hold a candle to AF3 feet. The system itself is bad ... AF3 feet have an absurdly low drop rate within a pool of about 50 different items that can drop from a chest that drops randomly even with good abyssea lights.

If SE wants to keep this system in place the drop rate for the boots from the chests needs to be upped significantly say to about the drop rate of the augmented armor that comes from the same chests that are absolute garbage that no one wants.

[Karinya_of_Carbuncle]

I have several wrong pairs of af3 feet that nobody wanted... maybe instead of dropping feet directly, the chests should drop a rare/ex coupon that you turn in to an npc for the feet of your choice? (And you could take the coupon to a different zone, even, so everyone who wanted feet would have an incentive to join amber farming parties in all scars zones, not just a particular one.) The Limbus coupon system always seemed kind of pointless to me because there was only one obtainable item per coupon so they might as well just have dropped the item directly, but a coupon that allows you to choose a reward (like the mog bonanza ones) would be much better. Everyone might be lotting on it at first (except people who already have all the feet they want), but if the coupon is rare, anyone who has already gotten one that party will be unable to get another until they leave to trade it in.

This would completely solve the problem of drops not being proportionate to the populations of different jobs, without implementing any kind of more complex system like adjusting drop rates depending on who is in the alliance (which wouldn't work right anyway because some people are on one job to contribute light or whatever, but want a drop for a different job).

P.S. I have a full set of DRG feet seals and no NQ feet, and it's hard to get groups to go to Scars zones when Heroes zones have Dominion Ops. So I would really appreciate some kind of reform to the NQ feet system.

[Hayward]

*I have no great problems getting AF3 footgear, but the process (especially solo) is beyond comprehension. Even with just enough amber lights, gold pyxides still rarely spawn with items. The biggest problem I have is the erratic rate in which pearlescent lights are attained. I realize this was to maintain some kind of balance in accumulation of pyxides overall, but it makes for some difficulty when trying to get those boots solo.

*I can only hope that these proposed battlefields, regardless of difficulty, do not follow the ENM model for rewards. To many of us, all risk and no reward is not exactly an attraction.

*On NM weaknesses, I would hope to see a system put in place that is more inclusive of the many jobs available. For one, pet jobs--particularly Summoner and Beastmaster--get completely hosed as things stand. Despite the cackles of those who get off on excluding people because of the job(s) they enjoy, the weakness system as it stands currently needs to be modified to include more jobs. There would be nothing wrong with including -helices (SCH), BP: Rages (SMN), and Ready ablities (BST) other than a party leader having to adjust his/her strategies to fit these jobs' capabilities.

*It is good that you have come around more to our way of thinking regarding quests and how rewards are parcelled out. I very much believe that quests such as "Proof of the Lion" and "Brugaire's Ambition" deserve much higher seal reward rates than such quests as "Unidentified Research Object" which require items that can be bought at the Auction House.