Interim Report – Sorry to keep you all waiting!

[Prrsha]

And in that regard, I'm in the middle. I think oldschool exp rates were mind-numbing. I think Abyssea exp rates are overdone. But I also think that without people having reasons to go out there, you don't have people even thinking about those zones. I don't think we need people going to the same zone for a month straight grinding away in Garbage Sit-adel slapping bats and beetles around- but they should have a reason to go there for a level or two, for a day or two. Not because of some masochistic need for people to grind, but so people actually experience the zone and a feeling of progress that isn't "blink and it's gone".




And heck, crafting is more of a 100% game in the sense that it takes people all over the game world, from the basics in Zerhun/Saruta/Ronfaure as newbie crafters all the way out to the guy smacking around an HNM and hoping for a crafting drop. Endgame is -not-. Endgame is "doing what's at the end", and it focuses around the stuff that gives you the top-end gear in a limited number of areas at the top levels the game allows. You want the endgame to be a "100% game", start putting endgame HNM's in 100% (or near to it) of the game zones- just not all at once. Kill one? Another one spawns somewhere else. Maybe your alliance takes down an HNM Antican in Quicksand Caves. A Giga Behemoth pops up in Qufim. He dies. Deep in the Outer Horutoto Ruins, a Wild Cardian appears. It goes down. Castle Zvahl gets a new Demon King. Blam. A Gold Hydra in Mamook. Boom. A Great Tauri in the Aqueducts. Bang. A Fomor in Arrapago Reef. Biff. A Golem in Ro'Maeve. They don't have to have a huge unique loot table (indeed, quite the opposite) - but let them have drops that relate to the area they spawn in. Random AF2 pieces and some ancient currency in one case. Some Salvage armors and alexandrite in another. A mixed bag of AF3 seals for a third. Crafting materials. That sorta thing. Things relevant to the care and feeding of L99 players, in other words.

Well said.

All of that information can be stored server-side, so none of that is an issue.

Correct as well. Heck FFXIAH can bring up a great deal of information and it hardly needs full access to the servers. It's just laziness on the SE's part (or overlooked) for some reason. Not only would this new interface help with leveling/exp but with endgame events (gear gathering) as well. You could even add a "synth request" option.

[Prrsha]

Prrsha? You going to respond to my email?

Sorry for the delay, reply sent! :3

[Camate]

Greetings,

I’d like to share a follow-up post from Producer Akihiko Matsui in regards to Perfect Defense/Embrava adjustments as well as content adjustments.

Hello,

Thank you for all of the feedback since the version update regarding Legion, Neo-Nyzul, the Salvage expansion, and Meeble Burrows.

• Regarding the 600 skill cap mentioned in the explanation for the adjustments to Perfect Defense
  I’d like to apologize that this was conveyed as if it was going to be immediately possible to reach 600 and it also was received like the development team did not understand the current situation. Also, I apologize that this was not followed-up on sooner.
  
  I believe that in future posts there will be cases that we give similar explanations, and we would appreciate it greatly if you could take these to mean that “while it is currently not possible to do this, there is a possibility for growth in the future.”
  
  It’s extremely difficult to have everyone come to the same understanding on the first try no matter how we convey or write it, so we would like to respond to this kind of posts in a shorter time frame by rephrasing the content or through other techniques in order to improve communication.
  
  
• Embrava stats
  I’ve been hearing that the reason for changing the regain effect to refresh was to turn it into a spell that would give a beneficial effect to not only the frontline jobs, but to backline jobs as well.
  
  I’ve been looking over all of the adjustment suggestions that you all have submitted and discussed it with the job lead as well as the content leads, but this is something that needs to be done at this specific time, so we will be proceeding with the original adjustment plan.
  
  
• Content adjustment
  While I won’t be getting into the specifics about which aspects and such, I have been speaking the development team members about adjustments and re-adjustments for Neo-Nyzul, Legion, Odin, and Voidwatch (up to Provenance watcher) based on the adjustments to Perfect Defense and Embrava.
  (Based on the above adjustments, if adjustments to the Salvage expansion are necessary we will look into that as well.)
  
  However, in regards to Arch Dynamis Lord, since this is a monster that drops materials for upgrading relics, we plan on maintaining the current conditions.
  
  Additionally, for Meeble Burrows, with the version update that is scheduled for the beginning of the year, the effect of Embrava will be made to reflect the adjustments similar to the Salvage expansion when we implement the new expeditions.

We will be working hard on development so that Seekers of Adoulin is enjoyable and also to reflect the need and importance of the above adjustments. Thank you very much.

[Ophannus]

Fine, keep the nerfed Embrava regain intact but to give us a bone, make Tabula Rasa enhance the potency of Adoloquiem. First make Adoloquiem give a base of 2TP/tick but shorten the duration slightly. Secondly make Adoloquiem under the effect of Tabula Rasa give 3-4TP/tick similar to how Tabula Rasa enhances "Regen" spells. This would be a decent compromise as Adoloquiem is limited to 'party only' unlike Embrava which can be cast on anyone, secondly the effect is weaker than Embrava's 6/tick regain at max skill.

[Alhanelem]

“while it is currently not possible to do this, there is a possibility for growth in the future.”

this statement would be fine had there not been previous cases *cough* enhancing pet treasure hunter *cough* where this statement was implied but was later followed up with "we didn't say anything about doing this / we didn't promise this" basically shooting down the idea people had in imagining a "possibility for growth in the future."

However, in regards to Arch Dynamis Lord, since this is a monster that drops materials for upgrading relics, we plan on maintaining the current conditions.

more like "However, since ADL already depends on chance even with embrava/perfect defense, we will not nerf ADL despite nerfing the abilities that make him reasonably beatable."

[Yrusama]

I guess I was wrong. Matsui is doing all he can, just like Yoshida. I really hope they both have time for a break once in a while. They should go on a Producer's vacation! *pictures them drinking sake and complaining about the whiny players*

[Sunrider]

Bumping to remind the producer the collective hatred the RDM community has for the revised, enfeebling-based 1-hout SP. Everyone liked the Encomium concept better, please enhance and implement it.



No, I don't care about anyone tired of hearing about it, awful ideas shouldn't be allowed to slip through the cracks.

[Rubicant82]

Embrava stats
I’ve been hearing that the reason for changing the regain effect to refresh was to turn it into a spell that would give a beneficial effect to not only the frontline jobs, but to backline jobs as well.

I’ve been looking over all of the adjustment suggestions that you all have submitted and discussed it with the job lead as well as the content leads, but this is something that needs to be done at this specific time, so we will be proceeding with the original adjustment plan.

まずい考え

Back line jobs have PLENTY of support. This is nothing more then a "I'm sorry we gave you something too nice, we are taking it back." I'm sorry but that is how most players see it. The corporation has let down to many people with this game and honestly the more you change it the worse off it gets in most cases.

[Prrsha]

...honestly the more you change it the worse off it gets in most cases.

If the game never changed, you'd have more Tanaka drop rates. At least the new dev believes in point based system to obtain loot.

Embrava shouldn't have been implemented the way it was in the first point. If it wasn't added, people wouldn't be complaining now because there would be nothing to complain about. In addition, content shouldn't have been tailored to be zerged as well (and as a result embrava was needed to do so). I think the changes are being done one at a time to get away from "zerging" and replace it with a new method of boss fights. Rome wasn't built in a day and I doubt zerging will go away anytime soon. It started with DRK zergs back before the level 75 cap was raised. After that you had a haste nerf. People complained as well then but they managed to adapt.

The problem that differs from the DRK zerg and the current zerging, is the content that has been added that just begs to be done that way. I really really hope Matsui-san takes a good look at how the boss content was designed in his absence and sees it needs major revisions. What seemed like a good idea on paper for a boss for level 75, doesn't work well at 99. When you pass 75, certain flaws in the entire battle system become evident. The small imbalance gaps of the 75 era turn into giant rifts at 99. I really don't think the devs back then really saw what was coming when they removed the level 75 cap and how the math works when you apply it now. It was as if they never planned to ever lift the cap.

What needs done now, is an entire re-work of the battle system from the ground up. Haste needs reworking... enfeebling... subjob combos... and TP gain. Also defense values and DPS. All of this should be fixed before even considering adding new jobs. If 75% of your jobs aren't really needed, why add more? Shouldn't you retool the existing content first before adding say... "play as a monster" to the mix?

I fear it is out of Matsui-san's hands right now. SE has set a release date and I bet his higher-ups are breathing down his neck. I don't envy his job... it must be as hectic as hell. I hope everything can be balanced before the expansion release because the expansion will need constant attention as more and more content is added on. If SE wishes to keep their gold mine going, I hope they devote more staff to FFXI so both can be worked on at once.

I have faith that Matsui-san can set things right (he did design the battle system of the game after all). I just worry on how long it will take with so many issues at once. Here's hoping to a good new year for FFXI! :3

[FrankReynolds]

If the game never changed, you'd have more Tanaka drop rates.

Complaining that they often change the game in ways that contradict the written expressed requests of the players is in no way the same as saying that they shouldn't change the game at all.

These guys consistently ask us what we think they should do and then do the opposite.