Development Q&A - March 2020

[Rwolf]

*The Development team has previously responded regarding activation of job abilities for pets here.

Matsui: If you mean by adding various characteristics to the pet, such as making your pets take a role of tanks or attacker, then it won't go against the characteristic of the beastmasters' job, so we could consider this. If you feel beastmasters are lacking in this aspect, we'd like you to share your feedback regarding this.

However, please note that we consider the performance of the master and the pet as one, so having it take multiple roles will never outperform other jobs who's specifically made for that specific role.

Thank you for choosing my question. The meaning has been misinterpreted, so I will rephrase into two questions that hopefully are clearer.

1. What lead the development team to change the vision of Beastmaster from a pet-focused job with some melee prowess to a completely melee-focused job with pet status enhancements to master similar to Dragoon?

2. Why is the player vision of playing Beastmaster wrong and not considered for change?
For example: We were told Ninja was not envisioned to tank with Utsusemi, but enmity gear and Yonin was added to support that playstyle. White Mage's Esuna/Sacrifice was changed back even though the vision for using them was different. I feel us saying Beastmaster is not fun this way should be given the same consideration.

Almost all of the job abilities for Beastmaster are focused on the pet. Beastmaster's special abilities Familiar and Unleash are focused completely on the pet damage. It is very similar to Summoner. So I'm trying to understand why the distance changes are necessary for game balance.

Beastmaster does very weak pet damage now compared to Puppetmaster and Summoner. Puppetmaster in particular can also melee with their pet and are actually built better to do so. Puppetmaster is allowed to be at a distance and this does not hurt anyone.

I don't feel we are trying to exploit the game by wanting more distance to execute pet abilities. We simply want to return to having fun with a job that we love. Commanding our pets with a wider distance makes battle flow better and makes it easier.

I don't think there should be zero risk but I feel if it's acceptable for Summoner and Puppetmaster, then it should be for Beastmaster as well.

[Beastorizer]

Bard Songs on pets would be AMAZING. this alone would probably bridge the gap for beast master playing on front lines.

In order of preference for new pets:

1. Sabotender
2. Hippogryph (With a 1 charge Hoof Volley?)
3. Flytrap
4. Adamantoise (Ferromantoise with Testudo Tremor?)
5. Leech
6. Lynx (With Frenzied Rage, Pounce, & Preternatural Gleam?)
7. Matamata
8. Gnole
9. Clot
10. Bee
11. Gnat (Pandemic Nip!!)
12. Scorpion (With Death Scissors?)
13. Sea Monk
14. Hecteyes


Pet buff abilities for pet and master:

1. Photosynthesis.
2. Nature's Meditation
3. Call of the Moon!
4. Cimicine Discharge
5. Heat barrier
6. Exuviation
7. Carthasis
8. Amplification (flan)
9. Regeneration (leech)
10. Sharp Strike

I like your list, but whomever is in charge of BST is doing an awful job; talk about a day off. That seems like what BST adjustments are.

I would like to know if these pets will have the things that makes them special. Like a SAM without its' best WS, or a WHM without Cure spells.....Can't take away the stuff which makes these creatures special.

[TullemoreAsuraFFXI]

~ ~ ~ @ Auriga (Waterdust of Carbuncle).

https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Category:Ninjutsu (Concering your #5)

Also view my posts about overhauling the interface of the player based economy for FFXI (Concerning your #4){Currently each sub'd character slot is allowed 7, 16 eligible character slots per account}

[Beastorizer]

& I agree with the others about Monstrosity. Resources in the dev world usually means time (I learned that from some small team dev pals hehe). They don't want to; because time was what put it on the back burner from the Gamerscape interview they did years back due to SoA; but that has come & pass thus the game is in maintenance mod with no real updates.

It is what it is; would have liked to be Darrcuiln or some of the blanked out families. Anyway, got an answer. Not happy, but an answer it an answer.

What I really took away from this was how long is Odyssey going to last? They have a history of releasing content & dumping it fairly quickly. I have not played it yet. Wonder how it is btw? Maybe I should look into FFXI AH topics or vids about it. From the shouts, it seems end-game-ish because people were yelling for specific members. I am kind of in chill mode this time around in XI. Not willing to take on any endgame stress lol.

[Beastorizer]

Oh, and I am still going to play it to get all the creatures to 99.

I think someone has done that before....? Not sure, but I am certain I seen some crazy guy/gal on FFXI AH talking about it. Not that difficult to do, just time consuming. However, it is a chill activity.

[Typral]

Imagine if they let you play them inside battlefields I think it would be fun

[saevel]

Well they don't need to add more monsters to Monstrosity, honestly just add some sort of reward or reason to have a species capped. Like how we get a KI for monster raising and can only have one cheer active at once. Make each species grant a special Monstrosity Bonus if you have all the monsters at level 99 within a species, something like +10 MAB +10 Macc for amorphs, +10 STR +10 DEX for beats and so forth. Not huge but good enough considering the investment, and would get people doing that content again.

Monstrosity is actually fun, you can go back and revisit old camps and zones while having a good time. I also really wish they would let us party up, no reason why three players can't join into a single monstrosity party with the same XP system that regular players have.

[Enochroot]

There are a lot of little, easy things they could do to make Monstrosity more attractive to folks. Key item rewards, monster parties, different zones and battlefields, sure. But how about...

They could turn on normal drop rules - it wouldn't have much of an impact on the economy because you can already cruise through zones on BLU or BLM and safely aoe everything. They could've tied Monstrosity to Monster Rearing, getting level 99 on a species could've unlocked new monsters for your garden. They could've added a second bazaar so you could set a loot pool for yourself to make it more attractive for gladiators to try to take you out - they could've made that be the way to transfer r/e gear off-POL-ID. They could've made the the currency (infamy & prestige) actually useful for something other than unlocking new species or getting exp bonus. They could add statues for your MH for each species you 99. They could've tied Monstrosity to jobs that rely on mobs, like BLU and BST - give a boost to learning BLU spells from mobs based on your monstrosity lvl of the species, or make your BST pets stronger or charm success rate higher.

So. Much. Potential. Just need a little imagination, flexibility, time and budget. Oh...

[Shinsonja]

oh and more than 3 fully meritable weapon skills please

[Eckamus]

1. I know adding Mog Wardrobe 5 and 6 isn't on the table at this time. However adding furthering the Mog House Moogle questline to allow for 90 and then 99 items in all storage bags should be easily feasible as it is not adding anything new. Just expanding what is already there, which has been done before.

2. Change all High-Tier Mission Battlefields to accessed and entered by the leader, like the new ones located in Selbina. I never got the reason why it wasn't like it from the start. Once a person enter, it doesn't matter what another person chooses, it results in the same outcome. So having only the leader enter any Key Item High-Tier BCNM makes sense.

-Thanks