June 2020 FINAL FANTASY XI Digest

[Kawar]

Greetings, everyone!
FFXI Producer Matsui here.

Alas, we’ll be delivering the FFXI Digest in text format once again.

This version update will mainly focus on aspects that were originally planned for the May version update that couldn’t be implemented due to some tasks being put on a halt.

As a countermeasure against RMT (real-money trading), we set a limit on the number of sparks of eminence and Unity accolades that can be exchanged each week.
While the STF (Special Task Force) have been tracking reported logs and strengthening their enforcement, we determined that it would be effective to also reduce some simple methods of earning gil. This countermeasure will affect regular players to some extent. However, in order to minimize effects on players, we opted to limit the number of points exchanged, rather than remove certain Records of Eminence objectives.

We don’t think this is a perfect solution and will consider adjustments if necessary, so we’d like to hear your opinions on this countermeasure.

Ambuscade will both feature returning enemies, Dullahan and Pteraketos.
We’ve added some new Dullahan-themed rewards, so please look forward to it!

I’d also like to briefly explain the reason for the adjustments made to alter egos.
Certain alter egos used Holy during Divine Emblem to gain enmity; however, after the adjustment to paladin that reduced the recast time of Divine Emblem, we noticed that these alter egos often ran out of MP. To address this, we’ve adjusted AAEV and Rughadjeen to use Flash during Divine Emblem instead. With August, however, we addressed this by improving his MP restoration methods, so he will continue to use Holy as before.

The development and operations team are gradually returning to their usual productivity, and we’re currently in process of preparing for the July version update.

We hope that you continue to enjoy FFXI!

I will just go on record saying this there are people out there who will hate me saying it (RMT)

but i like to see your moving to do things to stop RMT from hurting a game that people like me who have played from ps2 till now love and hold so close to there hearts.

what i wish i would see from the FFXI Team and SE is the company takeing legal action on the 2-3 RMT sites running ADs just about nightly on my server and i would guess they do it on all servers.

but everything you do helps us to have a better ffxi and i love you guys keep up the good work.

[Nyarlko]

But then the RMT would just bot Unity points, and run back and forth to that NPC buying pop items and selling them, setting the price trend (as opposed to sparks).
There are more than a handful of unity items that sell for good amounts of gil.

Why not just get the group in question who needs whatever Escha NM's, to come along with you and farm the needed Unity fights for pop items?
That way, everybody has something to do.

If RMT all decided to shift their energy into farming accolades to buy UNM mats, they'd have to wait for stuff to sell on the AH rather than instant NPC-sourced gil, and demand simply isn't high enough for any of them to support the overly inflated supply resulting from them jumping into the market. Prices would crash, and crash hard, making it a less lucrative market for them to be a part of. It'd still eliminates the ability that RMT had to generate non-economically interactive funds due to being able to directly convert unlimited quantities of sparks/accolades directly into gil at a 1:10 ratio via instantaneous NPC sales. The mats are all dirt cheap when sold to NPCs, and even at the highest end of current pricing, AH value is much less than 1:10 value, so RMT income potential would still be vastly reduced. Even if UNM mats were excluded from the cap, it'd be less gil/hour potential for them to continue botting trash mobs for accolade/sparks farming than just about any actual content. That's still a big win IMO.

Still need to exclude all EX items regardless (that can't be sold for gil, if any exist,) since that almost exclusively hurts newer players/characters who need gear/Rems.

No one ever wants to actually fight UNMs. They are straight-up miserable with a full alliance. <,<
As the leader of a large, active ls I also have absolutely no desire to double~triple the amount of time required for any events. Our event schedule is full enough without trying to cram in UNM farming (which is also best done with smaller groups due to scaling, resulting in member exclusion.) We have no shortage of things to do even without forced UNM farming added to the mix. There was absolutely no need to when I was able to personally cover the pop item costs for everyone with my own accolades before this change.

[Alhanelem]

I will just go on record saying this there are people out there who will hate me saying it (RMT)

but i like to see your moving to do things to stop RMT from hurting a game that people like me who have played from ps2 till now love and hold so close to there hearts.

what i wish i would see from the FFXI Team and SE is the company takeing legal action on the 2-3 RMT sites running ADs just about nightly on my server and i would guess they do it on all servers.

but everything you do helps us to have a better ffxi and i love you guys keep up the good work.

I mean, I like it too in theory, I just think this doesn't hurt RMT and only hurts legitimate players.

[Zehira]

We don’t think this is a perfect solution and will consider adjustments if necessary, so we’d like to hear your opinions on this countermeasure.

We hope that you continue to enjoy FFXI!

Hello! Thank you for your time. I think it's about time you started discussing these significant issues we hear all over this official forums (both English & Japanese forums). Of course, Japanese players may say the same thing over and over about reporting to the STF and nothing happen. That's their culture and we have our own culture. I feel like as if I am not welcomed to any server outside of Asura due to the amount of gil I have in my pocket and I am fine with that. To be fair, Asura is not a perfect server. There, I speak for myself.

As I have just returned to Vana'diel after real life issues, I would still like to finish up my final phase of the Escutcheon shield, however being a legitimate player I don't know what I am supposed to do at this time. I would like you to continue discussing this issue with your fellow adventurers and helping us to understand.

Thank you again!

[Yoji_Fujito]

These adjustments were made based on requests brought up on the forums.
When we shortened the recast time of Divine Emblem, the alter egos kept their previous behavior of frequently casting their spells (Holy), which caused them to quickly run out of MP. We’ve readjusted their behaviors, so we hope you’ll try them out in battle again.

[Akihiko_Matsui]

Thank you all for your feedback.

We understand that many players feel that the current restrictions are too low and have run into the current set limit. We’ll continue to examine this. Rather than simply raising the limit and keeping in line with the current structure, we’re considering the addition of more effective methods with future countermeasures.

The development and operations teams are aware of RMT vendors bypassing the restrictions by using multiple accounts or repeatedly creating new characters. While we’d like to completely cut off the gil supply for RMT vendors, I believe it wouldn’t be possible without severely affecting regular players. Instead, our goal is to make the effort of RMT vendors selling gil not worth the real life benefits they would receive. Since the changes, we’ve received reports that RMT vendors have altered their activity patterns, and we’re also constantly penalizing accounts involved in fraudulent activity. Therefore, the changes had some effect but weren’t a decisive blow, and we’ll continue to take countermeasures.

On a related note, Sparks of Eminence are only intended to be a supplemental method for obtaining items such as Rem’s Tale Chapters. We’d like to encourage all players, beginners and veterans alike, to challenge themselves to primarily obtain these items through other means, such as High-Tier Mission Battlefields. Sparks of Eminence aren’t meant to completely replace the other content in that regard, but we’d like to hear your feedback if you encounter any issues with obtaining these items through other content.

We do not believe the issue can be resolved with just a one-time measure. Additionally, we want to make sure that these measures do not heavily affect everyone’s normal gameplay as well.

As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback.

[Taruitis]

You wanna combat RMT?? Put some GMs in zones. If we as player can spot a bot, I bet you can too! Taking actions that hurt actual players(such as sparks) does not fix or hinder RMTs, I am sure they got enough Gil with their 18 accounts per person... or maybe the 1000 job shouts per minute, or maybe the pay to win everything shouts... or the crafting bots that have been in the same zones for 2+ years running the same path... or the Dynamis bots that have been there 2+ years... or the AH pricing that seems to magically inflate by large amounts... jail these bots, temporary suspensions, and continue to do it. That will ensure SE still gets the monthly paid subscription $$$, and players will have access to content!! Amazing how simple it is(I know there is a little more to it than that). But I am wasting my breath, it’s not rocket science so you can make changes that impact the game positively for the player base... you have only had years to try and come up with a solution... if you can’t monitor RMT any better than this then you should just stop trying... it’s beyond ridiculous how bad they have become. Quit sugar coating these little changes and get on the offensive! End of rant.

With love,

Taru

[Sirmarki]

The Job Point sellers (aka botters) need to be dealt with, the Apex camps that players often (try) to use are swamped with them, all stuck on top of each other repeating killing monsters 24/7, and yell is 95% Job point sellers.

If something isn't done soon, there will be no spots left at all for us genuine players.

[Beastorizer]

I am noticing a reoccurring theme here Matsui; you have a vision.....which you force down the throats of the players.

For decades, BST was able to use ready or sic from the yonder. Even though BST like myself battled at close range, you wanted to force feed others to do so. Everyone hated it.

RMT was an issue for decades. Players and RMT always shared the same source of gil for the most part. Now, you once again force feed your vision upon the players.

Disclaimer: NO DISRESPECT MATSUI.

However, I feel like if you were in charge during the early 2000s, you would have force fed NIN as a elemental wheel DD instead of a tank as players were playing Ninja as......

I have no issue making money, or really fighting as BST (Unless my little bunny gets lost in a crowd and I cannot see it to come closer in attempt to use Ready....Which is why I like/want bigger pets...), but you gotta stop the force feeding man.....Disrupting players is not the answer to everything.

No shade, disrespect, just the opinion of one man.

[Venat]

MATSUI please remove animation lock on abilities. Most "power up" animations are exactly the same. It would improve the pace of combat and animation lock bloat.