Greetings, adventurers!
Matsui here with year-end tidings from Vana’diel.

I would like to start off this month’s letter with an apology. We had previously stated that there would be new content for Odyssey coming in December, but we unfortunately had to push it back a month. I know that many of you were looking forward to it, and we hope to bring it to you very soon.

The content has been through a variety of balance passes and bug checks, but unfortunately it’s not in a state where we can release it to you this December. We place the highest priority on bringing you quality, engaging content, so we’re taking this extra time to bring the newest addition to Odyssey in the best possible state. Our current goal is to have it ready for you in the January 2021 version update.

With that, let’s take a look at December.

Intense Ambuscades feature a rerun of the Qutrub battle, while Standard Ambuscades feature an encounter with a heartwing. In a recent episode of Freshly-Picked Vana’diel, guest Emiri Kato requested that we bring a heartwing battle to Vana’diel, and we’re happy to make this a reality. Ambuscade is a bit of a playground for Abdhaljs, a battle against adorable heartwings isn’t too out of left field for our storied personage. For the battle gimmick, we’re happy to take a page from a recently-released film.

You see, the heartwing has been possessed by umnrils! You’ve got to release him from their evil thrall—and perhaps you’ll meet some leafkins to help you along the way. The theme of the battle is “living together,” and we hope you’ll see this play out as you tackle the content.

Those of you more interested in the story will want to check out Chapter 2, Part 2 of The Voracious Resurgence. Last time we included a bit of a hunt for players to replicate the oldne days of players needing to share information to obtain a specific item, and we were impressed with the speed at which you discovered the correct answer.

The Alter Ego Design Content alter ego of yours truly—as embarrassing as that is to write—is going to be coming in December as well. Just like with Cornela, this alter ego will be available to everyone just for logging in after the version update goes live. As I write this letter, the alter ego is currently undergoing some tuning, as it’s a bit too strong at the moment, but I hope he will end up in the perfect spot for all your adventuring needs.

We’ll also be holding a year-end Return Home to Vana’diel campaign, accompanied by a whole host of other campaigns to help you enjoy FFXI as we prepare for the new year. These campaigns will definitely bring a host of new and returning players to Vana’diel, so be sure to use the Assist Channel to help them out!

And that wraps it up for 2020’s final version update. This was a challenging year for many of us, and we’re hoping to close the year out strong.

See you in Vana’diel!


Mission and Quest-related
Implementation Timing Update Task and Details In-progress Task Details
December Record of Eminence ・ Update monthly objectives -
December The Voracious Resurgence ・ Add new quests -
Content and System-related
Implementation Timing Update Task and Details In-progress Task Details
December Ambuscade ・ Add new notorious monsters
・ Replace reward items
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December Title ・ Add new titles -
December Alter Ego ・ Add new alter ego -
Item-related
Implementation Timing Update Task and Details In-progress Task Details
December Synthesis Recipe ・ Add new recipes -
December Item ・ Add new items -