The Heavensward Site Has Been Updated!

Aw man. I love the Xaela's look but hate the lore. The Raen could be (and are from what I've seen) gorgeous though, but I prefer dark, sexy gorgeous over light, beautiful gorgeous. I love their lore, though. I guess I'll have to see how they come out in the benchmark.

Either way, man that astrologian Au Ra is gorgeous. *-*

Job lore information is enough for now.

We still have 2 months before the June release anyways.

why is this still not on psn?

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Originally Posted by Karen_Cerfrumos

We're not beggars, we're paying customers. -snip snip snip-

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I'm sorry, but comments like that reek of entitlement. You pay for the service of accessing the working game's servers. That's it, that's all. You are not entitled to any more than that. If you're so unhappy with the content planned, you certainly don't have to buy the expansion. From the sounds of things, you don't have much experience with MMOs or gaming in general.(Though I could be wrong, I doubt it) A bit of teasing without giving away the whole feature list of a product is a good thing. Discovery is part of the enjoyment. If you don't enjoy that kind if thing, I wish you all the luck finding a company that does it any other way.

Edit: Kyuven's response a few pages back is pretty much right on target.

The only detail I'd love to know right now is when is the Benchmark coming? I'm excited to play around with Au Ra in the character creator.

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Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

The only detail I'd love to know right now is when is the Benchmark coming? I'm excited to play around with Au Ra in the character creator.

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During the Nico Nico something or another, April 25/26th. Not a total 100% confirmation but they have said at least twice that they plan to release it during or around then.

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Originally Posted by Shougun

Keyyydaaaah!!... You win. :P

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I may not main ninja but I still got dem skills.

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Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

The only detail I'd love to know right now is when is the Benchmark coming? I'm excited to play around with Au Ra in the character creator.

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I believe the latest information is from a Famitsu interview talking about releasing it around the NicoNico Confrence, 25th-26th of this month.


Keyyydaaaah!!... You win. :P

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Originally Posted by Keydah

I may not main ninja but I still got dem skills.

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One day, one day you'll not see my sneak attack trick attack coming and we will high five. xD

Awesome news!

However, I do have what probably is a dumb question. What exactly is a Benchmark? Is it something that is downloaded as a separate program on your PC, similar to a game trial download?

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Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

Awesome news!

However, I do have what probably is a dumb question. What exactly is a Benchmark? Is it something that is downloaded as a separate program on your PC, similar to a game trial download?

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Yeah, it's a separate program. A benchmark is for testing a snippet of the game to see how well it runs on your system. The benchmark is to test DX11, which will release with Heavensward.

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Originally Posted by Keydah

Yeah, it's a separate program. A benchmark is for testing a snippet of the game to see how well it runs on your system. The benchmark is to test DX11, which will release with Heavensward.

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Oh Oh! And you can use the benchmark as a character creator with Au Ra as a possible race selection - with some customization limitations of course (not all options, likely).

Keydah, are you talking about the dark tones or the dark scales? As far as I made out of it the Au'ra are mainly going to be separate by the color of their scales, not skin. Granted I'm sure the Raen won't get a dark as the Xaela, but close enough that it shouldn't be an issue.

Every time I see new footage/pictures of Au'Ra and Dark Knight it just makes me want this to be out more and more.

I can't wait!!!!

Thanks for the post OP!

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Originally Posted by Keydah

Aw man. I love the Xaela's look but hate the lore. The Raen could be (and are from what I've seen) gorgeous though, but I prefer dark, sexy gorgeous over light, beautiful gorgeous. I love their lore, though. I guess I'll have to see how they come out in the benchmark.

Either way, man that astrologian Au Ra is gorgeous. *-*

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Yeah it's so sad ; ; pretty much in a way is like the wildwood and Duskwight lore. I really want to be a Raen so it fit in with me going from wildwood to Raen. But i myself don't like the light look of the scales its sad that may be xaela's lock ;(

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Originally Posted by Rhaja

Keydah, are you talking about the dark tones or the dark scales? As far as I made out of it the Au'ra are mainly going to be separate by the color of their scales, not skin. Granted I'm sure the Raen won't get a dark as the Xaela, but close enough that it shouldn't be an issue.

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The sexy/dark & light/beautiful were in reference to the style (like how I'd dress them according to their appearance) - and by extension the scales - and not the skin. I know that the clans will have their own full ranges of skin/hair/eye/etc colors and whatnot. I just love the black scales of the Xaela as I go for the pale-skin-with-contrasting-black/purple look with my character, but the pale scales are so gorgeous on the pale Au Ra that I'm conflicted.

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Originally Posted by DracotheDragon

thats odd the site gives me this

http://i.imgur.com/odPdLvh.png


maybe its not updated for you in your country? (i don't know where your from so i am just guessing)

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What browser is that o.o

Safari?

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Originally Posted by Lovescake

What browser is that o.o

Safari?

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yea Chrome and firefox have both been giving me issues on my mac and safari has been a bit more reliable today

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Originally Posted by Keydah

The sexy/dark & light/beautiful were in reference to the style (like how I'd dress them according to their appearance) - and by extension the scales - and not the skin. I know that the clans will have their own full ranges of skin/hair/eye/etc colors and whatnot. I just love the black scales of the Xaela as I go for the pale-skin-with-contrasting-black/purple look with my character, but the pale scales are so gorgeous on the pale Au Ra that I'm conflicted.

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I'm torn from it.
Because of my dark skin colour, I dunno which will look better.

Raen: Love the lore, I'm fine with the scales BUT it may look worse on my skin. [I don't really like a lot of scale in general. There is a lot lol]
Xae: Don't like the scales THAT much...and I don't care for the lore BUT the scales may make look better on my skin.
SEND HELP!
XD

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Originally Posted by Pride

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I know about Bismark and Ravana, but outside of those two, we have heard nothing, nor how they will function in the game. We were told a name, and given a beast tribe with a couple little photos and that's really about it.

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There are just somethings need to be left up to "surprising" you at launch. They can't tell us EVERYTHING lol. I am sure they will have a Live letter special about a month before launch ( next month they have 1 scheduled to talk about the battle system and more. Then there's E3, where they will most likely drop the bomb of info there.

Dark Knight confirmed for Batman.

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Originally Posted by Pride

snip

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Welcome to the world of Square-Enix expansions. They did this same stuff back when XI was hot stuff. That being said don't worry about a month to two weeks before launch they will drop a butt load of information, and about a week before launch they will get the nitty-gritty information in our hands.

Glad to finally see the physiology and clan info for the Au Ra! Their horns seem really neat. :)

But what I really want to know is the full naming conventions. D: I plan to rename my character anyway, and it is bugging me not knowing if it will be to an Au Ra name or not. xD

Also, even though I have no intention of playing a tank, I must say that the Dark Knight lore is pretty awesome.

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Originally Posted by Maikal

I'm sorry, but comments like that reek of entitlement. You pay for the service of accessing the working game's servers. That's it, that's all. You are not entitled to any more than that. If you're so unhappy with the content planned, you certainly don't have to buy the expansion. From the sounds of things, you don't have much experience with MMOs or gaming in general.(Though I could be wrong, I doubt it) A bit of teasing without giving away the whole feature list of a product is a good thing. Discovery is part of the enjoyment. If you don't enjoy that kind if thing, I wish you all the luck finding a company that does it any other way.

Edit: Kyuven's response a few pages back is pretty much right on target.

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This kinda line of thought is why 1.0 happened, by the by.
Trying to shut up any kind of criticism with "you're just ignorant" is kinda fanboyish, don't you think? In a "My favorite game can do no wrong!" way.
Basically, I'd appreciate it if you stopped with prettied up personal attacks and false analogies on anybody who dares to question SE.

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Originally Posted by Karen_Cerfrumos

This kinda line of thought is why 1.0 happened, by the by.
Trying to shut up any kind of criticism with "you're just ignorant" is kinda fanboyish, don't you think? In a "My favorite game can do no wrong!" way.
Basically, I'd appreciate it if you stopped with prettied up personal attacks and false analogies on anybody who dares to question SE.

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1.0 happened because they were opaque on basic details even AFTER launch, something they "inherited" from FFXI (which is so bad at explaining things the wiki is basically required to get anything done.)


Other, more successful games are light on details for months before an expansion's launch. The only reason some of them are more vocal about what exactly is going into the expansion is because they have a policy of releasing the gameplay changes such as class rebalancing and the like as a patch BEFORE the expansion hits. Something XIV doesn't really need to do yet thanks to vertical progression (which is another perk, by the way)
It basically boils down to this: When releasing information about an upcoming content update, you have to choose between splurging a huge amount of detail months in advance complete with your road map and ideas, or letting a little bit trickle out over a long period.
The former has some rather glaring problems: You can't "take back" announcements, so if anything going to be released as part of your game/expansion has to be delayed for whatever reason, you're screwed with the playerbase and may even be liable for false advertising charges if it's paid content. To avoid THAT fate, companies will often rush the work, which creates MORE problems.
The latter approach lets you release a little bit at a time, which lets you ensure the information reaching your audience is completely verifiable and not likely to change before release, AND it helps build hype by giving a little bit at a time.

So make your choice: Force the company to make promises they don't know that they can't deliver on, or put up with getting a little bit of information at a time until release.

I want more beard options for all races. This isn't in this preview and I am thus disappointed.

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Originally Posted by Mugiawara

I'm torn from it.
Because of my dark skin colour, I dunno which will look better.

Raen: Love the lore, I'm fine with the scales BUT it may look worse on my skin. [I don't really like a lot of scale in general. There is a lot lol]
Xae: Don't like the scales THAT much...and I don't care for the lore BUT the scales may make look better on my skin.
SEND HELP!
XD

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If you take a look at all the examples we have been given so far it seems Au Ra Scales will be pretty flexible in character creation. Here is a little something I put together to help me compare Skincolor, horncolor, and hornstyles based on the Au Ra screenshots we have been given so far:

http://puu.sh/hhs8z/c58752f646.png

From taking a look at those I noticed The Male Au Ra'Raen with Brown Horns and Brown skintones. I doubt Skincolor will be effected by gender so it might be possible to make a female Au Ra with brown horns and with a more tanned skintone even though the lore says they have white scales (It might just mean the scales are more saturated or light rather than pure white).

As far as horn style goes, it seems the Ogre Horns might be male only while the Bat Wing style might be female only
although there is a male Au Ra'Xaela with an almost Bat wing or Crescent moon hornstyle. Lets hope hornshape isn't effected by gender.


Also remember back to some of Yoshi-P's interviews about the Au Ra, especially these two:

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How diverse are the creation possibilities for Au Ra?
Y: By combining different colors and horn styles as well as different eye types, you can create a female character that can resemble anywhere from a beautiful woman to a succubus.

It sounds like there's more of a range available than there is for other races - was that your plan?
Y: I told the art team to add more personality to the facial patterns on the Au Ra for both genders. For the original races, the patterns are pretty similar with small changes between them, but the Au Ra change that up.

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http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/125...29-Translation

I wont be happy untill the benchmark is released!

Xaela all day.

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Originally Posted by Mugiawara

I'm torn from it.
Because of my dark skin colour, I dunno which will look better.

Raen: Love the lore, I'm fine with the scales BUT it may look worse on my skin. [I don't really like a lot of scale in general. There is a lot lol]
Xae: Don't like the scales THAT much...and I don't care for the lore BUT the scales may make look better on my skin.
SEND HELP!
XD

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They said that the Au Ra would be super customizable. I'm assuming that the scale color of both is not going to be limited to snow white for Raen and Ink Blue for Xaela. Someone posted a pic of a brown scaled and dark skinned Raen, perhaps that's what you're looking for.

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Originally Posted by Karen_Cerfrumos

Personally, from the last LL 3.0 just feels like a really large content patch. There's no big qualitative jump that makes me really hype because it's gonna change (improve?) how we play FFXIV. It's just more content and that's it. No, flying isn't that jump. It's just a marketing gimmick.

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I agree! As it stands right now, it feels like 2.0, but with dragons. I really hope that is not the case. Hoping we get brand new stuff never seen before. More end game, open world, group activities. Not just a massive big patch that is more or less same thing, same ol dungeons that we end up speed running, end game consisted of: four bosses, all in circular rooms with enrage timers designed to hold back the average group and a final boss who has a divebomb mechanic

PLEEEEEASE do not let this be the case lol T_T

Well Dragons = Divebomb, I can see the final fight....random mechanic that targets 4 of the 8 players in sequence, like person A gets marker > person B gets marker just before person A's disappears > etc > etc; all while dodging half room wide AoE attacks (like the Midgardsomr Keeper of the Lake final boss).

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Originally Posted by Pride

I mean... We're almost two months away from a release and we have yet to receive any kind of specific information concerning the expansion.
GIVE ME SOMETHING TO CHEW ON DARN IT!

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Why do you want the whole game spoiled for you before it even comes out? I am fine with only knowing a little about it and I get to see what happens when I actually play it.

Au Ra clans seem similar to like, the Sunseeker/Moonkeeper, or wildwood/duskwright elfs. Seems to be one day worshiping clan and then one that likes the night.

Unless the creation benchmark proves me wrong, it looks like the Raen will be my Au Ra clan :D Completely ironic given I went Moonkeeper Miqo'te, but hey.

I really like the lore behind the new jobs. I love the spin they gave Dark Knight and it does fit in more with the themes of FF4 (since they seem to really be paying homage to that game with this expac. I hope that trend continues into other games). Truly pumped to try Astrologian now. I love tarot cards and have enjoyed this job's look for awhile now.

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Originally Posted by DreadRabbit

Unless the creation benchmark proves me wrong, it looks like the Raen will be my Au Ra clan :D Completely ironic given I went Moonkeeper Miqo'te, but hey.

I really like the lore behind the new jobs. I love the spin they gave Dark Knight and it does fit in more with the themes of FF4 (since they seem to really be paying homage to that game with this expac. I hope that trend continues into other games). Truly pumped to try Astrologian now. I love tarot cards and have enjoyed this job's look for awhile now.

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I think i'm going to go Xaela. I don't know why, but i don't like the vibe i get from the Raen.

Also, moon types are my personal preference.

Edit: I think i know why i don't like the Raen. The female one previewed reminded me of Natalie Dormer. I don't trust Natalie Dormer's face. She looks like she knows exactly when the world is going to end.

http://i.imgur.com/bxClMcn.png

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Originally Posted by Averax

Edit: I think i know why i don't like the Raen. The female one previewed reminded me of Natalie Dormer. I don't trust Natalie Dormer's face. She looks like she knows exactly when the world is going to end.

http://i.imgur.com/bxClMcn.png

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Now you've made it even harder for me not to play a Raen. :|

If I play one I would play a Raen like their scale color better.

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Originally Posted by Keydah

Now you've made it even harder for me not to play a Raen. :|

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The Xaela beckons you. Join team Xaela

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Originally Posted by Karen_Cerfrumos

This kinda line of thought is why 1.0 happened, by the by.
Trying to shut up any kind of criticism with "you're just ignorant" is kinda fanboyish, don't you think? In a "My favorite game can do no wrong!" way.
Basically, I'd appreciate it if you stopped with prettied up personal attacks and false analogies on anybody who dares to question SE.

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Hahahah! Take a look at any of my previous posts, it should be fairly clear that I'm no blind fanboy. It's okay for people to have differing viewpoints than yours, it doesn't mean you're being personally attacked. Apologies if you felt that way, but my opinion is what it is, same as yours. I completely disagree with you, but big deal, huh? Save your vitriol for something more important than my personal opinion!

I'm so going Raen! I have a stupid question.. Will the PS3-PS4 users have a benchmark as well?

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Originally Posted by TinyMonster

I'm so going Raen! I have a stupid question.. Will the PS3-PS4 users have a benchmark as well?

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They don't need anything to test 3.0 for their systems