The Letter is up

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/13462-Letter-from-the-Producer-XI-%2806-14-2011%29?p=179346#post179346

Enjoy friends!

EDIT: 2 More weeks than initially planned. lol.

Interesting I'm glad they spiced up some of the combat skills as well. On the downside it looks like it's mid july for the "Latest" release date.

are those new WS i see? i have never seen those WS's in the game ever....

He said two weeks past mid/late june..so hopefully it's early july and will only be a couple more weeks. They had better seriously deliver some crazy goodness to us, but that video helps keep me cheery

No news on jobs? =(

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Originally Posted by GabbaGabba

are those new WS i see? i have never seen those WS's in the game ever....

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Yup, new Weapon Skills. I'm excited to see they still have some awesome creativity up their sleeves.

A part of me knew that they were going to delay the patch, but it's ok as long 1.18 is huge(and I do mean huge like 1GB) and contains a lot of content/changes(hopefully materia system/job system). As for the video, I mean it looks like auto-attack, just slightly faster which I like. Also it looks like there are new animations which is awesome and possibly new field music? Anyway I want them to take their time, get things perfect. I know there other MMOs coming out, but I rather them not rush things like they did with the retail release. I want 1.18 to be a new beginning for FFXIV.

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Originally Posted by Rau

EDIT: 2 More weeks than initially planned. lol.

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Well they did say "at the earliest".

Still, it's nice to hear anything from them.

I hope they're new WS, but they may just be advertisement for the coming 1.19 patch which he said would have attack variation. All in all I'd say this is a positive change. He looked much more lax and was able to handle all his abilities just fine. This will open up chatting during gameplay for better communication.

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Originally Posted by Sonic_the_Hedgehog

and possibly new field music?

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I noticed that (the music was on the old site for 2 years)... maybe they'll add new music in various parts of the region?

Those weren't new weaponskills, just new animations. The lancer used Chaos Thrust.

I love the new Rage of Halone and the new Chaos Thrust, but why on earth would they not preview Archer's auto-attack?

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Originally Posted by Sonic_the_Hedgehog

A part of me knew that they were going to delay the patch, but it's ok as long 1.18 is huge(and I do mean huge like 1GB) and contains a lot of content/changes(hopefully materia system/job system). As for the video, I mean it looks like auto-attack, just slightly faster which I like. Also it looks like there are new animations which is awesome and possibly new field music? Anyway I want them to take their time, get things perfect. I know there other MMOs coming out, but I rather them not rush things like they did with the retail release. I want 1.18 to be a new beginning for FFXIV.

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Agreed. I'll take the extra two weeks to let them test and tweak rather than get an incomplete patch. Also, check out the new icons for the abilities and the timers on them! It's all lookin' nice. Though I'm curious when they'll be implementing the changes that let us see ALL of our action bars at once, but I believe in the video your original action bar was already up before switching modes, so I think they added that.

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Originally Posted by Richard

Those weren't new weaponskills, just new animations. The lancer used Chaos Thrust.

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Err, yes, that's what I meant. Excuse me ^^;

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Originally Posted by LateReg

I love the new Rage of Halone and the new Chaos Thrust, but why on earth would they not preview Archer's auto-attack?

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Pretty sure ARC is going to work just like XI. The only class that really isn't affected by auto attack.

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Originally Posted by Kailok

I am somewhat upset there is no news on jobs though. Cool to see that PUG is getting some THF style abilities though.

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What are you talking about? Blindside is new?

And the glad was Rage of Halone i believe

That cool. A couple nice WS moves and buh bye stamia bar XD

EDIT: oh well. the new animation for the ws looks cool still.

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Originally Posted by Kailok

Yup, new Weapon Skills. I'm excited to see they still have some awesome creativity up their sleeves.

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These weapon skills are actually already in the game (such a rage of halone etc). What we see is graphical enhancements for them in the video.

Edit: Beaten to it.

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Originally Posted by Richard

Pretty sure ARC is going to work just like XI. The only class that really isn't affected by auto attack.

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In the letter it specifically says that the /only/ classes not being affected are THM/CON (DoM) + Gathering classes, I presume. So, unless they misspoke, Archer should have a new auto-attack.

Also, like the new (albeit basic) PUG armor design.

Spellbinder, read the letter again...

Well, I'm both impressed and disappointed...

On the one hand, it looks like they've modified weaponskills to make tham look better, more unique, and more fantasyesque, that's much more like it.

On the other hand, the speed of auto-attack seems about as fast as what we had in FFXI, and weren't we told that it would be faster than that? In addition, it didn't show how the update would affect archer. (aka the class that will be the most affected by AA)

Still, looks like the next update will be something to look forward to.

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Originally Posted by Richard

Those weren't new weaponskills, just new animations. The lancer used Chaos Thrust.

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Still good. I know a lot of people where unimpressed with the standard animations and it seems Square is listening.

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Originally Posted by LateReg

Spellbinder, read the letter again...

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I re-read it and deleted my post according. Brain's a little fuzzy right now.

Edit: No wait, it says battle classes, it doesn't specify not mages... I'm still worried... >_>

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Originally Posted by LateReg

In the letter it specifically says that the /only/ classes not being affected are THM/CON (DoM) + Gathering classes, I presume. So, unless they misspoke, Archer should have a new auto-attack.

Also, like the new (albeit basic) PUG armor design.

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Actually I'm pretty sure it will affect magic classes too. The letter does not specify DoW or DoM so I think it's safe to assume that by "battle", it means all classes which were made for combat, which includes melee and magic.

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Originally Posted by LateReg

In the letter it specifically says that the /only/ classes not being affected are THM/CON (DoM) + Gathering classes, I presume. So, unless they misspoke, Archer should have a new auto-attack.

Also, like the new (albeit basic) PUG armor design.

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quote it for me. The letter says only BATTLE classes will get auto-attack. This would include the DoM classes. ARCs would burn through way too many arrows if they wouldn't control auto attack on shoot. Worked the same way in XI which is why they weren't given auto attack. Unless they somehow tie it into the new passive/active mechanic, I don't see ARC getting a "true" auto attack.

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Originally Posted by Munba

I noticed that (the music was on the old site for 2 years)... maybe they'll add new music in various parts of the region?

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That's what I meant. I knew it was old music, but you could be right they may be adding different music for the regions.

Excuse me on assuming Blindside was new. I haven't played much of PUG so it was simply an ability I haven't seen (Noone in my group of friends that plays is a PUG, so naturally I just haven't come across it yet).

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Originally Posted by Spellbinder

I re-read it and deleted my post according. Brain's a little fuzzy right now.

Edit: No wait, it says battle classes, it doesn't specify not mages... I'm still worried... >_>

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I just don't see us getting AA Phantom/Spirit dart, ya know? Like... how can you reliably start your casts if you're stuck in an attack animation. Even as easy as the "big" NMs are now, people can die if you're on mage and you accidentally hit enter on Phantom/Spirit and then try to heal right after. It's annoying, and I feel like they won't mess that up.

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Originally Posted by Vanguard319

On the other hand, the speed of auto-attack seems about as fast as what we had in FFXI, and weren't we told that it would be faster than that?

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U may missed the part where he said that the content in this video is still under development. He even used red colored letters for this.

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Originally Posted by LateReg

I just don't see us getting AA Phantom/Spirit dart, ya know? Like... how can you reliably start your casts if you're stuck in an attack animation. Even as easy as the "big" NMs are now, people can die if you're on mage and you accidentally hit enter on Phantom/Spirit and then try to heal right after. It's annoying, and I feel like they won't mess that up.

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if you are the dedicated healer, there is no reason for you to be attack the mob in the first place

that LNC WS is mad secksi

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Originally Posted by GabbaGabba

if you are the dedicated healer, there is no reason for you to be attack the mob in the first place

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Yes, but we can't heal unless we're in active mode. Going into active mode causes our weapon to come out. Pulling our weapon out causes us to auto attack. So either mages can finally cast without a weapon out, we don't get auto attack, or its XI all over again and we face backwards lol

Looks good. I can say that this is a solid working system.
BTW im curious why he said "only classes" were effected by AA...
So does that mean for jobs we will be seeing a whole separate battle system???

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Originally Posted by LateReg

I just don't see us getting AA Phantom/Spirit dart, ya know? Like... how can you reliably start your casts if you're stuck in an attack animation. Even as easy as the "big" NMs are now, people can die if you're on mage and you accidentally hit enter on Phantom/Spirit and then try to heal right after. It's annoying, and I feel like they won't mess that up.

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With the auto attack system being introduced you'll most likely be able to cancel the AA in to a skill/spell either before or directly after the AA. This would mean that reliable spell casting routines wouldn't be easily interrupted. If this is the case I don't think mages have too much to worry about.

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Originally Posted by SydeBeheln

Looks good. I can say that this is a solid working system.
BTW im curious why he said "only classes" were effected by AA...
So does that mean for jobs we will be seeing a whole separate battle system???

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When he says "Battle classes only" he most likely means that there won't be an auto attack system for Gatherers or Crafters.

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Originally Posted by Aistaraina

Yes, but we can't heal unless we're in active mode. Going into active mode causes our weapon to come out. Pulling our weapon out causes us to auto attack. So either mages can finally cast without a weapon out, we don't get auto attack, or its XI all over again and we face backwards lol

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but what are we going to AA if we're not targetting a mob? i dont know, but im just going by how it is in ffxi. you can draw your weapon but unless u manually choose to attack the mob, you won't go into AA mode. just active mode

The 2 week delay is a real bummer. I was looking forward to this patch way back in the mid spring.
Now it seems the delay is going to be nearly 3 months.
I seem to recall Yoshi saying the updates would be every 2 weeks for small patches and 2-3 months for the larger ones.

So all in all we are looking at 5-6 months since work on this patch started.
Is it just me, or does it seem like this game is going to take more time to fix, than it would to start from scratch? Well the new animations and changes to that attack system look promising, still mixed feelings about the speed of the auto attacks especially on pug.

my lancer is so ready to use chaos thrust again, har XD

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Originally Posted by Adol

When he says "Battle classes only" he most likely means that there won't be an auto attack system for Gatherers or Crafters.

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hmm perhaps dats trueee