Thread: Patch 2.5 Preliminary Notes Discussion

Aetherial wheels have been added, which can convert stored energy into company actions.
Free companies can now charge aetherial wheels on estate grounds. These wheels acumulate aether over time, which can be used to acquire company actions without the use of company credits.

In order to charge aetherial wheels, free companies must first obtain an aetherial wheel stand, which can be purchased from housing merchants in any residential district.

The aetherial wheels themselves can be crafted using alchemy.

Well, I sure regret ever getting excited for this... Didn't they describe it as the first step in Free Company crafting? I hope Airship crafting doesn't follow suit, because this sounds like you just leave it to do its thing, rather than actually crafting...

Retainers can now be placed on estate grounds outside the hall.
An expansion of duties permit is required to place a retainer on your estate grounds outside the hall. These permits can be purchased from independent sutlers in any residential district.

One, two, or three retainers can be placed on small, medium, and large estates respectively.

Once a retainer is placed on estate grounds, items that they currently have listed for sale on the market can be purchased by anyone who speaks with them. The retainer's sales history (up to 20 entries) can also be viewed by other players.

Placing retainers on estate grounds does not impact your ability to summon them via summoning bells to deposit and withdraw items, or to assign retainer ventures.

This, on the other hand, has me extremely excited. Sounds like they've botched it though, but I have hope. Really need to remove the tax when selling from a Estate and move the tax to the buyer. That encourages people to visit your Estate to purchase items, rather than just using the Market Board. For example, if something is selling for 10,000G, the seller currently gets a 5% tax meaning they only earn 9,500G from that sale. If a sale from an Estate loses that tax and puts it on the buyer, I can put something up for 9,500G (the same amount I'd make currently selling it for 10,000G) but the buyer tax brings it to 10,000G on the Market Board (well, a bit less but you get the idea). Anyone buying off the Market Board still pays 10,000G for it, and I still get 9,500G, but anyone visiting my Estate to purchase the item pays 9,500G and I still make 9,500G. Perfect. Without something like this, it just seems pointless outside roleplaying. More so when there are Market Boards spread out across the Wards...

The potential for shop based furniture is great too... Mannequins please; I want to display armor I'm selling.