Preliminary patch notes up.

[Eggnook24]

Sorry if it's been mentioned, but did I read correctly zither new tomestones can't be collected until you reach level 60?

[wicked-one]

So far, sounds nice...

i really welcome the trade in of all that old stuff, inventory will be so empty i already rejoice ^^

what i miss are the "xy locked behind housing, 2nd class players, blah blah" threads...

[Lemuria]

Looks good so far, but I have concerns about the following:

[2.0] In accordance with the raise in level cap, the following job actions and parameters have been adjusted.

Several skills have been mentioned here, notably Shield Swipe, Shield Oath and a whole host of my precious White Mage spells. Some of these are obvious, such as Protect which we know to be extending its Magic Defense to all classes. But some of these are considerably less obvious, like Stoneskin, Presence of Mind, Holy and Shield Oath.

Given that these skills are being 'adjusted' to suit level 60 caps, I worry that they might be nerfed which will make non-HW players more than a little upset. I really hope that isn't the case here, and that the adjustments are merely a result of 'additional effects' which tie into later skills. But, this is Squeenix... nerfs are commonplace with big updates and it wouldn't be the first time they butchered some of my favourite skills for the sake of it.

Interestingly, it seems they're also nerfing Limit Break uses for base classes. Only jobs will be able to use the LB3, so no more Arcanist nukes or Lancer melee at high levels.

[Reishi]

snip

Don't have an explanation for Presence of Mind, Holy, ... as well.
Only thing I can imagine for Shield Oath and Defiance is the accuracy bonus added to it..

[Lemuria]

Okay, I found a deal breaker. This is something that really grinds my gears every time they release a new dungeon, but now I think it's gone a step too far.

Serious talk, Square-Enix. What the heck is wrong with your duty roulettes? Do you just hate new players, or do you just want to annoy them as much as possible? Yet again, you've added another three dungeons to the Hard Mode roulette. And, yet again, you'll have to have completed every dungeon in the roulette to access it? You made the change for Trials to allow you to run it with only 2, so why not extend that courtesy to Hard Mode roulettes?

Allow me to be frank, this is appalling. The new 'expert mode' dungeons are clearly Heavensward only, which is a slap in the face to current players who haven't purchased HW because they're still progressing. It's essentially a brick wall in their path, since from experience we know dungeons will give very little poetics tomes and roulettes tend to be the most reliable source of progression thanks to their bonuses.

I hated it the first time you pulled this stunt, and I hate it now. Moreso now because the Expert Roulette is entirely gated off to Heavensward customers only. What? You couldn't split the roulettes like you did the the other dungeons? Couldn't, or wouldn't? And yes, we know that the new roulette dungeons are Heavensward only because the only new dungeons listed are listed as [3.0] in other words, Heavensward expansion zones.

Look, I get it, you want to push the expansion. That's admirable. But whatever you do, don't alienate the players who don't have HW for one reason or another. The hard mode roulette is already looking a complete mess, and now you want to add to it? Let people access the roulette with 4 dungeons unlocked and I might just forgive this mean-spirited change.

[polyphonica]

The new 'expert mode' dungeons are clearly Heavensward only, which is a slap in the face to current players who haven't purchased HW because they're still progressing. It's essentially a brick wall in their path, since from experience we know dungeons will give very little poetics tomes and roulettes tend to be the most reliable source of progression thanks to their bonuses.

As far as Poetics go... the new Expert Roulette doesn't even give Poetics at all; it only gives 80 Law. Meanwhile, the High Level Roulette (all 2.x level 50 dungeons) gives 100 Poetics, and also EXP. Now that Poetics are the only tome tier that exists at level 50, all the previous Soldiery gifts will now turn to Poetics, including the "first-time" bonus. So, in truth, it looks like it won't be very difficult at all to earn Poetics before purchasing Heavensward (or, more crucially, as needed to raise your item level enough to finish the 2.55 story content).

That said, it would indeed be nice if you could run the High Level roulette without having unlocked all the dungeons in that long list.

[Lemuria]

Now that Poetics are the only tome tier that exists at level 50, all the previous Soldiery gifts will now turn to Poetics, including the "first-time" bonus.

You obviously haven't seen the previous trends. Let me break it down.

First up, we had Philosophy and Mythology tomes. Remember those? This was changed to Mythology and Soldiery tomes. Older dungeons which used to grant Philo now gave Mythology, but at a far reduced rate. Next up, we get Poetics. All previous mythology is removed and replaced with soldiery rewards. These rewards are now very small (5 soldiery for Amdapor Keep). Now, keep following that trend as we add Law to the mix and replace all existing soldiery tomes with Poetics.

See my point yet? All previous soldiery gifts may indeed be Poetics tomes, but they won't be given commonly given. This has been the pattern since the start, and there's no reason they would change it up now. The current soldiery rewards have already been a stumbling block for some of my friends, who have instead relied on dungeon drops to carry them to the stage where they can obtain Poetics tomes and skip soldiery entirely.

2 dungeons for expert roulette? WTF! Furthermore, if 3.1 comes and the new dungeons are the only ones in expert roulette, I am seriously going to be pissed. I put up with it in 2.3 and 2.4. It got to be too much in 2.5 as it became AKHM roulette and I left the game for a while.

Prepare yourself for disappointment then. The only new dungeons are the Heavensward dungeons, meaning the ones in the new expert roulette will be from the expansion. I agree, it's a mess and it's abhorrent to existing players. I was never a fan of this cycle of new tomes overwriting the old ones and this just highlights how utterly ridiculous this whole charade is.

[Garlyle]

Tomestone/high-level roulette stuff

It's important to note:
1. We already know the roulette numbers for Tomestones, and those alone are pretty high. Trials roulette is throwing you something like 80; main story's giving a lot. We don't know the numbers for dungeons themselves, but it's not unreasonable to expect high values.
2. For new players - which is where the major Tomestone concerns exist - the main story is going to be throwing gear at them to get them geared up during the 2.1-2.55 events. Tomestones are less vital now for getting through content than they were previously.
3. Most tomestones for new players also actually came from the new player bonuses.

That said, I'm seriously all for allowing High Level roulette with only partial dungeon lists... although I suppose they don't want people skipping over dungeons because they're unpopular or whatever.

[Omegakiyohime]

New tv commercial!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9isrXOAUVc

I count 8 different flying mounts, excluding the personal choco, including 2 never before seen ones at the 9 second mark!

[Nalien]

[2.0] In accordance with the raise in level cap, the following job actions and parameters have been adjusted.
Ninja
Shade Shift
Aeolian Edge

Shade Shift? Am I just tired or is that a mistranslation?