Dev Tracker: Findings/Posts (NO DISCUSSION)

[Kincard]

Geomancer (8/12)
I asked the development team the plans for Geomancer for the future. As you may know, the potency of effects of equipment on certain Geomancy spells was increased in this patch. First, we wish to observe what effect this will have.
Aside from this, we think elemental magic is being underused by geomancers because of the difficulty to balancing the MP cost alongside your Geomancy spells. We are carefully considering what adjustments to make to this.
We have received feedback that it is difficult to split Geomancy buffs between different roles because of the two-spell limit, however our policy right now is to make Geomancy spells high-potency to offset this disadvantage.
We wish to continue differentiating Geomancer from other jobs and we plan on adjusting things such as Elemental magic.

Joachim Trust (8/12)

Can you make Joachim not cast Paeon so early? In long fights I would prefer Ballad instead, and failing that, keeping March

We currently have no plans on adjusting the Joachim Trust. We hope players use support Trusts as according to the situation. We are currently planning a red mage Trust, so please look forward to future updates. (In case you are wondering, it is not Rainemard)

[Kincard]

Mug JP Glitch (8/13)
There is currently a glitch with the gil displayed once you upgrade Mug. It is only a problem with the display, and you are obtaining gil as normal. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Mage Shelds (8/13)

I was hoping for a back-line use shield from Alluvion Skirmish

There was none in Alluvion Skirmish, but we are planning on adding shields for non-paladin jobs in the next version update. We are considering amongst this some kind of shield that can be useful for backline jobs.

Trusts (8/13)
It is possible to change whether Trusts are targeted by <stnpc>, but we must carefully consider this as some players may already be used to the way it is right now.
In addition, while you currently cannot use Trusts in Wings of the Goddess Missions, we are currently working on making this possible. However, there is quite a bit of work for this to become possible, so please wait a bit longer.

Preview of September Update
We are planning a quest continuing on the Wings of the Goddess Storyline and adding the new Summon, Atomos.
There will be new high level content designed for 6-18 players to challenge.
There will be a new ilevel version of Walk of Echoes. The monsters will be stronger, but the rewards will be greater.
We are planning on allowing players to equip an extra linkshell.
New Monster Raising content.

[Draylo]

Video recap of update and something new at end about Lillisette:

[Kincard]

Adoulin Mission Rewards (8/14)
As with many mission rewards in the past, you will be able to reobtain these items in the future. (We cannot say if repeating the BCs would be required at this point) However, since this is planned for the future, we hope players carefully choose what they obtain for now.

Alluvion Skirmish (8/14)
Since the monsters in Alluvion Skirmish have been given low HP, we have decided to not let them give experience and capacity points. (There are bosses and special monsters from which you can obtain these though) We wish to avoid having one particular piece of content give a lot more than other content or earning points in the field, particularly in the case of capacity points, where we designed it to be obtained by players from various forms of content. We are discussing making adjustments in the October update.
In this update, we will take into consideration the low HP of the Alluvion Skirmish monsters before we decide on the amount of EXP/CP that these monsters give.
The arcane glyphs you can currently obtain with stones can be of melee, ranged, magic, or pet type augments, and the stones you use have a large effect on the odds of which you will obtain. However, it is also possible to get an augment not matching the stone, or a higher level augment at a low rate.
If you obtain an augment not matching the stone, it can be considered losing the roll, but also consider there may by cases where certain stones may be much cheaper on the market, and certain players may be willing to spend their money on a low chance of an augment they want.
As for inventory issues regarding the different types of stones, we are considering adding an NPC that will hold stones for you. We cannot give a solid plan at this time, but we will be sure to inform you if there is progress.

Equipment Sets (8/14)

Could you add a command to save our current gear as a set temporarily? If this is not possible, could you add a command that allows us to save a set?

We looked into the possibility of this, but there are currently some technical issues with increasing the number of sets, so we will carefully consider this. With the expansion of equipment sets becoming harder to process, a macro command that allows you to save sets may be concerning. Increasing the number of sets may change the way they are currently used, so I hope you can first wait for the next version update to come.

[Kincard]

Alluvion Skirmish (8/20)
The one-handed club from Alluvion Skirmish, Sharur, has less skill than other weapons, but wth the extra accuracy on it you will be able to land hits easier. Not limited to Alluvion Skirmish weapons, we have other weapons that have less skill than is typically found on a similarly leveled weapon, but it will have attack or accuracy on it to compensate.
Based on feedback, we will also be adding a message telling players when they have reached the deepest level in Alluvion Skirmish. Please wait a bit longer for the next version update.

Blue Mage (8/20)
As we had mentioned in the past, the Blue Mage JP “Learning Rate Up” would be changed. In September, we will be changing it to “Physical Blue Magic Additional Effect Accuracy Up”. For example, if you use the spell Sudden Lunge, you will have a larger chance of landing the stun effect.

[Kincard]

New Recipes (8/21)
We currently have no plans on expanding the methods in which to obtain Palladian Brass and Ormolu Ingots. However, we plan on adding more high level crafting recipes. We recommend that players that have been having trouble leveling their crafts to check new recipes.

Crossbow (8/21)
We will be adding a level 119 Crossbow that is usable by Warriors and Thieves in the September update. However, it may be quite difficult to obtain!

[Damane]

[dev1229] Job Adjustments

Beastmaster
Six new familiars summonable with Call Beast will be added.

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* The items required to summon these creatures will be sold by Theraisie, a new NPC located in Upper Jeuno (G-6).

Dragoon
As a wyvern’s level rises, the dragoon’s physical attack and defense will increase, and the player will also receive a haste effect.
Physical attack and defense will increase by 4% for each wyvern level up to a cap of 20%, and the haste effect will increase by 2% per level up to a cap of 10%.
* These benefits are only conferred while the player’s wyvern is active. If the wyvern falls in battle or is dismissed, the benefits are lost.

Owing to this adjustment, the physical attack and defense bonus conferred by the Spirit Surge ability will be changed to 25%.
The Strafe job trait, originally obtainable via merit points, will now be earned by leveling up. The trait is first acquired at level 20, with the effect increasing in stages at levels 40, 60, and 80.

Owing to this adjustment, the Merit Group 2 category “Strafe” will be renamed to “Strafe effect”
Strafe effect: From Increase accuracy by 5 to Increase accuracy by 10.
The amount of time required for a breath to activate will be decreased from three seconds to one second.

Blue Mage
Blue mages will be capable of learning the following spells.
Restoral (Lv.99, Recast time: 10 sec.)
Restores the caster’s HP.
Rail Cannon (Lv.99, Recast time: 180 sec.)
Deals light damage to an enemy.
Diffusion Ray (Lv. 99, Recast time: 45 sec.)
Deals light damage to enemies within a fan-shaped area originating from caster.
Sinker Drill (Lv.99 Recast time: 75 sec.)
Delivers a fivefold attack. Damage varies with TP.
New spells only available under the effects of Unbridled Wisdom:
Uproot (Lv.99, Recast time: 30 sec.)
Deals light damage to enemies within range. Also removes status ailments from caster.
Crashing Thunder (Lv.99, Recast time: 30 sec.)
Deals lightning damage to enemies within range.
Polar Roar (Lv.99, Recast time: 30 sec.)
Deals ice damage to enemies within range. Additional effect: Bind.
The job point category “Learning Chance” will be changed to “Physical Blue Magic Effect Accuracy.”
Increases the accuracy of the additional effects of physical blue magic.
* Any job points spent in Learning Chance will automatically be carried over into Physical Blue Magic Effect Accuracy.

Dancer
A new ability, Contradance, will be added.
Contradance (Dancer Lv.50, Recast time: 5 minutes, Effect duration: 60 sec.)
The next waltz used while under the effects of Contradance will restore an increased amount of HP. If Healing Waltz was used, the effect will extend to an area centered on the target player.
The maximum Step level will be increased.

Player Level Step Level Maximum
50 6
60 7
70 8
80 9
90 10

Rune Fencer
Valiance’s area of effect will be increased.

[Kincard]

Medicine Space (8/25)
Players have requested we do something about consumable items. We had considered a special bag for such things, however there are two problems:
-There are consumable used in synthesis. If you place them in this bag, you will not be able to craft with them.
-Items like Ninja Tools would not be automatically consumed
With the technical hurdles to add storage functioning similarly to your inventory being high, it is more likely we will continue expanding features such as the Mog Wardrobe. As for changing medicines to stack to 99, currently we are not planning to do so because of the effect on the auction house.
We believe players want to increase the numbers of items they can hold, so we will work to help players expand their storage space moving forward.

Macc Crossbow (8/25)
As players have pointed out, magic accuracy skill does affect the accuracy of additional effects from bolts. To increase a ranger's magic accuracy, we are considering adding an item such as a high level dagger or axe focused on increasing ranged skill.
It should be noted that currently, while they were not designed for ranged attacks, there do exist level 119 daggers that increase magic accuracy.

[Ligray]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/44023

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...3054/13054.jpg

[dev1231] New Battle Content: Incursion!
New battle content known as Incursion will be added.

What is Incursion?
Incursion is difficult battle content in which Vana’diel’s most daring adventurers strike into the heart of the Velkk kingdom deep within Marjami Ravine. Vanquishing the fiends found within will reward the players with spoils, experience points, and capacity points. Fulfilling certain prerequisites and reattempting the battle will further increase the difficulty of the monsters appearing within, providing a level of challenge that surpasses even the most frightening of Delve content.

Requirements
Have installed and registered the Seekers of Adoulin expansion pack
Be of level 95 or above
Be in a party comprised of between three and eighteen players
All party/alliance members must be in possession of the Velkk Fetish key item.

Joining the Fray
Challengers can test their mettle against the Velkk by examining the Weathered Canvas in Marjami Ravine (I-11) once all party and alliance members possess velkk fetishes. These fetishes can be procured from the corpses of Velkk skulking about the ravine.

Monster HP within Incursion will increase proportionally for each player over six.

Tackling the Beasts
Incursion battles have a forty-five minute time limit. Defeating the fiends within will reward the victors with experience, capacity points, and specially-named treasure coffers. Furthermore, besting NMs will also yield special key items.

Subjugating monsters within incursion will occasionally provide players with specially-named coffers. Opening one of these chests, which automatically appear in all party and alliance embers’ inventories, will yield materials, equipment, and other items.
* At least one free inventory space is required to open these coffers, and different players may receive different items.

Key Items Earned from NMs
Six notorious monsters exist within Incursion, and defeating them will yield special key items for each party and alliance members.

Collecting a full set of six and trading them to Grrk-Frut the Charlatan in Marjami Ravine (I-11) will raise the difficulty counter on the party/alliance leader’s next Incursion by one. As the difficulty rises, capacity points gains and the likelihood of receiving specially-named coffers increase.

Additionally, when a party/alliance leader enters an incursion with these key items, they are able to use Rusted Transmitters stationed within the Velkk’s lair. These transmitters can teleport the party/alliance between the entrances and the various NMs’ abodes.

Additionally, when a party/alliance leader enters an incursion with these key items, they are able to use Rusted Transmitters stationed within the Velkk’s lair. These transmitters can teleport the party/alliance between the entrances and the various NMs’ abodes.

[Priran]

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...3067/13067.jpg
Quality of Life Improvements (09/05/2014)


*The location of home points, telepoints, and survival guides will now be displayed on maps.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/at...903518&thumb=1 Homepoints/Telepoints
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/at...903533&thumb=1 Survival Guides

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/at...903545&thumb=1
* Blinking icons indicate those with which you have not yet interacted.


*When teleporting between home points or using the teleportation assistance function of survival guides, players will be able to check the exact location of their destination.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/at...903558&thumb=1

*Players will be able to rearrange party members in the party list.
Party member order may be changed by selecting “Rearrange” from the Party section of the main menu. Selecting this option will display party members’ main and support jobs to the left of their names.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/at...903571&thumb=1
* Main and support job information will not display for alter egos.


*A new command, /itemsearch, will be added.

/itemsearch
This function allows players to search all storage systems for items that exactly match the text entered, with successful hits displayed in list format. Note that items which span multiple words must be enclosed in quotation marks (e.g. /itemsearch “Cizin Helm”) .
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/at...903747&thumb=1

[Ligray]

A New Quest Takes the Stage! (09/08/2014)
http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...3086/13086.jpg

The September version update will bring along with it the continuation of one of Seekers of Adoulin's mini-sagas!

Roskin, the bumbling Yocile-oggler from the Thirst for the Ages" and "Thirst for the Eons," never content to be a mere witness to history, sends the player off to learn about events surrounding King August's many forays into the jungles. Explore a different angle on the sacred city's past with the third installment in this gripping side story!

* In order to receive this quest, players must have completed the previous two chapters in the installment as well as chapter four of the Seekers of Adoulin mission up to and including "Balamor, the Deathborne Xol."

[Draylo]

Video Recap of recent update, Shows off Atomos summon(1:12:51) and Cid battle animation/some ws.



Quirky video trying to bring back older players:

[Kincard]

Encumbrance Effects (9/11)
In the September update, we've adjusted a couple monsters that cause the encumberance effect. Currently, we have no plans on adjusting the Antlion's Quake Blast attack, but abilities like the Slug family's Fuscous Ooze/Mucilaginous Ooze cause you to lose your equipment and become encumbered, so we plan on adjusting it in October.
Moving forward, if we ever add monsters that remove your equipment and cause encumbrance at the same time, we want to either make it so players can avoid the attack somehow or make the encumbrance effect very short.

Maps for Incursion (9/12)
We envisioned Incursion as an event where players tackle it repeatedly until they become familiar with the layout, thus we decided to not make maps available. We want players to play the content multiple times and find their own directions and figure out the NM placement on their own.

Surge Walks (9/12)
We are discussing making it so that in the October update, Surge Walks may happen naturally after a certain amount of time passes. That said, we think there is an advantage to clearing normal walks so you can get the Surge walks you want at a higher rate, so please try it out.

[Kincard]

Equipment Set Macros (9/16)

/equipset 1
/ma Stoneskin
/equipset 2
With this macro, the third line results in an error. Do you think you can fix this?

In the case of the macro as written, before the equipment set of the first line is finished equipping, the third line is attempted, resulting in the error. An adjustment like this would require adding a check for the completion of the first set before the next set is equipped. Because of the strain this can caught, there are currently no plans to adjust it as such.
We suggest that as a workaround, a player could put <stpt> at the end of the second line. By doing this, a subtarget will appear, allowing you to wait for the first line to finish before proceeding with the second line. While this will increase the need for player input, it allows for more precise timing for the player, so we hope you can try it out.

Goblin Mystery Box Animations (9/16)
We wanted to make the special dial feel different when players opened it, but with all the feedback of players wanting it to run more smoothly, we are considering removing these animations in October.

[Kincard]

Trust Magic Symbol (9/22)
Currently Trust Magic all shares the same white symbol. We may consider separating them into rough categories for convenience.
Currently we are thinking of the seven categories tank, melee, ranged, magic, heal, support, and special. We have not made any solid plans yet, so please wait for future version updates.

Fujito posts
●He wants to add an option so you can obtain all your day's worth from a node in Mog Gardens, it will take as many as it can until you run out of harvest attempts or the node moves spots. This will come the next update.
●After a suggestion from a player, he is considering making it so that you can choose a category of thing to harvest from the Mog Gardens (ex. you can keep chopping the tree instead of it moving to the grass for harvest after a certain amount)

[Kincard]

Mog Pell [Red] (9/25)
We have kept players waiting for the Mog Pell [Red]. There is still a portion of accounts that have not received theirs, and we hope to finish it within the next 3-4 days. Thank you for your patience.

Unable to Log In During Incursion (9/25)
We apologize for any players that have been suffering an inability to log in after disconnecting during Incursion. The development team is aware of this issue and are currently investigating it. Compared to other content, Incursion has a relatively high number of monsters appearing simultaneously, and it may cause a large amount of stress on the servers.
As soon as we have new information we will bring it to you on the forums, so please wait for now.

Map Icons (9/25)
We thank the players for their feedback regarding map icons. We want to give priority to points of interest related to travel. For example, in October, we wish to add map icons to mark stairs on maps. Things that have been suggested such as confluxes and waypoints are under consideration for the future, so we hope players look forward to future updates.
While we wish to focus on points related to travel, if there is a large request we may consider marking points where Colonization Reives take place. However, we also ask players to take care of what icons you ask for, as overloading the maps with icons may make the maps unwieldy.

Equipment Set Expansion (9/25)
We plan on making adjustments to the gearset system come October. We will be adding extra gearsets for players. Pressing right or left on the current 1~20 page will take you to additional gearsets.
[I cannot into computers, so sorry if I translate/use these terms incorrectly]
I will now go into more detail of issues we have brought up in the past regarding gearsets. This is an issue that may only affect a certain portion of players. When we last spoke of technical problems with adding more sets, we were referring to problems of memory access.
It was difficult to make all 100 sets fit into the in-memory database. To solve this problem, we would place 20 in the database with the remaining 80 within the storage. When you first use the equipset function, it will read the gearset from the storage. Continuously trying to equip this set will not read it from the storage but rather use the whatever is already in the memory (In other words, the memory is cached).
The reading of storage to memory will store up to 20 at most, similar to the synthesis history.
When you open the equipment set menu, there is a need to read the data of the sets and the set names, and thus it will take the first 20 sets and overwrite the memory.
Now, you might be asking why I'm talking so much about this. It is because that if you rely on your macros on going off on strict timing, this may affect it...is what I want to say, but I believe that currently there are few battles where you will be swapping between over 20 different sets very often, so these fears may be unjustified.
On a different topic, I have read feedback of people who wish to call up their sets through the names they have given them. Because this would require the system to check the characters you have used for your sets, this would affect the processing speed. With numbers, it is much easier. This problem becomes more pronounced the more sets you have, and thus we will not be doing that at this time. It is possible it would be close to what you see while using the /itemsearch function.
With all that being said, I think despite my concerns the players will be able to get full use out of the equipment sets.

[Ligray]

A New Wings of the Goddess-Related Quest, "A Forbidden Reunion," Will Be Added
http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...3150/13150.jpg

In the October version update, a new quest featuring a particularly memorable Wings of the Goddess character, "A Forbidden Reunion," will be introduced.

This most forbidden of reunions takes root in a small miracle called forth by a young woman who gave everything to protect Vana'diel...and her struggle to contain a future most bleak begins anew.

Players must have completed the following prerequisites to receive this quest.
- Have completed the Wings of the Goddess mission "Lest We Forget."
- Have completed the quest "Champion of the Dawn."
- Have completed the Trust initiation quest in one of San d'Oria, Bastok, or Windurst.

http://blog.square-enix.com/ff11/images/0926.jpg

[Ligray]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...824#post526824

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...3158/13158.jpg

[dev1235] Job Adjustments

The following jobs will undergo adjustments.

Warrior
The effects of the job ability Berserk will increase in stages as the player rises in level. Physical attack will increase by 1% per stage at levels 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90, and will reach a maximum of 30% when combined with the original effects.

The effects of the job ability Defender will increase in stages as the player rises in level. Physical defense will increase by 1% per stage at levels 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90, and will reach a maximum of 30% when combined with the original effects.

Thief
Dagger skill will be raised from A to A+.

Beastmaster
Axe skill will be raised from A to A+.
Familiars summoned using the Call Beast ability will have increased physical and magic accuracy when level 100 or above.

Ninja
A new job trait, Daken, will be added.
When equipped with a shuriken, the ninja will occasionally throw it upon autoattacking.
This trait will be learned at level 25 and will increase in stages at level 40, 55, 70, and 95.
* Shuriken thrown using Daken will not be consumed.
Sange will undergo the following adjustments.
Sange (Recast time: 3 min., effect duration: 60 sec.)
Daken will always activate but consume shuriken. Increase ranged accuracy by 25.
Katana skill will be raised from A to A+.

Dragoon
Wyverns will have increased physical and magic accuracy when level 100 or above.

Summoner
A new spell will be added.
Atomos (Lv. 75, Recast time: 60 sec.)
Removes one magic effect from an enemy and grants it to friendly players within area of effect.
* Atomos has no additional blood pacts usable during Astral Flow.
A new job ability, Apogee, will be added.
Apogee (Lv. 70, Recast time: 5 min., Effect duration: 60 sec.)
Decreases the recast time on the next blood pact, but causes it to consume more MP.
The job ability Avatar's Favor will be changed.
Penalties, including physical and magic attack, will be abolished.
The avatar's perpetuation cost will increase.
Avatars will have increased physical and magic accuracy when level 100 or above.

Blue Mage
The casting time of the following spells will be decreased.
Metallic Body / Warm-Up / Amplification / Zephyr Mantle / Triumphant Roar
The effect duration of the following spells will be increased.
Memento Mori / Reactor Cool / Saline Coat / Plasma Charge / Diamondhide / Magic Barrier / Barrier Tusk / Orcish Counterstance / Nature's Meditation / Zephyr Mantle / Triumphant Roar
The MP cost of Triumphant Roar will be decreased.
The efficacy of Regeneration will be increased.
Attribute adjustments will be added to the following spells.
Tempestuous Upheaval / Rending Deluge / Enbalming Earth / Foul Water / Retinal Glare / Subduction
Sword skill will be raised from A to A+.

Puppetmaster
Hand-to-hand skill will be raised from B+ to A+.
Automatons will have increased physical and magic accuracy when level 100 or above.

Dancer
The following job abilities will undergo adjustments.
The recast time for steps will be decreased from fifteen to five seconds.
The recast time for the job ability Presto will be decreased from thirty to fifteen seconds.
The job ability Climactic Flourish will receive a damage boost varying with charisma.
The job ability Striking Flourish will have its recast time decreased from 120 to thirty seconds and will receive a damage boost varying with charisma.
The job ability Ternary Flourish will have its recast time decreased from 120 to forty-five seconds and will receive a damage boost varying with charisma.
Dagger skill will be raised from B+ to A+.

Geomancer
A new job ability, Entrust, will be added.
Entrust (Lv. 75, Recast time: 10 min., Effect duration: 60sec.)
The next indicolure spell cast may target a party member.

[Kincard]

Pet Debuffs (10/3)
Currently the chat log is set such that only the person who inflicted a status ailment can see it wearing off. We are looking into whether it is possible to make it so that a master can see his pet's enfeebles wearing off.
If it is possible, we will adjust it not just for Beastmaster pets, but for summons and automatons as well.

Entrust (10/3)
I will talk a little bit about the new Geomancer ability, Entrust.
This ability allows you to cast Indi spells on party member, but each character is limited to one Indi spell. This means if you use Entrust, you will be able to simultaneously use spells for the Geomancer, the Luopan, and a party member, for a total of 3 Colures.
If you have a corsair in the party using Random Deal or Wild Card, you can create even more colures!
(It should be noted that there is a limit in that Bolster cannot be used for Indi spells casted on Party Members, and the effect "Geomancy +" will also not apply to members given Indi spells through Entrust)
We think this is a very effective and versatile ability, and we hope players experiment with it in various ways!

Daken (10/3)
Hello. As we said in the past, we were discussing changes to the dual wield trait, however with the introduction of the job trait "Daken", we have changed our plans for this.
We have decided that to compensate for the loss in TP from dual wield, to instead set the activation rate of Daken to be very high.
When a Ninja reaches level 99, Daken will have an activation rate of about 40%, with extra TP being gained according to the delay found on the shuriken. Because it is not considered alongside the Double Attack trait, please consider it a simple increase in the number of attacks you will have a turn.
Also, while Daken functions off of the ranged accuracy stat, it should be noted that Daken grants a significant accuracy bonus, and it will be much easier to hit with Daken compared to simply throwing a shuriken. Furthermore, we are adding ilevel shuriken in the October update.
With this, Ninja's offensive presence has been increased, also making it easier for them to gain enmity while serving in a tanking role.
Please wait just a little longer for the next update to come.
※We are planning on adjusting some previous shuriken so that they stack to 99.

[FaeQueenCory]

10.04.2014

It will be possible to summon Atomos without using Astral Flow.

In regards to the absorption effect, it is the same effect as that of dark magic spell Absorb-Attri and the blue magic spell Voracious Trunk. The effect duration from the monster you absorb an effect from will carry over, so if you absorb it when there are only a few seconds left, it will only remain on your party members for this duration as well.

Essentially, when it comes to Blood Pacts, Atomos is similar to Odin and Alexander in the sense that it is summoned just for this ability alone; however, Astral Flow is not required. There are no plans to add other Blood Pact abilities for Atomos.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...279#post527279