Letter from the Producer, XXXVII (10/26/2012)

[Gokulo]

Personally I don't like the cactuar look in XIV D: Or I'm just sick of it after spamming too many Camp Horizon leve lol.

[miokomioko]

Empty models were the cream of the crop.

[Lokus]

If they are gonna reuse mob models from past games, I would have no qualms if they dipped into XII's beastiary. Upright Behemoths (though Amal'jaa somewhat take care of that), Wendigos, smaller Malboro models, Nightmares, Yiazmat/Hell Wyrm, or even the Espers would be nice to see. Though honestly, one of the main bosses I'm waiting to see implemented is Gilgamesh. Sorely disappointed that XI's version was delegated to a NPC role.

[Fondue]

ToAU mobs were the cream of the crop.

ftfy!

[Stanislaw]

Some leaked alpha test info.


- Dates for the first tests:

• October 29th, 18:00~22:00 (JST)
• October 31st, 18:00~22:00 (JST)
• November 2nd, 18:00~22:00 (JST)

- The purpose behind the tests that take place between October 29th and November 2nd will be 'the stability of the game under normal playing conditions'. Hence, there will be no specific things the devs will be asking the testers to do. Rather, they ask the players get used to the new controls/targeting/battle system.

- The following things will be changed/adjusted in Beta:

• Battle damage calculations will be changed greatly
• In accordance with the changes in battle damage calculations, all stat parameters will also be adjusted
• Additional damage will be adjusted
• Players/parties who attack an already claimed mob will, after dealing a certain amount of damage, will also be rewarded with kill count, exp, and quest item
• Party bonuses will be adjusted
• Different party bonuses will given to different class/job party combinations
• Lv15 actions learned by LNC/CNJ (in alpha) will be instead be actions learned through class quests
• Equipments, hair, and other miscellaneous things will move accordingly to the physics engine
• Additions/adjustments to options in the character creation screen
• Adjustments to small details such as sight (eye) and neck movement
• Lighting will go under constant adjustments
• Gamepad mode implemented

- Alpha test environment:

• Level Cap
  
  • Lv20
• Starting City
  
  • Gridania
• Areas Released
  
  • Gridania: Old City
  • Gridania: New City
  • Black Shroud: Northern Forest
  • Black Shroud: Eastern Forest
  • Black Shroud: Central Forest
  • Black Shroud: Southern Forest
  • Tam-Tara Deepcroft
  • Inn: The Roost
• Weather
  
  • Constantly Sunny
• In-Game Time
  
  • Locked at 11:00 AM

- Starting from Alpha, 'BIND' equipments will be introduced. When items with these properties on them gain more than 1 spiritbond point, they will instantly be changed to an 'EX' and can no longer be traded in-between players.

- A new targeting system concept called 'Focus Target' will be introduced. By selecting a target and pressing [SHIFT]+[F], the HUD will record and display the focused target as an icon. By pressing the HUD icon, the player may be able to re-target the selected target again.


Source

By the way, it'll probably be a smart idea not to re-post this on the official forums since it's gonna get nuked, and I don't want the Japanese blog get in trouble for posting this info. It's a good source of info for me.

[Grey Jorildyn]

- Starting from Alpha, 'BIND' equipments will be introduced. When items with these properties on them gain more than 1 spiritboind point, they will instantly be changed to an 'EX' and can no longer be traded in-between players.

Thank you for introducing bind on equip SE! I've been asking for this FOREVER. all the haters can shut up now.

[Churchill]

haha

[Madeline]

I don't know what else to say besides,

Fuck yeah we're almost there. Targetting concept sounds interesting/useful depending.

[Churchill]

It's good for Garuda type fights where shit gets hectic, Princess, etc.

[Lokus]

So many uses for that Focus target. I remember asking on the OF a while back if they could implement a way to "mark" a target so you can easily go back to it while targeting something else. This seems to be the answer I was looking for.

Also, I wouldn't get to wound up over BoE equips until I see how it compares to other gear.

[miokomioko]

[*]Different party bonuses will given to different class/job party combinations

I really hope this just ends up meaning reduced bonuses for class-stacking and not encouraging people forming a party to sit there turning down people because they're looking for just the right combination of jobs/classes instead.

[LD]

I really hope this just ends up meaning reduced bonuses for class-stacking and not encouraging people forming a party to sit there turning down people because they're looking for just the right combination of jobs/classes instead.

The problem is how insanely thin that tightrope is.

Edit: Actually, if they get better with class balancing, it could work. That said, if they really did well with class balancing they wouldn't need a system like this in the first place.

[Grey Jorildyn]

Ya know, if they added tiers of mobs -within- levels, rather than just having level as the only parameter to determine mob attributes, we wouldn't need a party bonus to give us accuracy, m.acc, etc.

I'm saying I want an elite mob system. Level 50 champion mob > level 50 standard mob, but my hit rate doesn't go into the trash!

[Destinye]

Thank you for introducing bind on equip SE! I've been asking for this FOREVER. all the haters can shut up now.

Why is this so great? I've played plenty of MMOs with this system and it actually gets quite annoying because of the amount of useless gear they eventually create to compensate for a lack of good purchasable/producible gear being sold through market systems.

Ya know, if they added tiers of mobs -within- levels, rather than just having level as the only parameter to determine mob attributes, we wouldn't need a party bonus to give us accuracy, m.acc, etc.

I'm saying I want an elite mob system. Level 50 champion mob > level 50 standard mob, but my hit rate doesn't go into the trash!

NM..HNM....

[Grey Jorildyn]

Why is this so great? I've played plenty of MMOs with this system and it actually gets quite annoying because of the amount of useless gear they eventually create to compensate for a lack of good purchasable/producible gear being sold through market systems.

Because SE never creates utterly useless gear, amirite.

NM..HNM....

It's not good enough. They stifle the variety of mobs they can make in this manner.

[Madeline]

Because SE never creates utterly useless gear, amirite.

p. much XI's auction house.

[Gokulo]

[*]Players/parties who attack an already claimed mob will, after dealing a certain amount of damage, will also be rewarded with kill count, exp, and quest item

Pretty surprised, but really happy they're doing that. Didn't expect them to

Also, do you think the 3 dates are considered "Phase 1"?

[Alkar]

Pretty surprised, but really happy they're doing that. Didn't expect them to

Also, do you think the 3 dates are considered "Phase 1"?

I'd say yes considering they all have the same goal. Alpha is supposed to last for a month or so which means 1 phase/week basically.

[Gokulo]

Yeah, I guess so. That's probably means we'll get alpha @12th.

Also let's not forget that:

Lv15 actions learned by LNC/CNJ (in alpha) will be instead be actions learned through class quests

Class quest will give skills now ^^

[millionsknives]

Areas Released

• Gridania: Old City
• Gridania: New City
• Black Shroud: Northern Forest
• Black Shroud: Eastern Forest
• Black Shroud: Central Forest
• Black Shroud: Southern Forest
• Tam-Tara Deepcroft
• Inn: The Roost

Wow, more zones than I expected! I'm so stoked to see all these.