Final Fantasy XI Version Update (8/3/09)

[Kimiko]

A version update of FINAL FANTASY XI was performed at the following time.

[Date & Time]
Aug. 3, 2009 at 12:00 (PDT)

[Affected Services]
FINAL FANTASY XI

[Important Update Details]
The following issues have been addressed:

- During the quest "Succor to the Sidhe," rewards sometimes could not be obtained when attempting the quest as part of an alliance.

- During the quest "Succor to the Sidhe," players could obtain rewards with augments that did not match the augments that were originally confirmed.

- Within mazes created using the "Actualization Team" Maze Voucher, NPC "Chaperix" and monsters would not battle if a pet was summoned (Beastmaster's summoned pets, Dragoon's wyverns, Summoner's avatars and Automatons).

The following change has been made to gardening:

- The amount of items that can be gathered from each gardening attempt are limited to 1 for any characters that were created less than 90 days previous.

* Please refer to "Related information" for more details regarding the gardening change.

[Kimiko]

Beginning earlier this year, an investigation was conducted, looking into suspicious activities related to gil transfers. According to the investigation, a group of players involved in RMT (Real Money Trading) activities have been using a massive amount of accounts in order to perform gardening.

We have been taking the appropriate actions against the accounts found to be engaged in these activities. During this time, we began preparing measures to stop these groups of players from taking further advantage of gardening for RMT purposes.

As a result, we came up with a measure that will be effective against players engaged in these illegal acts, while at the same time will have minimal impact on legitimate players. For any characters that were created less than 90 days previous, the amount of items that can be gathered from each gardening attempt will be limited to 1. These measures will go into effect with the version update on Aug. 3, 2009 at 12:00 (PDT).

Illegal acts such as RMT will not be tolerated in FINAL FANTASY XI, and any violations of the user agreement will be dealt with severely. We would like to assure our players that all efforts are being made to ensure a fair playing experience.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and understanding.

[Corrderio]

FFXI: Official News and Information - Order of the Blue Gartr

[Rocl]

News was so intense I had to read it twice for full effect

[Kimiko]

Still nice to see that SE finally got it right this time around.

[Corrderio]

One thing I'm curious about is if I made a new character today would I have to wait 90 days in order for gardening to work properly? From how it sounds ANY character created as of now needs to wait 90 days for gardening.

[Kipling]

One thing I'm curious about is if I made a new character today would I have to wait 90 days in order for gardening to work properly? From how it sounds ANY character created as of now needs to wait 90 days for gardening.

Yes, that is how it seems to be worded. If you had made a character 89 days ago today, he would still be limited until the 90 days are done.

[barber2006]

deflation incoming? I can't imagine a larger fountain being completely nullified.

[evilpaul]

The retarded RMT /tells I'm getting right now tell me they have a bit more work to do.

[Nattack]

i dont mind the tells so much, they make me feel like im wanted

the gardening issue just made me feel like square was retarded - after getting banned myself for no reason, i'd hate to see new players banned for no reason. and didnt know why.

[friedfunk]

Nice, kills gardening using trial accounts....

Also lines SE's pockets if RMT's continue to use gardening, since they gotta pay for 3 months of a 16 mule account before they can profit, which could get banned any time making them have to start over.

[Gergall]

The retarded RMT /tells I'm getting right now tell me they have a bit more work to do.

The RMT gardening nerf has only been in effect for a few minutes, did you really think their empire would come crashing down instantly? They still have all their stockpiles of gil for sale, after all.

They also have their other methods of gil collecting.

Prediction: RMT will grit their teeth and pay for "legitimate" characters for 90 days to do gardening with.

[evilpaul]

I'm predicting they spawn camp Gigas on Qufim as THF/WAR.

[Cantih]

Nice, kills gardening using trial accounts....

Also lines SE's pockets if RMT's continue to use gardening, since they gotta pay for 3 months of a 16 mule account before they can profit, which could get banned any time making them have to start over.

This, oh god this.

I love when SE finds a way to not only kill RMT, but WRING the ones still stubborn enough to try.

It does inconvenience any legitimate players deciding to start a bunch garden mules for ele ores, etc., which is something I'm sure the established gardeners won't mind.

[nyglypz]

...I'm predicting that no matter how much SE does, somebody will always point out what else could've been done better. General comment: Apply for a position w/in the company if you can come up with something better.

That being said, I think this was the perfect solution for the gardening-type RMT's. 90 days is plenty enough time to watch an account's activities or to be hit w/the ban-prog. They're not going to keep recreating accounts and sit dormant for 3 months, there's other & faster ways now (because of this update) to make gil.

[Gwynplaine]

The RMT gardening nerf has only been in effect for a few minutes, did you really think their empire would come crashing down instantly? They still have all their stockpiles of gil for sale, after all.

They also have their other methods of gil collecting.

Prediction: RMT will grit their teeth and pay for "legitimate" characters for 90 days to do gardening with.

I don't think that's what he was implying.

In regards to RMT using trial accounts this is a good start but Square clearly does have more work to do. It should be immediately obvious that any MMO that offers free trials will be heavily utilized by RMT. The next steps should include limiting the amount of tells and shouts a trial account can spam in a given time period. And limiting the amount of gil they can hold/trade in a given time period.

[Wutangwarrior_Hades]

Would have been nice to also restrict trial characters use of trading, bazaar, AH and Delivery NPCs. This would be more of a catch all for RMT activities that they have not found or predicted. Not for long mind you, just to keep trial accounts from exchanging gil in any way.

[Kimiko]

deflation incoming? I can't imagine a larger fountain being completely nullified.

<Random RMT> .017% PRICE INCREASE!

(1,000 points btw to anyone who gets the reference)

[Xyle]

So SE does something right. Awsome.

Still waiting on that apology about the false bannings that will probably never come.

[Toksyuryel]

It's a trap, they're setting up the counterbalance to something truly hideous and beyond unreasonable that they are cooking up for the next major update!

But seriously, for once I can finally say "good job SE".