Level Cap to Be Lifted to New Heights! (08/25/2010)

[Cairthenn]

The impending version update will usher in the second stage of the level cap increase, bringing players' maximum attainable level from 80 to 85!

To provide a fitting challenge to players who achieve these newfound heights of power, we will be adjusting monster level and placement in certain Treasures of Aht Urhgan areas to create daunting new battlegrounds.

A host of new abilities, job traits, and spells will also be added for the newly-unlocked levels. Needless to say, these will be designed to provide players with exciting new possibilities while preserving game balance as they achieve even higher levels in the future.


New Job Abilities

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...757/5757_3.jpg

- White Mage: An ability offering increased resistance against status ailments.
- Red Mage: An ability that enhances the potency of enfeebling magic.
- Bard: An ability that prevents songs cast on oneself from being overwritten.
- Beastmaster: A new pet command.
- Dragoon: A new jump.
- Summoner: New blood pacts.
- Corsair: New phantom rolls
- Dancer: A new step.


New Job Traits

- Monk: Skillchain Bonus
- White Mage: Shield Def. Bonus
- Red Mage: Mag. Burst Bonus
- Thief: Dual Wield
- Dark Knight: Crit. Atk. Bonus
- Bard: Fencer
- Ninja: Skillchain Bonus
- Corsair: True Shot
- Puppetmaster: Crit. Def. Bonus


New Spells

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...757/5757_9.jpg

- Enhancement spells that increase the attributes of party members
- Magic spells to manage enmity levels
- A song that reduces damage taken by party members
- New ninjutsu
- New blue magic spells


These new abilities will be covered in further detail in future articles, so keep watching this space!

[Colenzo]

Well shit...there goes level 90.

[Manf]

Yay thief dual-wield. Here's hoping we get up to DW3 at least.

[Guitarman]

thf native dual weild, about time!
loving drk crit bonus, hope it's more than 1% or something gay.

and BST? /pet 2hr gogo. new jugpets are more prominent in their job classes, would fit.

A song that reduces damage taken by party members

WB ZOMG gotta have a bard craze yet again.

[chazzyphizzle]

Phew, was hoping whm would get shield def. bonus soon.

[Zilong]

NIN is the new PUP

[Colenzo]

NIN is the new PUP

basically

[Soundwave]

No love for Warrior

[Guitarman]

so is the final cap 90 or 99?

[Kaeda]

What? Only 81 to 85? SE is really going to drag this out then. December update 86 to 90... and two more updates to reach 99. That'll put us in June 2011?

Oh yay, dragoon gets a new jump... that'll share the timer of High Jump! No mention of refresh II for red mage, but the enfeebling ability sounds interesting. Thief finally gets native dual wield (why didn't they just do this with dancer and blue mage?). Corsair True Shot = Damage enhancement to Quick Shot??? New ninjutsu, i.e. not Jubaku: Ni (ninja keeps getting screwed, what's with this SC bonus?). And the song that reduces party damage sounds pretty awesome, but I'd like that job ability they're giving to bards to be available for corsairs, too.

PS: Aht Urhgan areas getting a buff? Back to colibri? Somehow I doubt anyone will do "normal" exping after Abyssea.

[Guitarman]

only 3 updates total are planned atm, that means december is 85-99....

merry christmas?

[Kaeda]

I always thought this coming update would be 90 and then 99 after that to take advantage of the new Abyssea areas. 85 to 99 doesn't sound like SE though. They'll drag it out in hopes that all the XI players will keep playing XI and play XIV!

[jimbobsonofgod]

only 3 updates total are planned atm, that means december is 85-99....

merry christmas?

updates are planned after this year .....
Their time line is only for that year, the year end is december so the notes end there, next year we'll get a new time line .....
it was the same deal as last year I dont know why people thought that we would see 90 this update or 99 at the end of this year ....

[Hyan]

only 3 updates total are planned atm, that means december is 85-99....

merry christmas?

There's absolutely no need for them to rush the level cap increases when they can do it like this. Even though we only know about the updates related to the Abyssea expansions, doesn't mean there won't be more updates coming next year.

[FailureMidgard]

There were some people out there (not me!) who thought it'd just be 5 lvls at a time, and updates would continue into next year, so I'm not sure why everyone is this shocked!

[nivlac]

ya looks like SE is gonna drag this out, but so far this updates looks nice
Summoner: New blood pacts.
thief DW
drk Crit. Atk. Bonus,
drg new jump (drg the king of jumps lol)
it all looks nice

[boo]

yay relic drk critical proc gonna kick ass

[Sho]

There were some people out there (not me!) who thought it'd just be 5 lvls at a time, and updates would continue into next year, so I'm not sure why everyone is this shocked!

There was actually an interview a while ago after the Fan Fest where the producer was asked if the team wanted to do 10 level updates or 5 level updates -- they were undecided at the time, but were leaning towards 5 increases so they could maintain balance with each step.

Dual Wield Trait for everybody ok, ok, ok, ok!!!

[Zilong]

PS: Aht Urhgan areas getting a buff? Back to colibri? Somehow I doubt anyone will do "normal" exping after Abyssea.

Why would they increase the exp gain on the area where players aren't paying for content vs the area where they do?

Really, once FFXIV is out, barring complete failure like EQ2, giving borderline freemium content in FFXI would be their best bet in generating revenue from it.

If anything, it's more likely that Scars of Abyssea would cap your exp on the current job upon zoning.

[Eleven19]

Interesting, yeah I was under the impression that the next patch would be 80-90 and 90-99. I think a lot of people were. To be honest I prefer it this way, even with abyssea out getting 10 levels at 50k xp is time sink I'd rather spread out, and 5 levels was pretty easy this update once people figured out abyssea alliance XP.

THF dual wield is the shit. They better get DW3 at least, been a long ass time coming.

With new phantom rolls, really hoping Haste will finally be one of them.