Notorious Monsters - Drake's Misfortune (12/08/2010)

[Hyan]

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...cc6086ca9da632

Zanig'oh

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...6ba52ec1fb9e5f

An alchemically enhanced biological weapon prototype spawned deep within the bowels of the Amalj'aa stronghold of Pagl'than, Zanig'oh is far more dangerous than its scalekin cousins in the wild, or even those drakes trained for war by the beast tribe, and therefore has been deemed an imminent threat to the royal sultanate of Ul'dah. Spikes affixed to its four legs keep the creature in constant pain, multiplying its ferocity on the battlefield, while powerful wards branded into its already-thick scales serve to further increase its resistance to even the most potent of magicks.
Operation: Bloody Scales
The past moons have seen a significant rise in the number of armored caravans being laid to waste by some terrible, unidentified foe. According to intelligence gathered by agents of the Horn and Hand, most of the bodies found among the wreckage have been inflicted with a profuse number of bites, cuts, and burns akin to those found on victims of drake attacks. Some of the victims, however, exhibit bane-sores of a differing variety—these coming from what appear to be swords or spears. This has led the Brotherhood of the Broken Blade to believe that these unfortunate incidents are not merely random attacks by wild creatures, but precisely orchestrated assaults by the Amalj'aa to disrupt the flow of goods into Ul'dah. Brave volunteers are sought to embark on a mission to prove once and for all that the desert tribe is behind the attacks.

Levequest Location
Broken Water

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...3c891a095d2187

Those who are successful in slaying Zanig'oh will be rewarded with a special item known as an Allagan runestone. There are a dozen in all, each representing one of the twelve deities who watch over the peoples of Eorzea. Rumor has that in Ul'dah resides a young trader named Rowena who seeks these rare stones and is offering pieces of finely crafted equipment in exchange.

The following is an example of some of the items available for barter:

Buccaneer Attire
These fashionable accouterments crafted from lightweight, water-resistant materials are the perfect accent to the active lifestyle of today's modern swashbuckler.

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...bf4fe0b1bf456e

Favors: Disciples of War
Optimal Rank: 47 Runestone Required


* Buccaneer's Tricorne
o Defense 53
o Magic Defense 68
o Evasion 18
o Resilience 61
o HP: +24
o INT: +3
o Elemental Resistances: +24

Allagan Runestone - Azeyma

* Buccaneer's Shirt
o Defense 85
o Magic Defense 80
o Evasion 35
o Resilience 50
o MND: +1
o PIE: +2
o Gathering: +18
o Craftsmanship: +20
o Elemental Resistances: +33

Allagan Runestone - Althyk

* Buccaneer's Boots
Defense 36
Magic Defense 59
Evasion 36
Resilience 47
DEX: +1
o Elemental Resistances: +15 Defense 36
o Magic Defense 59
o Evasion 36
o Resilience 47
o DEX: +1
o Elemental Resistances: +15

Allagan Runestone - Menphina

* Buccaneer's Sash
o Defense 17
o Magic Defense 17
o Evasion 8
o Resilience 17
o Perception: +14
o Elemental Resistances: +6

Allagan Runestone - Thaliak

* The aforementioned items are still under development and may change before the time of their release.

Mini Q&A
Q.

So far you have only mentioned NMs featured in levequests. Will there be any notorious monsters freely roaming the fields and forests of Eorzea?
A.

Most definitely! And a topics post covering these new NMs is on its way.

[Hyan]

Awful stats, but goddamn that attire looks shmexy.

Where's the fucking Musketeer class already??

[miokomioko]

Awesome, the tricorne has an attached eye patch. (herro, Empyrean Corsair) That set looks so good, even if it lacks sweet pantaloons. Mages got hosed so far, lol.

[Elona]

Looks cool! They should not post the stats though if they not finalized, like I really hope... Favors DoW, but for example that shirt is anything but. Also a Uncharted title!

edit: Wonder if they adding open world NM's in next update or the 1st 2011 update. It says addition of NM's in 1st 2011 update. Either way, should get all those nodes done.

[miokomioko]

I have decided to ignore these stats and I'm going to cringe when looking it up on the next .dat mine.

We had a Rambo film, an American folk song, now a Naughty Dog game reference. These pop culture references are getting out of hand.

[Hiroishime]

diggin the sash

[Hyan]

edit: Wonder if they adding open world NM's in next update or the 1st 2011 update. It says addition of NM's in 1st 2011 update. Either way, should get all those nodes done.

Now.. and 2011.

This time it seems faction leves and free roaming NM's.. for March there seems to be more free roaming and "battle content" NM's on the way, probably different from faction leves.

Would it be too much to hope for the beastmen strongholds to open, free roaming NM's added there and having something to do with the hamlet defense battles (see: Besieged)? It wouldn't make much sense to open them before Ishgard though...

[Wycor]

The Tricorne looks cool but so far the set seems kinda weird for the jobs that can use it. It has Gathering, Craftmanship, Perception... for DoW... it has no sense since if you use it as DoL you will get a cut of -5~ on the stats.
In addittion if you add that It only adds mage stats I can't see a use for GLD MRD LNC PUG and/or ARC. The only hope is a new class?

[miokomioko]

Fencer, Musketeer, Arcanist, and Shepherd are still floating around in limbo until Ishgard opens up.

[Hyan]

As for the odd stats, maybe it has to do with the way class changing works in this game?

Isn't there some kind of penalty for changing equipment/class? Maybe this way you can.. avoid the penalty while changing class, and still get some bonus out of it.

Just throwing some ideas out there.

[miokomioko]

There is a penalty for switching equipment too often... but I think it has to be repeated in pretty quick succession for it to happen. Akin to gear-swapping for specific spells during one fight in XI.

[Tomino]

I really dislike the idea of such specific head piece (corsair/pirate tricorne plus eyepatch, even) on an armor set various classes can wear...
It doesn't make any sense, it just looks they were shooting for some super cool looks.

[ZarakiKujata]

These pop culture references are getting out of hand.

Did I not prophesize about this w/ the discovery of the Immodest Mouse NPC???

[Lucavi]

They're just catching up with the rest of the world.

I can only imagine how many Japanese pop-culture references XI had that we completely overlooked. They're just now realizing that they need to cater to more than the Japanese when launching for the entire world.

[Agito]

These armor sets obtained with runestones are like easy to obtain freebies which will be very good for people that don't have a whole lot of time to commit to getting the better armor and they also give an incentive for more people to help out with other persons NM faction leves as they can obtain something from it. I bet all of the rank 50 crafted armor is quite expensive and maybe not everyone can afford so this is perfect armor sets to use until these persons can get the more harder to obtain notorious monster drops and harder to obtain faction leve drops. It's getting all the more exciting as the beginning of endgame is only days away!

[ZarakiKujata]

rank 50 crafted armor is quite expensive and maybe not everyone can afford

Cavalry Haubergeon is <200k, you can easily get that within 2 leve cycles @ 30-40 leves if thats your only source of income, if you farm/craft/gather thats not that much. It's the only one w/ comparable stats I guess, but I can't imagine Velveteen Robe (cause what mage wears actons?) or Velveteen Shirts being out of reach of most of the ppl still playing.

[Riposte]

I really dislike the idea of such specific head piece (corsair/pirate tricorne plus eyepatch, even) on an armor set various classes can wear...
It doesn't make any sense, it just looks they were shooting for some super cool looks.

I don't see how it "doesn't make any sense". There is no pirate job/class for this equipment to be specific to. A pirate might use an axe, gun, or something akin to that.

Looks like unless they pull out that evolith / enchantment system I want, the NMs will mostly be for sport(and faction progress?). Now I wonder if we will get 12 leve NMs + wandering NMs or will only some of the stones come from faction leves and the rest comes from the wandering NMs. (I imagine there will be some duplicate NM models, if the former)

[Hyan]

Now I wonder if we will get 12 leve NMs + wandering NMs or will only some of the stones come from faction leves and the rest comes from the wandering NMs. (I imagine there will be some duplicate NM models, if the former)

3 leve NM's for each city state that can each drop 4 of these runes?

And, something else entirely from the roaming ones.

[sruon]

If I'm reading this right, there are 2 gear sets per NM that haven't been showed yet?

[Hyan]

They're all part of the "Allagan runestone" set, and these are the last 4 pieces out of 12 shown so far.