Grounds of Valor and Dungeon Treasure Caskets / Revamped Monster Placement (04/27/2011)

[aduidarnenye]

At the risk of derailing a very important thread about content everything thinks is going to suck anyway- how well do people know Western Altepa?

The number of mobs in the zone for the pages are actually somewhat plentiful, according to wiki. Tulwar Scorps (31) and gobs (9, wtf SE), and Antican Lanistae(40) and Antican Antican Secutors (25). Those pages cap at 69 and 72, respectively. But it would depend on how close they are to the manuals.

The manuals are near Rabao, near the big rock (old beetle camp from like 1954), and sorta near KV. Anyone remember pops down there? Scorps are definitely near KV, yeah? Are gobs down there? I only remember ants.

That's why I keep saying that really, SE needs to double or triple the number of mobs that are in a zone. I was doing pages on my level 30DNC in the other desert and it's a 2-4 minute run between mobs most of the time.

[Charismatic]

At the risk of derailing a very important thread about content everything thinks is going to suck anyway- how well do people know Western Altepa?

The number of mobs in the zone for the pages are actually somewhat plentiful, according to wiki. Tulwar Scorps (31) and gobs (9, wtf SE), and Antican Lanistae(40) and Antican Antican Secutors (25). Those pages cap at 69 and 72, respectively. But it would depend on how close they are to the manuals.

The manuals are near Rabao, near the big rock (old beetle camp from like 1954), and sorta near KV. Anyone remember pops down there? Scorps are definitely near KV, yeah? Are gobs down there? I only remember ants.

If they had a manual near the oasis area, this would actually not be so bad. But the Lanistae are few and far between anywhere other than where the dolls are in Abyssea - Altepa and as was already stated... the goblins are where the mandies are in the abyssea version. Scorps are all over the place but very spread out.

[ronin sparthos]

Good thing these two aspects will take an entire year to implement!

Unless voidwatch has some kind of warp system like Abyssea this is going to be ass to do. Running all the way out to Fei'YIn and all these boring ass dungeons while you wait for the one obligatory clueless jackoff in your group who never bought his maps and doesn't know where to go. I really hate all you "make zones equal" people so much.

Things really lean on how good Voidwatch is. If it winds up being like VNM with a shitty upgrade system and random NQ spawns that drop absolutely nothing then alot of people are going to be pissed, especially coming off that Abyssea high. Subs are gonna take a shit with even casual players finishing up initial Abyssea goals (get +2s, beat Shinryu).

Also, I notice under the SE roadmap that Voidwatch aren't the KC/HKC battlefields? That could also potentially be decent if made challenging enough.

The whole update is really just Voidwatch/BCNMs. No one gives a fuck about remixed Dynamis unless you just want to go grocery shopping for old gear or hammering out relics and the job adjustments seem weak because we're not getting a cap raise. This patch more than the last three should give us a pretty good idea of what direction SE is taking the game in.

[TehKerm]

Were all doomed.

[Colenzo]

OH THANK GOD, I WAS RUNNING OUT OF WAYS TO GET EXP!

[Lyall]

I can't shake the feeling like so many others that Voidwalkers are going to just be ANNMs v2. Those were totally exciting and worth it! It'll be interesting to see where the new armor fits in, if anywhere.

[Dooom]

The number of mobs in the zone for the pages are actually somewhat plentiful, according to wiki. Tulwar Scorps (31) and gobs (9, wtf SE), and Antican Lanistae(40) and Antican Antican Secutors (25). Those pages cap at 69 and 72, respectively. But it would depend on how close they are to the manuals.

The manuals are near Rabao, near the big rock (old beetle camp from like 1954), and sorta near KV. Anyone remember pops down there? Scorps are definitely near KV, yeah? Are gobs down there? I only remember ants.

With the exception of the 10 beetles, 1 cactuar page, the mobs are all miles away from the books. A friend and I did lots of duo levelling using FoV back two years or so ago, and when we hit those high 50/low 60 levels, it got fucking slow.

[Malacite]

SE must really have something against us wandering around older zones as 99 totally aggro-free

[Gergall]

I can't shake the feeling like so many others that Voidwalkers are going to just be ANNMs v2. Those were totally exciting and worth it! It'll be interesting to see where the new armor fits in, if anywhere.

The funniest thing about ANNMs was that it was possible to get an augmented H2H weapon that was actually a little better than Destroyers, and this was later revealed to be a mistake and nerfed. God forbid even a single ANNM item was good.

[Foldypaws]

The funniest thing about ANNMs was that it was possible to get an augmented H2H weapon that was actually a little better than Destroyers, and this was later revealed to be a mistake and nerfed. God forbid even a single ANNM item was good.

The 4 Haste 6 Dex Barone Manopolas would like to take issue with your claim that no ANNM item was good.

[Ocara]

The 4 Haste 6 Dex Barone Manopolas would like to take issue with your claim that no ANNM item was good.

And the 3 haste bangles back before mnk had haste options on hands. Problem was doing a big battle for a chance at an augmented item, with a chance of a good category augment, with a chance of that good augment being high enough to matter, for one person, along with outdating the few useful pieces of armor within a couple updates kind of killed the system. Worse than hnm drops with a system like that.

[Tomiko]

At the risk of derailing a very important thread about content everything thinks is going to suck anyway- how well do people know Western Altepa?

The number of mobs in the zone for the pages are actually somewhat plentiful, according to wiki. Tulwar Scorps (31) and gobs (9, wtf SE), and Antican Lanistae(40) and Antican Antican Secutors (25). Those pages cap at 69 and 72, respectively. But it would depend on how close they are to the manuals.

The manuals are near Rabao, near the big rock (old beetle camp from like 1954), and sorta near KV. Anyone remember pops down there? Scorps are definitely near KV, yeah? Are gobs down there? I only remember ants.

I did pages 4 & 5 on BST just SW of Revelation Rock. And I'm not 100% sure since its been awhile, but there might be another book on the south side of Rev. Rock that's not listed. Or it could be that I just lost track of where I was at times.

[Foldypaws]

And the 3 haste bangles back before mnk had haste options on hands. Problem was doing a big battle for a chance at an augmented item, with a chance of a good category augment, with a chance of that good augment being high enough to matter, for one person, along with outdating the few useful pieces of armor within a couple updates kind of killed the system. Worse than hnm drops with a system like that.

Well, 4 haste on hands is still the best DRG or WAR can do, but yeah, the effort involved is disproportionate to the reward.

[Divinius]

SE must really have something against us wandering around older zones as 99 totally aggro-free

This is actually one of the things that popped into my head too. When they first raised the level cap and adjusted the EP range to essentially ensure that anything that would aggro at 75 would still aggro at 90, I pretty much assumed they were adamant about never making any zones become aggro free due to the increase.

Basically, the change mentioned in this note takes it one step further, and means is that previously "safe to travel at 75+ without needing sneak/invis" areas are no longer going to be safe to travel. Maybe SE will be nice, and actually realize that having to sneak/invis to get everywhere isn't fun, just time-consuming and stupid, and will make the new mobs non-aggro. I'm not betting on that though.

[Divinius]

-removed-

[Yugl]

Affected Areas:
Ranguemont Pass / Bostaunieux Oubliette / Toraimarai Canal / Zeruhn Mines / King Ranperre's Tomb / Dangruf Wadi / Inner Horutoto Ruins / Ordelle's Caves / Outer Horutoto Ruins / The Eldieme Necropolis / Gusgen Mines / Crawlers' Nest / Maze of Shakhrami / Garlaige Citadel / Fei'Yin

NOW I'LL NEVER GET TO XARCABARD.

[Not Kuno]

The 4 Haste 6 Dex Barone Manopolas would like to take issue with your claim that no ANNM item was good.

Man I did that ANNM a millionty fucking times and I never saw an augment with haste. The whole ANNM system was pretty gay, although the gil drops were good. Then again, who still cares about gil?

[Celebrindor]

I just want more options for the player who gets an hour or so after an event to do some exp but doesn't have the time to join an abyssea group and waste their time. I've fallen asleep on a few abyssea exp groups and leeched without asking and I guess I'm one of the few people who actually feel bad about that. I'll take a quick 15-20k that I can do solo over 200k+ that makes me get 3 hours of sleep instead of 4. ^^

[Spira]

Basically, the change mentioned in this note takes it one step further, and means is that previously "safe to travel at 75+ without needing sneak/invis" areas are no longer going to be safe to travel. Maybe SE will be nice, and actually realize that having to sneak/invis to get everywhere isn't fun, just time-consuming and stupid, and will make the new mobs non-aggro. I'm not betting on that though.

as clearly stated in these update notes, the changes are to dungeon areas and are not anywhere near the entrance. And it so happens that these "safe to travel at 75+" areas are currently not just safe to travel, they are also literally untraveled. Players have no reason to go there, whether or not they are safe.

Sure, its fun to have safe zones so that you can run around and admire the environment, though really its just an excuse for players to auto-run along their way to wherever they need to go and tab out and surf some internet. Citing Sneak and Invis is no longer a real reason, considering that max duration has been extended and average duration generally increased. Besides, "safe" zones don't have to be aggro-free and sneak/vis may end up having little to do with it. Ru'Aun and Al'Taieu are very good examples of this.

I'm personally all for this, because most if not all dungeons no longer give you that feeling of tension or fear of aggro, even if you're not on a high-survivability job. Granted not everyone will go back there for GoV and Voidwatch), I like that we have a reason to go back to these dungeons relevant to our current levels, and they'll actually still feel like dungeons.

edit: agree with ANNM, it failed not because the potential max drops weren't good, but because effort to reward ratio was ridiculously high and even if you won, the odds of you obtaining your chance of a chance of a chance reward/augment was disgustingly low
iirc: 1 of 3 equipment pieces, 3 of 6 possible augments and 1-4 variance of stats

[Darth Enron]

What they need to do is balance the Campaign system so the NPCs can stand a fighting chance. I'm tired of not being able to do any of the bcnms there, and that's mainly because nobody is interested in fighting in those areas anymore (I want a Roundel Earring, damnit ; . They should at least make the Union drops better instead of the same generic crap that they have right now.