1 week impressions of the patch

[Apelila]

hey now, the battle wasn't THAT easy.

I'm more pissed that the healers prioritize casting protect on NPC's not fighting than raising PC's when there's a big deal pile of them.

[nekura]

If everything about this update were meh, the Einherjar update (specifically, getting Ampoules without having to beat the chamber) alone would make it awesome. I only make half the Einherjar runs that my shell does because I'm at work for the weekday run, so the linkshell's point system will prevent me from seeing anything from Odin for a while which I'm happy to accept, as I still get currency to buy some pretty nice gear (Buccaneer's Belt here I come!).

Fortunately, the ZNM system is great, the new NMs have a lot of neat behaviours to them, the new equipment is mostly fantastic, category 2 merit point increase makes me sad because of the grinding and I'm not sure what to put my points in for RDM but happy because of five minute Snake Eye on Corsair.

Even if the rest of the updates this year aren't as epic, I will be happy if we continue to see the level of polish we saw in this one.

[Frenzy]

I'm not particular fond (understatement) of the Chocobo Racing changes. It's starting to not be worth for me anymore, while it was very worth beforehand. (Not to mention that it goes against their own text that balanced Chocobos are the best way to go).

New WoG Missions were great.

[rezn0r]

I've been playing more than I have been in months. That should say something.

exactly

[Gadritan]

The resistance of the following Notorious Monsters to the black magic spells "Sleep," "Gravity," and "Bind" have been adjusted:
Behemoth / King Behemoth / Fafnir / Nidhogg / Capricious Cassie

Watched a LS kill our first KB since update without even having a tank present. What did they do? Rely on gravity and bind. And no, they didn't have any gaiters. I seem to be one of the few people seriously disappointed with this update. Old content has gotten way way way too easy and they refuse to do anything about it. New content is hardly what I would consider challenging. They're constantly striving to make the game easier. Maybe I'm just oldschool, but what the fuck is the point anymore? The most challenging part of the game has become lotting items. But alas, most people play for cool .dats, fuck a challenge.

[bsphil]

The addition for more melee and mage gear for PUP is also good news, even if it looks a tad bit gay on Elvaan males.

Everything looks gay on Elvaan males.

I need a ZMNLS or some shit.

[orson]

Inventory (storage) upgrades are amazing.

Do you just mean the furniture storage amount upgrades or am I missing something big?

[Ahnuld]

Whole update is fucking awesome.

I couldn't agree with you more.

[Seedz]

My only gripe is Footwork is absolutely useless.

Well, while not being absolutely useful, I wouldn't call it absolutely useless either. I was a bit skeptical at first, but after trying it out, I've found a couple of uses to FW. First one is the no-brainer 43 tp return asurans, which I think most people do atm. Second, due to the store tp+180 bullshit they added to FW, you can 100fist to 300 tp, pop FW, use DK for very good damage, use an icarus wing for 280~285 tp, kick once or twice and DK again for very good damage. Other than that, fuck the delay, really :S

My only gripe is Reprisal slowly putting my Aegis out of use, tbh. Maybe it's just myself, but I find that every update is making Koenig/Kaiser/Wivre shield paladins closer to what Aegis offers. The -25% magic damage taken is not a valid argument considering how easily a PLD can cap it without the golden shiney, so I'm really looking forward to some Zilart relic tuning in the future.

All in all, great update (I've fallen in love with Pianissimo ), and it will be even greater when we find out where do Shenlong's h2h come from

[Plow]

hey now, the battle wasn't THAT easy.

I'm more pissed that the healers prioritize casting protect on NPC's not fighting than raising PC's when there's a big deal pile of them.

[spoiler:3ugyls60]I seriously had a *MUCH* harder time 2 manning rank 2 dragon the other day than 2 manning the new mission dragon.[/spoiler:3ugyls60]

[Ivve]

I like most of the new content added, but the existing things they adjusted make it pretty clear to me that there are no real players involved in the development process. They don't seem to understand what it is that we like (or don't like, as the case may be) about the things they add, so they make adjustments to those things striving for balance, but really just end up pissing us off. I feel like SE is trying to give the players a gift, but SE is also the grandmother that never learned gift cards are the way to go when you don't know the person you're trying to buy for, so now I have a big closet full of virtual grandma sweaters. Even if some of those sweaters aren't too offensive to the eyes and keep me warm, none of them are what I would have asked for had I been given options in the gift selection process.

New content like ZNMs: Sweet shit.
Adjustments: Very hit or miss. They had a hit with einherjar changes in my opinion, and a huge fucking epic miss with campaign adjustments. Hit with some of the job changes (more merits, pianissimo) and miss with others (footwork from what I have been told, potency of certain additional upgrades in the tier 2 category).

Additionally, am I on crack, or didn't they make some mention of changing dynamis cost and possibly drop rates? I could have sworn I read that somewhere, and I took it to mean that was coming in this update. Knowing SE however, they probably set it for sometime in the nebulous future, and the specifics of those changes won't actually take shape for another couple of years.

[TB]

SE can fucking die for making me travel gazillions of zones and trying to take pictures of mobs with an almsost completely full inventory, just to get dicked by the fucking NPC and receive a incredible amount of 15 Zeni for my picture.

Ladies and gentlemen: If you were ever wondering for a good defintion of the word "grind", here it is.

Besides that, the best part about the patch seems to be the Einherjar changes, but can someone from SE please tell me why I should be happy about receiving twice as much Therin Icor now, when I have absolutely no use for it?

Get the 100k item? Oh yes, brb spamming Salvage for Alexandrite. Oh wait! When I spam Salvage I can't do Nyzul to fullfill the other requirements!
Get synthesis material for new abjurations? Oh yea awesome! Too bad I can't wear any of this crap. Sell them to other people? Oh yea awesome! Too bad the shit never drops, except from Odin.

I think there might be only one answer to this question: I'm getting Omega Ring for my Ninjutsu build!


SE you almost did it, but you slipped and fell again before reaching the finish line. Better luck next time. Le sigh.

[Kaylia]

I would rather take picture whenever I feel like it than camp Despot or Fafnir. They need to add alternate way to gather Zeni tho (turn in beastman item, chocobo racing..etc)

[TB]

And I would rather camp Fafnir. Some people may ask themselves why would I bother standing around for 3hours. Yes, it has absolutely nothing to do with enjoyable gameplay, since you just stand around. But walking around through zones and taking pictures doesn't have anything to do with enjoyable gameplay either.

But the big big diference is: I can other stuff like playing MGS4 or GTA4 while standing in Aery. When I have to move my fucking char through zones, I can't. -.-

[Freijah]

Sanraku doesn't appreciate my post-modern surrealist style so farming Zeni sucks and I hate him and he doesn't like any of my work.

Also everyone fucking idles next to him so it's like trying to trade during Besieged.

Also I don't even have WotG yet, so...

[arus2001]

Kinda underwhelmed now that the post-patch high has passed.

Chasing Ixion around watching people tickle it to death hasn't particularly renewed my interest in HNMs. ZNMs are seemingly good in concept and execution, though the jobs I have available either see nothing worth really jumping through the hoops for, or literally have nothing at all to offer. Yet another scheduled event is something I don't really want with Ein, particularly doing Dynamis twice a week, Salvage twice a week, then three Nyzuls in a night. I'm at the point where I feel like a bad LS member because I don't want to log in sometimes since I otherwise get 1 or 2 nights a week with absolutely no obligation to anything RL or in-game.

Part of me wishes those enspells that were floating around got ninja'd in. Yeah, yeah, spare me the RDM doesn't need anything spiel. Seeing BRD get something great really makes me wish RDM could get an Enhancing Magic Single > AoE JA on a reasonable timer. Maybe not 15s like Panissimo, but a minute or so would make the job feel a lot less grindy and needlessly tedious. And give them reason to buff Phalanx II so SCH can't really compete.

Oh well, part of my problem's with burn-out and not entirely with the patch. Campaign's current state kinda blows, though, given it was one of the few things I maintained interest in over the past few months. Just lazy EXP when I felt like it without the need of open camps or perfect parties.

[Spira]

My feelings about this patch is that it was made of win and is one of the best updates ever to come for FFXI...

the funny part of it is that for the most part, it is the adjustments and new content to ToA than everything else that seems to have scored well..

ZNM: Ingenious system. Maybe too good.
- Made Pankration, or at least photo-taking not obsolete anymore
- Soultrapping for points good method of spacing out NM pop rate, and also allows for solo/small group accumulation of points in free time.
- Buying triggers with points than camping/hunting. No issues of claim / overcrowding / camping / monopolizing.
- Flexibility of tiers. At least for tier 1 and 2, players can choose which NM they want to pop depending on what items they want/need.
- Decent drop rates
- Gear with good stats but not overpowering at the same time.
- good gear : effort ratio
- A balanced degree of end-game difficulty that doesn't border on AV absurd (we may have to see for PandeWarden tho)
- ??? respawn rate is win.
- no ebon panels

(come to think of it, if they want to make chocobo breeding / racing relevant to end-game all they had to do is introduce a chocograph hunting thing to obtain triggers, or rewards from racing that turn in for points for triggers or something. but my drift is basically i like the idea of integration)

Einherjar
- new flexibility is great.. means more people can do Odin
- new drops and easier ichor welcome. Drops help to drive down crafting prices on items
- new link system is both good and bad.. but mainly good for the most part because it isnt just a mob control frenzy + zerg fest.

Nyzul Balrahn's Arms (im trying to avoid relic cos they aren't exactly relics per se.. right?)
- finally introduced
- disappointed that SE isnt more transparent about the whole upgrading system (not sure if they were with Zilart relics.. but still)
- no stats on weapons is disappointing.
- effort involved seems a bit steep (assuming u gotta do all 4 things the stupid rat asks you to)

Ixion
- finally a HNM from WotG
- 21-24 repop is nice
- Multiple zone spawns prevent camping
- Unique method of claim removes claim issues
- slight problem with griefing. perhaps change his AI so that he if he kills his 'griefers' he stays around abit longer?

Campaign
- Ops arent that worth doing anymore
- battles aren't as good as before. Probably a "pareto efficiency" problem. Had to take away something to make the rest better. But this will keep changing every update..

Sandworm BCs
- very surprising and interesting addition
- clever execution
- good challenge, good drops
- pays homage to FF6 at the same time. GJ to SE on that.

Job adjustments
- merits nice. good that they finally expanded to maximum combo...
- Pianissimo is very welcome change. Adds much needed depth to BRD without giving it more 'power' than it already has.
- no comment on Reprisal and Footwork

Others
- i dont craft
- have yet to visit selbina/mhaura
- furnishing changes are great. i have my mini bar back in my mog house again... but cos of ZNMs and needing to trade to sanraku alot I've shifting HP to whitegate again lol.
- Very few emergency maintenances after the update.. which is good.

Lacks
- promised avatar(s) for SMN
- new job's merits
- ToA job's AF2 or AF+1

Overall I give it 9/10

[Kaylia]

And I would rather camp Fafnir. Some people may ask themselves why would I bother standing around for 3hours. Yes, it has absolutely nothing to do with enjoyable gameplay, since you just stand around. But walking around through zones and taking pictures doesn't have anything to do with enjoyable gameplay either.

But the big big diference is: I can other stuff like playing MGS4 or GTA4 while standing in Aery. When I have to move my fucking char through zones, I can't. -.-

If playing the game for you mean not playing it...you should consider quitting.

Taking picture takes around 20 minutes every 2 ingame days (for 1500-2000points). Some monsters are kinda stupid (hi2u orobon), but it's not like you have to go get it to continue either.

[TB]

It's not about not playing the game. I just try to dodge as much grind as possible to enjoy the good parts of the game. Unfortunately most enjoyable parts are only reached after endless grind...

[Spira]

i dont see how going around taking pictures is possibly a grind...
If you're getting 15 zeni per pic it probably means you're doing it wrong somehow..

If you're willing to spend time on soultrapping, its easy to accumulate enough points for tier 1 NMs.
In the best case situation, it doesn't take u 30mins to get enough zeni for a tier 1 pop (at their base/near base costs)
All u gotta do is pack your inventory up, leave town like 12hrs b4 Vana'day change, find the correct mob at a good level and whittle it down to 10% and snap 20 shots. Go back before day change, trade in 10. Wait for day change, trade in 10.
Provided interest doesn't change, which means timing is involved... (but this is best case scenario like i said), you're getting at least 60 zeni per pic. I average 75 zeni when i do this..
Thats 1200 zeni on the low end.. and takes a lot less time than if you're to compare it with sky / sea NM tier 1 equivalents in terms of obtaining triggers.. Hell, it probably takes less time than running to DA + the time u're needed to be active in DA when window comes...

Getting the wrong mob is fine too.. Very high lv mobs (HNMs esp) with low HP turn in a good deal of zeni as well. This is still actively being tested tho.

I just feel you're judging the zeni/soultrapping system a little too harshly considering you're not doing it right..