Magus Sisters in FFXI?

[Dohorehn]

I'll be surprised if it's the March update. That one's packed already: RDM / WHM melee upgrade, maybe NIN ability, mini-expansion, and probably WotG nation quest continuation.

My bet is June.

It's sad that this is considered packed, I think we've settled.

[Khamsin]

Just to drive this wandering steer even farther off the trail, am I the only one who thinks that these mini-expansions, which lack new areas and presumable new activities (e.g. TOA> Assault, WOG> Campaign), are just something relatively simple for the story crew to placate us with while the area team works on the next expansion, which will be even bigger than before? :3

Or am I being overly hopeful and naive, as usual?

If that was the case, that means the next real expansion will have lots of new areas, new jobs, events, NMs and HNMs, activities, spells, abilities, avatars, pet types, in fact, everything you can imagine... except a decent story.

[ringthree]

Just to drive this wandering steer even farther off the trail, am I the only one who thinks that these mini-expansions, which lack new areas and presumable new activities (e.g. TOA> Assault, WOG> Campaign), are just something relatively simple for the story crew to placate us with while the area team works on the next expansion, which will be even bigger than before? :3

Or am I being overly hopeful and naive, as usual?

I wish and I hope, too.

I have wanted the Far East for sooooo long.

It could be true because these mini-expansions are being made by a whole new separate development team that they brought on just for their creation.

I have a personal presumptive schedule of April, June, August for these new mini-expansions. So if our hopes are to come true, then maybe late summer we will hear news of a new full expansion?

I just have this creepy feeling that SE wishes we would just go away and let the game die, but we are just refusing to leave the party. LOL This year's Fan Fest was substantially smaller than last years, the announcement was smaller, the expansions are smaller, everything seems to be down-sized. Does this really mean anything? Not really, there are many other factors like development cycle, the economy, new concept testing, etc. Doesn't mean I am not paranoid about it.

[Ziero]

People seem to be missing the reference...

Spoiler: show

Alexander spams the 'omega' symbol before he 2-hours. I think it's essentially a play on words meaning "it's over, you are all fucked now". I was trying to be cute and suggest Alex/Odin would be added, but apparently people either haven't finished up the missions yet, or don't fucking pay attention during battles.

Assuming they actually add Avatars, and they are not Alexander and Odin, I will shit a brick from surprise. It's so obvious, and they even tease about it at the end of the ToAU missions with the astral rift left open in the destroyed Alexander Armor.

I mean really, are this many people really grasping at straws like the Magus Sisters? That crap is definately either a typo or a Mithra Sin Hunters reference. How long before a Bahamut Zero speculation thread, or even an Anima thread? ._.

I'm pretty much sure as hell we're not getting Odin. He's already a massive endgame boss so I can't see players getting a nerfed version of him. And while I won't rule Alexander out as completely, I can honestly say I would be surprised if he was the next Avatar.

It's obvious Odin & Alexander are the best candidates for next avatars, we knew that before TOA even launched. Most of the conversation has been about what constitutes an avatar and technical horseshit.

While I don't think Alexander & Odin will be the only or even the 1st new avatars, I am sure they'll be the only two that require all this 'large model' special attention. Meaning they're both in development and will be added relatively soon. The only other avatar I expect to be added is Cait Sith, since she's had a fighting model since the September update.

How is it obvious that both are the next avatar when the story goes out of it's way to point out that niether want anything to do with humans and their petty conflicts? And again, Odin is already an endgame boss, there's very little chance SE would weaken him for player use, just like they won't weaken Bahamut for player use. And Cait Sith isn't even an avatar.

If the Avatars are sleeping in their crystals, why are they there? Who put them there? If my memory serves me at all, didn't Fenrir roam Saurtabaruta when the Kuluu were there and then only sent to Full Moon Fountain by the earliest Taru? Or is Fenrir not considered a terrestrial summon?

The crystals formed at the dawn of time when Vana D'iel came into being. And the Terrestrial's are animals-turned-avatars that are used to protect the mother crystals and pretty much all life on Vana D'iel. The Terrestrials never had any crystals to reside from, just places of birth from my understanding.

Just to drive this wandering steer even farther off the trail, am I the only one who thinks that these mini-expansions, which lack new areas and presumable new activities (e.g. TOA> Assault, WOG> Campaign), are just something relatively simple for the story crew to placate us with while the area team works on the next expansion, which will be even bigger than before? :3

Or am I being overly hopeful and naive, as usual?

They said the new mini-expansions wouldn't have any new zones, but they may have some sort of side activity like ENMs or such. They also said they wouldn't be working on any other major expansion if the mini ones do well with the players. However SE will still be releasing new events and such through regular updates like they always have been. From my understanding, the Dev team had a rough five year plan in place when they started the game. After surpassing that with the end of ToAU, they started WotG with a much cleaner slate and less planned out direction. So they're trying new things, and if they fail they'll go back to the original way of thinking. While I personally hope they don't "fail"...as that would mean the mini expansion stories end up sucking...I would still prefer the original style, zone based expansion packs. Especially seeing about how often they talk about other parts of Vana D'iel.

[Ultimagi]

They also said they wouldn't be working on any other major expansion if the mini ones do well with the players.

That's why they've already patented the name for the next expansion right?

[Thiefami]

I'm pretty much sure as hell we're not getting Odin. He's already a massive endgame boss so I can't see players getting a nerfed version of him. And while I won't rule Alexander out as completely, I can honestly say I would be surprised if he was the next Avatar.



How is it obvious that both are the next avatar when the story goes out of it's way to point out that niether want anything to do with humans and their petty conflicts? And again, Odin is already an endgame boss, there's very little chance SE would weaken him for player use, just like they won't weaken Bahamut for player use. And Cait Sith isn't even an avatar.



The crystals formed at the dawn of time when Vana D'iel came into being. And the Terrestrial's are animals-turned-avatars that are used to protect the mother crystals and pretty much all life on Vana D'iel. The Terrestrials never had any crystals to reside from, just places of birth from my understanding.



They said the new mini-expansions wouldn't have any new zones, but they may have some sort of side activity like ENMs or such. They also said they wouldn't be working on any other major expansion if the mini ones do well with the players. However SE will still be releasing new events and such through regular updates like they always have been. From my understanding, the Dev team had a rough five year plan in place when they started the game. After surpassing that with the end of ToAU, they started WotG with a much cleaner slate and less planned out direction. So they're trying new things, and if they fail they'll go back to the original way of thinking. While I personally hope they don't "fail"...as that would mean the mini expansion stories end up sucking...I would still prefer the original style, zone based expansion packs. Especially seeing about how often they talk about other parts of Vana D'iel.

You'll have to find it for me where they said they will NEVER do another fullsized expansion if mini expansion pack goes well. What I remember reading (and I could be wrong which is why I am asking you to quote it for me) is that they just said that they would continue with downloadable content if it goes well. That does not necessarily mean that is the end of regular expansions, and they only reason they are releasing DLC (from what they said) is it was too small to put on a disc.

[Ziero]

That's why they've already patented the name for the next expansion right?

...they patented the names for the next three expansions...you know, the mini ones.

You'll have to find it for me where they said they will NEVER do another fullsized expansion if mini expansion pack goes well. What I remember reading (and I could be wrong which is why I am asking you to quote it for me) is that they just said that they would continue with downloadable content if it goes well. That does not necessarily mean that is the end of regular expansions, and they only reason they are releasing DLC (from what they said) is it was too small to put on a disc.

Q: With the new mini-expansions, is this the format we are going to be focusing on more in the future, or will there be large scale expansions like the last four we have had?
A: At this point in time, there is nothing really decided on another big expansion on the scale of the previous four. The new format is a new trend we would like to like to bring in, to try and see if it works out. It is going to be running concurrently with the on-going patches for the Wings of the Goddess expansion, which are also still planned to be continuing throughout the next year or so.

I think it was at the Dev panel where they said if it wasn't popular they'd go back to full size expansions. While I never said they would "NEVER" make another large expansion, it's clear they want to stick with smaller ones for a long time.

[Ultimagi]

...they patented the names for the next three expansions...you know, the mini ones.

The next big expansion, not officially announced. The name patented is "The Blood of Bahamut".

[meeeeeep]

The next big expansion, not officially announced. The name patented is "The Blood of Bahamut".

From Wikipedia:

"Blood of Bahamut (ブラッド オブ バハムート, Buraddo obu Bahamūto?) is an upcoming Square Enix game for the Nintendo DS.[1] Before its official announcement, its trademarking prompted rumours of a connection to SNES TRPG Bahamut Lagoon. Such a connection has not been confirmed or denied by Square Enix."

[Vajra]

The next big expansion, not officially announced. The name patented is "The Blood of Bahamut".

No, Blood of the bahamut is a game similar the shadow of the collosus, but a sequel to the lagoon games or something, it has nothing to do with FFXI, except that SE is making it.

[Ultimagi]

Oh, it was just a rumour then.

[Saivan]

I just have this creepy feeling that SE wishes we would just go away and let the game die, but we are just refusing to leave the party.

This.

[LD]

If that was the case, that means the next real expansion will have lots of new areas, new jobs, events, NMs and HNMs, activities, spells, abilities, avatars, pet types, in fact, everything you can imagine... except a decent story.

HAH, well said. xd
To be honest, I think SE has enough story credit going that they could just focus on making the game itself better, so I might not have a problem with that.

You have a decent point, but in all seriousness, I don't think that's the case if that's really what's going to happen. How hard is it to write a story? When the Job contest came around, I wrote a mini-opus for mine in about a day, everything after that was editing and I was done with the majority of my minor tweaks by the end of the week (and SE generally does QA after they add everything, so that's not even an issue.) Granted, I deliberately set it in Ulbulka, an area in which little to nothing is set in stone, so I had a lot of leeway that people working with the main continent and story-line probably don't have. Still, I believe a good story doesn't take that much effort if you have a good idea of what you want and need it to do.

There's also the fact that each mini-expansion is said to be knocked out in about 1-2 months, that speaks a lot to the ease of production. I mean, you can rush through anything, so odds are there'll be people finishing it the week they get the disk, but it seems a lot shorter than the length of the story in the other expansions, especially COP.

[-Zer0-]

Moombas anyone?

[Xno Kappa]

Patented names don't confirm anything.

[Silenka]

Patented names don't confirm anything.

Chrono Break lolol.

I also have the feeling that SE wants FFXI to go DIAF. They should have realized that because it's a final fantasy game, it will likely never die.

I mean come on people are still buying FF1 which was released almost 20 years ago...

[Sumy]

Just to drive this wandering steer even farther off the trail, am I the only one who thinks that these mini-expansions, which lack new areas and presumable new activities (e.g. TOA> Assault, WOG> Campaign), are just something relatively simple for the story crew to placate us with while the area team works on the next expansion, which will be even bigger than before? :3

Or am I being overly hopeful and naive, as usual?

I was hoping more for a remake. Something that supports graphics hardware a little more.

[ringthree]

I doubt they really want it to die. Like you said, people are still buying FF1 after 20 years, and then keep buying it when they re-release it over and over with slightly tweaked graphics and maybe 1 or 2 new bosses or dungeons.

They've been getting us to do the same thing for the last 5 years, only we buy it EVERY MONTH.

Let me restate because I don't think that people are taking what I said with my exact intention.

They have stated that they thought the game wouldn't last more than five years, and I get the feeling that they only had initial ideas for the game for that far. The support for the game will obviously remain if people are playing it, and I don't think they will just give on up on the game at all.

I do think that they may treat the game a little differently now though, maybe testing new ideas like the mini-expansions or altering how they approach the game content-wise. I also think though they would not be hurt or bothered if game did dry up after a time. They are obviously far beyond the break even point on the game and they have the right to conclude it was nothing but a resounding success.

These changes may not be in line with what I want from the game. I would prefer the epic expansion, complete with new zones, jobs, gear and content. So to me the mini-expansions are a bit of a let down. The fan fest this year was capped, while it was not last year, and the announcements were a bit of a let down to me.

It is obvious though that they have no intention on ending the game, but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't mind if it did.

[Melios]

I would mind it; as I still haven't finished CoP or WOTG. It's not easy getting through CoP due to the sheer difficulty in getting willing (and competent) players to help. "CoP missions are a joke now" my ass....

[ringthree]

While I'm glad for some things in the game, I wouldn't mind personally if they announced an end date for FFXI and got to work on FFXI-2 or FFXIV Online. Your reasons for them keeping support going are sound, but they're so dramatically opposed to really doing anything new that making a completely new MMO might be the best thing for company and player base.

The thing is they won't shut it down, because even if there are a tenth of the people playing than there are right now, they would probably still be making money on the game.

FFXI is still one of the more populated and popular MMOs.