New Version Update Announcement! (08/11/2010)

[Selamis]

this is why i always stay in limit point mode till i get 10 merits + 9999 points, then switch to xping a job 75-80. normally i can party 4-5 hours, so i will normally get capped limit points, and a 1.5 lvls. helps to keep me in zone longer to get merits and xp faster in long run.

That's actually a good idea, I've always done it the reverse way and did the job first then merits. I may try that out this weekend when I finish my whm to 80.

[ringthree]

I was wondering that myself because *WotG spoilers ahead*


Isn't Abyssea Lilith's realm, i.e. the REAL Vana'diel? In which case everything was largely the same up until the battle of Xarc. (And it also explains how we are so much more powerful there and we see all the same NPCs and locales)

So what happened to the crags? And more importantly, what fucked up the world so bad in the first place? The Shadowlord was powerful, but Abyssea reminds me more of what Kefka did to the world in FF6, and I just don't think Raogrimm has that kind of power.

Well, that was actually caused by the 3 waring gods but still... you get the point. Something major came out of nowhere and just completely fucked up Vana'diel. I think SCARS, just going by the name, will be Dynamis v2.0 with us visiting the ruined cities. That's gonna be freaky though, having Maws in town lol (they can't possibly do it any other way, since in Bastok's case there was a mudslide and the path back to town forever lost)

Spoiler: show

No, Abyssea is completely separate. Crags can be seen in the past. There are no crags in Abyssea.

[Spira]

Spoiler: show

Abyssea is definitely not Lilith's Realm.

Like someone said earlier, in Abyssea the crags don't even exist.. which probably means to say the Zilart didn't build the cermet crap along the crystal line. or they didn't exist..

so its a parallel world with some differences to say the least..

we'd probably find out more about the origin and purpose (if any) of abyssea thru its follow up add-ons..

[Avinor]

Lore stuff:

Spoiler: show

I had just assumed that Abyssea was Lilith's world, the lack of crags not ruling it out since it is ~20 years in the future. I figured the Zilart brothers, Arch Duke whatshisface and his little(older) brother had tried to activate Tu'lia prematurely, while the beastmen hordes were descending around them.

Calamity ensues, destroying the crags and the supporting architecture, possibly even leading to the nebulous great event that altered Abyssea (even more so from the war-ravaged world it was). There are Al'taieu and Empty mobs roaming around Abyssea, both of which have ties to the crags that are no longer there.

This is mostly wild speculation, and it depends both on my faded memory of old storylines and the depths to which the creators are going to try and tie the expansions together. The main site description of Iratham talks about being part of a pastime of a long dead civilization - could be someone new, could be zilart, could even be the Aydeewa culture from ToAU. Personally I'm holding out hope for some major crossovers between the expansion stories.

As for possible Abyssea versions of zones, assuming they continue with the trend of recycling older zones: Sanctuary of Zitah and Lufaise Meadows could make for some cool places.

Spoiler: show

Plus its a chance for moar Prishe, which is surely a good thing. If they weren't so damn lazy about reskinning/adjusting character models (see: Curilla) we could even hope for an adult version, her magicite having disappeared along with the crags.

[Gwynplaine]

Come to think of it (not gonna spoiler this since RoZ is ye olde) iirc it was the zilarts exploding the Vahzl crag that actually made the northlands a desolate glacier environment. It could be interesting if somehow that never happened and Xarc/Beaucadine were rendered in their pre-meltdown look. That's probably not likely since it would take more time and effort to do, but it was just something that occurred to me.

[Hyan]

Who knows, they still might have those pre-release Xarcabard .dats somewhere.

Not likely though :D

[Malacite]

What does crags being seen in the past have to do with it though?

It makes much more sense for Abyssea to be Lilith's Realm but in the present day. It would also coincide with their desperation (seeking out Odin's power)


But then I suppose you'd have to ignore the whole traverser stone crap and blah... I just figured that would make for a far more interesting story. I mean technically Dynamis and Al'tieu are alternate dimensions as well, but only the past and Abyssea use maws so I figured there'd be a connection?

We'll know for sure in Sept.

[Zag]

the next set of Abyssea zones is a big question... considering the zones are brand new (they're not already existing at least), it could be a pick from a whole lot of places... I'd hope they don't rehash zones that already have Dynamis or Shadowreign equivalents (especially not Beaucedine/Xarcabard for that reason) but move on to other zones that are fairly expansive and could use some tweaking..

a part of me thinks something like Grauberg/Vunkerl/Karugo makes the most sense in terms of size... sure they don't exist in normal day Vanadiel.. but there could be ways to introduce reaching them..

anyway we can probably tell from screenhots/trailers to come in the next 2-3 weeks.

No. Unfortunatly, the add-ons require zilart not WOTG expansion.

So they might add the 3 other crag areas. yuh jungle, xarcabard again (sigh I hope not), and east altep desert.

I would get lost in the jungle lol and we had enough xarcabard zones although I enjoyed all of them cause xarcabard is epic, I rather not have another Xarcabard zone.

Zi'Tah (sp) was an amazing zone and I wish they would make an Abyssea out that zone.

Hopefully the Level cap is raised to 90 and not 85 next update as I'm eager to help to start lowmanning stuff without the the need for any Big Linkshells or very picky job choices.

[KoD]

Idk about Jungle it seem quite a small Zone with only hand full of open areas, compairing it to the alternative, and the current 3zones, seems they;d have very lil space for Mobs

[Alkar]

No. Unfortunatly, the add-ons require zilart not WOTG expansion.

So they might add the 3 other crag areas. yuh jungle, xarcabard again (sigh I hope not), and east altep desert.

I would get lost in the jungle lol and we had enough xarcabard zones although I enjoyed all of them cause xarcabard is epic, I rather not have another Xarcabard zone.

Zi'Tah (sp) was an amazing zone and I wish they would make an Abyssea out that zone.

Hopefully the Level cap is raised to 90 and not 85 next update as I'm eager to help to start lowmanning stuff without the the need for any Big Linkshells or very picky job choices.

Hmmm no. You need Zilart AND WotG installed and registered to play Visions of Abyssea. I don't see why the next two would be any different.

[ringthree]

Lore stuff:

Spoiler: show

I had just assumed that Abyssea was Lilith's world, the lack of crags not ruling it out since it is ~20 years in the future. I figured the Zilart brothers, Arch Duke whatshisface and his little(older) brother had tried to activate Tu'lia prematurely, while the beastmen hordes were descending around them.

Calamity ensues, destroying the crags and the supporting architecture, possibly even leading to the nebulous great event that altered Abyssea (even more so from the war-ravaged world it was). There are Al'taieu and Empty mobs roaming around Abyssea, both of which have ties to the crags that are no longer there.

This is mostly wild speculation, and it depends both on my faded memory of old storylines and the depths to which the creators are going to try and tie the expansions together. The main site description of Iratham talks about being part of a pastime of a long dead civilization - could be someone new, could be zilart, could even be the Aydeewa culture from ToAU. Personally I'm holding out hope for some major crossovers between the expansion stories.

Regarding Iratham

Spoiler: show

The quote about it being a pastime of a long dead civilization is a joke. Iratham is a piece in an Indian game that was the precursor to modern Chess.

[ringthree]

What does crags being seen in the past have to do with it though?

It makes much more sense for Abyssea to be Lilith's Realm but in the present day. It would also coincide with their desperation (seeking out Odin's power)


But then I suppose you'd have to ignore the whole traverser stone crap and blah... I just figured that would make for a far more interesting story. I mean technically Dynamis and Al'tieu are alternate dimensions as well, but only the past and Abyssea use maws so I figured there'd be a connection?

We'll know for sure in Sept.

First of all, learn to Spoiler.

Second of all, it means a lot if the Crags are not seen in Abyssea at all. It doesn't make sense at all that Abyssea is Lilith's timeline. As already mentioned, no evidence of Crags ever even existing. Additionally, the storylines are wrong. In Lilith's time, the Crystal war was lost, so there was 20 years of beastman domination. The Abyssea NPC's state over and over that their condition just happened one day and wasn't caused by the beastmen.

They are all accessed through the Maw but that doesn't necessarily mean they are the same timeline. Atomos devours all timelines, all dimensions. You figured wrong because you didn't even take an elementary look at the evidence already in hand.

[Hyan]

I think they pretty much threw the lore to the trash can with these add-ons. They are definitely focusing on the battles rather than if the add-on makes sense lore-wise.

Of course we might get some explanations later on, but I don't think it's likely.

[ringthree]

Hmmm no. You need Zilart AND WotG installed and registered to play Visions of Abyssea. I don't see why the next two would be any different.

You are correct. I just double checked and you are required to have both Zilart and Wings.

[S N K]

Fuck, time to rape down AV everyday until this shit gets patched. C U GAIZ!

[Spira]

alternatively.. they could just give us entirely new zones...

tho if they did i'd think it'd come in the last of the 3 Abyssea add-ons and we'd have to count our lucky stars considering it'd be a rare feat that they did that.

Expansion limitation doesn't even seem to be an issue anymore, considering Vision requires both Zilart and WotG.. to be honest u kinda wonder why it even requires Zilart.
But since the Cavernous Maws thing ties in most closely to Wings, you can kinda expect that it will require that.

[Dooom]

Expansion limitation doesn't even seem to be an issue anymore, considering Vision requires both Zilart and WotG.. to be honest u kinda wonder why it even requires Zilart.

Shared .dats or something? Best I can come up with.

[Malacite]

Well damn, it was cooler that way (more fitting too, with her world being a hellish nightmare as well)


My reasoning was that she comes from the same time as we do, just an alt future, and I figured maybe that was Abyssea but I you're probably right. Well, here's hoping they actually bother to add some backstory and plot to Abyssea.

I mean, the focus on battles and gear is awesome and all, but it would be really shitty of them to set all this up just to leave it to our imaginations. I still maintain however that SCARS will have us find a way back into the cities.

Maybe I'm reading too much into the name, but to me it implies the lasting damage done, and what better way than to show off their ruined homes? And sorry about the spoilers thing, though I have to ask why the crap is there no Spoilers tag even in advanced post? The other forums I frequent all have it >.>

[Riki]

I think they pretty much threw the lore to the trash can with these add-ons. They are definitely focusing on the battles rather than if the add-on makes sense lore-wise.

this.

And when talking about Lilith's realm, there are actually two:

Spoiler: show

Her original timeline where the crystal war was lost and the realm where she resides now, which is obviously inside Atomos.
Personally i think that Lilith's realm, Walk of the Echoes and Abyssea are all parts of the same realm.
It's the void where all timelines that Atomos once devoured converge.

Lack of crags could be explained with mothercrystals not being part of normal timelines or something like that. Atomos is powerful and can devour lots of stuff, but most likely not powerful enough to devour parts of the sentinent crystal that created everything.

[Tsuko_Asura]

Lack of Mothercrystals wouldn't equate to lack of craigs. There's nothing sentient about the craigs, they're just structures.