We got new WS in the last update, and for the most part they kind of sucked. Some were interesting but most were complete busts. I am left wondering after years and years of wishing that SE would give us more meaningful updates and just more stuff if we have gotten to the point where we don't need a whole lot more stuff. What we need is refinement, and we got a lot of that in the Job Adjustments update notes, but outside of the absolute beauty of these new weaponskills, is there anything substantial to them? The question boils down to this: Is it going to beat the WS I use right now?
What SE needs to show is a little less flash and a little more finesse. What is compelling about these new WS? After looking at a couple WS worth of butterflies, I haven't used Tachi: Ageha outside of testing and goofing-off. The problem is that the level of commitment in testing and figuring things out just isn't as high as it used to be. If there are any little tricks to these new WS then most people aren't that willing to put a ton of work into finding them out. I would like for SE to look over old WS's to make sure they were all usable, even if just situationally.
So, I guess what I am saying is that we have matured past candy and sweets and what we really want is meat and potatoes level improvements. The move to increase the level cap was a meat and potatoes improvement. New Job Abilities (as long as they are useful) are meat and potatoes improvements. New WS are just sugar and spice and everything nice, but they won't sustain you. At this point, a lot of new WS are all flash and no substance. Keep giving us meat and potatoes improvements. Give better ways to move around, give us more storage, give us more JA's (that don't share timers), don't give us more pretty stuff we are never going to use.
I am getting too used to SE giving us good content. I feel like I am looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Monday, August 30, 2010
SE Gives More But Do We Really Need It?
Friday, August 27, 2010
SE Drops More Bombs: Job Abilities.
Friday, gave me a raging hard-on.
Let's get down to business.
Job Abilities:
The quality of new Job Abilities now runs the gamut from interesting to jaw-dropping.
1. Divine Caress - Interesting, but probably of limited usefulness. This is probably only really helpful if it completely prevents the enfeeble from landing. If you use Divine Caress before removing paralyze or slow and it prevents them from landing again, then it is great. If it just increases resistance like a normal job trait then it isn't really useful at all because you will still need to remove the enfeeble. You are not often in a position where you would not remove a enfeeble because you know that it will wear earlier than a full strength one.
2. Saboteur - Jaw-dropping, but dependent on potency. If this ability helps RDM to increase their potency enough then they can use more skill and accuracy to make sure they land. If this ability increases the duration enough then it can be used with Elemental Seal. If this ability increases the potency over current effect caps then it will just be incredibly strong. That is a lot of if's.
3. Spur - Interesting. My guess is that this will be nice, but it will really depend on the strength of the pet's attack and how much the extra TP can benefit it.
4. Tenuto - Standard of Living. Bards will finally be able to give themselves the songs that they want instead of constantly overwriting their own songs. The delay and duration look like they match Pianissimo.
5. Soul Jump - Interesting. Shares a timer with High Jump. Has the same effect as High Jump. Looks like this is just the same thing as Spirit Jump and Jump. This one is kind of vanilla unless the effect provided by the Wyvern is huge.
6. Blood Pact: Ward "Earthen Armor" - Interesting to Jaw-dropping. This really depends on if it is a mini-Perfect Defense, or if it is just a bit of damage reduction. The wording gives me hope that it is used against something like Meteor or 10,000,000 Needles or whatever.
7. Blood Pact: Ward "Tidal Roar" - Interesting. Attack down is something that is handed out left and right by SE. This may have it's uses especially with how well effects seem to scale for Summoners now. Right now, it just sounds like any other attack down effect.
8. Efflux - Who cares. It's a Blue Mage JA. No one cares. At least no one should care. I suppose it is one more thing to stack on before Cannonball. :)
9. Courser's Roll - Jaw-dropping. Increase "Snapshot", which for the uninformed is Ranged Attack haste. Sounds awesome, but also probably the death knell for many a Ranger out there. More speed, more damage, more hate, more death. Thank god for Animus Minuo.
10. Blitzer's Roll - Jaw-dropping... or not. Decreases swing delay. This could be amazing if it doesn't cause a decrease in TP per swing. Hopefully it is like Hasso and Haste Samba and not like Sword Strap.
11. Feather Step - Interesting. This has to be pretty strong to be of interest, especially considering not a lot of people put DNC on high level mobs. DNC already has a lot to do, so I don't know if this is going to be of much interest at all.
That is it for today, more on the spells and traits soon.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
On It's Feet!
I love Abyssea. It is really fun. There seem to be so many aspects to it. So many things we can't even really explain yet. Like, why did Turul and Ovni start aggroing all of a sudden? Are the "!!" really random? How do all the Abyssite drop? At some point though, all of this information just gets to be overwhelming. Why are there so many questions that remain unanswered? What are we supposed to do to try to figure all of this out? Why can't SE just give us some straight forward content.
I am not saying that there is something wrong with Abyssea itself. As I have already said it is challenge and rewarding content. I am just concerned that instead of content we are getting randomness. One of the reasons that I liked Salvage so much was that it was a riddle but it was one that we could figure out. Sure there was the normal drop rate issue, but it felt like if you did it long enough it would all average out in the end.
I look at Abyssea and I see a huge jumble of events. A little Limbus, a splash of Salvage, the old Sky/Sea combo, finished with a dash of Kings. It's very interesting and fun, but it seems all a bit scatter brained (not like I am one to criticize, my posts can end up rambling on forever). The tiers don't seem symmetrical. It seems more like a hodge-podge of previous end-game content mixed with something all new.
It's not bad at all, it can just get confusing sometimes. Sometimes it's nice to have content with some obvious solution to it. There is some comfort to be found standing on a dragon's feet. It's a whole new world, but that doesn't mean that SE has to steal my security blankie. :)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Words That Have No Meaning.
If you take longer to kill a mob than it's respawn time, then you suck. There is nothing more to it. You don't suck at playing the game. You suck at soloing. Soloing used to be about efficiency. After the test of skill, the reason people soloed Limbus was to collect coins faster than with a group. That doesn't apply to Chukwa. If you are soloing Chukwa, then you are just wasting time. You don't have proper TH. You don't have friends.
Yes, yes, there are always exceptions. You work nights and don't have any JP friends. You just changed servers (though it does beg the question). You really are testing your skills. These are all fine exceptions. And everyone uses them as an excuse, but I think for the most part these are just covers for two things: Greed and Anti-social behavior.
Here is my real issue with soloing a lot of things now: You aren't just fucking other people (you obviously don't care about them already if you are taking 50 minutes to kill Chukwa), you are fucking yourself over. If you just ask a couple of your friends (if you have any), you can kill most mobs ten times faster, with a much higher drop rate, if you just agree to do the same thing for your friends.
Maybe I am just lucky and have amazing friends. Friends that don't just want to do stuff with our LS, but also want to do things just as a group. Friends that are just as happy when I get gear as they are when they get gear. I do have amazing friends, but I don't think it is a special circumstance. I think many people can have friends if they want them. But greed leads to anti-social behavior, and that is what soloing means to me now (with the previously mentioned exceptions). Soloing is about greed plain and simple.
Anything that can be soloed can be done far more efficiently with a small group. And anything that can be done with a small group can be done more efficiently with a larger group. Yes, there is absolutely a point where having more people becomes less efficient when it comes to gear, but I don't think most people that "solo" are even close to that balance.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Do NM's Cry When You Kill Them?
I have never really wondered what NM's think when I kill them. They usually have stuff I or my friends want, and we aren't going to let them get in between us and our most desired bling. I still don't really care, but after killing a few Minhocao and Chukwa's to get some gear I started to almost few bad for them. I mean how would you feel if you were tortured by some gimp RDM "soloing" you for hours on end? I would just be wishing for a quick end by an alliance that could actually kill me in a reasonable amount of time. I pictured their feelings would be hurt at the very least. I think there needs to be a new rule, if "soloing" a mob takes longer than the respawn of that mob, then you need to get a new hobby.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
A Few Things That I (Still) Don't Understand.
A common topic? Yes, definitely. I have talked a lot about Magian weapons, but I don't think that some people even get the point right now. I think the problem may stem from the lack of difference there really was from level 75 to 80. The problem is that you can't just look at a Magian weapon and say "Well damn, I have to have that or I am gimp" because the increase in damage is just the next step up, it's not a paradign shift in game mechanics. I think most people (myself included) thought that the jump in level from 75 to 80 was going to be accompanied by the same jump up in stats that happens from 1 to 75. That wasn't to be the case. The only really consistent increase came in the form of skill increases (which arguably is even more important than raw stats but that is a discussion for another day). Instead of the exponential increase in damage most people expected to see from a higher damage weapon and 5 additional levels, it instead turned out to be more of a linear increase in damage. Nothing ground breaking, and a lot of time that is the only thing that will get people out of their rut.
I think there are more than a few reasons to move on Magian weapons now, instead of later.
1. With the rare expection, they really are the best weapons in the game. Outside of a very few number of weapons, there is nothing that can beat a Magian weapon. All jobs now have access to weapons that have higher damage or more attacks per round than anything else available. Relics and Mythics generally excepted, I believe that Ridill is the only weapon that still can make a claim to being overpowered. And that is arguable...
2. Outside of Mythics and Relics, Magians will definitively be the best weapons in the game after the next update. While one could argue that we still don't know what is coming for upgrading weapons in the future, we can look at the end-point Empyrean weapons and say that they are obviously not complete. Also, it is undeniable that the base damage has to increase as the level cap increases. All of the old weapons just can't keep up with the march of progress.
3. You are going to have to do more work to upgrade your weapons in the future. If you fall behind now, you just have more work to do in the future. It's not like the trials are going to get easier. SE is just going to add more and more trials onto the end of the ones that already exist. And they are going to make Magian weapons even stronger. When the next update comes, are you going to want to be killing Treants in Grauberg? Or are you going to want to finish off your Indra Staff to get the next step in Lightning Damage Potency?
4. If you aren't working on upgrading your Magian weapons then you really are gimp. This is one of my unapologetically elitist moments, but in the end it's not elitist at all. Up to the penultimate Empyrean stage and up to the final stage of the rest of the weapons they trials just aren't that hard. Sure getting some of the 20 drops for the high damage OAT weapons can be a bit of trouble, but there is nothing that is stopping you from doing it besides yourself. The problem might be that for almost the entirety of FFXI people had to work with other people to get the best gear, but instead of working as a motivating factor this actually just encourages people to be free-riders. But now, when faced with a set of quests that require individual action for the most part, the free-riders are left out in the cold. And they should be.
I might be an elitist dick, but this isn't about criticizing gear because it's hard to get or because it takes a lot of time to get. In this case, I am not the elitist dick, other people are just lazy dicks. And I would much rather be just about any kind of dick than a lazy dick. :)
Monday, July 26, 2010
Old Man Ring Shakes His Cane.
Ok, so it's not the Magian system's fault that my internet connection is worse that two tin cans and a piece of string, but I am cranky so logic doesn't matter! I will be less cranky once I have killed 6 more Lamprey Lords and then 8 more Chesma's and then collect 50 Carabosse's Gems... wait, what the fuck? Are you fucking with my mind? 50 Gems from a tier 2 Abyssea mob? Now, the kick in the balls that my internet connection has been giving me over the weekend suddenly feels like a gentle cupping compared the giant black dildo that SE has inserted into my rectum. I don't want to hear about how you can farm the pop items for Carabosse in an XP party, and I don't want to hear about the fact that there are a ton of far more difficult drops for other weapons. I just don't want to hear it, I just want this giant black dildo out of my rectum.
Speaking of annoying, I can't wait for people to finish leveling their jobs in Abyssea and realize that there is actual real gear in there. I know people that have spent 16 hours in Abyssea leveling and have somehow not leveled everything they have, merited everything they have, and flipped their XP like the score in an Atari 2600 game. Yeah? You don't know what an Atari 2600 is? Too young you say? Fuck you. Go to a fucking museum and check it out, you can find it right next to the Magna Carta, the Rosetta Stone, and the skeleton of an fucking Allosaurus.
Did I mention I am currently working on something like 5 different Magian weapons right now? I have killed every single moronic NM that SE has ever added to the game. Some of these NM's have to be a freaking joke. Okyupete? Ankabut? Where do they come up with these names? A three-year-old's first illiterate Crayola scrawl? Jolly Green? Killed it, and the fucking thing doesn't even have a last name, and it's not even a fucking giant. Hey, SE, you already have freaking green giants in the game, why don't you call one of them Jolly Green? You know the worst part? I am doing Great Katana and Bow, and they both perfectly overlap, so I have committed genocide against the peace loving Treants of Grauberg, not once, not even twice, but three time, and it's going to happen again because of that Plantoids under weather thing. I make Pol Pot look like Strawberry Shortcake. You don't know Pol Pot, you say? What? You don't know fucking Strawberry Shortcake, either? Get the fuck off my lawn!
And Yilbegan can get the fuck off my lawn too! Fucking shadow-less, but fucking cool looking dragon, that's like the anti-dragon. Tank it on it's rear feet? Only damage it when wings are up? What the fuck? It's like everything is backwards because of some little in-joke at SE headquarters. "Oh, we so funny!" Yeah, fuck you too, buddy! Oh, you dropped a Platinum Ore and a Platinum Ingot? How generous! Let me show my appreciation by jamming a fork in my ear. Oh wow, the fork in my ear does nothing to minimize the pain of the brutal dildo assault...
Internet connection problems make the Old Man Ring pretty cranky. I am sure it's because my roommate is simultaneously uploading and downloading every episode of Top Gear ever created, in every language known to man. My poor GB's and Wifi's don't stand a chance against a full frontal assault from Jeremy Clarkson. You don't know Jeremy Clarkson? Great, you just gave me an aneurysm.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
XPing in the New World Order: A Primer.
Stop XPing. It's not worth it. There is no amount of XP you can get in the real world that justifies doing it anymore. No time investment is worth it. No dual BRD parties can keep up. There is nothing you can do to XP anymore.
You have to go to Abyssea. Abyssea is the best XP in the game, and it is not even close to being a competition. If you are XPing in the "real world" then you are doing it for one of three reasons. 1. You don't have time for a full Abyssea alliance XP run (which can be very time consuming). 2. You don't have enough people for a full Abyssea alliance XP run. 3. You are out of Traverser Stones (though this might never be a problem again for those that are good at XPing in Abyssea).
The History: The last few years has been about the specialization and at the same time marginalization of certain jobs in XP parties. SAM, WAR, DRG and DRK are the main DD, RDM was the main healer. BRD was the buffer and puller. COR was the secondary buffer, and was poor at pulling and DDing. This was moving in the opposite direction of the value of jobs at non-XP events. PLD were the main tank, MNK tanked Salvage, RDM was a healer, but WHM was the go to for the most part. BLM was very valuable, as was SCH. BRD was still very important. Melee DD were either critical or useless.
Abyssea comes along and turns all of that on top of it's head.
The Set-up: Balance is critical. While in the past people wanted to have a high concentration of buffs and DD, this isn't as required now. You still want to have a high rate of damage, but you need a variety of damage. Melee, WS and magic damage are all critical to get the balance in "lights". There are also new roles. Now you will need people that are pretty much dedicated to opening chests. Two people is probably best because you start to get a whole lot of chests after a while and you can't open everything with one person after a while.
The most important thing is to have a variety of kill-shots. Some melee kills, some WS kills, and especially some magic damage kills. This will give you pearlescent, ruby and azure light, respectively. The idea is that you want to build up these lights as quickly as possible, so you want to kill things with your different damage sources. Personally, I think it is a little better to go on streaks. Kill a few with melee and WS, then kill a few with magic, and go back and forth. The point is that you need all three sources of damage to make sure you are getting the most sources of light. While the message will never say anything more than "you gain a feeble amount of X light" you will still be building them up behind the scenes.
The beginning: Some people say to go with all magic kills to get to time first, and some say all melee to increase your drop rate of chest, but I have to say that mixing it up is probably the best. I don't know the exact way the system currently works (no one does) but I have found that going on little streaks seems to be the best for me so far. Kill about 5 with melee to up your pearlescent light, then kill 5 with magic to up your Azure light, and toss in some WS and Elemental WS kills to increase your Ruby and Amber lights. The important thing at the beginning is to just focus on killing, don't worry about chests too much and having a good assist.
The mid-game: Don't freak out! That is the best advice I can give. The XP doesn't start rolling until you are well into the time chests, but the time chests usually don't start rolling until about an hour into the run. The worst thing I have seen done to runs so far is people start freaking out about an hour into the run and over focusing on one type of kill. Remember, balance is the most important for good chest generation. You need high tiers of all the different lights on a good run. If you start freaking out and don't keep things balanced, then you end up ruining the run by not getting enough chests or not getting time chests. Once you start getting time chests it's time to relax and enjoy the run.
The end-game: Put on some music, get used to your assist macro and go to town! You still need to keep a balanced light progression because things can still go out of wack if you are not careful. Additionally, the longer the run goes the more likely people are going to cap out their levels and merits, or get tired and want to go to bed, or shave their cats or AFK banging hot chicks, etc, but the important thing to remember is that lights are saved individually. What does this mean? Normally, if you are there for the whole run you are capped out on lights and will be getting the top tier lights all the time, but if you leave and come back or if you are new to the run then you will have zero light and need to build it up again. It appears that the person that kills the mobs determines what the light level is for the chests. That means if you have someone new get a kill shot the chest, if one even appears, will be at the low level. In general, if you are coming into or back into a run in the middle then you want to avoid getting a kill shot for at least a half hour. Also, if you have to swap around quite a few of your melee or BLM then you need to consider the fact that it could take quite some time to rebuild their lights to the point that they are worth anything.
A final note: Bring Forbidden Keys! You don't want to lose a time chest just because the Random Number Generator doesn't love you (the Random Number Generator doesn't love anyone, everyone is the bitch of the Random Number Generator). Don't forget about Ruby and Amber light! Ruby light comes from WS kills and give you other lights for the most part. This is nice at the beginning to get more Azure, Ruby and Pearlescent lights, but later in runs you need the Ruby lights to boost your XP and Crour per kill. XP caps around 300 per kill without Ebon, Silver and Gold lights, so you will definitely need them toward the mid to end of the run. Amber light gives you more treasure chests with potential pop items in them, so they are worth it if you are doing it as a group of friends, but less important if you are in a pick up group.
Friday, July 09, 2010
My Magian Projects: Kokushitsunotachi
I have noticed something slightly disturbing since the update; a lot of people are still using their old pre-75 weapons. There are a huge number of new weapons available through the new Magians system, and while the new top-of-the-line weapons will require some time to get them done there are still some people that haven't end gotten the ones from last update done.
Personally, I already have my Kurodachi fully upgraded to the last update. I also am working on my Goshawk for my RNG and staffs for my WHM and BLM. I really like the design of the trial system, so maybe I can help be a good motivation for everyone else!
Right now, I have a Kurodachi with DMG+28, Delay+20 and Occasionally Attacks Twice. To upgrade it to the highest possible level right now, I need to do the following:
Trial 1557: 10 Chasmic Stingers
Trial 1558: 20 Mikey's Silver Nuggets
That will leave me with the horribly named Kokushitsunotachi with the following stats:
The Chasmic Stinger comes from the Chasmic Hornet in Abyssea-La Theine. The Chasmic Hornet is an NM spawn from Great Wasp placeholders. It looks like the stingers are drops like other Magian items and two can drop at a time. The respawn on the Chasmic Hornets is still unclear right now, and there is differing reports from 30-1 hour.
The Mikey's Silver Nuggets come from Megamaw Mikey which is also in Abyssea-La Theine. It also spawns as an NM from placeholders, in this case they are Rock Grinders.
While I am working on my Kokushitsunotachi, I am also working on the high damage Great Katana path that eventually leads to the Masamune. I will go over that tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Gone away and come back again! But mainly a short discussion about Abyssea.
I know the day after an update is not a great time to go away for a couple of weeks, but it had to be done. :) I am back now, and several things have settled in the mean time. I have been trying to keep abreast of all of the changes, but I might have missed quite a bit, so bear with me and please leave comments if I leave anything out!
Lets get started with Abyssea, which may be the coolest thing that SE has added to the game since Salvage. It might even be cooler than Salvage itself! Abyssea is like a great combination of all the fun NM hunting already in the game all mixed up with a few twists thrown in. Essentially, it looks like there are three different kinds of NMs in the zone, but even those distinctions aren't exactly clean cut.
When you first enter your Abyssea zone, you will come across different groupings of mobs. They will all be named similarly, but will come in different sizes and they will con at various strengths, usually between DC to T. In general, these mobs can be killed to get a pop item which will spawn an NM of the same type in the area. The drops from these mobs are pretty good in general, with a little bit of SE's weirdness thrown in. They also can drop another set of pop items or key items depending on the mob that are then used to spawn a new tier of NMs, but that gets a bit weirder. In addition, some of them can drop a key item that gives some permanent benefit while in Abyssea. There are a wide array of key items that give buffs depending on the NM you kill. The second and third tier of NMs come from either several pop items or several key items depending on the NM you are spawning.
Wandering about the zone there are NMs that are already up, and some that spawn just from killing mobs in the area like a regular NM. These are kind of like the popped mobs in that they have there own pretty good drops and they drop key items or pop items that are used to spawn the next tier of NMs. It looks like they have a pretty fast respawn time, so you could get multiple NMs in the time you are in the zone. The mobs that are up and wandering around to begin with look to be pretty tough and have quite a few drops. The mobs that are spawned by killing their respective non-NM mobs aren't quite as hard (but they are not anything to be taken lightly) and it doesn't look like they drop as much loot, but things are still a bit unclear on drops.
Finally, you even have a VNM system in Abyssea. These are spawned just like the ones in the regular world, but at least in Abyssea-Konschtat they are Empty-type monsters. I have only experienced the first two tiers so far, but they didn't appear to be anything that difficult. I expect the third tier to be significantly more difficult though. When we did these we had our Abyssite upgrade on the first kill of both of our kills. I don't know if this means that these have a higher upgrade rate or if it was just dumb luck. We will have to see. It isn't completely clear yet, but it appears that the tier 3 will also drop a key item or pop item for the next tier of NMs in the zone.
Additionally, Abyssea has some interesting characteristics when it comes to what happens when you kill mobs there. Unlike the standard XP chain that exists in our timeline, Abyssea has a different forum of scaling XP. First of all, the amount of XP you get appears to be rigidly standardized. You start at a base amount of XP gained, and then you gain one point of XP per kill based on the way the last mob was killed. If a mob is killed by a melee hit, then you will get an additional point of XP the next time you kill a mob of the same type with a melee hit. If you kill a mob with a weaponskill it adds one point to that category, and the same with magic. The nice thing is that these can't really get that separated because they can only fall behind by about 10 XP points. It gets a lot more interesting as time goes on though. After time goes on, several different things happen. First of all, the mobs that respawn, and they start respawning pretty quickly, will start getting more difficult moving up from their starting difficulty until they are IT++ to level 80 characters. This will not change the amount of XP you get but what will happen is that the various chests that the mobs drop will start to drop more often and they will be more rewarding. There appears to be a tier system of some kind involved, with a bit of variation in the rewards, but the chests are the real key to the whole adventure. You can get temporary items or augmented items, which for the most part aren't incredibly interesting, but you can also get chests that give XP and Cruor in increasingly larger chunks. The most important chest though are the Time extension chests, which usually don't start spawning until you have been killing mobs for about an hour. A time extension chest will grant you 10 extra minutes inside of the zone. The reason that time extensions are so great is that the amount of XP you get increases over time so that at the end of your time in the zone you can get up to 360 XP per kill and 1000 XP per XP chest. That means that your XP per hour rises dramatically at the end of your run, and extending your time means more XP during the high-end XP time. That is not to say that going without getting Time chests is bad XP. Last night we got no time chests at all, and we had to run to camp at the beginning of our run, but in the 90 minutes we were in the zone we got 46k XP and 13k in Cruor. You can do this with basically any set of mobs in the zone, but some are better than others. The main problem is that if you kill a different kind of mob it will break your "chain" and you will go back down to base XP when you start on the mobs you were focusing on. So tell your pullers to be careful. Also, since the amount of XP you get per mob is predetermined, it doesn't matter how many people you bring with you. You can bring a party or an alliance. It's fun for everyone!
Abyssea is a lot to digest. There is a whole lot to do, and I only went over some of the NMs and XPing in the zone. There are still a huge number of quests that are available and monsters that are related to that. This isn't the last time I will be going over these awesome new zones!
Monday, June 21, 2010
I don't even know where to start.
It is going to take me forever to get through all of this. Don't expect an update until at least tomorrow. Sorry, I don't know what else to say. I am in a state of complete shock.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Ridill Me This Podcast Episode 1 is a Go!
We completed the first episode of Ridill Me This (yes, we are fully aware that the abbreviation is RMT) last week and it was posted to the LimitBreakRadio site on Friday.
We encourage you to check it out and give us any feedback you may have about it!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Feast and Famine - The New Job Abilities.
The new update notes have all of the new Job Abilities, Spells and Job Traits that are coming in the update, and there are a ton of them. Way more than I think anyone expected. Some are amazing, some are interesting, some look useless and some leave me wondering what the fuck SE was thinking. So basically it is a standard update from SE. :)
I am going to try to go over everything today, but there is so much that I don't know if that will be possible. If I don't make it to everything then I will finish it up tomorrow. Ok, lets get down to it.
If you need a reference to follow along you can see the update notes here.
Restraint (WAR Lv.77 Ability Delay: 10 min. Effect Duration: 5 min.)
Enhances your weapon skill power with each normal attack you land, but prevents you from dealing critical hits.
Interesting name for a Warrior JA. The real questions for this is how much bonus it gives to WS damage and what effect the prevention of critical hits has. If the critical hit prevention applies to weaponskills then that means that Raging Rush is out and King's Justice is in. This one might initially be hard to judge because you have to consider the critical hit damage lost on regular melee swings, and the stacking effect of the swings before you use a WS. Finally, do the stacks reset when you use a WS or do they stay for the entire 5 min. duration?
Perfect Counter (MNK Lv.79 Ability Delay: 1 min. Effect Duration: 30 sec.)
Allows you to counter the next attack directed at you.
Very interesting but does the utility over come the fact that you have hit a macro and get the job ability delay every minute? Two factors to consider: First, you can use this before a fight when you know you are going to get hit for a bit of a damage boost. Second, can this be used to counter mob WS?
Mana Wall (BLM Lv.76 Ability Delay: 10 min. Effect Duration: 5 min.)
Allows you to take damage with MP.
Earlier today this mistakenly had the duration listed as 5 sec. but it has already been corrected to the appropriate 5 min duration. I know that some people probably have have mixed feelings about this bit I am convinced that this is a benefit to all BLM. The ability to take damage on BLM is very important, this can already be seen in the general adoption of the "standing" set with the goal of decreasing any potential incoming damage. It basically gives a BLM a second HP pool every 10 minutes for 5 minutes. I suspect that Tarus are going to to love this ability while Elvaan and Galka aren't going to care for it. Tarus have the MP to waste to save themselves, and Elvaan and Galka don't worry about HP as much but don't want to waste their precious MP.
Despoil (THF Lv.77 Ability delay: 5 min.)
Steals items from an enemy while inflicting a status ailment upon it.
Honestly, I have no clue how this is going to work. It sounds a lot like a reverse aura steal, but it gives a status ailment instead of stealing a buff. Where does this status ailment come from? Is it random? Given from the debuffs the THF already has on them? The best thing about this is that it is it's own ability and isn't just stacked on every steal like Aura Steal.
Divine Emblem (PLD Lv.78 Ability Delay: 10 min. Effect Duration: 1 min.)
Enhances the accuracy of your next divine magic spell and increases enmity.
Seriously, fuck PLD! LOL. I don't really hate PLD at all but they got good stuff and NIN gets nothing. I can't say that this is an amazing JA or anything but it is just one more boost to PLD enmity at the beginning of a fight or more importantly right after the PLD loses hate. With the number of hate resets and crazy nuking taru BLM, this is going to be a life-saver.
Nether Void (DRK Lv.78 Ability Delay: 5 min. Effect Duration: 1 min.)
Increases the absorption of your next dark magic spell.
LOL DRK. This is one of those JA's that we will have to see how much it adds before we judge it. Or I could just judge it now. :) Unless this modifies Drain 2, this it will probably be marginal. I suppose if Absorb-TP or Absorb-STR get a huge boost then it could be good but it will just add more time spent not swinging and thus not doing damage.
Double Shot (RNG Lv.79 Ability Delay: 3 min. Effect Duration: 90 sec.)
Occasionally uses two units of ammunition to deal double damage.
SE is paying RNG back for all those months of suffering after they nerfed it into the ground. It is almost like a double attack trait for RNG, which should work with my new OAT bow, but it won't give extra TP. The rpoblem it that RNG doesn't really need more damage right now, it need more enmity mitigation. I am not saying that I won't take it, but it just means that /DRG is now completely mandatory. There is no other option.
Sengikori (SAM Lv.77 Ability Delay: 3 min. Effect Duration: 1 min.)
Grants a bonus to skillchains and magic bursts initiated by your next weapon skill.
Skillchains may be a thing of the past but their are times when a SAM is either self-skillchaining with Sekkanoki or really are trying to make a skillchain with someone else. It is just more damage for SAM, and more e-peen for BLM at Fafnir. the recast on it is lower than Sekkanoki, so their might need to be some coordination if you want to use them together multiple times in a fight.
Grants a bonus to your next elemental ninjutsu by expending two ninja tools.
SE hates NIN. There is no other explanation. Unless this turns elemental ninjutsu into a fully merited and geared BLM tier 4 nuke then no one is ever going to use this. NIN has to get another tier of DW in this update at the very least, or it is just going to fade into history.
Spirit Jump (DRG Lv.77 Ability Delay: 90 sec.)
Delivers a short jumping attack on a targeted enemy which suppresses enmity. Effect enhanced when wyvern is present.
My only question with this is if it does damage and if it does, how much does it do? It does say it is an attack so it almost definitely does damage. It is anotehr boost to DRG TP generation, something that they are not really lacking to begin with.
Blood Pact: Rage "Holy Mist" (SMN Lv.76)
Deals light elemental damage to an enemy.
Blood Pact: Rage "Lunar Bay" (SMN Lv.78)
Deals darkness damage to an enemy.
Blood Pact: Rage "Night Terror" (SMN Lv.80)
Deals darkness damage to an enemy. Looks like they are offensive blood pacts for Carby, Fenrir and Diabolos respectively. We can't know how good they are until they are tested.
Bolter's Roll (COR Lv.76)
Increases movement speed for party members within area of effect.
A mazurka roll for COR. Pretty simple.
Caster's Roll (COR Lv.79)
Enhances "Fast Cast" effect for party members within area of effect.
Fast Cast is nice but I can't see many places this would be useful for "casters" that might benefit from it because there are other more powerful rolls for them. The place this would be more useful is for tanks which can benefit from the decreased cast time as well as the decreased recast time on their spells.
Tactical Switch (PUP Lv.79 Ability Delay: 3 min.)
Swaps TP of master and automaton.
Who cares? Really. I don't even know if it is better for the PUP or the Automaton to have more TP.
Presto (DNC Lv.77 Ability Delay: 15 sec. Effect Duration: 30 sec.)
Enhances the effect of your next step and grants you an additional finishing move.
Super low delay and recast, this might help DNC to truly enfeeble end-game mobs. More finishing moves are never bad either because more finishing moves means at least more TP back with Reverse Flourish.
Divine Waltz II (DNC Lv.78 Ability Delay: 20 sec.)
Restores the HP of all party members within a small radius.
A bigger Curaga for DNC. It will probably be pretty weak but cost a ton of TP. Just like all Curaga style cures.
Climactic Flourish (DNC Lv.80 Ability Delay: 90 sec.)
Allows you to deal critical hits. Requires at least one finishing move.
The description of this finisher makes it sound like DNC can't crit without it. My guess is that it will guarantee a crit on the next hit kind of like Sneak Attack, but it won't guarantee that the hit will actually land. Just my guess.
Libra (SCH Lv.76 Ability Delay: 1 min.)
Examines the target's enmity level.
Might as well just call this Kaeko's Spell. Hopefully, it will be pretty accurate, but we have managed to live without any kind of enmity instruction for 8 years, this is not going to be a make or break ability now. If it just tells you the mob's target then you could just get the same information by just using /assist.
And that is everything that we are getting in the form of JA's for this update. Tomorrow we will go over everything else, including new Job Traits, spells, and BST jugs.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Walk of Meh?
Maybe I thought SE was going to pitch a perfect game on this update? Maybe I was letting my expectations get too high. Maybe they are making end-game content for people that don't do end-game.
Maybe all those people that constantly bitch about not having enough low-man stuff to do are reaping what they have sown. Go find some friends and stop ruining my game. Just so you know, this is your "low-man" content. You get to go to the Walk of Echoes with 50 of your closest friends, and then hope to win lots on actual end-game gear.
I am left a little confused, a little bitter, and a little cold.
I think we might be heading to Walk of Echoes one way or the other because the update notes seem to suggest that our new Magian friend is going to be sending us there. Which means we are going to need to get kills or drops from the area. If we just need kills, hey, that's fine, I don't mind that. If we are going to need to win lots from a union type system then I am going to fly to Japan and disembowel myself on Sage Sundi's desk.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Promises Unfulfilled.
There are three kinds of FFXI players, ones that don't follow anything about FFXI and just play the game, ones that follow all information about FFXI but nothing about other MMO's, and ones that follow all information about FFXI and also keep abreast of other MMO's. The first group are pretty insular, so they probably don't even read this blog. The second group might read this blog, and I think this post might still be interesting to them. The third group will love this post. This post is about a recent series of announcements made by Blizzard about WoW. Just let me explain.
Over the past weekend Blizzard made some major announcements regard it's newest expansion (which I might have mentioned before has some striking similarities with Wings of the Goddess), and for the most part these announcements weren't very good. Now, I don't play WoW very much, but I play it enough to be abreast of changes to the game. To a WoW player many of the announcements for this new expansion were orgasmic. To a non-WoW player, the reactions seemed really familiar. There were to be limited expansion areas, but mostly redone but still recycled older areas. The level cap was to be raised again, but no new talents were to be added. There was to be an "alternative advancement" system akin to merits. There was going to be a new crafting system which wasn't a new crafting type just a sub-crafting system (synergy anyone?). There was also to be "Guild leveling" where in your guild gets points for doing guild type events that can then be spent to get bonuses for the entire guild.
As I said, most WoW players were in love with this new expansion, but someone looking from the outside might wonder what they were so excited about compared to what they have gotten in the past. I could go over everything that was to be added but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that over the weekend, they announced that they were scrapping or substantially cutting down a whole lot of what they were planning on doing. They are keeping all of the game world changes, but a majority of the character customization is being cut out or replaced with a much less expansive system. Many of the frills that were supposed to come with the expansion are now gone. This needs to be considered with the fact that outside of the pretty radical reorganization of the game world.
Why does this matter to FFXI? Well, it has a lot to do with the comparison for how Blizzard deals with their players versus how SE deal with FFXI players. SE has definitely made promises to players about content in the past and failed to deliver. The Colosseum is famous as being one of those things that SE wanted to give to players but eventually gave up. The latest round of Summons that took over two years to deliver is a case where they might have promised something far before they were ready to deliver it. The saving grace for SE is that these were marginal goals. The Colosseum was supposed to be a kind of PvP system, which is not all that interesting to most FFXI players. Summons are something that SMNs care about patiently but it doesn't effect over all game content. Blizzard made promises to add several large game systems and has now had to back down on those promises.
Blizzard is famously known for their commitment to quality, often quoted as saying that they will not released content until it is ready to be released. Usually that has meant that it would take longer than expected to get content out the door, but it appears in this case that it means that they are ditching new content. I don't think this speaks well to the planning that is going on at Blizzard. When SE announced the level cap increase for FFXI they also mentioned that a new merit system was going to be coming with it at the end. While this may take some time, I do not believe that it is even an option for SE to cancel this content at anytime. Blizzard currently has very little and limited alternative advancement. Yes, they do have a system that is baked into the game, but that system is very cookie-cutter. There is a "best" allocation, and it has limited flexibility. In SE, for one job the same could be said, but as players can level multiple jobs there can be much more variation in how players choose to allocate merits.
From someone looking from the outside in, I would not appreciate SE dumping their new merit system. I would not like it if SE bagged other major promises. A lot of WoW players don't even know that other MMO's exist, so I have to wonder what they think about these things. Is there a problem with setting your target too high then not delivering? Blizzard used their standard response when talking about dropping their new "merit" system. They didn't want to rush out something that wasn't "fun", they didn't want to have to fix something later just to have it out now, and no they were not cutting it so they had to rush out their new expansion. But I have to ask if the lady doth protest too much... It sounded like everything that was announced this weekend was a scrap or a toning down of previous plans. At least SE didn't lie to us about moving their FFXI people over to FFXIV, but Blizzard assures us that they are not moving people over to their new MMO. How could that even be possible? They have to be moving some people over out of realistic necessity. Even Blizzard doesn't have infinite resources.
With all of Blizzard's chopping and scrapping it seems that they are begging off an awful lot. I have to wonder if this is the first big blunder that Blizzard has made? SE has made a lot of blunders, but right now there isn't as much space for Blizzard to make mistakes. Around the launch of Cataclysm (the new WoW expansion) there will be several other MMO's cropping up. With all these new changes to remove the things that were supposed to be added, I have to wonder what the WoW players think they are getting besides some new versions of things they already have?
Maybe it is just the right time to be playing FFXI. We are getting a real level cap increase, we are getting a whole new end-game, new relic-style weapons, Magians, new HNM, end-game content, and a refocused development team. WoW seems like it is going in the opposite direction.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Tell Me Something I Didn't Know.
I suppose there is someone out there that didn't know the level cap was going to be raised to 80 in the next update, but I haven't met them. The update notes from today were nothing more than a rehash of everything that we have heard so far. At least it did include some specifics that will clear up a little bit of confusion.
I did find a few things that they said to be interesting not because of the information that was provided, but because of what they didn't say. There is a little bit of reading between the lines necessarily. It is time to bust out the SE-nese to English book of translations to see what they really meant.
What SE says:
Q: What inspired the decision to increase the level cap?
A: With the cap set at level 75 for quite some time now, a wide variety of monsters, equipment, and game content has been introduced over the years for players who had reached this limit. With such content having been fleshed out to the development team's satisfaction, it was deemed that the time was right to usher in the sort of new challenges that could only come with the ability to achieve higher levels.
The English translation:
Q: What took you so damn long to increase the level cap when you said you could never increase the level cap for so long?
A: Ok, we always knew that it was easy to increase the level cap. We got to a good point with level 75 and it was easier to make content for a stable level cap than working on adjusting mobs all the time for an increased level cap. We know that the last year of content sucked Vrtra balls and we decided we really needed to kick it up a notch to satisfy all the people that we pissed off with a year of shitty updates.
What SE says:
Q: What changes can we expect to see after the cap is lifted?
A: Beginning with the upcoming version update, the level cap will be gradually increased to an eventual maximum of 99, with new job abilities, magic spells, weapon skills, and equipment to be made available at these higher levels. These additions, as well as refinements to existing abilities and spells, will focus on preserving and strengthening the unique roles that each main job serves, while increasing the tactical options available to each support job. Needless to say, new game content will also be introduced that will demand every onz of adventurers' newfound might.
The English translation:
Q: Do you have any fucking clue about what you are going to do when you raise the level cap?
A: Hey, if we had a fully staffed development team we would have released this with a real expansion! Give us a break! We are going to give you new toys and since those are going to kick ass you aren't going to notice that it is going to take us a while to get everything adjusted. Sure, we didn't give a fuck about class balance for the last 5 years but we are going to do something about that now. This guy on the staff, Itsuki, just walked into the office one day and said "We are so stupid! Everyone spends their time doing end-game, but we don't really ever do anything about end-game, so lets do something about end-game!" and everyone in the office was like "Well fuck, that's a damn good idea!". But just so you don't get too much confidence in us, we are going to promise to increase the uniqueness of each job while at the same fucking time we are going to promise to give more jobs the ability to fill more roles. Yeah, noodle that one for a while!
What SE says:
Q: What specific changes will be implemented in the coming version update?
A: The level cap will be raised to 80, and new abilities, magic, weapon skills and equipment for players up to this level will be added. Level restrictions placed on certain areas will also be removed, creating additional high-level battlegrounds for players to explore. The level cap increase will also result in a number of existing skills becoming newly available to support jobs, with a few exceptions and adjustments to preserve balance and ensure that main jobs do not see their thunder stolen.
The English translation:
Q: You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?
A: We told you about the CoP zones already didn't we? Sure, they have a whole bunch of mobs that no one is going to want to fight, but they are still going to be there, and you are going to have to go there if you want to level up! Did we mention we are giving you new toys? Look over here! Bright shiny toys! And you will get new stuff from sub jobs, and since that stuff is already in the game we don't have to do anything new there! Score! Oh, but we aren't giving you the really cool stuff...
What SE says:
Unusable by Support Jobs
- The white magic job abilities "Afflatus: Misery" and "Afflatus: Solace", and the ninja job abilities Yonin and Innin will not be available to support jobs.
Usable by Support Jobs, with Altered Effects
- The ranger job ability Shadowbind will be subject to an accuracy check, with a miss generating no effect.
- The scholar job abilities Accession and Manifestation will triple (rather than double) recast time for the spells used.
The English translation:
- We know that the WHM and NIN stances aren't game breaking or anything, but since those are the least unique jobs anymore we have to give them something, right? We know that it won't unbalance anything to give Innin to WARs and THFs, and we know that PLD is already so overpowered that giving them Yonin isn't going to make a difference either. Why don't we take the negative accuracy off of Yonin and give NIN's tanking katanas? Don't ask questions that we don't have answers for!
- Ok, you guys have to admit that this one makes a little bit of sense right? COR can already solo a lot, even if it takes decades, but giving them a free Shadowbind is a bit too much right? It's not like COR has access to a lot of accuracy gear and food, right? Wait... don't answer that question!
- This one was just to kill any hope for mages to sub something besides RDM! We knew you weren't going to sub SCH anyway! HA!
And there you have it, a proper translation of what we heard today! It might have been a smidgen sarcastic and cynical, but I can't be happy go lucky everyday.
In other news:
Congrats Rob! LOL
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Learn and Burn: Gear From the .dats.
Back for more education? Well, like yesterday you are going to get less real edification than the day before. The first part of the June 2010 update was available for download today, and with that comes part of the new .dats for the coming update. It's like finding part of your Christmas present stash two weeks early. There are many pretty things going on in the .dats, new gear, new job abilities, new spells, new... other stuff. Today, lets take a quick look at some of the new gear and make some educated guesses about who might be getting this gear.
So what do you think of my picks? Did I get the right jobs? Do you even think this is going to be AF3 or do you think it is something completely different? Leave a comment, I would love to hear your interpretations!
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Getting Your Learn Off: Abyssea Monsters.
Yesterdays column took some time to research both for the historical and mythical stories behind the weapons and for the Final Fantasy aspects behind them too. This column will be a little bit less informative than that. While some monsters in FFXI have a deep and storied history, most of them do not. And that is where I come in. I believe that several of these new mobs have in-joke back stories, and if they don't then I will just create them.
The very first thing that should probably be noted is that all of the monsters in this first expansion look like they have gone through the laundry with your brand new purple sheets. While this is going to make Omoi as giddy as the first time that she saw Titinia in campaign, I don't know what most people are going to think of the purplization of all of these mobs. Some of them are new of course, but some of them are not and some are just funny.
Limule
Being an airborne crustacean endemic to Abyssea, endowed with a robust carapace and elongated forelimbs wherefrom razor-sharp pincer reach rapaciously for prey. Bereft of a counterpart in Vana'diel, biologists theorize that these shelled hoverers have undergone evolution in dimensional isolation. They have emerged as a pervasive species following the great cataclysm that befell the land.This floating Horseshoe Crab is probably the least purple of the new monsters, and the most obvious in naming convention. Limule is French for Horseshoe Crab, and the Latin form is Limulus. The name is not too creative on SE's party, but the mob looks pretty interesting. It also has a shocking familiarity to it. While the description provided by SE indicates that there are no counterparts for this monster in Vana'diel, I believe a deeper look at the evolutionary tree can provide something analogous. What else in Vana'diel has a shell and pincers? That's right, you basic generic crab. The on going joke about crabs is that they were one of the only mobs you ever fought in XP parties back in the day. So much so that people joke that the game could be called Crab Fantasy XI. SE can deliver a good joke sometimes, and we are going to need some new leveling mobs. My prediction: You are going to be seeing quite a few of these things on your way to 99. Oh, there is something else that is a bit familiar about this mob. It is a "sea" creature and the beginning of it's name is reminiscent of the mobs that are found in Sea. Is there some relation between Abys"sea" and Sea? Mobs in sea also have bright but weird colors in general.
Clionid
Being a mollusc of mischievous bearing and ghostly aspect, much given to rollicking in the air in a dance at once graceful and deadly. Alongside the Limule, they have grown to prominence in the wake of the great cataclysm, spreading as a plague across Abyssea. Of the little that is known of these invertebrates, their proclivity for aggression towards mankind is well-documented.I don't know how anything that has never been seen before can be "well-documented" but apparent we have been out of the loop. I give SE an A on the background research for this mob. A Clionid is basically a sea slug that is called sea angels. These shouldn't be confused with the sponge of a similar name though. They are in fact mollusks, so the description is quite accurate. It is also another sea-related creature, and it has that vaguely Limunian appearance, so maybe there is something to that Sea connection. It also looks vaguely like a ghost but that might not mean anything.
Sibilus
Being and uncommonly large saurian possessed of virulent temperament, it's distinct coloration is a dread warning of lethal venom to all would-be predators. Biologists have called attention to a likely relation in the now-extinct variety of lizards that inhabited the marshlands of Quon in vast numbers until the outbreak of the Great War.Meet the purple people eater. Obviously a purple reskin of the Peiste, and most likely very venomous. Remember to bring your Antidotes. Again, SE has done their homework with the name for this mob. Sibil- is a latin root meaning "to hiss", and sibilus as a noun is a hissing noise. Quite appropriate for this mob. I don't see much else that that unique about this mob besides the fact that SE's new favorite color is purple. If they still have Grim Glower then people are just going to avoid them, but if they actually have decent attacks, they could be interesting.
Elasmoth
Being a subspecies as that hulking beast known as the Behemoth, albeit of such gargantuan proportions as to render the moniker given its Vanadielian cousin. Warlike markings emblazon their muscular frame, needlessly intensifying their fearsome mien. Claims that their mighty roar can fell stars from the heavens are received with skepticism, though none disputes that it can stop a man's heart in his chest.Ok, this is the grandpappy of all Behemoth, not just because of the description but also because of it's snowy white beard. Maybe it is just the Santa Claus of the Behemoth world, giving the little Behemoth boys and girls huge spikes and asteroids to fling at people. More purple in this design, but at least it has some cooler markings. This might be the Behemoth that stole the nerd Behemoth's lunch money. Hey, all the chick Behemoth love tattoos. I do find the description interesting because of the reference to Comet and Meteor. The only reference I could find to Elasmoth is in the video game Fossil Fighter... it was probably just a coincidence.
Purbol
Being a mutant strain of that odious breed of carnivorous frond known as the Morbol that has adapted to thrive in the aberrant ecosystem of Abyssea. Fouler of both breath and temperament than its Vanadialian counterpart-if that can be believed-it has been observed gnarling with perverse pleasure as its grossly distended feelers suck clean the lifeblood of its hapless victims.Seriously SE? Seriously? Purbol? As if the color wasn't enough, you are now naming the mobs after purple? I get the pun, but man, you didn't have to make it that obvious. All this purple is going to make Omoi very happy though so I am OK with it. Sounds like it is going to have all the basic Morbol attacks but a bit beefed up. Even Worse Breath? Worst Breath? Really Stinky Breath? Dog Fart Breath? You already gave one Morbol Death Breath, what are you going to make this one do? Maybe it will inflict Zombie (ST20). It also sounds like it is going to use that draining roots move too.
Adenium
Being a bipedal, sentient vegetable that resembles a Mandragora in every aspect save for its prodigious size and ruddy complexion. Does this curious pigmentation derive from the selfsame phenomenon that has crimsoned the Abyssean sky? Is it merely abashed at having grown to proportions unseemly for one of its species? Further observation is required to unravel these vital questions.An ashamed Mandy that has turned red in embarrassment? Ok, that was a little bit clever SE. This is like the second mob that they have mentioned as being of huge size, but the other one is that new Behemoth. That said, all of the new tier 3 VNM's are huge versions of standard mobs already. Who wouldn't love fighting a ginormous Mandy? Also, another place where SE has actually spent some time naming the mob, the Adenium is a kind of flower, more commonly called the Desert Rose. I don't know what it's flower move is going to be, but I expect more pain than sleeping powder for some reason.
Iratham
Being of the Caturae, a family of most unnatural lifeforms of utterly indeterminate composition and origin. Said to have been sighted across the realm shortly after the first tremors sundered the Abyssean landscape, their true nature remains shrouded in mystery to this day. Fringe researchers have posited a relationship to a recreational activity of a long-lost civilization, but this theory has yet to draw much support.That "recreational activity of a long-lost civilization" is Chess. You see Caturanga, Catur for short, is the Indian name for the game that is the basis of modern day Chess. Caturae would be creatures of Catur or more simply living Chess pieces. The game originate on the Indian sub-continent and spread across the world. The mob itself is very unique looking, and the hands and the feet look so familiar but I don't remember where I have seen that design before. It might not even be FFXI, it might be another SE game, which would be an interesting cross-over in design. Iratham is the name of the chariot piece in Caturanga and it behaves exactly the way the modern Rook does. It is also an anagram for "A Mithra" but that is probably just coincidence. In the future, expect to see Kutharei ("Horse" in English) it is the equivalent of the Knight piece and Yaanei ("Elephant") which is a close amalgamation of the modern Bishop. We will see when the next expansions drop.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Getting Your Learn On: Abyssea Weapons.
Visions of Abyssea has been announced and is available for pre-order. The version update is coming June 21st (Rob won that bet too), and we got a much needed update to the rewards from Abyssea.
I love the nomenclature that SE uses for naming their weapons, especially in FFXI. They don't just create random ass names like WoW (e.g. this or this), SE actually does some research and invests some time in coming up with names for their weapons that have some historical background. Not all of them are historically accurate, but many of them do have some historical underpinnings. Hell, the Nanatsusayanotachi is an actual sword that is currently on display in Korea. The names of the weapons that have been released with the Visions of Abyssea announcement are actually quite amazing. They also have a lot of historical and mythical importance and their stories may give some clue as to their strengths or weaknesses in FFXI.
Sword: Almace
Marksmanship: Armageddon
Great Sword: Caladbolg
Axe: Farsha
Club: Gambanteinn
Archery: Gandiva
Staff: Hvergelmir
Katana: Kannagi
Great Katana: Masamune
Scythe: Redemption
Polearm: Rhongomiant
Dagger: Twashtar
Great Axe: Ukonvasara
Hand-to-hand: Verethragna
#1 ~ Monk
#2 ~ Samurai
#3 ~ Ninja
#4 ~ Dragoon
Chaotic Pellucidity
Teabags and KY Jelly
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