FFXI: Seekers of Adoulin expansion announced (yes, in 2012)

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Had a friend who played XI for years.

I bought the damn game to play with him & it wouldn't even run on my pc.
After that, I played a ton of MMO trials, to figure out which me & the ex would play together.
I tried XI one more time before we chose to go with WOW.
I went into technical support or whatever chat, and they told me to disable SLI & remove the second card.
I replied that I was going back to WOW in that case.
Took a screenshot real quick & started WOW the following day.

I wish I could find the pic of that screenshot again. It was good.

Now it would be nice if someone would buy the damn hardcopy of the game off me, I don't need this shit.

 

[darkewaffle]

If anyone's been turned off by the necessity of partying previously, the recent changes to auto-repeat "Fields of Valor" and "Grounds of Valor" pages have made a huge difference. GoV in particular as repeating pages not only grants more XP than FoV, but also stacking combat/loot bonuses and stacking bonuses to the XP rewards. You have much less downtime now that you no longer have to pick-up new pages and can essentially XP anywhere on the map.

Late last week I finally unlocked Dancer, and this morning playing a little bit before work I hit 37 DNC in Korroloka Tunnel (soloing this whole time thus far). Each GoV page I complete (killing something like 6 Easy Prey enemies) grants me something like 1500-2000 bonus XP here and I'm in practically no danger.

If you've ever wanted to just play solo, it seems like it's in a really good place finally. I'd tried it before but only as a 'well just in case there's nobody on' back up plan; but I feel like it's actually competitive now. At least as long as you can find the right camps and pages to use, I think I can take Korroloka up to about 44-48 but not sure where I might head after that yet; I'm thinking SSG or Delkfutts for GoV.

 

[hellfire88]

FFXI took years of my life and almost flunked me out of college but it was an amazing experience. My first job was a RDM and I loved it, to this day still my favorite class of any MMO I played. I had 6+ staffs (dark staff, or the HQ version Neptune staff etc.) for each debuff I did since they were all different elements (paralyze etc.) and I loved debuffing the crap out of stuff. I had different weapon sets for each subjob too so it got expensive. I had to stand around in Jeuno overnight in Bazaar mode selling Meat Mithrakabobs to fund my gear.

The world maps and story were great. Just the sheer size of the maps was very immersive. I remember sneaking around that tower right next to Jeuno with friends (having to re-case those sneaking spells over and over again: Sneak, de-oderize, or w/e; forgot the names) and the sense of suspense was fun (omg my sneak spell wore off!). Getting my Warlock's boots in that cave with the huge worms was a PITA though, but some helpful random people helped clear the area.

Socially, it was the best experience in any MMO for me too like others have mentioned. Super helpful playerbase for the most part, and playing was random Japanese parties were fun with the pre-canned translated messages. Some fun chats were had when a bunch of us were just sitting around waiting for a NM / HNM to pop. I quit early on in the game though (I think after Chains of Promathea) so not sure how the game has changed since then. But if this game went F2P I'd definitely jump back in.

 

[darkewaffle]

Seekers of Adoulin released/available today/tomorrow! Amazon sent me my download keys this morning.

I've been playing since about early February and switched servers to one where I can play with some friends of friends. Still having a blast, especially since we've got enough people to reliably lowman stuff now. Finally got into Nyzul and Dynamis; I wish I'd gotten to do Dynamis the legit way back in the day. Seems like it would have been really cool.

 

[PowerYoga]

My LS did the big 3 dragons (jourmangand, vrtra and forgot the other one) and killed dynamis lord before COP came out. It was a ton of fun but required a lot of gear and planning, we were really on par with the best JP LSes at the time and quite frequently we'd get some top JP players/guilds joining the dynamis lord raids. (it was hard to fill out the raid at times).

Fast forward to last year, played a bit of wings of the goddess with some friends and just didn't have enough time or dedication to sink into the game anymore. We were able to level quickly but didn't get to do any of the bigger contents. besieged was fun, and the whole history of the crystal war was super interesting.

Seems like everything takes less time now, which is always good but would turn off the hardcore crowd I'd imagine.

 

[darkewaffle]

Most old content has been retrofitted to make it easier for players catching up to get through it. Either by way of removing a level cap or adding mini quests/items to let solo players make it through previously party only activities (such as getting through the Banishing Gates in Garlaige or the weight pads in Quicksand Caves). Not to mention simply the level cap and new abilities and higher level skills make individual characters much more powerful than the old content was ever tuned for.

Almost all of old major events have also been re-tuned and had a "Neo" version implemented, basically making them challenging and rewarding for level 99 characters. Neo Nyzul Isle in particular is pretty brutal at the moment and also very popular.

Frankly there's so much to do in the game though that it's nice to be able to play catch-up solo, particularly since some of the end rewards from those story missions are still so worthwhile. "Divine Might" earrings are still some of the best in the game lol, same for Brutal Earring/Rajas Ring/etc.

 

[Imported]

I don't remember Divine Might earrings being all that great after a while.. I haven't played in almost 2 years now though. Was lv90? I think on about 9 jobs.. stopped playing after they made 95 the cap.

I must have had 20 different macro sets and what not, min-maxing everything when I was playing. While I miss it, I don't at the same time.

 

[Imported]

Amazing.. just checked my old Guildwork account. Lot of memories there.

 

[Tweak155]

I quit playing when 75 was still the cap. When I got the e-mail that they were upping the cap, I thought it was the death of the game.

 

[darkewaffle]

For anyone interested they've been running these "login campaigns" recently - basically for each day you login during the campaign you accumulate points which can then be spent on some "progression"/pop items, empyrean +2 upgrade items, dynamis relic drops and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff. I haven't been playing lately but I'm at least logging in regularly and getting a bit re-acquainted with things and if nothing else it'll be a nice way to finally finish off some of my +2 empyrean pieces and maybe make some gil. I figure why not since I still have my sub active.

Though I really don't think I'm all that intrigued by the way Adoulin progression has gone, at least the level cap should finally stop going up. I think. But they're basically offsetting that by making item power far beyond anything that's been seen before and I'm getting the impression that the new major enemies/"raids" are basically "zerg it until it's dead" kind of events. Can't say I'm too interested.

 

[darkewaffle]

Some potentially interesting news. The official FFXI site posted a notice regarding an upcoming livestream tomorrow with the vague description of "We will be holding a press conference regarding our plans for Final Fantasy XI going forward". Lots of speculation about what it could be. Much ado over nothing, F2P, PS2 support finally dropped, another expansion, server/region merges, development halted, significant design/play shift - who knows, could go in any number of directions. I can't fathom any reason that they would but I hope they don't just decide to 'turn off' the game or set some sort of 'drop dead' date five years down the road or whatever.

 

[robvp]

The game has been around pretty long, but so has the original EQ, I wonder what kind of mechanics they would implement make it F2P and not break balance for the non paying folk, the game is pretty grindy though that has been changed in the past few years, I could see more server mergers as the populations are decreasing

 

[darkewaffle]

Some answers and even more questions from the announcement.

PS2 and 360 support will end in 2016.

This year they will be releasing a "Rhapsodies of Vanadiel" series in three parts which will serve, so it sounds, as kind of a last hurrah of [story?] content but will also include new battles/items/etc.

The first chapter in FINAL FANTASY XI's final main scenario, Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, will be implemented in the May 2015 version update. This scenario will serve to tie together fourteen years of FINAL FANTASY XI, and we aim for it serve as the ultimate compilation of all we have accomplished to date, with major characters from throughout the game's history making appearances--a feat that only a game as storied as FINAL FANTASY XI can offer.

It sounds like it's going to be pretty major. My friend mentioned how he kind of expected it to become Abyssea 2.0 - a large piece of content that kind of 'keeps on giving' for a long time. I dunno about that, but they definitely are speaking quite highly of it.

A 'mobile client' for FFXI is being developed with Nexon. How exactly this will work is still largely unknown. Are mobile players on mobile only servers? How on earth will a game with such a goofy control scheme work on a touch screen? One idea I kind of liked was using a mobile launch to create new, vanilla servers (and leaving the current ones on PC as legacy) and you could re-release the expansions onto them over time.

A spin-off game set in Vanadiel called "FFXI Grandmasters" will be released on mobile - it looks like some sort of turnbased RPG using classic XI jobs/mobs/gear/etc. I think it's supposed to be Japan only but I think the screenshots look pretty neat - I'd give it a try if it's available in English at some point.

Reaction has been mixed, people are excited about the content but worried about the mobile stuff. I think it could be awesome if they find the right control scheme and/or supported Nvidia Shield/MOGA. FFXI's combat and timing is pretty well suited for the platform I think. On the bright side as well is that having a mobile release wouldn't really make any sense if they had plans on pulling the plug - so one would think it should still be around for a while.

 

[robvp]

Mobile won't work with a touch screen unless they upgrade the engine for better controls, what they will probably do is add virtual gamepad and buttons

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

I simply can't believe the company is going to be willing to rework thirteen years worth of content for a mobile-friendly remake. Think of all those zones no one ever visits -- Carpenters' Landing, Korroloka Tunnel.. most of CoP. Think of all those quests no one ever does. Remember levels 1 to 99 are largely dead. Recall the shrinking community. This probably won't be a 1:1 copy but, instead, a separate and radically simplified version of FFXI that's FFXI in name and style only.

Note the following:

The mobile version will feature both single-player and online multiplayer gameplay
...

• Improved single-player functionality
• Enhanced battle system

Single-player?

Last I played the game, during Seeker's, the gameplay required fast enough reaction (stunning, repositioning) that I console players were at a disadvantage. Being on a tablet would likely slow players down even more.

My only question is this: Why FFXI and not FFXIV?

 

[Tweak155]

Seems like a big risk to me... but maybe they're going to start a trend?

 

[darkewaffle]

I don't know that they need to revamp anything to make it work in terms of old/forgotten content and areas - I think the major hurdle is primarily making sure it plays well on it - targeting / hotbars / movement essentially. If people don't go there, no big deal. Unless you meant that, supposing an influx of new players, how navigable/playable would it be starting fresh when those zones aren't populated which is a fair point.

I kind of wouldn't be surprised to see the client kind of have two forks. One is for existing players which lets them play (within reason) from mobile getting the 'full' experience - or as much as possible at any rate. But if a player is mobile only or brand new it will provide a much more controlled, guided experience - possibly with a heavy focus on Trusts in particular so that they have a 'party'.

There's still a niche market for games like XI and EVE (aka: the 'hardcore' / 'old school' ones). Even if you turned off XI you'd see some migration to XIV but definitely not all - XIV is a very good game (I play a lot) but at the same time it hasn't quite captured Vanadiel's charm and magic imo. And I don't think the Heavensward expansion will change that - it's got a good formula going, whereas XI was usually a bit off the beaten path in some way. But afaik the teams between the two games are fairly distinct, I doubt they're taking any resources away from XIV in order to produce this.

 

[darkewaffle]

Playing again and playing a lot of catchup. I got stuck on one of the Promathia missions long ago because you needed multiple people to open some doors in the Sacrarium but that was updated early last year to only need one person. So I'm finally progressing - completing CoP is now an important requirement for some of the new gear options to 'reforge' your relic and artifact equipment.

Also everytime I sit down and do some of these missions/quests it strikes me how impossible they would seem to be without a guide in their prime. Often times the next step is completely arbitrary/unexpected (random ??? clicking, talking to unknown NPC tucked away who knows where, zone into unrelated map X, etc) and without knowing to go there it feels like you would just hope to stumble into it at some point lol.

They've made some really nice changes to make the game more accessible and make a lot of mundane tasks (travel, in particular) less of a bother. In particular they've added two methods of teleportation which kind of finally seem to cover... almost everything. All homepoints can teleport to other homepoints so you have instant access to all the main cities and towns as well as a bunch of homepoints added at various dungeon/battlefield entrances throughout the world. Together with the 'survival guides' which are located at outposts and in most open world maps/dungeons it seems like nothing is ever that far away anymore - at least as long as you've gone and got the point/guide at some point. Also there's a Warp Ring you can get for conquest points which has infinite uses and recharges every 10 minutes, it's basically your hearthstone.

The trust system is great. I was apprehensive at how useful they would be at first but they really are helpful. You can use them in all sorts of content/missions/battlefields and they cast buffs, actually tank/heal, use weaponskills that can chain with the one(s) you use most frequently, remove and apply debuffs and are basically solid semi-intelligent AI party members. Not sure how they hold up against equal/higher level enemies but they make farming/old stuff pretty failsafe and a fair bit quicker.

Ain't no place like home :awe:

 

[robvp]

Playing again and playing a lot of catchup. I got stuck on one of the Promathia missions long ago because you needed multiple people to open some doors in the Sacrarium but that was updated early last year to only need one person. So I'm finally progressing - completing CoP is now an important requirement for some of the new gear options to 'reforge' your relic and artifact equipment.

Also everytime I sit down and do some of these missions/quests it strikes me how impossible they would seem to be without a guide in their prime. Often times the next step is completely arbitrary/unexpected (random ??? clicking, talking to unknown NPC tucked away who knows where, zone into unrelated map X, etc) and without knowing to go there it feels like you would just hope to stumble into it at some point lol.

They've made some really nice changes to make the game more accessible and make a lot of mundane tasks (travel, in particular) less of a bother. In particular they've added two methods of teleportation which kind of finally seem to cover... almost everything. All homepoints can teleport to other homepoints so you have instant access to all the main cities and towns as well as a bunch of homepoints added at various dungeon/battlefield entrances throughout the world. Together with the 'survival guides' which are located at outposts and in most open world maps/dungeons it seems like nothing is ever that far away anymore - at least as long as you've gone and got the point/guide at some point. Also there's a Warp Ring you can get for conquest points which has infinite uses and recharges every 10 minutes, it's basically your hearthstone.

The trust system is great. I was apprehensive at how useful they would be at first but they really are helpful. You can use them in all sorts of content/missions/battlefields and they cast buffs, actually tank/heal, use weaponskills that can chain with the one(s) you use most frequently, remove and apply debuffs and are basically solid semi-intelligent AI party members. Not sure how they hold up against equal/higher level enemies but they make farming/old stuff pretty failsafe and a fair bit quicker.

Ain't no place like home :awe:

What you're describing are amazing changes, can you actually get to 99 solo or does it still require you to go to abyssea for leveling?
I kinda hated the fact that i had to stay in an abyssea zone for at least 1 hour to start getting some decent experience

 

[darkewaffle]

Abyssea is still active for levelling - I think it's probably still the best XP/hr potential for sheer levelling and merits (once you get the XP rolling of course).

However you can be much more competitive solo than previously by making use of Trusts, Field/Ground tomes (books in open world maps - free, repeatable 'kill 2 x and 4 y for an XP bonus' mini quests) and the Records of Eminence (akin to FFXIV's challenge log or repeatable 'achievement' type objectives that grant XP). So basically you setup camp somewhere, summon your trusts, pick a book quest you can repeat on the monsters around you and set the Records of Eminence quests applicable to the area/monster type/crystal drop/whatever and just complete them as you go for a few hundred to a few thousand bonus XP with each completion. This can be completed on easy prey mobs for fast kills or with trusts now you could probably solo stronger stuff if you want to try to XP chain.

Additionally as of the latest patch yesterday the XP bonus rings now all grant up to 30k bonus XP instead of 3-6k depending on the ring.

I finished Promathia at last. The characters in it are kind of unlikable (except for Jabbos and Eshantarl) but otherwise it really is a pretty cool story. Great scale, very ambitious for the time, incredible music and some really outstanding area designs. Even if I didn't need it for the relic upgrades I'm glad I got to see it all.

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

Playing again and playing a lot of catchup. I got stuck on one of the Promathia missions long ago because you needed multiple people to open some doors in the Sacrarium but that was updated early last year to only need one person. So I'm finally progressing - completing CoP is now an important requirement for some of the new gear options to 'reforge' your relic and artifact equipment.

Also everytime I sit down and do some of these missions/quests it strikes me how impossible they would seem to be without a guide in their prime. Often times the next step is completely arbitrary/unexpected (random ??? clicking, talking to unknown NPC tucked away who knows where, zone into unrelated map X, etc) and without knowing to go there it feels like you would just hope to stumble into it at some point lol.

Yeah, I completed a slew of expansion stories after the changes but I feel like the fact that people just aren't needed anymore has killed off much of the sense of community. It really feels like a solo game that just happens to be online sometimes. It's not just CoP and ToAU, too - I completed all of the SoA story using just my main and alt. characters and trusts.

Obviously there was some relevant group content but it felt like things expired too quickly (Skirmish particularly) as only Delve II and some of the Re-jiggered Battlefields were worth doing but they only called for small groups of very specific jobs.

They've made some really nice changes to make the game more accessible and make a lot of mundane tasks (travel, in particular) less of a bother.

That's great. They killed off flee hacking before I had to stop playing, though. I loved flee hacking!

The trust system is great. I was apprehensive at how useful they would be at first but they really are helpful ... Not sure how they hold up against equal/higher level enemies but they make farming/old stuff pretty failsafe and a fair bit quicker.

Awful. Tanks couldn't didn't generate enough enmity to hold off my auto-attacks, DDs didn't have enough accuracy to even hit enemies, and healers couldn't regenerate enough MP for prolonged fights or powerful enemies. That said, that opens up spots for actual players!

 

[robvp]

Maybe i will resub again, the game had a great feeling, while the graphics are pretty dated the enviroments still gave me some sense of immersion

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

I don't know that they need to revamp anything to make it work in terms of old/forgotten content and areas - I think the major hurdle is primarily making sure it plays well on it - targeting / hotbars / movement essentially. If people don't go there, no big deal. Unless you meant that, supposing an influx of new players, how navigable/playable would it be starting fresh when those zones aren't populated which is a fair point.

The ariticle I read the news on had an image from the other FFXI game and I assumed it was from the FFXI for mobile game.

Also, the game is an old DX9 game that uses depricated APIs like DirectPlay. The client is backend is simply gone, there'll be lots of work to get this thing to work on iOS and Android. Hopefully SE makes the new backend work on Windows. Amazingly, the game can uses the CPU for a lot which can cause it to slow down on slightly older machines.

I kind of wouldn't be surprised to see the client kind of have two forks. One is for existing players which lets them play (within reason) from mobile getting the 'full' experience - or as much as possible at any rate. But if a player is mobile only or brand new it will provide a much more controlled, guided experience - possibly with a heavy focus on Trusts in particular so that they have a 'party'.

Battles optimized for touch-screen interfaces will feature further improvements to basic FINAL FANTASY XI systems such as jobs and skill chains, providing a speedier and more user-friendly experience, and features such as improved partying systems and solo activities enable players to find a playstyle that suits them.

It's obviously too early to tell but it looks like there'll be content designed for mobile but there's no indication that "current" endgame events will be able to be completed on mobile.

Honestly, I think it'd be nice to be able to manage my AH and do some crafting on a phone. SE didn't specify whether they'd be going down to the phone level but it'd be nice. I can't imagine combat working all that well at all on those devices, short of large phablet.

There's still a niche market for games like XI and EVE (aka: the 'hardcore' / 'old school' ones). Even if you turned off XI you'd see some migration to XIV but definitely not all - XIV is a very good game (I play a lot) but at the same time it hasn't quite captured Vanadiel's charm and magic imo. And I don't think the Heavensward expansion will change that - it's got a good formula going, whereas XI was usually a bit off the beaten path in some way. But afaik the teams between the two games are fairly distinct, I doubt they're taking any resources away from XIV in order to produce this.

I definitely agree that, from what I've seen, XIV doesn't have the same level of personality but I played XI for a few months last year and I saw the population on Asura, one of the more popular servers, shrink by some 30~40% (2100 to 1300 people). FFXI and FFXIV have different formulas and interest in XI's seems to be waning. I'm mostly surprised that Square Enix seems to have enough confidence in it to go ahead and double down on it by creating a new client - and, implicitly, a commitment to ongoing service for a few more years.

All said, FFXI's gameplay may be more amenable to mobile play with characters that sit still in combat and the games menus and such. It's a little slower paced overall.

I finished Promathia at last. The characters in it are kind of unlikable (except for Jabbos and Eshantarl) but otherwise it really is a pretty cool story.

Prishe! :twisted:

 

[Xellos2099]

While on topic, any idea where is the cheapest place to get the ultimate collection? I quit the game for xiv when the shattotto accession come out. Can i just get Seekers of Adoulin or need the abyssia area too?

 

[robvp]

Amazon sometimes has it for around $10, the steam version has been as low as $10 too, just wait for the sales