Security token stuff...
Additionally, players who purchase a security token will also receive the brand new in-game bonus, the “Moogle Satchel”. The Moogle Satchel provides additional inventory space and benefits all characters on the PlayOnline account(s). The space provided by the Moogle Satchel is equal to the character’s Gobbie Bag capacity and can also expand along with it. In order to utilise the bonus, it will be necessary for the customer’s PlayOnline ID to be linked to a Square Enix Account.
This is a better RDM update than the fucking job adjustments. Even if I have to pay for it.
YEESAHAHAHAHAAAAAHHH
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
A year in pictures: the adventures of Kaya and Vermy
A dull evening at the end of March seems to be the perfect time to look back on the previous year (or most of). And dump some non-outstanding screenshots so I can get them off my hard drive.
When I first bought him, moggles were all the rage.
A purchase funded by loot I grabbed from sky runs, back in the days of full alliances and outside healers, with extra DDs to swap in just to WS. Now we're lucky to fill 2 parties after nagging friends to come help :3
Still no wipes yet!
I'm surprised to see this was only a year ago.
Here we are on the way to down Shen. It wasn't a very exciting fight, vermy complained alot about the nasty looking graphics.
We fought many an NM together, sometimes alone, sometimes with company. Mostly alone though. So alone :'(
We fought many a tentacled monster,
Traversed many a landscape,
Stalked many a naked mithra...
Opened many a coffer, only to discover our own shattered dreams laying inside.
We often enjoyed grumbling about inflated prices in bazaars.
We investigated 100 floors (and more) of Nyzul Isle together, where I could achieve up to a 6MP refresh effect, obviously with the help of vermy.
We met a talking Apkallu
Climbed Uleguerand range, several times to no avail.
Talked suicidal Galkas down from the AH counter.
And we even took part in epic battles together to decide the fate of the entire world, which is no small feat when you think about it.
I guess we did quite a bit.
When I first bought him, moggles were all the rage.
A purchase funded by loot I grabbed from sky runs, back in the days of full alliances and outside healers, with extra DDs to swap in just to WS. Now we're lucky to fill 2 parties after nagging friends to come help :3
Still no wipes yet!
I'm surprised to see this was only a year ago.
Here we are on the way to down Shen. It wasn't a very exciting fight, vermy complained alot about the nasty looking graphics.
We fought many an NM together, sometimes alone, sometimes with company. Mostly alone though. So alone :'(
We fought many a tentacled monster,
Traversed many a landscape,
Stalked many a naked mithra...
Opened many a coffer, only to discover our own shattered dreams laying inside.
We often enjoyed grumbling about inflated prices in bazaars.
We investigated 100 floors (and more) of Nyzul Isle together, where I could achieve up to a 6MP refresh effect, obviously with the help of vermy.
We met a talking Apkallu
Climbed Uleguerand range, several times to no avail.
Talked suicidal Galkas down from the AH counter.
And we even took part in epic battles together to decide the fate of the entire world, which is no small feat when you think about it.
I guess we did quite a bit.
Monday, 30 March 2009
Well, it's something new...
Job Adjustments and Additions Part II (30/03/2009)
In this second half of the announcement on job adjustments and additions planned for the April version update, we present to you a delectable array of changes that are bound to change the way you buff and summon!
Feast your eyes on the details here.
Hello, I don't think we've met before...
- Composure
(Lv.50 Ability Delay: 5 min. Duration: 5 min.)
Increases accuracy and lengthens recast time. Enhancement effects gained through white and black magic you cast on yourself last longer.
- Notes
Activating Composure will impose a recast time penalty upon all magic, songs, and ninjutsu.
Doesn't change much, anything RDM could melee effectively before was stuff you don't need an accuracy boost for. Anything you couldn't hit well before was something you'd need /NIN shadows for, and this ability is certainly not going to help there.
Enhancing buffs getting a longer duration makes it good for straight-tanking weak stuff through Phalanx/Stoneskin/etc, but again you need low flash and Stoneskin recasts if you plan on fighting something remotely difficult.
Guessing that it'll add something in the region of +10 acc, double recasts and add maybe +10 seconds onto spell durations, I'm going to say DO NOT WANT. Also if you're meleeing in a small group with this ability, people are still going to expect you to refresh/haste them, so you might get 3 hits in before the mob is dead. I was hoping for something to allow spells on OTHERS to last longer as well, so it didn't screw up buff cycles.
- En- Type Spells
Enfire II (Lv.58) / Enblizzard II (Lv.56) / Enaero II (Lv.54) / Enstone II (Lv.52) / Enthunder II (Lv.50) / Enwater II (Lv.60)
Adds elemental damage to your initial attacks (subsequent blows by characters for whom multiple attacks are possible do not receive this effect). Each successive activation increases elemental damage strength up to a predetermined limit. Reduces the target's resistance against the associated element.
Example) Enfire II: Adds fire damage to your initial attacks and reduces the target's resistance against water.
These have been in the .dats for ages, so no surprise here. I never was excited about them to be honest, and always expected them to be expensive enspells (at least 4 times the MP cost) that do a little more damage than the originals when they implemented them finally.
Oh wait.
(subsequent blows by characters for whom multiple attacks are possible do not receive this effect)
Sorry, less damage than the originals when using a multi-hit weapon (not like most RDM's main sword is a Joyeuse or anything crazy like that, right?). Oh god I hope they're not going to do this with normal enspells as well (incoming joyeuse/justice sword nerf?)...
Only thing that makes these enspells useable is the increasing damage over subsequent hits, which suits long melee RDM fights. Don't know why they bother with the lowers elemental resistance thing, because you're not going to melee anything that will be resisting you or anyone else. Not impressed.
Also SMN gets a little buff, and a nice picture of ifrit.
In this second half of the announcement on job adjustments and additions planned for the April version update, we present to you a delectable array of changes that are bound to change the way you buff and summon!
Feast your eyes on the details here.
Hello, I don't think we've met before...
- Composure
(Lv.50 Ability Delay: 5 min. Duration: 5 min.)
Increases accuracy and lengthens recast time. Enhancement effects gained through white and black magic you cast on yourself last longer.
- Notes
Activating Composure will impose a recast time penalty upon all magic, songs, and ninjutsu.
Doesn't change much, anything RDM could melee effectively before was stuff you don't need an accuracy boost for. Anything you couldn't hit well before was something you'd need /NIN shadows for, and this ability is certainly not going to help there.
Enhancing buffs getting a longer duration makes it good for straight-tanking weak stuff through Phalanx/Stoneskin/etc, but again you need low flash and Stoneskin recasts if you plan on fighting something remotely difficult.
Guessing that it'll add something in the region of +10 acc, double recasts and add maybe +10 seconds onto spell durations, I'm going to say DO NOT WANT. Also if you're meleeing in a small group with this ability, people are still going to expect you to refresh/haste them, so you might get 3 hits in before the mob is dead. I was hoping for something to allow spells on OTHERS to last longer as well, so it didn't screw up buff cycles.
- En- Type Spells
Enfire II (Lv.58) / Enblizzard II (Lv.56) / Enaero II (Lv.54) / Enstone II (Lv.52) / Enthunder II (Lv.50) / Enwater II (Lv.60)
Adds elemental damage to your initial attacks (subsequent blows by characters for whom multiple attacks are possible do not receive this effect). Each successive activation increases elemental damage strength up to a predetermined limit. Reduces the target's resistance against the associated element.
Example) Enfire II: Adds fire damage to your initial attacks and reduces the target's resistance against water.
These have been in the .dats for ages, so no surprise here. I never was excited about them to be honest, and always expected them to be expensive enspells (at least 4 times the MP cost) that do a little more damage than the originals when they implemented them finally.
Oh wait.
(subsequent blows by characters for whom multiple attacks are possible do not receive this effect)
Sorry, less damage than the originals when using a multi-hit weapon (not like most RDM's main sword is a Joyeuse or anything crazy like that, right?). Oh god I hope they're not going to do this with normal enspells as well (incoming joyeuse/justice sword nerf?)...
Only thing that makes these enspells useable is the increasing damage over subsequent hits, which suits long melee RDM fights. Don't know why they bother with the lowers elemental resistance thing, because you're not going to melee anything that will be resisting you or anyone else. Not impressed.
Also SMN gets a little buff, and a nice picture of ifrit.
???
...
(door closes)
Oh, hello. I didn't see you come in. You may be wondering why I am naked, but for this hat.
Well, I'll tell you why. It's a very special hat. Just check out these stats!
That's right. +15 enfeebling magic skill, auto-refresh, and some other stuff. After the first two you just stop caring, so anything more is just icing.
As it has such incridible stat boosts, it fully replaces two pieces of equipment; my elite beret, and my vermillion cloak.
Here's me and my beret in Lufaise Meadows. Isn't it annoying how you always blink just as a photo is taken?
We go way back. It will be sad to see them go after all we went through together.
I was considering keeping my vermy until I leveled a job that might benefit from it for leveling (BLM or SCH, maybe even WHM after the recent changes) but it is foolish to keep it for something that may or may not happen.
...
Wow, that Al Zahbi-AH warp is very convenient. My cloak has only de-valued 150k in the past year, it could be worse I guess. I can re-purchase one should I need it in the future anyway.
So long, faithful companion!
(door closes)
Oh, hello. I didn't see you come in. You may be wondering why I am naked, but for this hat.
Well, I'll tell you why. It's a very special hat. Just check out these stats!
That's right. +15 enfeebling magic skill, auto-refresh, and some other stuff. After the first two you just stop caring, so anything more is just icing.
As it has such incridible stat boosts, it fully replaces two pieces of equipment; my elite beret, and my vermillion cloak.
Here's me and my beret in Lufaise Meadows. Isn't it annoying how you always blink just as a photo is taken?
We go way back. It will be sad to see them go after all we went through together.
I was considering keeping my vermy until I leveled a job that might benefit from it for leveling (BLM or SCH, maybe even WHM after the recent changes) but it is foolish to keep it for something that may or may not happen.
...
Wow, that Al Zahbi-AH warp is very convenient. My cloak has only de-valued 150k in the past year, it could be worse I guess. I can re-purchase one should I need it in the future anyway.
So long, faithful companion!
Friday, 27 March 2009
It's that time again...
This year marks the seventh anniversary of Final Fantasy XI, and to celebrate this most joyous of occasions, we’re proud to announce the return of the Mog Bonanza! What better way to show your adventuring spirit than by drowning yourself in a pool of gil while decked out in mega-rare gear that ordinary folk can only dream of? After all, only the Goddess knows what manner of good fortune this lucky-numbered anniversary will beckon to your Mog House!
Want to know all about the rules and prizes? Then simply read on!
*Please remember that all prizes won in the Mog Bonanza are virtual goods and cannot be redeemed for real-world money.
Interesting how they're doing gil rewards this time; it's dependant on marble sales and how many people win each rank. So potentially less reward for relatively unpopulated servers?
Rank 5 has some interesting furnishings at least. Rank 3 (Nashira legs vs. Homam legs) looks like a difficult choice. Even if it's the rarest thing in that group, I wouldn't take a Haute because I'm not a PLD, I have no intention to level PLD and it takes more stuff than 1 sword to make a good PLD, and alot of that stuff is just as hard, if not harder to get.
Rank 2 I'd go with a V. belt, Rank 1 gil if it's likely to be anywhere near the 100mil of last year. Only hoping we won't have to find out how much the gil rewards are AFTER you accept gil as a prize.
I've updated the full MND condition on my paralyze testing. It's pretty interesting.
They've also added a trailer to the Crystalline Prophecy site, and it looks like they're finally doing something with Aldo's sister from the starting cutscene.
And finally, I'm 10/10 for shark organs now, so just need help getting one Yovra organ to finish my Flame Gorget.
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Job Adjustments and Additions Part I (26/03/2009)
The upcoming April version update will boast a wealth of adjustments and additions to a selection of jobs. Today, it is our pleasure to outline the benefits that this will bestow upon white mages—the altruists of Vana'diel.
Drool over the details here!
Not the front line buff (unless they meant having to run into AoE range to cast spells...) that they promised, but still some nice adjustments.
Mutually exclusive job abilities seem to be SE's new thing (Hasso/Seigan, Light/Dark Arts, and now Solace/Misery).
Esuna looks great, so you don't need to depend on Divine Veil or the Mythic club for AoE status cures, but I'm guessing it's going to have a fairly high MP cost to balance it out.
Auspice seems amazing for WHM in Salvage vs. Chariot bosses and maybe HNM for DD-PLDs, but I can't think of much else to use it for (useful for EXPing as well, I guess).
Since I'm RDM/WHM for most of the time, the only stuff I benefit from is slightly higher magic accuracy on Banish II, and lower cast time. Reraise being available from /whm at level 50 might come in handy at some point too.
Best thing about this though is that it's only Part 1, so I'm hoping RDM and BLM are still to come. Closer it gets to the update, hopefully the more epic the adjustments will get.
Monday, 23 March 2009
Haubergeons for Dragoons and Duelist Tabards (-1) for all!
"A Crystalline Prophecy" Advance Orders Begin and Item Details Announced! (23/03/2009)
The first installment of three new add-on scenarios—"A Crystalline Prophecy – Ode of Life Bestowing"—is now available for advance purchase through PlayOnline! Access the order page from the "A Crystalline Prophecy" banner located on the main FINAL FANTASY XI page to purchase your registration code.
(*Players purchasing the scenario will receive access to the in-game content upon the release of the upcoming FINAL FANTASY XI version update scheduled for early April.)
(*As with all forms of expanded content, the purchase of a single registration code for a given account will allow you to enjoy the add-on scenario with all characters created on that account.)
To commemorate the occasion, the official "A Crystalline Prophecy" site has been updated with the latest on the customizable equipment that awaits you as a reward for completing the scenario!
Head on over for all the details!
Well, as expected the customisable stuff is a reward for completing the expansion, so probably a choice of one from three. Looking at what you can do with them it's going to be a hard choice. I think the easy choice would be to take the DRG body (RDM body looks nasty anyway) and slap 10 acc and 10 att on it for a pimp hauby.
However there's 23 different extra stats on the site at the moment, when they initially said there would be 20 to choose from, so some might be taken off. I'm a bit peeved about the 5% fast cast being an option, since it's giving a potentially better Duelist Tabard to every job. Only use for RDM I see is having 5% fast cast and +enmity together for a tanking body, since it's pretty much useless as a debuffing body.
Edit: (scratch that - the Tabard is 10% fast cast. So it's now it's even more useless for RDM, DRG Hauby go!)
Flame Gorget Progress.
I've been solo farming Sea for organs quite a bit, and my current standings with organs are as follows:
-Yovra organs: 0/1
-Xzomit organs: 5/5
-Phuabo organs: 6/10
The Xzomits were easy to get (being 100% drop from the 'mother' Xzomits) I just had to find the ones with only 1 baby (which there are plenty of near the zone-in from the crag of Dem). So I could sleep baby > nuke mum a bit > sleep both again > convert > finish mum > teleport back to Dem > repeat 5 times.
Phuabos are more annoying. I was killing Ul'Phuabo for ages, because I misread wiki and thought they had a higher drop rate when it was actually the higher level Om'Phuabo. I tried killing them as DRG at first (faster kills, and could chain them, but more risky and requires echo drops and links or UFO aggro = death) I died once, because my wyvern was off god-knows-where and so I couldn't get healed :\
After reraising and carrying on until I was out of echos I changed to RDM for safer kills and eventually got bored of no drops and gave up. I need to find people to get a Yovra organ because they can't be soloed, so this may take a while.
Misc adventures!
Someone was shouting in Whitegate for a DRG/whm to help them out for a (Short time) ...which turned out to be 100 light skillchains. Well, they offered 100k reward, so I obliged.
We popped Amemet, who hits pretty damn hard - one of his headbutt-kinda TP moves does 300~ damage, but it wasn't a problem with 500~HP Healing Breaths. The poor taru got killed while I was petrified, but luckily it wore before I died as well, and I managed to finish it off. Only 1 hide dropped, which I got, but I was hoping more would drop so I could give one to the NIN who pulled a crab off us that attacked mid-fight with the NM. So 150k~ profit wasn't a bad outing for me.
The first installment of three new add-on scenarios—"A Crystalline Prophecy – Ode of Life Bestowing"—is now available for advance purchase through PlayOnline! Access the order page from the "A Crystalline Prophecy" banner located on the main FINAL FANTASY XI page to purchase your registration code.
(*Players purchasing the scenario will receive access to the in-game content upon the release of the upcoming FINAL FANTASY XI version update scheduled for early April.)
(*As with all forms of expanded content, the purchase of a single registration code for a given account will allow you to enjoy the add-on scenario with all characters created on that account.)
To commemorate the occasion, the official "A Crystalline Prophecy" site has been updated with the latest on the customizable equipment that awaits you as a reward for completing the scenario!
Head on over for all the details!
Well, as expected the customisable stuff is a reward for completing the expansion, so probably a choice of one from three. Looking at what you can do with them it's going to be a hard choice. I think the easy choice would be to take the DRG body (RDM body looks nasty anyway) and slap 10 acc and 10 att on it for a pimp hauby.
However there's 23 different extra stats on the site at the moment, when they initially said there would be 20 to choose from, so some might be taken off. I'm a bit peeved about the 5% fast cast being an option, since it's giving a potentially better Duelist Tabard to every job. Only use for RDM I see is having 5% fast cast and +enmity together for a tanking body, since it's pretty much useless as a debuffing body.
Edit: (scratch that - the Tabard is 10% fast cast. So it's now it's even more useless for RDM, DRG Hauby go!)
Flame Gorget Progress.
I've been solo farming Sea for organs quite a bit, and my current standings with organs are as follows:
-Yovra organs: 0/1
-Xzomit organs: 5/5
-Phuabo organs: 6/10
The Xzomits were easy to get (being 100% drop from the 'mother' Xzomits) I just had to find the ones with only 1 baby (which there are plenty of near the zone-in from the crag of Dem). So I could sleep baby > nuke mum a bit > sleep both again > convert > finish mum > teleport back to Dem > repeat 5 times.
Phuabos are more annoying. I was killing Ul'Phuabo for ages, because I misread wiki and thought they had a higher drop rate when it was actually the higher level Om'Phuabo. I tried killing them as DRG at first (faster kills, and could chain them, but more risky and requires echo drops and links or UFO aggro = death) I died once, because my wyvern was off god-knows-where and so I couldn't get healed :\
After reraising and carrying on until I was out of echos I changed to RDM for safer kills and eventually got bored of no drops and gave up. I need to find people to get a Yovra organ because they can't be soloed, so this may take a while.
Misc adventures!
Someone was shouting in Whitegate for a DRG/whm to help them out for a (Short time) ...which turned out to be 100 light skillchains. Well, they offered 100k reward, so I obliged.
We popped Amemet, who hits pretty damn hard - one of his headbutt-kinda TP moves does 300~ damage, but it wasn't a problem with 500~HP Healing Breaths. The poor taru got killed while I was petrified, but luckily it wore before I died as well, and I managed to finish it off. Only 1 hide dropped, which I got, but I was hoping more would drop so I could give one to the NIN who pulled a crab off us that attacked mid-fight with the NM. So 150k~ profit wasn't a bad outing for me.
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Blue numbers, Burning Circles and a bloody good pair of shoes.
DRG merits capped!
This was a side-effect of my efforts to re-attain the top medal from Campaign, and not an unwelcome one. I don't see myself changing these, so they're gonna stay blue until they raise the cap (when pigs fly).
Did a couple of Up in Arms runs (the Kraken club BCNM). I was pleasantly surprised when nobody ninja-lotted my drops (granted there was nothing worth ninja-lotting, but the leader insisted on giving everyone leader and quartermaster for each run, which is good practice for pickups).
No K. clubs of course, but it's still at least 50k+ gil per run just from crate gil and the 100% drops. Oxblood in particular, always drops 3 and they NPC for 13.5k each. Upon learning this, I go and buy a bunch of the AH for 10~13k from the people I just did the runs with and NPC them for profit!
We did it with timed AM > Sleep > rest > repeat, where all I do is sleep it and refresh the BLMs. But it did speed it up alot if I timed my nukes to go off along with thiers (which is quite tricky - too early and the mob wakes up and interrupts the BLMs, too late and it's eaten everyone's face before you sleep it again) but I managed not to screw up and it sped the runs up a little. If they emptied MP then ran back to the start to rest I could grav it and nuke all my MP away while it still had hate on them, but I couldn't be bothered to suggest a new strategy. Easy way to use up my collection of beastman seals.
Also this. Last available tag.
Thankfully it dropped on a run I put together, so no QQing over lost lots. It was also a relief to get non-retarded people to join for once, and we cleared with plenty of time. Now I need Llwyd's clogs, and it's time to finally say goodbye to my River Gaiters (I will miss them, even if they do look like level 1 starter gear ;__;).
Now brb, macros.
This was a side-effect of my efforts to re-attain the top medal from Campaign, and not an unwelcome one. I don't see myself changing these, so they're gonna stay blue until they raise the cap (when pigs fly).
Did a couple of Up in Arms runs (the Kraken club BCNM). I was pleasantly surprised when nobody ninja-lotted my drops (granted there was nothing worth ninja-lotting, but the leader insisted on giving everyone leader and quartermaster for each run, which is good practice for pickups).
No K. clubs of course, but it's still at least 50k+ gil per run just from crate gil and the 100% drops. Oxblood in particular, always drops 3 and they NPC for 13.5k each. Upon learning this, I go and buy a bunch of the AH for 10~13k from the people I just did the runs with and NPC them for profit!
We did it with timed AM > Sleep > rest > repeat, where all I do is sleep it and refresh the BLMs. But it did speed it up alot if I timed my nukes to go off along with thiers (which is quite tricky - too early and the mob wakes up and interrupts the BLMs, too late and it's eaten everyone's face before you sleep it again) but I managed not to screw up and it sped the runs up a little. If they emptied MP then ran back to the start to rest I could grav it and nuke all my MP away while it still had hate on them, but I couldn't be bothered to suggest a new strategy. Easy way to use up my collection of beastman seals.
Also this. Last available tag.
Thankfully it dropped on a run I put together, so no QQing over lost lots. It was also a relief to get non-retarded people to join for once, and we cleared with plenty of time. Now I need Llwyd's clogs, and it's time to finally say goodbye to my River Gaiters (I will miss them, even if they do look like level 1 starter gear ;__;).
Now brb, macros.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Definately didn't see this coming.
The Story Continues with All-new Nation Quests! (19/03/2009)
The trials and tragedies of each of the three nations are set to be further revealed in the fast-approaching April version update. With the dark shadow of the decisive battle between the warring factions looming ominously overhead, adventurers will delve deeper into the mysteries and intrigues of the Crystal War in the continuing episodes of nation quests in Wings of the Goddess!
Read the appetite-whetting previews here.
New quests. Not much more I can say about it. An older announcement of more interest that I didn't comment on earlier:
Get More Malmage from Your Equipment with Augmented Items! (17/03/2009)
The upcoming version update will usher in the "Augments" system, a new feature that will shatter your preconceptions about equipment and breathe new life into some of your most treasured pieces of armor.
Read on for the exciting details!
(What the hell does Malmage mean anyway?) This is something more of a surprise, but it will likely be pretty pointless - make your old worthless gear even more worthless by making it unsellable!
Most likely it will only be useable on gear with only DEF, and no real stats, or if you use it on something with other stats the old ones will be wiped. So no enhanced Haubergeon +1 for you! If anything, it's aimed at helping low leveling again so you can get something useful where you normally have nothing to choose from but +DEF. Could put an end to naked DDs leveling at least.
Anyway, enough about what them yungins at SE are doing, and a little bit about my recent activities.
Last couple of Dynamis runs didnt' end too well. Windurst we ran out of time before clearing, probably due to the less-than-amazing attendance and the 1 1/2 wipes. Valkurm we had fewer people than usual, and only 1 BRD (without Soul Voice), so the boss zerg didn't go so well. But we would have done fine if the boss' pets were slept, which I'm pretty sure never occurs when we fight her. Only light based sleep works on them, but I don't think anyone tried last time.
I've also done 2 Nyzul legs runs and 2 feet runs. Nothing I was after dropped as usual, but the groups were mostly good for a chance. It annoys me that I can't get people like that when I lead runs.
Finally, Arc and Soli let me come play with them doing the Antlion ENM, which we did as RDM, WHM, MNK. It was very easy, even if we did get lucky on the boss pops (3/4). Less painful than the old manaburn approach.
No surprises of course when no Hagun dropped.
The trials and tragedies of each of the three nations are set to be further revealed in the fast-approaching April version update. With the dark shadow of the decisive battle between the warring factions looming ominously overhead, adventurers will delve deeper into the mysteries and intrigues of the Crystal War in the continuing episodes of nation quests in Wings of the Goddess!
Read the appetite-whetting previews here.
New quests. Not much more I can say about it. An older announcement of more interest that I didn't comment on earlier:
Get More Malmage from Your Equipment with Augmented Items! (17/03/2009)
The upcoming version update will usher in the "Augments" system, a new feature that will shatter your preconceptions about equipment and breathe new life into some of your most treasured pieces of armor.
Read on for the exciting details!
(What the hell does Malmage mean anyway?) This is something more of a surprise, but it will likely be pretty pointless - make your old worthless gear even more worthless by making it unsellable!
Most likely it will only be useable on gear with only DEF, and no real stats, or if you use it on something with other stats the old ones will be wiped. So no enhanced Haubergeon +1 for you! If anything, it's aimed at helping low leveling again so you can get something useful where you normally have nothing to choose from but +DEF. Could put an end to naked DDs leveling at least.
Anyway, enough about what them yungins at SE are doing, and a little bit about my recent activities.
Last couple of Dynamis runs didnt' end too well. Windurst we ran out of time before clearing, probably due to the less-than-amazing attendance and the 1 1/2 wipes. Valkurm we had fewer people than usual, and only 1 BRD (without Soul Voice), so the boss zerg didn't go so well. But we would have done fine if the boss' pets were slept, which I'm pretty sure never occurs when we fight her. Only light based sleep works on them, but I don't think anyone tried last time.
I've also done 2 Nyzul legs runs and 2 feet runs. Nothing I was after dropped as usual, but the groups were mostly good for a chance. It annoys me that I can't get people like that when I lead runs.
Finally, Arc and Soli let me come play with them doing the Antlion ENM, which we did as RDM, WHM, MNK. It was very easy, even if we did get lucky on the boss pops (3/4). Less painful than the old manaburn approach.
No surprises of course when no Hagun dropped.
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
The perplexing properties of paralysis.
The only thing I really know about Paralyze is that it's stupidly random, and probably affected by MND because everyone else says so.
I'm yet to see any decent testing on it, so I'll have a shot myself.
Our subjects are going to be the cute little onion-heads resident to Sarutabaruta, Tiny Mandragora.
I've chosen these because they are a consistant level (Level -1 according to the wiki).
Other misc assumptions:
-As 'level -1' mobs, they will all have the same MND value.
-Potency of paralyze is determined by a Player MND vs Mob MND check.
-A level 75 player should have sufficient skill to floor spell resist rates (base resist rates are unknown, but assumed to be very, very low if they even exist). As such, the innate magic accuracy bonus from level 2 Paralyze II should not be a problem.
The pre-test
I intend to do 20 trials for each of six conditions:
1) Paralyze 1 cast in a) No relevant equipment b) Full MND equip c) Full skill equip
2) Paralyze 2 cast in a) No relevant equipment b) Full MND equip c) Full skill equip
Equipment sets will be posted when I get around to conditions b) and c).
I expect Paralyze 2 to be better than Paralyze in some way, either duration or minimum/maximum proc rate. Full skill is theorised not to have an effect, as resist rates should not be an issue against level -1 monsters.
MND equipment could still have an effect despite the level of the target monster. Since Slow/Slow II cap at 75 dMND (difference in MND between Target and Caster), if Paralyze operates in the same fashion then I won't be at the cap with 62 base MND. I don't know the MND of target mobs, and the only test for MND I am aware of won't work on these because they're so low level.
For condition a), testing was conducted in East Sarutabaruta on Tiny Mandragora by a Mithra 75RDM/37BLM. Paralyze was cast, from within melee range, and then the number of total attacks and number of paralyzed attacks were recorded, as well as the duration of the spell on each trial. Mandragora were then killed and a new one was found to repeat the next trial (make sure no one is leveling there!). Game day was noted, but was not controlled for.
Attack rounds and paralyzed attacks were recorded by hand on a notepad, the duration of each spell was recorded using the Windower plugin 'Timestamp'. Duration was recorded from the message:
"Player casts Paralyze.
The Tiny Mandragora is paralyzed."
until the message:
"The Tiny Mandragora is no longer paralyzed."
I've done 1a) and 2a). I need to put them in excel or something so I can put them on here, not looked at them properly yet, still not sure of a good way to analyze it.
Some Results
These have just been typed up into Excel and ordered by number of attack rounds and duration
Paralyze 1 vs Paralyze 2 in no equipment (Mithra RDM/BLM)
For comparison's sake:
- pps is a measure of 'Procs per second' (Duration/Proc), rounded to 2 decimal places.
- a:p is the Attack:Proc ratio (Attacks/Proc), rounded to 2 decimal places.
Paralyze 2 has a higher pps, however there is minimal difference, so with such a small sample it's unlikely to be significant (not that I can do any tests for significance, the best I can do with excel is find correlations).
As Para 2 also has a better a:p ratio than Para 1 (3.05 vs 4.2 respectively) and a higher total duration and average duration, this suggests that Para 2 is at least marginally more effective when fighting level -1 mobs. I have no useful implications yet, sorry!
I'll complete 1b)c) and 2b)c), then move on to mid-level mobs if I haven't lost interest by then.
UPDAET: 1b) and 2b) testing complete!
Procedure was the same as before, this time the Mithra 75RDM/37BLM was equipped with the following:
Will write up the details later. But for now here's a juicy little observation:
There doesn't appear to be a proc rate cap, at least for Para 2. It can proc at any time, any number of times for it's entire duration. Whether this means the effectiveness (or potency) of a Paralyze spell are calculated at the time of it casting, or player MND is checked upon each of the mobs' attacks whilst the spell is in effect, I don't know. It's a bit of a mad hypothesis, and it's not the focus of this investigation so I won't dwell upon it.
27/03/09 Right, sorry it took me so long to write this up, I've been lazy.
Paralyze 1 vs Paralyze 2 in Full MND equipment.
I didn't order these results, but it doesn't matter for what we're looking at anyway.
Para1 appears to have not benefited at all from the increased MND in condition b) (Duration, proc rates, pps or a:p hardly differ at all) suggesting that Para1 is not improved at all from increasing dMND, however due to the low level of the subjects in this investigation, it is more likey that Para1 has a low dMND cap, which is easily achieved on the target mobs. The dMND cap (according to this testing) for Para1 is most likely <60, but I can't be certain of an exact number until I find a way to establish the MND value of Tiny Mandragora.
Paralyze 2 appears to have benefited greatly from the increase in MND (duration, procs and a:p ratio have all improved noticeably). Suggesting that Para2 has a higher dMND cap than Para1 (or even no cap).
In order to certify that there is a cap (as opposed to no cap) it would be possible to do so by replicating this test with alot more MND than I used (160~ should be enough to see a difference if there is any), and seeing if there is a significant difference in performance compared to my 136 MND condition. If performance remains the same, then obviously dMND does have a cap on Para2.
I'm yet to see any decent testing on it, so I'll have a shot myself.
Our subjects are going to be the cute little onion-heads resident to Sarutabaruta, Tiny Mandragora.
I've chosen these because they are a consistant level (Level -1 according to the wiki).
Other misc assumptions:
-As 'level -1' mobs, they will all have the same MND value.
-Potency of paralyze is determined by a Player MND vs Mob MND check.
-A level 75 player should have sufficient skill to floor spell resist rates (base resist rates are unknown, but assumed to be very, very low if they even exist). As such, the innate magic accuracy bonus from level 2 Paralyze II should not be a problem.
The pre-test
I intend to do 20 trials for each of six conditions:
1) Paralyze 1 cast in a) No relevant equipment b) Full MND equip c) Full skill equip
2) Paralyze 2 cast in a) No relevant equipment b) Full MND equip c) Full skill equip
Equipment sets will be posted when I get around to conditions b) and c).
I expect Paralyze 2 to be better than Paralyze in some way, either duration or minimum/maximum proc rate. Full skill is theorised not to have an effect, as resist rates should not be an issue against level -1 monsters.
MND equipment could still have an effect despite the level of the target monster. Since Slow/Slow II cap at 75 dMND (difference in MND between Target and Caster), if Paralyze operates in the same fashion then I won't be at the cap with 62 base MND. I don't know the MND of target mobs, and the only test for MND I am aware of won't work on these because they're so low level.
For condition a), testing was conducted in East Sarutabaruta on Tiny Mandragora by a Mithra 75RDM/37BLM. Paralyze was cast, from within melee range, and then the number of total attacks and number of paralyzed attacks were recorded, as well as the duration of the spell on each trial. Mandragora were then killed and a new one was found to repeat the next trial (make sure no one is leveling there!). Game day was noted, but was not controlled for.
Attack rounds and paralyzed attacks were recorded by hand on a notepad, the duration of each spell was recorded using the Windower plugin 'Timestamp'. Duration was recorded from the message:
"Player casts Paralyze.
The Tiny Mandragora is paralyzed."
until the message:
"The Tiny Mandragora is no longer paralyzed."
I've done 1a) and 2a). I need to put them in excel or something so I can put them on here, not looked at them properly yet, still not sure of a good way to analyze it.
Some Results
These have just been typed up into Excel and ordered by number of attack rounds and duration
Paralyze 1 vs Paralyze 2 in no equipment (Mithra RDM/BLM)
For comparison's sake:
- pps is a measure of 'Procs per second' (Duration/Proc), rounded to 2 decimal places.
- a:p is the Attack:Proc ratio (Attacks/Proc), rounded to 2 decimal places.
Paralyze 2 has a higher pps, however there is minimal difference, so with such a small sample it's unlikely to be significant (not that I can do any tests for significance, the best I can do with excel is find correlations).
As Para 2 also has a better a:p ratio than Para 1 (3.05 vs 4.2 respectively) and a higher total duration and average duration, this suggests that Para 2 is at least marginally more effective when fighting level -1 mobs. I have no useful implications yet, sorry!
I'll complete 1b)c) and 2b)c), then move on to mid-level mobs if I haven't lost interest by then.
UPDAET: 1b) and 2b) testing complete!
Procedure was the same as before, this time the Mithra 75RDM/37BLM was equipped with the following:
Will write up the details later. But for now here's a juicy little observation:
There doesn't appear to be a proc rate cap, at least for Para 2. It can proc at any time, any number of times for it's entire duration. Whether this means the effectiveness (or potency) of a Paralyze spell are calculated at the time of it casting, or player MND is checked upon each of the mobs' attacks whilst the spell is in effect, I don't know. It's a bit of a mad hypothesis, and it's not the focus of this investigation so I won't dwell upon it.
27/03/09 Right, sorry it took me so long to write this up, I've been lazy.
Paralyze 1 vs Paralyze 2 in Full MND equipment.
I didn't order these results, but it doesn't matter for what we're looking at anyway.
Para1 appears to have not benefited at all from the increased MND in condition b) (Duration, proc rates, pps or a:p hardly differ at all) suggesting that Para1 is not improved at all from increasing dMND, however due to the low level of the subjects in this investigation, it is more likey that Para1 has a low dMND cap, which is easily achieved on the target mobs. The dMND cap (according to this testing) for Para1 is most likely <60, but I can't be certain of an exact number until I find a way to establish the MND value of Tiny Mandragora.
Paralyze 2 appears to have benefited greatly from the increase in MND (duration, procs and a:p ratio have all improved noticeably). Suggesting that Para2 has a higher dMND cap than Para1 (or even no cap).
In order to certify that there is a cap (as opposed to no cap) it would be possible to do so by replicating this test with alot more MND than I used (160~ should be enough to see a difference if there is any), and seeing if there is a significant difference in performance compared to my 136 MND condition. If performance remains the same, then obviously dMND does have a cap on Para2.
Monday, 16 March 2009
Crystalline Prophecy
The first installment of three new add-on scenarios, entitled "A Crystalline Prophecy – Ode of Life Bestowing" will be available for advance purchase through PlayOnline starting from March 23, 2009.
(*Players purchasing the scenario will receive access to the in-game content upon the release of the next FINAL FANTASY XI version update, scheduled for early April.)
In honor of this occasion, the official site for "A Crystalline Prophecy" has been updated with the latest news. Head on over to read all the exciting details!
You also won't want to miss the new promotional trailer, scheduled for release in the coming days, so keep watching this space!
Click here to access the official site.
I get the feeling the customisable body pieces are a reward for completing the expansion like CoP rings, so chances are it'll be a pick-one-of-three one-off (except you can change it later if you really want lol) kind of deal. Could be awesome, could be junk (considering alot of body pieces have pretty major chunks of stats on, would be hard to make something impressive that isn't broken).
This new storyline to follow (I think they're releasing it all at once, unlike before...not too sure about that though) along with new WoTG quests and such will have me with a lot of new stuff to do, so this update is looking promising already. Not to mention bigger gobbiebags and they probably still have alot more to announce before the update, it's looking to be a good one.
9.99 euros or £7.99 vs $9.99 is a bit unfair on European players though, having us pay more for the same content ftl. But then again I think we have to pay more for subscription to the game itself, so nothing new here.
And since when was the euro worth more than the pound?
..
(ok, it's not. But they're almost equal now which is still worrying since 1 Euro used to = £0.8)
In other news I've been skilling staff in order to get more blue numbers, and it's around 180-something now. Yet to learn a good Weapon Skill.
I decided to wander out of the Boyahda Tree via the infamous Dragons Aery, since I'd never been in there and as such couldn't /search the area. Fafnir's room was smaller and prettier than expected.
Sky was cancelled because barely anyone showed up and nobody knew what needed doing. Nem is trying to find a way to use up our Kirin sets, we may have to bribe other Linkshells to help...it's not looking too pretty at the moment, we just want done with it I suppose. Instead I went to learn about MMM stuff with one of the newer members, Jarek. I now know more than nothing about MMM! We did a marble run, which involves one person gimping all the mobs by entering as a level 1 job, and a high level person butchering all the weak mobs. After that, we did a proper level 75 run which we duoed as DRG/whm and WAR/dnc. It was rough at the start, because Kraken AoEs hurt, and they hit pretty hard as well. It didn't help that I developed a mysterious lag at that point. But after those we had a bunch of scorps which hit like girls and were easy to kill. Finished with just under 15 mins left, so not much of a challenge.
I had enough marbles to get an eyepatch, but I have enough hats already, and I better start saving for some of the runes because they're really expensive.
Saturday, 14 March 2009
RAGE
I've embarked upon the long crusade to get myself a pair of Goliard Clogs, and so far I've had 3 successful runs (all dropping Askar...), and about as many, if not more, failed runs (I was too busy banging my head against the wall to count).
"Why do you fail so much at floor 20 Nyzul?" I hear you cry, well, there could be a number of reasons. Let me speculate upon a few.
1. People are idiots.
This is the easy solution, it causes me less distress to attribute my failure to external causes. But it does not help alleviate my problem, for if all people are idiots, then I will never be able to succeed no matter how much I try.
2. I attract gimps.
A more PC term would be 'inexperienced or misguided players' but for convenience sake I'll call them gimps. Because they are.
And they fucking love me.
This guy wasn't too bad by most standards (I don't have pictures of the others, again I was busy hitting my head on things), I had him change to RDM anyway and he played it well enough. That was one of my better runs.
Maybe they like me because I'm not a complete ass to them as soon as I see them, even if I want to be...because they are people and I'm not going to make them feel like shit over how they play a game. Although the stress caused by supressing my own rage is hardly much fun for me. I just make sarcastic and insincere remarks instead to help me cope, which is a wonder of computer mediated communication as people can't really tell!
Anyway, the most competant person on today's run (which was intended to be 16-20, but someone decided we'd do 1-5 instead after we entered) was a DRG using a Dabo. WHAT. I questioned it, but couldn't really be bothered to argue. Not to mention full timing homam body, which is entirely pointless on fodder mobs as accuracy will be capped on them. And while I'm on the topic of Homam...
No, you can't has merits. Apparantly because I don't have any homam gear that puts me in the same bracket as DRGs still clad in AF at 75.
3. Bad luck on floors?
Lol, no. But it's an easy excuse to attrubute to a failed run rather than "WHY ARE YOU ALL SO FUCKING STUPID?"
4. People don't listen/do not think for themselves.
Having to tell everyone what to do on a run kills your time incredibly, especially when those people just follow someone who -looks- like they know what they are doing, and all end up clustered at the wrong end of the map from the objective fighting some random mob (typically Archaic gears) that some champ decided to aggro.
But this is sometimes for the better, because if they do go off alone, they usually return around a corner 2-3 seconds later with a variety of unsleepable mobs and an NM in tow.
But sometimes it's nice when you put your foot down as leader, and people actually obey.
That saved me alot of time arguing Utsusemi vs. Third Eye. I expected them to make a fuss and explain how awesome they are with Seigan/Third Eye evading 100% of hits and how they solo whole floors with it. In short, it's not reliable and you need a slap if you can think it's adequate for nyzul - these people fail to appreciate that it's because their mage has to follow them around 90% of the time and dump cures on them until another person can rip hate.
I've also given up explaining how lamps work before every run because it's really tedious and those who can't do it already aren't going to learn. Plus judging by recent trends, someone will d/c before I've finished explaining and I'll have to spend another 30 minutes shouting for a 6th.
5. I suck and the entire server hates me so nobody will join my shouts.
Possible, little paranoid though. I'd rather blame everyone else.
It's early days yet, I'll stick with it.
Now I'm done ranting, please enjoy this picture of me attempting to convince a GM to apprehend an Elvaan male for wearing a subligar in public:
"Why do you fail so much at floor 20 Nyzul?" I hear you cry, well, there could be a number of reasons. Let me speculate upon a few.
1. People are idiots.
This is the easy solution, it causes me less distress to attribute my failure to external causes. But it does not help alleviate my problem, for if all people are idiots, then I will never be able to succeed no matter how much I try.
2. I attract gimps.
A more PC term would be 'inexperienced or misguided players' but for convenience sake I'll call them gimps. Because they are.
And they fucking love me.
This guy wasn't too bad by most standards (I don't have pictures of the others, again I was busy hitting my head on things), I had him change to RDM anyway and he played it well enough. That was one of my better runs.
Maybe they like me because I'm not a complete ass to them as soon as I see them, even if I want to be...because they are people and I'm not going to make them feel like shit over how they play a game. Although the stress caused by supressing my own rage is hardly much fun for me. I just make sarcastic and insincere remarks instead to help me cope, which is a wonder of computer mediated communication as people can't really tell!
Anyway, the most competant person on today's run (which was intended to be 16-20, but someone decided we'd do 1-5 instead after we entered) was a DRG using a Dabo. WHAT. I questioned it, but couldn't really be bothered to argue. Not to mention full timing homam body, which is entirely pointless on fodder mobs as accuracy will be capped on them. And while I'm on the topic of Homam...
No, you can't has merits. Apparantly because I don't have any homam gear that puts me in the same bracket as DRGs still clad in AF at 75.
3. Bad luck on floors?
Lol, no. But it's an easy excuse to attrubute to a failed run rather than "WHY ARE YOU ALL SO FUCKING STUPID?"
4. People don't listen/do not think for themselves.
Having to tell everyone what to do on a run kills your time incredibly, especially when those people just follow someone who -looks- like they know what they are doing, and all end up clustered at the wrong end of the map from the objective fighting some random mob (typically Archaic gears) that some champ decided to aggro.
But this is sometimes for the better, because if they do go off alone, they usually return around a corner 2-3 seconds later with a variety of unsleepable mobs and an NM in tow.
But sometimes it's nice when you put your foot down as leader, and people actually obey.
That saved me alot of time arguing Utsusemi vs. Third Eye. I expected them to make a fuss and explain how awesome they are with Seigan/Third Eye evading 100% of hits and how they solo whole floors with it. In short, it's not reliable and you need a slap if you can think it's adequate for nyzul - these people fail to appreciate that it's because their mage has to follow them around 90% of the time and dump cures on them until another person can rip hate.
I've also given up explaining how lamps work before every run because it's really tedious and those who can't do it already aren't going to learn. Plus judging by recent trends, someone will d/c before I've finished explaining and I'll have to spend another 30 minutes shouting for a 6th.
5. I suck and the entire server hates me so nobody will join my shouts.
Possible, little paranoid though. I'd rather blame everyone else.
It's early days yet, I'll stick with it.
Now I'm done ranting, please enjoy this picture of me attempting to convince a GM to apprehend an Elvaan male for wearing a subligar in public:
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