[Dev] Matsui: To all adventurers and pioneers!

Siren.Kalilla said: »

03-26-2013 12:42 PM

[source]

Akihiko Matsui

Dev Team

Hello,

Matsui here.

We've been receiving some questions in regards to what we will be doing with relic, mythic, and empyrean weapons moving forward, so I would like to address what I can at the moment.

We are not planning to enhance relic, mythic, or empyrean weapons via Trial of the Magians or through other methods.

However, in regards to these weapons that you have enhanced up to level 99, we are formulating plans so that they do not go to waste. (Including the weapons that do not yet have their afterglows.)

In regards to the shields and instruments, even in light of the growth that will take place for characters with Adoulin equipment, these in particular are still at the highest caliber and will not be addressed in the plans mentioned above.

While I'm unable to talk about the specifics at this point in time, as soon as the time comes where I can, I will be sure to let you all know.

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Good cause H2H needs a serious makeover. Saw Tlalpoloani and died inside.

Slycer's Translation

03-22-2013 10:53 AM

[BG source]

Slycer

BG Translator

To All Pioneering Adventurers!!

Hello, it's Matsui.

We're finally down to less than a week left until the release of "Seekers of Adoulin" and we're also in the very last stages of development work (the development team is now mainly working to take corrective actions on defects spotted by the QA team).

I have a few things I want to communicate to you, so I'm writing this post to discuss this development work.
First, let's discuss story-related mission and quests.

Mission/Quest-Related
We've received a lot of feedback over the past few years from players who are interested in more detailed story-related quests and new lore. Our team has been striving to develop Adoulin to satisfy these wishes (we actually have a huge set of documents about the new world).

Because of the tremendous amount of translation work that is required, there have been some quests that were, sadly, postponed from this version update. That said, there will still be plenty of quests to take on.

After the release of the version update, we will continue to add to the main story regularly, along with new quests that match the pacing of the story. As the world opens up, we will continue to add new quests to go along with the changes.

Next, let's talk about "Seekers of Adoulin" from a level design perspective. Because the content, jobs, and equipment are all related, I'll explain what we're thinking about with all of these.

Level Design for "Seekers of Adoulin"
The content is designed for players who have already reached 99, so the equipment added will reflect this. By participating in current content and obtaining current equipment, a better level of performance can be achieved in the new higher difficulty content that will be added from which you can obtain even better equipment... the play cycle should be something like that.

In order to come up with a common measure for content and equipment we came up with a universal scale for comparison (sort of a virtual level that we're calling "content level") and we've developed guidelines for implementing content for the strength of monsters and equipment performance so that we can understand in a more objective way. Lastly, I want to be able to publically discuss the specific content level of content that we add. If adjustments need to be made, we will take care of them little by little.

For monsters, we also developed them based on the parameters and guidelines for content level as described above.

For monster special attacks, we have minimized the range of damaging area of effect of techniques as well as negative status effects (with a few exceptions) which will be kept to a maximum of about 60 seconds in duration. Additionally, some negative status effects for which recovery is difficult (i.e. Amnesia) will be of an even further shortened duration.

As the new jobs will increase the total by another two, it will become increasingly difficult to tweak jobs in such a way that all jobs can deal damage in the same way to any enemy or to adjust content so that all jobs can handle the same content with the same strategies. These aren't suitable adjustments for a game with 22 different classes.

Ultimately, job adjustments will have to be handled by adjusting the new content. For example, if all enemies are strong against magic, mage roles will die off.

For group content to be implemented, we will pay close attention to be sure that it is open to all jobs, and we will continue to share information regarding content implementation. While I'm aware that there is a need to look at individual jobs for adjustments, tweaking the parameters of individual jobs is not enough, and this must be coordinated with content adjustments as well.

This post has become a lot longer than I initially intended, so if you're getting tired while reading this, take this moment to catch your breath.

Now then, let's talk about content from "Seekers of Adoulin"

"Seekers of Adoulin"-related Content
For battle-related content, the first ones to be introduced will be regional battles called "Reive" along with other battle content called "Skirmish."
- About "Reive"
  Reive content is intended to open up the world for exploration. You may be engaged with monsters blocking colonization progress, in battles to remove obstacles within the world; the idea is to increase the overall colonization rate of the world.
  
  As the colonization rate increases, area progression will become easier, and there will be a variety of other material benefits that you can collect.
  
  As a benefit to participating, individual players will receive points called [[insert official term here]], which can be redeemed for equipment.
- About Skirmish
  Skirmish is a higher difficulty content that was introduced the other day on our YouTube live stream. For the first version update, we have prepared two types of Skirmish battles. These are certainly not intended to be low difficulty in any way, but the rewards we've prepared will be worth it for those who have the confidence to take on the challenge.

Both of these will be added when the expansion is released. Additionally, we are actively developing more content to be added for Skirmish, and we plan to add to this in every version update.

About the Mog Garden [[JP, Mog Resort for English I guess]]
At Vana'Fest, we talked about this content to be added. It seems that many players expected that the content would be available at the time of release. The Mog Garden was scheduled to be released slightly later in the development of Adoulin content.

There have been a lot of uncertainties, and it has taken more time than expected to verify the contents, but, as we originally planned, Fujito is working hard so that this content can be delivered to you this summer. (There will be a separate comment from Fujito, so stay tuned for that.)

Lastly, let's talk about some other content, which I'll generally describe below to hopefully get you interested.

Play-as-a-Monster
Play-as-a-Monster and Seekers of Adoulin were originally discussed on different time schedules, and in order to match the new player growth curve that will be created with "Seekers of Adoulin," we have slowed down the implementation work on this.

As we continue to work through Seekers of Adoulin, we will also work on technical hurdles for this, and we plan to showcase the new system on the test server.
Storage (from furniture)
We are working to make furniture storage available at all rental mog houses. Depending on the verification of the changes, we hope to implement this in the spring or summer.
Expansion of Area for Party Invitations
We also expect to add this in the spring or summer. This is planned to be added at the same time that we enhance the Chocobo Circuit to support party recruitment and the "/yell" feature.
Fishing
The adjustments to the fishing system are planned to be implemented this summer or autumn. We are planning to conduct a test of the changes on the test server, and we hope that you'll participate at that time.
Synergy and Evoliths
While adjustments to this are a little further off, I think we need to take a look at this to see what we can do to renovate the system and add some value to it. Once we're at a stage where we can discuss what we have planned, we'll let you all know.

Translated by: Slycer

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03-22-2013 02:36 PM

[source]

Akihiko Matsui

Dev Team

To all adventurers and pioneers!

Hello,

Matsui here.

We are just a couple days away from the release of Seekers of Adoulin and the development team is putting on the finishing touches. (The main tasks being the testing and fixing of any bugs that were discovered by the dev or QA teams.)

However, there are a couple of things that I wanted to let you know ahead of time, so I broke free from the development tasks for a bit to write up this post.

First I would like to talk about missions and quests.

Missions and Quests
One of the biggest requests we have received for the past couple years was to add quests that have a deep story and allow you to feel more of the world and lore, so for Seekers of Adoulin the entire event staff has been using all their power to respond to these requests. (The amount of materials for the new continent's lore is seriously huge.)

Due to the fact that the translation work volume is extremely large, there are some quests that had to be pushed back from the upcoming version update; however, I believe that there is still quite a large volume of quests to be implemented.

Also, with the version updates to take place after launch, we will be adding quests and putting material on topics to go along with the main story missions as they are added, and we are striving to make it so everyone can directly feel the world being pioneered and all the changes that take place.

Next, I would like to discuss the level design in Seekers of Adoulin. Equipment, content, and jobs are not something that we can separate from this, so I would like to explain our thoughts on this by including them all.

Level Design of Seekers of Adoulin
For those players who have reached level 99, the main focus of growth is equipment. We envision a play cycle where players take on content with their current gear in order to collect equipment with better stats, and then take on more difficult content to procure even better equipment.

We are currently working to make it so there is a common gauge for equipment and content (let's call it content levels for the time being), and to create index data that will allow those who are implementing equipment and content to have a more objective understanding of the equipment stats and monster strength. Ultimately I would like to be able to release information indicating the content level to all of you adventurers. While this is still in a phase where work needs to be done, I'm getting the feeling that things are coming together bit by bit.

The parameters for monsters that await adventurers and pioneers have been decided by the above content levels and index data.

We've eased up on the AoE damage of monster's special attacks, and we've also eased up the status ailments from added effects so that they last for a maximum of 60 seconds. Also, we've made Amnesia and other difficult to cure status ailments have an even shorter effect duration.

In regards to the addition of two new jobs and the increasingly difficult job adjustments, I believe that making adjustments so that regardless of the enemy all jobs are able to deal the same damage or making adjustments so that regardless of the content all jobs can clear it using the same strategy are not fitting adjustments for a game with 22 jobs. Job adjustment is fundamentally content adjustment. For any content, if there are only enemies that are strong against magic, magic based jobs will no doubt take a hit. We will pay even more attention to whether the content that is implemented is open to all jobs and be more thorough in sharing information between the people who are implementing the content. We're aware that there are still some uneven aspects to strengths and weaknesses of certain jobs, but the job lead and those making content adjustments are aware that only modifying the job parameters will not accomplish this task, and will be continuing to make adjustments.

Once I start writing it often times gets quite long. If you are feeling tired while reading this, go ahead and take a break and come back later.

Moving on, I would like to talk about Seekers of Adoulin related content.

Seekers of Adoulin Related Content
In regards to battle content, we will first be implementing Reives and Skirmish.
- Reives
  Reives are essentially a means to pioneer. Battling with monsters who are in the way of pioneering and clearing out other natural obstructions to increase the colonization rate is a world-wide endeavor.
  By increasing the colonization rate it will be possible to gain various boons such as making it easier to progress through areas and making it easier to gather materials.
  
  Also, as an individual reward, you will gain points known as Bayld, which you can then use to exchange them for equipment and other things.
- Skirmish
  Skirmish was shown the other day on YouTube Live and it is a type of end-game content. For the upcoming version update we have prepared two types of Skirmish. The difficulty is by no means low, and we've prepared fitting rewards, so if you have the confidence please try and take on the challenge.
We plan on expanding both of these contents as areas open up.

Also, we are working on developing content that a tier higher from Skirmish as well. This battle content is planned to expand with each version update.
- Mog Gardens
  During VanaFest we showed off all of the content we felt we were going to be able to introduce, and many of you were hoping to be able to experience it when the expansion launches, but we plan on releasing thee Mog Gardens content as Adoulin is colonized.
  
  Content-wise there are a lot of aspects which require a lot of time for testing, but Fujito is working hard to deliver this content around summer time as planned. (Fujito plans on making a comment separately on this, so stay tuned.)

Finally, I would like to talk about some other content. While content listed below is not everything, I wanted to discuss some of the more noteworthy aspects.

Play as a Monster
While Play as a Monster was originally being developed on a separate time schedule from Seekers of Adoulin, due to the fact that adjustments will be made to follow player growth post-Seekers of Adoulin, the speed of work on this has slowed down for the moment.

We are overcoming the technical hurdles one by one and are continuing to work on adjustments to fit Adoulin, so we would like to show it off on the Test Server or with a live stream when the time is right.
Storage
We are working towards making it possible to use storage from all rental houses. While we are still performing testing, we are hoping to make it possible around the spring to summer time frame.
Expansion of the range for party invites
Similar for this, we expect it to be around the spring to summer time frame. At the same time we are planning to expand party invites and the /yell feature to the Chocobo Circuit.
Fishing
We expect fishing revamps to take place around the summer to fall time frame. We also plan on implementing this to the Test Server for you all to try out, and your cooperation would be most helpful.
Synergy and Evolith
This is somewhat off in the future, but I feel revamps to this are necessary and have value. Once we are at the stage where we can let you know the specific plan we will inform you.

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03-26-2013 12:42 PM

[source]

Akihiko Matsui

Dev Team

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