Ask the Developers!

[Onewing]

Good news, everybody. Square Enix is having their 2nd Premier Site Summit and I'll be flying out to meet the developers along with our Content Editor, Banhammer. SE is willing to answer ten of our top questions and we will be sure to bring those answers back for the community.

We just need the questions!

There are some new players here on the forums and there are the familiar faces. We're welcome to anyone's question, so put your thinking caps on and ask away. Note that any duplicate questions from other sites will only be answered once, thus we'll try to take questions we don't think will be asked.

They've asked us to send in the questions by July 2nd, so don't be shy, ask whatever's on your mind!

 

[tanls]

I was wondering if they plan on expanding East in the ToAU areas.

Also, are there any plans to start consolidating Servers any time soon.

Lastly, Seeing as how Campaign has killed partys for levels 60 and up, and the addition of Physicians has further destroyed the utility of the WHM (which now makes 2 mage jobs destroyed by expansions), are they going to add content to at least make it semi-worthwhile for mages to participate in Campaign? Are they going to add the ability to at least skill up in Campaign? Besieged is fine, but frustrating when everyone melee/tank job is soloing in Campaigns.

 

[jamison]

Are they going to have any incentive to help get older players to return to the game?

It always seems that there's allot of end game content that is added, what about content for low level to mid level jobs?

End game content is great, but why buy new expansions, etc if you cannot use them? (Burning crusades in WoW was a total waste of time if you were under level 60, with the single exception of making a new character, which helped give something to do, but left those existing characters below level 60 behind...) I'd love to see Square Enix do it right and add content for everyone!

 

[Trish]

Been giving this a lot of thought since the post. I think I'll just edit my post as I continue to think of questions, rather than have sticky notes lying all around my desk..

1. The Pashhow Swamptrot was a great idea! However, it appears only totally maxed chocobos can pass that first race, since that sheep can use THREE boosts and we are only allowed one. My bird is Outstanding, A bit deficient, A bit deficient, Average, and I have tried many items to win that race to no avail. I know a whole one fully-maxed chocobo on my server, so that's one bird out of thousands that can even take on that sheep. Every defensive move gives me an edge until Sheep Charge is used three times. Every offensive move is resisted. Are there adjustments coming for the new circuit? A helpful one would be to allow the tokens for upgrading retired birds available no matter which nation is in the lead for the week.
2. Why is it a 64 Summoner gets significantly less exp in Besieged than a 55 WHM and a 55 THF?
3. Why are there things in game that can be synthed but are totally worthless, such as Tortilla Buenos and Rock Cheese?
4. Don't you think the campaign battles within the city limits come a bit too frequently? Most often I don't have time to escape the city to do a battle elsewhere, and this makes the second week in a row the beastmen own 17 areas on our server, with each nation only owning their city. Oh, and that notorious worm who spawns RIGHT on the campaign area may be part of the problem.
5. Now that I've moved up to the Wings awards in Campaign, I look up the items I can purchase in all three nations and it's all for WAR/DRK/BST. Not a thing for mages. Is this going to change? Please? And are there plans to add the basic items to the things purchasable with allied notes, like instant reraises and warps? Or, more simply, what is a player who is ONLY a mage to do with the 250k in allied notes she's accrued?
6. Why is our level of chocobo digging skill hidden?

 

[Onewing]

To staffers: please review all questions and send me your top ten pick some time Tuesday (er...today). Banhammer and I will clean the top selected and present them to the group. Questions and answers will go public after the summit.

Here's some questions I've received over the past few days:

1. Are there any plans to make crafting outside of HQ synths worthwhile
again? For example, bumping up the NPCable prices for crafted items could be
a great way to boost the shaky economy and bring some relevance back into
crafting.

2. Any hints on how to pop Almighty Apkallu?

3. NIN is in desperate need of a DD buff. The only reason we "evade" so well
is because the SAM ends up tanking for a good majority of the fight.

4. SMN, as party support or buffer, is severely lacking compared to BRD or
COR. Are there any plans to boost the effectiveness of pacts such as
Ecliptic Howl or Crimson Howl, to put them near Valor Minuet 4/Hunter's Roll
or Blade Madrigal/Chaos Rroll?

(The math behind this is: Blade Madrigal is ~+30, Hunter's Roll is +20 to
+65. Ecliptic Howl is at most +26, and can be as low as 0, depending on the
moon phase. Chaos Roll can be +13% to +41% attack, Minuet 4 is at most +66
attack, and Crimson Howl is +9% with a horrible duration. The real kicker
behind this is that it's still tied to a timer like COR, but with less
duration on the spells, and a rather heavy MP cost associated with it as
well.)

5. Why does RDM, a job with its own refresh spell, get more auto refresh in
gear than SMN does?

6. Would you consider uncapping or tweaking jug pets for BST? They are so
limited for pet options at 75, it would help their endgame tremendously.

7. Why is there no Tavnazia in WOTG? It played such a huge role in the war.

8. When, if ever, will play inventory be increased to 80?

9. Why can't players store +1 sets of gear?

10. When, if ever, will we be seeing buffs to Dynamis relic weapons?

11. Are there plans to lure people to level lower jobs?

Some questions of my own:

1. Is there anything you can tell us about expansions in development?

2. I haven't heard much about the minigame intended for PvP (what's it called again, starts with a 'B'). Any further development on that? Any tournament in the future?

 

[Onewing]

Thanks for the questions everybody! The Summit was last week and our very own content editor Banhammer was there in person to record the event. Check out his recent articles on the Nyzul Relic Weapons and regarding the questions from the community.

Banhammer mentioned to me that Square-Enix did state they are working on content that appeals to all levels and not just high end. Unfortunately, they couldn't disclose much more than that.

They also said they'd consider holding a Brenner tournament (remember the Ballista Battle Royale a while back?) if enough people showed interest in doing so. Perhaps we should put up a petition? Maybe the upcoming olympics will stir are inner competitive spirits...

 

[tanls]

Thanks for taking the questions and thanks Banhammer for the writeup.

 

[Trish]

Yep, awesome job Banhammer! I sure wish I knew French so I could read about the WHM weapon. Not that I'd ever get it anyway...

 

[tanls]

One of the members of my end game shell, decoded a write up from elsewhere and The CLUB made me drool. How's you like to have continuous Divine Veil. That's supposed to be what it has. It makes me drool just thinking about being able to remove status ailments -ga style. Now all they need to do is give WHM the spell "Remember" to cure Amnesia and Charm.

 

[Trish]

Ooooooo *drools too* But like i said. Probably will never get it. *sigh*

 

[Banhammer]

Personally, my focus is leveling up RDM for the Murgleis. <|Convert|> <|Enhancing Magic|> <|Yes, please.|>

 

[tanls]

Yeah, the speculation is that it'll only take half your hp when you convert. It's nice not to have to cure bomb yourself after converting. Plus, there has to be reduced time to get convert back up. But you never know. SE might just make it a gimped latent.

 

[Banhammer]

Yeah, the speculation is that it'll only take half your hp when you convert. It's nice not to have to cure bomb yourself after converting. Plus, there has to be reduced time to get convert back up. But you never know. SE might just make it a gimped latent.

Assuming they don't change it from what I saw at the Summit, the speculation is accurate. (Of course, that's a pretty big assumption right now.)

 

[Clefairy]

DO you think it's possible to make it easier to skill up parrying? I can proc parrying over 100 times against a mob 20+ levels higher than my skill level and never get one lousy skillup. I can spam dia and cure on high level undead and get frequent skillups. I can do the same for weapons if i hit and do damage. Why shoudl i get beat on by level 75 monsters for hours and not make any progress. If i successfully use a skill against a monster many levels higher than my skill, i should be awarded accordingly. I'd like have my parrying at 269 and it would really help with farming/soloing, and not everyone wants to sub ninja.

 

[Lostick]

If July the second has already been and gone then why is this still up here? :S
Or is it July the second next year?

 

[Onewing]

If July the second has already been and gone then why is this still up here? :S
Or is it July the second next year?

For reference to those who want to read Banhammer's articles (links posted above) relating to the event.

In due time, the thread will be unstickied.