FanFest reactions blog...

OK, so here's the FanFest thread. I won't have put it up til you see it Saturday morning, but I am gleaning some Friday night stuff while reading the PFA/FFXIclopedia blog and others I can find, while I finish off getting all my jobs to level 10 and get ready for the version update on Monday.

Yes, the update with Moblin Maze Mongers and Fields of Valor is Monday.

So, on with the comments (all info is being grabbed, for now, from the FFXIclopedia/Pet Food Alpha blog):

7:58 PM: FanFest is over.

Not that much news. They gave away prizes to some wonderful artwork and cosplayers (one cute wittle baby as a moogle got some headphones he or she will never use), and then the same pianist who came over last year did another seven-song set.

Certainly an understated event. It seemed like it was more thrown-together than anything, but the fans are probably going home happy (except that the blog basically said that the reviews on the Dev Panel were "mixed", for the same reason I put at the end of my Dev Panel thoughts).

Anyhow, that's it for me til Monday and the version update here on the blog. I can take comments -- just not adspam or the like... In fact, I usually check for a few... Keep your eyes open on Monday as I take my first look at the new stuff. Til then...

Development Panel (3:30-4:30 PM): Well, here it is. Main Event time for any news from the show. Let's see what the Dev Panel has for us this year.

-- Level Sync: They heard about people having trouble forming Level Sync parties, so, in addition to what you've already heard, they plan on making higher-level equipment a bit more valuable in Level Sync and Level Restricted areas.

Be careful on this one, Square-Enix. You don't want the Dunes overrun with Level Sync-ed 75's meriting in the Dunes with overpowered AF and the like. I like the idea behind this, but be careful.

-- Making the process of gaining levels easier: This is where "Fields of Valor" comes in on Monday. Last update, they significantly upgraded the amount of XP for monsters commonly farmed either side of an Even Match (DC <-> EP). Now, they add Fields of Valor to help players along. One thing they have not said in the past: 30 minute time limit to any "training regimen" undertaken in the Fields of Valor.

Let's hope it helps as much as the upgraded XP table has. I look forward to trying it out on Monday. Time limit is probably a good idea. The harder ones might well have to be scaled such that they can barely be defeated in the 30 minutes (remember, once you get to checking "Too Weak to be Worthwhile" on your mobs, you can't just plow through them and have them count for your objective).

Also, "Treasure Caskets". (Also previously announced.) Basically, players will be able, on rare occasion (announced today as 1 chance in 10 -- for every 10 kills you get, you'll get 1 Treasure Casket, on average) to get either an open casket (blue, with temporary items to help out in the field) or a numerical combination locked casket (brown, which might have some decent gear for that area/level). For the combination locks, you get only 4-6 shots to come up with a two-digit number from 10-99. Sounds like it plays like "Clock Game". You give a number, it tells you higher or lower, and you have a set number of picks to get it right or it goes away.

Oh, this can rule the universe for players like me!! I like to kinda grind out and farm a bit in some areas (the promies nor Kuzotz will have this to start, just the _original_ FFXI areas to start), and basically getting 1 of these for every 10 kills (on average) will rule for someone like me who isn't afraid to take 2 hours and kill 60-80-100 EP monsters. YES!! And combine this with Fields of Valor regimens??? WHOO-HOO!!! (That's why I got all 20 jobs to level 10 before this update.)

-- New "Wings of the Goddess" missions: Sounds like, after a long wait, a large expansion in the storyline in this update, so get caught up on your WotG missions through "In the Name of the Father", at the very least. (Whether you have to complete the quests from the last update, though, is not clear.)

If so, get Adelheid to SLOW DOWN FOR ME!!

Sounds like there might be some Jeuno stuff, but whether you gain any real access to Jeuno in the Shadowrealm is not known. Sounds like at least one Campaign reward, but it does not appear to be a new set of ranks or any new real gear.

-- Wedding-related stuff: New Tuxedo. (Can be bought by previously married players.)

Sounds like, with small additions, this is basically the stuff they covered in Japan already. Of course, for those of us on the Net, we knew about a lot of this from the VanaFest coverage.

-- Dancer and Scholar Updates (Dancer Level 2 Merits here): They are going through the Scholar ones they already said in Japan (increasing accuracy for next black or white spell, decreasing emnity for next black or white spell, Enlightenment as a one shot Tabula Rosa, and Stormsurge to help storm effects), but the Dancer ones are new and exclusive to the North American FanFest. I have a level 58 Dancer now, so this should be very interesting.

Here's the new Dancer stuff:

Saber Dance: Increases the probability of Double Attack, however, renders Waltzes useless.

Ouch. That's probably to give them more of a DD feel. Not sure I'd use that too much unless the situation demanded it.

Fan Dance: Reduces physical damage, but not only renders Sambas useless, but also increases emnity.

Look for Raven/Crow gear, which reduces emnity, to be worth a lot after this update.

No Foot Rise: Instantly grants finishing moves to the dancer.

Gotta be a catch to that, as we already have the Steps to do that. That plus the first Flourish could be sick. Might be that it gives you the maximum five in one shot.

Closed Position: + ACC and + EVA when facing the enemy.

That's good too!

Special Task Force: 82,000 accounts banned in the last year, 33.4 billion gil taken out of circulation. They've banned more accounts, with less gil, this year.

For the record, the "street value" of that gil would be somewhere in the neighborhood of about $1,300,000. This probably means they've been able to catch RMT quicker, or the RMTers are trying to come back with new accounts, and getting re-banned.

LOL: The RMT-PWNER!!!! (v. 1.337) Basically tracks the gil -- as they said in the VanaFest thing, they can track it from the person who farms the gil to the "bank" in which they put it to a possibly bigger "bank" account, and so forth... The mechanism, once it identifies the entire tree as RMT, can take ALL THE ACCOUNTS IN THE TREE down at once.

Gotta like that. :)

Fishing restrictions, and, apparently, some fishing of their own, too.

I still don't like that they sic those agg Goblin Bounty Hunters on the rest of us, though. Thanks, you RMT bastards!

Hmmm... "Do not pass Go. Do not collect 200 gil." This is probably the jail functions. Word from VanaFest is that they wanted to do automatic jail functions, but haven't gotten to the point that innocent victims have been taken out of that jail function just yet.

POL RMT spam: Still looking into it.

Future Version Updates: Next Adventurer Appreciation Campaign (7th anniversary of FFXI is 5/16/2009) will have some very nice furniture stuff, as was announced at VanaFest (cardians and Shadow Lord are under consideration).

Not really a big furniture hawk, but, if it has a big enough effect...

Next year's Mog Bonanza (Lottery): Going to be some changes (legal concerns). Going to try to get it to come back, but not until it clears "Legal".

I was wondering if this year's Mog Bonanza completely was up to legal snuff. Sounds like it "may or may not have been".

Campaign issues: The new areas and last tier of medals look to be coming in the future updates.

Waiting for those. Basically maxed out my medal a long time ago!

New Campaign content which depends on control of the area (influence) is coming in future updates.

Was wondering when that might come into play a bit more! Might get some more people to play Campaign to take areas.

Salvage: No large-scale changes planned. Drop rates being looked at.

You're encouraging the cheating bastards, Dev Team. Don't deal with the drop rates until you correct the damage already done.

Player questions:

You should already know what question 1 is...

1) New avatars?

Not until a few patches are put in, but 2 "LARGE NEW SUMMONS" are only a few patches away.

Sounds to me like this is a game balance issue, at this point. But if they can get to the point where game balance isn't completely nerfed, sounds like the wait will be worth it for Summoners with bated breath.

2) More storage space??

*cough* Please hurry with it... *cough*

Sounds like the 80-item cap is a memory issue when they originally put the memory on these items. (Probably the limit they could put into, say, a 512-part situation or somesuch...) They'll look into new ideas.

3) Red mage frontline?? (Discussed a year ago at FanFest)

Lots of job adjustments in the Spring (March 2009?) update. RDM and WHM to get a lot of help.

Could use a little more oomph on my RDM. :)

4) Repops on ??? situations...

Some will get addressed upon examination.

5) An item for finishing the Wings of the Goddess storyline (like the ring you get for finishing Chains of Promathia)?

Still a ways off, because they haven't finished the storyline yet, but they are looking into that too.

6) Treasure Coffer -- making keys into key items rather than regular items which take up inventory slots.

They're looking into that, but the way the chests and coffers are designed might make that an issue.

Having to drop something nice to keep your coffer key while you are on a coffer hunt can get VERY annoying. So I'm glad they're looking into this.

7) Dynamis -- look at the event timers.

Being considered.

Panel over.

Hate to say it: But that's _IT_???

80% of this material was already covered at VanaFest in Japan, so anyone with a reasoned Internet presence in the FFXI Internet community would already have known most of this info. We do get the Dancer Level 2 Merits and some more info on a couple things, but I am disappointed the STF is not taking a long look into MAJOR changes in Salvage, since (without a whole ton of ban-hammers) all real balance in Salvage has been blown apart.

The Premier sites will be posting their interviews. I'll glean anything interesting once I get home. See you soon.

2:30 PM: All right. Back on after I left to let my roommate do an event this afternoon. I'll probably have a brief interruption about the time the development panel starts, but will get to that as I can.

Anyway, let's see what's happened in the 2 hours since I left. (Not much for the rest of the morning I was on...)

Players got to play in The Swarm with the pretty relics and the like. Lucky dogs...

MMM: A Maze Compass (don't know if you get one automatically) is what you use to exit any maze quickly, if necessary. XP and the like is given only in a chest at the end of the maze run.

Pictures (as best they can get) are up in the live blog at FFXIclopedia and PetFoodAlpha.com.

11:40 AM: I stand corrected on the Swarm battlefield. That's only for play in FanFest (and some nice toys the characters get to play with too -- relics, Krakens, etc. :P). Thought that might be a Rolanberry (S) thing for the next set of WotG missions to come out on Monday.

Moblin Maze Mongers presentation: Nothing earth-shattering in the opening ceremonies, so the first development presentation was on the new (and promised last year at FanFest) "user-created dungeons" from the Moblin Maze Mongers which go online Monday.

You need a Maze Tablet (a starter one will be provided upon first trying out MMM in the game), a Maze Voucher (to identify the theme of the maze -- I assume these will be instanced (of course, this could lead to crowding problems come Monday if I'm right), and runes for each square of the 5X5 tablet (identifying types of monsters (by type, size, whether they are aggressive, element) -- some runes can take more than one square).

Hopefully they will be giving us the ability to do solo mazes (as well as parties) at the start -- the demo, apparently, was also a solo one.

Absolute ROTFL moment!!!! The demo was supposed to begin, and they were going down the well to head to the maze, and, all of a sudden: "The hands of darkness prevent you from entering." They got denied to their own demo maze!!!! ROTFLMMFAO!!! They can't do a live demo of the MMM for the audience, so they'll have to PowerPoint it now. Ouch!!! I hope that doesn't give indications of what's going to happen on Monday. I really would like to try this out upon release. (Sounds like they got hit by their own cool-down -- you can only do the maze every so often and they didn't take that into account in their demo maze... :) )

They finally got it loaded up. Pays to be Square-Enix in cases like that.

I like this: You can set your own background music for the maze you are about to play. Apparently, there are quite a few options (at least on the demo).

ROTFL moment #2: He's going to die on the first monster of the demo maze!! Not what you want to do if you want to encourage players to play it! He died!! Oh no... How hard are these mazes going to be, guys? You have a PLD in AF1 dying to the first monster in the maze! Sounds like they put a solo player into a group maze. Square is not on the ball this morning.

Of course, neither am I in-game. While doing all this, I'm in Kuzotz, as I said. 58 DNC/MNK (so sue me, OK?) and 58 Sharlene (Stalwart Shield). Because I'm not paying attention, I have a train of FIVE goblins (two Robbers, three Poachers -- and a sixth linked in later) on my ass, and am working on it.

And then an Antican decided to say hello too. This was meant to be a safe time-killer, so I was fine. Now offing a few more Anticans in retaliation.

On edit: Thought for a minute that MMM _may_ require Wings of the Goddess access (even though it is accessed in *present* Jeuno), since it sounds like it is possible that the zone they used to MMM was a Wings battlefield -- but has been taken by the MMM for use in the present after the Shadowrealm fell, sounds like...

10:10 AM: First small bit of news (most of the beginning is about the new mini-expansions). One of my ideas gets shot out: The new expansions just add storyline. No new areas. No past Jeuno, no past Tavnazia. Everything else said so far appears to be the same stuff that was said in Japan at VanaFest, so those keeping up with that coverage on the Net already know most of it, so I'll can the stuff here.

Saturday morning: OK, now the show is about to begin. I'm posting this just before they start the show at 10 AM. My pick for the most sloshed may or may not have won. :) Looks like everyone is just filing in and getting ready, but the news should start coming hard and heavy pretty quick. I'll be here for most of it (though a couple of computer and Net change interruptions will be apparent early- and mid-afternoon) with reactions. Me? Off to Kuzotz with Sharlene to level her and my 57 Dancer. Show is just about to start.

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Friday night: One of the first things I noticed (as I was catching up on the first two hours of live-blogging) was that they had made a comment that this Fan Festival was about half the size of last year's. (About 1000 participants, rather than the 2000 they had in 2007.) Also, the main in-game (demo) stuff was going to be trying out not only Moblin Maze Mongers, but a new battlefield called “The Swarm” (apparently accessible from Rolanberry Fields in the Shadowrealm). Hmmm...

Basically, not much Friday night, so I'm working on my goals of finishing off all 20 jobs to level 10 (so I can teleport with any job to, say, North Gustaberg's outpost – the outposts are where you start “Fields of Valor”) and a doubleheader Besieged on Leviathan, as well as more Promy farming.

Sounds like PFA's Fusionx and I are going to have to agree to disagree on one thing: He told me (in the live blog) that he felt the Special Task Force wasn't going to do that much against the players for the Salvage exploit because he believes it to have been Square's fault. As I said, we agree to disagree.

Most of the Friday night live blog questions are either administrivia or silly about a poll as to who gets drunk the worst tonight. Fusionx is, erm... losing. I picked Ganiman of FFXIclopedia.

8:18 PM Friday: Near end of first half of doubleheader... Gere falls to the Leviathan Mercenaries. First Mega-Boss to go down in my sight. I love it when someone actually cares.

The rest of Friday night: Second half of doubleheader ended badly personally... That Nemean Lion has a mean AoE attack. Died twice to it right at the retreat. Ow. Finished leveling the last of my 20 jobs to 10. Put some stuff on the auction house and got to bed.