Well, at least one concern averted...

All that in the post below, apparently dying wiping out all contributions is NOT intended.

Current Known Issue:  4/18.  They're checking into the resets upon dying and raising and also those of logging out or being disconnected.

Oh, both Square-Enix and my friend have pissed them off again...

We finally have people who have started winning against the giant bee Colkhab.

Apparently, the Server First on Valefor yielded one very interesting result.

You die, you get NOTHING.  Your "contribution" is reset upon raising.

Willy Wonka-style.

"Good day, sir!!!"

And I can understand, especially since the entry fee for the battle is 100,000 bayld (howinhell you going to farm that quickly under the current situation?) each time, are you going to lose out because your (nerfed) Perfect Defense wore at the wrong time and you got 0 for it?

Well, there is the other side of the argument, though, as my agent in the field noted:

"Oh no! you can't zerg things down in 2 seconds anymore? THE HORROR! THE HORROR! WHATEVER SHALL WE DO?!"

The problem is, that is, as she said, "Working as intended."

Matsui has made clear, on several levels, that he does not like the direction that Final Fantasy XI had gone in, with respect to tactics, even up to and including Voidwatch.

Unlike what several respondents said to her, it IS about the zerg.  They want to stop it.  They want to stop a number of other things as well -- been noting that the possibility exists that they seriously mucked around with Dynamis with the Adoulin update underneath the surface.

Fact is, I think Unctgtg of Ragnarok said it right, in saying Square-Enix' stand is:

"SE's Response, this was working as intended, skilled players don't die. Please redo your strategy."

Emphasis mine.  They seriously want to muck the whole way we fight monsters.  You think this is bad?  Just wait til the next level of updates and the like hits...

You know the story of "opening your mouth and removing all doubt"?

I have a candidate.

For the STUPIDEST FFXI player today...

Numquam on Phoenix, more like Numbnuts after this piece of dreck:

"I think it would be smart for the rest of Seekers of Adolin to be DLC stuff. FFXi needs a lot of work still and to help make the changes possible, I think players shuld do there part in helping the companey make the dream cum true. Please like this if you guys agree!"

Even if this is a troll, you don't post this there.

Short Review of Seekers of Adoulin: Wow.

I like the expansion -- as frustrating as it can be.

I mean, I REALLY like the expansion.

Why?

Because the storyline makes the current state of the expansion being abject balls-hard make sense.

It makes sense after Adoulin sealed the walls off for, what, 300-400 years?, that the monsters just outside the gates are starting off at T to 99 (levels 100-102).

The Reives make sense that they are hard.  And will someone actually learn how to deal with a fight that isn't:

1. Run to the Objective.
2. Zerg.
3. ????
4. Profit

Pros:

• Square-Enix finally gets to set the terms on which any continuance of the game will be done.  The players no longer have fundamental control of the future of Final Fantasy XI.  If the players want to act as if "It's my $12.95, I can do what I want...", Seekers will die, FFXI right behind it.  Square-Enix has forced server cooperation (yes, this means that, though I don't believe him and he believes me to be a twit, Comeatmebro will have to cooperate for now to ensure that he gets the content he wants) as a condition of continuance.  We'll see how some servers do in that regard.
• Even the new bayld armor shows Matsui's conviction on advancement through gear.  It appears as if my full-augmented BST AF2+2 set is going to be a Charm-macro set real good and quick.
• Incompetent players will be pushed out of the game.  This should be obvious, on not only the social end, but that they truly will get nothing done at all.
• A rich storyline with diversified options as far as how to go about getting a foothold in Adoulin.  Coalitions, Quests, Missions, straight XPing...
• People actually have (and, in some cases, get) to play their jobs again!  Old-school BST fights!  /NIN being brought back.  Fighting from distance being a point of emphasis of Matsui here.
• The new areas are just sick.  And the Reive mechanic is quite engaging.  We'll see how this holds up over time, though...

Cons:

• If enough players either don't care or are too stupid to play this content, servers will eventually wilt off.  If you think you can Abyssea-zerg your way through this content, as the old song goes, "You've Got Another Think Coming".  And if enough people walk away or fail, servers will not see advancements in the mission storyline, nor the new gear, etc. and so forth.
• It's going to take a while.  QUITE A WHILE.  Is the player-base going to be patient enough to actually *gasp!* WORK AT THINGS?

On balance, there are some very strong concerns.  An apathetic player-base kills a server, now -- kills the game outright, frankly.

And, given the story-line, that makes sense.  Early indications look decent.  We'll see where we are later in the spring and summer.

EDIT:  Large Reive Hint!   Beastmasters can Wide Scan for Reives within the range of their Wide Scan.

Oh for the love of God...

Still 800+ files to go.

The update server tapped out on me at about 11:15.  Do the math!

It's 4:45, got back from whatever run I was doing, and got a congestion update circa noon!

So, Take 2...  Who knows when I'm getting in!!

An 1160 getting on POL, and another 1160 getting on to the update.  We're into the check phase now.

EDIT:  5:55 PM:  Done.  In game.  Expansion content not in play yet.  Total update time:  8 hours and 30 minutes.

I've said a lot of things about how ridiculous FFXI can be...

But this damn update takes the cake!!

I guess I should count myself as fortunate that my wireless hasn't borked the last six hours.

In any event, I started the update almost as soon as I could get on it.  3:57 AM PDT.

It's 9:45.

I still have 1200 files left, and I have not been interrupted.

Methinks the game is just about over...

Two things that can only portend great ominousness about any future Final Fantasy XI has or may have had...

1) An Absolute Debacle on the part of their third-party partners, Digital River, regarding the supposed release date/time of the Seekers of Adoulin digital download...

Some of us aren't just trying to get the code to farm whatever information we can get out of the expansion files, people.

Some of us actually welcomed an early-morning download time so that we could keep from over-straining the networks we're on -- some of us share bandwidth with others.

So, imagine my disgust when it becomes evidently clear that the right hand had no clue as to what the left hand was doing, and that the expansion wasn't available on Digital River's services until this afternoon, by all appearances, for many people...

Yes, at the end of the day, it really makes little difference -- the game servers will not have Adoulin content up for at least another 24 hours (as of time of writing, they said the evening of Wednesday).

But, owing to that at least one digital game provider had the expansion, and the right idea to release it (if it says Tuesday, it should be available Tuesday as if the stores were open at midnight for it!), I decided to cancel the SE Store order (they can have their freaking music box, for all it matters), ordered from Amazon, and had everything downloaded and installed within about 30 minutes...

... which then led to about a 45-minute Check Files "update" which, though annoying, was what it was.

I've said this company is in trouble, and days like this are an indication.

2) But, boy did I not have any idea how much trouble SE is in!!

Square-Enix, perhaps not coincidentally, and largely owing to poor console sales in western territories, is announcing a corporate restructuring, top-to-bottom.

Filings as of the 26th (JP Time) (.PDF file here) show some very ominous signs for the company:

• Earnings reports have forced a revision of the profit margin of the company for the fiscal year ending 3/31/2013 from a 3.5 billion yen profit to a 130 billion yen loss!  (A loss of approximately 113 yen per share of stock.)
• Reason:  Largely, the console games are not selling well in Western territories.  Even as it is apparent that Square-Enix is trying to grab money anywhere it can get (sources, today, indicate Square-Enix sold off four of it's free-to-play titles to another company for a cash infusion), Square-Enix is forced into a major corporate restructuring.
• As a result, Yoichi Wada, head of Square-Enix, is out.

They aren't going to be around much longer, people.

I've really gotten the impression that, if Square-Enix doesn't get bought out by some point in 2013, it'll be a surprise.

I wouldn't be shocked if the Evil Bastards at EA come in and swoop up the remains like a vulture picking at a carcass.

I think, honestly, they've made one or two mistakes too many.