Linkshell List

I'm putting this image of our Linkshell list online here so it is easy for everyone to quickly add the names back to their friends list on Wednesday.  Also it's easier for me to invite you all again if I have a copy of everyones names in one handy place (and if everyone uses the same names!)

New graphic settings.

I didn't see this the other day when i was changing from windowed to full screen mode but it's there now.  You can put the resolution to any setting you like, which is nice.

I'm on a boat!

Today I travelled back from Limsa Lominsa to Camp Port near U'ldah on the boat.  It's an easy trip to make, quite useful as once you have seen the Crystals in the citys, you can teleport there anytime you wish.

To make the trip yourself you'll need to go to the ferry port and walk up to the gate, bring up the menu and an option will be at the top which you will need to select to pass through.  It doesn't seem to cost any money which is nice.

Once through all you have to do is wait for the boat to show up and it'll put you on board by itself.

Although that can take, perhaps I should of asked an NPC just how long it would be until the boat arived.

But when the boat does show up you get a little cut scene show people getting on the boat.  Looks like it going to be busy.

Turns out that all the people that got on during the cut scene didn't want to go on the deck of the boat.  Make me wish I brought a fishing rod with me though.

Well god knows where these people from that cut scene went, because they sure as hell are no downstairs either.  perhaps they have locked themselves away in some cupboard I don't know about beucase they are still in fear of the FFXI boat attacks.  I have been on two boat rides now and I have not seen an attack yet, maybe I have been lucky.

I arive at Camp Port after a boat ride that seemed to last about 10 minutes although it felt longer.  I really reget not bring a fishing rod now.

Anyway Camp Port is not too far away from U'ldah.  You can walk it in about 15-20 minutes, which is about the same sort of time that it takes to walk south out of Gridania and arive at U'ldah.  So really the three citys are quite close to each other in that resepct.

Most epic name so far.

That's one epic name.  But I think it's an epic fail because sending that guy a /tell is going to be a nightmare if you want to be quick.  It's like those people that have those obscure Japanese names because they think they look cool but you keep having to look how it is spelt.  I'm waiting to run into John Smith, I'll give anyone called John Smith a Linkshell invite!

Doing a Local Leve

Today I decided to take on a Local Leve quest that involved creating a new knife for a chief in the town.  If you have not tried the Local Leves yet, then this post should act as a guide on how they are done.

 So I went and found the person that was going to supply me with the materials I needed to create this knife.  I found the NPC at Camp Bentbranch just like it said in the Leve description.

As with all these things I selected the NPC and selected the chat option for the Local Leve quest.

The the NPC starts to jabber on about some crap before handing over the items I'll need to make the knife.

Finally after giving me the stuff I need I can actually get to work on getting the job done.  I bring up the crafting menu and select the 'Requested Items' option.  I missed this the first time I tried to do a Local Leve and was puzzled why the NPC wouldn't take the items I had made.

Anyway next I get asked which Leve I am creating the items for, so I select the knife one.

After selecting 'OK' in a few more windows I selected the item I am making and get to work.

I made the knife on my third attempt and then the game decided to tell me that actually I had to make more than one knife, i had to make two to pass the Leve.  So I failed, but I did mange to get to rank 2 on Blacksmith so it's not all bad.

Guild Leve cool downs changed?

As anyone noticed that they are able to take on more Guild Leves since the last patch?  I'm going to have a good go tonight when I get back from work and then post my findings on it.

Azarus Nova's Trip

 Azarus Nova (aka anubismedia from the forum) sent me some pictures and a story of his epic trip. Here is his story in his own words.

So yesterday I teamed up with this random guy and we couldn't find any mobs so we decided to try a zone we saw. This zone led us to another and to another and 3 hours later we where in "Ul'Dah" lol now this was no easy trek and I died so so so many times lol, but it is possible. 

The things I saw was amazing and the graphics really are amazing. I can tell you that all mobs are WAY high they all hit for about 5K so cant fight anything and lots argo. 

The most interesting thing I found was that in the town of Ul'Dah the economy is another world! Lighting shards there are 20gil - 100gil and wind goes from 600 - 1000 gil. 

Also the weavers guild is there so most everyone has leveled cloth craft and sells armor way cheep. You can also to leves there that have nothing to do with the ones in Gridania.

So you can do 4 leves there then warp to Ul'Dah and do 4 more. Im not sure if they will fix this in the final release. For the time being I would keep this under wraps with only trusted members because it is a real good way to make money. Buy lighting low in UlDah and sale high in Gridania vis versa with wind and earth.

I plan to make the trek to both towns first thing when the final release comes out and just do this; Can also buy armor and resale. Oh and your retainer can be called there as well. ^^ again not sure if they will fix this later

EDIT - anubismedia sent me a follow up email.

Either they changed this or I was just wrong about the leves. I did 3 leves in one town then traveled to another and did 3 there. I then took a ferry across to the 3rd town and tried to do those. They popped up but when i tried to except it said i had none to exchange. I went back to the 1st city the next day and tried and the same thing happened. They pop up but I can't except. So my guess is the last ones I did in the 2nd city have to reset. This still works out good though because you can pick out the 1 good one with armor and gill from each city as long as they do not exceed 4 in 48 hours I guess. Anyways just thought id tell you before I get a bad rep as a liar lol. It did let me do 6 in a row though. But it could be a glitch like the NPC saying in all three cities 'here is a hundred gill' like in closed beta but they really give you a thousand. Or when you Finnish the main quest and it says you get 10k only to find you have 20k but eh i need to go back to work. Lol

 

Windhurst all over again.

I havent updated in a few days so I thought I'd put something up today.  First of all a screenshot from the new menu in the open beta showing the friends list and helpdesk options.














I done a few Guild Leves today to start leveling Jeffery.  The early ones seem to focus around killing fungus monsters for different reasons.  The forest music started to sound kind of freaky after a while so I headed back into Gridania.  While I was there I couldn't shake the feeling that this was Windhurst all over again, not a bad thing I suppose though, but the lack of a blacksmith guild is frustrating.

I saw Ark while in the town and I asked is he had seen Kylep online at all,or I had just missed him when I have been on.  Maybe because of the time difference, but either way I created a Twelve LS myself becuase it seems that no one but kyle could invite people which is not much use when he is not around!

Open beta NOT about to start.

Source: Kotaku

The FFXIV open beta is 'postponed due to a confirmation of critical bugs'.  Opps!  Lets hope that by 'bugs' they mean they are getting rid of the surplus exp system and bringing in auction houses.  We shall see...

Surplus EXP: the reason.

Remember playing in the beta and wondering what surplus exp was?  Well Square-Enix has printed the answer for you.

"Once again, we would like to thank you all for your participation and support during the Closed Beta. We will continue to take your valuable feedback into consideration as we develop the game during Open Beta and even beyond the official release.

Now I would like to take a moment to respond to the many questions and opinions regarding the manner in and rates at which experience and skill points are obtained in Beta 3.

Firstly, the concept for FINAL FANTASY XIV was to design a system of character progression that offers meaningful advancement for those with limited time to dedicate to playing. We did not want to create a game that forced people to play for hours on end to see their efforts rewarded. To that end, in addition to the Guardian's Aspect and guildleve systems, we introduced a means of apportioning swifter advancement to shorter periods of play.

In order to achieve this balance, we calculated a value for the amount of skill or experience points that could be earned in a one-hour period. This theoretical value represents an hour spent engaged solely in combat, levequests, or any other activities that earn skill or experience points, and sets a threshold delimiting how many of these points can be earned in a period of play.

Based on this, we have implemented a “threshold value” concept. These thresholds are regulated by a one-week timer that begins counting down the instant you earn skill/experience points. After a week has passed, the thresholds will reset, and the moment skill/experience points are earned again, the timer begins counting down anew.

For the first eight thresholds during this week-long period, players will receive skill/experience points at the maximum rate possible. The actual amount of time spent reaching these thresholds is not significant. That is to say, a player who exceeds eight hours of gameplay will still be rewarded the maximum amount of skill/experience points, so long as the total amount earned is below the eighth threshold value. For the subsequent seven thresholds, players will earn skill/experience points at a gradually decreasing rate, eventually reaching a rate of zero.

It is worth noting, however, that the reduced rate will also gradually recover while players are engaged in activities that do not yield skill/experience points. In this manner, it is possible for the threshold value to reset completely, even before the completion of the one-week timer.

Any skill points earned in excess of the threshold maximum—that is, at a rate of zero—will be stored as "bonus skill points." These are specific to each class, so players limited to earning bonus skill points still have the freedom to change classes and begin earning skill points again at the maximum rate, allowing their reduced skill rates to recover in the meantime.

The experience point threshold, however, is unrelated to class, and switching classes will have no effect on the decreasing rate of earnable experience.

This is how the progression system currently works.

This system was not introduced in Beta 3, but has been in place since the beginning of beta testing. There are several reasons why many people believe that these features were only recently implemented:

- Leading into Beta 3, operation hours were extended, making it possible to play more often during the span of a week.
- To encourage players to form guidleve parties in Beta 3, skill and experience point rewards for guildleves were significantly increased.
- The process that reduced the amount of skill/experience points awarded for weak enemies attacking in groups was unintentionally removed at the start of Beta 3. (This issue has been addressed.)

That last reason in particular was the biggest cause for players running up against the threshold penalty, with characters earning far more skill/experience points than we anticipated. We also faced an issue where we were simultaneously unable to adjust the amount earned for guildleves as well as the effects of crossing each threshold.

We sincerely apologize for the lack of explanation and our failure to make the necessary adjustments in the game.

The threshold values are being reexamined, and we plan to further adjust the different rates of earnable points based on feedback from our testers. One of the top issues we are looking at right now is fixing the excessively rapid drop after crossing the eighth threshold. We also plan to improve experience point reduction rates, even more so than for skill points, considering the threshold is unaffected when changing class.

At the very least, we can promise that players won't be running into the threshold penalty in the same short time span as they did in the beginning of Beta 3.

We would like to take this opportunity to also explain the following issues.

The diminishing results experienced during gathering are a function related to that class alone, and have no connection to this progression system. We are in the process of adjusting this system, and plan to make changes based on tester feedback.

We are currently in the process of considering the means in which bonus skill points can be used. There have been suggestions for various types of incentives, but as encouraging people to play with that in mind defeats the purpose of this threshold system, we will be examining this issue very carefully.

These are not the only adjustments we have planned for Open Beta. As mentioned previously, we are looking into increasing the amount of skill points earned when fighting in a party, and we look forward to seeing your input on these changes.

Last of all, I would like to apologize for the delay in releasing a developer's comment due to my recent attendance to Gamescom. The article based on my interview during that trip, coupled with conjecture, outdated information, and some misunderstandings on overseas websites, only added to the confusion. In the future, I hope to avoid similar problems by responding directly through official developer's comments as often as possible. Thank you for your understanding.

See you in the Open Beta Testing!

FINAL FANTASY XIV Director
Nobuaki Komoto"

The most awful idea in MMO history

Market wards.  WTF is the point?  I'm so angry that Square-Enix are not going to put in an Auction house at launch it's unreal.

Those with beta test accounts can see my rant on the test site here:
https://dev-eu.ffxiv.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=821&Number=67047#Post67047

But for those that do not have access this is what I wrote:

"The whole idea of Market wards of flawed, and it should be scrapped.

Example:
I decide I want a new pair of gloves so I go to the market wards to see whats on offer.

After a while I find a pair on sale for 6,000 Gil. I want to compair the prices to see if I'm being ripped off or not, so I search longer. As no one can really see what other people are selling the same items for prices are different from seller to seller so to get a good price you have to spend AGES looking. By that time someone else already has brought the ones I saw 10 minutes ago because I've had to spend so long checking the price.

How do you fix that?
Easy, you make a search function that searches all the wards and compairs the price. That way I can see the best deal right away.

Ah but the sellers can't see it as they are giving the stuff to their retainers to the prices still vary wildly.

How do you fix that?
You make it so when you are giving the stuff to the retainer you can see what other people are selling it for.

You know what you have then? A f**king auction house! So stop messing around and get one in before the games economy goes into melt-down."

The Only good thing that happened while I was in a Market Ward today was another 'blogger guy' incident. You can see it pictured below, but I had to use my digital camera as I was playing while in full screen mode.

Two days left

Enjoy your last two days in the Closed beta becuase in September it goes public.  Yep, we'll all lose all our Charactors and have to start again.

That means I'll have to create the Linkshell again, and have to invite everyone again.  Although this time I will promote more members so they can invite the other forum users while myself or Heicko are away.

Square-Enix had this to say:

"Thank you for participating in the FINAL FANTASY XIV Beta Test.

The current Beta Test Phase 3 (Beta 3) will end on August 25 at 5:00pm (PDT), and we plan to start the Open Beta Test in early September.
We look forward to your continued help and support.

*After Beta 3 ends, all character data will be deleted.
*For the period during which a beta test is not being conducted, players will not be able to access the Players’ Site.
*Once the test’s character data have been deleted, all blogs and images on the Players’ Site will also be deleted."

Damn them all!  also remember at 8:00 to 9:30 (GMT) on Aug. 24, 2010, Square-Enix will be performing maintenance on all Worlds. During this period, FINAL FANTASY XIV will be unavailable.

(Small) Group picture

Today vader from the forum joined the Twelve, I took this picture while Draiko was AFK, so this will be the first he hears about this!

Linkshell list & Market Wards.

So far the following members are in the Linkshell, I'm not going to bother typing them all out when I can just take an easy screenshot of it!

Also I actually found where the Market Wards are!  It's basically rooms filled up with players retainers selling all their junk items.  Here is how to find them if you don't know already.

First of all you'll need to go to this point in Limsa.

Then in the side menu you'll see that there is now a option to teleport.  Select it and you'll be greated with this menu to ask you which Market Ward you would like to visit.  I recomend selecting from high up in the list as those are the wards that have the most retainers in.

And here we are, a Market Ward.  You can probably get any sort of crap item here.  Still not as good as an auction house but still better than millions of people crowding outside Jeuno and causing ultra lag.

Alter Walters (aka anubismedia) picture collection

Anubismedia from the forum sent me some of his beta version pictures that he took while playing on his character Alter Walter.

Earth and Wind Element monsters that he found.

The strange underground water area that he found via the caves.

Reporting LIVE from Aleport

Today I used the same trick I used yesterday but this time to get into Aleport.  This is what I found.

This is where Aleport is on the map, sort of on the west side really.

Once again the people on the gate had no intrest in letting me and and have a look around the place.

Not a problem!  Just used the log glitch to pass through and I'm in!

Looks like a food guild building.

What looked like dead crab remains had sparkles comes off them.

I trid to fish on this pier but the fishing icon didn't appear.  Although it did let me fish on the beach, and it was classed as a grade 2 fishing zone.

According to this Lalafell the sparkly crab remains are treasure.  Nothing happened for me when I took a second look at them, but if I could dig in that spot I guess it might be a different story.

Here is me trying out a spot of fishing.