Greetings fellow FF XI fans,
February's "Ask SquareEnix" questions has been compiled and has been sent to SquareEnix's Community Management Team. Included below is a list of questions sent.
Please note that most of the questions had proposed solutions and personal opinions removed to allow for a more generalized coverage of the topic. This is done to keep from detracting from the question with the opinions or proposed solutions. However, a reference to the original post is made, so that if they really want to find out what you think, they can.
There were further edits for spelling, grammar, and adjustment to emphasis in which things were presented to make for a less hostile, more neutral question appropriate in an interview format.
Finally, one of the March questions was moved up to February due to the timeliness of the question.
-- AKosygin
FFXIOnline.com Moderation and Administration Team
February's "Ask SquareEnix" questions has been compiled and has been sent to SquareEnix's Community Management Team. Included below is a list of questions sent.
Please note that most of the questions had proposed solutions and personal opinions removed to allow for a more generalized coverage of the topic. This is done to keep from detracting from the question with the opinions or proposed solutions. However, a reference to the original post is made, so that if they really want to find out what you think, they can.
There were further edits for spelling, grammar, and adjustment to emphasis in which things were presented to make for a less hostile, more neutral question appropriate in an interview format.
Finally, one of the March questions was moved up to February due to the timeliness of the question.
-- AKosygin
FFXIOnline.com Moderation and Administration Team
Question 1.
Can Skillchain + Magic Burst style become more appealing in an EXP party?
Reference: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/ask...exp-party.html
Are there plans to address claim issues related to the Charm and Leave ability of Beastmasters?
Reference: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/ask...claim-mob.html
How will PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 support be addressed as PS2s are phased out with the PS3 becoming dominant?
What plans are being made, if any and how, to improve the search function to allow players to seek on multiple jobs or otherwise make it easier to find XP parties?
Reference: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/ask...-function.html
Are there any plans to change Dynamis into an instanced battleground to avoid scheduling conflicts with large number of players?
Reference: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/ask...rovements.html
Question 6.
Are there any plans to increase the ease with which prospective players may obtain a Buddy Pass or similar access to a free trial?
Question 7.
Is it true that PlayOnline now has the ability to scan running processes on my computer?
Reference: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/feb...-computer.html
What did the development team first envisioned of Final Fantasy XI and during the course of development up to this point, what things changed or differed from their vision of the game at the beginning? What were surprisingly unexpected, turned out better, turned out for the worst?
Question 9.
If you knew what you know now, what would the development team have done different from the beginning? And what would the Community Team do different?
Can Skillchain + Magic Burst style become more appealing in an EXP party?
Reference: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/ask...exp-party.html
Currently, there is a trend for "TP spam" exp parties, where every frontline fighter and physical ranged weapon user simply use his weaponskill (WS) individually instead of combining them to form skillchain (SC) and open opportunity for magic burst (MB). This is so common and effective now that the skillchain + magic burst system, which requires higher player skill and knowledge as well as party cooperation, is rarely used in pick-up groups anymore.
While the game should allow for multiple ways of gaining experience points, it is a shame losing this aspect of cooperative play. Will S-E encourage the return of skillchain + magic burst? To be more specific, will S-E adjust battle mechanism, monsters, and more to make the trade off's between "TP spam" and "SC+MB" styles more balanced?
Question 2.While the game should allow for multiple ways of gaining experience points, it is a shame losing this aspect of cooperative play. Will S-E encourage the return of skillchain + magic burst? To be more specific, will S-E adjust battle mechanism, monsters, and more to make the trade off's between "TP spam" and "SC+MB" styles more balanced?
Are there plans to address claim issues related to the Charm and Leave ability of Beastmasters?
Reference: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/ask...claim-mob.html
If a BST is fighting a single mob, swapping pets will cause the mob to go yellow - claimable by anyone else - until the BST or the new pet start attackinng it again. The current game mechanics seem to be that the 'current' mob is changed by the charm ability, If the charm fails, that would make sense, but if the charm is successful it seems that it shouldn't happen.
Note that this is a separate issue, and separate question, from "leaving a pet causing loss of claim" - that issue refers to leaving the pet at the end of a fight so the BST can kill the mob with minimal loss of exp. Please don't get these two mixed up
Question 3.Note that this is a separate issue, and separate question, from "leaving a pet causing loss of claim" - that issue refers to leaving the pet at the end of a fight so the BST can kill the mob with minimal loss of exp. Please don't get these two mixed up
How will PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 support be addressed as PS2s are phased out with the PS3 becoming dominant?
It is understood that currently there are no plans to support the PlayStation 3 for FF XI. However, will there be an eventual support for PS3 users and will a DVD pack like the Vana'diel Collection for the PC be available for the PlayStation users? What will happen to PS2 users down the road in terms of support?
Question 4.What plans are being made, if any and how, to improve the search function to allow players to seek on multiple jobs or otherwise make it easier to find XP parties?
Reference: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/ask...-function.html
With the dynamics of party and looking for members in FFXI, the search function is a key tool, yet provides little help to us all in some situations or reasons. Will there be any ways to improve the search function and search comments?
Will there be a better way to list the following?
Question 5.Will there be a better way to list the following?
- What areas we have access to (be it quests dependent areas, or expansion dependent areas)
- What areas we are willing to go/don't go to
- Multiple jobs we could play as
- Preferred role in party with subjob combinations
- How much until our next level or merit
- What is our preferrences as to a skill chain
Are there any plans to change Dynamis into an instanced battleground to avoid scheduling conflicts with large number of players?
Reference: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/ask...rovements.html
This question was asked previously on an interview conducted with Bercus from the "Order of the Blue Gartr" linkshell. However, it seems the important issues were avoided or misunderstood, and so this is asked again with some clarifications.
In the scheduling of Dynamis entry, there seems to be the lack of any true coordination, or the potential for needless conflict. In three different Dynamis shells BurningPanther has been in, his Linkshell has had runs that ran over time, cutting into another shells' schedule, or flat-out had been cut off by another shell.
In the second case where they were cut off, the Linkshell that did so only because they used an LS-run website to schedule their own run, that was different from the one they used (the others were Japanese, they were North American, and the European-based shells use different scheduling sites altogether). While the others did not mean to cut them off, the fact that there was no centralized manner of scheduling Dynamis resulted in this confusion. In the case where they were cut off, it was by yet another linkshell that was notorious on the server.
In each of the cases, had Dynamis been instanced, the problem would have been avoided entirely, everyone getting to enter Dynamis with a minimum of fuss. Or, if there were a centralized site, run by SquareEnix, to schedule Dynamis and enforced by GMs, Linkshells in different time zones would suffer no overlap.
Will we see an instanced Dynamis? Or a centralized site through which Linkshells of all timezones can schedule Dynamis, also enforced by GMs?
In the scheduling of Dynamis entry, there seems to be the lack of any true coordination, or the potential for needless conflict. In three different Dynamis shells BurningPanther has been in, his Linkshell has had runs that ran over time, cutting into another shells' schedule, or flat-out had been cut off by another shell.
In the second case where they were cut off, the Linkshell that did so only because they used an LS-run website to schedule their own run, that was different from the one they used (the others were Japanese, they were North American, and the European-based shells use different scheduling sites altogether). While the others did not mean to cut them off, the fact that there was no centralized manner of scheduling Dynamis resulted in this confusion. In the case where they were cut off, it was by yet another linkshell that was notorious on the server.
In each of the cases, had Dynamis been instanced, the problem would have been avoided entirely, everyone getting to enter Dynamis with a minimum of fuss. Or, if there were a centralized site, run by SquareEnix, to schedule Dynamis and enforced by GMs, Linkshells in different time zones would suffer no overlap.
Will we see an instanced Dynamis? Or a centralized site through which Linkshells of all timezones can schedule Dynamis, also enforced by GMs?
Question 6.
Are there any plans to increase the ease with which prospective players may obtain a Buddy Pass or similar access to a free trial?
Question 7.
Is it true that PlayOnline now has the ability to scan running processes on my computer?
Reference: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/feb...-computer.html
There are discussions that PlayOnline are now scanning running processes to search for known programs that interfaces with PlayOnline or Final Fantasy XI, are there any merit to the speculations? If it is true, to what extent are the scanning or searching be limited to? And how is this information being handled?
Question 8.What did the development team first envisioned of Final Fantasy XI and during the course of development up to this point, what things changed or differed from their vision of the game at the beginning? What were surprisingly unexpected, turned out better, turned out for the worst?
Question 9.
If you knew what you know now, what would the development team have done different from the beginning? And what would the Community Team do different?
Comment