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Final Fantasy XI developers answer more player questions
Let's face it, sometimes Final Fantasy XI players can be all "???" about the game. And that's not apropos of nothing, since the most recent developer dispatch talks about the multi-function "???" used for both Notorious Monster spawns and event triggers. While players had asked to see a change to distinct symbols such as a "!!!" for events, the technical effort required to make the switch wouldn't be worth the relatively minor functional update. The same rule goes for the /names command, which players would like to see toggle for NPCs or PCs selectively. The latest answers aren't all bad news, however, with one of the more interesting factoids being the roundabout announcement of official forums for the game. There's also news about updates to General Rughadjeen in response to his strange behavior following Protect V or Shell V, a problem originating from the fact that the spells didn't exist when Besieged was created. Final Fantasy XI players are encouraged to read the full list of answers.
Darkfall details expansion mob AI
One of the things that makes Darkfall unique is its mob and NPC AI. Unlike traditional MMORPGs, the creatures in the world of Agon use the same skills that players use and also drop appropriate loot (for example, killing a goblin will likely net you his sword and armor, and boars don't drop coin). With the upcoming free expansion, the developers at Aventurine are further tweaking the game's PvE elements by adding additional monster skills to specific creatures. Laenih, Aventurine's community liaison, has all the details in a new post on the game's official forums. "Some existing monsters as well as new ones have already received their own abilities which we'll leave for you to discover. Additionally there will be more strategic interaction between monsters that spawn together," he writes. You can get a glimpse of one of the new monster teams in the form of a video that showcases the Gorra Dar and Gorra Slaves. Check it out after the cut or on YouTube.
PotBS devlog: the road to v1.1, ships and ship combat
A new devlog is up on the Pirates of the Burning Sea official site, explaining in detail a few of the changes and fixes that have gone into the next build of the game. The next major patch will bring the game to version 1.1, and is being deployed to the Testbed server this week and to live servers not too long after. Although there is much more that will come with v1.1, the devlog discusses NPC AI, outfitting, and ship fixes.The most interesting part of the devlog is the discussion of the NPC AI. Previously, enemy ships didn't really change targets that often, and specifically did not react to the person who was dealing the most damage to them like in other MMOs (aggro). This has been fixed in v1.1, ending the viability of a few cheap tactics. Also being fixed with NPC AI is the seemingly random-at-times surrendering of NPCs. It's true that quite often a ship would just surrender out of the blue, but this is being changed so that NPCs will only abandon ship shortly after being attacked, so that there's some logical reasoning behind it. Check out the full devlog for the rest of the discussions on v1.1.
