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White Chocobos lead the charge in Pashnow Marshlands monster races
The official Final Fantasy XI site has word (via another amusing lore text) of a tweak to an in-game event. The activities of Chocobo Racing and Breeding are unique offerings to Vana'diel players. A lore piece on the official site hints at changes to the racing system that might, in turn, offer something new to breeders. It all surrounds the rare White Chocobo. According to an 'inside source', monsters have been spotted occasionally participating in the Chocobo races ... for some unknown reason. Likewise, White Chocobos are now apparently taking part of their own volition. Though the image above (from the FFXI Dats site) shows the Chocobo with a saddle, the official site's image shows an unbridled bird running in the races. Are these just flavour changes to Chocobo Racing? Does this mean that White Chocobos might eventually be caught and bred after races end? And how do the monster fit into this? For a great deal of speculation, check out the discussion on the Allakhazam boards, and feel free to offer up your own opinion here. Wark!
Previews of the June Final Fantasy XI update
We've previously mentioned the June update coming for Final Fantasy XI. In the last week or so numerous small preview pieces have trickled out on the official site, bringing us further into the loop on what sounds like a pretty big series of tweaks. There are numerous small quality of life improvements, quest refinements, and what sounds like couple of big changes to the campaign system. Here's the FFXI June patch highlight reel: High Quality item synthesis will see a few new items added onto the rolls, to make the experience more lucrative. Some furnishings will see extra storage space added, and some armor sets that weren't previously placeable on mannequins can now be displayed in that fashion. The burgs of Selbina and Mhaura will now have their very own nomad Moogles and delivery NPCs. An automatic item sort is being added into the game, which will stack items as they're gained by players. NPC Fellows can now be summoned in parts of Vana'diel's past, are receiving a few new personalities, and will soon be eligible to level up to 70. The Campaign system will see the most concerted changes, with new healer NPCs being deployed to both sides of the skirmish and brand-new medals for distinguished service. Players will now also be able to exchange their points with successful soldiers behind opposing national lines. In this way, players will be able to obtain items offered by nations other than their own. The official site also notes that the 2008 Vana'diel Collection is now available for lapsed players looking to come back with some of the newer expansions. Kupo!
Peer inside Vana'diel with the Final Fantasy XI census
Last week the folks at Square/Enix celebrated the sixth anniversary of Final Fantaxy XI. To commemorate the date, they released the latest post in the ongoing Vana'diel Census. An exhaustive survey of database information from the FFXI world, it covers every concievable tidbit of player information you could possibly want. Job popularity, size of active linkshells, which home points people bind to, chocobo colors, even which faces people choose when they create their characters - it's all in the census. Below are some Cliff's notes-style highlights. Make sure to check out the full census for all the delicious data. The majority of of all players log between 1-3 hours of playtime, 75%. The census attributes this to faster leveling and new 'short play' type missions. The average play session is slightly longer than last year's, though, at 2 hours 50 minutes. 12% of all characters levels 2-75 are level 75 (max level). The only other statistical standout is level 37, which spikes up to about 7% of the player population. Maat's Cap can be acquired by leveling all 15 jobs to 66 or higher, and then defeating one particular NPC with each job. As of this census, 6,575 people have acquired the cap. The most popular job combos continue to be WHM/BLM and BLM/WHM. Red Mage/White Mage is up to 3rd place from sixth last year, while the Thief/Ninja combo is in 5th from 8th. Of players that have acquired the two new jobs (Dancer and Scholar), 43% have nabbed Dancer and 30% Scholar. 27% have both. The top three race/gender combos are: Male Taru, Male Hume, and Mithra (all of whom are female). Least favorite is female Elvaan, at just 7% of the playerbase. The most popular color for a chocobo raised by a player is yellow, which trends to the racial stereotype. The second most common color (likely the most sought-after) is black.
Final Fantasy XI developers contemplate the endgame in a Q&A
A twelve-question Q&A session with the developers of Final Fantasy XI up at WarCry covers a laundry list of long-term player questions. The discussion centers on some particularly thorny issues for the highest of high end players. It also tackles with some persistent quality of life issues germaine to any Vana'diel adventurer. High-end players will enjoy the exploration of Dynamis, the ultimate conflict known as Absolute Virtue, and the ongoing problems with Named Monsters. All players will recognize the problems inherent in spellcaster food, battle music, and the possibility of changing nations.WarCry also has up a few notes from the upcoming June patch. Quality of Life sounds like the big priority for Square/Enix right now, with Synthesis, Armor Storage, and player housing Furnishings topping the list.
Wings of the Goddess missions roll forward
The official Final Fantasy XI site has updated with the news that the storyline behind the game's overarching mission quests continues to roll forward. The quest line, which we discussed in Massively's Wings of the Goddess tour, features the antics of the mysterious Cait Sith and the time-twisting dancer Lilisette. Adventurers who are diligent about pressing forward through the content will soon be neck-deep in the dangers of the mysterious portals, the mystery of dance Troupe Mayakov, and the drama of the Crystal War.The site also notes that Adventurer Appreciation week has just kicked off! The in-game holiday started early this morning, and the event will be running through the early morning of May 28th. During this time, Moogles will be hanging around the three nations of Vana'diel, just waiting to help out with a few entertaining trinkets. Past events have offered a variety of items, but the only gift we're certain players will get their hands on is the ever-useful Anniversary Ring. Bonus XP and a pack of Moogles at your beck and call ... good times.
Legendary Weapons planned for future Final Fantasy XI update
A new addition to Final Fantasy XI is coming this summer, and it's set to be a pretty big deal for players of Square's MMO. The Legendary Weapons of Balrahn will be an entirely new set of powerful items, each geared specifically to one of the game's many jobs. We first heard about these weapons from Fusionx, who theorizes that they'll be included in the version update this June. He's hopeful that these high end weapons will be easier to obtain that the current relics which, as he puts it, "require 120 million gil or more to completely upgrade."The handsome axe above is name simply Conqueror and is intended for the Warrior job; each of the class weapons is highlighted in an article on the official FFXI site. Several classes (Dancer, Thief, Bard) are getting daggers. The Dark Knight is getting a huge scythe, the White Mage an impressive looking club, the Black Mage an impressive staff, and the Beastmaster a fantastic looking hand axe called the Aymur. Each of these implements is supposed to come with an all new weapon skill - a big changeup for the game, and some great high end content to sate the longtime players of this venerable title.Thanks, Fusionx!
EU version of Final Fantasy XI 2008 hits stores May 28th
Square Enix has announced that they plan on releasing the 2008 edition of Final Fantasy XI at the end of this month on May 28th. The box will come with the original game plus every expansion released to date. That means players will get Final Fantasy XI, Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urghan, and Wings of the Goddess all in one purchase.This is nothing new from Square Enix, as they've done this the past couple of years. We would just like to thank them for keeping all the expansions purchasable in a single box, as it makes things a lot easier on newer players trying to get into the game -- or even returning players who've lost their original boxes.Update: May 28th is actually the release date for the EU version of Final Fantasy XI 2008 Edition. The US version of this bundle was released on April 15th, 2008.
MogBonanza hits Final Fantasy XI, kupo!
Our inside source with the Vana'diel moogle guild has revealed that the moogles are up to some fun for the adventurers! Moogle technology has recently improved to the point where they can now draw numbers carved on marbles out of a huge bin and reward prizes to those who hold the winning numbers. What does this mean for you? Massive cash!To celebrate Final Fantasy XI's sixth anniversary, the moogles are giving out many great items with a top cash prize of 100,000,000 gil for the player who matches all 5 numbers. It should be noted that even 2 numbers matching gives you a chance to win 100,000 gil!With Square-Enix's crack down on real-money trading and gilsellers in an attempt to stabilize the economy of FFXI, it seems really odd for them to be infusing a huge prize of 100,000,000 gil into the economy through a contest. But, hey, we're not going to be complaining. Would you want to turn down 100,000,000 gil? We think not.[Thanks, FusionX!]
The Daily Grind: Preferred control scheme?
A very large amount of MMO players use the tried-and-true WASD keyboard configuration to play their game of choice. However, we know that there are people out there who shun tradition, and have taken another option. Perhaps you use the typically-neglected arrow keys for movement, or the point-and-click style movement that some MMOs offer? Maybe you've shuffled to the right, along to the ESDF setup, to take advantage of some extra hotkeys? Or are you using something so crazy we may not have even heard of it?Then there's the possibility that you've left the keyboard behind altogether. In games where you have a choice between versions (like FFXI and Phantasy Star Universe), do you prefer the console or PC controls? Have you found yourself looking up applications like Switchblade for use with your favorite MMO, to get that familiar controller back in your grasp? Tell us about any other ways that you like to take control of your MMO.
Final Fantasy XI Feast of Swords event begins April 28th
Those rapscalion Moogles are at it again. The Feast of Swords event, a chance for the children of the three kingdoms to get some culture, has once again been endangered by relic thieves! This time the Moogles were ... sort of ... ready for them. They actually sent the thieves information tipping them off to the Samuari armor's location, making sure they'd steal the relics in a timely fashion. They've given us, the adventurers of Final Fantasy XI's Vana'diel, plenty of advance warning that these thugs are coming.So be ready! April 28th marks the start of the event, which will run through May 7th. During that time you can take place easily by grabbing a ibushi shinai (a special wooden katana) from Moogles in the three Kingdoms. Speak with another Moogle in one of the many early zones to appropriately tune your character to the content. The Feast is a fantastic holiday as characters of every level can take part; even if you play a max-level monster your avatar will be dropped to level 1. The full details on the event are available at the official FFXI site. The lore surrounding last year's Feast might be of interest for contrast, and the FFXIclopedia has a guide covering the 2006 experience. Make sure to arm yourself properly, and good luck fighting the bandits!
The Final Fantasy XI anti-RMT task force strikes back
The anti-RMT task force run by Square/Enix is one of the most vigorous in the industry. Though it's debateable how effective measures like this are, it has to be reassuring to Final Fantasy XI players to know that there's someone on the case. Square has released a number of updates in its war on the goldfarmers, notifying the playerbase on a rash of online attacks that have hit the community recently. One article offers up preventative tips, and walks the reader through the process of verifying and recovering from an account hacking. Another offers plenty of details on recent bannings, updates to a recent article outlining similar banning statistics. Since the last update roughly 600 players have been banned for using movement hacks, as an example. Roughly 2200 players have lost their accounts for botting, and another 1700 were caught participating in RMT activities. This last activity is the primary concern of the task force, which reports on its recent initiatives in a third piece. Illegal fishing and mining are in the group's future plans, and (as well) the report tracks the level of banning activity over the last year. Whether it's working or not, it's fascinating to see the fruits of their labor.
Who is winning the gold farming war?
The PlayNoEvil blog has obtained gold sales information from one of the multi-game gold farming services. The service provided the site with currency sales values over a period of nine months. Site author Steven Davis examined the data with an eye towards the effectiveness of banning, anti-RMT task forces, design changes, and other preventative measures. If currency values went up, then there was obviously less currency entering the marketplace; this would indicate successful campaigns against the farmers. The result is a fascinating scorecard in the war on RMT. He's got data for Final Fantasy XI, Guild Wars, EVE Online, Runescape, EverQuest 2, and World of Warcraft.So what does the data show? Essentially, that not a single thing done by any of the developers/publishers has had the effect of increasing currency prices. Moral outrage and crackdowns aside, prices for every currency tracked by the site have remained more or less steady. The only effort that seemed to have any effect at all was Jagex's recent trading technique patch, which temporarily spiked Runescape gold to twice its previous value. Since then, prices have returned to normal, indicating the farmers found a way around Jagex's changes. Though it's been noted elsewhere, it's also interesting to reiterate that gold prices on EverQuest 2's publisher-supported RMT servers don't vary from the norm across the game's servers. That is, even with a legitimate option people are still willing to engage in risky third-party RMT. We want to make the observation that the RMT company involved here has every reason to falsify data. It's fascinating stuff, but should be taken with a grain of salt.
The Digital Continuum: Cinematic combat
I've played a lot of MMOs in my life, but to be honest I've grown very tired of the tried-and-true combat most games offer. For a long time I've thought that maybe adding extra layers of mechanics on top of the combat -- like WAR seems to be doing -- would help, but now I'm not so sure that's quite the right answersDo I think that real-time combat is the only answer? No. While I love that type of gameplay, there is definitely something to be said for the combat styles of Everquest, Everquest II, World of Warcraft and the upcoming Warhammer Online. However, to maintain overall player interest, traditional combat in MMOs seriously needs to evolve.
My life in Vana'diel returns!
My Life in Vana'diel, one of the longest running MMO game journals we can think of, has returned to life after a long period of quiet. The journal catalogs the ongoing adventures of James Mielke, an editor at EGM and the 1up.com website, in the world of Final Fantasy XI. Milky has been keeping the journal basically since the game launched, originally writing the columns for the Ziff/Electronics Boutique magazine GMR. After he made the move online, the columns continued on the 1up.com website. The online piece details the adventures of Milky's characters and provided non-players with an in-depth look into serious MMO gameplay.After more than a year of time away from the column, Milky's FFXI gameplay has picked up again. In this latest blog entry, he outlines recent events in his Linkshell (Cloak and Dagger). Dedicated players have kept the shell going, and the well-organized group is now regularly taking on 'gods-level' content. These are some of the most challenging encounters in the game, even though they were originally added way back in the Rise of the Zilart expansion. Their group has regularly been getting the coveted Kirin's Osode drop from the Notorious Monster/god Kirin, as well as doing dynamis runs, salvage, limbuses and other high-end organized play. Make sure to read the column to get the full details and (if you have a while) go back and read through the column's archive. Fascinating reading.
The problem with cross-platform MMOs
Darren over at The Common Sense Gamer has brought up an interesting reason for cross-platform MMOs to never happen. The reason is that patching and updating on PCs is an easier-going process than on a console, because consoles are closed platforms with certification processes for any new incoming software updates. This is a headache for developers to figure out and possibly for the players too, since many may have to wait for the console certification before a PC version patch can go up.
Square/Enix cracks down on Final Fantasy XI RMT
The folks at Square/Enix have had a rough time with in-game money sellers, commonly known as gold or gil-farmers. Over the last few years they've taken some drastic steps to curtail the activities of RMT vendors inside the world of Final Fantasy XI. At the Austin Game Developer's Conference last year, they spent the majority of a keynote session talking about their efforts to stamp out the farming menace. Through the tireless work of the anti-RMT squad onstaff, they've greatly reduced the instances of gold selling in Vana'diel.Still, the sellers never rest. The official FFXI site has up details on a fresh new round of bans the company has handed down. Interestingly, they break down the numbers so we can see who was banned for what. We can seen, then, that about 1500 people have been removed from the game since February 17th for gil-selling in-game. Since January 27th about 1000 people have been kicked for using movement hacks, while about half that have been removed for 'monopolizing monsters or areas'. Interesting stuff, and fascinating to see it broken out like that. Keep fighting the good fight, Vana'diel soliders!
A video and screenshot tour of FFXI's Wings of the Goddess expansion
Late last week we had the opportunity to get a hands-on look at the most recent expansion to the venerable MMO title Final Fantasy XI. Wings of the Goddess was released to excited Taru Tarus and enthusiastic Galkas in November of last year, but the new content is still being explored by the several hundred-thousand strong playerbase. Featuring two new jobs and an intriguing story arc that ties the present of Vana'diel to its war-torn past, Wings is easily the most ambitious project the Square/Enix development team has delivered to the online space. While it hasn't been as well received as some previous expansions, it's nonetheless a watershed moment in the game's history.The reason? The FFXI developers are reaching out to the community, both inside and out of the game. Don't play Final Fantasy XI? Don't worry – we haven't in a while either. That's why we went on this tour, to experience the newest and greatest the gameworld had to offer. While talking to the developers was great, nothing can compare with seeing the sights and trying out the two new classes firsthand ... and did we ever come back with spoils! We have descriptions of playstyles for both of the new classes, details on the newest Campaign-style collaborative combat gameplay, dozens of screenshots, half a dozen videos, and one very special cinema featuring a certain cat that might be very familiar indeed ...%Gallery-19113%
Massively surveys MMO Easter events
Seasonal events are often the most popular in-game events in many of today's MMOs. But each game's designers have to find a way to slip these real world celebrations into the lore and mechanics of their persistent worlds. Let's look at this year's crop of Easter events transmogrified into online fun.Some designers do little more than blatantly throw in eggs hidden in the bushes such as World of Warcraft's Noblegarden. You can spend the day in the newbie zones and collect eggs that hold minor items. Not very much to this, especially considering the way Blizzard has been revamping other seasonal events like Hallow's End into something drool worthy. Fortunately, our friends at WoW Insider have created a gallery of the 25 best Easter Eggs of WoW. Not the kind of Easter eggs mentioned above, but the little hidden in jokes placed in the game by the designers from 'Snakes on a Plane' visual gags to Clint Eastwood nods to 'Firefly' shout-outs.You can begin your tour of these hidden gems by clicking on the first picture below, check out what little Noblegarden does have to offer in the second gallery or continue to read about Easter events in other MMOs after the jump. Gallery: Burning Crusade Easter eggs Gallery: Noblegarden
MMOG Podcast Roundup: Mar. 14th - Mar. 21st
Every week, hardworking Massive gaming fans put their voices on the line to bring us news, opinions, and 'critiques' of their favorite games. Podcasts are a staple of many hobbies nowadays, and fans of online worlds are especially fortunate in this regard ... there are a ton out there. As such, every so often we'll try to update you on the podcasting world. Keep your eyes on this space for links to your favorite MMO-commentary celebs. Good and bad, straight-man or blue-mouthed, they all have something to offer about this amazing style of gameplay.Our spotlight this week rests on The Instance, a fantastic World of Warcraft podcast that reached 100 episodes this past week. They've been going strong since January of 2006! Back then they were talking about the Ahn'Quiraj event and rumours of which races would show up in the Burning Crusade expansion; my oh my how time flies. Make sure you stop over and give their hundredth show a listen - well worth your time. Congratulations!
The FFXI Easter egg hunt is on!
While Brew Day, Noblegarden, and even LOTRO's new Spring Festival are all well and good, for me the ultimate Easter event in a online game has to be the Egg Hunt in Final Fantasy XI. The official FFXI site has up notes on the rewards you can garner for participating in the event this year - the very beautiful eggs pictured above with a very sleepy Moogle. How to actually participate in the Eggstravaganza event isn't on the site, but the event hasn't changed overmuch in the many years it's been running. For hints, Allakhazam has guides for the 2005 egg hunt and the 2007 egg hunt. Square/Enix is a big fan of seeing user experiences applauded and praised, so for most of the month they've been accepting player stories. Ostensibly connected to the Egg Hunt event, many are anecdotes from humorous events in the lives of Vana'diel citizens. They're fun to read - especially because they're short: "My first day consisted of punching a bee until I figured out how to equip a weapon, staring at a door until someone opened it, and following people around to find my moghouse!"
