Looking Back to Yesterday
I'm sure yesterday hit the majority of FFXIV players like a proverbial ton of bricks. The amount of content that went into the patch was so jam-packed I am still wondering whether I have actually fully processed it or not! Anyways, let's re-examine the bigger things.
Month Extended
I was nearly asleep when SE sent me this momentous text, but one casual glance at my phone woke me up faster than a flying Chocobo. At first, I thought it was a typo and/or a poor attempt at a joke, but what initially seemed to good to be true actually was! While this move is a most unprecedented one on SE's part, there is no doubt that it was the right one to make. Just one week ago, SE asked reviewers not to review their game until a month into release – now more players will get to see how SE envisioned their finished retail copy.
This is the first time I have ever heard of a company giving players more free time, but it is good to see them stand away from the pack. While it may cost SE a little bit of money at first, I'm sure the player retention will make this a sound investment and then some.
Market Wards
Countless players have always dreaded visiting Eorzean Market Wards when the time has come for an item upgrade. While the newly implemented ward design hasn't really been player prove, I'm sure this change will add much more oganization to the previously disastrous wards. After all, there is always a good reason to use a certain ward when a lower tax rate comes into play.
While the tax saved by selling certain items will definitely add up over time, I didn't really see too many players selling the applicable items during my time online; this is partially because not a lot of people have taken the time to understand the benefits of doing so.
Let's say I want to sell 3 Cavalry Bows for 100,000 gil each (300,000 total). If the sale is made in the Battlecraft Ward, the 2% tax rate would only add up to 6,000, still letting me take home 294,000 gil and then some. If the bows are sold in any other ward, the 15,000 gil in taxes means the seller would take home 285,000 gil.
I know this hardly seems huge over the course of a single transaction, but what if the same player sold 100 bows under the same conditions? I don't want to make you crunch anymore numbers (kudos if you already did), but selling the bows in the Battlecraft Ward will save 300,000 gil. That is an equivalent of selling 3 more Cavalry Bows, with no additional syntheses involved!
I know it may take a long time to pull this off, but proper money management will ensure greater success down the line in FFXIV. As more players come to see the benefit in doing this, I'm sure we will see the tax-specific wards properly itemized by the players.
Looking Forward
Up until yesterday, I considered myself lucky when I knew of SE's plans a week in advance, let alone a full day. Now, SE has outlined their plans months ahead of time, and my mind has been conjuring up a theoretical storm!
November Update
Just as the free trial is coming to an end, SE is going to be making a plethora of updates with their huge November patch.
- User Interface Adjustments – The amount of UI changes going into the November are very significant, but judging from the sound of things, they are going to be looking to continually update and improve things. For all I know, more things could be added than previously mentioned yesterday.
- Lowered Teleport and Anima Costs – Most moderate to hardcore FFXIV players have been running pretty dry in the anima department for quite some time now. In November, the cost of Returning will be reduced to 1, and Teleporting to a 'specially designated' location will be reduced by half. Either way, I'm sure a lot of players will still opt to 'Death Warp' free of charge, but any anima change such as this is sure to be welcomed by the player base.
- Adjustments to Class Balance – We will surely be a much higher level when this patch hits, and it isn't really known as to which class, abilities, and point allocations are best suited for certain scenarios. I guess we will just have to wait and see what's in store here.
- Party Based Battle Balancing – I had a lot of fun executing the Battle Regimens, and can't wait to see how any changes are made. If the change is significant, I will take the time to do things right, and produce a Battle Regimen Video for our Videos Section.
- Guildleves – Because the difficulties of certain Rank 20+ guildleves are rather misleading, giving us the option to change the difficulty will be a welcomed change. On top of this, the players will finally be able to abandon local levequests! To add icing to the cake, we are going to get some new levequests, too. What's not to love?
They are also going to be making small adjustments to Synthesis difficulty, as well as adding new recipes. I know lag has also been an issue (as expected for a new MMO), but that isn't going to stop SE from looking to alleviate things a bit. Overall, the November patch is shaping up to be something major, and I can't wait to see what it will finally bring.
Mid-December Update
SE isn't going to be bringing quite as many things to the December update (at least not yet), but they have already planned to bring some major stuff with this patch.
- Notorious Monsters – We have long been asking for them, and they will finally become a full-fledged reality just in time for the Holiday Season! I'm sure you have already seen intimidating ones such as the Morbol (inset), but the new ones will probably make this fearsome creature look like your everyday run-of-the-mill English nanny! The new ones will be so formidable, that SE has already promised levequests for players looking to dispose of them – hopefully the spawn rates won't be too insane, because the player turnout for certain NM's in FFXI (along with the spawn predictability) left zero element of surprise to the players.
- Synthesis – As more players will come to reach the maximum level and discipline ranks, SE is going to have more crafting recipes readily available. The recipe interface is also going to get a significant revamp to the point players can load all crafting items with the press of a single button. As Zissling loosely stated yesterday, 'The day they add this, is the day I return to crafting.'
- Guildleves – Aside from the notorious monster levequests, nothing else of note has been mentioned. I guess we will just have to see how they will play out when the time comes.
I'm sure my thoughts on all upcoming changes won't be finalized until they are implemented in game, but it never hurts to think ahead. All in all, I am looking very forward to all upcoming changes, and love SE's unexpected new direction taken toward the players. Here's to hoping they will continue to do the same as FFXIV continues to prosper!
