Upcoming Version Update April 2005

[Dukuji]

Well ... y'alls beat me to it this time.

Added the XP info changes.

I guess this is good for some and bad for others. (Being level 48, I'm somewhat happy) But I think people are jumping to conclusions here. How much do you think SE will actually lower it by? 1%-3% per level is my guess; maybe less. What about the new lower KO cost (8%, 2.4k max loss)? Nobody has mentioned that. People could say that the new 2.4k loss cap is aimed at the higher levels and not the small guys. SE likes to move in little steps. And I don't think that we are going to be seeing a lot of "noobs" in the higher ranks. The commitment to 50 is still there. Besides, real noobs buy their character on eBay.

[Crispleaf]

The number of experience points required to gain each level was originally calculated after considering players' effects on the world of Vana'diel as they progressed beyond the initial level cap of 50. However, a considerable amount of time has passed since the implementation of the final cap of 75, and players beyond level 50 no longer have the same influence on the balance of the game. After a close review, the FINAL FANTASY XI development team has decided to reduce the amount of experience needed for leveling up after reaching level 51 (levels 1-50 will remain the same, however).

Well, with white mage and red mage post level 50, and black mage not far behind, I welcome this news, personally. I could see why they would require significantly high experience levels during the period of time shortly after they raised the cap from 50 to 55, 55 to 60, etc. They probably had a glut of level 50 characters and this would keep them occupied for awhile.

But as it stands now, trying to get 20k xp per level for my 56 red mage, and over 35k xp per level for my white mage is nothing short of tedious. Any scaling back would be a welcome improvement

Now that I tihink about it, I'd better not level white mage or red mage until after the update so I don't waste any more time

[Baketsu]

My highest level job is 38 Red Mage, and I agree about the noobs who do too much power leveling, they don't realize how to use their character. I take time off between powerleveling to run missions and solo stuff so i can learn all the little details that being a Red Mage entails. Plus I buy as many new spells as I possibly can so I can play with them and find which ones are most effective. I have gotten praise in parties as of late because i know what i am doing.

[Crispleaf]

Yeah, you can definitely see the difference between a character who had to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and those riding the powerlevel train or buying their characters from IGE.

If you make all your mistakes early, and learn to overcome them, you become a much better player later on.

A couple of nights ago, I partied with a red mage who couldn't even keep the mages refreshed (other than himself) or even debuff the monster or cast dispel as necessary... pretty much the three basic functions of a red mage.

He was rdm/blm and I was rdm/whm, and I was supposed to be the main healer... but we ended up switching roles just so we could keep the xp flowing. After 15 levels of Refreshing, I think I got it down by now

[Poge]

I have a feeling that when word gets around, no one's going to be leveling above 50 until after the update. Personally, I'm gonna spend the next couple weeks finally getting my last 3 sub jobs to level 37 and maybe quest for my Hat of Pimpin'.

[Crispleaf]

I should have no problem getting a party in Qufim then... Time to take ninja, thief, and warrior to 37

[Pyrexia]

I don't like this update at all. There's already tons of players in endgame who have no idea how to play their jobs, I worked hard for every experience point I've gotten, and it sucks that someone isn't going to appreciate levelling up as much as all the other players who have reached 75 already. A level 75 noob is the worst kind of noob.

They're making it easier for the few who complain because all they do in this game is level grind and they get bored. There's so many low and mid level things to do, this game isn't like the first Everquest, where to be effective at all you had to be a high level. It also isn't like WoW where we all level up as fast as possible to play PvP.

*shrug* Not that anyone here falls into this category, but it just isn't right that players who don't enjoy and put as much effort into this game as others do are going to be 75 faster and easier than the ones who do enjoy every aspect of the game and have already put a lot of effort into it. I suppose HNMs and sky are going to be even more full, and even more full of players who don't know the etiquette (blah, sp) and such of sky and HNMs.

I'm confused as to what SE means by players past 50 don't effect the balance of the game anymore. Sorry for the rant, and a lot of it probably doesn't make any sense, I'm just teemed that all my hardwork to get to 70+ isn't going to be appreciated anymore when every person who picks up this game and is 75 in a month.

Please SE, don't try and turn this into WoW. You don't have PvP and that's the only thing that WoW has going for it the huge PvP part of the game, not the storylines, not the quests, not the graphics, just PvP.

[Kandora]

Is it possible that this is the first step in raising the level cap again?

[Rakshasa]

Maybe to relax the people who already leveled far past 50 they will take into account the amount of experience you have earned so far. Next time you log on after the update your character will have another level or, if you're 75, a whole lot of merit points.

That would still bring the troubles of a high level noob, but at least people's time would not have been wasted.

[Dukuji]

Is it possible that this is the first step in raising the level cap again?

Well they did say directly "since the implementation of the final cap of 75" so no. I'm pretty sure that they will never raise the cap again.

As for all the higher levels who feel cheated think of it this way, now you can level other jobs you like with less stress.

As for bringing more people to the higher levels who "don't know how to play their jobs" um ... HELLO!! Bad players are everywhere and always will be. It could be 100k xp per level after 50 and you are still going to find these kinds of players. Changing how much xp per level it takes is not going to weed them out.

I would think all them "SE hates NA players" people should rejoice ... now you can catch up to the JPs. I bet every JP player is thinking "SE hates JP players!"

[Pyrexia]

Nope, they said that you will not gain a level from the change. If you would level up with the amount of xp you have you'll be left with 1 tnl, if you're already capped at your xp for 75, you'll still be capped, no merit points.

They didn't say they'll be changing the xp required for merit points, so I don't think that system is changing anytime soon.

[Crispleaf]

Honestly, I don't think earning 20k (or whatever I'll have to earn) a level instead of 30 or 40k to get from 67 to 75 is going to make me a worse player.

The only spells I have left to learn are Shell 4, Raise 3, Curaga 4, and Reraise 3...

Seriously. Do you think using the prequels to these spells would give me greater enlightenment by wasting several more hours killing the same mobs over and over again?

Granted, working harder for something gives you a greater appreciation for it. But make no mistake: that's all that's lost here. The appreciation and the hard work are all that's diluted.

But I don't think it will lead to a mass of clueless players. They tend to come from the ill-gotten crowd of IGE and ebay fame... And no level is immune from that, even today.

[Poge]

I don't think this is going to be as drastic a change as people are talking about. I'm thinking the exp is going to go something like:

From >> To
20k >> 15k
30k >> 22k
40k >> 30k
etc.

And let's face it. Exp parties don't change much between levels 50 and 75 with the exception of a few new abilities at level 60. You still need the same basic party (tank, healer, buff/debuffer, puller, 2 DD's) that you've used since skillchains became a necesity in the 40's. The only thing this is going to save everyone is about one hour per level of repetative fights and exp chains.

It's not going to make level 75's worse players because they've only spent 80 days playing the game instead of 100. For me, it's not going to make leveling up any less rewarding. And it's not going to create a huge influx of level 75's because they'll still need to get something like 500k exp between level 50-75.

Think about that number. 500,000 exp!! That's 2,500 monsters you have to kill at an average of 200 exp/mob. That's 100 hours of playing time at 5k/hour. (Not to mention the time it takes to build a party, move to where you're going, then the tank has to go pick up his g/f, and the whm needs a drink, and the puller needs to use the w.c.) It's gonna be a little bit easier but not that much.

[Prrsha]

I don't think this is going to be as drastic a change as people are talking about. I'm thinking the exp is going to go something like:

From >> To
20k >> 15k
30k >> 22k
40k >> 30k
etc.

And let's face it. Exp parties don't change much between levels 50 and 75 with the exception of a few new abilities at level 60. You still need the same basic party (tank, healer, buff/debuffer, puller, 2 DD's) that you've used since skillchains became a necesity in the 40's. The only thing this is going to save everyone is about one hour per level of repetative fights and exp chains.

It's not going to make level 75's worse players because they've only spent 80 days playing the game instead of 100. For me, it's not going to make leveling up any less rewarding. And it's not going to create a huge influx of level 75's because they'll still need to get something like 500k exp between level 50-75.

Think about that number. 500,000 exp!! That's 2,500 monsters you have to kill at an average of 200 exp/mob. That's 100 hours of playing time at 5k/hour. (Not to mention the time it takes to build a party, move to where you're going, then the tank has to go pick up his g/f, and the whm needs a drink, and the puller needs to use the w.c.) It's gonna be a little bit easier but not that much.

Well said.

[Josiejo]

Please SE, don't try and turn this into WoW. You don't have PvP and that's the only thing that WoW has going for it the huge PvP part of the game, not the storylines, not the quests, not the graphics, just PvP.

Hmm... maybe we're not playing the same game. WoW, to me, is a gankfest. People don't powerlevel in WoW so they can PvP, they do it so they can gank or survive being ganked. Probably the only real PvP going on there is in the Arena. Anywhere else, you could be trying to do a simple quest and have some opposing player come up from behind and kill you while fighting a mob. (Nevermind the fact that they're probably about 20+ levels higher than you.) I don't care what people say about FFXI's lack of PvP, I'll take it over being hassled while questing and killed by BNet adolescents trying to validate themselves by being a WoW "leet" jerk.

Even with the EXP cuts, this game is still far more epic, and far more fulfilling than WoW will ever be. That's why I cancelled my WoW subscription, and will probably never reactivate it.

[kashell]

Now that I think about it I dislike this update even more, doing endgame content stuff is already over crowded on Alexander.....160 people camping Fafnir the other day, it's already next to impossible to get claim on popular HNMs and there's almost always 100+ people in sky at any given time getting pop items for gods now too..

[Josiejo]

It's going to happen eventually anyway... it's not like those areas should belong to a small group of people for the rest of the server's existence. What would you do if some of those HNMs weren't as camped? Camp them yourself, perhaps? Not much else you can do with them, unless you're helping others fulfill quests, which is getting them closer to being yet another body in these high-level areas.

Still, I don't see what's wrong with it, especially if this ends up bringing about the raise of the max level cap and making room for more abilities and such.

[Dukuji]

Added info on the new areas. Enjoy!

[Rinaah]

I think what they mean by levels being unbalanced it that you need increasingly more xp to level up and the xp rate remains the same. The higher level you are, the more imbalanced the ratio of needed xp/gained xp is. Think of the ratio 200xp is for a level 20 compared to level 60. Granted higher level is supposed to be harder, but I understand where SE is coming from.
I would love to go more into the story and quests, but even at lvl 46, I am spending all my time grinding xp.
SE is making these changes because they want ppl to be more involved in the story. This in turn will cause less crowding in xping areas. Of course ppl will be disappointed that are higher level, but I think as a whole, it will all be more enjoyable for everyone. Wouldn't it be cool if more kitties were high level and we could do really fun stuff? Then you could join us on MP again Pyr..

[kittykitty]

I agree lessen the exp per level, well at high levels. Its not bad for repetitiveness now (around lvl 30) but my brother has gotten to 55 and all he does is fight the same thing for hours and personally I would get bored. I agree with Poge, even the 1/4 exp off of higher levels would lessen the annoyance of repetition.

[Dukuji]

This is it ... the calm before the storm. Added the latest info, including on the new relic armor.

[Ziada]

It'll be awesome... if we can even log in and play. Playonline seems to have been down all morning.

[Batsu]

Bah, new Relic armor. . . just another nearly useless set of armor with one piece worth actually having. . .

[Dukuji]

Wow and wow ... What an update! It's HUGE. From new poles to gaining XP in ballista ... I've added everything to the first post here. Be sure to check it out!!

My favorite is this:
A new synthesis recipe for black ink has been introduced.

[Josiejo]

I can't get connected to the server to update... I've tried for 2 hours.

[Neoshinobi]

I can't get connected to the server to update... I've tried for 2 hours.

Bwahahahaaha.

I was smart enough to update during maintainence

[Rekahkun]

I can't get connected to the server to update... I've tried for 2 hours.

Bwahahahaaha.

I was smart enough to update during maintainence

same