Today took place the long awaited 8th live letter from the producer. This 8th opus has in store for us a little surprise, starting a little earlier for a 20-minute session where Yoshida gave himself up to some confidences:
- We learn that he sleeps very little, via small naps of 2 hours (insomniac limit), what are his culinary preferences (sushi, noodles, soda ...).
- He prefers the Lalafells: “the Lalafells will win!”, He likes to put himself in the shoes of a female character.
It's time to get to the heart of the matter! The Letter took place in two parts. Between the two, we were treated to two videos: one using the principle "collection of Eorzea" showing us lots of equipment, the other giving pride of place to the bestiary. For the second part, a guest appeared: it is Tanaka Rie, the voice actor of Kan-E Senna and Garuda. She chose a few questions from those asked by the players.
Phase 4 and early access
You were impatiently waiting for this date! Phase 4 will take place from August 17 to 19. For those who participated in phase 3, you will have the right to start from August 16. Regarding the early access, it will take place from August 24th to 26th, the official release being on the 27th. There will be no closure of the servers between the 26th and the 27th, you will be able to continue playing!
Content of phase 4
- During this last phase, the maximum level will be 20. All content available at this level will be present as it will be at the official release.
- Barring a huge bug, your character's progress will be saved.
- A feature for screenshots will be available on PS3.
- L'Arcaniste will be beautiful and well available
- The team is counting on you to test two things as a priority:
- Test the capacity of the residential area in La Noscéa (Limsa Lominsa)
- Try out PvP. Called until now the "Colosseum" its name is now "the Lair of the Wolves"
The Housing
Yoshi explained that the housing will be ultra customizable and that you can modify everything, from floor to ceiling. Numerous sketches and worksheets were shown during the live letter. You will discover a wide choice of furniture to fit out your home.
These items can provide bonuses. The Free Companies will earn points for completing quests and may purchase items that provide bonuses to players, such as an experience bonus. Free Company residential quarters can be built in any nation, regardless of which starting Grand Company you choose. If the players show their desire, the team will consider creating residential districts in other regions!
An idea has been submitted: to see our companions walking around our house. Yoshi appreciates the idea and will keep us informed.
The Housing areas of Gridania and Ul'dah will be revealed later.
PvP
The Wolf's Den (formerly the Colosseum) and the Front Line are ready. However, special PvP actions are not yet available. We'll be testing the basic actions in PvP. With the Lair only available from level 30, Yoshi relies on Legacy players to test the system during phase 4, with the maximum level capped at 20.
L'Antre des Loups is built on an island, where the meteor crashed. This Colosseum was built by the 3 nations. To participate in PvP, you will need to speak to an NPC. You choose whether you want 4v4 or 8v8 matches. You can then use the Mission Tool or create your own party first.
Skill points
The basic stats are slightly different for each race. Yoshi reassures the players by saying that at a high level this gap will be negligible.
As the Arcanist is the only class (for the moment ...) to have two jobs, the players asked if the skill points (Spirit, Strength, etc ...) were shared between the two jobs. This is not the case. Take the example of the Arcanist. The Scholar relies on Spirit while the Summoner uses Intelligence. There will be an object to reset these points so that they are in line with the job played. However, this function will be limited. We do not know more for the time.
Regarding other future jobs, we will have to wait a long time. We will talk about it again in a future extension, called "3.0".
The Arcanist, the Scholar, and the Summoner
The class and her two jobs were shown during the live.
The Arcanist
It will be a damage class. Carbuncle will have two forms: the Emerald will use ranged magic attacks while the Carby Topaz will be more of a tank.
His master will have an action allowing him to use his own hit points to heal his companion. You will also have access to an action bar specially designed to control the friend Carby: "Return" to send him back, "Move" to follow you, "Stay" to stay. on the spot. You can also place an area on the ground to instruct Carbuncle to go there. There will also be a "Peace" action designed to prevent Carbuncle from tickling an enemy the Dark Mage had just put to sleep.
Carby is smart enough to fight on his own, but at the top level it will be important to know how to command him. Be aware that your damage also relies on him and not just your spells.
Let’s come to the available spells! The Arcanist mainly has alteration spells ("Bio" "Ruin ..."). They are very useful and you will have to be careful to keep them on the enemy. You will also have "Vain" which hits all enemies around the targeted one. During your first steps as an Arcanist you will only have Bio and Ruin. It will take a little progress to acquire Carbuncle. As you progress, your friend will gain in power.
You will have to place your companion intelligently whether you are an Arcanist, Scholar or Summoner.
The summoner
Let's present the Egi!
Garuda and Ifrit will be offensive Egis. Ifrit will be for close combat while Garuda will use magic and ranged attacks. Titan will focus on tanking.
The summoner will use dowries in addition to Egi. He can also place an area of effect on the ground inflicting poison and slowness. It will therefore be preferable in this case to use Titan so that it keeps the enemies in the area. He will also have a powerful spell that will apply Bio and "Miasma" on the monster.
There will be no new EGIs immediately. They will come later, with for example the increase in the level.
The Scholar
He will be a healer. Her Fairies can heal or apply buffs to players. An area of effect can emanate from a fairy. It will need to be near your group to benefit from it. There is a cast time for fairies, avoid parting with them if your fairy has little health, as you will have to wait before calling on her again.
Unlike the White Mage, the Scholar heals and buffs you at the same time, such as a kind of shield that will absorb a certain amount of damage. He will have access to an "Ether flow mode" to cover MPs. During this mode, you will have access to certain actions, the possibility of instantly casting a spell. You can place an area of effect on the ground to heal and buff those inside.
You will be able to revive your teammates. In PvP you will have area effect healing.
For groups of 8 players, Yoshi specifies that having a White Mage and a Scholar will provide a good balance.
Fisheries
The baits will be very important, there are a multitude of them. You will need to choose your bait carefully. If your choice is wrong, a warning message will be displayed. Your equipment will also be important.
There are many species of fish (the harvest log being displayed in Japanese on the screen, I did not take a catch. It is similar to that of other Earth Disciplines). Some can only be sinned in good weather or at night.
Yoshi fishing .. Not Lalafell!
At high level, you will be able to fish in the desert (and not preach ..) and in the sky where you will have flying fish (no, you are not drunk, there are flying fish!). Later you will even fish for treasure maps, items.
Fishing points are marked on the compass. There are many: lakes, rivers, oceans ... The team will track down the fishing bots. Everything is planned to eliminate them quickly.
Equipment repair
Players were amazed at Yoshida's latest feedback about repairing the equipment and its cost: its cost did not change no matter how degraded the equipment was. Yoshi realized it was a mistake. Now the cost will be estimated based on the condition of the equipment. Also when after a defeat, if you try to fight a primordial again, your equipment will take less damage if it is close to breaking in order to reduce the resulting penalty.
A Hairdresser and marriage?
The Beauty Salon will be available in 2.1. You can change your hairstyle and hair color, eye color, facial markings and tattoos and their colors, gems ...
And when you feel ready to seduce, you will have the option of getting married afterwards! We do not yet have a date for the implementation of this function.
The events
Swimsuits, also known as "heat resistance gear" will be back for the seasonal "Summer Party" event which kicks off a week after the official release. Other seasonal events are coming!
Dungeons, The Crystal Tower and Bahamut
After the launch of the game there will be a difficult dungeon relating to the history of the 7th Umbral era, where Louisoix teleports the players. The Bahamut Labyrinth explains what happened. Yoshi provided some details about the unfolding of the dungeon:
- At the beginning you will be 8 players but it will be necessary to separate into groups to progress during the second part.
- Expect to take a lot of damage! We will have to stay together to share this damage, otherwise death is guaranteed.
- You will have to inflict a certain amount of damage. So be optimally equipped!
Primordial Battle
These fights have received some modifications. Yoshi wants players to have fun, encounter difficulty without it being overwhelming. You will have to think of a strategy and keep an eye on the environment!In addition an "extreme" mode for the Primaries will be added: in story mode the combat will be simple, during another encounter it will be difficult and finally, you will have this "extreme" mode! At the time of V1, we could face the good king Moggle Mog XI who is not really a Primordial. It will be back for 2.1, Kupo!
Treasure map
This functionality is still planned. It will be playable solo or in a small team.
Mounts
We already have the Chocobo and the Magitek armor but there will be more ...
Yoshi shows us a White Mage riding a unicorn! We learn that the White Mage's class will be the Elementalist. The unicorn will (maybe) be unlockable with the class quests and you can use it with any class afterwards. The posture on a mount will be different depending on the race and gender of the character.
Equipment
- Job-specific equipment for journeymen will be available upon exit. You will be able to obtain it in different places, High level Hazards, as for new companions. You might have a Morbol in your inventory, so keep an eye out for it!
- There will be other versions of Clairobscur equipment
- During Phase 3, when we joined another Grand Company, we could no longer use the equipment of our previous GC of V1. This will always be the case, but it will be easier to change Grande Compagnie. In addition we will be able to exchange the equipment for Seals.
- "Rare Weapon Appearance System": This system was intended to allow players to change the appearance of their weapon to be unique. But after discussing this among the team, they're not ready to implement due to the variety of unique-looking weapons already present.
- Artifact quests will be doable solo.
Loot and Item Transfers
- There will be no usage restriction on loot orders. The team had talked for a while about limiting the number of "Needs", but that ultimately won't be the case.
- Currently it is not possible to transfer an item from one character on the same account to another. This may be considered later. If this is the case, it will not be possible to transfer Unique / Personal type objects.
Mission Tool
It has been said that we would have a better reward if we chose to do any Mission via the tool. This function will appear in 2.1. Yoshida spoke about seals previously. It will be possible to acquire equipment through these seals. Let's say you can't beat Ifrit, and these items are hard to get. With these seals you will be able to achieve something similar.
Payment system
In addition to payment by credit card and via Crystas to pay for your subscription, 30 and 60 day game time cards will be available for sale at your local resellers. There are several designs for these cards, enough to make a good collection in perspective!
Server transfer service
This paid system should be available 2-3 weeks after launch. More details will be revealed shortly.
Veteran Rewards and Welcome Back Campaign
V1 players will be able to play for free until September 9. This is the "Bon Retour" campaign.
The Veteran's reward system is there to offer players in-game items based on their subscription time:
- 30-day subscription: "Floating Cursor" mascot and an item to redo your character for free.
- 60 days: black swimsuit, black chocobo baby mascot
- 90 days: an Ahriman mascot and mount
The application for smartphones
Her name is Libra Eorzea, and the only thing she won't do is coffee.
You will have access to your character's file, you will be able to compare the equipment you own. She will show you that your accessories are low level and will suggest others. It shows all the possible information about an item: its statistics, its materiala slots, the material required to craft it, which NPC sells it, which quest offers it as a reward. It shows you the said quest, and if necessary the pre-quests.
Eorzean pound
It cost a lot to develop this app, but Yoshi wanted gamers to be able to plan their future gaming session while away from their PC / console.
It will be free for all players and will be available one week after launch for Apple media and three weeks after for Android media.
Other screenshots:
