[nervosa]

With Scars of Abyssea now available for advance purchase via PlayOnline, players have no doubt been wondering what challenges await them. Well, wonder no more, for a promotional trailer offering a sneak peek at this latest battle add-on is now available!

The official site has also been updated with details on Empyrean Armor, a powerful new set of equipment that will be available to those who prove themselves worthy. Players can also get a glimpse of some of the frightful fiends that prowl the battered lands of this dying world. Check it out today!

Access the official Scars of Abyssea site.

*Scars of Abyssea will become playable to purchasing users upon downloading and installing the next FINAL FANTASY XI version update, currently scheduled for Wednesday, September 8.

[nervosa]

[Terranova]

Black Mage, Beastmaster, Samurai, and Blue Mage Empyrean armor looks kickass. I hope they aren't nearly as hard to obtain as the Empyrean weapons. (And also that they're good...)

Iratham made an appearance in the trailer. =o And they're definitely hyping the heck out of the Iron Giant(s). I'm kind of surprised it's called something as generic as Iron Giant, and not Ferus Giganté or something, knowing SE's naming antics. (I mean, seriously. Gargouille?) Still praying for Mighty Guard. (And praying subsequently that said Guard does not suck.)

Was also kind of hoping for some new music, but meh. In the previous four add-ons, the new song(s) have been played in the trailer, and we just got the Abyssea zone music this time. But I dunno. They could be hiding it from us.

And shoot me for being interested in the storyline, but I'm curious about these "Champions of Abyssea." I'm hoping that hints at some sort of serious plot development in this add-on.

This post has been edited by Terranova: 02 September 2010 - 06:20 PM

[Corrderio]

Only AF3 I liked was DRG, some I can't comment on until the body armor comes out.

Also, SE found a good way to keep me from comming back to play PUP... AF3 is hard to take serious.

[Aleera]

Edit: Nvm. Didn't read the red text. Unusual for SE to do an update on a Wednesday vs. a Monday when they normally perform update maintenances, though.


Trailer seemed a bit weak, but I hope the content is good.

This post has been edited by Aleera: 02 September 2010 - 07:06 PM

[pathwriter]

I expect the content to be the same as Vision: here's some stuff, go kill it. I'm ok with that, too, though I do wish they'd remove the idiot time restrictions. Even with my stockpile of Abyssites, I'd rather be able to go about my time leisurely than forever be looking over my shoulder at the clock.

[Aleera]

I agree. Also, maybe at an item to hold when you get visitant status to show the time remaining left on there, too. Sort of like hourglasses for dynamis, that will let you leave the zone at will as well. Not that it's something incredibly important needed, but would be nice to have for convenience.

[.Sotek.]

Huh? Really? Farming TE is ridiculously easy. To the point where I don't even need to go get stones anymore.
I'd much rather they focus on at least trying to make the content feel different. If this is going to replace all old game content (fuck every single person who got Nocturnus armor before this update, fuck you all) then I'm going to get pretty sick of it being the same god damn shit every time. Regardless as to how horrid some of them were, at least if you were trying to get lv75 cap gear, you'd never be doing the same shit each day.

And would it kill them to spend more than 5 minutes reskinning the zones? Missing Crags was quite interesting for a whole 10 seconds, but Scars wont even have that (unless Parradamo Tor is missing, and with it all hope of a Phoenix NM). I chuckled when I read the bestiary and saw SE calling it a cataclysm that caused Abyssea, I may not like WoW, but at least those redesigns look great. You can claim Cataclysm is a full expansion, but the full set of abyssea is worth twice (or at least an equal amount) that of an expansion, so fuck you SE.

[pathwriter]

You farm Time Extensions solo or in low-man groups with your LS, huh? I don't go into Abyssea to XP, I go in to hunt NMs. Having to compete for them and fight against a needless time limit is a bit of an irritant. Questing against a time limit is even worse.

[.Sotek.]

I don't go in to EXP at all, thats just an annoying side affect. I'm at a loss what to use merits for now.
Low-manning is a valid point, though whenever I've done that with anyone, we would grab an EXP party to get TEs off of first, then we'd leave the alliance, regroup and go kill a few things. Even with a single party, if you've capped lights properly in an alliance beforehand, farming TEs isn't that hard.
Soloing I can't see working at all, and I wouldn't expect it to in FFXI. Running in and killing a single NM is all I expect from that, unless some of the Abyssite affects are really as potent as I've heard (Scarlet Abyssite of Kismet, particularly).

[pathwriter]

I've gotten Time Extensions while solo because of Scarlet Abyssite of Kismet, but I can't get them in an appropriate abundance to stay in Abyssea forever. My usual tactic is to go in, check if an NM is up (Mangy-tailed Marvin, for instance, as I want Orison Cape), and call for LS assistance if he is, hoping that no one claims in the meantime. If the time limit were not a factor, I'd have people come with me in the first place. The VNMs in Abyssea are even more obnoxious.

About two weeks ago, I went through something like six or seven hours of time in Abyssea just questing (I have all but four Abyssites, two of them from completing the zone). Had I not spent the previous week and a half working on subjobs, I don't know that I'd have had that time and that's still a lot of stones to burn.

[.Sotek.]

Surely if you removed the time factor, you'd have more of an issue of people camping against you, though? I certainly doubt I'd ever have killed Onvi a few times without some degree of time limit.

[pathwriter]

Yeah, and I think that's why it is in place. The alternative, though, is simply to make drop rates better. A lot of the NMs with two or more drops have a very good drop rate on one and a very poor drop rate on the other(s). With so many NMs, it hardly seems like a 10% drop rate is appropriate when a time-related limitation is already imposed. Except those few people working on a Magian weapon, I doubt anyone would be competing with me for Mangy-tailed Marvin much at all (and NM drops for Magian trials is a bad idea, especially when they can be bazaared). There's little enough competition as is simply because Orison Cape is one job only, which makes the drop rate + time limit all the more intolerable. Choose one method, 'cause SE has been doing quite well over the past couple years (VNMs aside) and this kind of stuff really needs to be left in the circular file.

[.Sotek.]

I think the whole Atma !! system is in place to help with drop rates in abyssea, I've certainly noticed enhanced (or worse) drop rates based on the colour !! we pop, though that certainly doesn't help the situation. It's a good idea on SEs half, but the implementation could have been a lot better. As it is it pretty much just encourages alliance play and a lot of wasted time spamming moves if you're serious about popping them. The complete randomness of it certainly pisses me off.

Honestly, unless Former Battle Director Akihiko Matsui turns out to actually be serious about his job, I doubt a their recent success will bear fruit. Heroes of Abyssea only takes us to the level 90 cap though, so maybe there's more. I'd certainly love to see some of the ideas they had in Abyssea improved and built upon, like how they did with Besieged to Campaign, rather than 9 levels of trials. Wings of the Goddess and Abyssea have a sort of "final tale" feel about them, though. Akihiko Matsuis little announcement certainly didn't fill me with hope, either.

[pathwriter]

.Sotek., on 02 September 2010 - 10:22 PM, said:

The complete randomness of it certainly pisses me off.

I agree a thousandfold. I don't mind that I might have to spend a few fights swapping in different people with different weapons to find out that, I dunno, Blade: Ei triggers the red !! on Khalamari and Dispel triggers the yellow !! on Cuelebre, but having to spam through everything every time is just cruel.

[.Sotek.]

It's a shame too. Would have been a great way to tie in to some of the lore behind their names and what not. Though only loosely given the triggers.