AF3 Reforging... When?

They won't be able to release ilevel abyssea, unless they decide to charge us money for that like they did for the original Abyssea.
Charging money for that would mean getting additional staff to work on it and blah blah, at that point I could believe in ilevel abyssea being released.

I wouldn't count on it honestly.

Previously I had thoguht on higher level Vagary but I kinda gave up the idea when they released the alternative fights to unlock Empy paths.


New Divergence Beauc/Xarc/Whateverelse sounds, I dunno, bad idea. I think they really want to give us something different, whatever it will be.

Vagary is adoulin though.

This

Did all that years ago. Yes... Every Atma.
I think there were only a few quests and max fame in 1 or 2 zones that I didn't do.
Allow me to translate properly:
"I'm Eiryl. I'm going to put the same hyperbolicly negative slant on this that I put on everything, regardless of how sensible it is"


It will have to be higher level content than Divergence of course.


My thoughts exactly. I know too many advanced players that are drifting away because they have smashed and conquered all the current content.

I don't really expect ilvl Abyssea. I rather feel like that is what the Escha zones have been anyway. Alternate dimensional versions of existing zones. (though I liked the red better than grayscale). Geas fete is tiered NM system like abyssea. Aeonic weapons instead of Empyrean. Augment-able gear instead of up-gradable. Vorseals instead of Atma. Cluster of mostly homogeneous mobs...

I would think limbus or Vagary more likely, simply because they haven't been touched for awhile and vagary hasn't been duplicated yet.

Vagary has just gotten the solo SR route, so I just don't see them adding ANOTHER version of it. They could, but im trying to find some logic in their scheme (funny, I know). They've updated most content a more than once (or have 2 iterations) with the exception of a few standouts:

Salvage 1/2
NNI 1/2
Einherjar 1/2
Dynamis 1/2(dreamlands)/3(divergence)
Delve 1/2
Skirmish 1/2(outer)/3(alluvion)
SR 1/2 (solo path)
Vagary 1/2 (solo path)
Limbus 1/2(omega and ultima 2 paths)
Abyssea 1
VW 1
VWNM (LOL) 1
Omen 1/2 (Ou)
WoE 1
Incursion 1
Ambuscade Vol 1/2
Unity NMs 1
HTBF 1/2(current waves)

If they were to revive some content from way back, it'd likely be something that has no other variant. VW/WOE leads the way as the most popular current non CL events in the game that they currently run campaigns for. They could even start releasing Unity fights for Adoulin. Incursion on most fronts is a pretty weak event. You literally get nothing as a reward from the highest CL. Might make sense to make that event actually mean something (require a 124+ Incursion clear to access newer version). That would both revitalize Incursion events as well as open the path for new content. Experienced players who cleared highest Incursion CL could enter right away, and newer players could work on clears to open it up.

Like mentioned by others, hoping for iLv Abyssea is beyond smoking crack. That's far too much work compared to just dropping new NMs in preexisting zones (ala VW) or copypasting a zone with finite spawns (ala Divergence).

They mentioned a "new battle content" a while ago, the most likely candidate for empy reforge. They may be pushing it off for the 20th anniversary.
How "new" it is is... variable. It could be a white path Omen. It could be a new VW chain. It could be an iLv variant on an old instanced content like Limbus. Though given the connection to Empyreans, VW is my bet as that's the least amount of resources and the levels write themselves for an Adoulin path:
T1s in overworld: Naakuals (6)
T2s in Gates/Cirdas: Xols (3)
T3 in Outer Ra'Kaznar: Bishi Hades
T4 in Inner Ra'Kaznar: God Hades

I am hoping they somehow reuse the Provenance system/zone for Empyrean +2/+3.

I didn't love voidwatch at all.

the proc system where you had a blu with the silliest spell setup for proc's combined with the rediculously low drop rate made it rather off-putting.

I only ever cared about clears and farming for gear was wretched.

I didn't think voidwatch fights were any fun either.
However, spawning in the style of VW in the Adoulin zones doesn't sound bad to me at all... I rather think the adoulin zones are a big empty landscape... mostly useless right now.

There are no lottery spawn NM's. I always felt like there was not alot going on in these zones. Adding more sounds good to me.

There is no way they are waiting for 20th anniversary for new battle content. it was planned for this year. Sure it could be pushed back, but pushing back for 2 more years is ridiculous stupid. they would lose too many subscriptions. They are already losing the most advanced players.

They'll probably just add a new NM system on top of the old abyssea NM system.

They'll make the NM pop items multiples of the old bosses. 5 Chloris buds and a bunch of other random ***to pop a ridiculous NM with a 1% drop rate. Good luck ever farming an empyrean again.

Abyssea isn't really that much more work than anything else, the hard part is creating enough NMs with interesting mechanics regardless of what they do.

There's no reason a new abyssea would need any zone creation (copy the zone files, shuffle the mob families, keep positions within the family the same). That can be done in a work day by a single competent dev.

Creating items/ki is pretty simple too, as long as they recycle icons(didn't seem to be a problem to anyone that dyna slips and voids were recycled icons).

Once that's in place, it's down to NMs, which are the same amount of work whether they shove them into an abyssea zone, a HTBC, or a recycled instance. They don't need to add all the NPCs, dialogue, and quest line to a new abyssea-style battle content.

I still wouldn't be surprised if they retrofit it into these HTBC though. We should have 5 of them by roughly november, at this rate.

I do very much enjoy my hyberbole. However hyperbolic, accurate is accurate.

If they don't HAVE to, they aren't going to.

It really doesn't make sense to stuff 220~440 items into VWII/HTB/UNM. It has to be a "sizable" event to accommodate that many items, with a lockout to prevent burnout/extend subs for a year+. (22 jobs 5/10 items +2 then repeat +3)

It doesn't need to be 220 items. Look at 119 emp, it only used 6 different items.

Obviously we'd all prefer a sizable event, but it wouldn't be the first disappointment from SE.

It does have to.

AF+1 and Relic+1 did too, and then +2/3 multiplied it.

It also has to have "many" sellables. Be those the 220 upgrade items or dozens of new craft items to keep those players active.

Okay, if you're that committed to the 220 items premise, why couldn't it be like omen? Personal pool tokens of the job you brought, with slot determined by which BC you entered. +3 mat is a rare drop from the BC. Throw in a healthy dose of whichever AH item we last forgot about. Done.

I'm not saying I'm confident that's what they're doing, but the release rate lines up for having a BC per slot by november.

It very much does line up that way. However, HTBC doesn't have a lock out and its "too" spammable.

You're thinking small. This has to be "large scale time sink". HTBC is about as far as you can get from that.

Omen would take 5 years(without campaigns) to get all 5/5+3 Dienamis takes... 2~ years? HTBC would take... a week?

It all comes down to their creativity, I don't see that as a valid counterargument. Make the droprate low, make the amount of items needed high, use the HTBCs for +2 and something else(maybe even delay the something else a couple months) for +3. Lot of options.

I could see the appeal of doing it that way as a developer, we get piecemeal content so we can pretend they're doing something and they get to chip away at the looming objective at the same time.

If all 5 HTBC use selbina (likely)

Then you add empyrean to it.

You create the worst bottleneck in ffxi history. Even worse than 100 page ambuscade queue. That, is a gigantic no-no.

#asuraproblems, but definitely a better point than the earlier ones

I'm tired of waiting. So the idea of +2/+3 empy gear is one I just stop thinking about. SE will either release it through junk content that feels rushed or make us wait 2 years for the 20th anniversary as a last hurrah for the game.

Its a freakin terminal patient. Either eek along a sub-standard life on tubes and breathers, or just pull the plug right after one last goodbye to friends and family. Both options suck in my mind.

They really are making it take entirely too long to happen, that much I think everyone can agree on.

*beatadeadhorse - balance with those set bonuses while still making them "uniqueish" from af+3 and relic+3 (and su3), and dozens of "fixes" to dienamis are to blame. If they have equivalent acc you totally stop caring about af3, if they have magic attack, most don't care, if they have defensive stats you ruin su3. Tight rope.

Empyrean +2/3 comes well before the 20 year anniversary. They at least mentioned it recently, so you know it will be here before then. But since they've already committed to these Job Adjustments and merit > scroll conversions as monthlies, do the math on what all is left as far as job changes and that should give you a general idea of when it should be expected.
I still think EOY 2019, but it might even be next year 2nd quarter, if we're being reasonable.

The bottleneck will be just like Omen and Dynamis, regenerative key item with a 60 hour lock out: 1 ki from goblin every 20 hours with 3 max, 60 hours from entry for Dynamis, I see a pattern. It will most likely be a something akin to Dynamis but with Abyssea/Voidwatch proc mechanics and different paths to take that will reward you with things for specific jobs. The Job bottle neck is similar between Omen and Dynamis, so it stands to reason this new event will have a similar mechanism or an amalgamation of the two. My money is on an Omen structure with 2 parts of the event separating the +2 from +3 with group choices determining what happens. It would be cool sort of cool if the Abyssea maws were recycled or if new ones popped up for the event.

They can still go the way Empy gear always was with added traits or boosts to JAs. Like adding a trait to the SCH empy hat (which is already a regen piece) that makes regen overheal ticks build up a stoneskin effect overtime or something...

The challenge is going to be balancing the gear so that it's unique from Artifact/Relic, but not overly broken. Look at pieces like Monk AF Feet (+3) and Empyrean 119 Feet. There's not much they can do to the latter to NOT make the former 100% useless, assuming they update the KA/Footwork values. Such is the case with a lot of pieces, where any improvement might just make the other pieces obsolete.

It's no surprise that empyrean gear is the best set of JSE even without the set bonus. Most of the gear improves job abilities in key areas, something that Artifact and Relic barely did. Artifact JA enhancements were just something stupid like Dodge eva+20, and Relic enhancements were basically merit categories for the most part. Empyrean gear on the other hand augmented abilities and changed their behavior, thanks mostly to the set bonus. I imagine it is going to be challenging to adjust and test every single value so that it's not something broken (they will make something OP for sure).

Guaranteed that empyrean gear is gonna make some jobs OP, with the most likely candidates of course being the current top contenders. Original empyrean came out before Ilvl existed, and the set bonuses were designed around lvl 99 content and stats. Since then we've seen such an overabundance of stats I can't imagine how they could foresee all the possible interactions when designing every new upgrade piece. There's no way something doesn't slip through somewhere that pushes borders farther than they intended.

So when they do, will you leave the forum? Can we make that deal?

Just wash the sand out of your vagina and use the block button

It'll be just like I'm gone

There is an absolute zero percent chance of them using odin/cait/alex as empyrean +3 methods. (*) that doesn't mean they can't create new items for crafting that ALSO work in the +3ing process.

Ilvl 145 version of promy watcher would be amazing. Bring back an alliance of mixed jobs and types of damage!

Sand in vagina now?

Just log out if you don't like to play anymore. Damn.