The March 2007 Version Update

Was it another thumb-twiddler of an evening? No. The Kia people picked up my car (as the CD player front face won’t remove itself – insurance risk), and then I sat down to play FFXII, whilst every so often going back to my PC to fiddle with the latest Linkshell collage picture. So far Squidy, Hala, Cimba and Usagy have been added, with more still to follow. I’ve yet to meet Voltor so I can’t add him until I know what he looks like!

I didn’t actually know it was the version update tonight, so I was a little annoyed at first that yet again the European players were put out by more maintenance. I was thinking to myself, “I bet if you add up all the hours that the Europeans have had to miss out because of the maintenance timing, it would add up to a few months of gaming”. Just wish they would vary the times so that it wasn’t always our evenings that were taken up.

Anyway, I was very pleased with what I read about the version update on PlayOnline. In fact, I hadn’t been so excited about a version update in a long time. Finally! The Aht Urhgan storyline continues! Maybe we’ll finally get to come face to face with The Dark Rider! I bet this time though, they’ll really start getting harder and harder, until eventually they catch up to CoP difficulty. And the weird this is, for the first time ever, I’m actually up to date with the ToAU missions, so as soon as I begin the next mission, I’ll have no Alla or FFXIclopedia to tell me where I need to go! I could end up at the far end of Arrapago Reef only to find out I have a BCNM to face and have to go all the way back to form a party.

Also quite chuffed about the Signet Update. Not only will this provide a Defence and Evasion Bonus to small parties or solo players, but it will increase XP gained from monsters. It will also mean that TP is no longer lost whilst resting (under Signet effect), so players who used to party in the old areas (remember the long fights?) might be encouraged to come back, meaning BLMs might receive invites again!

Gotta love the new Empress Band upgrade! The Anniversary Ring! +100% XP Bonus, Duration 720min, max XP Bonus 3000XP. Someone tell me how to get it!

Having taken a look on the FFXIclopedia Forum, people have already been scrutinising the .dat files from the update. You can now use an up to date Model Viewer to see the latest gear that they’ve added, which looks like gear that is better than Assault, but not quite Salvage level yet. No one knows how to get it, but rumours are that it’s either been added to each Assault area or it’s only been added as drops from the ultra-rare NMs in the new 100 floor dungeon in Nyzul Isle Assault.

I’m pleased to see that they’ve removed an XP loss from CoP Battlefields. But what does Battlefield mean? I’m assuming this just means BCNM boss fights, like Snoll Tzar and Ouryu, as I can’t imagine dying in Lufaise Meadows and not losing XP. But I guess this does carve in stone the fact that CoP is HARD. The BCNMs are no joke.

…Still downloading...

…zzz…

…Still downloading…