Kindred - Kindred - Free Company & Linkshell - Balmung

Square Enix released a comprehensive list of planned updates that promise to drastically improve Final Fantasy XIV.

The first update is tentatively scheduled for November 25th.  The second will take place in mid-December, with the third coming in a version update in early 2011.

 November & December Version Updates

 Quests

• The addition of new guildleves
• Adjustments to existing guildleves
• The implementation of a feature allowing players to lower levequest difficulty after activating the leve
• Adjustments to local levequest rewards
• The Addition of a feature allowing players to abandon local levequests
• The implementation of main map markers to indicate the locations of local levequest clients
• Adjustments to existing behests

Combat

• Adjustments to classes
• Adjustments to combat balance
• Adjustments to enmity rates
• Adjustments to physical and magical accuracy rates
• Adjustments to how skill points are awarded
• Adjustments to monster population and territory
• The implementation of notorious monsters
• Improvements to the targeting feature

Items / Synthesis / Gathering

• Adjustments to existing synthesis recipes
• The addition of new synthesis recipes
• Improvements to synthesis controls
• The addition of a list that contains a player's eight most recently used recipes
• A reduction in the amount of commands necessary to begin synthesis
• Adjustments to gathering balance
• Adjustments to stack totals on select items
• The addition of a repair icon
• The addition of an auto item sort function
• Adjustments to item durability
• An increase in player inventory capacity

Markets / Retainers

• Changes to how players access the market wards
• Adjustments to retainers
• A feature allowing players to change their retainers' equipment
• Changes to the retainer interface
• The addition of a default display of prices next to each item in a retainer's bazaar
• The implementation of icons for bazaar statuses (buying, selling, looking for repairs, etc.)
• An increase in the number of employable retainers
• The addition of an item search feature

User Interface

• Improvements to the Main Menu
• The splitting of Attributes & Gear into two separate menu options
• The addition of a Loot option for easy access to the loot list
• Changes to how statuses are displayed
• Improvements to the Map
• The addition of mouse scrolling functionality
• The addition of a zoom feature
• The addition of party member location markers
• The addition of new customizable keyboard commands
• Improvements to the action bar, allowing players to freely position the widget
• Adjustments to macro functionality

 Communication

• The addition of a party invite feature to the friend list
• Changes to linkshell display
• Improvements to chat functionality
• The addition of a chat mode toggle feature
• The addition of multiple log window tabs and a feature allowing for multiple log windows
• The addition of chat filters for synthesis and harvesting
• The addition of a feature allowing the customization of chat mode font color

 Others

• The further alleviation of server-load issues
• The reduction of various anima costs and the introduction of a feature that allows players to set "favorite" teleportation destinations

Lodestone

• The addition of a linkshell page

First 2011 Version Update

Quests

• The addition of new guildleves
• Adjustments to existing guildleves
• The addition of new main scenario quests
• The addition of new class quests
• The addition of new tutorial quests
• Adjustments to existing tutorials

Combat

• Further adjustments to classes
• Further adjustments to combat balance
• The further differentiation of actions to enhance class identities
• Adjustments to the effect of various parameters
• Adjustments to enemy population and territory
• The addition of notorious monsters (NMs)
• The addition of new battle content
• The addition of notorious monster-related battle content
• The addition of hamlet defense battles
• The addition of item exchange quests
• The addition of graphic displays to better clarify the effective ranges of actions
• The addition of countdown timers on status icons
• The addition of an "/assist" text command

 Items / Synthesis / Gathering

• Further adjustments to existing synthesis recipes
• The addition of new synthesis recipes
• Further improvements to synthesis controls
• The addition of a reference list that contains all previously used recipes
• Improvements to repair controls
• A reduction of the number of commands necessary to begin repairs
• The addition of a manual sort function for items
• The addition of a gameplay feature that determines the quality of materials obtained from battle and gathering

 Markets / Retainers

• Further adjustments to retainers
• An increase in retainer inventory capacity
• An increase in the number of items that can be placed in a retainer's bazaar
• A fix assuring that retainers do not leave their bazaar locations after server maintenance
• The addition of a sale/purchase history
• Functionality changes to the "buying" feature
• The addition of a delivery service

 User Interface

• Changes to main menu display format
• Changes to inventory list display format
• Improvements to various user-interface layouts
• Improvements to the Interactions menu
• The addition of a help text window
• The reorganization of on-screen information
• The reformatting of existing widgets, allowing for access of multiple windows at the same time
• Improvements to Actions & Traits menu response time
• Improvements to mouse and keyboard controls
• Improvements to character controls
• The addition of drag and drop functionality
• The addition of mouseover popup help text
• The addition of right-click menus
• The addition of a feature that will allow the cutting and pasting of macro buttons from the macro palette

 Communication

• The addition of "companies" (player-run guilds)
• The addition of company-owned ships
• The addition of company-owned buildings
• Improvements to existing linkshell features
• The addition of an in-game/Lodestone mail feature
• The addition of new search features

 Others

• The addition of player titles

 The Lodestone

• The addition of new linkshell page features
• The addition of a company page
• The addition of a linkshell and company search feature
• An expansion of viewable character information

 The development team will be focusing their efforts on the three points elaborated below.

1. Working Towards Stress-Free Gameplay
2. Goal-Oriented Content & Comprehensive Tutorials
3. Establishment of in-Game Communities

 Gameplay Improvements

As part of the version update scheduled for November, areas within the game will be partitioned across several servers to mitigate load-balancing issues and increase response times. In addition, a general restructuring of user interface (UI) operations will lessen lag and sluggish response times.

The UI will also be undergoing several additions and adjustments aimed at creating more intuitive and user-friendly controls. Furthermore, a new UI geared towards users playing with a mouse and keyboard is currently being designed, and will hopefully be ready for implementation in a coming version update. The current in-game UI will remain available for those users who prefer to play via controller, while the newly designed UI will be available as an option for those who wish to use a mouse and keyboard.

User feedback will continue to play a major role as we further address issues and make ongoing improvements in these and future version updates.

Goal-Oriented Content & Comprehensive Tutorials

Together with the aforementioned improvements to gameplay, the availability of "goal-oriented" content and items, and the need for comprehensive and clear tutorials are issues that will be immediately addressed.

In the hopes of providing players with opportunities to engage in such content as soon as possible, the November version update will see a reduction in the amount of skill points required to reach rank 20. By effectively reducing the amount of time necessary to reach rank 20, players will sooner be able to gain access to class quests and high-rank guildleves.

Further Content Scheduled For The December Version Update:

Notorious monsters
Item search feature

We believe that these additions will go a long way towards fulfilling the need for goal-oriented content and improving general usability of in-game features.

Notorious monsters (NMs) are a special category of enemy that can be found throughout the various areas of Eorzea. Sometimes associated with levequest objectives, several of these formidable opponents, and a vast array of equippable items associated with them, will be coming with the December version update. This will be the first of many installments bringing NMs to Eorzea, with future updates promising to introduce even more NM-related content.

Implementation of a item search feature will serve to stimulate the in-game economy by helping prospective buyers and sellers to find one another. This will be accomplished by making it easier for users to discern what items are currently available, as well as simplifying the process of finding a specific item.

In addition to the above, the version updates will also feature adjustments to class balance, changes to enemy population and distribution, and the addition of all-new quests, items, and recipes. It is our hope that this will allow users to enjoy their time in Eorzea by providing them with a more concrete sense of purpose, no matter which class they choose. Additional tutorials are also slated for introduction in November and December, and will greatly simplify the learning process when using the game's various systems and engaging myriad content.

Establishment of In-Game Communities

The forthcoming November and December version updates will introduce what are known as "companies," a special type of linkshell with more group-oriented progression and goals.

Once estbalished, companies will be able to work towards acquiring their own communal assets, such as buildings that can serve as headquarters, or ships that can be used to access multiplayer content. The system will provide concrete benefits to players who align themselves with a company, as well as motivate already established companies to seek out new recruits. In essence, the focus will be on providing new, innovative content for all players to enjoy. The FINAL FANTASY XIV Lodestone will also offer a number of online services covering both companies and linkshells.

All of the additions and changes mentioned above are currently in the final stages of development, and we are optimistic that they will be implemented in the version updates of November, December, and early 2011. Beyond those listed here, there are still numerous other features being planned. More information on these will be released in the future as details become available.

While there is nothing we would like more than to address every individual issue raised by the community, the upcoming version updates will be centered on resolving the problems and shortcomings within the three categories outlined above. We apologize if there is an aspect of the game not mentioned here, and assure you that we will be working to make as many refinements and improvements as possible.

We hope that you continue to enjoy your time in Eorzea, and promise that things will only be getting better!

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FINAL FANTASY XIV Development Team

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