HOLY EFFIN' HELL

[Ouch!]

VanaFest 2010 - Celebrating 8 Years of FINAL FANTASY XI - (http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/event/vanafes2010/index.html)

Level 99?

Level 99?!

LEVEL 99?!?!?!

[Ultimage]

Yep, they're breaking the game, huh?

[Del Murder]

Yeah I saw that. Can't really get my head around it. I have to think there will be several restrictions or level 99 will not be different from 75 like 51 is different from 75.

Or maybe they're just trying to get everyone to be sick of this game so we all move to XIV.

[Del Murder]

There's also a lot of other cool stuff that came out of Vanafest. Here's a link to the Twitter which lists more things than you can find on the main page:

http://twitter.com/VanaFest2010_EN

Some cool things include:

-Job adjustments for just about every job
-New Avatars for SMN (Alexander and Odin, but they can only be used with Astral Flow)
-The worlds are going to be consolidated from 32 to 24 (I hope Pandy and Midgard get merged!)
-New add ons called 'Abyssea' which looks like a bunch of BCNMs where you can obtain the new 'AF3' equipment
-BLMs will be able to learn....METEOR

[Ouch!]

Midgard got merged with Quetzalcoatl and Pandemonium is being merged with Asura.

[Del Murder]

:( Funny though that Eleni's original server was Asura.

*goes to register a character named Ouch on Quetzalcoatl*

[Miriel]

We were keeping up with the Twitter feed last night during Vanafest and going, "WTF?!" as they announced all these crazy things.

We thought it might've been a joke. :o It's nuts and it changes the whole game, unless they've thought of specific restrictions to make it so that everything doesn't become super unbalanced. Who knows. But I kinda like how they're going balls to the walls with this. It's like they just threw up their hands and said smurf it, let's go crazy.

I loved this tweet:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/hannahgoesrawr/Picture7.png

Followed by this one:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/hannahgoesrawr/Picture8.png

xD

[Del Murder]

Knowing them it will probably take twice as much exp to go from 75-99 as it does to go from 1-75.

[Rostum]

Was watching the live feed, listening to Limit Breka Radio / Pet Food Alpha, and looking at the Twitter feed. Was a good event with some crazy stuff happening!

I don't necessarily think level 99 will "break" the game, just change it. Depends on how they impliment it. But it could allow for some insane new high level content!

Oh yeah, and I won rank 5!

[Del Murder]

Any word on what rank 5 is? I would have got it if I used the alternate number I use. Oh well.

Yeah I think this is exciting and I don't think it makes the game worse because people who loved the way it was had that for many years. Why not go balls out in the final year(s) of the game?

[Mirage]

Now this is gonna be interesting.

[Jibril]

Welcome to Mage/RDM Fantasy XI

[Rostum]

Any word on what rank 5 is?

It's the same as Mog Bonanza except they added the Alexander statue to it. Which is what I'm going to pick. :)

[Yeargdribble]

Jumping the shark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark)

[Jibril]

Jumping the shark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark)
Haha not even close

[Yeargdribble]

Not that it's a bad thing, but it does seem like they went a tad nuts. I think they know where the game is heading. Merging servers send a strong message about things. I think they've decided to just make the remaining years of the game a huge playground of craziness. They are throwing crazy gear at people with the Bonanza.

Once XIV hits I'm just the playerbase will decline notably and people looking for a new MMO to try aren't going to fire up XI with FFXIV out there.

I'm personally excited about what SE is doing.

[Miriel]

Jumping the shark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark)
Haha not even close

Wowza, if you don't consider this to be jumping the shark, what does qualify to you? :o

This is like one of the most prime examples of jumping the shark as I've ever seen. Although I agree with Yearg that it might not necessarily be a BAD thing, but it certainly is a drastic departure from the original intentions of the game and is something brought on by declining numbers and/or a hope to reignite interest - the definition of jumping the shark.

[Jibril]

Man I edited this post like 5 times and I realized I really didn't care because this update is probably going to blow anyway.

[Yeargdribble]

I think it's going to do quite a bit to change things up and for those that have stuck it out this long, that may or may or may not be a good thing. Considering the degree to which I play currently it's largely irrelevant to me.

If they make the game manageable to play while playing FFXIV either by lowering the cost, making mules free, shaving off the XP curve a bit, etc. then I might be willing to stick around where I was not before.

I think this could be a good move for those who love FFXI for its unique flavor. Anything that can keep the game moderately alive and maybe even more accessible so that people can access the amazing world and story is a plus in my book.