Patch 1.20: Market Search, Player Search

[Loony BoB]

For discussion regarding patch 1.20 in particular. Right now there are no notes, but it's due in late November / early December.

Things that I have read as confirmed to be in Patch 1.20
Player search
Improved market ward search
Major action and magic spell changes
Achievement System (300+ achievements planned)
Malevolent Moogle primal battle
The continuation of 1.19's recipe/item adjustments.
'Endgame' type content for gatherers, eg. getting rare items from dangerous territory, or very high skill requirements or certain gathering locations.
New dye system.

Things due for 'Patch 1.20 or 1.21' - so I'm not sure if they're in this patch or not...
I don't know if these are earmarked for 1.20 or later, but it is perhaps worth noting that they are also working on adding the ability to purchase an item using the Item Search function of the market wards, which would mean that the market ward search will become, in effect, an Auction House of sorts. To top that off, they are also working on the ability to see the last 20 or so sale prices for an item so people can better judge what to put an item up for.

The job system is definitely due in one of these two patches, and while I think it's 1.21, I'm not certain.

Notable adjustments will be made to the food system. I think this involves simplification of the food system and food effects.

Linkshell adjustments are due in 1.20 or 1.21.

[Del Murder]

They didn't even have something as basic as player search in this game?

[Loony BoB]

They sort of did - it was a system where you stated you wanted a party and established what kind of party you want, and people who met those rules could automatically join your party (or something to that extent). It wasn't really a proper player search, though. I never really used it and I am pretty sure it was removed in the end. I understand the Japanese community used it pretty well, at least that's what I read (it's hard to know for sure without being involved) and nobody else really did.

I am very glad they are putting in a proper player search now.

[Del Murder]

Wow.

[Loony BoB]

Good news! In version 1.20, we have major adjustments planned for every class, adjustments that will change a lot of specs on abilities and weapon skills. For example, when it comes to damage dealing, we're planning on introducing what we're tentatively calling a self-combo, whereby solo players can tie together a bunch of different weaponskills or attacks to deal extra damage. These things will help make even defensive players more powerful in addition to helping straight attackers like Archers. We have all of these changes planned for 1.20, but we're going to make sure to get all of that information out to players beforehand so they can see all of the changes we're planning and then give us feedback about any further changes we need to make before the patch releases.

We believe that with 1.19, we've finally provided a system for both gatherers and crafters in that if you put in your work, day by day, it's feasible for someone to get from level 1 to 50. From there, reading the market and figuring out which items are in demand and which ones are less important comes down to player skill. We feel that we've now got a system, though, that doesn't make it difficult for the player to get up to level 50.

From 1.20 on, the things we're thinking about adding is that endgame-type content, things like having to get a certain rare item and going to a dangerous place to get it or having really high skill to be able to mine or fish a certain item. This high-end content will be implemented from 1.20 on, and just like we did with the adjustments to the other classes, we will always reveal the changes that we have planned to players so that we can get the feedback from players before we implement them.

Also, at 1.20, we are going to be changing the crafting system such that players will be able to change the color of an item after the item has been created. This will also affect gatherers in the sense of collecting the dyes. So that's another way for gatherers to be more involved in the world economy after 1.20.