1:50 PM - Developer Panel #1 -Focused on Ant Urghan
They mention the two jobs that have been released "so far." Emphasis mine. There was much booing as they will not reveal any more jobs at this time. Team Minute Maid heard through the grape vine that a new job will be demod before each panel. TrueFeba covered the Blue Mage demo pretty well.
There will be about as many new areas in Aht Urghan as in Chains of Promathia. This means around forty new zones, sweet!
Besieged
This is the conquest-type event for the new continent. They said "some of the towns will be open to attack." They only went into detail about the capital city, but they seemed to be hinting that there will definitely be more.
They needed a reason for the Beastmen to attack. This is the 'Astral Candescence,' a treasure the defenders must protect. If this item is captured by the Beastmen, the players will have to sack the Beastmen city to retrieve it.
Only about 10% of the besieged content is shown in the ToAU demo. (!!!)
Assault
This is designed to be a more casual activity. Parties will generally be about three to six people, and they said the missions take about an hour to complete. There will be a number of different missions for different zones, party setups, and even levels.
They mentioned 'Assault Points' but the rewards are not finalized. Potential things include items, experience, etc. Some drops may be unidentified and must be appraised in town before they can be used.
As more Assault missions are taken, the player's Mercenary rank increases and new missions are opened up. Assumedly, more items will be available for purchase as well.
Aht Urhgan Missions
They did not say much here. There will be a mix of new and old characters. No zones will be level capped, but a few battlefields may be. They also mentioned that Mhaura is definitely the entry point to Aht Urghan, but that prerequisites will be required. Do not log out there, but possibly *near* there.
Chocobo Raising
They emphasized that this will not be a very time consuming activity. It will be on par with gardening. However, you must care for, feed, and interact with your chocobo. They mentioned letting your Chocobos 'meet' your friends' Chocobos and see what happens... They also hinted at Chocobo Racing as a future activity.
Mog Locker
This is bought in Aht Urghan and starts out at thirty slots. It can initially be upgraded to fifty slots, but future updates may increase the size limit. Incidentally, they verified the PS2 memory limitations as the reason for the current inventory/safe size. I guess we can put that argument to rest now...
There will be a recurring fee to keep the locker, but no details on this are available yet. It could be gil, items, or even a repeatable quest. If you do not pay, your items are safe, but you must pay before you can access them again.
Colosseum
The basics are monsters will fight monsters, and it will be independant of player level. In other words, anyone, regardless of level, can participate. No more information was available.
Timeline of updates
Start
# Job balancing
# Assault, besieged, mog lockers introduce
June to August
# New areas, similar to Dynamis and Limbus
# Merit Adjustments
# New Assault stuff
# New Missions
Sept to Nov
# Chocobo Circuit (???)
# Assault Updates
# New Story
# Colosseum
Q&A
Tonight's developer panel will be focused on jobs, so no questions will be answered regarding those. I will get an update out as soon as possible after it.
Q: Mithran Homeland in expansion?
A: Not planned as of yet
Q: Characters split to 2 accounts?
A: undecided
Q: Breed different colored Chocoboss
A: Can only say: not limited to yellow
Q: Is Besieged triggered?
A: Besieged will just happen, not triggered
A: New areas made specifically for PvP,
Q: Abjuration drops increased?
A: Drop rates only increased if economy not impacted
Q: Level restriction for Chocobos?
A: Anyone can raise a Chocobo, but wait and see about riding
Q: Galka Female or Mithra male?
A: No such thing as Gallia female, except on net
Mithran Males "same day"
Q: price caps on items?
A: third panel addresses economy specifically
Q: Does 'Besieged' automatically ally you?
A: no XP loss
everyone in town is simply put in the fight.
Q: Quivers and Bolt cases for all bolts arrows??
A: Potentially More items, but not all
Q: Besieged experience gain, since none loss?
A: Still under consideration
Other types of points given
Q: Speed belt in BCNM?
A: everyone wants one, right?
will take idea back & consider it
Q: Hinted at raising and racing Chocobos, riding?
A: good question
future possibility
Q: Other job requirements
A: first buy expansion, clear quest, have it
Q: Bahamut whisper purpose, maybe an avatar?
A: Can't say anything about Bahamut as an avatar
Q: Player look customization?
A: Playstation 2 restrictions dictate no
he did apologize
Q: Can we 'bling' our Chocobos?
A: No gear for them
Shape of Chocobo may change depending how it's raised
Q: Can we sell more items on AH?
A: Would put a big load on servers
AH is already biggest server load
Q: What happens if you neglect your Chocobo?
A: It will probably run away
Q: Class specific solo quests?
A: Solo quests, yes
likes idea for race specific quests
Q: Character server migration?
A: 'technically' possible
Q: New Nation missions past Rank 10?
A: keep asking!
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