Producer Letter LIVE VIII English Translations: Phase 4 8/17Follow

http://xivpads.com/
Side-by-side videos with the letter and translations.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/62880
Official Q/A from English Community Team.

DualShockers article with screencaps, Q/A translation, (video of the letter no longer works)
http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/08/08/check-out-the-info-and-relevant-screencaps-from-the-eighth-final-fantasy-xiv-letter-from-the-producer-live/

Let's have a discussion here for those at work who can't tune in! I'll update the OP as I can with relevant information. Thanks to Reinheart for the translations!

Important note about PvP in phase 4:

You must be level 30 to enter the Wolves' Den (formerly known as the Coliseum). Since the level cap in phase 4 is level 20, Legacy players who are above the cap will have access to the system.

-@40 minutes until the show. They're talking about silly things like preferences and stories from the office. Yoshi's favorite NPC is Alfino and he prefers Lalafells. Foxclon also showed the blank guide book again.

-Opening up with footage of Fishing. Fishing will be in phase 4. Had some delays with setting up the live letter. Not much action involved in Fishing. Start with casting, wait a sec, and you just fish up and it shows the size. The bait you choose is very important, lots to choose from. Fishing log: red-orange on the map shows fishing spots, shows fish with best record and as you fish up bigger fish the mark will change. Lake, river, ocean, so you'll need to decide which bait. Unknown fishing spots available. If the bait is wrong, it'll warn you. There is a skill for using live bait. Some fish only available to catch at night or in certain weather. Higher levels has desert fishing and sky fishing. Fishing won't affect the economy. Fish up treasure maps. Methods in place to catch fishing bots.

-PHASE 4 AUGUST 17. If you were in phase 3 you start on 16th. Early access is August 24th. Remember to sleep. Moogles will deliver in-game items to us. Cap is at 20 in phase 4 because it's more a demo version of the game. Full voice acting like release version. Game data will be transferred from phase 4 -> early access/release. Only if there is a critical bug will all data be deleted. Yoshi wants players to test graphic stress in housing areas. You can change the roof, walls, etc which will cause a lot of stress. Limsa Lominsa housing will be open to explore and jump around on but can't go inside. PVP also available: Colisseum and Front Line has been in preparations. "Wolves Jail" (?) is something for Grand Company. Yoshi wants players to hit each other so devs can check the distance that players can hit from. No PVP-specific actions yet, those will be in release version.

-PS3 screenshot feature will be implemented

-Arcanist in p4 (delay/stalling in response....) and now Arcanist footage is being shown. YES, Arcanist in P4! Arcanist will be DPS in Duty Finder. Pet uses magic and attacks from a distance. Healing spell available. You can use your HP to heal Carby. Return sends pet home, Move is move, Stay is stay, and another shows ground target to tell Carby where to go. Peace = pet won't do anything even if player is being hit. Free Fight is as it sounds. Arcanist magic attack isn't that high so you need both the player and pet to be effective. Debuff skills like Bio, Ruin, Miasma. (footage shown of Carby vs. Goobue). Bio is insta-cast. Vain spreads debuff effect to other mobs. Keep track of which debuff spells are on the mob. Aetherflow has different levels and you decide how to use them, can be used every 60 seconds and will be used often. Won't have Carby immediately at level 1, only Bio and Ruin. One Carby is tank and has different skills. (Yoshi changes to Summoner).

-Secret stuff they can't talk about yet with SMN. DPS is Summoner. Ifrit and Garuda Egi are DPS. Ifrit is close range and Garuda is long range using spells. Titan Egi is tank. Pet itself is strong. SMN also uses DoT like Shadow Flare strong poison + slow on mobs in range. Use it where the tank is. Miasma Burst puts Bio and Miasma on, used with Aetherflow. When level cap is released is probably when they will release more Egi summons. Attacks that will attack while chasing mobs. (Yoshi changes to Scholar)

-Attacks for Scholar are similar but they are Healers. Pets heal and keep buffs on players. Takes some time to cast so you can't take pet away when HP is low and bring them back instantly. Different from WHM: SCH adds buffs when healing. Healing shield like Stoneskin. Use Aetherflow to heal MP. Some skills can only be used when Aetherflow is up like being able to cast instantly. Resurrect available for SCH. With 8-man content it will be better to have one SCH and one WHM.

-About other classes branching to two jobs: devs have ideas for them, have to decide how it'll go through patches. Please look forward to it!

-Outside of credit card and crysta (Yoshi shows a few cards) these are sold in convenience stores and other game shops called Game Time. Gives you 30 days or 60 days. Lots of designs for the cards. Available in every region.

-World Transfer Service: with friends you meet through Duty Finder or friends on other worlds, this fee-based service will allow a maximum of 8 characters to move to a single world. Available 2-3 weeks from launch.

-Smartphone app and for iPad (Yoshi shows iPad app) Display your character, compare gear, all weapon data, all information from the game will be available to see, attaching crests, materia slots, materials needed for crafting, which NPC sells items, which rewards you get from quests, where the quest is and how to get it and prerequisites for the quests. No dungeon strategies but it's linked to the Lodestone so you can check player strategies from there. Available for free to all FFXIV players. Subscription fee we pay covers the app fee. Up a week after launch for download. Later (one month) the Android version, iOS first.

-Feedback list released from previous beta. Repair cost for gear will be cheaper when it's nearly broken. Retry feature for primal battles.

-Same server, same account, transferring items: no plans, don't want RMT to use, so the devs will look at the situation before deciding. It's possible to include this but they want to be careful.

-Beauty/Barber Shop: can change hair, hair color, eye color, face paint/tattoos, beard, available in patch 2.1. Talking about tanning machines for summer. There will be items to change race at a later time.

-Fire resistant gear/swimsuits: seasonal event similar to 1.x this year. Can get it in a week (Yoshi shows event costumes for Christmas, similar to snow man), one for New Year's.

-And we're back. SCH benefits from MND and SMN from INT. There will be items available to reset attribute points, correction from earlier.

-Special guest: Kan-E Senna and Garuda Japanese voice actress, Rie Tanaka. She played 1.x. She will pick questions for Yoshi to answer.

-Crystal Tower and Bahamut: need primal gear to complete these. Will be Hard difficulty for dungeons available after launch. Labyrinth of Bahamut explains what happened when Louisoix teleported players. Can't talk about mobs yet. Gimmicks - if you don't split up and fight a specific way, you can't win. At first there will be 8 players but in the middle you split up. There will be a lock where you'll need to deal enough DPS so you'll need good gear. In Labyrinth if you're alone you'll take 10,000 damage but if you're with others, the damage will be split.

-Crystal Tower is 24-man content. Yoshi says it is too hard so they're making it so you can use Duty Finder and join up with others. 2.1 patch it will be available, making adjustments right now. 3-4 months maybe.

-As for the primals being different than 1.x, since Ifrit was different in the beta, the primals will be similar to 1.x with some extra changes. Take the battlefield layout into consideration.

-Sending /tell in instanced raids: not available to avoid players to be mean (talking trash about party members in /tell I guess), and there are plans to expand the Duty Finder. At that time, /tell may be available in instanced raids.

-Moogle primal fight will be in 2.1 (Tanaka shows her moogle nail polish). King Moggle Mog? There will be Extreme versions for primals. Story version of primal fights are "Easy," then Hard, then Extreme.

(Unicorn mount shown and Tanaka screams in shock, lol)

-Seems you can get it from CNJ class quest. There will be other mounts too. Depending on race/gender the sitting pose will be different. Elezen female is side-saddle.

-Lot system: at launch there will be no restrictions on Need amounts you can use.

-Race base stats are a little different, and by 50 is still won't be a big deal.

-Shared retainers between characters on same account won't be implemented. Yoshi doesn't want relics rotating around for other characters.

-Mount barding will be available at launch. You can get them from high level FATEs, as well as minions, and by defeating some bosses. Yoshi hints about Morbol minion being obtained from a fight.

(Tanaka shows Leviathan, Garuda, furniture)

-Free Company: each FC can earn points by completing quests and purchasing ether wheel. Each player in the FC will receive an effect for some time. Bonuses such as exp bonus.

(Tanaka shows Tonberry, Mandragora, Moogle, Baby chocobo, Ahriman, Morbol light stands, clocks, other furniture)

(Yoshi is checking the client for PvP footage)

-There is Darklight armor for other classes but Yoshi doesn't want to show it.

-Excalibur system for endgame, they don't want to talk about it yet.

-Marriage system: ready not long after launch (no mention of same-sex marriage)

-The devs plan to make the switch between Grand Companies easier than in 1.x

(Yoshi shows PVP weapons and new gear)

(Yoshi is looking for Ul'dah or Gridania housing to show in-game, should be ready for next producer live letter)

-Treasure maps are planned, it will be ready soon. Solo and light party fights.

-FC housing doesn't have to be in the same GC nation you're affiliated with. Housing in Ishgard and Coerthas, they talk about it, but it seems to be more of a joke with behemoths attacking.

-Completing job and AF quests solo: with enough skill it can be done. For AF it can be done solo by traveling the world.

-Possible to leave minions roaming in housing at some point, Yoshi will tell the team about it.

-Duty Finder: the rewards will be better if you choose to do any content. In 2.1 patch there will be more dungeons, so this will be implemented then. Tokens mentioned again for obtaining gear. Pay for content items with tokens if you can't clear the content or get the specific drop you want.

(Some talk about changing between Summoner and Scholar, and endgame being difficult...)

-In six months, add-on tools will be ready.

(Flying command? ...)

(In-game footage is shown with WHM in Coliseum)

-Coliseum: three nations join up, ranking board, Coliseum accessible from dock. Crater from meteor attack = Colisseum. 4 v 4 and 8 v 8 battles. You can use Duty Finder to join with others or go in with a specific group. Limsa Lominsa is not too far away.

-Welcome Back Campaign: 1.0 players can play for free from launch to September 9th, XIV client download for free. If you used up the 30 day free trial in 1.0 you can use this time to try out the game again.

-Veteran Rewards: various bonuses depending on how long you subscribe. Includes different subscription models. If you do 30, 60 or 90 days there will be thank you gifts such as pointer minion (30 days) and different mounts. Another is a character remake ticket. Black chocobo chick and black cascadier uniform (swimsuits) voucher for 60 days. Ahriman minion and Ahriman mount for 90 days. Will have 120, 180 day subscription models for more rewards. You pay upfront for the time and then you receive the rewards. For example by starting with a 90 day subscription, you receive the 30 day and 60 day rewards on top of 90 day rewards. (From the DualShockers article it seems that these rewards will accumulate every 30 days if you pay month-to-month. The 60, 90+ day subscriptions are for paying upfront and pleasing S-E's investors.)

(Yoshi shows Elezen female on Ahriman mount, flies kind of close to the ground)

(I updated info about Barber Shop above for race changes)

-Yoshi talks a bit more about job quests, battle system, nothing new. Other closing remarks.

-Gamescom August 21-25 in Germany (Cologne), Yoshi will be there. Battle challenge and autograph sessions. Ifrit and Titan battles available for demo like at E3. Cool shirt available as reward. "I beat Titan" message.

-Launch event 8/27 in Japan (Shibuya Hikarie Hall B). Mini producer letter Live, Demo booths, battle challenge. Questions in forums will be available again for this live letter. Optimal PCs playing FFXIV will be displayed.

-8/30 through 9/1 in America, PAX Prime in Seattle, Yoshi and Soken will be there. Stage event, Battle challenge (Ifrit and Titan), autograph session. Yoshi won't have time to level up, lol.

(Yoshi shows off art book, game cases, 7th Umbral Era video case and soundtracks)

That's about it!


Edited, Aug 8th 2013 6:22pm by Atkascha

Always happy to help Just fifteen more minutes! If anyone wants to post screencaps, that would be great. I'll be too busy listening to take screens.

One more minute!! Have to put these quick typing skills to use to update the OP. I hope more people join us.

Nope, still waiting.... Glad to have you with us, Bartel!

is xivpads.com crashing? I keep losing connection to the chat

Phase 4 is August 17-19 and if you were in beta 3 you get to start 8/16

Edited, Aug 8th 2013 7:20am by Atkascha

17th-19th then. I thought it was going to be 16th-18th so not much difference there.

The Beta forums are going to explode in nerd rage

Awell, let them cry more. Honestly I wasn't expecting more than a few days for early access to begin with. People tend to hype themselves up waaay too high for these things.

It is what it is, but boy did they manage to under deliver. Maybe they need all the downtime for a smooth launch, which IMO is most important, but if P4/early access was going to be so lame, I wish they'd have said so months ago.

This...

When do they NOT explode in nerd rage? They've not stopped 'exploding' since Beta came out. 'Boy who called wolf' rules are in effect for those forums.

Oooooh, Arcanist AND Ishgard... very cool.