[FFXI / BGblog ] The Mystery of ROM9

For those familiar with data mining FFXI, the existence of the folder "ROM9" has sparked speculation as to what its contents mean.

The reason for this is because ROM folders are usually used to house files from different expansions separately.
Chain of Promathia occupies ROM3, Treasure of Aht Urhgan in ROM4, and so on. The previous folder ROM8, was used for the add-on A Shantotto's Ascension. (all Abyssea data is stored in the main ROM folder).

ROM9 remained largely unnoticed when it was created, and a single file added to it in Feb this year. In March, another test server update added several files to ROM9 and this caught my attention, but we didn't really find anything about it.
Fast forward to late May, even more files were added to ROM9 but this slipped right under our noses.

They were actually zone files.

Over at BG, after Septimus pointed this out, Kaisha did some quick sleuthing, finding them to be newly designed areas, even though the texture effects are mostly re-used, likely because new ones haven't been applied yet.

I could not resist but investigate further into this matter to find out more about these zones in ROM9, and so here I present to you... the ROM9 zones.

[ read on ]

note: there is a possibility that what you see here constitutes spoilers, so proceed at your own risk.

[FFXI / BGblog] Who are you and what have to done to my development team?

So the May version update has passed - the first major version update in 5 months, heralding its veritably vast  myriad slew of additions and adjustments, or so the dev team says.

Now, I'm sure we've all heard this somewhere before, and we've seen how its turned out for so many years...
It used to be that our biggest complaints as the playerbase would remain largely ignored by the development team, only to be responded with vague answers such as 'we'll look into it' and 'sorry, PS2 limitations'.

And then when fixes did come our way, it was too little to late - an example of this would be with the most recent fix of changing the way land king NMs are spawned. This came well after the bottleneck of rival HNM groups and botters moved on to other things. They might be welcome changes, but at the same time, hardly benefit anyone anymore.

But wait... Something's different this time round. During this version update, they gave us something that they'd always been stingy about in the past - convenience. These are mostly minor things, but they've added up over the years to make a huge difference for players. Raising the maximum number of active trials from 5 to 10, removing exp loss below level 30, adding new Abyssea NPCs in the cities and changing previously unstackable items to stackable ones.

These are the little things that have annoyed players and marred our gameplay experience. Onlookers will probably be wondering: Why do you put up with this nonsense? My  here doesn't have these kinds of hassles. 
The truth of the matter is probably that these aren't the things that are bad enough to make players want to quit, but enough to bitch. And because this is true, the problems are often sidelined for other things, but not anymore.

Making things even more interesting, wthin a week of the May version update, they announced a second version update for the month, promising major fixes in store. Some of these seemed too good to be true, because they're the exact things that people have been complaining about in the past few months. This was really like the surprise Christmas gift that came on Boxing Day instead.

These changes included multiple spawn points for higher tier NMs in Abyssea, mostly sought after for the drops needed for Empyrean weapons, and new means of obtaining various NM key items.

And this is surprising, because they're actually addressing a major issue that players have now, instead of 3 years later when the problem no longer really exists. In fact, this is what seems the most promising about the new development team in charge - they're proactive with their changes and have shown that they bother to explain why some things are done in certain ways.

A very telling screenshot which I swiped from the BG thread.

Honestly, I think this is for the better. When they give you a proper reason, it gives us less of a chance to complain. And its a clear indicator that they're moving towards more serious open communication with the players - after some 9 years of broken communication lines.

But at the same time one wonder what else on the other side. Maybe they doing this because they know that without a full new add-on like Abyssea in this update, there really isn't a huge bulk of new content to distract players from issues such as this. Or because they actually genuinely care now...

Whichever it is, they've shown early signs that they can't be as flexible as the first impressions have given, but it's still a welcome start. Let's hope they usher in a more enjoyable era of FFXI where communicating with the devs is no longer like talking to a wall and the changes they make show that they actually play their own game.

[FFXI / BGblog] The Hallowed Version Update

(note: since I am writing for BG blogs now, this a a cross-post of my entry there)

Ever felt like a sucker for buying into the hype of a version update for a 9 year old game? I have. And it’s something that has me at the edge of my seat every single time the version update comes by.

If you’re like me, then here’s a question, have you ever asked yourself why this is so?

For me, I think it’s the anticipation of what might happen in the coming update, and it usually starts from as early as a month before the update with the teasers.

Back in the days before FFXI was on twitter and the official forums existed, the version update teasers followed a more structured pattern. Further away from the date, there would be something like 2 teasers a week, and as the date moved closer, it became something like 3 teasers on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

It got to the point where it was like a science for some people, predicting the patterns for which the teaser notes would appear, and others would actually camp the website for update details (admit it, you did it before too, I still do sometimes), in anticipation for the next little morsel of news for them to discuss at length on.

Whether this form of baiting by the developers was intention is anyone’s guess, but it worked extremely well in my opinion. Fast-forward to today and we have a slightly different scenario playing out.

Since everything gets posted on the forums, people have been camping the Dev Tracker panel there instead. And for some reason the version update teasers no longer follow a set pattern of one per day, or 3 per week. When the info comes, it just does.

But just as before, we’re still pouncing on whatever new material they announce and speculating based on their vague wording time and again. The only difference now is that whenever something generates enough debate on the forums, a developer will come forward to clarify it. Oh how times have changed indeed, and for the better, if you ask me.

one of the most recent version update notes posts

Now, we all know the significance of a version update is fairly huge. Each time it comes along, which is typically every 3-4 months, there’s usually a host of tweaks and new things to expect. Unlike with other MMORPGs where it is mainly through expansions that they get a bonanza of content, the Version Update is our motherlode.

As such, Version Update day is like a holiday for the community. With the update’s manifesto details announced and implemented, players stop their regular activities to explore the many changes that take place in the world of Vana’diel.
Even before then, data miners are hard at work, sniffing out as much information on the new content well before it goes live. Such is the frenzy that occurs during every update. It may sound crazy, but I absolutely love it because of how alive the community feels during this time.

Now, I bring this up partly to celebrate the nostalgia of this time-worn tradition amongst FFXI gamers, and also because it might be something that will disappear soon. With developers hoping to release more frequent updates in the later half of this year following a different development cycle, this process of teasing and major updates will likely cease to exist.

Although details are still sketchy, it seems the version updates will move towards being implemented on a compartmentalized basis, depending on what is being rolled out, resulting in far more frequent updates, but possibly a situation where the version update may not bring presents for all the different kinds of players that we have.

I'm sure we're all familiar with this one...

So if you’re a fan of the current Version Update mayhem like I am, I suggest that you treasure this upcoming one as it may be the last of its kind. And if you never liked it, maybe you can rejoice after it’s over.

Understandably, different members of the community should have a different approach to the whole thing, so my question to you would be, do you enjoy the way Version Updates work in FFXI? From the teasers to the update itself and not to forget the emergency updates after the fact.
Also, do you anticipate the changes to the system to be better or worse for you as a player and also as a community?

Think about that for a minute and enjoy the upcoming Version Update.
I know I will, whilst mining for new data added to the game