The Development Team Appeared in Full Force!

Opening

An anxious hush fell over the Hollywood Ballroom as the lights dimmed, signaling the start of the opening ceremonies of Fan Festival 2008. A video message from members of the Development Team and Community & Service Teams from Japan, North America, and Europe welcomed attendees in a multitude of languages. Just as the tail end of "We Welcome You to Fan Festival 2008" video began to fade, a second movie appeared on the big screens, this time introducing attendees to the three new epic adventures which will only be available via online purchase starting in 2009.

Next, the now famous sounds of "Awakening" roared to life from the speakers as fire motifs danced across the stage. Just when the music reached its crescendo, Hiromichi Tanaka appeared from behind suspended chains to stand before the crowd amidst deafening cheers. With Tanaka-san's warm greeting to all in attendance, Fan Festival 2008 was officially underway!

Presentation

Following the opening ceremonies, special guest Yoji Fujito, an FFXI planner and creator of the new Moblin Maze Mongers system, took the stage accompanied by the head of the FFXI English Localization team, Steven Reinhart, who assisted with translation. Fujito-san was there to show off his new system in action to the public for the first time ever. His presentation laid the groundwork for what attendees could come to expect when visiting the playable kiosks on the show floor, and provided valuable insight into the design philosophy behind MMM.

Getting his hands dirty onscreen for the education and amusement of onlookers was "Fanfestival," a level 75 paladin who would serve as the proverbial mouse in the Moblin maze. Fanfestival began his escapades inside Muckvix's Junk Shop in Lower Jeuno, where Fujito-san explained that the Moblins had come to town and set up their new enterprise, which aims to assist adventurers in creating their very own mazes. After discussing the various items that adventurers will employ in this creation process, namely Maze Tabulae, Maze Vouchers, and Maze Runes, the demonstration continued and Fanfestival boldly plowed on.

The audience cheered when Fujito-san announced that not only will various settings inside the maze concerning monsters, objectives, and difficulty be entirely customizable, but also that creators can even set the background music to a track of their choosing! Attendees were stunned by the sheer number of songs available for selection, and the more loyal San d'Orian and Bastokan nationalists soon found themselves deadlocked in a shouting match to determine which anthem Fanfestival should choose.

Hopes were high as Fanfestival delved into his maze and bravely engaged the vile creature he had unwittingly dispatched to his maze; a battle-hardened rafflesia that had no compunctions with embarrassing Fanfestival in front of his adoring fans. Unfortunately, Fanfestival's powerful Banish II and Holy spells, and even his quick-thinking Invincible, were simply not enough to save him from his own creation. As onlookers winced vicariously, Fanfestival fell in a lifeless heap to the cold, hard, unforgiving floor of his maze. Fujito-san's exhibition drew to a close to the sound of resounding applause, as attendees found themselves invigorate with the first bits of knowledge of what they could expect momentarily when they would have their own go at the Moblin Maze Mongers' world premiere.

Development Panel

The Development Team arrived at Fan Festival 2008 filled to the brim with a wealth of information ready to de divulged to the FFXI community. The panel consisted of:

• Hiromichi Tanaka, FINAL FANTASY XI Producer
• Koichi Ogawa, FINAL FANTASY XI Director
• Akihiko Matsui, FINAL FANTASY XI Battle Director
• Mitsutoshi Gondai, FINAL FANTASY XI Planner
• Mizuki Ito, FINAL FANTASY XI Planner
• Sage Sundi, Global Online Producer

The panel opened with the announcement of changes coming to both the Level Sync system and level restrictions in general. Gondai-san commented that the response from the community regarding the Level Sync system was overwhelmingly positive, and that the team was extremely happy to see it being so widely used. He mentioned that in the next update, the following equipment attributes would remain in effect and be scaled down accordingly: evasion, enmity, and healing HP/MP. And the crowd simply could not contain themselves when he went on to announce that when the Level Sync designee levels up, TP and beneficial status effects such as Protect will no longer be lost.

Next up, Battle Director Matsui-san revealed details about the new Fields of Valor system. He discussed how the plight of the lower level player was the inspiration behind the new system, and how it would therefore afford players new alternative means of obtaining experience points, gil, and a new type of point, called "tabs," specific to FoV. Players can use these tabs to do things such as return to their home points from any number of areas, or gain food-like effects without having to eat. Matsui-san went on to reassure players that the point system was designed with player convenience in mind, not only when engaged in Fields of Valor, but at all times.

Ito-san was up next, and let everyone in on an enticing new change that would soon be hitting classic FINAL FANTASY XI areas: the addition of Treasure Caskets! He discussed the two types of caskets and how they will randomly pop after defeating monsters in these original areas. Blue caskets will contain temporary items aimed at helping leveling adventurers, while brown caskets could contain any of a variety of usable items, and possibly even exclusive new gear! He noted, however, that these brown caskets will be locked and require passwords to open, which adventurers will need to figure out to gain access to the rewards inside. Ito-san stated that the premise behind this new feature was somewhat along the same lines of Fields of Valor, namely, to alleviate some of the stress of leveling in the earlier areas.

Ogawa-san, director for Wings of the Goddess, was also on hand to reveal some teasers concerning the upcoming mission additions in the December version update. He went on to promise players that successful completion of the next set of missions would bring them a reward, hinting at something that players have been asking about for a long time... He also showed off a beautiful artistic rendering of a new character set to make waves in the storyline very soon.

Tanaka-san, the esteemed producer of FINAL FANTASY XI, was happy to announce that Vana'diel grooms the world over would soon be getting their very own spiffy wedding duds. The FFXI take on the wedding tuxedo will make its debut in the next version update, and even players who have already been wed will be able to speak to a temporary NPC to receive theirs for a nominal fee in the near future. He reminded everyone that those preferring a more hands-on approach would be able to craft their duds as well, as new synthesis recipes will also be added!

Gondai-san wasn't quite through with all of his goodies though, and as custodian of the scholar and dancer jobs, he was proud to announce the new upcoming Group 2 merit abilities and traits. He first discussed the scholar's new merits and finished by giving everyone an ever-so-brief glimpse at the new relic armor.

Scholar

• Altruism: Increases the accuracy of your next white magic spell. Requires 2 charges.
• Focalization: Increases the accuracy of your next black magic spell. Requires 2 charges.
• Tranquility: Your next white magic spell will generate less enmity. Requires 2 charges.
• Equanimity: Your next black magic spell will generate less enmity. Requires 2 charges.
• Enlightenment: Optimizes both white and black magic capabilities and allows access to both addenda for your next spell.
• Stormsurge: Storm-type spells grant a bonus to attributes associated with their element.

Then, it was the turn of all dancers present to be equally delighted by the announcements regarding their Group 2 merits and a quick peek at some new relic gear of their own.

Dancer

• Saber Dance: Increases Double Attack rate but renders Waltzes unusable. Double attack rate gradually decreases.
• Fan Dance: Reduces physical damage taken and increases enmity but renders Sambas unusable. Physical damage reduction gradually decreases with each hit taken.
• No Foot Rise: Instantly grants additional finishing moves.
• Closed Position: Grants a bonus to accuracy and evasion when face-to-face with an enemy.

Global Online Producer Sage Sundi had a lot to say about the hard work of the ever-industrious Special Task Force in the past year. He mentioned that from Nov. 2007 to Oct. 2008, nearly 33.4 billion gil was frozen and 82,000 accounts terminated. He also announced the implementation of a new tool that has been created, affectionately dubbed "RMT-PWNER v1.337," which can instantaneously deal with all accounts involved in an RMT transaction, from the initial producer of the gil to the account making the final purchase, without the need of STF staff poring laboriously over log data. Sundi went on to state that the team is continuing to look into more effective ways to improve fishing regulations, with one of their main goals being to prevent exploitation of the Free Trial system. Because of this, changes were made so that fishing fatigue will be greatly increased for the first 2 weeks following a character's creation, as well as for all characters under level 20. Cheating and use of third-party tools are another issue where the time lag between investigation and action had to be addressed, so a system was introduced that can determine the instantaneously when a player engages in illegal conduct and jail them, automatically and immediately. And finally, Sundi announced that the team is currently preparing for the introduction of a one-time password system to be implemented for FINAL FANTASY XI.

Following these reports, the Development Team wanted to tease players a bit more by talking about a few things they could look forward to beyond the next version update.

Tanaka-san mentioned that May 16, 2009 will mark the 7th anniversary of FINAL FANTASY XI service, and went on to speak of some ideas the team was tossing around for rewards for the next Adventurer Appreciation Campaign. He then provided some visuals mockups of these ideas, including miniature figurines of famous monsters and characters that adventurers can place in their Mog Houses. He also discussed how the team is looking to bring back the extremely popular Mog Bonanza, despite some setbacks with legal difficulties which they are currently trying to work around. Beyond that, he mentioned that the team is also considering some new quest rewards and synthesis materials, among other things, and asked players to keep on the lookout!

Ito-san then spoke a bit about future plans for both Campaign, and Wings of the Goddess in general. He said the team has received a lot of requests for higher level medals and the incorporation of further areas into Campaign, such as Xarcabard [S], and assured everyone that such changes are forthcoming. He continued, speaking on the significance of gaining influence over each area, as they plan to introduce new battle content which can only be played when certain areas are under the Allied Forces' control. For example, if the Allied Forces have influence over East Ronfaure [S], then content specific to East Ronfaure [S] will become available to players.

Speaking about the immensely popular Salvage, Ogawa-san conceded that the current drop rates for certain items in the Bhaflau and Silver Sea Remnants were a bit...demoralizing. Because of this, the team decided to increase the drop rates for the above zones, while maintaining the present level of difficulty of the areas as a whole.

Next up was the always informative and entertaining "Letters from the Adventurers" portion of the panel, where questions submitted by attendees throughout Friday and Saturday were answered directly by the Development Team.

Q: Where are the new avatars we were promised last year?
A: Sorry for the delay! We were asked this question at practically every media interview we've had here. It's still a few version updates away, but we can say there are two "large" new avatars in the works. I hope that when I come this time next year, instead of asking about the existence of these pets, that you're asking about how to use them and what they can do. - Mitsutoshi Gondai

Q: Is there any plan to improve inventory space, Mog House space, Mog Locker space, or Storage?
A: This is definitely something we recognize as an issue and constantly have on our minds. Unfortunately, due to system-side technical details and the current memory limit being 80 items, whether or not we can expand this is something that we'll have to look into with the programmers. - Hiromichi Tanaka

Q: Last year at Fan Festival 2007 it was announced that red mage had changes coming that would make it more of a front-line job. Is this still going to happen?
A: There are a lot of job adjustments being considered for the next version update after December. What I'm working on specifically now are red mage and white mage adjustments. - Mitsutoshi Gondai

Q: Why aren't all "???" re-pop times three minutes? Fifteen minutes is lame.
A: I think that the three minute re-pop is great for the game, and personally feel fifteen minutes is too long. Based on some kind of priority, for example which of those "???" are being used most frequently, I'd like to start reducing the timers down to three minutes. For example, Byakko, or something similar. - Mizuki Ito

Q: Any chance at getting a key ring that takes up only one inventory slot while holding multiple chest and coffer keys? Thanks!
A: I also think this is a great idea and something we'd like to do. Unfortunately, doing it that way would require an overhaul to certain parts of the system that would be very difficult. But we are considering other ways to do it, for example, making those items key items. - Koichi Ogawa

Q: Will there be a unique item for completing the Wings of the Goddess storyline?
A: The final conclusion to the Wings of the Goddess storyline is still a ways off, but we are already considering some high-end rewards, aimed at endgame players. If possible, I'd like to do something with some all-new, never-before-seen graphics. - Koichi Ogawa

Q: Please change 72 hour event timers to 70 hours to allow for more time.
A: This is something I'll look into when I get back to Japan. The thing is, while making these kinds of shifts would accommodate some people, the problem you run into is that during peak hours you're going to have a lot more people trying to get into those events and areas. So that's something we'll have to consider, but we'll see where we can go from there. - Mizuki Ito

With the last question answered, the Development Team was asked to close the panel with a final parting message. Tanaka-san professed his love for all in attendance, causing the audience to erupt into cheers and "Awww's."