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Topics - Areya

#1
News / Been a While...
April 30, 2021, 02:34:23 AM
The LS site is pretty quiet, but the LS lives on!

While the game is still relatively quiet, there have been updates going on.  A new series of missions, The Voracious Resurgance, is in the process of being released, and there is some new content like Odyssey.

Although this site doesn't see much going, we do have a Facebook page and a Discord, so if you're looking for a way to get in touch, let me know!
#2
News / Nov 10
November 11, 2017, 12:50:17 AM
The latest update brings the first area of the new Dynamis - Divergence!  Here you can farm items required to reforge relic armor to +2/+3.

Other recent additions to the game include the ability to upgrade all the Ambuscade armor sets to +2, the release of the ultimate crafting shields, and many quality-of-life upgrades.

Several campaigns are going to be active this month, and the Discount/Return campaigns are still going.  The newest batch of Vana'versary objectives also just came out.
#3
News / Oct 25
October 25, 2017, 08:20:24 PM
Over the next few months, FFXI will have a series of campaigns intended for returning players to the game, so it's an opportunity for the folks that have been wanting to return.

Just thought I'd mention!
#4
News / May 2
May 02, 2017, 11:00:33 PM
FFXI celebrates its 15th Anniversary this month!

As such, there's a lot of neat things planned, lots of special campaigns and other diversions.

Omen's still around and Ambuscade has new opponents and the ability to +2 some of the sets, as well as vouchers for all 10 sets released so far.

It's not a stretch to say the LS isn't nearly as active now, but there's still friendly folks around, so don't hesitate to stop and say hi!
#5
News / February 21
February 22, 2017, 01:44:50 AM
So, what's new in Vana'diel?

Well, Omen continues to be expanded, and Ambuscade is still going on.  There's now HQ versions of the Adoulin reward rings that can be gotten from the Ygnas Directive quest line.  Bard and Red Mage also had significant adjustments and are better than before!  There's also new crafting shields called Escutcheons that can be upgraded to increase your craft level skills.

Been a while since you peeked in?  Maybe now's the time.
#6
News / December 22
December 22, 2016, 07:48:12 PM
Hope everyone is having a good holiday!

Among recent changes to FFXI is the new Omen content, where you can gain materials to reforge artifact armor to even higher levels than before.  Ambuscade is still going on and there's been many new mounts.

In January, there are several weeks of campaigns intended to catch up new or returning players to the game, so if you've been thinking about coming back, there's rarely a better chance!
#7
News / Return Home to Vana'diel and Discount Campaign
November 05, 2016, 07:31:27 PM
Thought I'd mention this:  Nov. 11-21st, these two periods are coming back again for FFXI.  So if you want to come back, you can for free during the period, and also pick up all the expansions for a lower price.
#8
News / November 2
November 02, 2016, 08:08:15 PM
Nope, we're still here!

FFXI's been a little quieter lately but there's still things going on!  Ambuscade is still going full swing, and they even have a special new event for 11/11 Day this year.

I compiled a list of some various changes in FFXI that might be entertaining for older players to read, have a look:  25 Obsolete Things About FFXI
#9
General Posts / 25 Obsolete Things About FFXI
November 02, 2016, 08:04:43 PM
Final Fantasy XI, a game that seems like it's been around forever.  A lot of veterans remember the way the game used to be, but those that have been gone a while might be surprised at some of the ways the game has changed over the years.  So here's a compiled list of 25 different areas that have changed or are mostly obsolete, roughly grouped by type:

Travel Related

1)  Rental Chocobos

Who doesn't remember the long treks from towns or crags on the back of a rented chocobo?  Whether it was through the jungles outside of Kazham or the trip from the Crag of Mea towards Boyahda or sky, chocobos were vital for cutting down the travel time.

However, with the addition of mounts, the needs for paying gil for a bird are gone.  Now you can simply summmon your own ride, for free.  There are several to choose from, too!  And even if you're wanting to go chocobo digging, if you've raised your own chocobo, you can even call that.


2)  Tele-Taxis

There used to be quite a bit of these around.  White Mages could make a little extra gil in Jeuno by simply ferrying people to telecrystals, then warping back.

Although there are still rare shouts asking for teleports, there's a lot less demand, and it's a lot easier to get around by alternative means such as Survival Guide teleports.


3)  Airships

One of the main perks of getting Rank 5 back in the day was the precious airship pass, making travel between the three nations and Jeuno easier.  You could just board the airship, then step away for a few minutes while you flew to your destination.

Now, however, it's a clunky and time consuming process compared to the best alternative:  Home Point warping.  Now that you can just pay a little gil and teleport to any Home Point you've previously visited, you can just skip the airships entirely and go straight to the town in seconds.

In addition, with Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, you're not even required to get the Kazham Airship Pass, as you can now sail from Selbina or Mhaura directly to Norg!


4)  Long Runs to Burning Circle Arenas

These were a particularly annoying timesink for some folks.  Running back to Horlais Peak, Mine Shaft, or Monarch Linn every time was a massive hassle, and in many cases required items or work (such as refarming Giant Scales in Riverne).

Fortunately, SE recognized this and dumped HP Crystals outside of most of these arenas, so going back is trivial now.  There's still a few not covered, such as Promyvion spires, however.


Crafting Related


5)  Manual Repeating of Recipes

Once upon a time, one of the biggest hassles of being a crafter was having to reselect all the ingredients of a recipe over and over.  Not an easy task if you were doing dozens and dozens of complicated synths.

Now, if you're doing the same synth over and over, you can simply type in /lastsynth and it'll automatically reattempt the last synthesis.  In addition, the game keeps a history of the last 10 synths, so you can simply go into the menu and click a particular option and it'll automatically load the synth ingredient setup.  It'll even indicate if you're missing any ingredients!


6)  Nonstacking Ores/Logs, etc.

Another big headache for crafters was the large amount of ingredients that would not stack, thus creating massive inventory clogs.  Some of these items include logs, ores, and flour.

Now, all of these stack up to 12 in a single inventory slot.  Not perfect but still much more helpful!


7)  Non-Food Consumable Crafters

There were lots and lots of these back in the day.  Many players' entire livelihood were tied to churning out massive quantities of shihei, arrows, bolts, silent oils, prism powders, and similar consumable items.

To be fair, some people do still make these, and you can still save money by making these.

However, with Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, Curio Moogles will sell most of these items to players, and most are at reasonable prices, so there isn't a lot of demand.


Fighting the Good Fight


8 )  Seeking Experience Parties

Arguably the biggest change since the olden days, things like seeking parties and spending hours sitting in one spot are mostly gone.  In the past, you'd often sit in town with your invite flag up, hoping that someone would start a party or that a spot would open up.  This was particularly awful for jobs like melees, while some like Red Mage or Bard would get swamped with invites.  Many times, a party would die before it even started because you were missing a particular role in the group. Static parties would often be formed to get around these problems, where 4-6 people would just play together and possibly pick up filler.

The primary motivation for even joining an experience party in the first place was the fact that solo experience was slow and often very dangerous.  Most jobs couldn't heal effectively, and anything difficult would give too few exp for too much effort.

Trusts changed the dynamic.  Trusts don't cause any experience points penalties, and once the ability to summon five at once is unlocked, a single player can bring the power of an entire party for a solo exp excursion.  Not on a healing job?  Can't tank on a mage?  No problem - simply summon Trusts to cover it!

The actual experience values are higher than they used to be too.  Before, you'd earn 100 experience for killing a monster checking Even Match to you.  This value has been roughly doubled, and the payout for Easy Prey mobs is significantly improved.  In addition, thanks to several of the Rhapsodies of Vana'diel Key Items, the base amount of experience you earn from a kill can be increased significantly as well.

There are places where you can earn over 4000 experience in a single kill as a solo with a team of Trusts, before exp rings.  Who needs a party!?

However, there ARE some experience-like parties still:  Capacity Parties do basically the same except they fight for capacity points.  Apex parties or Escha burn parties are like this.


9) Beastmasters Using Charmed Pets

Once upon a time, Beastmasters would primarily rely only on charmed monsters and some extreme survival tactics to level up or take on powerful opponents.  Many experience parties rued the presence of a Beastmaster in an area, as they'd often steal targets from the pullers.  And Beastmasters would very rarely get party invites as familiars were fairly weak.

There were entire communities built around giving Beastmasters advice on what camps were available, many of which were in particularly remote areas, and a good Charm set was important to cut down on deaths.  Probably the trickiest part of the strategy was using Leave right before the mob died so the BST could finish it off alone to reap all the experience.

Trusts obviously make this sort of strategy much less hazardous, as you're not really alone anymore, but in addition, jug pet familiars are much more viable now.  With Ready, you can simply choose the move you wish the pet to perform, and can even be used strategically for skillchains.  And with Snarl, enmity can be shifted to the pet, making survival much easier.


10)  Pies and Cookies

Food has always played an important part in performance in FFXI.  Meat Mithkabobs were staples for melees at lower levels, and sushi was and is still useful for boosting physical accuracy.  Tanks had food like Fish Mithkabobs, Steamed Crabs, or Tavnazian Tacos.  Mages, however, had particularly lousy options in general.  Many mages relied on small boosts from Melon Pies (a little INT and MP) or Ginger Cookies (+5 MP regained while healing), with some like SUmmoners opting for high MP% food like Marron Glace.

All jobs have better food options now, but nonmelees in particular got new choices.  Mages can now get actual MAB from some foods like Fruit Parfait or Cehueztl Snow Cones, and against hard opponents, many opt for Pear Crepes which add +45 magic accuracy.  Pet jobs have wonderful options in the various Mochis and Daifukus, which all add impressive pet boosting stats.


11)  Trains to Zone

These are the subject to all sorts of wonderful little horror stories from the early days.  Parties camping near the zones in places like Yhoator Jungle, Garlaige Citadel, Crawlers' Nest, or Kuftal Tunnel, when someone comes by being chased with a large amount of linked monsters.  They run past the gruop and safely zone, but the monsters then start slowly moving back, often disrupting the party at the zone for quite some time!

The problem was particularly bad in Garlaige, where pullers would often attempt to pull Siege Bats on the other side of pits, and they'd fly through side rooms and pick up Wingrat adds.  Goblin Smithy trains in the Jungle were pretty infamous as well.

This issue was largely removed when the change was made a few years back that non-NM monsters despawn when left idle outside of their normal roaming areas.  However, special monsters are immune to this, and targets like Guivre could still potentiall be dangerous.


12)  Low Shield/Parry/Guard/Throwing Skill

Several of these skills were notoriously difficult to increase in the past.  Parry and Guard could only increase on a successful activation, and even then, it was particularly rare.

However, this was changed a while back, and skillup chances can be received even if you fail to parry or guard, but COULD potentially parry or guard.

Throwing was particularly aggravating as well, as most jobs have pretty lousy ratings and had difficulties hitting.  Ninjas have a nice workaround now thanks to their ability to add autothrows to their normal attack rounds thanks to the Daken Trait.  It doesn't even consume shurikens, so they can just fight as usual and get occasional throwing skill increases.

Skilling in general has become easier.  The chances of getting skill boosts has been increased overall.  In the past, a monster had to be Even Match or greater in relation to the level of your skill in order to gain increases; this has been changed to Decent Challenge.  With Item Level gear, you can artificially increase your skill a lot too to make hitting even easier.  And as a last resort, there are skill up tomes that let you get free skillups without even leaving town.


13)  Competitive Notorious Monster Camping

Anyone who ever attempted to claim monsters such as King Behemoth, Valkurm Emperor, or Serket knows how painful this used to be.  Interestingly, each of the three aforementioned monsters aren't particularly hunted anymore, and each for a different reason.

Ground King camping used to be one of the biggest headaches for HNMLSes.  Nothing like sitting around in Dragon's Aery, waiting 29 minutes for the next possible window to open, followed by 2 minutes of pure tension while the window is open, then back to waiting.  And often, claimbots would win the claim on the NM, making the time spent there a total waste.

Now, the ground kings are no longer timed spawns, instead they are spawned using pop items, so no drama there!  ...Well, except if a THF is taking forever stacking Treasure Hunter to crazy values on Behemoth and holding up the line.

For critters such as Valkurm Emperor, Simurgh, or Argus, who had rare drops that were particularly valuable on AH, many of their drops have been swapped to rare/ex, so there's not really money in camping them now.  Some such as Simurgh and Argus had their repop timers shortened as well.

As for some such as Serket (who was moved to a side room on the bottom floor), the main reason they're not camped now is the fact their drops aren't particularly significant anymore.  Venomous Claws aren't really useful now that Scorpion Harness is very dated.

There's still some areas where competition occurs, though it's not nearly as prevalent as it used to be.  Some of the Abyssea NMs, such as Sisyphus, can still be contested, and some timed NMs with valuable drops such as Lord Ruthven still have competition.


14)  500+ Person Besieged

Besieged used to be a particularly epic event.  In 75 Cap, high level attacks would often field very large numbers of players, often hitting the cap of 700 players in the zone.  Fighting was difficult, and the attack leaders were often very difficult to down.

The population on the entire server can often struggle to break 500 in ALL areas now, let alone in Besiged, but such a laggy cluster isn't necessary with lv 119 gears.  A handful of skilled players can turn the tide now, and often only about ten players show up to an attack.


15)  Old Dynamis

Another example of an event that many players thought was time consuming and difficult is original Dynamis.  Sixty-four players could enter, and passing around the hourglasses was a struggle.  Pullers would attack statues and trigger large groups that had to be dealt with, along with dangerous SP abilities such as Astral Flow or Mijin Gakure.  And if you were really lucky, you'd win the chance of lotting some elusive Relic AF.

Dynamis is a far different beast now.  Instead of forking over gil for an hourglass every time, one 50k hourglass KI is good for eternity.  Enemies simply spawn like normal, and AF is a lot easier to nab.  Farming currency is definitely doable, although there are some special mechanics in the zones that can be exploited.  And you can even use Trusts inside.


16)  Solo Maat

This was one of the rites of passage for the FFXIer.  Red Mages and Black Mages in particular often have stories about beating up the old man (or, in many cases, the other way around).  Lv 70, no subjob, one on one!

Even THIS trial was made absurdly easy...

One of the Rhapsody of Vana'diel KIs allows you to use Trusts in this battle, which really makes this an unfair fight.


17)  Level Capped Missions

Chains of Promathia used to be one of the trickiest mission sets in the game, in large part due to the level caps imposed on the vast majority of the missions.  From lv 30 caps in Promyvion to 40 for Aqueducts and Pso'Xja, 50 and 60 for some of the later missions (including the infamous airship fight), it was a challenge for many groups to wring out as much power as they could while being denied access to high level gears and abilities.

With these caps removed, traversing through this mission line is significantly easier, to say the least.

The caps for the dragon fight (2-3) and lich fight (5-1) in the original mission line are gone as well.

There ARE still level capped events, however!  Many BCNMS, Garrison, Eco-Warrior, Expeditionary Forces, ENMs, ISNMs, and some other special fights are still level capped.
#10
News / May 16
May 16, 2016, 06:41:22 AM
Just wanted to say congratulations to the handful of Lucky LS folks that successfully completed their Aeonic weapons today!  Angelinn, Crumbs, Tulia, and myself!  The sheer challenge of taking out some of the most brutal opponents in the game took many tries, but we persevered.
#11
News / March 31
March 31, 2016, 06:57:15 PM
Well, PS2 and Xbox has officially been discontinued.  So FFXI is PC only now.

Recently, the game released ways to reforge legendary weapons, that is, Relic, Mythic, Empyrean, and Ergon, to new versions with improved stats and Afterglow.  It's pretty staggering to see the stats on some of these so-called Ultimate Weapons...  along with Aeonics, which need no reforging but require the defeat of some of the most obscenely powerful opponents in the game.

The next update adds a battle content called Ambuscade where the opponents change every update, a second Wardrobe, and the Mount system (can ride things other than chocobos).

Don't be a stranger, drop in and say hi sometimes!
#12
News / PS2 and XBox Service Ending
February 25, 2016, 08:22:14 PM
There was a reminder of this on the POL site and thought I'd mirror it here:



As previously announced on Thursday, March 19, 2015, PlayStation®2 and Xbox 360® service for FINAL FANTASY XI will end on Thursday, March 31, 2016, at 6:00 a.m. (PST).

As such, PlayStation®2 and Xbox 360® service will not be available after March 31, 2016, at 6:00 a.m. (PST) but your service contract will remain in effect.




So all of you that might be playing again but don't play on PC, you'll need to remedy that!
#13
News / Nov 12
November 12, 2015, 06:26:04 PM
The final chapter of Rhapsodies of Vana'diel has been released.  This is the final major update slated for FFXI, and ends the cross-expansion mission line.

Return Home to Vana'diel and the Discount Campaign are active again, if you wanted to stop in and see what all has changed.

In addition to the release of the Reisenjima zone, powerful new weapons called Aeonic Weapons have been introduced that allow you to do supreme skillchains.




This is probably one of the last posts that the website will have, so I wanted to say thank you to all the Lucky members, both current and from the past, for making it a great group.  While many of you have moved on to bigger and better things, I know several of you still stop by sometimes.  The game may change, but the memories remain.
#14
News / Aug 11
August 12, 2015, 03:26:32 AM
The Sunbreeze Festival has descended upon us again.  This year there's new outfits including a frilly pink dress for the ladies, as well as Mumor II Trust.

The second part of Rhapsodies of Vana'diel has been released, along with Escha - Ru'Aun.  More incredible opponents await!

Among recent upgrades to the game is the ability to see the status bar of a party member, so you can tell what buffs and debuffs are active on them!

Finally, the Return Home to Vana'diel and Discount Campaigns are active again.
#15
News / Site Downtime
June 23, 2015, 05:07:33 PM
The LS site was down for a couple of weeks, Nulani, who was gracious enough to host the site for free, had an IP change and the domain name pointer needed to be adjusted.  Hopefully things are squared away now.
#16
News / May 18
May 18, 2015, 08:12:02 AM


It's Final Fantasy XI's 13th Anniversary!  As usual, there's all sorts of fun activities that go along with it!

The first chapter of Rhapsodies of Vana'diel has been released along with the May Version Update.  The Key Items related to it can significantly change the way you play the game, granting all sorts of bonuses and reductions in waits for timers.  A ton of new Job Gifts have been added.  Also, Mog Houses now have second floors!

#17
News / Goddess's Gala
April 25, 2015, 07:08:56 PM
Also in celebration of Rhapsodies, SE is rolling out a special event called Goddess's Gala, which is really just a combination of two previous events.

- Return Home to Vana'diel Campaign
From Friday, May 15, 2015 at 12:00 a.m. (PDT) to Monday, May 25 at the same hour.

If you've ever played the game before, you can play again free!

- Discount Campaign
From Friday, May 1, 2015 at 12:00 a.m. (PDT) to Monday, June 1 at the same hour.

And if you want to come back to stay, you can buy the game and all the expansions cheap!
#18
News / First Chapter of Rhapsodies Campaign
April 23, 2015, 07:07:12 PM
Two special periods to celebrate the upcoming release of the first part of the Vana'diel Rhapsodies.


April 27 1:00 a.m. (PDT) to May 11 1:00 a.m. (PDT)

  • Double Capacity & Experience Point Campaign
  • Abyssea Campaign
  • Assault - Nyzul Isle Uncharted Area Survey Mysterious Item Campaign
  • Campaign Festa


May 11 1:00 a.m. (PDT) to May 30 7:59 a.m. (PDT)

  • Double Capacity & Experience Point Campaign
  • Abyssea Campaign
  • Additional Seal Battlefield Spoils Campaign
  • Double Unity Accolade Campaign

(More Details Here)
#19
News / March 30
March 31, 2015, 12:50:42 AM
Okay, first a few words about the future of Vana'diel:  There are three addons slated to be released this year for FFXI.  After that, however, there are no plans for future expansions.  Also important to some folks, Playstation and XBox service will be phased out April of 2016.  So if you play FFXI and are on one of those systems you'll need to snag the PC version.


The March update gave us Vagary, tricky alliance content against the dark forces deep inside the Serpentine Labyrinth.  Also, empyrean armor can now be reforged, and GEO and RUN have empyrean equivalent sets.

Lockstyle can now make your armor and weapons appear as any item you possess and have a job capable of equipping.  No excuses for looking plain now!  You can even mix armor sets not normally possible.  In addition, these appearances persist on zone and logging out, and if you swap weapons your armor no longer reverts.

Summoners got some new blood pacts, there's also new Wanteds to hunt.

Game's not dead yet!
#20
News / March Special Campaigns
March 06, 2015, 08:59:44 AM
Just thought I'd mention it:

Until March 26, we're getting double Experience and Capacity and a bonus to Reive evaluations.  In addition there's a Surge Walk Campaign going on in Walk of Echoes, and Trusts have bonus hp/mp and resistance.

I'd highly recommend taking advantage!
#21
News / March 1
March 01, 2015, 08:26:04 PM


Hungry for the latest in FFXI?  Sate your appetite on these developments!

Yorcia Alluvion Skirmishes were added in February.  In this minigame, you summon incredibly powerful monstrous defenders in order to save your base and take down the enemy stronghold.  Potently powerful armor sets are the reward from this pasttime!

In addition, Beastmaster pets can now skillchain and magic burst with their Ready moves now, and the charge time was reduced significantly.

For the truly dedicated, you can unlock new spells such as Utsusemi: San, Reraise IV, Threnody IIs, Storm IIs, tier V/VI nukes, and other special bonuses through Job Gifts.

More Wanted battles have been released as well.

Refractive Crystals allow you to toss augments on your JSE capes as well.  Normally you'd have to do Incursion for this, but now you can choose to augment them without resorting to this.

In future news, lockstyle will be getting a boost soon and be able to be tied to a equipment set.  Also, empyrean armor is slated to be reforgeable next update.
#22
Application / About LS Concierges
January 06, 2015, 07:05:50 PM
Someone asked how Lucky was handling matters concerning the Linkshell Concierges.

For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about:  A linkshell leader or sackholder can register their linkshell at these npcs and specify a number of linkpearls to be given out upon request to anyone interested.

Regarding this, at the moment we're not using this service.  This is to try to screen out some of the more drama-inducing people that might repeatedly keep snagging pearls.  So if you're interested in joining, I still recommend applying here instead.

If this changes, I'll mention it.
#23
News / January 5
January 06, 2015, 04:14:33 AM


Well, it's a new year, and Lucky is still around!

Mog Bonanza Marble sales are going on for a couple of weeks, for those that are interested.  Monthly updates keep adding new shiny pieces of equipment to get.  Several jobs have had recent boosts, such as Summoner and Thief.  The Unity and Wanted system gives even more casual players tasks to do, while there's still hard content like Adoulin missions, Delve I and II, Skirmish, Incursion, and Hard Mode fights around.  There's also Job Points and Job Gifts, which reward you for dedication to a particular job.

Soon, there will be the capability to equip two linkshells at once, which means a social LS will be more desired than ever.  If you haven't played in a while, perhaps you'll be convinced to peek back in and see how things are!
#24
General Posts / Shared Unity Objectives
November 18, 2014, 06:10:21 AM
Unities were added in the update last week.  As part of these supergroups, there are several objectives you can accomplish.  While some are unique to whatever group you're in, there's a set shared among them all.

These change to the next on the list at 7am PST/9am EST (JP midnight).

#25
News / Another Idyllic Vana'diel Initiative
October 30, 2014, 03:03:36 AM
Hasn't been that long since the last one, but they're doing another special period!

Campaign Period: Monday, November 10, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. (PST) to Tuesday, November 25 at 6:00 a.m.

Many, many bonuses will be going on during this period.  It'd take entirely way too long to list all of them, so...  More info here.