Nah.  In fact they announced earlier in the month that there will be small monthly updates every month for the foreseeable future.  They're still gonna add new things to fight and some small quests.  There's just not any planned future full expansions.

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.

Author's Note:  It's been three years since I last messed with this, but as I've had multiple requests to finish the tale, I put this together.  Hope you enjoy!

2-14

As the belladonna screeched at the loss of one of its vines, Laliho flopped to the ground gaspoing for air.  Nearby, a Hume clad in heavy onyx-and-gold armor standing on a nearby ledge.  Her axe whipped back towards her like a boomerang and she deftly retrieved it.

"None of that.  This Taru's a little important to me."

Laliho quickly rolled away, trying to elude the grasp of new vines that were quickly advancing towards her.  "Areya!  Some help!"

The Hume woman brought her hand to her mouth, letting out a shrill whistle.  From above, a giant red tiger pounced down on the mutant plant, its claws rending the vines apart.

"I guess this is when I would normally make some comment about needing to do some weeding..." Areya started as she rushed toward the plant.  "But this is serious."  As a couple of vines approached her, she deftly sliced them.  "Come on, the tiger won't hold them long."

As Lali was picked up by her companion, she shook her head. 

"Wait!  What about her?"

Areya stopped in her tracks and stared back at the goblin, sighing.  "I know, I know.  We're not cruel."

The giant humanoid plant started approaching even as the tiger continued attacking its leafy coverings.  With a lunge, Areya severed the vines holding up Oggbix, then proceeded to attack the heart of the monstrosity itself.

As Oggbix struggled to free herself she screeched, "Last time I order a monster from him!"

About that time, Areya flew soaring backwards over their heads.  She crashed in a clump against the rocky walls, and her pet tiger followed moments later.

"...tougher than I thought.." she grumbled, wiping some dirt off her chin.

Lali stared at the beast, noticing that it suddenly seemed sluggish.  An ethereal glow started eminating from its heart.

"Wait, what's going on?"

As Oggbix studied the situation, she paniced, scooting away on her rear kicking the ground.  "It's unstable!  The rift energies are going to cause an explosion!"

"It's alright," Areya said calmly as she reached into a small pouch tied to her waist.  From within she procured a small red crystal.  "I've dealt with these kind of monsters before.  When I heard you were involved, I had a friend make me one of these.  It'll seal the monster within.  But we'll have to get close.  It needs to contact that glowing energy."

"I'm not getting anywhere close to that thing!" Oggbix shrieked.

"I'll do it," Laliho calmly said.

"It's dangerous, maybe I should--"

"You're always off playing the hero, Areya!" Laliho spoke up, looking annoyed.  "Besides, I need you to keep those vines off of me long enough."

"Lali.."

The glow started to intensify and a low grumble started to fill the air.

"There's no time!" the small woman implored.

Areya patted her on the head gently and offered her the crystal.  "Okay.  Let's go!"

As Areya and her tiger launched an assault on the shambling mass, Lali quickly jumped at the exposed center of the belladonna, shoving her hand, crystal clutched firmly in the center, deep into the fiend!

An otherworldly roar reverberated off the ancient stone walls of the ancient fort and into the sky above.  Suddenly, everything went white.

Nearby, Lady Sari swung her head towards the disturbance. 

"Oh no..  Laliho!"

-----

"..."

"---ke up.."

"..."

"let me..  something..  ..anberry pie."

"..."

Laliho's nose started sniffing softly, and her eyes opened up.  "Hey..  is that..  one of Areya's pies?"

"She's back!" Pakurara cheered.

Around the tiny monk, everyone had gathered.

"I guess things worked out after all," Sharlene chimed in.

"We were worried!" Sari blurted out.

Laliho rubbed her eyes and sat up, still dazed.  "And the Asuras?"

"Oh I wouldn't worry about them," Celo admitted while laughing.  "Our feathered friends are going to make sure they don't cause any more problems.  Although there's still the matter of what to do with them."

Laliho peered up, scanning the faces of the crowd around her, but noticing two missing.  "Hey, where's Areya and Lunet?"

Radille shrugged slowly.  "You know how Lunet is.  As for Areya, I'm not sure.  I think she was clearing the tunnels."

"Well, I, for one, think we all earned ourselves a feast," Laliho suggested.

----

The sun kissed the water's horizon as dusk began to fall on Windurst.  The emblazoned vessel at the docks emitted smoke and steam as it prepared to depart.

"So, I guess this is goodbye," Lady Sari said quietly, trying not to look sad.

"You know you're always welcome to come back and visit," Lali replied.

"The Middle Lands aren't so bad," Celo managed to say while stuffing his face with a pear crepe.

Lali chuckled and turns to the Elvaan.  "So what will happen to the Asurans?"

Thorn brought his hand to the back of his head and cringed his face.  "Well, you know, we aren't really sure.  Plenty of people back home want these folks locked up.  They're not all that bad, maybe just a little misguided."

Sari nodded and added, "We still don't know who's running the show but without his minions he can't do anything.  So I
wouldn't worry."

"We sealed off those new tunnels," Celo mentioned as he continued to feed himself.  "Probably better that the beastmen here can't use them."

"And Zenrox?"

"Think he got out while he could.  Don't think he'll be messing with you again, though!"

Lali breathed a huge sigh of relief.  "I think we've all earned some rest.  Safe travels to you!"

The bell rang out and the engines of the craft began to warm up.

"Take care, Laliho!" Lady Sari waved as the gangplank was taken out and the ship began its journey east...

-----

"That's quite the story," Areya said as she sat in Laliho's Mog House.  "Who would have thought?"

"There's one thing that bothers me though," Lali started, walking up close and staring intently at Areya.  "How did you know to use that crystal?"

"Hey, I gotta have my secrets too."

"Come ooooooonnnn!" Lali insisted, punching the Hume lightly on the arm.

"Let's just say I already knew she had tried to get something unusual to get back at you.  I've been battling voidwalkers and such for a while, so I have connections!"

Laliho frowned and sat down.  "Still not a very good answer!"

"You did good though.  You really were a hero this time!"

"Guess I take after you then!"

END

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.

Happens!

It's not like we get a huge amount of traffic anyway.  Honestly dunno how many even noticed the downtime lol.

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.

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!

I have a related chart for non-Daylight savings I will post later, as well.

Also I don't have the info on the Treasure Casket one as I haven't been on when it has been active yet.

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!

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)

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!

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!

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.

I seem to recall the name.

Definitely remember Isthian, heh.

While we're not as active as we used to be, don't think anyone has any issues.

Quote from: Zerila on January 18, 2015, 06:48:20 AM
All these updates look crazy fun... I really want to come back. I may give it a shot, just to see how it all goes! I'd have to play pretty casually, though... A few hours and a couple days a week, tops. I miss the game and all of you guys a lot!

Casual is better than nothing!

And you'll probably be happy with some of the BST-related adjustments lately.  Lot of new familiars and axe WSes were boosted.

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.

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!

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).

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.

Update day~

Today's goodies include:

• Hard Mode Avatar Prime Fights!
• Atomos for Summoners
• New Ninja Traits and Shurikens
• Boosts to Pets
• Weapon Rating Upgrades for Several Jobs (Thief, Dancer, Blue Mage)
• More Equipment Sets (100 now!)
• Ability to store Skirmish stones!

..and even more!