Hey, guys. Sugar here with an interesting tidbit of information straight from Alpha/Beta Limbo!
Without much warning and no information on the upcoming beta for FFXIV, SE has updated the online manual available to the testers. No doubt in preparation for the Beta they added three new subheadings entitled “Market Wards”, "Logging and Harvesting", and “Retainers”. There have also been a few changes announced from Alpha to Beta that I'd like to touch on. These additions are no doubt in direct correlation to the Beta giving us a 'preview' of what to expect. However, since the Beta has yet to go live I'll do my best to explain what these are and how they work based on the description given in the manual. Please keep in mind this is most likely subject to change until we are able to test these live. I recommend you take it with a grain of sugar. ;)
Retainers are NPCs who can be employed on an extendable contract basis to perform tasks that can range from minding your items and money to operating bazaars. Players can hire said Retainers at the “Drowning Wench” in Limsa Lominsa. In order to call your Retainer after hiring, take your character to a 'Summoning Bell', located in each city state, and select 'Retainer' from your main menu. It seems this will be fee based, and by the extendable contract note, similar to a Mog bank or Moogle box (?) that you could subscribe to weekly after the ToAU expansion pack.
Market Wards are dedicated districts where players can meet to buy and sell goods, or even summon a Retainer to operate a bazaar in their stead. Each city state has a Market Ward composed of 20 identical areas that players can enter and leave whenever they want. So even if you should exit the Market Ward or log out of the game entirely your Retainer will continue to manage you bazaar/store.
Now those are the 'facts' from the description given in the manual. We have yet to see if this will take the place of an AH system or if SE would still like one to be in place in addition to the Market Ward. I, for one, appreciate this system already. You will no longer have to leave your character idle selling goods wondering if you're in a good spot, if you'll get kicked off, or just plain having to idle bazaar because you're jam packed full of stuff hindering any personal progress you could be making. Theoretically, you'll be able to hire an NPC to handle your shop while you can get back to leveling, questing, synthing, or just goofing off.
One thing I see less of is undercutting. At least not in the way the FFXI auction house was set up. You know, the kind that completely prevented you from selling anything...EVER! I hated spending hours farming and synthing only to have my entire lot of AH items come back to me in the mail because someone was undercutting me by 1 gil! I hated buying stuff from people who were undercutting like that. I didn't want to reward them! All that aside, we'll see how this applies when the beta goes live but I'm looking forward to it even if they do include an AH in addition to the Market Wards. I wish my NPC from XI could do this...
All the potential sugar this could provide aside I wonder if SE has completely thought this through. Will there be a search system for these 20 identical areas of shops or am I going to have to browse each one tirelessly until I find what I'm looking for? Will I be able to advertise my shop to catch the eye of customers looking for specific items or sales? If not the Market Wards could end up being a very bitter experience for everyone, shopkeepers and customers alike. Another game had a system similar, Phantasy Star Universe, it went well there even without any AH. It employed a search and advertising system while your NPC ran the shop and the shop existed regardless of the player being online, logged out, or on another character in the same account. This is a very different game, however ,and may need both. If they do the Market Ward correctly we may not. We'll have to wait and see.
The Logging and Harvesting addition is a welcome addition. Previously in the Alpha the only 'crafting' done was Blacksmithing and Mining. I was very curious as to how the gathering systems were going to be, if at all, different. So far, from the description there are similarities.
To begin logging you first select an ability called "Arbor Call". Much like "Prospect" for miners, this allows you to search the area for mature trees close to you. After you find said tree you select the 'Log' option when it appears. I imagine it pops up on screen like the Quarry option does when you near the mining point. Now at this point the manual just says, "The logging process will now begin". This is probably where that circle I spoke of in my last post will pop up, similar to mining. The Manual also notes that excessive logging will result in fatigue and the player will be unable to log the same point. This makes me wonder if the logging points exhaust themselves or if we could just hack at the same tree until our character gets tired. Kinda odd that the point doesn't exhaust but we do. Moving on...
In the realm of Harvesting it doesn't seem there is any ability to search for vegetation. Perhaps there will be specific bushes or plants that will be designated harvesting points or they may glow like the mining points do. After approaching a spot of 'lush vegetation' the 'Harvest' option will appear. Select it and again 'begin the harvesting process'. The manual says something along the lines of, after finding an item search again as there is likely to be more nearby. I don't know if this is referring to a 'search' option like "Arbor Call" or "Prospect" as it didn't mention any type of search option for Harvesting to begin with. Either way, if you don't get anything from the point your first time the Harvesting Point will still be there and you can try again. Which is neat as in XI, win or loose, the point went away. The same fatigue law applies here as well but for the immediate vicinity. You'll probably have to run to a different batch of Vegetation to escape your fatigue. I guess you get tired of looking at the same plants and need a change of scenery.
Sadly concerning the changes from Alpha to Beta, besides the graphical improvements of course, the list is a bit short. However, while short they give rise to much speculation and anticipation. Increase in inventory space, being able to equip weapons (other than just a shield) to your other hand, level cap increase, more guildleves to play with, addition of throwing weapons, stat boosting foods, and distance from and which way the enemy is facing will have a greater impact. Really the latter didn't even feel present in the Alpha but that's just me. I am excited, though, to hear about the stat boosting food as, I'm hoping, it may prelude to being able to try out the Cooking system rather than just the Blacksmithing system. I've always enjoyed synthing food. I can't wait to try out the new guildleves! I got a little burned out rather quickly with the few we were presented with before. This will obviously coincide with the level cap increase, Logging and Harvesting additions, and of course more weapon and equipment options. Of course with the mention of an additional equipped weapon there is talk about 'Ninja'. I can't say yet but I doubt it would be considered as such or like XI's Ninja in the slightest. It's just dual wield for the moment so don't get your hopes up. Hopefully, we will get some Katanas and perhaps the abilities learned from equipping them will be Ninja-like but for now that's pure hopeful speculation.
There you have it! More Sugar to come as soon as the information becomes available to us and as we near the Beta going live and it should be soon now that the manual is 'complete.' I suspect that Sunday or Monday we'll be getting some information if not the actual client. Make sure you follow this blog to make sure you get the hard info straight from the testers!~
That's your does of Sugar and I'll see you next time!
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