Video recording
Roadmap reveal
Text Summary
🔹 Broadcast date: 9/11/2022
🔹 Please note that this is just a summary of the questions, answers, and topics discussed in Developer Blog #4. For the full answers, please refer to the youtube video linked below this summary.
Questions and Answer Section
Q1: Vendor Price Reductions!
Vendor price reductions will be very much done on a case by case basis to reduce inflation in the in-game economy. There are plenty of things in game that aren’t completely broken when it comes to the vendoring economy, and things like that are perfectly acceptable to us. There are, however, multiple aspects where there are almost 0 player to player interactions that result in gil injection into the economy. Things like that are being targeted. We’re also trying to hit an even level where various activities are more in line with an average so there are more options for making gil that otherwise wouldn’t be viable. We don’t want one or two methods to stand out so every player is doing those.
Q2: When will the addons be added? (ASA, ACP, AMK)
These will most likely be sometime during Wings of the Goddess. This may be subject to change due to future decisions in terms of development, but this is a good bet.
Q3: Will there be personal drops for any content? (i.e. dynamis-divergence)
This wasn’t on our radar up to this point. We don’t think it fits into the current plan for the initial release. We’re doing our best to match an accurate era feel for our release date, but this is outside the realm of era.
Q4: Any adjustments to mage spell costs?
We have thought about this to make certain early game things different for jobs. If you’re leveling black mage for your first job, and you can’t afford spells, it makes it even harder to farm to afford them. We likely won’t release specific information as to what measures would be taken, but this is definitely something on our radar. Will Red Mage still be able to solo?
The way Red Mage plays is very integral to era experience. We don’t want to modify a job enough to change it that fundamentally.
Q5: What Goldfishing Reward can we expect?
Kimono, most likely. We’re most likely starting with the early event content rather than the newer stuff, given the expansion and era we’re starting on.
Q6: What exp rates can players expect? Will it change as expansions release?
We will most likely be starting out with Wings of the Goddess exp curves. They’re nice, and it is a really good balance between being era and being realistic for most players to feel like they’re making progress.
Q7: Which job has received the greatest change?
White Mage and Paladin. Our goal isn’t to change their role, but we want them to be more desirable at all stages of the game.
Q8: Will any jobs be untouched?
If Square Enix did a good job balancing something, and we don’t see a need to change a job, we won’t be. The whole purpose is to make jobs fit their niche better and not be completely worthless in some phases of leveling and end game and other content.
Q9: Will merits have any use after capping the merits on a job?
We can’t comment at this time aside from saying there is a plan for this.
Q10: What about maps? Are they unlocked on character creation?
The current consensus is that they will not be unlocked, but it will not be a bannable offense to use Allmaps. This makes it a player’s choice whether they want them unlocked or not. This is subject to change, though, and further info will be released as it solidifies.
Q11: Will LB1 item drop rates be modified?
We’ve considered increasing them, but we haven’t come to an agreement on how much or if we will be for sure. This will likely be something found out by players are level 50. The ??? will definitely not be implemented, though.
Q12: Will the weighted stones or magicked astrolabe be implemented?
No, these will not be. It isn’t in line with the philosophy of an mmo in our eyes, which is group content.
Q13: Will the new camps we’ve heard so much about align to the current level of camps and monster levels in a zone?
We think you’ll find out at or around Dec. 17, 2022. We don’t want to give details, because we want players to find this out on their own. This sort of exploration is an important part of what makes Horizon, Horizon.
Q14: How will Abyssea be different from the retail implementation?
Our main plan is to change the level required to access Abyssea. When it was implemented it largely invalidated wide swathes of leveling content, and that isn’t what we want to happen. Further changes will be released as we approach the release of the content.
Q15: Will Assault and Conquest Point items that don’t have worthwhile stats be changed to be worth farming or buying?
You will find that there are items that have different stats from retail, but the specifics will be for players to find out.
Q16: How will fishing based inflation be curbed? Will it be?
We have two major choices on how to control inflation for fishing, pools and fatigue. Pools force fishers to move around and target fish that aren’t as typically targeted, and it may cause some fishes to be worth more to other players. It does however hurt fishing for new players, so this is something we’re looking at carefully. Fatigue is another choice, and will probably not be implemented alongside pools.
Q17: Can 76+ BST jug pets be rescaled to 75?
I don’t know how much we want to talk about them. BST is going to be a very interesting job, we think, and we’re excited about the changes we’ve made so far.
Q18: When will Magian Trials be implemented?
These will likely be released in Wings of the Goddess. We don’t want to release them too early, it’s a very difficult thing to balance and test that we would like to make sure it’s fully fleshed out before we let players experience it.
Q19: Will crafting skill up rates be era accurate?
They will be era accurate. HQ rates will also be the same. That is all we can say.
Q20: Can items’ equippable jobs change?
Absolutely. We have the capability to change this, and if this seems like a worthwhile balance change then it will be an option.
Q21: Ashita or Windower?
Ashita v4 will be the main and preferred launcher used, but we will be implementing windower support before launch.
Q22: Can fight mechanics change?
For missions and quests, we’re trying to match era as closely as possible. Further mechanics will be for players to discover. We can make change, but it doesn’t mean we always should.
Q23: Will there be any consideration made to make more subjobs viable for melee jobs?
Yes. We don’t want to go into details. We’re trying to make minimal adjustments to make things viable and fun to play. Will /nin still be a thing? Absolutely. Will there be other subjobs that are more desired? Probably.
Q24: Will there be PvP on Horizon?
Yes. We aren’t sure if they’ll be ready for launch, but Ballista is being actively worked on for Horizon.
Q25: Will seasonal events be on Horizon?
Yes. In fact, launch day is near Christmas so you’ll likely hear something very festive in Jeuno.
Q26: Will the AH be stocked to start?
No, it will be a completely blank slate. The economy will be entirely player-driven.
Q27: What has been the hardest part of the project so far?
Easily the client. It was originally developed by Square Enix using PS2 dev kits, and we don’t have those. We have a staff member that’s very good at reverse engineering stuff like this, so we’ve had a lot of success, but it’s been a long road to be able to do what we have done.
Q28: Will crafting myths be enabled?
In era myths will most likely be off.
Q29: Will Black Mage pet camps be viable?
Go explore!
