Video recording
Text summary
🔹 Broadcast date: 12/11/2022
🔹 Please note that this is just a summary of the questions, answers, and topics discussed in Developer Blog #5. For the full answers, please refer to the YouTube video linked below this summary.
Welcome and Appreciation
Aerec, Frank, Kipling, and Annona hosted our final Dev Blog before Launch, with Critical, Ophelia, and other devs off camera. A special shout out was given to spaceroast for use of his music.
Announcements
(1) Launch - We are officially launching on December 17th, 2022 at 10 am EST. We are so thankful for all of the interest and support.
(2) Launch Party - We are hosting an official Launch Party on December 17th, 2022 at 9 am EST. We plan to count down our final moments until launch with FFXI games, trivia, and lots of coffee. (Onesies are optional but encouraged.)
Beta Test Recap and Recognition
The open beta lasted from November 15th through the 30th. We had a tremendous turnout in terms of participation.
- We had over 435 people and hundreds of mobs in one zone for our (successful) stress test.
- We were able to isolate crashes; the majority (80%) were caused by the use of *GM Commands by adventurers to try and teleport to out-of- era or incorrect zones. The other 20% of crashes have been fixed.
- The Bug Squashing Campaign was super successful. The goal of the campaign was to have adventurers find and report bugs so our devs could fix the bugs before launch. Those who reported enough bugs earned points toward in-game cosmetics. We hope to have the cosmetics ready for launch or shortly thereafter. We will let you know when the cosmetics are in the game.
- Side note: We tallied all of the bug reports (also known as “good boy points”) and some folks had over 300 points! Yikes! Thank you for your support.
- *Beta testers were given limited access to GM Commands that allowed them to better access and test content.
Horizon Streamer Role
To apply for the Horizon streams notification in our Discord, please visit the #contact-us channel on Discord and submit a ticket.
For Twitch Streamers:
- Be in the Final Fantasy XI online game category.
- Have the word “Horizon” in your stream title.
For Youtube Streamers:
- Have “Final Fantasy XI” in your stream description.
- Have the word “Horizon” in your stream title.
More detailed directions can be found on our Discord.
HorizonXI Wiki
Our vision for the wiki is that it is completely player managed and driven by the experiences of “playing and finding out”. Our links are as follows:
- https://horizonxi.fandom.com/wiki/HorizonXI_Wiki The official fandom link that allows viewing and editing.
- https://breezewiki.com/horizonxi/wiki/HorizonXI_Wiki A viewing alternative to the fandom link (you cannot edit in this mode) that removes the annoying banners and advertisements.
Live Q&A - Burning Questions
The following questions were submitted through Discord via our Burning Questions channel. Please note that due to time limitations, any questions previously answered in our past Dev Blogs or other communications were omitted from the list of questions answered below.
Q1:Will there potentially be OoE crafting recipes to help out with skilling some of the harder, more expensive crafts? An example being gold dust.
A: Our goal for crafting is for it to be both challenging and rewarding. For this reason, we do not plan on including many out-of-era synths. There may be some era+ synthesis recipes, though, which we will discuss at a later time.
Q2: Could we get a video showing party gameplay with the class changes? I would hate to put too much time into a class that is far different from what we would typically expect. If this ruins the fun of playing and finding out I understand, but getting a job to level 60 and it is not what we expect would be disappointing as well.
A: At one point we wanted to have class videos, but we decided to pivot to job cards. After our launch video, we found that videos just take a lot of time, and we made the decision to prioritize other launch-related tasks.
Q3:In a previous dev blog, you mentioned that you would be surprised if ToAU came out 12 months later - meaning it should come out sooner. 12 months to me as a more casual player seems like more of a minimum. What will be your mechanism for determining if the population is ready for new content (e.g. polls, anecdotal stuff)?
A: We are going to look at multiple groups of players to see how long it takes them to scale content to determine when the time feels right. We do not want to rush to expand content before players are ready, although our goal is to be ahead of the players in terms of quality content we have ready to release. That said, we do not anticipate it taking longer than 12 months before we release our first ToAU patch. However, this is not set in stone and this timeline is subject to change.
Q4: Please tell us more about hardcore mode. Are we going to get information pertaining to what the milestones for hardcore cosmetics are? As someone who plans to play die and delete my character style until I unlock them it will really suck reaching level 75 and having no clue what else there is or isnt beyond that. Being left to guess if cosmetics even exist beyond 75 and/or having to guess what needs to be accomplished will really suck. I just want to know what I need to do to get the cosmetics so I can get them and then be able to play the game normally. Also, will cosmetics be account wide?
A: Hardcore adventuring is an opt in game mode, where adventurers can see how long they can survive the tough wilds of Vana’diel without being knocked unconscious. There will be super cool cosmetic rewards that increase as players progress in level. Watch out, though, because once you die, you can no longer unlock rewards on that character. More details will be found in the Launch patch notes.
Q5: Any chance of a staggered launch instead of a set start time? Or is it possible to open up the server early but have xp turned off or something until a set time? Anything to maximize the chances of a smooth launch?
A: There will not be a staggered launch. We want everyone to have the same opportunity to login and play.
Q6: (1)Can we please get an option to turn off battle music and let the zone music continue to play during combat? (2) Will we have COP era no combat music for casters in exp parties, or will we have WOTG+ where casters also get music so long as party/alliance is engaged?
A: There is an approved add-on that does this for you. You can use the add-ons to customize your music preferences.
Q7: Is it possible to add a cancel synthesis button? I wouldn’t even mind losing the mats upon canceling.
A: There will not be a cancel synthesis button.
Q8: Will the adventuring fellow be making an appearance?
A: The adventuring fellow will be making an appearance, likely in our first patch after launch.
Q9: Any word on an option where I can keep the OG tracks for areas that have them but have the newly created music for areas that originally didn't have any?
A: There will be an option on our launcher between all new vs. all original music only; we do not have the option to customize specific music tracks.
Q10:Would staff consider disabling the starting CS (when logging into a new character for the first time) on launch? It seems to cause a lot of issues, such as getting stuck on downloading data, black screens and so on.
A: We have corrected the initial cutscenes for new characters, so those will remain in the game.
Q11: Will the commands /propose or /nominate work on horizon?
A: These commands will not be in the game, at least not at launch.
Q12: How long will the increased respawn and density last in starter zones?
A: We have dramatically increased the spawn times and density for starter zones, but once staff are confident that players are spread out enough, we will do an emergency maintenance to revert these spawns back to normal.
Q13:With an AH limit of 21 will we be able to scroll through our full list of items listed in the ah to remove one, or will it be the old remove an item and check again to see if the one you want to remove is now in view?
A: You will be able to scroll through your listings.
Q14: There will be a Linkshell Concierge NPC?
A: There will not be a Linkshell Concierge.
Q15: will there be new player icons on the website for the new hairstyles/appearance options? (for example on the account overview page at the moment, you can see your "character creator" render as the player icon)
A: All character models (original and Horizon-exclusive) will have appropriate icons in the account overviews on the website and in the launcher.
Alt-H2 Twitch Questions The following questions were submitted and answered live during the Dev Blog #7 stream.
Q1: Will you guys put the fanart contest winners on the launcher for everyone to enjoy?
A: We cannot put these in the launcher at this time, but you can find art on Facebook and Instagram. We can’t do that now, but maybe in the future we will place the art on the website.
Q2: Will there ever be Mog Wardrobes?
A: Please wait for the launch patch notes.
Q3: Will Hardcore players have an icon or any way to identify other hardcore players?
A: Yes! There will be an in-game icon that designates adventurers
Q4: Can the player mailbox be used as extra storage? I.e sending items to yourself? What is the limit on mailbox storage space?
A: Yes; the same limit as in retail.
Launch and Installation Info
The HorizonXI team reviewed the character creation on the website and minor launcher features. Additionally, GM Support and IP Exceptions can be found on the Discord under ffxi-support. There is no in-game GM service. Adventurers must use Discord. Please note that approved addons were mentioned as being found on Discord, but the list of approved addons has now been moved EXCLUSIVELY to the website since this stream was broadcasted.
Launch patch notes are coming soon!
Developer Showcase Section
Aerec took us on a tour, sharing music and showing off “peach mithra”.
