The History of Final Fantasy XI/2002

Navigation Pre-Release & Beta 2000 - 2001 Release & The First Year 2002   The Rise of the Zilart Era 2003 The Chains of Promathia Era 2004   Conclusion of Chains of Promathia 2005 The Treasures of Aht Urhgan Era 2006   Conclusion of Treasures of Aht Urhgan 2007 The Age of Mythical Weapons 2008   The Add-on Scenarios 2009 The End of the Level 75 Cap 2010   The Beginning of Post-Abyssea 2011 The Level 99 Era 2012   The Seekers of Adoulin Release 2013 Seekers of Adoulin Conclusion 2014 The Rhapsodies of Vana'diel 2015 coming in the future! Back to the Main Page

Header Key     News Entry     Version Update     Beta Information     FFXI In-Game Event     Merchandise Released     Real Life Event in Japan     Real Life Event in North America     Real Life Event in Europe

2002 - Release & First Updates

With the Playstation 2 beta test completed, Final Fantasy XI was finally given a public release. The Windows beta test ran through the Summer, and the final version was released in the Fall. Final Fantasy XI was ready to set sail.

Feb. 7th, 2002	Final Fantasy XI Credit Cards
	Square, DigiCube, and UC Card announced details concerning special Final Fantasy XI/PlayOnline Visa and Mastercard credit cards, which were available in Japan starting February 2002. These cards were one of the various marketing schemes designed to promote Square's online community. The cards offered various benefits to PlayOnline users and Final Fantasy XI subscribers: Cardholders had their annual fees waived as long as they were a Final Fantasy XI Subscriber. Gift rebates were earned based on card usage, up to a maximum of 6,000 yen in gift certificates FFXI themed T-Shirt for spending 100,000 yen on the card.
Feb. 20th, 2002	Final Fantasy XI Opening Cinematic Debut
	The debut of the Final Fantasy XI Opening Cinematic was shown after a "Music from Final Fantasy 20020220" orchestra concert.
Apr. 26th, 2002	FFXI Playstation 2 Beta Test Ends
	The final version of Final Fantasy XI was put together, and the beta test ended. The night of the shut down, around 3,000 people logged into the Chaos world and about 1,500 were online on the Zande world. During shut down, zones were closed one by one every five minutes and the entire process took 30 minutes to finish. System messages were displayed saying "xxx area down!" every time another was closed. Testers were allowed to have their chosen names transferred over to the full game. The game began with 20 worlds, and it was announced that the last two digits of your total gil would determine where you were placed. This way, players were able to transfer along with their friends to the same server. This system led to servers initially being referred to by number, such as “World 0,” or “Server #5.”	During the months of the beta test, it was extremely hard to find a PS2 HDD. On top of this, many people discovered defects in some HDDs. This caused the demand to be even higher due to the unfortunate people were trying to replace their defective devices. On "Yahoo! Auctions", some HDDs were being sold and purchased for a minimum of 18,000 Yen (Around $150 at the time) up to 50,000 Yen (Around $415).
Apr. 26th, 2002	First Article from Vana'diel Tribune Released
	The first article from the Vana'diel Tribune, a Final Fantasy XI "newspaper" published within Playonline by Square Enix, was released coinciding with the finished Beta test. The newspaper, for the most part, was in the role play setting. Oftentimes, the reporters broke the 4th wall and acknowledged adventurers as players. The newspaper was based in Jeuno, and often covered seasonal events in Vana'diel as well as version updates to the game. Reporters in the newspaper were actual staff members of Square and Square-Enix. They all had characters ingame coinciding with their newspaper reporter names and personalities. Players were often invited to write and participate in articles in the newspaper. Correspondents were easily spotted in-game due to a unique icon displayed by their names: This was in the same spot as the Bazaar or Linkshell icons. The first edition of the Vana'diel Tribune ran monthly from April 26th, 2002 until October 25th, 2004. 31 publications were made in the first edition, of which the first 17 were only in Japanese. English players started receiving translated editions starting with Edition #17 on October 28th, 2003. See the Vana'diel Tribune page for a link to all of the articles.
May 16th, 2002	FFXI PS2 goes on sale in Japan, Service begins!
	The names for the twenty worlds were revealed: Bahamut, Shiva, Titan, Ramuh, Phoenix, Carbuncle, Fenrir, Sylph, Valefor, Alexander, Leviathan, Odin, Ifrit, Diabolos, Caitsith, Quetzalcoatl, Siren, Unicorn, Gilgamesh and Ragnarok. The PS2 version cost 7800 yen. It contained Final Fantasy XI, PlayOnline Viewer, Tetra Master and JongHoLo (a Mahjong game). It also came with a pretty thick playing manual, weighing in at 288 pages. Square said they prepared 20 servers worldwide capable of withstanding 5,000 simultaneous connections towards the official version, and that they can handle 100,000 players at any time. FFXI was well organized in its launch, but suddenly big issues occurred immediately after the service started. FFXI's first week of sales amounted to 63,958 units (Famitsu survey). Despite being below the 100,000 limit that Square announced, the "Authentication Servers" accessed when logging into the game couldn't withstand the enormous amount of traffic. On top of this, the official FFXI site and their support center were having technical difficulties so Square was unable to communicate with their customers via their official site. Not only could people not play the game, some were even being charged duplicate amounts when registering their WebMoney code. A majority of BB units were also not delivered on launch day as promised. All connectivity issues were completely fixed by May 19. Due to the loss of service, free play was extended past the end of May until the end of June.	One of the first trailers for the game, released sometime in 2002. Early FFXI Official Website
May 18th, 2002	Newspaper Article
	On the morning of the 18th, the article to the right was printed in the national newspaper in Japan in the advertisement column. It is an apology advertisement written by the president of Square. They apologize for the difficult launch of FFXI and about duplicate charges. The term "disaster" was used. Below is a translation of the article on the right. Notice Regarding the Status of "FINAL FANTASY XI" Service On May 16th, Our company released the online-only game "Final Fantasy XI" as well as "PlayOnline", causing a large number of customer access requests, resulting in a situation where some customers were unable to complete online registration. Via our company's technical staff, disaster recovery and verification has been going at a pitch pace regarding an issue where customers, including those who registered yesterday, were continuously unable to log in to the game. We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. Furthermore, for the latest information, please visit our website at www.playonline.com or www.square.co.jp for the latest status. May 18, 2002 Representative Director and President, Square Co. Yoichi Wada
Summer 2002	FFXI Themed Snacks
	As part of Square's marketing plan, 7-Eleven in Japan exclusively sold Final Fantasy XI themed snacks. Three flavors of Doritos, cheetos and popcorn. Included inside each bag was one of 27 possible FFXI themed cards featuring races and CG opening cinematic screenshots from the game. Each card had a unique code to download a ringtone.	Image from finalfantasy7110.com
May 23rd, 2002	The First Version Update
	Treasure adjustments (e.g. Pugils in East Ronfaure would no longer drop Shall Shells.) The amount of Gil obtained by selling items to NPCs (Crab Shells, Land Crab Meat, Shall Shells, Sleepshroom, etc) was adjusted. Prices were overall lowered significantly.	Crab Festival nerf At the beginning of service, the drop rate for Land Crab Meat was incredibly high. As a result, crabs were overfished in the vicinity of the North Gustaberg bridge and wet areas of Dangruf Wadi. Players were farming the meat and selling it to an NPC for large profits of 400-500 Gil each. The NPC purchase price was adjusted in this update. The festival only lasted a couple of days, and few players remember it. Sleepshroom Marathon nerf The Sleepshroom Marathon was the act of completing the quest Gourmet repeatedly by buying a Sleepshroom from the Alchemy Guild for 80 Gil, and turning it in for the quest to earn 200 Gil. This was a reward of 120 Gil per completion. Because it could be done repeatedly, players would dedicate their entire playtime running back and forth from Bastok Markets to Bastok Mines.
Jun. 5th, 2002	FFXI Original Soundtrack Released
	A Regular Edition (2,854 Yen, pictured on right top) and Limited Edition (3,150 Yen, pictured on the right middle and bottom) of the soundtrack were both sold. The Limited Edition was contained in a special package featuring artwork from Mr. Yoshitaka Amano. A picture booklet and DVD containing the opening movie were also included with the limited edition. The soundtrack itself contained all the same songs on either version.
Jun. 12th, 2002	The First Big Version Update
	New Features & Content Auction House opened. Screenshot function added. The first Notorious Monsters were implemented. Job Adjustments Thief Granted Hand-to-Hand skill. Effect of Treasure Hunter strengthened. DEX bonus added to Sneak Attack. Upon implementation, Sneak Attack merely forced a Critical Hit. By adjusting this and adding the DEX bonus, Thief became a more viable DD. Gilfinder used to totally remove the ability to receive gil drops from monsters, and was finally fixed in this update nearly a month after implementation. The duration of Bind was shortened, and the spell could now be resisted. HQ results for crafting made their appearance, but only went up to HQ1 results. Instead of an HQ version, some synthesis recipes were changed to yield 2 items upon HQ. Monsters which only dropped Quest related items now also drop their family's normal loot items. The minimum level required to obtain a sub job quest was set to 18. The quest used to be accessible at level 10. Sale prices on expensive equipment were lowered. Sale prices on fishing equipment adjusted. Guild shops now closed on different days of the week in observance of unique guild holidays. Delivering "Rare" items to mog houses no longer destroys the same item if one is already in your "Inbox". Crystal drop rate while under the effect of Signet was increased. Guards who provide Signet were placed at outposts, some borders, and other countries in order to easily provide players with Signet. Due to this, the guard stationed in North Gustaberg was moved to its current location.	Turtle Curse For Bastok Mission 1-3 Fetichism, the wording in-game says to "Hunt the Quadav in the Palborough Mines and collect the four parts of a Quadav fetich." Many players gathered in the zone to hunt Quadav, even though the same Quadav drop the items in Konschtat Highlands and Pashhow Marshlands. Players were narrow minded, listened to directions exactly, and headed to Palborough. On top of that, the drop rate for the pieces was very bad which led to congestion. Due to intense glitches in the early days of Palborough, many players had accidental deaths. Due to the topography of the zone, Quadav would often link and aggro through the Iron Gates on the third floor where the fetich pieces dropped. Massive "Turtle Trains" formed because the Quadav had to run around to reach players, linking everything by sound on the way. The common phrase repeated in chat was "Do not get close to Iron Gate!" When Dynamis was later introduced, many players had flashbacks to this mission in the early days. On top of all of the above, it was also not yet known that players needed to trade Crystals in order to be offered the mission in the first place. This added to the frustration. Bind Nerf Before the change to Bind, the spell almost always lasted about 60 seconds every cast. NMs were also fully susceptible to this spell like any normal monsters. If you used Bind on an opponent, the effect would not break regardless of damage type or amount that was dealt to the enemy. Black Mages were called the strongest job at the time simply due to Bind. The change to Bind allowed the spell to be resisted by even easy monsters, and it would also wear off if damage was dealt. The maximum effect duration was also lowered to around 30 seconds, but this was reverted back to 60 seconds at some point in the future.
Jun. 17th, 2002	Recruitment for Windows Beta Testers
	Ads were circulated through magazines and the Internet to recruit for a public beta test. At the time, the computer specs required were fairly high and not many people's computers met them. The beta participation was done via public offering to ensure the highest participation possible.
Jun. 17th, 2002	FFXI Windows Beta Test Begins
	The world Glasyalabolas was formed for Windows beta testers. Beta testing for Tetra Master in Windows took place at the same time.
Jun. 24th, 2002	Monsters made unable to attack players on Chocobo
	Before teleports were added, chocobos were necessary to go anywhere. Especially now that players cannot be attacked while on a chocobo. This was long before the time that monsters would disappear when they wandered outside of their spawn area. Because chocobos ran faster than monsters, this caused a lot of unintentional MPK.	Mythril Marathon The “Mythril Marathon” was a mining fad that began late June of 2002. Players would bring Pickaxes to Palborough Mines, mine up some Mine Gravel, convert it into Mythril Sand using a machine found in the dungeon, and sell it to an NPC. Adventurers would go naked (maximizing inventory space) and head to Palborough over and over, raising Chocobo prices in Bastok over 1000 gil a ride. This marathon peaked around the July 2nd, 2002 update. After July 9th, Pickaxe prices rose, while Mythril Sand prices fell, making this method of earning money less lucrative. Development staff confessed in a gaming magazine interview that they came up with implementation ideas for Logging and Mining by watching this riot. Upon the release of Logging and Mining, the "Second Mythril Marathon" started. It was not for profit this time, however. It was merely curiosity about the new gathering system. To commemorate this event, a weekly Records of Eminence objective was added for the Vana'diel 15th Vana'versary in 2017. To complete it, you had to perform 10 conversions of Mine Gravel to Mythril Sand. Boytz became quite popular, and handed out around 10,000 Gil/hour to each player.
Jun. 25th, 2002	The Level 50 Cap - First Players Reach Level 50
	From the start, the level cap was set to 50 but this was not disclosed to players. Square announced in June of 2002 that the first players who reached level 50 would have their names published on the official site. They also announced during the month that the game was prepared for players to go up to level 100 for a maximum. On this day, the first players across all worlds attained level 50.	As players were all rushing to level to 50, other casual players didn't enjoy that. Square announced that this game has more than plain leveling. With that announcement, it caused a big uproar that became a continuous joke in Japan: [SE] Do this. [Players] Ok. [SE] Don't do it. Players questioned SE "what else there is to do other than leveling?", which SE did not respond to (probably because it was a fact). Later on, during an interview, the dev team claimed that players were leveling too fast, and they never expected everyone to be only leveling everyday. Though, at that time, the game really only have leveling to do.
Jul. 2nd, 2002	The patch from hell
	Job Adjustments Paladin The amount of MP for Paladin was adjusted to be lower than Red Mage, and amount of HP was lowered to be below that of Warrior. Adjustments made to enmity for abilities like Provoke and Invincible. They were greatly nerfed. They greatly nerfed Sentinel to the point that the job ability was regarded as useless. Dark Knight The amount of MP for Dark Knight was adjusted to be lower than Red Mage. They greatly nerfed Last Resort to the point that the job ability was regarded as useless. The effects of level difference were defined, but monsters became almost impossible to hit or damage with magic. With the introduction of the level difference adjustment, monsters checked as above Even Match were impossible to kill. This created the situation where soloing on low level monsters was far more effective than partying. Parameters like Accuracy, Evasion and Magic Defense were removed from the Status screen with the reason: "We would not like to ruin the fun of players discovering that themselves."; though the real reason seemed to be that the numbers displayed were apparently greatly inaccurate, so they decided to hide that altogether. Hundred Fists at this point used to reduce any weapon's delay to 0, which caused a major bug to weapon's delay display.	The patch from hell This update will forever be known as the patch from hell. Many Japanese players also referred to it as the nightmare week. It was said that most users did not like this update, and the protest email rushed in. Two days later an announcement about a revision was posted. In the July 9th update, many changes were partially reversed. Future updates never made this degree of change. The rumor on what triggered these changes was that players defeated the Orcish Overlord in the Monastic Cavern, which was meant to be undefeated. The main culprit was the level difference corrections. Players were now unable to even hit Tough monsters. Soloing on Easy Prey was much more beneficial than partying. Combining this change with a weaker Provoke, Cure II pulled hate. It took the strength of three Provoke to pull hate from a White Mage. On top of this, the July 9th patch would cause Even Match mobs to resist Elemental Magic by 50%. This was the beginning of the "Black Mage Disaster Period". The new phrase that came about due to this update was "patch = weak". Players began to mention "I want you to make adjustments not by weakening players and monsters, but strengthening." Even although there was no future update that made as much of an impact, the go-to phrase for years after an update was "better than the 7.2 patch".
Jul. 9th, 2002	The Introduction of “Incredibly Tough,” & A Wide Array of Job Adjustments
	New Features & Content Eight different Window patterns made selectable in the Config menu. Text Commands added: /attack, /equip, /names, /kneel, /sigh, /comfort, /huh, /blush, /angry, /disgusted, /upset, /panic, /fume, /doubt, /sulk and /shocked. Job Adjustments Warrior Hand-to-Hand skill lowered one grade. Monk Accuracy for left-handed punches changed. Effects of Hundred Fists and Chakra changed. New punch motions added for the job's left handed swings. White Mage Enmity generated from Benediction lowered. Red Mage Dagger, Sword and Club skill levels, as well as max MP, raised. Thief Hand-to-Hand and Sword skills raised. Enmity generated from Steal lowered. Dark Knight Given the ability to use Great Sword Weapon Skills. From early .DAT mining, it was discovered that Ragnarok was listed as Paladin only. DRKs were initially not intended to have Great Sword skill. Bard Duration of Song effects shortened. Received Dagger, Sword and Club skill. Ranger Rangers now able to use guns. Prices on arrows and bullets lowered and made able to stack to 99, rather than the original limit of 12. Received Dagger and Sword skill. Beastmaster Duration of Charm on pets fixed to 5 minutes, and 30 minutes under the influence of Familiar. (However, depending on a pet’s remaining HP, Charm could be broken instantly if they receive a critical hit). Magic added: Gravity, Horde Lullaby NPC prices for songs lowered. The formulas for how damage and accuracy change with level difference were reworked. (It is assumed at this time plans for level 70-80 monsters were being made.) EX Dagger Weapon Skills made only usable by Red Mage, Ranger, Thief and Bard. “Incredibly Tough” added to /check. (Previously only went up to “Very Tough”). Overhaul of experience point bonuses received for being in a party. Certain monsters (such as Ghouls) had their drop rates increased. Arrangement of monsters, as well as their treasure pools, changed across all dungeon areas. Gil dropped by Gigas-type monsters reduced from 900 to 200. Moving during /heal now automatically canceled healing. Target name and icon now displayed in the target window. Current position now displayed on the map screen. Goods one may sell at the Auction House reduced from 8 at a time to 7. The Delivery Box now displayed the corresponding sale for gil delivered. Players could now see the stats for Conquest Items before purchase. Massive Elemental Magic resistance was added into the game, and as such Black Mage was known as "The gimp White Mage" due to the major change. Water Magic cast on Fish was fixed to only inflict 50% of the intended damage.	Mob Placement Changes At this time, the popular leveling camp was the Crawler's Nest entrance. The change to mob placement in this update added Crawlers and Bees, which aggrod, to the entrance of the zone. This camp's popularity dropped drastically. With the unavoidable 1800 damage Final Sting from bees, and the fact that even at lv50, it's close to impossible to not aggro, many people avoided the zone. Bone Hunting Boom With the rise of demands for new camps, players started moving to Eldieme, Garlaige, Behemoth Dominion and places. As a result, lv32 - lv47 leveling camps were mainly skeletons hunting. Japanese players called it “骨骨ファンタージ,” or “Bone-Bone Fantasy,” (Bone-Fan for short) and it was an era when Warriors and Black Mages would team up to produce Fusion skillchains with repeated Earth Crushers. Starting at level 32, players went from Garlaige Citadel 1F > Behemoth's Dominion > The Eldieme Necropolis > Garlaige Citadel Basement > King Ranperre's Tomb. If done correctly, players were able to gain 20 levels on only skeletons. At the time, Dispel was not implemented. Crawlers, Beetles, and Crabs all had undesirable buff moves that couldn't be removed, so Skeletons were the best monster to hunt. After the adjustments to monster placement, the "Bone-Fan" started to fade. In it's place came the "Insect Fantasy", because places like Crawler's Nest became popular. Still, there were some who continued gaining Experience on skeletons. The April 4th, 2003 update strengthened Black Cloud. This ended the Bone-Bone Fantasy. Skeletons Link? Around this time, a hoax spread around that said "Do not link bones when pulling by using Cure." Players were unaware that skeletons didn't link, so this was taken seriously for quite some time. Backline job beastmen had a glitch in their levels, in which their /check level does not give EXP equivalent to the /check, for example, IT beastmen mage would give EM exp. This continued into the Rise of the Zilart implementation of several beastmen mages, and was not fixed for a while. The dev team then announce that "We have increased the droprate of armor from dungeon beastmen.", while the truth is that they only remove the armor drop from all field beastmen.
Jul. 17th, 2002	Altana Encyclopedia
	Equipment, spells and other information were displayed within the PlayOnline Viewer. The /salute emote was being adjusted for TaruTaru females affiliated with San d’Oria, and became temporarily unusable.	Information like items, magic and abilities were available for the public to view in order to aid adventurers. However, since you had to logout to PlayOnline to actually view this content, not many people utilized the feature. Fan sites took over from there and the usefulness of the database faded and was ultimately closed on December 27, 2005.
Jul. 19th, 2002	First Public Event: Moogles Take a Trip
	For five hours, between 8pm July 19th and 1am July 20th, players could search for 21 moogles that were lost across every region. Talking to a lost moogle would net you a point. Depending on the points you accumulate, you could receive a Bronze Moogle Belt. Storing up enough points could even get you a Silver Moogle Belt or Gold Moogle Belt. Being the first public event, there was a large influx of participants, causing many areas to become unstable.	Compared to today, this first event was very short. System messages advanced the event in real time, and everyone was very nervous as to whether things would run smoothly. Adventurers heavily congregated in areas designated for the event, causing clients to have display problems or become unstable. Due to the limited time of the event, many people were also unable to participate altogether. As time went on, FFXI events grew longer and longer because of the concerns voiced in this first trial run.
Jul. 29th, 2002	User Event: Bon-Odori
	This was an event users planned through bulletin boards across the Internet. It was the first user event to take place across all worlds. There were no fireworks available yet, so players enjoyed dancing using the /panic emote, and used flashy spells and abilities to their advantage. Later on, the Vana'diel Tribune did a story on the event, and the following year an official Bon-Odori was held. This is how the official Sunbreeze Festival came to be. This event, although enjoyed by many, proved to be intensely annoying to players who were not participating in the festival. Some servers had so many people gathered, that system messages were dispatched to everybody informing of the congestion. This was also the first time that many players discovered that not all players in an area can be seen on the screen at one time.
Jul. 30th, 2002	The First Vana’diel Census
	The distribution of main jobs was displayed. The average level was 10, and the majority of players were under level 20. At the time, only 0.4% of players had reached the cap of level 50. However, these statistics included secondary characters, which skewed the results (59% of players at level 1), and the average level among active players was most likely higher.
Jul. 30th, 2002	Teleports and Warp II Added
	New Features & Content The Rank 5 Missions 5-1 and 5-2 (including the Shadow Lord fight) were implemented. With the level cap at 50, no adventurers were able to beat 5-2. Mining was introduced. Pickaxes and the Mythril Seams still existed before this update in order to proceed with Rank Missions. Treasure Chests added to various dungeons, which included amazing rewards. NPC dispatched to each city that would change the titles of adventurers. NPC to tell players their Fame level also added to each city. <pos> feature added to chat. Job Adjustments Warrior Duration of Mighty Strikes increased from 30 seconds to 45. Magic added: Teleport-Holla, Teleport-Dem, Teleport-Mea, Shellra, Protectra II, Warp II, Fire Threnody, Wind Threnody, Earth Threnody, Lightning Threnody, Water Threnody, Light Threnody, Dark Threnody and Magic Finale. Threnody had 100% accuracy. Casting a teleport took almost 1 minute. This was later reduced. The experience point bonus for larger parties was increased. Experience points increased for defeating high level enemies. 200 EXP per kill was now the norm. Resist rates reduced when attacking enemies with magic containing elemental properties they are weak to. Current day and weather now displayed along with the compass. This update also added day and weather bonuses to Elemental Magic. High level monsters’ resist rate against Enfeebling Magic reduced. Increase to Skeleton's Black Cloud's damage. Enmity generated by Healing magic increased. The △ button now allowed one to select the chat log or status icons even during battle. Depending on your Window settings, the X button could now shorten the chat window even during battle. Chat filtering added through use of the △ button. Monsters with Call For Help status that are close by would now appear on the compass. The △ button would now allow one to select regions when using the Search function. The names of players in one’s party now displayed in blue in the Search function. When using more than one of the same item to craft, players could now put them into the same slot. (Previously, each item needed its own slot). A player’s rank in each craft was now displayed along with their skill level. When using a crystal, only skill points would be displayed. Players were now able to craft inside their Mog House. The Job Change Screen was removed from the game and was replaced with what we have now (Moogle spinning in a circle with the animation around a player). It used to be similar to the player creation screen. The picture to the right is what we used to have. Players would receive a discount when renting a Chocobo based on their level. New items available for purchase with Conquest points. The /salute motion for TaruTaru females in San d’Oria was re-implemented. White Mages used to use /anon to avoid tell spams, but a bug caused it to be removed after joining an alliance.	Warp II The quest to obtain Warp II, brought adventurers to the basement of Fei'Yin, where the dangerously high-level ghost Utukku dwells. The level cap was 50 at the time, but there were very few people who had attained it. Adventurers around level 40 would band together into alliances and still be defeated. Not to mention, Sneak and Invisible were not yet in the game, causing this to be an incredibly difficult quest to complete. Brave players would have to act as decoys, striking the enemy and leading it away from the party in order for people to finally clear this ordeal. Black Cloud The increase to skeleton's Black Cloud attack started the neverending JP joke of: [SE] Discover your own camps. [Players] Wow, this place is nice for EXP. [SE] Ok, removing that camp. Lock Picking Woes Because thieves were able to pick locks so easily on treasure chests, they went for the coveted Astral Ring in Castle Oztroja. Some players did not leave the zone for hours since multiple rings could be held, and sold for a premium price. Purple Belt At this time, the rams in La Theine Plateau and Konschtat Highlands had an abnormally high drop rate of Ram Skins and Ram Horns. This caused a monopoly, and players who want the Purple Belt horns and lanolin all cried collectively due to rivalry. Silver Hairpin Festival With Goldsmithing skill 25 or higher, and a Nation Rank of 5 for the Airship Pass, adventurers found it easy to make Gil. Silver Ore sold at the shops located past the gate requiring an Airship Pass. Unlike Guild Shops, the supply was unlimited. Adventurers shared this tip on various 2chan threads, causing Fire Crystals and Wind Crystal prices to skyrocket. The following was the post from 2chan One Silver Ore = about 275 Gil 【Airship platform (available for unlimited purchase)】 Fire Crystal = about 50 gills 【country auction house , bazaar】 Wind Crystal = about 200 Gil 【National Auction House, Bazaar】 Silver Mine 4 + Crystal of Flame = Silver Ingot 【Cost About 1160 Gil】 Silver Ingot + Wind Crystal = Silver Hairpin 【Cost about 1360 Gil】 Silver Hairpin = buying at busy armor shops Price = 1985 Gil 1985 Gil - about 1360 Gil = about 620 Gil profit By repeatedly synthesizing Silver Ingots, and then turning them into Silver Hairpins, players made around 15,000 ~ 30,000 Gil per hour depending on breaks. This method of Gil earning was fixed in the August 8th, 2002 update. Silver Ore disappeared from the vendors and Silver Hairpin NPC purchase price dropped to around 345 Gil. Players these days wonder if this was really a good money making method. The hourly Gil a player could earn back in 2002 was around 10,000 per hour with other means. Compared to this method, it was very attractive to get involved in this festival. Old Job Change Screen Call for Help Before the change to the compass, it was hard to tell that someone has called for help unless you saw it in your line of sight. All you could do if you saw it in the log was pray for their safety. Weather Effects Before the change of the weather status on the compass, there was no way to tell the current weather in an area unless you saw the effects and judged for yourself.
Aug. 24th, 2002	Exterminate the Beastmen
	The second officially sanctioned event. In order for the nations of Altana to combat the ever-growing threat of the Beastmen, nationality would no longer play a part in receiving Signet. At the same time, the collection of weapons and armor for the advancement of Conquest began.	During the time of this event, the vast majority of adventurers had low Missions ranks, and with Valkurm Dunes being a virtual Mecca for parties leveling jobs, many players would lose their Signet while in the dunes. San d'Oria had a strong advantage with their relatively close proximity to the area, and on many worlds they were able to continuously control Valkurm and refresh their Signets at the Outpost. However, Bastok was ahead of San d'Oria in sheer number of adventurers, so this event brought about the end of San d'Orias little scheme. Soon after, the Kingdom's influence fell, and across many worlds they were consistently ranked last in Conquest. Eventually, adventurers took the pleas of Prince Trion from the Vana'diel Tribune to heart, and established the 赤獅子騎士団 (Red Lion Knights) Linkshell in support of San d'Oria, and the shell quickly spread across multiple servers.
Sep. 6th, 2002	The Second Vana’diel Census
	Statistics on job levels, job choices, and national affiliation were presented. This time, level 1 characters were excluded from the percentages. The amount of level 50 players increased to 0.8%. Advanced Jobs (Paladin, Dark Knight, Beastmaster, Bard and Ranger) comprised 6.65% of the player base, showing there were still very few people who had acquired these jobs. Now, the census was presented by Sage Sundi, the Online Service Manager.
Sep. 12th, 2002	The First Limit Break Quest
	New Features & Content The Level Cap is raised to 55. To continue to level 51, players must complete “In Defiant Challenge” Experience Point Chains were implemented, but were not displayed in the chat log. The ability to Magic Burst off a Skillchain was added. However, the results did not display in the log. Also, the existence of Level 3 Skillchains were hinted at, but not implemented yet. High Level Notorious Monsters, such as Behemoth, are added to their respective areas. Also, over 20 types of “Leader Class” Notorious Monsters are added to each Beastman stronghold. With them, a multitude of new drops. (These NMs would re-pop in just 16 minutes). Players who joined the fight halfway through were unable to lot drops. Race Specific Equipment added. Harvesting, Logging and Gardening added. Gardening was mentioned in the game manual from the start. Job Adjustments Thief An error in which Sneak Attack would not work if facing Northwest was corrected. Treasure Hunter II was also added. (Previously planned abilities Gilfinder II and Blast Attack, which would later be Trick Attack, were postponed). Items used to open chests, namely Thief Tools and Living Key, were added. The DEX bonus for Sneak Attack was removed when subbing THF, protecting its integrity. Bard Bards could now have two songs active at once when using instruments. Elemental effects of Minne and Minuet songs weakened. Beastmaster Charm time changed to reflect level difference and CHR score. Pets would no longer become un-Charmed by receiving critical hits. Heel ability added. Leave lowered to level 35. Tame would no longer have an effect on monsters that are unable to be Charmed. Large-sized monsters (such as NMs and giant sheep) that could previously be Charmed were now unable to be Charmed. Ranger Rangers were now able to use Archery and Marksmanship Weapon Skills. Accuracy for Ranged attacks raised across the board. Rangers were now able to accumulate TP with Ranged Attacks. Magic added: Curaga III, Invisible, Sneak, Deodorize and Reraise. Valkurm Dunes was featured on the title screen. The skill levels required to learn Viper Bite and Gust Slash were switched. Skillchain elements added to Axe Weapon Skills Raging Axe, Smash Axe, Avalanche Axe and Spinning Axe. Offensive Magic could now be half resisted. Duration of Sleep fixed to a single value. Confirmation dialogue added when setting Home Point. The amount of experience lost when K.O.’d was reduced for players level 25 and up. Other players could now see the graphic effect when leveling up or down. Macro function expanded to 8 sets. Fishing ranks now tested at each level up. The caps for each Craft were raised to 60. HQ2-3 were added in this update, and the result tier used to be determined by the amount of "!" in the chat log. For some reason, they removed this later. Food effects were altered and Meat Mithkabobs became very popular. Font colors added for the various items one places on the Auction House. Conquest was adjusted to increase the effect battles have on the weekly tally. Signet duration adjusted to correspond with Rank. Merchants at Outposts would now accept equipment trades to boost a country’s control of the region. The fee to change national allegiance now changed according to Conquest.	Mad Dash for Monsters The first Limit Break Quest, “In Defiant Challenge,” had players seeking items that dropped from three different monsters. With few monsters and low drop rates, players went to great pains to obtain these items. A later Version Update repositioned some of the monsters and increased their numbers. Experience Points to progress to level 51 was astronomically high compared to what everyone was used to. (7600 > 7700 > 7800 > 10000 > 11000 > 13000 > 16000 > 20000). Also with the increasing need to maintain the level range to maximize EXP gain, players became more weary of the level difference in parties. Northwest Nerfs Sneak Attack? Ever since service began, there had been a glitch where Sneak Attack would not work if one was facing Northwest. It came to be considered an unlucky direction and parties would often request the tank stand South of the enemy to avoid the problem. This whole issue could have been the birthplace of the "direction to face when crafting" myth. The Debut of Invisible, Sneak and Deodorize Invisible, Sneak and Deodorize were added, but they only dropped off of Notorious Monsters, and were hard to get. After the October 2nd Version Update, these scrolls were dropped off of regular monsters and people were able to acquire them with relative ease. Due to Sneak and Invisible not being in the game before this day, it was said that the Paladin job quest was "the real hell". There was no way to access the location needed deep in Davoi without fighting your way through with a group. Alliances were organized full of adventurers who needed to unlock the job. Even with a large group, getting to the location was still no easy task. If one player got spotted while walking by the central island, a train of Orcs would come to decimate the alliance. Corpses piled up in Davoi from adventurers attempting to unlock the job. With the introduction of Sneak and Invis, this quest became much easier. Players & Patches Sometime in August of 2002, the Dev team blamed the lackluster and anti-player patches on "Players are not used to our new patches, that's all.".
Sep. 21st, 2002	Chase the Dancing White Shadow
	This was an event that ran from 5pm September 21st to 1am September 22nd. White rabbits that ran at great speed appeared in every region. Players had to catch one and trade it a Moon Carrot, which was received from Moogles. This could net you a Moon Ball. Depending on the Moon Phase, you might also receive one of the following five wands: Rabbit Stick (Level 5) Moonlight Wand (Level 15) Artemis' Wand (Level 25) Selene's Wand (Level 35) Moonwatch Wand (Level 45)	Here is the event in progress in Batallia Downs
Sep. 26th, 2002	FFXI 2002 SPECIAL ART BOX
	A limited edition package, the box contained original illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano and a DVD-ROM with his artwork on its label. A wristband with one of the four national flags (Bastok, San d'Oria, Windurst or Jeuno) depicted was also included. The cost of this special edition was 8,000 Yen not including Tax. An unboxing video is to the right.
Sep. 28th, 2002	User Event:Castle Zvahl Charge
	This large scale multi-world event took place on September 28th, 2002 until the early hours of the morning on the 29th. Originally a protest rally organized by Monks, who were inferior in strength to other melee jobs at the time. Due to the turnout, it resulted in becoming more of a user event like Bon-Odori. Regardless of Sneak and Invisible recently being implemented, the spells were still not easily obtainable by the general population. Nobody knew what lied in or beyond Castle Zvahl Baileys. On all 20 servers players gathered in Xarcabard. Some players were destroyed before even making it to the castle, but some players made it to the Throne Room, and entered the Shadow Lord BCNM. Due to the massive amount of deaths in Fauregandi and Valdeaunia, the regions were both Beastmen controlled on all worlds the following week. The week after that, they were restored back to normal. See below for the results from each World. World Participants Departure Time Ending Time Result Bahamut About 23 23:25 05:45 One person reached Throne Room Shiva About 65 00:00 02:35 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Titan About 20 Unknown 02:40 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Ramuh About 47 23:00 04:00 12 people reached Throne Room Phoenix About 55 23:00 02:50 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Carbuncle About 54 23:00 05:00 3+ people reached Throne Room Fenrir About 55 23:15 02:25 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Sylph About 65 23:15 04:55 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Keep Valefor About 24 23:05 02:10 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Alexander About 36 Unknown 01:55 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Leviathan About 50 00:10 04:15 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Odin About 60 23:25 02:20 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Ifrit About 36 23:20 02:30 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Diabolos About 34 23:20 03:45 ??? people reached Throne Room Caitsith About 80 Unknown 03:15 3 people reached Throne Room Quetzacoatl About 20 23:20 02:20 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Siren About 75 Unknown 02:30 22 people reached Throne Room Unicorn About 32 00:30 04:55 Almost everyone reached Throne Room Gilgamesh About 30 23:40 04:30 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Ragnarok About 53 23:30 04:20 Annihilated in Castle Zvahl Baileys Information above from wiki.ffo.jp	The map below was used to help players reach the gathering spot
Oct. 2nd, 2002	Teleport Vahzl, Escape Added
	New Features & Content <tp> function added to chat. Job Adjustments Beastmaster The recast delay for Charm was reduced from 5 minutes to 15 seconds. This opened the world of Beastmaster soloing. Magic added: Teleport-Vahzl, Escape Damage calculations between higher level players and lower level monsters was adjusted. This means the damage a low level monster can do to a high level player has been increased. This was to counter higher level players hunting in lower level grounds for easy EXP. This is how Easy Prey monsters can now easily kill high level players. Although not mentioned by Square, this also made it easier for lower level players to hit higher level monsters. The Shadow Lord was defeated for the first time the day after this update. Elementals would now drop clusters according to their element. The method for distributing experience when a party or alliance contained players level 51 and above was improved. A glitch that caused a player to take damage when they used Flaming Arrow or Hot Shot was corrected. A message was added to the chat log to alert users of a successful Magic Burst. Players under the effect of Invisible, Hide or Camouflage would now become translucent. Logging was now available in East Ronfaure and Buburimu Peninsula. Hatchets were available for purchase in Mhaura. Treasure chests could now contain Gil. The chance of a trap springing when a Thief failed to open a chest was slightly increased. The quest to expand one's Mog House was made easier to trigger. New Conquest rewards were added. San d'Orian Ring, Bastokan Ring and Windurstian Ring were made available for purchase with Conquest Points. Players could now Search Behemoth's Dominion, Qulun Dome, Monastic Cavern and the Altar Room. However, one could not simply type the command, but had to manually select them within the Search function. Players could now cycle through sub-targets while using /check, just like when targeting with magic. Elemental Weapon Skills used to inflict high damage now could be resisted like Elemental Magic. Physical Weapon Skills were almost impossible to land on a monster without Sneak Attack. Elemental Magic now displayed when it was resisted in the chat log, but was removed the next day. This brought about the "Resist!" glitch when it displayed in the log that Cures and Blood Pacts were resisted. Invisible, Deodorize and Sneak were added to common monster drop pools, therefore more accessible to everyone.	Since there was no chat entry for displaying one’s TP up until now, people would simply say “TPOK” when they had stored enough points up for a Skillchain. However, many adventurers found it annoying to have to switch typesets all the time, and would just write “tぽk.” Shadow Lord Subdued Finally after the level cap was raised to 55 and the change in damage calculations, the Shadow Lord was able to be beaten with more ease. The Vana'diel Tribune published an article talking about the first defeat coming from the Shiva world. After the cap was raised to 60, it eased the difficulty of the fight even further. The path to reach the Throne Room was still difficult and confusing for most, so the majority of players were not able to win the fight until 2003. Metal Gear Solid With the addition of teleport and MGS magic, players begun their search of new camps in the Northlands. This led players to Fei'Yin which was the most popular.
Oct. 10th, 2002	The Third Vana’diel Census
	Adventurers level 50 and above (excluding level 1s) comprised 3.64% of the population.
Nov. 1st, 2002	Official Benchmark Software
	In order to test out the specs on a Windows machine, the Official Benchmark Software was created. It was dubbed “FF Bench,” or “Taru Bench” (due to the large number of Tarus in the demo). It wasn’t just for those curious about getting into the game, but also useful for people wanting to graphically tweak their PC for other games. Future versions would be included on expansion discs.
Nov. 1st, 2002	Windows Beta Test Ends
	When moving over to the final version of the game, players could only take PlayOnline IDs, handles, Friend Lists, mail addresses, but not their characters.
Nov. 6th, 2002	Pandemonium and Garuda Open
	These worlds were opened along with the sale of the Windows version. Players could not transfer from already existing worlds.
Nov. 7th, 2002	FFXI Windows Released in Japan
	The Windows version contained 4 discs rather than a DVD, and the packaging was very simple with the logo from the PS2 version displayed prominently. PlayOnline Viewer and Tetra Master were included, but the Mahjong game from the PS2 version was absent. The instruction manual was 248 pages long. The price point for the Windows version was 8,000 ~ 10,000 Yen. The first 10,000 people who pre-ordered the game received a pre-order incentive of a Final Fantasy XI Music Box. It played the "Crystal" theme (the song that plays before clicking the Play button in the Playonline viewer).	The blue box on the PC version says "For Online Only"
Nov. 7th, 2002	Cerberus Opens
	A new world was constructed to accommodate an increasing population. Transfers were unavailable.
Nov. 10th, 2002	Final Fantasy XI Wins Award for Network Media at 7th Annual Animation Kobe
Nov. 22nd, 2002	Rise of the Zilart Announced
	Ads for the first expansion pack, “Rise of Zilart” appeared in gaming magazines. Pictures were shown of of Kazham, Yuhtunga Jungle and “Riqua Desert” (later changed to Altepa).	(Center) In the Final Fantasy series, summoned beasts were very familiar and Ifrit was shown. (Upper Left) Kam'lanaut is shown. The dialogue "finally we could wake up thanks to him" is meaningful. (Bottom Left) Samurai Artifact Armor is shown for the first time. (Right 3) Carbuncle along with two Zilart themed dungeons are shown. (Top 3) Ifrit blood pacts are shown. Party members do not move besides the summoner, so everyone theorized that time stopped during blood pacts. (Lower 3) New Zilart monsters and areas are shown. Kazham A mithran fishing village is showcased. The caption roughly reads: A fishing village on the northern tip of Elshimo Island. Said to have been founded 400 years ago by a Mithra tribe who make up the majority of the villagers, earning their livelihoods doing things like hunting and fishing. The village is self-governing, there's an event in which Chieftainess Jakoh holds an assembly, where various matters are decided. Riqua Desert A desert is showcased. The name is later changed to Altepa. The caption roughly reads: The Riqua Desert is a place where the capital of Galka was long ago, now there are scattered ruins that unleash the past reflections, and there are stateless villages where adventurers can rest. Yuhtunga and Yhoator Jungle The Yuhtunga Jungle is a forested area covering the whole of Elshimo Island, with a forested area blocking sunlight, a large group of large trees with age-old age, a volcanic zone that exudes smoke without interruption, a waterfall reminiscent of ancient times s left as it is. There are ruins in the outback of the jungle that tell a story that someone built civilization.
Nov. 26th, 2002	Level Cap Raised to 60
	New Features & Content The level cap was raised to 60. The second Limit Break quest, “Atop the Highest Mountains” was added. This quest was regarded to be the pinnacle of challenges at the time, even harder than Shadow Lord. Artifact Armor and their quests were added for the six basic jobs, as well as Bard. Treasure Coffers were added to dungeons. Equipment could now be de-synthed using Lightning Crystals. The success rate was extremely high. Expeditionary Force was introduced. <call0> through <call3> added to chat. Job Adjustments White Mage Divine Seal added. Black Mage Elemental Seal added. Thief Trick Attack added. Introducing Trick Attack helped thieves be known as hate controllers. The previously announced Gilfinder II was scrapped. Sneak Attack was altered so that when used in conjunction with a Weapon Skill, only the initial hit would be guaranteed. Dark Knight Weapon Bash added. Souleater was strengthened when used with Dark Knight as your main job. Beastmaster When using Charm on monsters that could not be Charmed, it would generate a Bind effect. Reward added. Magic Added: Shell III, Protectra III, Shellra II, Shellra III, Raise II, Reraise II, Barvirus, Barvira, Barpetrify, Barpetra, Sleep II, Tractor,Aero III, Stone III, Water III, Firaga II, Blizzaga II, Aeroga II, Stonega II, Waterga II, Flare, Freeze, Tornado, Quake, Burst, Flood, Ice Spikes, Blade Madrigal, Dragonfoe Mambo, Gold Capriccio, Mage's Ballad II, Shining Fantasia, Foe Requiem V, Carnage Elegy, Victory March, Foe Lullaby. Raise II was only obtained from the high level Yagudo NM in Castle Oztroja, so it was very expensive and most players did not have it. At the same time, a bug existed that allowed Reraise II to be cast on other players. Several spells had their level requirements altered for various magic using jobs. Red Mage became able to use Invisible, Sneak and Deodorize. MP consumed by Holy increased from 75 to 100, while casting range was changed considerably, from 25m to 15m. Furthermore, MND now factored into the spell's accuracy, and the cast time was slightly increased. Ancient Magic now factored in INT when determining accuracy. The potency of Cure spells would now reflect the user's MND trait much more than the target's VIT trait. The MP consumed by tier-II Elemental spells was corrected. It is unknown why only Bard was given their Artifact and not the other advanced jobs. The arrangement of monsters in Eldieme Necropolis, Crawler's Nest, Garlaige Citadel, and Castle Zvahl Baileys was changed dramatically. This made it much easier to clear Limit Break quests. Distribution of monsters across Fei'Yin, Xarcabard and Castle Zvahl Baileys was adjusted. The duration of the effect of Curse from the machines in Beadeaux was reduced. The "Portal charm" item for opening the gate to Toraimarai Canal was added. The quest for attaining the Crawler's Nest map was made easier and no longer required the monuments in Batallia Downs or Sauromugue Champaign. Monster targeting logic was altered, making it difficult to keep hate by simply spamming Provoke. Players now had to consider Enmity levels more seriously, including damage dealt/taken and usage of healing magic. Chocobo rentals now available at Tele-points. Chocobo prices would decrease quickly. A number of Too Weak enemies were made Easy Prey, allowing players more opportunities to earn experience off of weaker monsters. Experience Chain bonuses were now displayed in the chat log. Skillchain damage could now be resisted. This was when players stopped relying almost exclusively on Fusion, and made the switch over to Distortion. TP accumulation now depended upon the delay of your weapon. Using a two-handed weapon provided an additional boost. It used to be a fixed 5-hits to have 100 (now 1000) TP. TP Gain from getting hit was lowered from 10 (now 100) to 2 (now 20, what it is now). This promoted the use of a tank, causing Paladin to no longer be a "Hero" and more of a defensive tank. Monster TP Gain was greatly increased, and the system of monsters spamming TP moves when they can under 25% health was introduced. Monsters that aggro to magic would previously attack players that had MP, even if they used an item. This was fixed so that would only aggro to the usage of magic spells. Recast timers of Focus and Dodge shortened from 15 minutes to 5 minutes. The duration of their effects was also shortened from 5 minutes to 2 minutes. The attack delay for players with no hand-to-hand skill, or equipped with a shield, was adjusted. Players in higher ranked nations could now purchase the rewards of lower ranked nations at prices one level above the item's usual price. Rank 6 Conquest rewards added. Supply quests now rewarded more Conquest Points, but could only be undertaken once every Vana'diel day. Values for Beastmen were now displayed in region info for the region you are currently in. Visual effect added when receiving Signet. Previously, it was the same animation as Cure. The cap for craft skills was raised to 70. Players could only devote themselves to improving a single craft beyond 60. Players could now use typed commands to search Behemoth's Dominion, Monastic Cavern, Qulun Dome and the Altar Room. Through quests, a player could expand their Gobbiebag four times. Quest added to select an area when exiting your Mog House. Cut & Paste functionality added to the Macro palette. The compass was altered to differentiate the colors of party members and pets.	Artifact Armor Added Artifact Armor proved much more useful at the time then crafted equipment, which became extremely hard to sell. Skill-up parties proved very successful at procuring Coffer keys for players. Sucks to Have MP Up until now, monsters that sensed magic to attack players would assault anyone with MP even if they simply used an ability or item. Paladins and Dark Knights had it tough, and Warriors needed to be extra careful when pulling with Provoke if they subbed White Mage. High Enmity Charm At the time, Charm generated an extreme amount of enmity, so Paladins would often sub Beastmaster to hold hate against monsters immune to the ability. Since Charm had a recast timer of 15 seconds, it proved more effective than Provoke. Using things like Protectra and Army's Paeon were also popular ways of holding hate around this time. The De-Synth Boom When de-synthing was first introduced, the success rate was absurdly high, and results often generated 2-4 items. Adventurers could make plenty of gil by purchasing cheap equipment from NPCs, de-synthing them, and selling the results. Lightning crystals shot up in value, and Thunder Elementals were hunted into virtual extinction. Several days later, this was adjusted in a maintenance, and the system was balanced to its current state. End of Holy Fishing Before this update, Holy was used for pulling monsters. The casting time was shorter than Poison, and the range exceeded Provoke. Paladins and White Mages used to pull monsters back to camp. Casting time, MP cost, and range were all nerfed. Fusion Era The Skillchain system in the early days of service was a uniform damage calculation. This being said, Hand-to-Hand and Single Hand weapons were desired due to the speed of TP accumulation compared to 2-Handed weapons. At that time, the hit rate of physical Weapon Skills was set to be similar to ordinary attack. The few practical physical Weapon Skills were multi-hit such as Combo and Fast Blade. In addition, at the time, cooperation for weapon skill timing was nonexistent. With preference to those two weapon skills, it was inevitable that Fusion would be created. The marathon ended with this update, in that Skillchains could now be resisted. Warriors and Dark Knights who only had 1 Handed weapon combat skills leveled rushed to level 2 Handed weapons. Distortion would now reign supreme. In the 15th Anniversary celebration in 2017, a Records of Eminence objective to create 10 Fusion skillchains was added as a tribute to the Fusion spam craze.
Nov. 26th, 2002	Wedding Support Opens
	Service begins for official in-game weddings. The Wedding Dress was not yet available at the time. The item Marriage Ring was introduced, and a male and female version were sent to the bride and groom’s delivery box. Later, this item would be replaced by the Wedding Ring, and eventually was replaced by the Matrimony Band and Matrimony Ring For some time after the North American release, weddings were only available for Japanese players.	This service is not like it is today. It used to involve an application process through Playonline, and a GM (Attendant) would approve and setup your marriage date and location. The whole process used to be first come-first served, but the burden on the one Wedding Attendant GM was too large. On June 2, 2004 the system was changed to a lottery. On November 18 2009, the system was changed so that players did the whole event without help from GMs but rather NPCs. Due to the incompetence of GMs, most weddings were cancelled and never followed up on. Above is an image of an actual in-game wedding in 2003.
Dec. 17th, 2002	Developers’ Blog Beta Test
	A Developers’ Blog, to be displayed on the public site, was put into beta testing. Its purpose was to facilitate discussion between the development team and the players.
Dec. 19th, 2002	Taxes for Jeuno Bazaars
	New Features & Content Auto-Party function added. Because it never worked, it was deemed useless since implementation. Artifact Armor added for Paladin, Dark Knight, Beastmaster, and Ranger. Paladin's quest was bugged and caused the game to freeze. Job Adjustments Beastmaster The recast timer for Reward was shortened from 5 minutes to 3 minutes. Pet Food Beta became available for purchase. The amount healed with Reward was now based on MND. Paladin Enmity generated from Sentinel increased. Cover added. The opening scenes for North and South San d'Oria were altered. San d’Oria Missions “Smash the Orcish Scouts” “Bat Hunt” “Save the Children” “The Davoi Report” “Infiltrate Davoi” and “The Crystal Spring” were made repeatable. A new cut scene was also added. Cure spells saw their enmity reduced for low level players. Elemental Magic received accuracy bonuses so that tier-II was harder to resist than tier-I, and tier-III harder to resist than tier-II. An issue where Reraise II could be cast on other players was corrected. The effect of Mage's Ballad now increased with skill. With two Ballads stacked on a player, they could now refresh 6 MP a tic. It was a golden age for Bards everywhere. The effect of Victory March was reduced. The list of jobs able to equip Life Belt was changed. The Thief item Skeleton Key was added. The shop near the Airship dock in Bastok stopped selling ore, which was now made available at the Goldsmithing guild. A number of crafting recipes were changed, and guild ranks were introduced. The confirm button was changed to cancel one's cast when fishing. Jeuno bazaar began to be charged tax. In Lower Jeuno and Ru'Lude Gardens, the tax was 10%, while in Upper Jeuno and Port Jeuno it was 5%. This is how those places became the popular bazaar locations for some time, as Lower and Ru'lude congregated more people. In order to resolve bandwidth issues, functions such as checking one's items on the Auction House, the Mog House Delivery Box, and the delivery system were each disabled temporarily at different times. This delay is still in the game today. Kuzotz and Elshimo regions were added to the Conquest menu. Serket was added to the game.	Rochefogne, the Popular NPC San d'Oria Missions were given somewhat of an overhaul. A new NPC, Rochefogne, appeared.
Dec. 19th, 2002	Kujata, Bismarck, Ixion, Typhon and Kirin Open
	The amount of people on the original worlds had grown, so these new ones were established. Transfers from existing worlds to these new ones was unavailable.	A Stream of New HNMs Around this time, a number of so-called HNMs, or stronger than average Notorious Monsters, began appearing across Vana'diel. A lot of new equipment could be made using the materials they dropped.
Dec. 22nd, 2002	Developers’ Blog Beta Test Closure
	The reason that it was closed, was that a certain spammer named Azagba caused too much trouble, Square decided to close the board altogether. JP rumored that Azagba is actually Tanaka from the SE team. Afterward, it did reopen, but no one bothered to post anymore. It officially closed in mid-2003.
Dec. 25th, 2002	First Vana'diel Christmas
	No official christmas event was held until 2003, but treants with lights in their branches were placed in certain areas. This treant will return in 2003!

Navigation Pre-Release & Beta 2000 - 2001 Release & The First Year 2002   The Rise of the Zilart Era 2003 The Chains of Promathia Era 2004   Conclusion of Chains of Promathia 2005 The Treasures of Aht Urhgan Era 2006   Conclusion of Treasures of Aht Urhgan 2007 The Age of Mythical Weapons 2008   The Add-on Scenarios 2009 The End of the Level 75 Cap 2010   The Beginning of Post-Abyssea 2011 The Level 99 Era 2012   The Seekers of Adoulin Release 2013 Seekers of Adoulin Conclusion 2014 The Rhapsodies of Vana'diel 2015 coming in the future! Back to the Main Page

Header Key     News Entry     Version Update     Beta Information     FFXI In-Game Event     Merchandise Released     Real Life Event in Japan     Real Life Event in North America     Real Life Event in Europe