Well, maybe we should just be happy the Summoner updates went live now. The much-discussed November version update for Final Fantasy XI was released today, but it's lacking something that had just recently been announced -- namely, the entire evolith and synergy system that was promised to be dropped along with the version update. Square-Enix officially stated that the change is coming in another version update past mid-November. And, sadly, it gets a little worse before it gets better -- one of the promised ranger changes, reduced threat from ranged attacks at longer distances, has been nixed.

But let's not dwell on the negatives, really. After all, the crafting is coming soon enough, and it's not as if this update was sparse on content to begin with. There are a pile of new quests available, new improvements to the Moblin Maze Mongers service, and all the other updates and job changes we've covered previously. Not to mention that the add-on scenario A Shantotto Ascension is ready to play, something likely to produce at least some joy and spontaneous fits of rhyming. Take a look at the list of official patch notes for all the details, and don't fret -- there's enough content that you're sure to find something to do until mid-November.

As Halloween fades into a memory of candy, costumes, and cheaply-made outdoor decorations, the MMOsphere slowly closes its doors on the various holiday events. Final Fantasy XI's pumpkin-carving contest on Allakhazam has finally drawn to a close, with the votes in and tallied and the winners determined. And if you doubt that there's a great deal of talent and originality on display with the contest, the excellently-rendered San d'Orian knight charging into battle above wasn't the winner -- they placed fourth.

Third place went to a rendition of the title image for this year's Halloween event, while second place went to Final Fantasy XI's resident mad professor herself. First place went -- quite deservedly -- to this hauntingly well-rendered image of a tonberry in the darkness. The official announcement includes a tally of the votes, but that might not be quite as exciting to casual observers as a gallery of all the entries. Congratulations to the winners, and here's hoping that next year brings still more pumpkin-carving fun for FFXI.

At the rate we're getting swamped with information about the upcoming Final Fantasy XI version update, we'll soon be finding out that the update is also adding two new jobs and a level cap increase. Well, maybe not, but Square-Enix has released yet more news about the upcoming November version update. Already we've heard about new gear enhancements, new crafting, job updates, and a reward for content-minded players. The most recent information involves some of the more miscellaneous activities of Vana'diel's inhabitants, including chocobo racing and fishing.

Chocobo races are being changed over to a new schedule system that keeps races running on a consistent real-world schedule to make coordination easier for players. The system is also adding new purchasable items that will have a variety of bonuses for the devoted race enthusiast. Of course, the new items won't be cheap -- nothing in Final Fantasy XI is -- but first through third-place winners in each race will be receiving a much larger amount of chocobucks for their placing, which should make affording things much more fesable. On top of that, there's a promise of more fish to turn in for the popular "In the Belly" quest, with the hint of new equipment. Keep your eyes peeled, as we might well have not seen the last of the additions to this now-massive update.

We've been seeing a great deal of news and information coming out from Final Fantasy XI -- which probably means the end times are coming, but be that as it may. Just the other day we found out about the upcoming Evolith system, with its cryptic mentions of the integrated "synergy" system and a promise of more details shortly. Sure enough, we already have an idea of what synergy will look like when it drops alongside the rest of the filled-to-bursting November version update. And it promises to be quite a deviation from the status quo for crafting right away -- it's an art practiced not by one person, but by a full six-person party.

In keeping with the extant nature of Final Fantasy XI's crafting, synergy doesn't promise to be simple. A number of reagents and elemental energies are dumped into the pictured "synergy furnace," at which point the entire part must begin carefully modulating and controlling the flow of elements therein. Crystals can be used to help alter the elemental composition, but will not be absolutely necessary from the sound of things. A failed synthesis can cause the whole mess to blow up in your face -- literally -- while success yields both slotted items and "cinders" that can be turned in for equipment to help boost your skill at the craft. There's a lot to digest here, so take a look and get ready for the most mold-breaking crafting yet seen in FFXI.

The November version update for Final Fantasy XI is going to contain a number of new and improved features -- for many of the game's players, just the changes being made to several jobs will alter the game significantly. However, the just-revealed Evolith system is going to add even more wrinkles to the gameplay, allowing players to insert powerful stones with a variety of properties into equipment. Not only is the system based around a new form of synthesis -- in essence an entirely new form of crafting -- but it promises to allow further customization and equipment improvement.

In order to obtain the Evolith stones themselves, players will need to hunt down notorious monsters as part of a new set of "hunt regimes" (which seem as if they'll likely be similar in nature to the Fields of Valor training regimes and enhancements). Equipment can both have new slots added to it via synergy, and then have the Evolith attached to the slots based on elemental properties. Original? Not precisely. But it's a new way for players to improve their abilities and their equipment, and it's a pretty large change for a regular patch. Take a look at the full article for more details and for a sneak peek at what some of the stones will offer.

The last of Final Fantasy XI's add-on scenarios is coming out in just about a week, but that's not all that's coming with it. Players who have purchased all three of the mini-expansions (A Crystalline Prophecy, A Moogle Kupo d'Etat, and A Shantotto Ascension, all of which have small flash sites) will receive a special in-game item following the next version update. The fact that it's a cape may not sound like much, but veteran players would be rather interested in the item's special enchantment: it allows you to teleport.

Players who haven't experienced Final Fantasy XI might not realize just how difficult and frequently dangerous transport through the game can be. Most leveling is done by working your way to a dangerous location, surrounded by monsters that can easily slaughter a lone player. The Nexus Cape reward will transport the user instantly to the party leader's location, thereby enabling easy movement from one spot of relative safety to another. It's only usable once per day, but it's a nice added bonus for those who've grabbed all of the additional scenarios. If you're holding out for the Ultimate Collection due on the tenth, don't despair -- as it contains all three add-ons as well, players with the collection will also receive the Nexus Cape. More details on its mechanics are available on the official announcement.

Final Fantasy XI's final new add-on adventure, A Shantotto Ascension, comes out the ninth of November. Should eight more days prove too long a delay, you might just be pleased at what we have to say. A new trailer, you see, has been put on the site, with our dear professor in the center spotlight. And if you lacked apprehension regarding Shantotto, this new trailer may have you pull quite the reversal.

The trailer makes mention of rituals demonic, a threat whose recurrence is horribly chronic -- but lest you assume that the danger's routine, you had best keep a watch on this unfolding scene. For Shantotto denies that she has lost her mind, and thinks herself flawless (or so she's opined). Yet all of the images that we see within leads us to believe something mad will begin -- and while we don't mean to drive players to terror, to not say the truth would be too much an error. For Shantotto seems poised upon something gigantic, and appears to enlarge to proportions titanic! If you've made Final Fantasy XI your home, be prepared to defend all the roots that you've sown. The release is still pending, but you may purchase today -- so go view the trailer, no need to delay!

We have a bit of a linguistic issue when it comes to information about Final Fantasy XIV -- while no one could argue that it's not being heavily anticipated worldwide, there's the simple reality that the slow trickle of information to news magazines are going to be in Japanese. Great if you can read the language, slightly less so if you can't. But luckily, the intrepid fans at FFXIVCore have a number of people who can at least manage it well enough to bring us the latest tidbits from Connect! On magazine, which had the benefit of having some input from someone who at least briefly got to experience the game hands-on.

It's already been hinted that Lancers, much like Archers, will be affected by the range of their weapons. The magazine goes into further detail regarding this -- for example, if the Lancer is too close to the enemy they'll have to swing the haft of their spear rather than jabbing with it, but they can also potentially sweep the lance like a staff to hit multiple enemies. There's also talk about the difference in tools that crafters can use and what some of the expanded features of the crafting might involve, possibly including the ability to craft multiple items at once (a welcome expansion for those familiar with crafting in Final Fantasy XI).

There's still no word on when exactly we'll be seeing Final Fantasy XIV, but it can't be soon enough. Take a look at the full translation for more details, speculation, and a clearer picture of how the game is different from its predecessor.

Final Fantasy XI's November update is just around the corner (what with the end of October fast approaching), and that means we're hearing more about what job abilities are due for an upgrade. This time around, we're getting information about the game's two classic pet-using classes, the Summoner and the Beastmaster, and what new abilities are in store for them. To summarize in brief: pure, unadulterated awesome.

Summoners will learn a new ability called Avatar's Favor at level 55, which provides a passive benefit to all party members and reduces the MP cost of keeping an avatar active. With a two-hour duration, the ability is clearly aimed at the longstanding irritation many players have had about the "preferred" approach to summoner pets. Traditionally, the class has been forced to summon their pet, use one of its party-buffing abilities, and then immediately dismiss it due to its low utility in normal combat and the high MP cost of keeping it active. Avatar's Favor obviously rewards keeping a single avatar active on the battlefield to reap the most benefit, and its promise of a cost reduction makes that more fesable.

Beastmasters, meanwhile, are gaining the ability to directly control the special abilities used by their called beasts (as opposed to beasts tamed on the field). The system is explained in brief, but it should help provide some utility and control to a class that has slowly been making the shift over to called pets instead of tamed ones. Both updates should be welcome by the classes, and lend more support to the idea that if the November update is one of the last ones to grace Final Fantasy XI, it will be going out on a high note.

Weddings in MMOs are sort of an odd beast at best, but the setting and atmosphere found in Final Fantasy XI suited the feature even way back when it was first introduced. Unfortunately, actually going through the process in-game has always been something of a hassle, what with the additional fees, the scheduling problems, a convoluted registration feature and so forth. Considering your only reward was usually an in-game wedding ring, it didn't light many people on fire. However, even though the game is entering its twilight years (or possibly because of that), Square-Enix is rolling out a new and more straightforward system to make marriage less of an issue -- in-game, at least.

Rather than having an ornate application to fill out, the game will be instituting a page in which you can simply schedule a time, date, and place. The nation's wedding masters will be added in as NPCs, allowing you to talk with them at any time to retrieve a certificate as a house furnishing once you've gotten married. In addition to all of this, you'll no longer have to jump through hoops for most of the wedding items (presumably including the game's tuxedo and wedding dress), as they'll be purchasable by anyone who requires them. If you prefer having a more ornate wedding, however, there's an optional Player Event system in place allowing you to expand beyond the confines of the existing system. It's not exactly a Vana'dielian Vegas, but Final Fantasy XI's updates to the system should at least make it a bit easier to tie the knot.

Most games give crafters the shaft. There's no real art to pushing a button and having an item pop out, especially when today's modern MMO design heavily favors "quick crafting." Crafting is an afterthought to most games, or something that players can do to both pass the time and perhaps offer an alternative to buying items from the shops.

Then there's Final Fantasy XI. The game equipped with a crafting system so complicated, people still have arguments about how the game calculates success 6 years after its American launch. A crafting system so complicated, some people like to refer to it as "voodoo crafting."

The ins-and-outs of the system may be hard to grasp for the starting player, but we here at Massively want to give everyone a fighting chance at what is a very interestingly designed crafting system. So if you want a few tips on how to leverage the crafting system in your favor, or if you want to find out what makes crafting in this game so difficult and draw so much debate, then this is the guide for you.

Square-Enix is going to release information about Final Fantasy XIV at its own pace, as the company always has. However, that can be more than a little agonizing for those of us on the ground, who are left running along after scraps in a desperate attempt to get more information. As a result, we can only be happy when there's an interview with Hiromi Tanaka, producer of the game, in which he gives more information about the upcoming game's features.

Among the more interesting answers are the fact that there will be no player flight (which ties in with his answers in an earlier interview that there will be no jumping), that players will not be pledging their allegiance to a single city-state a la Final Fantasy XI, and reinforcement of the idea that there's not really a concept of "classes" extant in-game. Rather, it's a matter of several different disciplines based upon what weapon or tool you're using. Equally interesting is the response to the question of whether Roegadyn and Miqo'te will be dual-gendered races, after their predecssors (Galka and Mithra, respectively) are all single-gender. He doesn't say they'll add in the other half, but he also doesn't discount the possibility, implying it might well be in the cards. Along with more reinforcement of the game's focus on allowing players to focus on or skip crafting as they wish, it's an interesting set of questions, so take a look at the full interview.

Come this November 10th anyone with 20 bucks will be able to pick up the newly announced Final Fantasy XI Ultimate Collection. This low-priced packaging lives up to its moniker by coming with every single expansion and add-on released since Square Enix launched the game. So if you've been holding off all this time or just haven't played in a long while and wouldn't mind checking out that new content with an old character, this is definitely the release for you.

We're pretty sure this is the final collection for Final Fantasy XI, as Square Enix's next MMO will be launching sometime in 2010. That's not to say there won't be any new add-ons, but we get the feeling those will only be offered through digital distribution. Oh, and the whole 'Ultimate Collection' makes it a little obvious, too.

[via Joystiq]

There are a lot of games that don't necessarily make the process of having an alt a smooth road, but almost none that outright prevent you from even indulging the idea. However, Freesky Online has come out with a recent developer diary that states precisely that: no alts allowed. And while their decisions outlined therein are focused highly on the idea that as a free-to-play game there need to be certain measures in place to prevent abuse of the system, they're applicable to many of the issues that players of larger MMOs have faced.

An obvious example is the longstanding practice of "bank alts", which is specifically referenced in the diary -- as far as the game's developers are concerned, it's abusing the mechanics of the game for unscrupulous means. There are certain games where it's considered standard practice to have at least one character just for banking purposes, but there's a point to be made that this is circumventing the hard-coded limitation of how much space a single character has to store items. The ramifications for other games are likely small at the moment -- it's unlikely that CCP is going to start deleting extra characters, for instance -- but the concepts are interesting to anyone who plays games where alts are frequent.