Columnist TamashiiRyu has posted his latest look at the Kingdoms of Vana D'iel. This time around he's taking a look at the Republic of Bastok. Sit back and enjoy his look at the many wonders of Bastok including the port, mines and various markets.
Look for more from TamashiiRyu as 2007 progresses.
Our latest weekly wallpaper is a modified version of one used by Square Enix for promotion back in 2002. This modified version includes a nice parody of the FFXI logo.
Download "Nice Kitty.. Want a Potion?" in two resolutions below:
With the dawn of a new year means the birth of new ideas, new creativity and of course lots of new events in Final Fantasy XI. With this in mind we are looking to renovate our Fan Art sections by seeking new contributions to this section of the site.
We're welcoming both occasional submissions as well as steady comic series, if that's your sort of thing. We've got details below for both types of submissions:
General Submission Have you drawn a cool Final Fantasy related drawing? Maybe you've drawn a neat comic about your character. Whatever your artistic style or taste we'd love to feature it here on the vault. Our talented Fan Art staff looks after most of these submissions.
Series Submission / On Going Submissions Are you currently producing a series of drawings or comics related to Final Fantasy? Thinking about doing it? If so this could be the perfect opportunity for you. We're offing the usual staff benefits: Custom Title, VIP ect to artists who are willing to submit artwork on a regular basis.
If you have submitted multiple artworks or are interested on submitting a series of comics/art pieces to the vault please contact the Site Manager to discuss potential regular contributor benefits.
This week we've got an action screenshot as our “Screnshot Of The Week”. This screenshot is an older one but it never fails to impress. We've believe this screen really shows off the intense moments that FFXI can bring.
If you enjoyed this screen you can always check out more in our screenshot gallery.
This week's topic of the week is inspired by the idea of fresh starts in the New Year. Are you interested in starting a new character for the New Year? If so please let us know because we'd love to hear what you'd do with these new characters.
PlayOnline has posted a new feature outlining a New Years live event. Can you hunt down these special creatures? Full details below.
Fortune's Menagerie And now comes this rumor of herds of a certain beast traipsing across every area of Vana'diel.
In the words of a Far Eastern-born mercenary,
"In my land, there is a beast whose tusks are said to govern the provinces of wealth and prosperity. Perhaps some intrepid soul believed these creatures to be the ones I have described, and brought them to the Middle Lands for luck. It is strange, for they bear little resemblance..."
While spending a leisurely New Year in the comforts of their Mog House may sound appealing to some, you might find more excitement in chasing down these mystery beasts across field and valley!
Who knows? Perhaps an encounter with these creatures will have some effect on your fortunes...
We wish everyone a year filled with happiness and prosperity!
Event Details This event is scheduled to begin Sunday, December 31, and end on Monday, January 15, 0:00 (PST).
With the new year approaching we're looking to solidify our staff by creating several new staff openings here at Final Fantasy Vault. If you've been looking to contribute to the Vault but have been too shy to approach us then this is the perfect opportunity to do so.
The benefits of working for the vault include:
- Having your work published on the IGN Vault network. Quite arguably the best MMO fan-site network in existence.
- Full credit for your work.
- Custom title on the VNBoards.
- Chances for advancements
- VIP Status on VNBoards after 30days of active staff participation.
If any of these benefits appeal to you then give the following list of open staff positions a glance. If you find one that appeals to you then please contact the site manager using the appropriate contact link. Make sure to list your in-game experience as well as any previous game coverage experience you may have. Experience is not necessary and positions are filled based upon the applications received.
We'd love some help updating our weapons database. This position requires you to update at least three entries per week. If you love playing around with sharp objects this job is for you!
Do you enjoy exploring the different jobs across FFXI? If so this position might be up your ally. We're looking to update our existing Jobs Database. Like the previously listed database positions we'd like you to update our DB with three entries per week.
Do you enjoy collecting items around Van a'diel? We're looking for someone to help us keep our items databases current. This positions requires you to enter at least 3 new items per week. If you love trinkets this position is for you.
Do you love taking pretty pictures? Do you know anyone who has 100's of FFXI screens stored on their PC? Even if you didn't answer yes to either of those questions and still think you've got what it takes to help us expand our screenshots section we'd love to hear from you. This position requires that you upload at least 2 screens per week.
The last week of 2006 was indeed a quiet one. This week saw an event support reminder, a new wallpaper and a brand new topic of the week. All of this and more is covered in our lat news recap of 2006!
Wallpaper Of The Week This week we posted a brand new wallpaper. The "Many Warriors" wallpaper was used for promotion back in 2002. Our news article included this wallpaper in three flavours. If you haven't downloaded it yet, we suggest you do so!
Topic Of The Week: What's Under Your Hood? This week's topic dealt with what hardware you are using to run FFXI. If you haven't let us know yet then now is the perfect time to do so.
Treasures of Aht Urhgan Site Updated This week Square updated the official Treasures of Aht Urhgan webpage with information from the December Version Update. If you missed our coverage of these updates check out there page.
Poll: Cutest Creature This past week we updated our site's poll. We asked which is the cuter creature: Chocobos or Moogles? Sound off by voting in the poll.
Event Support Reminder Print News | Mail News | Category: News Playonline has posted a little reminder that support is available for player events. If you're planning an event for 2007 give this page a look over. You might be surprised at what they can offer.
Support Below is an actual example of support for the player event, "Laughter Mania 2006."
As a result of discussions between the OCR team and the event's organizer, the following support was provided.
The level of support provided for an event will differ greatly depending on the activities planned. We may not be able to provide the following support for every event, but hope to give players an idea of the role OCR can play in your events.
- Discussion of the event's planning both in game and through e-mail
- Temporarily increasing the amount of players allowed in the area to be used for the event
- Announcements by means of a system message to each area
- Placing a moogle to explain the event
- Provision of areas normally only available for weddings, or areas such as the Diorama Abdhaljs – Ghelsba for staging the event
- Having GMs move event participants and the event organizer to the area of the event
- Distributing items that cannot usually be purchased, such as fireworks, and handing out warp scrolls for leaving the area
Wallpaper Of The Week[ Comment ] Print News | Mail News | Category: Site News We've uploaded a brand new wallpaper for your desktop theming enjoyment. This wallpaper is from a promo series released by Square just before the launch of the game back in 2002. This wallpaper is called "Many Warriors".
Topic Of The Week - What's Under Your Hood?[ 3 Comments ] Print News | Mail News | Category: News As the holidays draw to a close many of us have received or purchased upgrades for our gaming PCs. Did you receive anything? Even if not we'd love to know what you are currently using to power your Final Fantasy adventures. Let us know by replying to the "Topic Of The Week" by hitting the comment button.
Happy Holidays From FF Vault[ 1 Comment ] Print News | Mail News | Category: Site News Happy Holidays to all our readers. We'd like to wish you and your families the best of the season as we head off for our holiday break. We'll be continuing our regular update schedule the evening of the 27th. We hope you get all of the goodies you asked for.
If you're logging in to your favorite MMO over the course the holidays please let us know. Hit the comment button to the left and leave us a message. Look for our “Year In Review” recap this coming week, just before new years.
At the following time, we will be performing FINAL FANTASY XI maintenance on all worlds. During this period, FINAL FANTASY XI will be unavailable.
We ask that players who are scheduled to enter Salvage, Assault areas, Dynamis or Limbus at the time of the maintenance wait until it is complete before entering. Please note that we cannot replace items that are lost during the maintenance process.
Thank you for your patience.
[Affected Period]
Dec. 21, 2006 from 3:00 to 5:00 (PST)
* Maintenance completion time may be subject to change.
Today, a number of accounts which were confirmed to have violated the user agreement by using unauthorized third-party software tools within FINAL FANTASY XI to enable abnormal in-game movement were discovered and have been suspended or permanently terminated.
Based on the results of our investigation, over 7,450 PlayOnline accounts were terminated while over 250 accounts were temporarily suspended indefinitely.
The breakdown for the suspensions is as follows:
- Accounts confirmed using third party tools to illegally move their characters:
400 cases
- Accounts confirmed using third party tools to give an unfair advantage over other
players in order to get claim on Notorious Monsters.
4400 cases
- Accounts confirmed using illegal means to obtain items
100 cases
- Accounts from people that were previously confirmed to have RMT connections, or that had violated the user agreements but re-subscribed to PlayOnline.
2800 cases
The results of our investigation resulted in the confiscation of over 6.2 Billion gil
We would like to take this time to remind our players that the use of any third-party tools will not only destroy the in-game balance, but will also encourage RMT (real money trading) activities. We will continue to take strict actions against those individuals that we have confirmed to have used such tools.
Please note that some of these third-party tools may cause character information to be altered, erased, or personal information to be leaked to unwanted third parties. If you come across a third-party tool over the Internet, we ask that you please refrain from the download of such a tool, no matter how minor it may appear to be.
While we did not include a RMT heading in this announcement, RMT related activities are being investigated by a separate group and we plan to act on the results of this investigation at a later date. With the newly revised policies in effect, our GM teams are not only pursuing the buy and sell of gil, but also the illegal actions by RMT affiliates who seek to control certain areas within FINAL FANTASY XI with the purpose of furthering RMT related activities.
As of Dec. 10, the development team implemented a fix to prevent items from being obtained in an illegal manner. Action has been taken against accounts that participated in these activities.
To ensure that our customers can enjoy the game safely, we will continue to apply measurements to combat these third-party tools and violations.
We thank you for your cooperation and understanding in this matter.
If you know anything about the development of the game, how the music was scored or even little trivia tidbits don't be afraid to add it to the Final Fantasy XI page. Unlike the Vault the Wiki is open to anyone to contribute by only registering a single account. We hope that you will take some time to add to this great resource.
