Patch 1.5a, which is to be the first of the, at least, bi-monthly patches (no longer referred to as Version Updates) has arrived! The first of many upcoming and much called for updates to XIV is already looking promising. From things such as SP improvements to continual improvements to the Market Ward system, Square-Enix, under the new direction of Naoki Yoshida, looks to be taking us in the right direction.
Battle
Party bonuses have been adjusted to award larger amounts of skill and experience points based on party size.
The amount of skill and experience points awarded for solo battle between ranks 20 and 24 has been balanced to facilitate leveling.
Defeating an enemy of a higher rank than oneself now awards more skill and experience points, while defeating lower rank enemies yields less skill and experience points.
* Added February 3, 2011 at 3:00 a.m.
Together with the changes to skill and experience point awards from combat based on enemy rank, the skill and experience points gained through gathering and synthesis activities have also been adjusted to better reflect gathering point grades and level of recipe difficulty respectively. We apologize for the late notice.
Further changes to the way these features function will be ongoing. This will include balancing adjustments to the rewards and degrees of difficulty of regional and local levequests, as well as behests.
Items
Stack size limits for all items in the following categories that were 12 have been increased to 99:
Sundries, Throwing Stones, Eggs, Vegetables, Spices, Fruits, Mushrooms, Foodstuffs, Freshwater Fare, Saltwater Fare, Meats, Dyes, Paints, Reagents, Metals, Unrefined Metals, Metal Sheets, Metal Wires, Weapon Heads, Weapon Butts, Weapon Grips, Chainmail Meshes, Armor Metals, Clasps, Raw Wood, Hides, Leathers, Furs, Armor Hides, Armor Leathers, Footwear Parts, Bones, Teeth & Claws, Wings, Armor, Ores, Stones, Gemstones, Fibers, Cloth, Hooded Attire Cloth, Cloth Bodies, Smallclothes Cloth, Cloth Sleeves, Front Cloth, Back Cloth, Armor Cloth, Feathers, and Armor Parts
* Stack sizes do not apply to unique items.
the categories of the following items have been changed.
Item Previous Category New Category
Growth Formula Alpha Panacea → Reagent
Growth Formula Beta Panacea → Reagent
Growth Formula Gamma Panacea → Reagent
Scallop Shell Saltwater Fare → Scute & Scale
Sunrise Tellin Saltwater Fare → Scute & Scale
Miter Shell Saltwater Fare → Scute & Scale
Blacklip Oyster Saltwater Fare → Scute & Scale
Salted Butter Dairy Product → Foodstuff
Sweet Cream Dairy Product → Foodstuff
Distilled Water can no longer be consumed.
System
The text command /clock has been improved to now now display the following information.
Time remaining until guildleve reissue
Time remaining until anima regeneration
Time remaining until next behest
The text command /display head (on/off) has been added.
/display head on – Display head gear.
/display head off – Hide head gear.
This command cannot be used while in active mode.The log can now be made active via mouse only by by clicking on a tab or the scroll bar.
This allows for the targeting of characters displayed behind the log simply by clicking on them normally.
Clicking on another widget while the log is active will cause the log to become inactive.The log will be now be temporarily hidden after a certain period of log inactivity.
Also, the /textclear (on/off) text command, or simply /tc (on/off), has been added in conjunction with this feature.
/textclear on – Enable log auto-hiding.
/textclear off – Disable log auto-hiding.
/textclear – Toggle between enabling and disabling log auto-hiding.
* Clicking on any of the log tabs, which will remain visible, or opening a text prompt in the General tab, will cause the log to reappear. Incoming messages will also automatically cause the log to be shown again.
System messages now appear only in the log's General tab.
This allows players to use log settings to create battle-only or chat-only tabs that will not contain system messages. In addition, the default values restored by selecting the Restore Defaults option under main menu » Configuration » Chat Log, have been adjusted.
The font color of system messages has been changed from purple to a more visible blue.
The market area selection window now contains all market areas in one scrollable window.
Mouse scroll speed has been increased when accessing main menu » Journal » Quests, to view quest details.
The size of the guildleve information window has been increased to ease viewing and minimize scrolling.
3-D battle text color-coding has been changed in the following manner.
Message Type Font Color
Damage dealt by you Yellow
Actions by you that miss or are evaded Yellow
Status effects caused by you Yellow
Healing to self Blue
Damage dealt by enemies Red
Actions by enemies that miss or are evaded Red
Status effects caused by enemies Red
Healing to enemies Blue
Damage dealt by others White
Actions by others that miss or are evaded White
Status effects caused by others White
Healing to others Blue
The placement of 3-D battle text, such as damage and healing values, has been altered to prevent overlapping.
The following changes have been made to in-game maps, accessed via main menu » Map.
Information displayed on maps now appears more quickly.
Zoom settings from previous viewings are now remembered when opening maps.
A field-of-view highlight showing the direction a character is facing is now visible on the minimap. This highlight will appear in red while in active mode.
Third-person Perspective: Displays the direction the camera is facing.
First-person Perspective: Displays the direction the character is facing.
Passive Mode
Active Mode
Instance-related boundaries are now more visible on the minimap.
Camera distance settings will no longer change during combat when locked onto a target in third-person display mode.
The placement of various in-game windows have been adjusted.
Pressing Cancel on the Teleport interaction window listing available teleport locations now returns players back to the region selection screen, rather than exiting entirely.
Item search results are now displayed with more detailed information.
Up to twenty (20) search results are now shown in ascending order by price, together with the retainer name, unit of sale, and market area.
Item search result quantities now reflect all market areas, rather than just the market area associated with the designated item's category.
Retainers now always face the same direction as when summoned.
Main hand gathering animations have been adjusted to speed up gathering actions.
The processing burden caused by the graphic display of characters has been improved.
Fixed Bugs
An issue wherein some character graphics were being displayed after a significant delay has been addressed.
Apologies on some parts it didnt copy over right.
