This update to Final Fantasy XIV implements many much-requested enhancements to existing features and also some exciting and entirely new systems.

NEW CHAT CONTEXT MENU

Clicking a player's name will now present an additional menu, "Report." This will allow players to avoid the tedious process of using the in-game Support Desk or Support Center web site and allow players to very quickly address common concerns. The new report menu has two options.

The first of these is "Bot." Now with just one click you can report players like Safsadfsaf Saf as a suspected bot. The system will then automatically examine the reported player's behavior and, if the player seems suspicious enough, be presented with one of a variety of tests to confirm whether automation against the game's terms of service is in use. Failing this test will result in an immediate and permanent ban of the account. Likewise, a sufficient ratio of inaccurate bot reports will result in disciplinary action against the account issuing fraudulent reports.

The second report option is "Troll." This means different things to different players and, as its first layer, serves as a catch-all for players that frequently make disingenuous assertions, endeavor to elicit negative reactions from other players, or otherwise conduct themselves in an uncivil fashion. The system will track these reports in aggregate. Once a to-be-determined threshold is reached, the player will be processed by the new World Kick system (see below).

NEW NOVICE NETWORK CHANNELS

The Novice Network feature has seen great success, but there still exists some confusion and frustration regarding the "no language restrictions" on the channel. This message was always intended to indicate that the channel was shared among all spoken languages (Japanese, English, German, etc.). However, on certain worlds, chat is dominated by specific languages and some players feel uncomfortable trying to speak their own native language. As such, we are now dividing the Novice Network into multiple channels players can choose to opt into based on what language they wish to speak (Novice Network - English, Novice Network - Japanese, etc.)

Further, many players have somehow misinterpreted this statement to somehow mean the channel is an exception to the game's policies against obscenity. Noting this demand, we are also adding additional variations to the available Novice Network channels for players unable to express themselves without using "adult" language. Examples of new channels including "Novice Network - French Profanity" and "Novice Network - German Erotic Roleplaying."

WORLD VOTE KICK

Players flagged by the new "Report as Troll" functionality will experience the new World Vote Kick system. All players that log in to a world will be presented with a once-per-day ballot for reported players. If many reported players are in the same free company, the entire free company will instead be placed on the ballot. The players that are the subject of the ballot will not be able to vote regarding themselves. Vote selections are to indicate the player is a valuable and positive member of the community, to recommend the player be relocated to another world, or to abstain. Further, the system will limit voting to players that have had interaction with the relevant players through Duty Finder or the world's own chat channels. If a sufficient ratio of negative votes results from the vote, the player will be involuntarily moved to one of the new prison worlds (see below).

HOUSING OVERHAUL

The housing system has been redesigned to better fit our originally intended vision as follows:

Ward Abolition: Each housing area (such as Mist) will no longer be divided into separate wards or subdivisions. Instead, all housing plots will exist within a single space and occupy a unique position on the map. As such, the physical size of the housing neighborhoods is much larger!

Ward Defense: Using the new "Expansion of Duties Permit - Defender" item, players will be able to appoint retainers as guardians of their personal and free company estates. Likewise, all housing areas are now open PvP areas. Players in your party and/or free company are considered friendly. Others are considered enemy.

Plot Capture: Upon successfully conquering an enemy estate, the property's interior and exterior can be looted and the housing plot can be claimed as loot. Those involved in the successful attack will lot for the new "Conquered Housing Deed" item which allows the player to take ownership of the plot as a new personal or free company estate.

Orchestrion Partnership Rolls: We have partnered with Amazon MP3 to create thousands of new Orchestrion rolls with the entire Amazon MP3 library available for the Orchestrion!

Gardening Fertilizer Enhancements: In addition to the existing "Fishmeal" item, planted garden items can now be significantly enhanced with special fertilizer items acquired from defeated foes. New fertilizer options range from common items like "Ground-up Qiqirn Corpse" to super-rare items like "Extremely Potent Sephirot World Tree Growth Formula."

CHOCOBO BARDING AND PLUMAGE ENHANCEMENTS

We have had many requests to allow players to use the barding of this special mount on their company chocobos. Similarly, there have been many requests to be able to customize company chocobo plumage more. You can now customize tail feather length and feather tip color. Further, rather than having to gradually change plumage color, each option you have already unlocked is now an option you can select at any time from your Companion menu, just like barding. Now you can individually select the barding and special feather coloring and length options from special mounts like the Legacy Chocobo, Ceremonial Chocobo, and Draught Chocobo.

NEW GRAPHICS ENGINE ELIMINATES CLIPPING

Exclusive to Windows 10 PCs running DirectX 12, the latest iteration of our graphics engine features robust physics modeling for all 3D assets, preventing common complaints like feet moving through robes when running, swords pushing through skirts, hair clipping with many different models, etc. We have also partnered with NVIDIA to release a special series of Final Fantasy XIV Titan X video cards.

JUDGE PROGRAM

We have been greatly impressed by the positive attitudes and time devoted by helpful players through the recently-introduced Mentor system. As a further enhancement to this, we are reaching out to personally invite the most impressive Mentors to become Judges. Judges will be able to continue playing on their existing characters but also have access to many of the same tools available to our Game Masters. Do you see a player using third-party software to exploit the game engine and teleport around to farm ffxiv gil for real money trade? As a Judge, you can use the new "Ban" option on the player's context menu. See someone being annoying in chat? There's also a "Silence" option that allows the Judge to select what channels should be restricted for what length of time for the offending player. All Judge actions will be reviewed by Game Masters and Judges will be held to a much higher (and less forgiving) standard of conduct than other players in the event any player selected as a Judge presents less-than-ideal conduct.

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