Final Fantasy XI Update will empower Samurais

Square Enix adjusts characters in Final Fantasy XI

September 29, 2006

Square Enix has announced that its upcoming update to Final Fantasy XI will alter the Samurai (SAM) job class. The update on the PlayOnline Web site explains:

The samurai's job abilities and traits are often needed for specific situations, but tend not to stand out in experience-gaining parties. The next version update will address this issue as well as make the samurai a more viable support job for main jobs that utilize two-handed weapons.

Two new abilities will be added for those playing as a Samurai:

• Hasso – This ability will give a bonus to attack speed, Accuracy and Strength (STR). It can be obtained at level 25.
  
  
• Seigan – This will give a bonus to the Third Eye ability that will both reduce its recast time and potentially have it last for more than one hit. The ability will also add an ocassional counter-attack to attacks anticipated by Third Eye. It becomes available at level 35.

There are a couple of oddities about these abilities when examining the wording on Square Enix's site. First, both of these abilities are only usable if the Samurai is using a two-handed weapon. Since the two main SAM weapons are the Great Katana and Polearm (both two-handed), it's extremely rare to see a Samurai using anything else. This requirement seems a bit uneccessary and redundant.

Secondly, both of these abilities are said to last for 5 minutes, but be able to re-cast every 1 minute. They don't stack, but by these numbers one or the other may always be active.

One caveat that was mentioned, though, is that magic, song and ninjitsu recast time will be prolonged when these abilities are active. However, since the three most common subjobs for a Samurai are Thief, Warrior and Ranger, this isn't a big deal. (This may affect Ninjas, Paladins or Dark Knights wanting to use Samurai as a sub-job. Of those, the DRK is probably the most likely to use a SAM sub, and would probably want to avoid using these abilities.)

In addition to the new abilities, a few changes will also be made to existing traits/abilities.

• Third Eye's duration will become 30 seconds (down from 1 minute).
• Zanshin will become available at level 30 (it was originally 60).
• A new merit will be added to Overwhelm which allows a 5% increase in Weapon Skill damage.

The next update will introduce these changes, and will also include changes for other jobs which have yet to be announced. New quests/missions in the Aht Urhgan storyline will also be added. The update is planned for release in mid-October.