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2007 Expansion: Wings of the Goddess/Divine Soldiers of Altana (Release - 22/11/07)

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    2007 Expansion: Wings of the Goddess/Divine Soldiers of Altana (Release - 22/11/07)



    Expansion Title: Wings of The Goddess (US & Euro)/Divine Soldiers of Altana (JPN)

    Release Date: 22nd November 2007

    Official (English) Website:



    Wings of the Goddess Release Date Announced! (09/19/2007)

    Take a step back in time and uncover the breathtaking mysteries surrounding Vana'diel's violent past when the long-awaited fourth installment in the ongoing FINAL FANTASY XI saga ships on November 20, 2007!

    *Please note that while players may install and register the Wings of the Goddess expansion data in advance, the new content will be inaccessible until official service begins on Thursday, November 22.
    New Jobs

    Square-Enix has confirmed that new jobs will again be available in the expansion although only 1 has been officially announced so far.

    Dancer
    With their aggressive steps, these thewy terpsichoreans would weave forbidden magicks upon themselves and their enemies, producing results rivaling those of even the most powerful sorcerous cants. The popularity of this profession reached it?s peak during the Great War, when dancers were common additions to allied army units fighting on the frontlines.

    Information on Dancers released on 22nd October 2007

    Maiden of the Battlefield



    'Tis the beatin' of the heart what lays the foundation. Ye embrace it with yer whole body, and then e'er so gently start tappin' out the steps. Yer blood gets t'bubblin' an' ye can hear it percolatin' about in there. An' then ye might stick a twirlin' turn and send it rushin' t'all yer extremities. Shimmies straight up the spine and sends a shudder clean through ye, it does. After that, then she's mine an' no mistakin'. Haven't the faintest where I be or how I got there, I just am. An' everyone around fuels me, each of 'em offerin' up their own music--a symphony o' souls. An' that's yer rhythm. Ye cannot help but dance.
    [Dancer Laila Brilioth, following a seminal performance on Jeuno's Artisan Bridge in the year 884]

    And so it was that in former times that dancers became truly sought after as battleworthy allies. Word soon spread of their inspiring ability to allay the troubled hearts of soldiers made uneasy by the trials and tribulations of the frontline, and of their prowess as heroines in their own right, staking their lives on the field of battle alongside the bravest of warriors. In this manner they came to garner immense favor and respect from all ranks in the great armies of Altana--such was the station of the dancer.

    Their supple frames adorned in magnificent garments, dancing in plain view on the battlefield, boldly defying downpour after downpour of beastman arrow, the dancers bestowed countless of Altana's legions with both courage and resolve, earning them the title "maidens of the battlefield." Juxtaposed to this was their infamy among their enemies as "maidens of death," feared for their mastery of an unknown and foreign art.

    The origins of the esoteric tradition known as the Kriegstanz are revealed below.

    Revelry in Totentanz



    Come now, and dance with these bones!
    Spin and turn, in life and in death!
    Pauper, sage, even the nobleman knows,
    They are all, in the end, of life bereft!
    Savor now, doomed fool, and make merry this night!
    Come now, and dance with these bones!
    Sing and croon, in life and in death!
    Old hag, young beauty, even the sweet child knows,
    In time, a bleached skull, is all will be left!
    Savor now, doomed fool, and make merry this night!

    [a verse from the ancient "Bastokan Song of the Damned"]

    This verse rose to prominence in dark days as the republic was ravaged by the Bastokan Blight.
    On top of the already horrific and growing number of victims, unsubstantiated rumors and utter despair spread rampant through all quarters of the city. It was in this climate of social turmoil that the Bastokan Song of the Damned was taken up by the masses. Using magic to animate the remains of the deceased, throngs of the hopeless and grieving would choke the streets in processions of living and dead, booming in chorus as they danced the Totentanz in a form of morbid catharsis.

    Despite the government's initial efforts to quarantine those infected by the blight, the frenzied nightly gatherings were at first reluctantly tolerated. This changed however, as the growing popularity of the Totentanz carried it to the frontlines of battle, where the crazed enthusiasm generated by the now ritualistic dancing led no small number of soldiers to neglect their posts. This being an unacceptable state of affairs in wartime, a series of prohibitions was promptly issued with unforeseen results...
    An air of insurgency and rebellion swept the people, as dancing crowds began to take to the streets even with the sun still high in the sky. President Wilhelm was left with no recourse but to declare a state of emergency and mobilize the republic's main garrison of Galkan troops against the citizenry to suppress the escalating chaos. It is indeed a sad page in Bastokan history.

    It so happened that in those days, mountainfolk from the hinterlands of the Gustaberg region would sometimes travel to Bastok to peddle medicinal herbs. The quelling of the near-maniacal outbreaks of saturnalia would find its form in the native dancers of these tribes. With no hesitation despite the apparent dangers of contagion to themselves, they would roam the city streets and visit barracks, displaying the aggressive yet graceful steps of their people's traditional dance, the Kriegstanz, with a timeless elegance. The majestic rhythms pounded out by these confident women and their motions, full of life, captivated observers instantaneously. And it was not long before the morose Totentanz rituals faded away as quickly as they had come. Some years later, the significant role the dancers played in the defeat of the deadly epidemic which claimed so many Bastokan lives was commemorated by the president in a now famous speech: "Though none can deny the scientific strides made by our great alchemists in curing this foul plague, praise is due also to those fearless masters of dance who came to us in our most dire hour. For it was their impassioned artistry that delivered us from the tyranny of this most lethal of epidemics, and the terror which had fast gripped our very hearts." And so it was that the dancers came to be credited with ending the Bastokan Blight.

    In wake of its success and popularity during the blight, the Kriegstanz became a well-established school of dance, the study of which was such a grueling task that finding successors to carry on the tradition became quite a chore in its own right. It is not without some hint of irony that the second coming of the dancers would require a tragedy on the scale of the Crystal War--with the very fate of Bastok in the balance--to bring it about.

    Knowing Kriegstanz



    One would be remiss to relegate the arts of
    dance and combat to separate fields. A
    masterful dance can be the most lethal of
    weapons; a skillful fight, the most elegant
    of dances. Alas, there does exist one point
    of departure between the two. Whereas
    martial beauty is a byproduct of precise
    execution, the techniques of dance are a
    thing of beauty in and of themselves. The
    whole corpus of the Kriegstanz, though no
    doubt applicable to combat,primarily, and
    perpetually, seeks beauty.

    [an excerpt from the dogmatic "Kriegstanzian Musings," composed by Annika Brilioth]

    From that point on the Kriegstanz continued to evolve even further, incorporating unique steps developed in varying regions into new types of dance, yielding the Schwerttanz and Gauklertanz, among others. Dancing was found to not only encourage and instill morale in the practitioner's companions, but the most instinctual of dancers were found to be able to achieve an almost trancelike state, imbuing themselves with transcendental powers that could weaken their enemies with the sublime suggestiveness of their movements.

    Held in high regard as both first-class entertainers and as accomplished martial artists, the dancers are driven by an insatiable passion for their art. Entirely devoid of timidity on both the stage and the battlefield, dance requires the most absolute resolve. Only one who has honed these traits and devoted their very life to the beauty and perfection of the art itself is worthy of being deemed "Dancer."

    Illustration by Mitsuhiro Arita
    Last edited by C'; 23-10-2007, 09:15.

    #2
    i like the looks of it

    get to know hte history of the game!

    Comment


      #3
      So glad I got CoP all tied up now (for the most part). No doubt I have about 6 months to finish off Zilat and ToAU and go straight into this next one.

      Happy Times!

      Comment


        #4
        Well, we've had our new jobs/features expansion, so this will probably be like CoP, perhaps involving the empty.

        And bleh to SE, I read an announcement on here that sounded like they didn't have any current plans for a new expansion - probably due to some kind of NDA

        Comment


          #5
          Cracking news - very glad to hear you're right Rare

          Cool trailer too ... at least the first half is. The second half is a bit pants, especially that low budget ziggy zaggy splicing effect, and the fact that its just shots of zones. But seeing all the earlier stuff is very cool.

          There's still a project for someone in finding all the goblin footprints and fraps-ing all the storylines.
          Last edited by vwilsonuk; 12-05-2007, 12:12. Reason: just watched the trailer

          Comment


            #6
            Excellent, better get cracking on..... so much still to do.

            At least we know the end is not near! ^^

            Comment


              #7
              Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

              Comment


                #8
                Info thats incoming before WoG, these are anwsers to questions.

                Concerning two-handed weapons
                Doing something with the SubWeapon slot?
                Various revisions to Puppetmaster
                Increasing Attachment drop rate, changing the color of AF head (the magic Automaton's red head to something white or black? In other words use the Automaton as a White or Black mage?)
                A way to get Aht Urghan jobs' AF2 that isn't from existing Dynamis zones?
                Plans to improve the game's interface?
                Separating Key Items into categories
                Will they put repeat offers to do escort quests in your quest list?
                Discuss more user events
                Level caps and such?
                Thinking about other casual battle areas like Assault
                Plans to add quest for the 5 Serpent Generals. A secret 5 Serpent Generals is possible but it's all hush-hush...
                Talked about adding a new method to obtain abjurations in one way or another (planned for next Version Update)
                Chocobo raising improvements as well as PvP races sometime after summer


                More new info related to next patch,


                The Pit will be added (planned for summer)

                New multiplayer battle area, "Einherjar"
                Battefield where monster spawn locations change each time
                6-36 players can participate
                Entrance method will be similar to Perpetual Hourglass

                Job adjustments (Aht Urghan jobs merit categories

                Blue Mage
                - Ability to boost the effect of AoE magic that causes an effect
                - Ability to make an enhancing spell into an AoE
                - Blue Chain Bonus UP
                - Raise the limit on Blue Magic set points at 75

                Corsair
                - Ability to make the next roll a 1 (****ING A!)
                - Ability to erase a roll's effect
                - A few alterations to Random Deal?

                Puppetmaster
                - An ability to exchange HP between Master and Puppet (Kuroko Change)
                (Kuroko are people who dress in all black and manipulate puppets)
                - Exchange enmity "Ventriloquism"
                - Special characteristics such as Magic Evasion UP

                Comment


                  #9
                  Einherjar seems more like Aht Urgan Dynamis

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Talked about adding a new method to obtain abjurations in one way or another (planned for next Version Update)

                    This is the one im after ^^

                    Comment


                      #11
                      your probabily not the only one.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        We need CoP finishing Tickle, plz get Maria on it.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Maria has all stuff ready for 3 paths

                          Apart from a gold key which i can get for her tonite.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Nice I like. Are we doing Bugbear 1st? If we can arrange it for next time Maria is on I can msg Myrri (RNG, same timezone as Bevan) and let her know when to turn up. She was asking me if we were doing CoP yesterday.

                            Plan is to finish CoP and then re-watch ALL the cutscenes so I know what I've been taking part in all this time, hopefully before this update comes out.
                            Last edited by dataDave; 14-05-2007, 12:50.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Don't forget me >.>

                              Comment

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