The FFXI development team has announced the "Level Sync" system, a new feature in the upcoming version update that will allow all players—grizzled veterans and novices alike—to adventure and gain experience together regardless of level differences.
The new Level Sync system is the result of extensive discussions on how to resolve these concerns, while preserving game balance and avoiding abuse and power-leveling by RMT groups. It addresses the issues that have resulted from a steady stream of new, low-level players joining an existing game world populated by scores of high-level veterans, and is part of the ongoing effort to clean up the FFXI community and remove players in violation of the users' agreement.
At the heart of the feature is the new ability for members of a party to "power down" to the level of a designated target player. Now friends will be able to adventure together and gain experience as if they were all the same level!
With the introduction of this system, there will also be major changes to the way equipment is handled in regard to level restrictions. Rather than automatically unequipping items if a player's level is reduced below the item's minimum level, the attributes of high-level equipment will be scaled down proportionally to the reduced level.
This will apply not only to the Level Sync system, but to all level-restricted areas and missions. This means that players will now be able to participate in various battlefields, Assault missions, and Ballista, and also to adventure in level-capped areas such as Riverne without the hassle of having to switch equipment!
Read on for more details about how the Level Sync system will work, and examples of how equipment and experience-gaining will be affected.
Read more here.
