Phantasy Star Online 2 requires an update in order to continue playing the game. When you open the launcher, the game will automatically update both the game and launcher if necessary.
(If you are installing the game for the first time, you will have to download an update which requires 2.4GBs of free space.)
Patch Notes
Corrected a bug where on Simple shaders, the character's eyes would appear odd.
Corrected a bug where the difficulty setting did not appear in the Client Order explanation for Barbara's Training 7 client orders.
Corrected a bug where the CO tag for Koffee's Exploration Request for Desert would display on the wrong quest.
Corrected a bug where the time of day did not change in My Room.
Corrected a bug where under a certain condition, the fence for the Marathon Practice Lillipa would not open and you could not progress through the quest.
Corrected a bug where you could not Alt+Tab to change out of full screen.
Corrected a bug where the lock-on "hold" would not release.
Corrected a bug where the name of the AC scratch item you received would not appear in the purchase history.
Corrected a bug where the moon atomizer would not revive players who died on the conveyor belt.
Corrected a bug where Gunner Skill Showtime would last a shorter time than what was displayed in the skill tree notes
Corrected a mistake with the explanation of 支援／PP回復J Mag Trigger Action "PP Restore J"
Countermeasures against Cheat Tools
Changed it so that you can't use certain techs or techs from the Talis to attack inside fences and barriers set up in the desert field.
The weapon Gramasciento's S-ATK and T-ATK increased.
Relaxed some of the starting orbs conditions around the first matter board.
This morning on PSO2 Station; Sakai, Ichitaro Ai, Atsuko Enomoto, and Haruko Momoi played through the Ruins area which will be arriving later this year.
This area features some new darkers, like Cyclonehda サイクロネーダ who wields a morning star and its counterpart, Cuclonahda キュクロナーダ who wields a club. At the end of the quest, they fought against the boss Zeshreida.
Zeshreida
Zeshreida could be described as a Gamera, resembling an alligator/turtle with a star on its back. One of its common attacks is to stomp the player stunning them. It will even fall on top of the player and shoot red darker energy balls from holes in its back.
During the special attack (where even the music changes) it spins around on its belly hurling energy balls everywhere while jetting across the screen. This boss is weak to lightning and light and Dagacha (Fish Darkers) spawn around it.
Other tidbits from this show include:
Subclass (CO) unlocks from level 20.
The update is around 250Mbs.
PSVita Ver. is free to download too.
To clear Mr. Umblla's trial, he must hit someone.
Zeshreida's boss music can be heard in the Call of Mortality trailer.
Offline PSO2 Event: Arks Party (10/20/2012)
This event features teams of 4 who compete in the ruins area against the boss Zeshreida. There will be 32 players and 100 spectators. It will be held at Space Create Takadanobaba BIG BOX in Tokyo.
Don't forget, tonight's maintenance adds the subclass update!
1 Million Arks: Thanks!
On October 1st, the 1 millionth account was created. To thank everyone who supported the game, Sega is holding several campaigns where you can win prizes and items.
1 Million Arks Campaign
Luxury Prizes with 100 Winners
In-game Presents
Screenshot Contest
And other various campaigns
The campaign runs from 10/17/ ~ 11/7/2012.
Luxurious Prizes
100 people will be randomly chosen to receive prizes if they login during the campaign period.
ALIENWARE M14x laptop (2 Winners)
Phantasy Star Series 25th Anniversary Sympathy: Concert Tickets (10 Winners)
"1 million IDs" Original T Shirt (30 Winners)
Poster signed by the Development Team (20 Winners)
Phantasy Star Series 25th Anniversary Sound Collection (38 Winners)
In-Game Presents
Those who login to PSO2 during the Campaign Period will receive these prizes:
This campaign in particular starts 10/24 ~ 11/7/2012. The details about this campaign will be posted in the future.
Screenshot Contest
A contest titled, "Arks Museum [Attack]" has players submitting screenshots of photon arts, technics, or normal attacks, etc. The details will be provided at a special site later on. The winners will receive the room item 感謝のメダル (Gold) Medal of Gratitude!
Various other campaigns
During October 17th, through November 7th, there will be a special campaign site detailing the various campaigns players can participate in. The details about these campaigns will be posted on October 17th, 2012.
The Subclass System plans to arrive on October 10th, 2012! You can choose a subclass when you clear a specific client order. Once attached, your subclass' technics, skills, and photon arts are available for use. Let's check out a sample of the different combinations you can try.
Hunter + Techer
With this combination, you can use technics. You can assist yourself in battle by casting shifta and deband.
Force + Hunter
With this combination, you can roundup enemies. Use "Warcry" to attract enemies towards you while casting AoE Technics.
Fighter + Gunner
With this combination, you can chain with striking weapons. You can take advantage of the chain system by utilizing the Double Saber's gear.
Gunner + Ranger
With this combination, use Weak Bullet and Chain Trigger together and aim for maximum damage!
All Class Weapons?
If you use Hunter + Ranger, you can use an all-class enabled assault rifle (bouquet rifle) to apply weak bullet to your target. You can then switch to a striking weapon and attack its weak point directly.
Level 50 and Very Hard Mode
So far the the cap has been at level 40, but with this update, by completing a specific client order, you can now reach to level 50. Very Hard difficulty quests will be added. As the name implies, you'll have fight against formidable opponents.
Within this difficulty you'll also see different colored "rare bosses." These are much stronger than normal bosses. You can even acquire items that drop exclusively from them.
Mr. Umblla
A new interrupt event will be added to the game, but this one is kind of different. What on earth is this strange mysterious creature known as Mr. Umblla? If he's satisfied, a special reward is in store, but if you make him angry…
New Weapons, PAs, Technics
With this update, new and popular weapons from the Phantasy Star series will be added to the game. Ten star rare weapons will finally make their grand debut. We can also enjoy the various combinations the subclass system provides for us with brand new all-class weapons. New PAs and New Technics are coming too!
ベルクヴェルガー Berkverger (Wired Lance)
ディッグピラー Digg Pillar (Partisan)
マジカルウォンド Magical Wand
マダムノアマガサ Madame Umbrella (Sword)
ヴァーダービット Vardha Beat (Talis)
State of the Arks Address
The update on October 10th, 2012 will add several tweaks to the way the game's economy runs. These are outlined below.
Problem 1: Party Rooms that stay up for an extremely long time:
Some players discover random maps where the layout is efficient in such a way where they continue to play it for long periods of time (even in the case of several days). Doing so hinders the "charm" of random maps, and falls into the trap of monotonous gameplay. You lose the opportunity for a once in a lifetime chance in meeting other players. It creates a problem by widening the differences between long time players and newcomers.
Proposed Solution:
After the room is created and four hours have passed, enemies and interrupt events will no longer respawn.
This applies to Multiparty areas, and some single party areas.
New parties will be blocked from joining a particular room mid-way if 3 hours and 30 minutes have passed.
Problem #2: Getting Rare Items in Player Shops:
Players feel the enjoyment and accomplishment of finding rare items is lost since currently, rare items do not have any restrictions (aside from being bound to owner). Players focus on buying expensive rare weapons in player shops rather than finding one in the field. It becomes a high priority to quickly gain lots of meseta by going around and around in a specific field and selling those drops to an NPC. They buy the rare item, the price rises, and inflation occurs.
Proposed Solution:
Lower the amount of meseta you would earn from selling items to NPCs.
Again, the selling price for weapons and units to NPCs will decrease. To compensate for that, you can sell 1 star weapons at a higher price so that new players won't feel too hurt by this system.
Weapon drops 7 star (or higher) will have 25% ~ 45% elemental attribute attached.
Special weapons when decided by the Tekker will have 25% to 50%. elemental attribute attached.
The meseta value rare enemies and boss enemies drop will increase.
In the future (or in some other update), the amount of meseta needed to grind weapons will decrease.
Problem #3: The Game's Economy:
Since the selling price is currently too high when selling to NPCs, it tends to create inflation. If it continues to stay in its current form, there's concern that the average price for items in Player Shops will steadily rise. The economy would become harsh for new and returning players. Meseta's value will decrease and the joys of acquiring it is lost.
Proposed Solution:
10 star or higher weapons/units and Lv. 11 or higher disks will not be tradeable,
You can not trade nor sell these items in your player shop either.
This applies only to the items that are introduced on or after the 10.10.2012 update, and will not affect the items that were released before then.
This will not affect any future weapons 9 star and below, or disks level 10 or below.
Regarding Exploits on the Field
They have confirmed cases of exploits where players would move at an abnormal speed and defeat a wide range of enemies all at once. They have taken steps to ban the accounts but ask you use the wicked user form to report them. They ask you do not contact nor cooperate with them. They are building a detection system, and based on the results of that and your reports, they can ban the accounts.
