Category:Abyssea

Hushed whispers tell of the appearance of new Cavernous Maws that serve as gateways to a heretofore uncharted frontier.

Those who dare to venture through to the vast bleakness beyond return with harrowing tales of an unforgiving world long forsaken by the gods--a world called Abyssea, whose sanguine sky is an ever-present portent of looming destruction. There, the savage baying of creatures at once surreal and dreadful strikes a chilling counterpoint to the anguished wailing of the land as it crumbles and falls to chasmic depths.

Far above the horizon, the moon is aglow in serene radiance, a great jewel of hope shining against a bloody veil of death...

Power and riches beyond yer wildest dreams await ye. An' other things not quite so pleasant. Things that aren't like t' take kindly to ye runnin' off with their spoils--or with yer life...

A crazed glint flickers across the old man's eye. Oh yes, well does he know Abyssea, he mutters. Take him at his word, and he himself is a refugee from that sunless, Goddess-forsaken realm. A fortunate soul—if such a phrase can be used--who escaped the clutches of the fell hordes that tore comrades and loves ones from his grasp. Desperately he fled across the shattered, barren landscape before stumbling into the gaping maw of darkness that led him to this realm...

Me home...it's dyin'. And these old bones are long past their days o' playin' hero. But ye, young one...ye might be just the salve that Abyssea needs...

Hushed whispers tell of the appearance of new Cavernous Maws that once again beckon adventurers to the shattered world of Abyssea...

There, a desperate war rages on; ragtag bands of refugees stranded in the harsh borderlands struggle for their very survival against ungodly fiends and the wrath of the land itself.

All the while, they await the coming of a hero who will shine light upon the dark secrets of their world and deliver them from certain destruction.

Will you be that champion...?

Users must have installed and registered FINAL FANTASY XI, PlayOnline, and the "Rise of the Zilart" and "Wings of the Goddess" expansions in order to play "Vision of Abyssea", "Scars of Abyssea", and "Heroes of Abyssea."

Due to the timed nature of all Abyssea content, it is highly recommended to complete the following simple first step as soon as possible following the registration of the appropriate expansions.

1. Zone into Port Jeuno on a level 30+ job for a cutscene. Talk to Joachim in Port Jeuno (H-8) to start A Journey Begins. Following a cutscene, Joachim will give you a Traverser Stone. At this point, Joachim will start producing more Traverser Stones for you, but in order to actually receive any more, you must first complete the quest The Truth Beckons by entering Abyssea.
2. You must be on a level 30+ job to enter Abyssea. Head to one of the Cavernous Maws located at:

• La Theine Plateau (D-4) -> Abyssea - La Theine
• Konschtat Highlands (I-12) -> Abyssea - Konschtat
• Tahrongi Canyon (H-12) -> Abyssea - Tahrongi
• Jugner Forest (J-8) -> Abyssea - Vunkerl
• Valkurm Dunes (I-9) -> Abyssea - Misareaux
• Buburimu Peninsula (F-7) -> Abyssea - Attohwa
• Xarcabard (H-8) -> Abyssea - Uleguerand
• North Gustaberg (G-7) -> Abyssea - Grauberg
• South Gustaberg (J-10) -> Abyssea - Altepa
  

3. Examine it to enter Abyssea. You will NOT receive a cutscene when clicking the Maw or entering Abyssea. It is not necessary to do anything once inside Abyssea to complete The Truth Beckons.

• CAUTION: If you choose to exchange your Traverser Stone for 30 minutes of Visitant status you will be unable to continue with Dawn of Death until you receive a new Stone.
• CAUTION: Despite the fact that 30 is the minimum level required to enter Abyssea, the vast majority of Abyssea content is tailored to players of level 75 and above. Low level players are advised to exercise caution inside Abyssea.

Main articles: Traverser Stone, Visitant

• After claiming your first Traverser Stone, a hidden cumulative timer will start, and Joachim will begin producing more stones for you. After completing The Truth Beckons, you will be able to claim any subsequent stones Joachim has made up to that point (if any). The time continues to accumulate even while you are not logged into the game, in a similar manner to Imperial Army I.D. Tags for Assault.
• When the hidden timer reaches a certain increment (at first, it is 20 hours Earth time), you will be able to claim a new Traverser Stone from Joachim. Initially, taking a stone from Joachim will cost you 20 hours of your hidden "banked time." This cost can be reduced by possessing "Abyssites of Celerity" (see below for details). If sufficient time hasn't been accumulated, Joachim will not have any stones to give you, but he will tell you how much time remains until he will have another stone.
• Initially, up to a maximum of 3 stones can be on your person at one time. This amount can be increased by possessing "Abyssites of Avarice" (see below for details). There is no known limit to how much banked time you may have, and therefore, no known limit to how many stones Joachim can hold for you.
  • Possessing "Abyssites of Celerity" will allow you to obtain Traverser Stones at a faster rate. Each Abyssite of Celerity possessed will reduce the time cost of a stone by 4 hours. Due to the nature of the "time bank" mechanic for obtaining more stones, this means that at the moment an Abyssite of Celerity is obtained, it will immediately take effect on any banked time you already have and it will appear that Joachim has suddenly made more stones for you. Three Abyssites of Celerity are obtainable, reducing the cost of a stone to a minimum of 8 hours.
  • Possessing "Abyssites of Avarice" will allow you to carry more Traverser Stones. Each Abyssite of Avarice possessed enables you to carry one additional stone. Three Abyssites of Avarice are obtainable, allowing a maximum of 6 stones to be carried.
    
• Upon entering any Abyssea area, you will have 5 minutes of preparation time before you must obtain Visitant status from the nearby Conflux Surveyor in the area. If you fail to gain Visitant status before the 5 minutes is up, you will be ejected from Abyssea.
• Visitant is a separate time bank for all Abyssea areas that controls how much longer you can stay in Abyssea on any particular visit. The status is required in order to journey anywhere in Abyssea past the Searing Wards (large glowing barriers at the end of the encampment area), and several NPCs will not acknowledge you if you do not have the status. Upon exiting Abyssea, any unused Visitant time up to 120 minutes is preserved and can be used on your next visit. Visitant status may be obtained with a starting maximum value of 120 minutes, which can be reached by exchanging Traverser Stones, retaining Visitant time from a previous visit, or some combination of the two. If Visitant time is allowed to completely expire, you will be ejected from Abyssea.
• When requesting Visitant status, you are given the option of expending Traverser Stones to obtain more Visitant time on top of any time retained from your last visit to Abyssea (if any). Each stone used will initially grant 30 minutes of Visitant time. Possessing "Abyssites of Sojourn" will increase the time granted by each Traverser Stone exchanged. Each Abyssite of Sojourn possessed increase the time granted from one stone by 3 minutes. Six Abyssites of Sojourn are obtainable, increasing time granted by one stone to a maximum of 48 minutes.
• It is also possible to receive additional Visitant time by opening time extension chests. These can be randomly discovered in high-leveled blue Sturdy Pyxides dropped by enemies (see below for details).
• Provided you are able to continuously obtain sufficient time extensions, there is no known limit to how much Visitant time can be accumulated for a single visit.
• If you leave an Abyssea area with more than 120 minutes of Visitant time accrued, the excess time over 120 minutes is essentially lost, as it is not possible to re-obtain Visitant status with a starting value of more than 120 minutes.
  • The game makes a record of the total of how much Visitant time you have started an Abyssea run with, plus how much time you have received from time extension chests on your current visit. If this total is less than 120 minutes, you will be able to return to the Conflux Surveyor and extend your current Visitant status by exchanging more Traverser Stones.
  • Warning: Any time granted by additional stones is added to the above total, which still may not exceed the initial starting value of 120 minutes. If adding a stone exceeds the 120 minute limit, any "overflow" time is lost. (Example: You start an Abyssea run with 80 minutes of Visitant time, get three 10-minute time extension chests which increases the total to 110 minutes, and decide to exchange another stone -- this stone will only grant you 10 minutes of Visitant time, regardless of how much time you had remaining.)
    

• The chat log will display notices on remaining Visitant time at specific intervals, as well as whenever the time is extended. In addition, resting will display your remaining Visitant duration at any time.
• Your Visitant time bank is shared among all Abyssea areas (except for Abyssea - Empyreal Paradox, in which Visitant time is unlimited), allowing you to move between them as you see fit without the need of additional Traverser Stones for each visit (if time permits)
• If you exit Abyssea with fewer than 5 minutes of Visitant time remaining (or if you are ejected from the area due to Visitant time completely expiring), a 60-minute restriction is imposed, during which time you will not be able to enter any Abyssea area. The time remaining on this restriction can be viewed by examining any Cavernous Maw that leads to an Abyssea area. ("Your body cannot cope with further strain. You must rest for another X minutes.")
• Note that unlike other status effects, Visitant duration cannot be "frozen" in place by logging out, or by conversing with or examining an NPC/object. It continues to tick downward for as long as your character is in Abyssea, whether logged on or not. Remaining Visitant time can only be halted (and preserved for a future visit) by exiting the area entirely.
• Attempting to leave the primary encampment without obtaining Visitant status will cause you to be warped back into the encampment after approximately 10 seconds. The Searing Ward marks the dividing line between the encampment and the rest of the area; crossing this line will start the countdown if you do not possess Visitant status.
  • Although most enemies do not passively wander into the encampment, aggressive enemies will continue to pursue players past the Searing Ward into the encampment if taken there. As such, the Searing Ward cannot be used like a zone for easy escape.

Abyssea is an alternate world parallel to Vana'diel. Each Abyssea area is notably similar to a counterpart area in Vana'diel. Upon entering Abyssea you are placed inside the main encampment. This encampment is where most transactions and quests are undertaken, and it is also the place to locate the Conflux Surveyor that grants Visitant status. The boundary of the encampment is marked by glowing Searing Wards, noting the point where relative safety ends. From here there are a few basic things you may want to know. Some aspects of Abyssea are covered in further detail underneath their own headings below.

• Experience Points gain works under slightly different mechanics inside Abyssea:
  • Status effects that increase EXP gain, such as Dedication and Corsair's Roll, have no effect.
  • The maximum base EXP/kill, which is 300 for level 61+ players, increases to approximately 600 inside Abyssea, depending on the target mob. Notorious Monsters seem to have set values of EXP that they bestow, most of which greatly exceed the 600 limit.
    • The base (before any chain) EXP values for monsters within Abyssea was not affected by the doubling of EXP gain elsewhere in the February 14, 2011 mini-update.
  • EXP chains do not occur inside Abyssea. Instead, two hidden EXP bonuses can be built up in their place. A hidden "enemy chain" accumulates as the same type of enemy is killed in succession, and EXP gain gradually increases along with this chain. It must be the exact same type -- for instance, a Veld Clionid and a Ephemeral Clionid are not the same. Additionally, a second EXP bonus can be earned by building up "golden lights" and "ebon lights" from red Sturdy Pyxides. (see below for details) Both of these bonuses can be combined.
  • Due to this mechanic, it is very common for people looking to venture into Abyssea for experience points to form full alliances rather than regular parties of six. The speed at which an alliance can dispatch enemies allows the the group to build the enemy chain very quickly, and thus offsets (and eventually eliminates) the ordinary experience cut caused by forming an alliance.
  • If an experience chain is broken by defeating a monster from another family, the monster will give a bonus to the amount of Cruor dropped for that kill alone.
    • If a mob chain has been built, but it becomes necessary to defeat a different type of enemy (due to aggro, possibly), it is possible to Call for Help on the new type of enemy, defeat it, and not have it break your chain.

• Enemies in Abyssea generally respawn very quickly, including Notorious Monsters.
• Enemies in Abyssea are capable of respawning at higher and lower levels than they were previously. The system which determines the level they spawn at is closely tied to the speed at which they are slain. If an enemy is slain quickly, it will tend to respawn at a higher level (and vice versa for slower kills). In this way, enemies acclimate their levels to suit the strength of the party fighting them. Notorious Monsters are exempt from this system.
  • It should be noted that the same rules for EXP apply regardless of the enemy's level. As such it is technically possible to build a large chain without fighting enemies any stronger than easy prey. Similarly, light bonuses (specifically gold) can cause an enemy of any level to award several hundred experience, even without a chain bonus.
  • Enemies in Abyssea areas cap out at a maximum level depending on the expansion; Visions of Abyssea enemies cap at approximately level 90, Scars of Abyssea enemies cap out at approximately level 96-98, and Heroes of Abyssea enemies will reach as high as level 100-102.
• If left alone for a long period of time, enemy families will occasionally vanish from their normal roaming ground. They will reappear shortly after vanishing, however, their individual strengths will be reset to the minimum level possible for the particular zone they inhabit.
• Enemies may drop treasure chests, known as Sturdy Pyxides in Abyssea. These come in red, blue, and gold varieties, and contain a wide variety of contents. The chances of a chest dropping, what type it is, and what the contents might be are based on the level of Abyssea Lights attained by the person that delivered the killing strike to the enemy. (See below for more details)
• Certain creatures native to Abyssea only may have glowing auras surrounding them (seen thus far in the Clionid, Limule, Murex, and Amoeban families) and be designed as "Ephemeral". These enemies are noted to spawn and wander in a variety of places (they might not necessarily be found with other enemies of their own family) and give increased values of EXP, Cruor, and Abyssea Lights. Such bonuses also appear to extend to the dual-element Hybrid Elementals residing in Heroes areas.
• Tractor does function in Abyssea; however, accepting Tractor still counts as zoning, meaning it will remove your Visitant status, any built mob chains or Abyssea Lights, and will place you back at the starting encampment instead of the position where Tractor was cast. Due to Visitant status being lost, you will also have 5 minutes to be raised and regain the Visitant status before being ejected from the zone, as if you had just entered.
• If you disconnect while in Abyssea, you do not lose Visitant status (it will continue to tick down unless you leave the zone entirely), and all Abyssea Lights, mob chain, and Atma buffs (if applicable) are kept. However, any other statistical enhancements purchased through Cruor will be lost and must be repurchased.
• All monsters in Abyssea are unable to be charmed.