Category:Abyssea

Introduction

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...?

Abyssea Areas

Vision of Abyssea Areas

Abyssea - Konschtat

Abyssea - La Theine

Abyssea - Tahrongi

Scars of Abyssea Areas

Abyssea - Attohwa

Abyssea - Misareaux

Abyssea - Vunkerl

Heroes of Abyssea Areas

Abyssea - Altepa	Abyssea - Grauberg	Abyssea - Uleguerand
	Abyssea - Empyreal Paradox*

 
* Abyssea - Empyreal Paradox is a BCNM area used for the final battle and requires all three Add-Ons to access. You must complete all nine Abyssea NM quests and defeat all 6 Caturae. A special Crimson traverser stone, obtained with 10,000 Cruor, is required for entry. All normal characteristics of Abyssea apply (e.g. Temp items, atma, weakness triggers etc. are all useable).

How to Get Started

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. Travel to Port Jeuno for the first quest A Journey Begins. Talk to Joachim in Port Jeuno (H-8). 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. Head to one of the Cavernous Maws located at:

• La Theine Plateau (E-4)
• Konschtat Highlands (I-12)
• Tahrongi Canyon (H-12)
• Jugner Forest (J-8)
• Valkurm Dunes (I-9)
• Buburimu Peninsula (F-7)
• Xarcabard (H-8)
• North Gustaberg (G-7)
• South Gustaberg (J-10)
  

3. Examine it for a cutscene, and examine it again to enter Abyssea. (You must be on a job with a level of 30 or higher to enter Abyssea.)

• It is not necessary to do anything once inside Abyssea to complete The Truth Beckons. However, you may wish to exchange your first Traverser Stone for 30 minutes of Visitant status before leaving. (Unused Visitant time up to 120 minutes is preserved for your next visit to any Abyssea area.)

Traverser Stones and Visitant Time

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 quest 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. Once this timer reaches a certain increment 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, you are limited to carrying 3 stones. This amount can be increased via a quest (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.
• 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.
• 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.
  
• 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 reobtain 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, 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.

Adventuring Inside Abyssea

Abyssea is an alternate world parallel to Vana'diel. Each Abyssea areas 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 600 inside Abyssea. Some enemy types can exceed 600 slightly, and if inside a "Scars of Abyssea" area, the status of the area's Pulse Martello may also cause EXP gain to rise past the 600 limit. 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" from red Sturdy Pyxides. (see below for details) Both of these bonuses combined are necessary to reach 600 EXP/kill and above.
    • 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 very tough to a level 90, and Heroes of Abyssea enemies will reach as high as incredibly tough to a level 90.
• 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 casted. Due to Visitant status being lost, you will also have 5 minutes to be resurrected and regain the 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.

Abyssea Quests

Integrated with the battle systems of Abyssea is a series of quests. Similar to the Wings of the Goddess Missions, there are a handful of general quests intertwined with quests specific to each area. Each Abyssea zone also has its own Reputation value, with some quests requiring a certain level of fame before being undertaken.

• Vision of Abyssea Quests
• Scars of Abyssea Quests
• Heroes of Abyssea Quests

Abyssea Voidwalker Notorious Monsters

Inside Abyssea you can obtain Clear Demilune Abyssite for 300 cruor from the Cruor Prospector. This will allow you to contact unique Abyssean VNMs.

• Abyssea VNMs

Abyssea Force Spawn Monsters

• Items marked with a * can be bought on the Auction House - Items in italics are key items that can drop from the NM.
  
  
• Abyssea - Tahrongi:

• Abyssea - La Theine:

• Abyssea - Konschtat:

• Abyssea - Attohwa:

• Abyssea - Misareaux:

• Abyssea - Vunkerl:

Empyrean Armor Seals

Main Article: Empyrean Armor

Seals, used for upgrading base Empyrean items to their +1 versions via Trial of the Magians, are found by defeating various abyssean NMs, completing quests in abyssea, or from Dominion Ops.

• For information on Seal groups, NMs, and the areas to find them, visit Empyrean Armor, with details listed both by job and by area/NM/seal type.

• Each repeatable Abyssea quest has seals for 4 jobs (5 for body seal quests). See the pages below for a list of quests and their seals and other rewards:

Vision of Abyssea Quests

Scars of Abyssea Quests

Heroes of Abyssea Quests

• Dominion Ops drop all Body and Hand seals at random when any Op is completed.

The Encampment

Inside the encampment you will find several NPCs that will aid you on your adventures through Abyssea.

Conflux Surveyor

The Conflux Surveyor will tell you information about Traverser Stones and how they can be used to gain Visitant Status. Talking to him and obtaining Visitant is necessary to advance inside Abyssea.

• The surveyor will inform you of any leftover Visitant time from your last visit to Abyssea, if any, which may be applied toward your current visit. More time can be acquired in exchange for Traverser Stones. Initially, one stone will provide you with 30 minutes time inside the area.
• Starting Visitant time may not exceed 120 minutes, by any means. If more than 120 minutes was retained from your previous visit to Abyssea, it will be cut down to 120 for your next visit. If exchanging a Traverser Stone results in a total over 120 minutes, any "rollover" minutes are simply lost. (To extend an Abyssea visit past 120 minutes, time extensions must be obtained from blue Sturdy Pyxides.)

Cruor Prospector

The Cruor Prospector deals with all manners of Cruor transactions. Cruor acts as currency in Abyssea. You will be able to buy equipment, temporary items, stat enhancements, Forbidden Keys, and other things from him.

See Cruor Prospector for more details regarding available items.

Atma Infusionist

The Atma Infusionist utilizes your collected Atma to augment your character's stats and abilities if you are in possession of at least one Lunar Abyssite key item and at least one Atma key item, for a small fee of 100 Cruor per Atma. Atma generally remains "infused" until leaving Abyssea and cannot normally be dispelled, although a small handful of Notorious Monsters possess the ability to dispel them. They may also be manually purged by the Atma Infusionist if the player so wishes (generally in order to infuse a different atma)

• Three Lunar Abyssite are available and are each obtained in the following ways:
  1. Complete any one of the nine Abyssea Main Quests. Each quest involves defeating a specific force-spawned Notorious Monster in one of the Abyssea areas.
  2. In any "Scars of Abyssea" area, purchase one from the Cruor Prospector for 100,000 cruor.
  3. Complete any seven of the nine Abyssea Main Quests. Each quest involves defeating a specific force-spawned Notorious Monster in one of the Abyssea areas.
  • Each Lunar Abyssite possessed allows the infusion of one Atma effect. If all three Lunar Abyssites are possessed, it becomes possible to be infused with three Atma at once.
  • There is no limitation to how many times a particular Atma may be infused; once an Atma is yours it is yours for good, even though Atma appears under your listing of Temporary Key Items.
• Atma is generally obtained from defeating specific Notorious Monsters in Abyssea after exploiting their magical-weaponskill weakness (see below). However, there are also three sets of "Synthetic Atma" that may be purchased from Atma Fabricants inside "Vision of Abyssea", "Scars of Abyssea", and "Heroes of Abyssea" areas. (See below for more details on the Atma Fabricants)
  • When a NM's magical-WS weakness is found and struck properly, it will be denoted by a icon appearing over the enemy. Defeating the enemy at this point without triggering the same weakness effect again will almost ensure that its Atma will be dropped to the entire party/alliance. If the weakness is triggered multiple times, Atma may still drop, but at a reduced rate. Atma may even drop without triggering this weakness, but at an extremely low rate.
    • Players that are KO'd upon a NM's defeat will not receive Atma.
  • A NM's weakness triggers may change in future battles with the same NM (see next section below).
  • With multiple Lunar Abyssites, one may still not elect to infuse the same Atma more than once in order to multiply its effect. However, different Atma which grant similar effects will combine together.
  • Unlike Cruor Prospector enhancement effects, Atma effects won't wear off if you log out or disconnect while in Abyssea.
  • For a list of all Atma, see the Atma (Status Effect) page.

Atma Fabricant

The Atma Fabricant generates "Synthetic Atma" for players based on their past adventuring memories and accomplishments, which can then be applied by an Atma Infusionist (see above) like standard Atma. Synthetic Atma requires a moderate cruor fee to be purchased. Many of the Synthetic Atma available is based on content outside of Abyssea, so even players new to Abyssea may still find themselves able to obtain Atma from these NPCs.

There are three "sets" of Atma Fabricants, one from each expansion, each possessing independent sets of Synthetic Atma available for purchase. Each set of Fabricants requires different criteria (i.e. NM kills/titles for Vision areas, mission line completions for Scars areas, event completions for Heroes areas) to synthesize an Atma.

Weakness Targeting

Main Article: Weakness Targeting

Upon claiming/popping any NM within Abyssea, 3 types of weaknesses will be set. They will shift to a random new one on each battle, and this includes if the NM goes unclaimed and passive (deaggros). Weaknesses may only be triggered on Abyssean NMs, not on any standard enemy.

When a NM's weakness is struck, a pair of exclamation marks() appears over it, and the NM will be afflicted with a particular status effect for a period of time. The status effect is always applied, even if the NM is normally immune to other sources of the same effect. In addition, striking a weakness improves the drop rates on a particular type of treasure that the NM can drop. How to trigger each of the 3 types of weaknesses, and the effects of each one, are explained below. See Weakness Targeting for a list of specific trigger abilities.

• Red Weakness is triggered by use of a particular magical Weapon Skill, inflicts Terror on the target, and helps you obtain key items (Atma, NM pop items, Abyssite)

• Blue Weakness is triggered by use of a particular physical Weapon Skill, the type of which depends on the time of day; it inflicts Amnesia for a short time, and helps you to obtain weapon and armor drops from the target.

• Yellow Weakness is triggered by use of a particular Carol I, Ninjutsu, Elemental, Dark, Divine, or Blue Magic spell depending on the current day of the week and the day before/after; it inflicts Silence on the target for a short time, and helps you to obtain seals for +1 Empyrean Armor upgrades.

It is generally unadvised to strike a particular weakness more than once unless it becomes necessary to do so to survive. Each time the same weakness is struck on the same NM, the duration of the applied status effect shortens. Additionally, according to NPC dialog, exploiting the weakness once will grant larger treasure rewards, potentially even ones normally unavailable, but hitting the same weakness repeatedly can negate the effect and remove the treasure bonus. (Exploiting each of the three types of weakness once incurs no penalties to drop rates.)

Visit Weakness Targeting for more information.

Fame

Each area in Abyssea has its own fame progression, with an NPC in each main encampment to list your current fame level.

• In Abyssea - Konschtat, the fame NPC is Flaco (A).
• In Abyssea - La Theine, the fame NPC is Namonutice (A).
• In Abyssea - Tahrongi, the fame NPC is Zabirego-Hajigo (A).
• In Abyssea - Attohwa, the fame NPC is Mendi (A).
• In Abyssea - Misareaux, the fame NPC is Izabele (A).
• In Abyssea - Vunkerl, the fame NPC is Gulemont (A).
• In Abyssea - Altepa, the fame NPC is Honoi-Gomoi (A).
• In Abyssea - Grauberg, the fame NPC is Parnika (A).
• In Abyssea - Uleguerand, the fame NPC is Magriffon (A).

See the Quick Reputation Guide for details on building fame posthaste in a particular area.

Sturdy Pyxis Mechanisms

Upon defeating enemies within Abyssea, there is a chance for a treasure chest called a Sturdy Pyxis to appear where the enemy was defeated. There are three types of pyxides, each with a different puzzle mechanism used to open it. Players should take care to complete the challenges and open the chests before they disappear, because they may find such valuable commodities as cruor, experience points, and items. The frequency, type, and contents of the pyxides that appear depend on the Abyssea Lights values of the character that delivered the killing blow to the enemy.

• Pyxides remain on the ground for up to 3 minutes following an enemy's defeat. Only people that were in the party/alliance of whoever delivered the killing blow to the enemy will be allowed to interact with the chest or reap any benefits directly from its contents.
• Upon checking a chest, you are given the choice to attempt to open it, check what kind of puzzle must be solved in order to open it, examine the chest's contents, or leave it be.
• Blue Chests will give general statements of their contents and quantity of contents. Red Chests will describe the light within them and its intensity. Gold Chests will provide a list of the exact items within the chest.
• The lock puzzles on each chests can be bypassed by using Forbidden Keys to open the chests instantly. Forbidden Keys may be used at any point, meaning that you may attempt the puzzle and still use the key if you are at risk of failing the puzzle. If a puzzle is failed, the chest will disappear immediately.

Blue Pyxis: Dial Twisting

1. Upon examining this particular type of chest you are given a number, two options, a required number of successful guesses (between 2-6), and the amount of times you can guess incorrectly before losing the chest (3). (If the player that delivers the killing blow to an enemy possesses any "Abyssites of Acumen", any blue pyxides that drop as a result of his kills will require one less correct guess to be opened for each abyssite possessed to a minimum of 1.)
2. The number you are given is a randomly generated number from 1 to 99. You must decide whether the next randomly generated number is going to be higher or lower than the previous one stated.
3. If you think the new number is higher, choose "Turn the dial up.". If you think the new number is lower, choose "turn the dial down.".
4. To maximize your chances of making a correct guess, consider the number of possibilities above and below the given number. For example, if the random number is 75, there are 74 lower numbers and only 24 higher numbers.
5. You must guess correctly for the required amount of successes before making 3 incorrect guesses to open the chest.
6. Upon successfully opening the chest, you and other party members will be able to reap the rewards inside. Most, but not all, blue chests contain rewards that are bestowed to the entire party at once; in such cases this will happen automatically without requiring each party member to check the chest individually.

Red Pyxis: Pressure Adjustment

1. Upon examining this particular type of chest you are given the target "air pressure" range necessary to unlock the chest. Using a mechanism that allows only for rough adjustments instead of exact ones, you must get the chest's air pressure value to land within the specified range of pressure for the chest to open. (If the player that delivers the killing blow to an enemy possesses any "Abyssites of Acumen", any red pyxides that drop as a result of his kills will have their required pressure range slightly expanded for each abyssite possessed.)
2. You are given options to either increase or decrease the current air pressure. Your options are presented to you in three tier strengths for either increasing or decreasing the current air pressure, leaving six options to choose from.
3. The actual increase or decrease in air pressure is dependent on the number of notches the lever is pushed, as well as the current description of the chest mechanism. This description may change after each adjustment of the air pressure.
4. You are given a limited number of attempts to adjust the air pressure (5).
5. Upon landing in the correct air pressure range, the chest will open and yield its reward automatically to all party members.
6. The description of the chest mechanism can be one of the following: The sound of air escaping is faintly audible, The mechanism appears to be in good nick, The mechanism's adjuster lever rattles fitfully, The mechanism is silent to the point of eeriness.
   1. When it appears to be in good nick, reducing the pressure 3 times will make the pressure go down between 31~35 units.
   2. When it is silent to the point of eeriness, reducing the pressure 3 times will make the pressure go down between 44~60 units.
   3. When it is silent to the point of eeriness, increasing the pressure 1 time will make the pressure go up around 15 units.
   4. When its adjuster lever rattles fitfully, reducing the pressure 3 times will make the pressure go down between 14~47 units.
   5. When the sound of air escaping is faintly audible, reducing the pressure 2 times will make the pressure go down around 21 units.
   6. When the sound of air escaping is faintly audible, reducing the pressure 3 times will make the pressure go down around 36 units.

Gold Pyxis: Guessing Game

1. These chests operate on a principle similar to the Treasure Caskets in original and Zilart zones.
2. The unlock code number is between 11 and 33, 11 and 44, 11 and 55, 11 and 77, or 11 and 99 (large gold chests only), depending on the difficulty of the chest. (If the player that delivers the killing blow to an enemy possesses any "Abyssites of Acumen", any gold pyxides that drop as a result of his kills will have the maximum end of the number range reduced by 3 for each abyssite possessed. For instance, with one Abyssite of Acumen, a chest that normally has a range of 11-99 would become 11-96.)
3. If an incorrect number is input, the pyxis states whether the secret number is higher or lower than the guess, and also gives a hint regarding one, or both, of the digits (for example, one of the digits is 3 or the second digit is 6, 7 or 8 or the first digit is odd or the sum of the two digits is 11; the secret number would be 38).
4. You are given a limited number of guesses (5).
5. Upon guessing the correct number, the chest will open and yield its rewards. All rewards in gold chests are not distributed to the entire party automatically, and must be individually claimed -- however, if the chest contains regular items (not temporary items, augmented items, or key items), there will be an option to place all such items into the party's treasure pool.
6. A helpful strategy to employ is to use the median number of the range as your first guess, thereby eliminating half the possibilities (thanks to to always receiving a greater-than or less-than clue), then continue using the clues offered to find the correct number.
7. See the Gold Sturdy Pyxis page for more information regarding items obtainable.

Pyxis Contents

Blue pyxides

Contains:

• assorted single temporary items or temporary item sets (sets are distributed directly to all party/alliance members)
• Temporary item sets contain: one each of Lucid Potion I, Lucid Ether I, Catholicon, Dusty Elixir, Stalwart's Tonic, Ascetic's Tonic, and Champion's Tonic.)
• experience points (250 EXP to 1250 EXP)
• cruor (200 cruor to 1000 cruor)
• a "soothing light" (restoration; light strength can be feeble, mild, strong, or intense. Feeble restores HP, mild restores HP+MP, strong restores HP+MP+TP, intense restores HP+MP+TP, all Job Abilities and removes negative status effects)
• a "strangely familiar stone fragment" (10 additional minutes of Visitant status) Requires high Azure light value.

Building Azure Light will increase the frequency and the quality of Blue chests.

Except for restorations and individual temporary items, all contents are distributed automatically to the members of the party/alliance when the pyxis is opened. Such automatically-distributed contents are not divided among the group; each member receives the full value of whatever the pyxis contained. Restorations are granted only to the player who opens the pyxis. Individual temporary items can be taken by anyone in the party/alliance after the pyxis has been unlocked.

Higher tiers result in more temporary item sets over assorted singles, greater quantities of experience points or cruor, better restorations, and the addition of time extensions to the possible rewards.

Red pyxides

Contains:

• Pearlescent light
• Ruby light
• Azure light
• Amber light
• Silvery light
• Golden light
• Ebon light

(light values can range from "faint" to "strong". Ruby, Azure, and Amber lights may also have an "intense" value)

Note that regardless of the actual light value reported by the chest, the chat log message will always report the lights granted by red pyxides as a "faint" or "feeble" light when the chest is opened.

Building Ruby Light will increase the frequency and the quality of Red chests.

All people in your party/alliance will have the light added/enhanced upon opening the chest.

Higher tiers result in higher potency lights, and more frequent occurrences of higher quality lights. Ebon, Silvery, and Golden lights are considered higher quality than Pearlescent, Ruby, Azure, and Amber.

See Abyssea Lights for more details.

Gold pyxides

Unlike other pyxides, gold pyxides come in varieties of small and large.

Contains:

• standard items (crafting materials, spell scrolls, Notorious Monster force spawn items, base Empyrean feet armor in Scars of Abyssea areas)
• assorted powerful temporary items (e.g. Fanatic's Powder, Megalixir, Revitalizer and more)
• augmented equipment
• key items used in spawning Abyssean NMs (Found only in large gold pyxides)

Quality of the pyxis contents generally vary by size. In large gold pyxides, rarer and more valuable spoils may be found, higher quality temporary items such as Revitalizers will appear, and augmented equipment will carry more powerful augments.

Building Amber Light will increase the frequency and quality of Gold chests. When Amber Light value for a player is maxed, all gold pyxides that drop from his/her kills will be of the large variety.

Items within the chest must be retrieved directly from the chest after it is opened.

After the Sep. 2010 update, items that are not temporary items, augmented items, or key items may be placed into the treasure pool after the chest has been successfully opened.

See Gold Sturdy Pyxis for more information.

Navigating Abyssea

By traveling deep into Abyssea you will find Veridical Confluxes scattered about the land. These confluxes serve as teleporters between one another. In order to use each one you must first activate it by paying a fee in cruor and then another small cruor fee to teleport to it.

• There are eight standard confluxes, identified as #01 to #08, in each area of Abyssea. Scars of Abyssea areas also have a ninth conflux, #00, which is located near the area's Bastion outpost.
• The cruor cost to activate each conflux is equal to: 50*Conflux#. For example, conflux #1 costs 50 cruor to activate and conflux #5 costs 250 cruor to activate.
• Conflux #01 is always located near the entrance to the Abyssea area. It is free to teleport to after it has been activated.
• Conflux #00 is automatically activated by default.
• Possessing one or more "Abyssites of Confluence" will reduce the cruor fee required to teleport to a conflux by 20% each.

Abyssea Goals

You have freedom over your actions within Abyssea. There is no specific objective to accomplish once inside. However, the game suggests three primary objectives, as follows:

1. Complete all quests in the area.
   • Reward: 8,000 Cruor
2. Obtain every Ancient Abyssite in this area.
   • Reward: 10,000 Cruor
3. Obtain every Atma available in this area.
   • Reward: 12,000 Cruor

Players can complete each of these objectives in each Abyssea area, as all Abyssea areas possess different quests, atmas, and abyssite. Note that regarding the abyssite objective, some of the Ivory abyssites (purchased via cruor) are shared between certain zones. Purchasing an abyssite in one zone will count toward the objective in any other Abyssea zone from which that abyssite can be purchased.

Upon completing all objectives within an area, the player is granted a new title based on how many zones have been completed. Current known titles in chronological order of achievement:

• Visitor of Abyssea
• Friend of Abyssea
• Warrior of Abyssea
• Stormer of Abyssea
• Devastator of Abyssea
• Hero of Abyssea
• Champion of Abyssea
• Conqueror of Abyssea
• Savior of Abyssea

Unlocking Savior also unlocks Atma of the Savior which can be obtained from Synthetic Atma Fabricant.

Cruor

Cruor works as Abyssea's currency. Cruor is obtained by defeating monsters, completing quests, and opening certain blue pyxides. Cruor can be exchanged for various products and services, including equipment, temporary items, key items that will help you in Abyssea, temporary stat boosts, Atma infusion, activating and using Veridical Confluxes to teleport around the area, and more.

While cruor will increase normally while XPing, due to silver/ebon lights being built up, it IS possible to cruor farm. Cruor farming works differently from XP farming. Whereas XP farming inside abyssea depends on you sticking to one specific mob family type, Cruor farming depends on you switching mob family EVERY kill. Agin, this VERY important, since killing 2 or more of the same mob family will "reset" the cruor chain.

Cruor may also be exchanged with Horst in Port Jeuno to utilize his teleportation service. He can teleport you to the Cavernous Maw leading to any Abyssea area you have previously entered for a fee of 200 cruor.

Martello

Martellos are structures set up around each Abyssea area and serve as sources of replenishment for adventurers within the harsh Abyssea environment. They are similar in appearance to Allied Mantelets. Each of them has a certain amount of energy and each of its restoration given to an adventurer will deplete its energy reserve. To replenish a martello, an adventure must agree to help a Machine Outfitter located at the camp site to participate in a replenishing errand. You will then obtain a key item. Once you check a martello, you will be given the choice to replenish its energy levels. The direction you face affects the amount replenished.

A martello can be used to fully restore either your HP or your MP, or to purge any negative status effects. (Only one of these services can be used at a time.) However, to conserve the energy reserves of the martellos, a player must wait for a maximum of 30 minutes after using a martello before being allowed to use any martello again. Possessing one or more "Abyssites of Expertise" will reduce the "cooldown" period for martello usage by 5 minutes each (minimum of 15 minutes). Additionally, in Scars of Abyssea areas or Heroes of Abyssea areas, the current state of the area's Pulse Martello, or the state of the Dominion Morale, may result in a further reduction of the "cooldown" period.

Restoring HP after Weakness wears off, or restoring MP during a critical fight (if the battle takes place near a martello) can prove to be useful to make the most out of your time spent in Abyssea.

Temporary Items

Players may make use of a wide variety of Temporary Items while adventuring in Abyssea. Temporary items can be purchased from Cruor Prospectors, obtained from Blue and Gold Pyxides, and dropped directly from defeated enemies. Temporary items vary greatly in potency and effect (some items have similar names/effects yet grant a far stronger bonus than their low tier counterparts); low tier items can be obtained from Blue Pyxides or bought from Cruor Prospectors, but high tier items must be obtained from Notorious Monsters and Gold/Giant Pyxides.

Unlike temporary items in other areas, once a player acquires a particular temporary item in Abyssea, that item will remain with the player until it is used or discarded -- they cannot be taken outside of Abyssea, but upon the player's return to any Abyssea area, any temporary items retained from the previous visit will appear back in the player's inventory upon obtaining Visitant status. Players may only hold one of each type of temporary item at a time (multiple of similar types can be held at once, provided they are not the exact same item).

Abyssea Lights

Upon defeating enemies in Abyssea or opening red pyxides, players may receive a message telling them that their body is radiating with a light of a certain color. This phenomenon is linked somehow to the Visitant status used by transdimensional travelers to Abyssea, and serves to enhance the fortune of adventurers in various ways for as long as their Visitant status lasts.

• Four of the seven light colors have significant effects upon the chests which may drop upon defeating an enemy in Abyssea, and can be obtained upon finishing an enemy via a particular damage type or by opening red Sturdy Pyxides. It should be noted, however, that certain enemies are incapable of granting certain types of lights, and may only be found via red pyxides dropped by those enemies.
• The remaining three lights are obtainable only through opening red pyxides. Two of the lights serve to enhance the experience and cruor rewards granted by defeating enemies by raising their floor value; the final light enhances the strength of all six other lights by a minor amount.

• Players can accumulate multiple light colors at different strengths without losing the effect or potency of previous lights. Each player possesses their own individual aura strength level for each color light, and only the player who lands the finishing blow upon the enemy will have their aura contribute to the possible chest drop; thus alliances should be aware of newer members with weaker auras landing a finishing blow accidentally, which can cause the chests to drop at a lower tier or potentially not drop at all.
• Certain Abyssite are thought to cause particular light colors to increase at a faster rate than normal, such Abyssite are said to increase a player's "fortune" with a particular chest type.
• All light bonuses are lost when players leaves the area, and thus must be built back up again upon their next visit. A player's accumulated aura will not degrade over time or by being logged out or disconnected.
• Not all mobs produce all types of physical lights, for a listing of Abyssea mobs and what lights they can produce see the Abyssea Lights page.

Abyssea Chest and Light Chart

Physical Lights

• Pearlescent: All sturdy pyxides will appear with greater frequency.
  • Obtained by defeating an enemy using regular melee or ranged attacks, Damage Over Time, any Blood Pact: Rage (including magical ones), or from Red Pyxides.
    • Maximum pearlescent light determined by an approximate 95~% chest spawn ratio. Note that depending on the zone traffic, a lower chest spawn rate might be experienced even with capped pearlescent, due to too many chests being spawned simultaneously in the zone.
    • Note: Unlike the other 3 lights that affect chest drops, defeating an enemy with the proper type of attack indicated above will not guarantee a boost to pearlescent aura. However, pearlescent light can be built with a 100% chance off of most NMs in Abyssea, including VNMs.
      • Pearlescent light can be obtained 100% by defeating monsters with Damage over Time effects. -helix spells count for this.

• Ruby: Red pyxides will appear with greater frequency, and start to yield stronger auras and more frequent golden/silver/ebon lights.
  • Obtained by defeating an enemy using Physical Weaponskills, or from Red Pyxides.
    • Maximum ruby light determined by red pyxides yielding almost exclusively "strong" Golden, Silvery, and Ebon lights.

Magical Lights

• Azure: Blue pyxides will appear with greater frequency and yield superior spoils.
  • Obtained by defeating an enemy using magic spells, or from Red Pyxides. (With regard to Blue Magic, both physical and magical spells will count toward getting an azure light.)
    • Maximum azure light determined by blue Sturdy Pyxis almost always yielding one of the following: 1250 XP, 1000 Cruor, "intense soothing light" (HP/MP/TP/JA restore), "laden with numerous temporary items" (sets of temporary items automatically bestowed to the entire party), or "a strangely familiar stone fragment" (10-minute Visitant time extension).

• Amber: Gold pyxides will appear with greater frequency and yield superior spoils.
  • Obtained by defeating a Mob with a Magical Weaponskill, or from Red Pyxides.
    • Maximum amber light determined by large gold pyxides appearing at a near 100% rate.

Red Chest Exclusive Light

• Golden: The adventurer will gain experience at an increased rate.
  • Obtained from Red Pyxides rarely. Frequency increases with higher ruby light value.
    • Maximum golden light generally determined when the player's Experience points per kill cap at 600. Note that to reach this amount, it may be necessary to both have golden light and a sufficient mob chain built. (Specific monsters may go past the 600 cap, and in Scars of Abyssea areas, the status of the area's Pulse Martello may also give an experience bonus that enables the surpassing of 600. Note that NMs ignore the cap completely and can give 5000+ EXP depending on the NM, even without any golden light.)

• Silvery: The adventurer will obtain cruor at an increased rate.
  • Obtained from Red Pyxides rarely. Frequency increases with higher ruby light value.
    • Maximum silver light determined when the player's Cruor per kill caps at approximately 90-100. Note that this value applies only to regular enemies (NMs may give more)

• Ebon: All six other lights will be boosted at once slightly. Appears to raise Golden and Silvery lights past their normal caps, allowing for even higher EXP/cruor gain once Golden/Silvery lights stop having any effect.
  • Obtained from Red Pyxides rarely. Frequency increases with higher ruby light value.

Size Matters and The Ephemeral

• Small monsters of the same family give more Cruor, but less experience points.
• Medium monsters of the same family give a normal amount of Cruor and experience points.
• Big monsters of the same family give less Cruor, but more experience points.

Ephemeral Monsters can be found roaming randomly around Abyssea, often alongside other monster families.

• Ephemeral Monsters are Ephemeral Clionid, Ephemeral Limule, Ephemeral Murex and Ephemeral Amoeban.
  • Ephemeral Monsters all exhibit a graphical effect that indicates their elemental aura. Magical attacks matching this element will cause them to absorb HP instead of receiving damage.
    • Each family of Ephemeral mob has two possibilities of what element it can be, and these elements correspond to their family's innate resistances. It is worth noting that each family's resistances corresponds to a level 2 Skillchain element: Clionids resist water and ice, Limules resist fire and light, Murex resist wind and thunder, and Amoebans resist earth and dark.
  • Ephemeral Monsters give 2x-5.25x more Experience Points and Cruor. These can exceed the EXP/cruor caps placed on regular enemies, despite not being Notorious Monsters
  • Ephemeral Monsters grant a much larger value of ruby/azure/amber light than normalwhen defeated with the appropriate corresponding attack, depending on how they on con and how many relevant abyssites you own.

Experience Points

The rules for gaining experience points are altered in Abyssea:

• There are no EXP chains. However, this is compensated for in other ways as detailed below.
• Experience rings, such as the Emperor Band and other special abilities such as Corsair's Roll have no effect.
• Members of an alliance gain experience based on ordinary alliance experience calculations. Defeating an IT enemy in an alliance yields far less experience per person than in a party of six, due to the much larger number of members involved.
• Killing monsters of the same name will initially grant experience in accordance with ordinary experience calculations (based on party's level, monster's level, number of members, presence of alliance(s), and member(s) level differences). However, with each kill of a monster from the same name, the experience floor will gradually increase over time to much higher values. This invisible "mob chain" caps at 300XP per kill normally, and with the assistance of Gold and Ebon Light is increased to 600XP (in Vision of Abyssea areas) or up to 660XP (in Scars of Abyssea areas). Unlike standard EXP chains, it is not specifically influenced (beyond ordinary kill rates) by the number of mobs killed over a specific period of time (i.e., no chain 1, 2, 3), and it will not break if one fails to defeat the next monster within a specific time frame.
  • The mob chain will reset if you kill any monster of a different name (even matching family will still reset the chain -- for instance, defeating an Ephemeral Murex will break a chain on River Murex, as will defeating a Gasher crab while fighting Slasher crabs), but your bonus from golden light is retained as long as you remain in Abyssea. To avoid losing your chain, if for some reason you fight a monster from another family (e.g., a mimic), simply Call for Help on the mob, and your chain will not be broken.
  • Certain mobs can reward higher experience than 600XP a kill, such as the Tonberries.
• The rules above also apply to limit points.

Ancient Abyssite

Scattered throughout the lands of Abyssea are ancient stones of great power, known as Ancient Abyssite. Each abyssite is known to grant favorable bonuses to its possessor while they travel through Abyssea, and thus can be a valuable asset for adventurers to seek and acquire. Five ancient abyssite can be found in each Abyssean area. There are also nine abyssite (three each for Visions, Scars, and Heroes) which can be bought from Cruor Prospectors for varying amounts of Cruor. Finally, there are nine additional abyssite which are obtained through the completion of one or more special Abyssea quests. These nine, however, do not count as abyssite required by the goal tracking NPCs in each Abyssea area.

For a list of obtainable abyssite, please refer to Abyssites.

Official Abyssea Site and Play Guide

EU

Info Site: http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/addon/index.html

Guide: http://www.playonline.com/pcd/verup/ff11eu/detail/5589/detail.html

US

Info Site: http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/addon/index.html

Guide: http://www.playonline.com/pcd/verup/ff11us/detail/5578/detail.html