The FFXI team has put out a press release regarding a new form of PvP combat that will be coming up in this months version update.

Ballista, the first form of Conflict, was designed with the Conquest in mind and pitted one nation's adventurers against another. However, it became apparent that dividing the teams by nation invariably resulted in an uneven spread of jobs, making it difficult to enjoy a casual match of Ballista.

It was then that Diorama Abdhaljs-Ghelsba was created in an effort to steer Ballista away from the Conquest and focus more on the competitive nature of the matches. This new style of Ballista made it possible for players to freely travel to a reserved area from Jeuno and adjust the rules and settings of the matches as they wished. This proved to be a popular pastime for many Ballista enthusiasts.

Brenner has been developed in a similar vein, with adjustable match settings and an exclusive area that can be reserved and accessed from Jeuno. (The Chains of Promathia expansion disc must be installed and registered in order to access this area.)

The following functions will be added to the reservation system in order to simplify the process of recruiting participants.

-Any block of time can be reserved up to 2 days in advance.
-By choosing the option "Recruiting Members," players who wish to participate in the match will receive a reservation item for the same time block from the NPC.

• The same change will be made to the reservation system for Diorama Abdhaljs-Ghelsba.

However, if the area were subject only to reservations, there would be cases where finding players to participate in a match could become a trial, as well as players who wish to participate but don't wish to be troubled by reservation procedures. To avoid these issues, there will be "Official Matches" held on a regular basis to encourage casual participation.

In the same manner as Diorama Abdhaljs-Ghelsba, the schedule for Brenner will be based on Earth time. As a result, there will be occasions when Brenner match times will overlap with those of official Ballista matches (held on Vana'diel time.) In this case, it was deemed more important to have a schedule that was easier to understand, but rest assured that all efforts will be made to avoid official match time overlaps between Brenner and Ballista.

In order to participate in Ballista, it is necessary to undergo the somewhat lengthy process of obtaining a Ballista License. Since participation in Brenner has no relation to allegiance or rank, there are no plans to implement a qualification quest.

Although there were some requests for a one-on-one-style match, it was decided that the real potential for interesting matches in FINAL FANTASY XI lies in group combat. To that end, Brenner matches follow the Ballista style of pitting one team against another.

Each side is provided with a like number of Flammen-Brenner (or flame burners), half of which are lit with Flamme (flame). Each Flammen-Brenner has a set number of HP, and must be destroyed before the Flamme within can be captured. The aim of the game is to protect your own Flamme while attempting to capture your opponents' Flamme and lighting all of your Flammen-Brenner.

There is no "Gate Breach" status in Brenner. Defeating opposing players is directly connected to scoring points in Ballista; however, Brenner has been designed with defensive and offensive elements so that battles between players will occur naturally.

Several elements from Ballista have been carried over into this new form of Conflict, such as temporary items, and the /sprint command. However, the overall flow of the game will be unique to Brenner.

In response to the favorable feedback from Ballista Royale and the chance to play in set teams, Brenner will also include a system that allows direct competition between linkshell groups.

There are no current plans to hold a linkshell tournament, but many functions that concern linkshell and other user events are under development.

Check out Brenner for yourself after the February version update!