Lord of Verminion

Lord of Verminion is a strategy-based minigame from Final Fantasy XIV added with Patch 3.1. A new attraction to the Manderville Gold Saucer, the minigame involves a player engaging an opponent using summoned minions. The objective is to have one's minions destroy "arcana stones" placed on the battlefield. Players can participate in matches against other players or the CPU.
Stats and ability types vary from minion to minion, making it possible to bring together different special actions for diverse battle strategies. The game is conducted in real-time, which means the player will need to plan their minions' positions during combat.
==Mechanics==
===Minion abilities===
Each minion has its own stats and special action.
===Minion types===
Minions are separated into four types: monster, critter, poppet, and gadget. Three types will fight at either an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the nature of their opponent. The strength and weakness affinities for monster, critter, and poppet are as follows:
*Monsters are strong against critters.
*Critters are strong against poppets.
*Poppets are strong against monsters.
*Gadgets are neither strong nor weak against any type.
===Minion cost===
Each minion has a summoning "cost" affecting which minions the player can summon to the battlefield, and the player cannot summon minions who exceed the set total cost. Cost also affects how much time it will take to summon the next minion. For instance, when a player summons a minion with a high cost value, it will take longer to summon the next minion.
===Structures===
Both players have four types of structures on the playing field: arcana stones, gates, shields, and search eyes. Each structure plays a particular role. All structures except for arcana stones can only be temporarily destroyed. Their various functions will reactivate at full strength after a certain amount of time has passed.
====Arcana stones====
Each player have three of these immobile crystals on the playing field. Shattering all of the opponent's arcana stones claims victory. If a winner is not decided within the time limit, the player with the most remaining arcana stones wins.
====Gates====
Gates are used to summon minions. Returning minions to a gate area will restore their HP. Minions can still be summoned from a destroyed gate, but they will be unable to exit the gate area. Conversely, minions outside a destroyed gate will be unable to enter.
====Shields====
This structure adds defensive strength to the arcana stones. Destroying the enemy shield makes the opponent's arcana stones more easily shattered.
====Search eyes====
This structure reveals the opponent's minions. If the search eye is destroyed, the player will only be able to see enemy units that are near their own minions.
===Rank points===
A player's relative experience is represented by rank points, which are accumulated by challenging other players. Players close in rank are more likely to be matched when queuing to play.
===Tournament===
Players can sign up to participate in tournaments for a chance to win large amounts of MGP.
== Development ==
Lord of Verminion was first mentioned in a Developer Blog entry posted on April 1, 2015. Despite being posted on April Fools' Day, the concept was later confirmed to be in development for Patch 3.1 during the Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XXIV.
==Etymology==
Lord of Verminion is a combination of "Vermin" and "Minion", the title a pun of another Square Enix game series called Lord of Vermilion.
==References==
Category:Minigames in Final Fantasy XIV
Category:Duties in Final Fantasy XIV