Patch 3.56 is almost here — and so the end of Heavensward is in sight. The patch, which will go live on Tuesday March 28, brings the 3.0 main scenario to a close. Per the site:
“The Griffin has played his final hand. By harnessing the wrath and despair of his dying countrymen did he give form to a new divinity; by the power of Nidhogg's eyes and his own mortal demise did he give it life. Only through the swift and desperate action of an Archon was the primal sealed away, but even now this incarnation of vengeance strains to escape its prison of light...”
Translated: Ilberd’s still a pain in the ass, and now some kind of Rhalgr primal is going to let loose and you’re going to chase it all the way to Ala Mhigo. But we’ve got more info than just that! For starters, we know that the story quests will introduce Gosetsu, who you might recognise from the Stormblood trailer.
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The pre-release screenshots show a lot of Yugiri. So we can assume, then, that she and Gosetsu will probably give us a good idea of what else is going on in the east beyond the Garlean occupation. Everything up until now in the story has been setting up Ala Mhigo as the central destination of the next expansion, but we haven’t really heard much about Doma despite it taking up pretty much half of the trailer.
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Yoshida’s also gone on record to say that we’ll find out who the mysterious Lady in Red is, too. Is it Yda? Yda’s sister? Or just Alphinaud after a Fantasia? The debate will be settled next week.
Other nice changes include the standard round of Savage nerfs. I said before that there’s never been a better time to try raiding, but things just got better: The loot lockout is gone, you no longer have to progress through each turn or risk missing out on earlier loot, and there’s a 10% echo applied to all groups. (If you want the challenge back, then don’t forget that you can click the echo off. Just make sure you all do it. No cheating!)
You can also reasonably expect that Mhachi coins will be exchangeable for Gobdip (to upgrade Shire weapons) with the patch. There would be no reason to restrict it with the nerfs to Savage, and it was stated months ago that we’d be able purchase the upgrade reagent with 3.5 part two, and this is (seemingly) it.
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Don’t forget that this is a minor patch, so we won’t get patch notes until downtime on Tuesday. Check the Lodestone for when downtime will come to your region in your region.
Yoshi’s new interviews: Paladin will get buffed, Kugane will be seamless.
Two new interviews with producer Naoki Yoshida were published yesterday, one from USGamer and another from Dualshockers. The Dualshockers interview is especially good, and it’s worth reading if you’re hungry for Stormblood info.
Here’s some stuff worth knowing: The team is happy with the Anima Weapon system (gradually upgrading one piece of gear) and they’re looking towards doing something similar in Stormblood. In terms of the next job they’ll introduce, the team is considering things that are entirely new to the franchise rather than bringing in a staple the way they did with Dragoon.
Kugane, the central settlement in Doma from the Stormblood trailer, will be one of the first fully seamless areas and is designed to be climbable, with the aim that you’ll be able to run around rooftops like a ninja. The storyline will be longer than Heavensward’s, at least in terms of voice acting, and Paladins are set to get a buff (to their magic defense, and maybe more) in order to make them a more robust tanking class.
Tanks and healers in general will have some more incentives to keep playing their classes (I assume similar to the current tank mounts), too, which should ease queues as floods of people make Red Mages and Samurai when the expansion is released. The team’s come to the conclusion that people that want to play support classes will and the ones who don’t want to won’t, so they’re not too fussed about forcing people to switch roles or introducing new classes for the sake of it. DPS your hearts out, then — and come June you can enjoy some extra goodies if you’re happy to take a take some hits or heal.
