This month’s Letter from the Producer was broadcast this weekend, and it’s a biggie. Producer Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) sat down and delivered the biggest infodump yet on FFXIV’s next chapter.
The new patch will be called Under the Moonlight, and it’s coming in late May. Major content patches always come out on a Tuesday, so expect it either on the 22nd or the 29th. It will offer a continuation of the Doma saga that began in 4.2. You can bet, based on the patch art, that the question of Yotsuyu’s memory will be resolved — and there’s a good chance that her goofy-haired brother might let his mask slip in front of more than just the Warrior of Light this time.
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This is an odd-numbered patch (X.3), so only one dungeon will be released this time to make way for quality of life updates and other bits and pieces as is now the norm. But we’ll be making a second visit to Ivalice to make up to it, heading to the Pharos at Ridorana (pictured in the title image) for the next 24-man raid. There’s also another trial coming — but apparently it’s a secret what it is, meaning it won’t be a continuation of the Four Lords series.
Digging deeper
Deep dungeons are back! This is arguably the thing I’ve been most excited to see, and it’s sooner than I had expected; Yoshi-P said last November that the content was a way off as they’re doing something different with it this time, so I expected the next one to be introduced in 3.4 at the earliest.
So what does the successor to Palace of the Dead look like? Instead of returning to the ruins of Gelmorra beneath the Black Shroud, we’re going to Heaven-on-High, the seemingly-endless tower in the Ruby Sea. (Y’know, the one that looks like a bunch of jenga blocks stacked together.) A magitek ‘Grand Summoning’ mechanic will be introduced, presumably as a replacement for Pomanders.
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It’ll have fewer floors than PotD — 100 in total, compared to PotD’s 200. But on the flip side, it’s supposed to start getting harder at floor 30 as opposed to floor 100+, so getting to the good stuff will come a lot faster. I always found it hard to get people interested in PotD because it took a long time to get to the later levels where things got really exciting, so I’m hoping this’ll be much more accessible and we’ll see a much wider range of people taking on the challenge.
Appy days
The long-promised FFXIV companion app will make its debut with 4.3. (Seriously, this has been kicking around in various forms since A Realm Reborn). Players will be able to chat, access an event planner, and manage market board listings. Messing with the market board seems to require tokens that regenerate daily.
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There’s also a paid premium version that’ll afford players extra features, including additional saddlebag storage and the ability to hire another retainer and manage your retainers’ inventories. It’s not clear if they mean this will increase the limits on the number of retainers you can pay for through the mog station, or if by paying for the app you’ll receive another retainer as part of your subscription, though I expect it’s the latter. Either way, the free version should satisfy all but the most hardcore traders.
Balance changes
Dark Knight, Samurai and Astrologian will have their power adjusted. DRK and SAM are both jobs that have fallen by the wayside in mid- and high-level content, so at the very least expect Dark Knight to have more utility to bring it in line with other tanks, and for Samurai to do more damage to make it more appealing in spite of its lack of utility.
What’s less obvious is how Astrologian is expected to change; it doesn’t seem like it’s in particularly bad shape, and sees play at both high levels and casual groups. Given how much Warrior changed in 4.2 — and how it wasn’t obvious what the devs were going to do with the job until the update hit — who knows how it’ll turn out. It could be something on that scale… Or it could be minor potency and buff percentage changes for all three jobs. We’ll have to wait and see.
Odds and ends
There’s some other stuff, too, that doesn’t necessarily warrant a full runthrough by itself. Here’s a quick list:
- The Namazu will be getting a beast tribe of their own (hopefully without voice acting) focused on crafters and gatherers like the Moogles.
- Eureka will be expanded into an ice-aspected area; the level cap will likely be increased, too, while the team is looking at making soloing more viable.
- On the cosmetics front, If you’ve accidentally chucked something into the glamour dresser, you’ll be able to get it back out. Houses will also get guestbooks for visitors.
- For some reason, loot rules in 24-man raids will now be changed to Greed Only. Getting gear for alts will be slightly easier, but you’ll be rolling against everyone now.
- An eight-man raid roulette will be introduced (encompassing Coil, Alexander, and Omega), along with cross-realm linkshells.
Last but not least — the next Ultimate difficulty raid has been teased, and will go live in 4.31. We’ll be fighting the Ultima weapon, the last boss of 2.0. The only thing we know about the fight right now is that it’ll be shorter than Ultimate Coil (which was about 20 minutes all-in).
If you want to catch up with the broadcast, you can watch it on Twitch here. It’s in Japanese, but there’s a fair amount of English text on the screen. There’s also a pretty detailed chat at the end with Foxclon, the global community producer, who goes into detail about how the game is moderated and how bans are handed out. It’s interesting stuff, particularly as it comes after the recent Ungarmax exploit drama.
