ffxiv Newfound Futures: The Years Ahead for FFXIV

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Friday's Live Letter was roughly three and a half hours long, and the majority of it was discussing upcoming content and plans for the game. Check out a recap of all they had to say here!

On Friday, Live Letter LXVIII took place with the intention to give players an idea of what to look forward to for the future of the game. Primarily, Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida ("Yoshi P") wanted to alleviate fears that he would be leaving or the game would be completing its lifecycle in favor of something else.

"Final Fantasy XIV is my life's work," he began, "I wouldn't leave it unless it were extreme circumstances. Even if the President told me I had to leave, I would fight him on that decision."

If you missed the Live Letter, have no fear: Alhena and I will be posting lengthy recaps for you to read through at your leisure! This article will be focusing on "the next 10 years of Final Fantasy XIV" section. It's a doozie, so buckle up.

Newfound Futures: Enhancing the Game's Accessibility

Yoshi P stated that his current primary goal is focusing on 7.0, including the setup required in patches 6.1-6.5. The team wants the end result to be an even better RPG - alone or with friends. They were quick to admit that they want to sort of break out of the MMORPG category in favor of becoming an RPG that people are able to play together - an RPG that happens to also be an MMO.

"We see a lot on social media and conversations that there are these fans of the series who have played every Final Fantasy game except for Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV solely because they want a single player experience. It's a little frustrating. We want to convince them to give us a chance." Yoshi P stated as his reasoning behind the decision.

To better accommodate players who want a casual, single-player experience, the team will be expanding on the game's current Trust system. Currently, the Trust system allows you to enter a Shadowbringers or Endwalker dungeon with a party of NPCs that you have allied yourself with throughout the story. The end goal is to bring Trust compatibility to all Main Scenario dungeons, with various NPCs from your adventures able to join you.

A Realm Reborn dungeons will be getting the Trust system implemented into it as soon as Patch 6.1, with further improvements coming soon. It's worth noting that the Leveling Roulette and other Roulettes will still be available, but this decision is solely to enhance the experience for lone players.

Finally, in this same vein, Cape Westwind will no longer be a Trial to queue for, but will instead be an instanced Duty. The boss of the Trial, Rhitahtyn sas Arvina, is well known for being extremely difficult. (Kidding.) Ultima weapon will also be a single-player Duty to undertake at the end of the Praetorium.

Newfound Futures: Side Arcs and Beloved Characters

One announcement that may have seemed minor to some but significant to others, was the addition of sidequest content centered around two beloved characters; Hildibrand and Tataru. We received precious little information about these two questlines, but we can certainly speculate! (Minor Endwalker spoilers ahead!)

Tataru is the least combat-oriented member of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and often engages in newfound schemes to create a new business or make the Scions a bit of extra gil. Now that she's opened up a shop of her own in Old Sharlayan, her questline is likely to involve us assisting her in getting her business off the ground...or starting a newer one entirely!

Hildibrand is what I would refer to as FFXIV's "comedic relief" character. His questlines are over-the-top, his facial expressions are severely exaggerated, and he's a lovable oaf who's tomfoolery manages to draw us - and others - in unwittingly. Whatever arc these sidequests will follow, we can be certain it will be...gentlemanly.

Newfound Futures: Newfound Graphics

Final Fantasy XIV was originally created with the Playstation 3 in mind. As such, things such as environment, textures, and map size were downscaled to ensure that PS3 players would be able to continue to play with PC players. However, over time, the game has received a number of minor graphical updates here and there as the game expanded into the Playstation 4 and Playstation 5. Maps are larger, textures on gear are more defined, etc.

Now, however, the team has planned their "first" major graphical update to apply to the entire game. They call it the first, as updates have been minor and trickled in overtime rather than a single major update. The update will not be terribly soon; they have only been testing the new systems for roughly one month now, and Yoshi P announced that development would be ongoing until the next expansion after Endwalker.

"Repeat this before you go to bed," Yoshi P began with a chuckle. "The new graphics will NOT be comparable to current stand-alone titles," and stating that photorealism was not at all the goal. This alleviates some concerns for those with older machines or still playing on the Playstation 4. Their vision behind the update is to aim for "screen-wide aesthetic appeal suited to a multiplayer environment." While they confirmed that minimum operating specs would change, the team will try to accommodate as broad a range of hardware specs as possible.

They will not be converting each item in the game to the new graphical system. The goal is for higher resolution textures, improved material qualities, and better lighting and shadow effects. The team also expressed that animation and lighting system updates were planned, and that overall character appearance would be altered as little as possible to prevent players being unhappy with their character appearance.

Could this mean we're getting Labyrinthos Grapes in 4k?? You can check out a few examples of the graphical updates here in our article, in addition to a few of the outstanding memes from the presentation in an article by Alhena here.

Newfound Futures: The End of Endwalker

So all those are great updates and good to know, but what about the game itself? Yoshi P and his team announced that Endwalker's life cycle would persist through five major patches, and gave us an idea of what to look forward to with each patch; the most detail being given to patch 6.1 around the corner.

First off, and perhaps the most obvious, each patch will have significant updates to the Main Scenario quests! The story is poised to go in all kinds of directions from this point onward, and we aren't sure just how many familiar faces or new friends we'll see along the way.

Patch 6.1

Patch 6.1 will include the beginning of Myths of the Realm, the first of three Alliance Raids to be released during Endwalker and addressing the matter of the Twelve deities of Eorzea. What can we learn about them? If each wing has four bosses...are we going to be fighting the Twelve? Who knows!

Also in 6.1 will be a new PvP mode titled Crystalline Conflict, as the team is hoping to revive the PvP community of the game. No major details were given about this PvP mode, so stay tuned!

Additionally, 6.1 will be receiving new Arkasodara quests, Dragonsong's Reprise (Ultimate) in 6.11, Ultima's Bane (Unreal), The Trust system for A Realm Reborn, new hairstyles for Hrothgar, Custom Deliveries: Ameliance, a "Calling Card" style UI for more in-depth character details, and an expansion of glamour plates.

Finally, the next patch will include the new Ishgard housing zone, Empyreum. In the Q&A when asked if we would get housing zones themed around the new areas in Endwalker, Yoshi P slumped in his chair and groaned, saying, "Maybe one day, but just try living in Ishgard first."

Patch 6.2

Patch 6.2 had less details included, but still had major and exciting things to discuss. By patch 6.2, the Trust system will begin to be implemented into Heavensward Main Scenario dungeons.

6.2 will also launch a series of dungeons called "Criterion," intended to be more challenging content that increases and scales in difficulty as you progress. In October, popular MMO streamer Asmongold interviewed Yoshi P and asked if the team planned on including more difficult small-scale content rather than Savages or Extremes. Yoshi P answered that they had something in the works, and there would be an update soon. Criterion sounds like the update we've been waiting for regarding this question!

Finally, we know that 6.2 will be the much anticipated Island Sanctuary debut. Island Sanctuary has been advertised as "solo instanced content" in which Warriors of Light can take a break from all of the stress and battles of life. Many players have hoped for an area in which one can interact with mounts, minipets, and more. Speculative comparisons have been drawn to the small farm one runs in the World of Warcraft expansion Mists of Pandaria in which players tended crops and farm life. It's also possible that this will be content tuned with crafting and gathering classes in mind. The possibilities are endless!

Patch 6.3

By patch 6.3, all Heavensward Main Scenario dungeons will have the Trust system implemented into them, and the team will begin shifting Trust focus toward Stormblood dungeons. There will also be a significant update to the Island Sanctuary content, intending to keep it a current staple of the game.

The patch will also include a third Deep Dungeon in the game, similar to Palace of the Dead or Heaven-on-High. Shadowbringers did not include a Deep Dungeon, and it is unknown if in this new dungeon we will begin at level 71 or level 81. We also know little about the setting and theme of the dungeon, but I know I'm looking forward to it regardless!

Finally, 6.3 will include a 5th Ultimate fight. Ultimate fights are considered the hardest content in the game, with endgame content tuned to current player levels and gear.

Patches 6.4 and 6.5

As with previous patches, these two patches will implement the Trust system in all Stormblood Main Scenario dungeons. It will also include a new area for the Island Sanctuary, as well as the conclusions for the 8-man Pandaemonium raids, the 24-man Myths of the Realm raids, Faux Hollows, and more.

In addition, we will be getting a second and third Criterion dungeon in these patches, expanding on the content even more.

So what do you think? It's a lot of new, exciting content and keeping older content updated, giving players much more to do.

 

What are you most excited for in the coming patches? Let us know below!