On March 4, 2022 at noon, we had an appointment with Naoki Yoshida and Toshio Murouchi for the 69th LiveLetter of Final Fantasy XIV. Barely two weeks apart from the previous letter from the producer, this time it was the opportunity to come to the introduction of patch 6.1.
The LiveLetter opened with ease with a greeting from the director and his co-producer – and manager – the opportunity for them to “breathe” and realize that this is their very first “normal” LiveLetter since Endwalker and the announcements that had preceded its release.
The 69th live letter was therefore devoted to the first part concerning the 6.1 update, which our comrades are planning its release date in mid-April 2022. A second LiveLetter focusing on this patch will arrive soon, no date has been given but we can estimate it at the end of March or the beginning of April. As we have already known for a long time, patch 6.0 ended the first story arc of Final Fantasy XIV : the second arc will then begin with the 6.1 update. On this occasion and for this homecoming for our Warrior of Light, the developers have naturally and simply named this patch « Newfound Adventure » (literally translate from English “New Adventure”, and from Japanese “Arata na Bouken”).
A feeling and impression further underlined by the excellent promotional image of the 6.1 update, signed by Yusuke Mogiand going so far as to take over the font d’A Realm Reborn to mark our new beginning.
The new contents of patch 6.1
The main addition will of course be the new epic quests, which will serve as an introduction to the new story arc of Final Fantasy XIV. Of course, to illustrate these words and introduce us to the rest of the additions, we were treated to a slew of images.
- New epic quests. A new epic dungeon will be added for the occasion but no image or name has been given because it would be too big a spoiler of the adventure.
- Added side quests, Tataru’s Great Efforts will actually be called “Tarufacture”.
- Added side quests for Hildibrand, Gentleman Detective. (Patch 6.15)
- Added side quests focusing on Omega, New Adventure. (Patch 6.1X) Unlock requirements will require completing Omega Raids on Stormblood as well as completing the 6.0 epic.
- New tribal quests for combat jobs: Arkasodaras. (Patch 6.15)
- Added a new Challenge: the Final Response (Extreme).
- New Surreal Mode Challenge: The Scourge of Ultima.
- New and first alliance raid: the Eorzean Myth.
- Added Adjuration to content d’A Realm Reborn. (Only what includes patch 2.0)
- New Fatal Mode Raid: Dragonsong War. (Patch 6.11) The fight promises to be “different” from the previous ones in that it is about “Mr Ozma” (Masaki Nakagawa) who was leading the project.
- Job adjustments: details for the next LiveLetter.
- New PvP mode: Crystalline Conflict. The new PvP related rewards system will also be introduced.
- New special orders from Ameliance. (Patch 6.15)
- Opening of the residential area of Empyree.
- Added Calling Cards. This point will be developed in the next LiveLetter.
- Addition of the Compendium, the “glossary” of FFXIV that will be unlocked with patch 6.1. Not everything will be unlocked immediately.
- Added inter-data center travel. (Patch 6.18)
- New quests including story from patch 6.0, will be added to New Game+ mode.
- A “Fitting Room” will be introduced to try on Mog Station outfits.
- New hairstyles for Hrothgar.
- Added mirage boards.
- New idle animations for umbrellas.
- Added “checkmarks” to items used to obtain mounts, pets, and more that we already own.
- Improved Auction House search for items to obtain mounts, pets and more.
- And of course, new mounts, new pets, emotes, etc.
Overhaul of the Conjuration system
As it had been announced during the previous LiveLetter, the game will gradually be opened up to both solo and multiplayer players. 6.1 will mark the beginning of these changes by tackling content from the 2.0 epic.A Realm Reborn. Of course, at present, the system is called Adjuration while it has two “subtleties”: the game in “epic” mode and the game with alter-egos.
In order to differentiate the two, the developers decided to rename this system to adopt the term of “Reinforcements” when you want to complete a dungeon in the game in epic mode. The mode Adjuration will keep its name when it comes to doing dungeons with alter-egos.
Naoki Yoshida also reminded us that content with eight players and more (24-player alliance raids) is too big a content to work on for the moment to introduce this system. Eight-player Challenges (maybe Raids, who knows?) will hopefully be worked on for Update 7.0. However, alliance raids will never be affected by this game mode.
Here is the list, in summary, of the contents concerned for the update of the Reinforcements and Conjuration system, on patch 6.1:
- Sastasha, Tam-Tara Hypogeum, Copperbell Mines, Ember Crater (Ifrit), Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak, Haukke Manor, Brayflox Bivouac, Navel (Titan), Vigil of Peter, Hurloeil (Garuda), Castrum Meridianum, the Praetorium, the Porta Decumana.
Come on, we know that if you’re a connoisseur of Final Fantasy XIV, you’ve blocked on the latest content. Indeed, it had been mentioned in the previous LL, but the Praetorium dungeon will undergo a major overhaul.
- The Praetorium will become a four-player dungeon that will end after our fight against Gaius.
- The fight against Ultima will then become a four-player challenge: the Porta Decumana.
- Finally, the ultimate battle against Lahabrea will become an instanced solo fight from the epic.
As a result, the epic roulette wheel will undergo a change as the Porta Decumana will be added to this daily roulette wheel. The Castrum Meridianum will also become a four-player dungeon. The rewards for the roulette will then be adjusted accordingly as the contents of the roulette promise to be much shorter to do.
Finally, to also accompany the changes planned in the game (graphic update), as well as this update of the Conjuration, some dungeons will undergo some modifications. We knew that Toto-Rak in particular will see its viscous ground modified at the end, we have also just learned, for example, that the addition of a teleporter will be brought to Haukke Manor after the second boss. To quote Naoki Yoshida, the latter recalls that until now players used the Repatriation spell to return to the start of the dungeon, but that it was not instinctive for a new player to do so if they were not told so. Hence this decision.
The journey between data centers
Another very big novelty that players have been waiting for impatiently: travel between the game’s various data centers. At the time, the separation of the Chaos datacenter to form that of Light had been a crushing blow since it had caused comrades and friends to have to separate. A decision yet necessary since the population of the game was already beginning to grow at that time with the imminent arrival of Shadowbringers.
Now made possible, inter-datacenter travel will be introduced normally with patch 6.18. However, this system also has its limitations, starting with the impossibility of using means of communication such as your Free Company chat, Inter-World Linkshells as well as PvP chat if you are part of a PvP team. .
As a reminder, this trip will be limited by the “physical” conditions of the datacenters. That is to say, in simple terms, you will be limited to your own continent. For us Europeans, we will therefore be restricted to having to travel between Chaos and Light, the two data centers of Europe.
If travel prevents the use of Inter-World Linkshells, be aware that Naoki Yoshida mentioned that they plan to change this for patch 6.2. Namely, that if you come from Chaos for example, you can go to Light and join a CWLS (Cross-World Linkshell for the English term) of Light. However, if you return to Chaos afterwards, the data coming from Light’s CWLS will not be updated and the chat on this Linkshell will not work. You will need to be on the right datacenter if you want to communicate or update your friends’ connection data.
Naoki Yoshida also tells us that once the DC wanted for the trip is selected from the character selection screen, we will be brought back to the title screen of the game automatically. If by any chance, the data center in question is congested, we will not be able to cancel the travel request since it will be an ongoing request. The process may therefore take up to 30 minutes depending on the state of the data center and the servers.
Latest information
Before ending this interview with the two producers, some last information has been provided to us, the main one concerning the players from Japan. Indeed, this was part of the roadmap announced by Naoki Yoshida shortly after the release ofEndwalker : the expansion of the Japanese region.
- As you have understood, a new data center will soon see the light of day on the Japanese side, going from three to four, and bearing the name of « Meteor ». For this, they will move some servers from other Japanese datacenters to form the new one. They plan the implementation of Meteor for July 2022. The other regions of the world have not been forgotten, but in particular the shortage of materials and conductors prevent progress on this point as they would like.
- The Fête des Demoiselles, a seasonal event of FFXIVwill be back on March 14 until March 31, 2022. We will have more details on March 7 on the Lodestone.
- At last, Naoki Yoshida took the opportunity to launch an appeal for the recruitment campaign launched by Square Enix. Indeed, they are actively looking for French and German translators, whether on contract or freelance. Feel free to apply if you are interested, more details are provided on the Lodestone.
And it is on this note that the 69th LiveLetter ended! As stated at the beginning of the article, we don’t yet have a date or appointment set for the 70th letter live, but it should arrive around the end of March or the beginning of April. Stay tuned and see you soon for new information regarding Final Fantasy XIV !