The first major FF14 Dawntrail patch is almost here, as game director Naoki Yoshida confirms the FF14 7.1 release date in Live Letter 84. He’s joined as ever by community producer Toshio Murouchi, and the pair give us an in-game glimpse at everything coming with the next Final Fantasy 14 update. On the cards is a closer look at the new FF11 crossover Echoes of Vana’diel, the 24-player chaotic alliance raid, and a wealth of the rewards up for grabs.
The FF14 7.1 release date is Tuesday November 12. This was all but confirmed with the previous live letter, but Yoshida wanted to ensure that everything was 100% ready before confirming the first big post-Dawntrail content update for the MMORPG. The patch will bring a lot of new content to Final Fantasy 14, so before we get started in earnest the pair reveal the official trailer for FF14 patch 7.1, Crossroads.
FF14 patch 7.1 will continue to build on Dawntrail’s main storyline much as the studio has done for all expansions except Endwalker, with Yoshida estimating that the current arc should wrap up in patch 7.3. We’ll also be getting a “bright and straightforward” new allied society quest with the Pelupelu, which Yoshida has previously confirmed will be combat focused.
Then there’s the first part of FF11 alliance raid Echoes of Vana’diel, the extreme version of the final main story trial of Dawntrail, and the first Dawntrail unreal trial, a revitalization of Stormblood’s showdown with Byakko, The Jade Stoa. 7.0’s New Game Plus support will land, along with additional duty support for Halitali and the updated Hall of the Novice training mode to help newcomers learn some of the most common fight mechanics. The new Eden-themed ultimate, Futures Rewritten (Ultimate), will arrive with patch 7.11 on Tuesday November 26.
There are also custom deliveries for Shaaloani’s resident female Hrothgar train driver Nitowikwe coming in patch 7.15 (Tuesday December 17), which will also introduce the start of the new Hildibrand questline, and additional Wachumeqimeqi quests for those who have finished all the others. Shortly after that, in patch 7.16 (Tuesday January 21), we’ll get the conclusion to the role quest series, which again will mandate that you’ve already finished all of the currently existing quest chains.
Yoshida says that the new main quest dungeon, Yuweyawata Field Station, will “not be as difficult as the extra dungeons we had, but I do feel like we did a bit of a new thing with the third boss.” He says the game’s duty support NPC programmer even asked him, ‘Are we really doing this?’” If you’ve spent much time with Dawntrail’s expert dungeons, you’ll know just what he’s talking about – and as scary as the first boss of The Strayborough Deadwalk can be, it’s final encounter is one of my favorite dungeon bosses of all time, so I’m certainly excited.
We then dive into a glimpse at the first part of the Echoes of Vana’diel alliance raid, Jeuno: The First Walk. Yoshida won’t give away how and why we’ve ended up in this zone, which he has previously stated is specifically part of FF14’s universe and not actually the world of FF11. “I think FF11 is the most beautiful game,” he adds, “it shouldn’t have been able to run on a PS2, but it did.” We also get an in-game look at Prishe, the FF11 character who will seemingly be leading us through our new adventure. You’ll also be able to visit the zone in a special event if you’re eager to take screenshots there.
The much-touted 24-man chaotic savage alliance raid will land one week after patch 7.15 (yes, that’s Christmas Eve, December 24). It doesn’t use the typical alliance raid party composition, however – you’ll need three parties featuring two tanks, two healers, and four DPS. Yoshida notes that premade alliance parties are allowed to undertake the duty with as few as 12 players, but remarks that “the difficulty is adjusted for 24 people,” so don’t expect to have an easy time if you attempt this.
Yoshida notes that this chaotic trial has “a lot of phases,” and teases the tile mechanic often referred to by the community as ‘PvP tiles’ because, as he explains, “if two people stand on the same tile you fall down. There will obviously be mechanics that split the groups,” he continues, “but just because it’s three parties that doesn’t mean that’s how you need to split – but I don’t want to say too much.” He does emphasize the importance of clear leadership, however.
As for rewards, you can expect two different mounts from the chaotic alliance raid – one transforming you into the Cloud of Darkness, and themed after those PvP tiles, which you rather cutely fall through when you dismount. Alongside this, expect ilevel 730 gear, minions, hairstyles, and tokens to trade for rewards if you don’t get lucky with drops. To encourage players to keep coming back and forming groups, there are two big bonus rewards on offer for chaotic alliance raids.
Firstly, you’ll get additional tokens proportional to the number of party members who are new to the fight, meaning you might get 24 first-time bonuses on your initial clear. Then, there will be randomly occurring bonus hours at different times across the data centers, during which you’ll get improved drop rates and extra tokens. “We are aware that this might mean there won’t be party finder groups outside these times, but we want to give this system a try,” Yoshida says.
We take a look at Futures Rewritten, the newest ultimate duty. This is a redesigned version of the Eden raid series from Shadowbringers, pursuing an alternate-timeline tale that brings the difficulty up to the highest tier found in FF14. “There won’t be any lions,” Yoshida laughs, but he does note that a balance change will prevent all passive limit break generation if any two players in your party share the same job, in an attempt to prevent players stacking multiple matching classes. He also gently reminds people not to use mods or zoom hacks.
Yoshida then shows off the new Hall of the Novice. This is designed to show off common mechanics that you’ll encounter in many fights, such as stack markers, spread AoEs, towers, gaze attacks, and different types of tankbusters. Yoshida says the team was careful to also explain naming conventions commonly used by the regional player bases, even when it differs from the official term. “We put a lot of effort into this,” he notes.
At the end of each of the three stages, you’ll have to take a graduation exam to show that you’ve taken the lessons on board. It’s a fantastic way for FF14 to help new players that I spoke with Yoshida about during Dawntrail’s media tour, so seeing it finally get an official implementation that looks exactly like what I’d wished for is great to see. There’s even a glossary with additional descriptions to help out further.
Two new mounts are shown off – the bulky Barreltender from the Tender Valley dungeon, and a set of digital wings that you’ll be able to earn by tackling the Interphos (Extreme) trial. Fashion enthusiasts will be pleased by news of gpose updates, with support added for fishing animations and new camera controls “to remain screen-oriented rather than rotate based on roll angle.”
A nice glamor update allows you to store specific gear combinations as a single slot in the glamour dresser, which can then be projected onto your items directly or added to glamour plates. You’ll need the entire set to store it as an outfit glamour, and initially support for this feature will be focused on level-one items designed specifically as glamour pieces, but it could potentially save you a lot of space in your dresser.
There’s some more quality-of life updates too, including a proper way to copy all of one character’s settings to another. The duty list can now show up to ten quests at once, and you can choose to enable a slight tilt on your character as you turn, much like with mounts. In accordance with additional graphical tweaks, you’ll also be able to claim another free Phial of Fantasia at some point during 7.1x – but you’ll have to claim it during this patch.
For PvP players, Yoshida reiterates the improved hit detection, and notes that actions that are most affected by this change such as the Machinist limit break are being “addressed on an individual basis.” We get a look at some of the improvements to the Cloud Nine and Red Sands maps for Crystalline Conflict, with the former making paths narrower and the latter offering more varied routes to get back into the fray.
Crystalline Conflict ranked matches will now be determined per region rather than for each data center individually, and only the best-performing character on a given service account will be listed in the rankings to account for players with several alternate characters. Yoshida teases that the team is “working on a matching system [for PvP] that involves every kind of content,” but says he can’t make an official announcement yet.
Rounding out the show are a look at the weapon design winners, which include a ladle for Paladins, a pufferfish axe for Warriors, a pink, flowery sword for Dark Knights, and a shark-styled blade for Gunbreakers. Monks get a pair of shark fists, Dragoons a giant feather, Ninjas a fork and knife, Samurais an umbrella, Bards a branch bow featuring a friendly Nutkin, Machinists a flower set, and Dancers some flaming glaives.
Rounding out the set are a stacked set of teacups for Black Mages, a Carbuncle tome for Summoners, a different umbrella and accompanying Drippy for Red Mages, a giant cake slice on a fork for White Mages, a Faerie book for Scholars, a snow globe for Astrologians, a spooky-looking Reaper scythe, a full cutlery set for Sage, a fork and knife for Viper, a festive wreath for Pictomancers, and a comedic flower set for the Blue Mages. “It seems like everyone was really hungry,” Yoshida remarks.
There are two new online store outfits based on War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. As previously noted, 7.1 will also introduce one final, much-requested addition – Scion voices to cheer you on while playing Mahjong in the Gold Saucer. Yoshida jokes, “What if we added some ultimate attacks to the Mahjong voices, like they used to have in game centers?”
That’s all for FF14 Live Letter 84 – you can watch the full thing below, but note that it’s in Japanese, although slides and other annotations are shown in English. Thanks as always to Miuna and iluna minori on the FF14 Discord for their hard work live translating the show – you can join here (Discord invite link opens in a new window).
If you need something to do in the meantime, why not try one of the best new MMOs? Or, if you’re still ticking off your Dawntrail checklist, make sure you haven’t missed your chance to claim a FF14 Dawntrail free Fantasia.
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