Japanese outlet Famitsu recently conducted an interview with Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida. This substantial interview contains some teasers of what the team has planned for the upcoming Patch 7.2 of the game, ahead of the Producer Live Letter set to air tomorrow, March 14, at 3:00 a.m. PST.
We’ve compiled some of the interesting tidbits, and translated them below:
New Deep Dungeon Planned for Patch 7.3
In the segment dedicated to the new Field Exploration mode, the interviewer talks about what are the team’s plans to expand the content as time goes on, and Yoshi-P teases about a new Deep Dungeon that will be coming in Patch 7.3. For those unaware, Deep Dungeons are dungeons where each floor is randomly generated. Examples include Palace of the Dead, Heaven on High and Eureka Orthos.
Interviewer: Do you plan on expanding [Occult Crescent] more in future patches?
Yoshida: We’re planning to focus on other content in patch 7.3, such as the latest Deep Dungeon, so the next update [for Occult Crescent] is scheduled for patch 7.4X. Then, with patch 7.5, we hope to deliver an update with the same volume as patch 7.2. We are still discussing the details, but we think it will be even broader in terms of strategy.
Yoshi-P Comments on Content Implementation
Interviewer: We are expecting that not all content will not be implemented all at once in Patch 7.2, but what will the implementation process be like?
Yoshida: You can safely assume that major content will be implemented approximately every month or so after Patch 7.2 is released. The new main scenario story quests and the Cruiserweight Tier of the Arcadion will be added on that day. After that, the new Cruiserweight Savage tier releases a week after. New Allagan Tomestones of Mathematics will also be added in Patch 7.2, meaning you can already start preparing your gear.
Because we want players to enjoy the regular content when the major even patch arrives, the next content will be implemented about a month later, and about a month after that, another major content will be implemented.
Translator’s Note: He is more than likely referring to the new Occult Crescent and Cosmic Exploration modes. However, we will need to wait until tomorrow’s Live Letter to know the official implementation schedule.
New Gear Sets to be Added
Yoshi-P also talks about the addition of the new craftable gear sets that will be added in the next patch for Final Fantasy XIV. According to him, the development team plans to stick to a formula where players will be able to prepare themselves a week in advance before the new Savage tiers release.
Interviewer: Will the implementation of patch 7.2 be followed slightly by the implementation of Savages, similar to how it was in the past with patches 6.2 and 6.4?
Yoshida: […] We’ve received a lot of requests from players who want to complete the main quests and raids on normal difficulty and Extreme before moving on to Savages. We have also analyzed everyone’s play data, and decided that the [new equipment sets] can be produced not at the same time as the release of a new Savage tier, but earlier, allowing you to use the week as a sort of preparation period. In short, the new equipment will be coming on the day of release, and the new Savage tier will unlock a week later.
Interviewer: So you can enjoy the story and Extremes, while still preparing yourself for the new Savage Tier?
Yoshida: Yes. That’s how we’re planning to do it. We plan to continue with this policy for future 8-player Raids.
New Jogging Function and Raid Planner
The raid planner and colored chat bubble functions that were previously teased were also talked about. While he didn’t elaborate on the chat bubble function, Yoshi-P commented that the whiteboard raid planner is planned to be implemented in Patch 7.3.
Interviewer: What is the progress on the previously announced whiteboard and chat bubble functions?
Yoshida: We originally planned to release a basic version of the whiteboard function in patch 7.2, but we decided that the functionality was halfway through, so we have set patch 7.3 as the release target. I think the basic version has enough features to be implemented in a game, but if you are playing on a PC and you are using Discord or something like that, it’s still half-baked even when you compare it to that.
The console version doesn’t necessarily offer those features, so of course there is demand for them, but we want to deliver them in a way that is unique to Final Fantasy XIV. General whiteboard apps are designed to be used for a variety of purposes, but we want to make sure that what we implement in the game is clearly useful for discussions in-game.
Lastly, in the final question shared with the interviewer, Yoshi-P talked about how sprinting be adjusted in terms of effect duration and recast. Here’s what he had to say:
Yoshida: Due to conflicts with other contents, it is difficult to make sprinting permanent, but we plan to add a new feature where if you use Sprint in a safety area, you will be given a new status called “Jog” when the effect wears off [after 20 seconds]. The speed boost of Jog is slightly lesser, but you are capable of moving faster than regular walking.
You can also now ride a mount even while you’re running, which has been a personal dream of mine for many years. At first, I think people will have a hard time getting used to it and will just stop out of habit (laughs). We hope to introduce more concrete details in tomorrow’s Live Letter, so look forward to it!
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is available now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Patch 7.2 is set to release in late March, with the official release date being revealed tomorrow at the Producer Live Letter.
