Cut Content of FFXIV

So maybe to get away from the usual common topics on the forums, how about we talk about the content we lost from 2.0 to current patch?

I've read here and there Stormblood was supposed to have another tribe to quest around with in the first Ala Mhigo Zone (I think).

(can talk about 1.0 if you all want though) - I did watch something how there was like this underground version of Limsa Lominsa, I don't remember if the city had a name but it did have a flag.

Well the expansions changed the formula a lot. In ARR the areas were smaller and split into pieces and we had 3 regions, so they had a lot more beast tribes to explain. We also had more dungeons due to the sheer amount of levels. Thus, from ARR to Heavensward we lost things. Less levels, less dungeons, less beast tribes. Sidequest dungeons continued to reduce over time.

But everything other than that remained the same or increased, except in Shadowbringers where they seemed to cut Hildibrand (despite explaining how they get to The First in Stormblood) and an Ultimate and Allied tribe quest due to covid.

I am not aware of them skipping a tribe in Stormblood. There were 3 just like in Heavensward, including one in The Fringes.

Given their whole strict formula it's hard to say they cut things that were previously planned. But we could say they "intentionally didn't continue things", such as grand company ranks and dungeons or a deep dungeon in Shadowbringers.

I heard that Ala Mhigo and Sharlayan were going to be starting nations in ARR, but they were cut.

Two pieces of 1.0 content that I greatly enjoyed were Hamlet Defense and Skirmishes.

Hamlet Defense - https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Hamlet_Defense - essentially provided semi-perennial crafting/gathering/battle content in a on/off mode. 50 hours of prep where all classes could contribute to prepare for battle, and then the 25 hour defense itself where, again, all classes could contribute in fighting off the beast tribes. Very fun and social content where everyone could play how they wanted and still be valuable. Good times chasing high scores on that.

Skirmishes - https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Skirmish - were instanced island dungeons of sorts for Grand Companies to do as a group, where parties would face a randomised boss gauntlet and could be rewarded with unique weapons and armour for their efforts. Again, fun and unique.

Not sure where we lost that kind of creativity, especially surrounding the Grand Companies. They're an absolute shell of content, with both the whole GC thing legit not improved in 10 years, and Squadrons being a long lost relic of what is now duty support I suppose.

EDIT: Another fun tidbit from 1.0 days - Speedrunning raids actually provided additional loot drops and was incentivised by the devs. Darklight gear (yes the garbage tome gear from 2.0) was like top-tier gear in 1.0 and could only be gained from that. Raids were full on trash/boss/trash/boss type affairs and you could freely change classes in between pulls, making for some really crazy strats with solo heals, off-tanks, multiple black mage burns, and all sorts within a single run. Wild west.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kaliesto

I've read here and there Stormblood was supposed to have another tribe to quest around with in the first Ala Mhigo Zone (I think).

---

IIRC this wasn't a cut so much as a change of plans-they were initially going to have the rat people in the Peaks have tribal quests but did the Namazu instead due to the latter being popular among players.

Early on in ARR they mentioned plans about having Primals wander the world randomly as a rare spawn, and the FC that claimed & killed them would gain the ability to 1 time summon them in battle for massive damage. Quietly forgotten about.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wasselin

I heard that Ala Mhigo and Sharlayan were going to be starting nations in ARR, but they were cut.

---

I've heard that about Ishgard, and that Paladin would've started there in that scenario.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fayette

Standing around Gridania, I noticed little buildings above on the hills.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...llyhills01.jpg

I assumed that those are supposed to be apart of Lilly Hills (currently like the Wards entrance but goes nowhere.)

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...lsentrance.jpg

So I started looking at my map and I remembered also the little place behind the Lancers Guild that also has gates blocking the path.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...ridmap02-1.jpg

I wonder if these will be in the new Gridania come V2.0 and if not, will we ever get to know what the original plans for those areas were to be? I would love to zone into the Lilly Hills area and walk around houses and even look down upon my beloved tree city.

Just some thoughts from a person who has spent the last 4 days standing around Gridania waiting for the Urianger announcing NPC to pop ^^

---

I think they repurposed the name Lily Hills for the apartments, but I'm not sure if that's what it was always supposed to be.

I vaguely remember they used to mention some content where primals could be found free roaming the open world and FC’s could defeat them and use them as summons or something, maybe just before 2.0. It never came to fruition, though I guess Odin ‘kind-of’ has a similar thing going on (minus being fc specific content). Given how hunts are I imagine it would’ve been absolute chaos if implemented anyway lol

Note: someone else has already mentioned it above lol.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Turnintino

I've heard that about Ishgard, and that Paladin would've started there in that scenario.

---

Doubtful, 1.0 never planned to have jobs as we know them, only classes. PLD was always "intended" for Ul'dah after Yoshi-P took over the project, but it does make me curious how the jobs would've been distributed if 1.0 had all of its starting cities from the beginning.

If Trusts are supposed to be the logical extension of GC squadrons, we got scammed.

When you visit the Marauder guild in Limsa, there is another class symbol next to the dual Axe symbol. It looks like two pistols crossed. Not sure if this was a planned class/job that didn't make it to 2.0.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yeol

When you visit the Marauder guild in Limsa, there is another class symbol next to the dual Axe symbol. It looks like two pistols crossed. Not sure if this was a planned class/job that didn't make it to 2.0.

---

Musketeer if memory serves. It was another job that was dummied out in 1.0 since there wasn't enough dev time to implement it. It only exists in lore now.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mawlzy

If Trusts are supposed to be the logical extension of GC squadrons, we got scammed.

---

They once explained that the reason for the differences was:

• Squadrons are intended for you to "command" them, which is why they only do things when you order them to.
• Trusts act independently, doing mechanics themselves and using things like Limit Breaks themselves. This is because you are not their leader and do not command them. They are your friends or allies.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheDustyOne

Musketeer if memory serves. It was another job that was dummied out in 1.0 since there wasn't enough dev time to implement it. It only exists in lore now.

---

That's exactly right, it's Musketeer or MSK, one of several planned classes for 1.0 that were never implemented - my suspicion is it was never added due to how in 1.0 the battle system had an ammo slot that was a consumable resource, meaning every piece of ammunition was expended even with normal auto attacks, and it was expensive enough for ARC to make their arrows out of wood, MSK would have probably required even more expensive materials, and given 1.0's troubled development, little wonder it was set aside and never implemented, although even in ARR there are many MSK enemies in the game (a number you find in places like Pharos Sirius). Merlwyb also has a MSK variant as her special class.

MSK also was not alone in being a 'dummied out' class in 1.0 - there were a number of other legendary classes never implemneted, most notoriously, ACN, although that was redesigned from the ground up for ARR, it was nothing how it was originally planned to be in 1.0 by all accounts - evidentally it was meant to use a weird 'mechanical staff' as a weapon and set magical traps in battle, presumedly this was too complex to work out and so like MSK it too was abandoned and forgotten, until ARR when it's class icon and name were revived for ARR but rebuilt as as the psuedo magical pet class we know today.


Other legendary planned but dummied out classes for 1.0 were a fourth Disciple of the Land class called 'Shepherd' or 'SHP' for short, which even had a class guild in 1.0 Falcon's Nest, a rapier using Disciple of War class called 'Fencer' or 'FCR for short, and a mysterious (pun intended) Disciple of Magic called 'Mystic' that were both referred to in ability files but dummied out in 1.0, but what the later two were originally meant to be is a very good question).

Either way, I'm pretty confident whatever was made for these classes ended up being rolled into later Jobs post ARR (MSK undoutably served as the basis for MCH, FCR the melee side of RDM and MYS was probably meant to be something like AST), so alas these will never appear in FFXIV now (to say nothing of SHP being also long abandoned given that from I understand Yoshi already stated ages ago that no new Disciples of the Hand or Land are coming to the game, so that's the final nail in SHP's coffin).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

They once explained that the reason for the differences was:

• Squadrons are intended for you to "command" them, which is why they only do things when you order them to.
• Trusts act independently, doing mechanics themselves and using things like Limit Breaks themselves. This is because you are not their leader and do not command them. They are your friends or allies.

---

However solid the lore is, trusts are a PITA to level and give no real advantage over Duty Support other than bunging Y'shtola in a bikini.

The squadrons were fun.

The Diadem.

And I quote:

Quote:

---

This is a new type of content.

I believe you’ll understand by looking at the PPT, but this is a new type of field-like area. You’ll be exploring this area.

I believe players are crafting their airships with their free companies right now, but players will finally be able to explore other islands themselves using these airships. This content can be played with several parties simultaneously. There are several locations where players can land their airships on the island, so please shout out to find other nearby groups and group together to explore. Players won’t be fighting bosses on these islands, but will fight against a horde of level 80 and 90 monsters. Some of these islands will have stronger foes in the center of the island, so first you would want to gather all the parties together and then plan out a strategy. We’re also planning to have several difficulties available for these islands. Players not enlisted in a free company can also participate in this content through the airship landing located in Ishgard. However, free companies will have some advantages, such as being able to select the island they want to explore, while explorations from the airship landing will be selected randomly. We would like players to decide which method they would like to take depending on their goals.

Additionally, things like gathering nodes exist on these islands, so for example, players can use the party finder to invite guest members outside of their free company to enjoy the content, or go in with a battle class first to eliminate the enemies, and then collect the items by switching to a gatherer class. This content is unlike any of the previous FFXIV content. We would like to further expand on this content by adding additional islands to explore in future. This content has been created envisioning an older MMO type of feel.

Players will explore areas like the one shown here. You will be able to ride on your flying mounts in these areas, so please look forward to this. We’re also introducing new aetherial items at the same time. We’ll share more details on what type of items and equipment players will be able to obtain from these areas as we get closer to the patch release.

---

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...t-(11-06-2015)

And then we got Dino Island...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kaliesto

I did watch something how there was like this underground version of Limsa Lominsa, I don't remember if the city had a name but it did have a flag.

---

I’ve been playing since 1.0 beta and this is the first I’ve heard about an underground city other than Gelmorra. There were a few unfinished dungeons people have found and one of them was an underground pirate dungeon that had like 5 little crows nest houses bridged together if that’s what you’re referring to though. But I’m pretty sure the concept for that as well as the existing 1.0 dungeon of Shpoeshae (sp?) just got rolled into Sastasha.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Enkidoh

That's exactly right, it's Musketeer or MSK, one of several planned classes for 1.0 that were never implemented - my suspicion is it was never added due to how in 1.0 the battle system had an ammo slot that was a consumable resource

---

I’m not sure if ammo was a problem, but when I was in the beta the devs were telling us that musketeer was indeed coming out in the release version of 1.0. Then when it didn’t come out in the release, Tanaka said it was coming in a later patch. I think like most things in 1.0, it just kept slipping until it fell in the cracks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Enkidoh

ACN, although that was redesigned from the ground up for ARR, it was nothing how it was originally planned to be in 1.0 by all accounts - evidentally it was meant to use a weird 'mechanical staff' as a weapon and set magical traps in battle

---

1.0 Urianger, controlled by a GM was the 1.0 arcanist. I wish I had the foresight to record him but I watched the GM playing him attempt to fight a super high level mob and get wrecked. Fun fact: the mechanical arcanist staff still exists in the game - as the gun the Gnath use.


Some other things from 1.0 that never got carried over though were the Shpoeshae dungeon I mentioned before, the wildling storyline and NPC from Gridania MSQ, and what I miss most of all is the 1.0 version of the MRD quest and pirate ship. MRD had you actually become a pirate in a crew of two with Rostensthal (revived from 1.0 hell for the MCH quests). The pirate ship interior was also different and included a whole pirate bar with an elezen playing “Answers” on a lyre.

Squadrons were smarter than Trusts as they actually had abilities they could use and reacted differently to trash mobs and bosses, using AoE when relevant. Trusts may have an AoE in their loop of attacks they do, but mostly just single target everything down slowly.

As for content cut after the release of ARR, it's mostly just some steps from the slog that is the MSQ from 2.1 to 2.55 that involved you just running from one NPC to another.
Not so much cut, but things have been practically abandoned. Like Guildhests, which were (and still are) kind of like an extra tutorial... The hunting log for some extra XP... Chocobo companion, who is so abandoned that the chocobo skill trees have Accuracy as a stat, which stopped being a thing at Stormblood's release... And during ARR they experimented with WHM and BLM having shields, but I think Leviathan EX was the last thing to have those.