Still silent on Patch 7.45?

[NightHour]

7.45 should be within the next few weeks.

[ServerCollaps]

Delaying a patch just for that would be unfair to every non raider though.
By all means, you can wish for that but I fail to see how that would be healthy for the game in any way.

the more they delay .45, the less time we have to wait between .45 and 8.0. It evens out and doesnt really matter in the long run

[Doki]

Given we have to wait til 2027 for 8.0 here's what you have left to look forward to:

Criterion storybook thing most will finish in a day after doing all 12 paths. Handful of die-hards will bother with savage.

Final Jeuno 24 man (gear out your alt jobs but weekly locked YAWN)

Final DT story\ dungeon\ trial \ EX trial (with catch them all mount)

Upgrade items for tome accessories \ armor to 790 from nuts \ once a week 24 man tokens

Beastmaster (likely sharing BLU achievements or similar ones)

Ultimate

Final cosmic planet with the same 20 leves as the last 3 planets to finish upgrades on relic tools

Final upgrade for relic weapons

[Jeeqbit]

Given we have to wait til 2027 for 8.0 here's what you have left to look forward to

A developer confirmed there is a brand new, unnamed content in the works. A fresh content type they have never released before. For the .5 patch.

We'll also likely get every crossover event again to fill the gap such as FF11, FF15, FF16, Yo-kai, Fall Guys, and a few more moogle tomestone events.

Criterion storybook thing most will finish in a day after doing all 12 paths. Handful of die-hards will bother with savage.

There is going to be a middleground version this time. "Advanced" I think? And you can choose which boss you want to prog rather than having to get through the first 2 first.

[AlliciaCapulet]

the more they delay .45, the less time we have to wait between .45 and 8.0. It evens out and doesnt really matter in the long run

The more they delay patches, the more it feels like a lack of respect toward players’ time.

Let’s be honest: we’re still getting roughly the same amount of content that used to be delivered on a three-month cycle. The difference is that it’s now stretched over four- to five-month cycles instead. Many people seem fine with that. Personally, I’m not. And from what I’ve seen on both the forums and Reddit, I’m far from the only one who feels this way.

I understand that the development schedule won’t suddenly change because of complaints during this expansion. But the reality is that prolonged content gaps push players away. When there isn’t enough to do, people drift.

At this point, I’m even considering giving up my house again — and that’s honestly one of the only reasons I’m still subscribed. I want to give 8.0 and whatever is announced at Fan Festival a fair chance before deciding whether this game still has a future for me.

If they’re not going back to the old three-month cycle model, then I really hope they at least increase the amount of content within each patch. They’ve also mentioned that 8.0 should come relatively soon after the Japan Fan Festival. I’m expecting late November or early December at the latest.

A January 2027 release or later would not be acceptable in my opinion. If 7.5 releases in late April or early May — which seems likely — that would already mean about 19 weeks between major patches. From early May to late November would be roughly seven months with very limited new content. Any additional delay beyond that would be excessive.

The cycle was originally extended from three months to four. It’s now approaching five in practice. At some point, they need to show that they respect the player base’s time and long-term engagement.

[GraceHorizon]

I strongly agree that the devs ought to put out a patch release schedule further in advance and be more transparent about what is releasing when. But in a weird way I am grateful to them for their current practices. The long silent gap between 7.4 and 7.41, followed by the boring unpleasant paste grind for the relic weapons, finally got me to realize I wasn’t having fun playing FFXIV. I still log in a bit, but the past week I’ve been playing different games and having a lot more fun. Right now I would still miss my house if I unsubscribed, but that feeling may go away too…

[RedLolly]

Every live letter has hints that the devs have been doing some work "under the hood" that started with the graphical update and is supposed to allow the the housing internal expansions and the character creator updates we're supposed to get in 8.0.

Is that an excuse? Maybe.

But, I agree. One thing 8.0 desperately needs is a roadmap! I can tolerate the longer patch cycles myself, but Dawntrail is turning into something terribly back loaded and it's getting to be too little too late for many players.

[Valence]

There is going to be a middleground version this time. "Advanced" I think? And you can choose which boss you want to prog rather than having to get through the first 2 first.

I literally lost all interest in disgust when I heard they'd remove all the trash phases from criterion (advanced or savage). Those were literally the best thing they ever designed in the past decade of dungeons/pve and they're removing it.

Absolute cinema.

[Jeeqbit]

I literally lost all interest in disgust when I heard they'd remove all the trash phases from criterion (advanced or savage). Those were literally the best thing they ever designed in the past decade of dungeons/pve and they're removing it.

I sorta understand it for the Advanced version because of how you select which boss you want to fight, which makes you able to prog the boss you actually want to like is done with other fights in the game.

However, I didn't know they were removing trash from the Criterion version, since that one is still done in a set order. The trash felt good as well because it made you think about positioning and avoiding stuff for once.

[Reginald_Cain]

Instead of wishing they'd adhere to a strict release schedule of unpolished slop like WOW I'd rather square enix be run by someone who actually plays their games and knows their market. The fact they act like they can't hire more people reeks of greed from the higher ups and incompetence from middle management. The game is their cash cow and they don't invest hard enough into hiring people who can make side content like beast master come out sooner than 7.5 despite being teased in 6.x. If nobody wants to work for them i guarentee it's because like most game companies, they aren't getting paid enough to work for a company that will treat them like garbage and put them thru crunch and most talented workers would rather go for a software company that respects how hard they worked to earn their skills. Game developers are commonly treated with less respect and pay than those of similar skill sets in other industries.