Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XXX Update Thread

[Bayohne]

Glamour Equipment
The piggy-related equipment added in the next patch can be dyed.
As for the pose the character was using at the start of the broadcast...it's a secret!

[Bayohne]

User Interface Part I

Recommended Equipment Button
Pressing the recommended equipment button will equip players with the highest item level gear the player currently possesses. We would like the mentors to tell new players to utilize this button to equip the best equipment.

HUD Layout Save Feature
*Introduced with gameplay
Players will be able to store up to 4 HUD layouts. HUD layouts can be switched with a press of a button, and can also be switched via text command, so please combine it with gear set change macro to match that job. Furthermore, you will be able to copy over one HUD layout to another slot, to make fine adjustments.

Addition of the PlayStation 4 “Drawing Quality Setting”
With DirectX11 support, the floors in the game are displayed nicely with a polished/reflective look. We’ve added this same look to the PlayStation 4.

Addition of a partial matching search method for the market boards
*Introduced via gameplay.
While entering something into the partial matching search field, items that contain the characters you input will be displayed. In order to boost the search speed, we didn’t add support for the demand or number of items up on the market.

In order to avoid congestion between the servers, when searching, the data will be cached locally for a moment, and then it will search from there.

[Bayohne]

User Interface Part II

New Mentor icons
Players will be able to switch their mentor icon to the following mentor icons based on their specialty:
Mentor / Battle Mentor / Crafter & Gatherer / PvP Mentor

Preset Feature for PvP Actions
Until now, players needed to redistribute their PvP points every time they switched jobs. The new preset feature will store the PvP actions set on the job. This is similar to the gear set feature, and you can store up to 5 sets. However, unlike the gear set, the preset feature requires some time to switch the action sets. This was done to avoid exploits, so the system will check back with the server to update the information.

Customization of the Party List
We have received request from healers that they want to arrange the party list, so we made it possible to freely adjust the list.

Idling Camera Update
Idling camera can now be used while in combat. This was to answer requests where players wanted to take beautiful screenshots of their characters fighting from different angles. However, please be considerate when using this during party content.

Group Pose Update
We received request from the UI team where they want players to take more screenshots to enable players to make as many adjustments as possible, so we’ll implement an update the group pose feature.

New Battle-related Auto-Translate Terms
We have added new battle related words to the auto-translate feature. These can be used for raids and other battle content.

[Bayohne]

Anima Weapons
*Introduced via gameplay

You’ll be able to develop your weapons further by allocating points to each type of parameter. The cap for each parameter is 120. You’ll be using two different types of items to convert into a catalyst for allocating points. One conversion will yield 3 points. Sometimes if you are lucky you will be able to get a higher yield of points.

There will be various ways to earn the items needed for conversion, so find the avenue that best suits your playstyle.

The time efficiency if quite different for each method. However, though I can’t say very clearly, everything has been balanced in terms of spending gil and time. There will be much more variation.

Completing your Anima weapon will give your weapon a new look. Ultimately, it will attain a power on par with that of a weapon you put 3 grade V materia in, so it will definitely be a useful weapon.

Additionally, after investigating the logs of the conditions of everyone playing in relation to Anima weapons, we’ve found that the number of crystals compared to the number of people who have the “Unidentifiable” items is lower, so we will be easing the drop rates in Patch 3.3.

[Bayohne]

Special Guest Talk Session
We brought over the main scenario writer Natsuko Ishikawa as special guest for the show.

Prominent Questlines

• 2.0 Main Scenario (Coerthas Central Highlands)
• 3.2 Main Scenario
• The Binding Coil of Bahamut Series
• The Crystal Tower Series
• Rogue Quests
• Dark Knight Quests
• Alchemist Class Quests (Up to Level 50)
• Matoya's Cave Sidequests

[Bayohne]

Q: What exactly does a main scenario writer do?
A: Natsuko: I was actually called by this title for the first time during the QA. I work with Oda who is in charge of the lore to write the main scenario. Oda is in charge of Patch 3.3 main scenario quest.

Patch 3.3 main scenario
As you can infer from the patch title, Revenge of the Horde, this will be the conclusion of the Dragonsong War.

Yoshida: Not from dev. team’s point of view but from a player’s point of view, what would you want to happen to Estinien?

A: I would like Estinien to be saved.

[Bayohne]

The Warring Triad
To resolve the issues surrounding The Warring Triad, adventurers will be unable to avoid fighting against the Garlean empire. There are some parts where the focus is set on Regula Van Hydrus from the Garlean empire.

It’s not full blown battle content, but there will be some battle involved; however, this does not require any party, so players will be able to go through this anytime they want.

[Bayohne]

New beast tribe quests
Similar to the Ixal quests, these new quests will be crafting-focused quests. They will be quests that you can level from 50 to 60, and you’ll get the materials during the quests. If you’ve already reached level 60, you will be able to earn grade V materia. There will be story developments where a master who learned crafts from Ishgard talks about player memories.

[Bayohne]

Q: How freely can you write scenarios for FFXIV? Does it have to involve requests from other departments such as “please have this race in the story”, “make sure to have the players visit this specific area”?

A: It depends on the quest, but we cannot simply write anything that we want. It’s important to keep the overall experience in mind and ensure that the story is enjoyable. We received a request from the battle team where they wanted the adventurers to fight against themselves, so we wrote a scenario based on this request.

[Bayohne]

Q: What kind of things does Yoshida like to request?

A: Occasionally he will request that cutscenes be added.

Yoshida: After all the elements have been arranged I do a final check, but there are times when I want to make it even better so I make my requests.