Patch notes are up.

[Isaaru]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFlcqWQVVuU

pretend he's saying "PATCH 1.21!"

[Kiara]

Hi All,

1.21 sounds like a lot of really good changes so far!

Some highlights / thoughts:

• Can't wait to see the consummation of Yoshida-san's long term vision of the Combat System for Final Fantasy XIV. This patch marks the last major step for the revamp of the Combat System. It'll be interesting.

• Being able to trade in old NM Drops and Dzemael Drops for Company Seals is a nice step / change. I would've loved to see a better incentive for Dzemael though (e.g., updated Stats, or some type of Drop that informed the synthesis of a new, better item (like Abjurations, or the Dodore Wing > Doublet, or a long term system like SKY or Tulia)).
  
  But at least now we can go through Dzemael again to get Seals.

• Guild Mark Exchange = A bit sad they're getting rid of Guild Marks, but I'm glad they opened up the ability to exchange for the rarest Materia (all Materia actually), so that's a nice gesture.

• Job System & 6 New Quests Per Job - I'm glad to hear that we get 6 New Quests per Job, to fully unlock each Final Fantasy Job & its Weaponskills / Equipment. I know they said they're going to be easy, but hopefully they're interesting and engaging.

• It's unfortunate that we have to switch to the Class first, before being able to macro / change to the Job. If you were, say, Lancer, and wanted to switch to White Mage, you'd have to switch to Conjurer first, before using the /job command to switch to White Mage.

• Nice change on Tempered Will (and other Class Ability tweaks).

• The New Icons for Weaponskills to show positional bonuses is a nice touch to help accessibility. (showing off Front / Back / Side / On Block, etc.)

• SO Glad that Food (& Medicines) will now Display their Effects in the Item Description! Woo hoo! No more stupid, obscure Food System (ala XI and currently in this game) where no one knows what Food really does without referencing an outside FAQ or something.
  
  This should really help make Culinarians & Food something *interesting* and viable in the game for everyone.
  
  It should help kick start the Economy for Ingredients. Raw Meat or Vegetables or Herbs should have a lot more value instead of the "NPC or Throw It Away" mentality that hit most players.

• The new Eat and Drink Animations look cool. (^_^)

• No more arbitrary Slot / Jewelry Cost! It should help with accessibility for new and returning players (you can just equip what you can, without worrying about Slot Costs).

• I'm glad they fixed the bug with Cure & Cura: BUG FIX - "An issue wherein casting the spells Cure and Cura on targets with full HP would incur enmity."

• HQ now affects (positively) Bonus Stats, so that should make HQ Equipment much more valuable.

• The Return of the Final Fantasy XI's famous Weaponskills and 2 Hour Abilities and Classic Final Fantasy Attacks! So glad to see names like Dragon Kick, Hundred Fists, Holy(!), Benediction, Mighty Strikes, ESUNA! , Flare, Freeze, Burst!

• Glad to see the Job Specific Armor appear in the list of new items... hopefully the other L50 Equipment (like Darklight stuff) doesn't overshadow / overpower the JSE we're getting.

Overall, it sounds like a wonderful patch! Hopefully from this point forward it's more content, faster.

Can't wait!

[Firon]

You guys see that pic on the patch notes is that a huge ghost the blm is casting on?

[Teknoman]

Well...the notes did say several new enemies, and there have to be Job quest NMs... Or it could be something else :P