Letter From the Producer Live Part LXXIX - 24 September 2023 - Summary and Discussion

[Iscah]

Summary is now complete.

My source is the Reddit community's Discord #translations-and-liveletters channel:
https://discord.com/channels/1004639...58839005741056

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Patch 6.5 release date is 3 October 2023

There will be a 24-hour maintenance for this.

Patch note reading (JP audio only) will be on 2 October at 4am PDT / 11am GMT / 10pm AEDT.


Schedule of Fan Fests and patch releases

• 3 October - Patch 6.5
• 21-22 October - EU Fan Fest
• Late October - Patch 6.51
• 7-8 January - JP Fan Fest
• Mid January - Patch 6.55

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Patch 6.5 contains:

• Dungeon: The Lunar Subterrane
• Trial: The Abyssal Fracture
• Myths of the Realm 3: Thaleia
• Unreal Trial: The Singularity Reactor (Thordan), hoping for it to be "1.5th savage floor difficulty according to the Reddit translation
• Variant/Criterion dungeon: Aloalo Island
• Duty support for post-Stormblood MSQ dungeons (Skalla, The Burn, The Ghimlyt Dark), marking the completion of adding support to all MSQ dungeons.
• Job adjustments (PvE/PvP)
• PvP updates; Series Five begins
• Crystalline Conflict update
• Island Sanctuary update
• Custom Deliveries: Magrat
• Ability for consecutive aetherial reduction of collectables
• Green dot indicators on newly logged fish in the Fish Guide
• Ability to store optional items (ie. Mog Station purchases) in the armoire
• Option to sort teleport destinations by expansion instead of region
• New reward for collecting all trial mounts
• Level-based item level restrictions introduced for alliance raid roulette, and EXP and tomestone rewards for each raid adjusted according to the difficulty and timre required for completion.

Patch 6.51 contains:

• Splendorous Tools
• New Crystalline Conflict arena: The Red Sands

Patch 6.55 contains:

• Tataru's Grand Endeavour
• Tribal alliance (capstone) quests
• Hildibrand
• Manderville weapons

Patch "6.5x" contains:

• Fall Guys collaboration event at the Gold Saucer; date to be announced at the next Fan Fest.

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Island Sanctuary updates

• New ranks and visions
• New gathering area in the wilds
• New crops, crafts, animals, structures "and more"
• Felicitous Favors system

Screenshot shows a Morbol on the island - "yes it's an animal, not a plant"


Crystalline Conflict update

• Minimap and UI adjustments
• New arena: The Red Sands (releases in patch 6.51)
• New line on the field and UI marking the "comeback point" for the losing team (I guess for overtime?)
• Countdown to overtime displayed
• Progress gauge improved
• Timer during overtime for team to stay on the crystal
• Some indicators now coloured to indicate ally/enemy (for all PVP types) - examples shown are DRG jump and MCH turret

New arena looks Ahm Araeng-ish. Map gimmicks are a healing "oasis" area, "heat wave" hazard (not explained but I'm guessing it's a take damage while moving thing) and a "monster nest".


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Planned improvements to server structure (not directly related to 6.5) - direct copy from slide, image version below

In the interest of expanding our server infrastructure options in the future, the use of cloud data centers is under consideration.

A North American cloud data center will be temporarily implemented for the purposes of a public stress test, to be held during the 6.5x patch series. (The Data Center selection screen will display the cloud DC as an option upon 6.5's release, and it will be accessible once the test commences.)

Further details regarding the cloud data center stress test will be revealed at a later date on the Lodestone.

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Misc announcements

KFC x FFXIV collab is Japan-only and rewards an in-game "Eat Chicken" emote.

The Tabletop RPG starter set releases in May 2024.

Pre-orders are open for a live 10th anniversary event in Japan.

[Iscah]

Gear reveals!

PvP rewards - a likely series reward and new trophy crystal gear (unique designs)

Looks like a series reward:


Trophy crystal gear:

Raid gear

Tank


Ranged


Scouting


Caster

Glamours

Presumably the crafted set





"Might be related to Island Sanctuary"


Kappa suit - "a wish from Sakaguchi-san"

[Iscah]

Housing items

Indoor items - Elpis flower rug, clock-window, new fireplace style, new loft?, koporkkur bonsai, crystals, some kind of small bookshelf stand?

Garden items - new gazebo style, stairs for accessing your roof, Garlean magitek armour parking

[Iscah]

Mounts and minions

Mount featuring "a new fairy that will appear in some sort of content in 6.5x, no relation to other fairies" (still no simple wings)

Some kind of floating head thing

Construction mammet on holiday

Lunatender piggyback

Another motorbike that Lalafells can't ride properly

UFO

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Im suprised....nobody has complained about no English Translator...yet

[LittleImp]

Putting the increased rewards into the SAVAGE mode of criterion is a huge mistake imo. They should have just thrown twine/coatings into regular Criterion shop to entice more midcore/casual players to push themselves and complete it. Savage is just too far out of reach for most players.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Putting the increased rewards into the SAVAGE mode of criterion is a huge mistake imo. They should have just thrown twine/coatings into regular Criterion shop to entice more midcore/casual players to push themselves and complete it. Savage is just too far out of reach for most players.

Well, people complained about no challenge or rewards to make you want to play the content....so...there you go!

[Supersnow845]

Well, people complained about no challenge or rewards to make you want to play the content....so...there you go!

Nobody is going to do the savage version when the regular criterion offers zero rewards because you have a block half way through the progression of the difficulty

Plus there is just the general sentiment that nobody really wants the savage version, the savages version is basically a really boring 4 person ultimate, the savage version should be the current normal version and the normal version should be dropped to like the difficulty of the Zadnor duels

[Noumenon]

Well, people complained about no challenge or rewards to make you want to play the content....so...there you go!

"can people please remember to feed the dog"

"well, people complained about the dog not being fed... so... i put eggs and broccoli in its bowl"

"..."

Well Done!

the savage version should be the current normal version

You are insane, the current normal Criterion difficulty is already below the Mariana trench.

[Raikai]

Well, people complained about no challenge or rewards to make you want to play the content....so...there you go!

If it's like that and they don't adjust the difficulty of the Normal Criterion to be on par with EX Trials and Savage Criterion to be equal to Savage Raiding, then just part of the issue is being solved.