Returning after two years, what's changed?

[Jeeqbit]

Alright, so firstly, you can always read the backlog of patch notes (or patch websites) via this link, which you could bookmark, to catch up on the exact changes (as a very formulaic game, don't expect many): https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...patchnote_log/

I was extremely upset over the lack of healer changes

Not going to pretend it's changed. We're also getting the new expansion (Dawntrail) in 2 months and we're not expecting the healing to change, although some other things may that people haven't liked about Endwalker. Nevertheless, we will be finding out the exact battle changes sometime in May with the Media Tour, so I suggest watching for all the youtube videos and articles and interviews about it. Since we're getting a new expansion, all the questions I'm about to answer will be irrelevant in 2 months.

What classes got shafted the most and least for EW?

They mostly stayed the same, actually, with just animation changes. They said at the time that they were happy with the job design direction in 5.0 and wanted to continue it in Endwalker, so that's really what they did.

MNK changed to use a symbol-like system similar to SAM and had GL removed, but it's still pretty in-depth to play like the other melees. SAM had Kaiten removed, probably because it was like Dark Arts which was meme'd out of the game. NIN seems mostly the same, still can be rather distracting. DRG is very busy and in a great place, but set to be reworked, especially since they have been moving away from "long rotations".

Speaking of that, PLD got reworked so that its rotation is more flexible and bursty. It's similar to GNB now, but with less weaving. WAR and DRK are pretty much the same. GNB is just flat out better than in 5.0, more fun and busy even than 5.0.

However, tanks like PLD, GNB and WAR had healing buffs that mean they often don't need healers. We're talking even casual players often don't need healers, not just the really insanely good players. PLD/WAR have an area heal/regen on their raid-wide mit now! So that probably won't make you happy.

For casters, SMN was completely reworked to be an actual Summoner. People are split on it. They love that it's an actual Summoner and find it decent to play, while others think it's too simple and "can be macro'd to 1 button". But one thing is for sure, it's popular and a lot of people are playing it.

What on earth happened to PvP?

Feast was replaced with Crystalline Conflict. Same thing mostly, except not role-restricted, healers don't matter anymore because everyone has potion stacks (healers used to keep matches going in a stalemate for 10-15 minutes which was boring for many). Matches typically last about 5 minutes now and involve pushing a crystal. It's fun, to be honest, and many people have praised it.

The rewards for PvP were reworked, so instead of getting them for being in the top 100, you merely need to participate enough to reach "series ranks". Don't even need to win the matches and you can get it via CC or Frontline or Rival Wings, whichever you prefer.

Did they fix housing? Made more fair and equal for everyone?

It's a lottery now. Still isn't housing "for everyone", but now if it's vacated then everyone bids on it for a random chance at the plot, rather than people having to camp the sign and spam it.

What's crafting like in EW?

Not a crafter main, but as far as I know, the overhaul in Shadowbringers is pretty much how it still is now.

Did Bozja die out? It was so much more tedious then Eureka, can't see it lasting.

At first, but Bozja was good for leveling and DRS is still done frequently. I've heard neither are dead, but it might depend on your data center and time in the patch cycle.

(Oh, by the way, we also got Data Center Travel, so we started having a thing where NA players go to Aether to raid, EU players go to Light to raid, JP players go to Mana to raid, so this may affect how alive certain content is on a given data center)