Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival Las Vegas: All the big news from the patch 6.5 live letter

By
Eliot Lefebvre
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5
Yes, GOD

Let’s not mince words: Final Fantasy XIV has every fan hyped up for the next expansion coming in about a year. But there’s more coming for the game before then, and the second big reveal from the Las Vegas Fan Festival was with the Letter from the Producer Live. Surprise, FFXIV has another patch in the 6.x series, and it’s patch 6.5! Are you shocked? Did you see it coming? Are you stunned by this revelation?

No, probably not because the game has now been running for a decade and there’s a certain amount of content that’s just expected at this point.

Regardless, while the letter did not contain any major revelations that will shock players, it still had plenty of information about the next patch and the timeline for updates as the game moves through the remained of the year. So let’s sum up everything that we learned during this live letter and make sure that we’re all on the same page leading up to the first part of the patch content.

Unsurprisingly, of course, this is just part one. Patch 6.5, which will be known as Growing Light, will be divided into two parts as previous x.5 patches have been. Part 1 will be in early October and part 2 will be in mid-January, meaning that the first part slightly predates the European fan festival and the second part will come after the Japanese fan festival. This also means that if you were expecting to find out that Dawntrail continues the Void-based plot that has been going on in the 6.x series… well… we already knew that wasn’t happening yesterday, but sorry?

The Japanese title for the patch does include a little nod to Zero, as she will obviously be a main feature of this particular patch. How things will turn out for her in a larger sense will have to wait until the MSQ, although as is common, the MSQ will be split in twain, with the second part being in the second part of the patch. We did get a screenshot of Zero in the Crystarium, which is a good tease right there.

Armor is used to avoid injury.

Part two of the patch will also include the new tribal alliance quest for the various tribal quests featured in Endwalker, along with new Tataru quests, more Hildibrand, more Manderville Weaponry, splendorous tools… you know, all of the things you would expect from patch 6.55. However, it does not include a new Variant/Criterion dungeon, as those will actually be added in patch 6.51 after the European fan festival. So the content release schedule will be staggered out a bit differently this time around.

The first part and the “base” patch, of course, will include a new dungeon, the Lunar Subterrane, best known as the final dungeon of Final Fantasy IV. Based on the screenshots, you can see the dungeon takes place under the moon on the Thirteenth, although Yoshida hinted that something major will change partway through. Players will also contend with Zeromus in the new trial, The Abyssal Fracture, which will naturally be available in both normal and Extreme versions.

We can also look forward to Thordan serving as our new Unreal trial, if you among those longing for another rematch with the Knights of the Round yet again. And of course there will be the third installment of the Mysteries of the Realms raid, Thaleia. Duty support will extend through every part of the Stormblood main scenario dungeons, to boot, which means that the task of allowing support through every MSQ dungeon is finally complete (a project whose start date Yoshida admits he can no longer remember).

Remember that mention of the next Variant/Criterion dungeon coming a bit earlier than usual? This time, players will be venturing across Aloalo Island with the help of everyone’s favorite elephantine fishmonger, Matasya. The screenshots we got of the island were very tropical, and once again players will not need to have cleared the prior installments to explore this one. Some of the screenshots also seem like there’s the vague possibility of something tying in with Tural, which would make a certain amount of sense.

Reminds me of things.

Players can also look forward to new content in the Island Sanctuary, with new ranks, a new gathering area, new materials, craftable items and handicrafts, new structures, and new… animals? The animal we were shown was a morbol, which prompted a brief discussion of whether or not that is actually an animal. It’s definitely a creature of some kind, but isn’t that a plot? Yoshida did not ask for people to let him know in the comments, and we will not ask that either.

Yoshida did hear the request for more pasture size, but he stated that he wasn’t sure if it’ll happen. Still, he says he’ll pass that along to the team.

Island sanctuary is also getting a new feature in the form of Felicitous Favors, unlocked at the end of 6.5’s progression on the island. These will require specific handicrafts and grants you tokens that can be exchanged for special rewards, although previews of same were not shown at this time. (Probably something for the next letter.)

Job adjustments will be in patch 6.5, naturally, but they will be minor tweaks since 7.0 is in development and on the way. PvP will move over to Series Five, but Season Eight will continue to run until patch 6.51 simply because the European Fan Festival (and Crystalline Conflict championships) will happen so close to the time that it’d be unfair to players. Minimap and UI elements will be updated in Crystalline Conflict, and there will also be a new arena, the Red Sands, which looks to be located in Southern Thanalan and will feature new arena effects.

Sandy!

Also coming to the Gold Saucer at some point during this patch cycle (exact time unknown) is the collaborative course based on Fall Guys. Players can also look forward to a new custom delivery client, meaning we finally get to know Margrat more closely!

“Wait, who?” Margrat! She’s a Sharlayan scientist we’ve met in several sidequests who clearly needs a lot more sleep. Yoshida joked that the team feels a kinship with her, since she works hard and never sleeps. This is not a foreign sensation to the team.

Other system-related changes will include a new function to consecutively use aetherial reduction on multiple collectables, a green dot indicator on newly logged fish in the Fishing Guide, and the ability to store optional items in the Armoire to help free up some space. Players will also have an item level restriction based upon their level for entering the alliance raid roulette. You can sort out your teleport destinations by expansion if you so desire, and there’s a new reward for receiving all of the trial mounts in Endwalker based on pixel art by Yoshitaka Amano.

The letter concluded by reminding people of the fan festival emotes on sale and the collaborative products you can pre-order.

Perhaps surprisingly, this particular letter did not cover upcoming holiday events or even the main Rising event to celebration the 10-year anniversary. We’ll have to wait for further news on that, which is not in and of itself unheard of but is a bit unusual given the prominence of the 10-year marker throughout the celebration. Still, players will have enough new content to look forward to when the patch arrives in October.

The Nymian civilization hosted an immense amount of knowledge and learning, but so much of it has been lost to the people of Eorzea. That doesn’t stop Eliot Lefebvre from scrutinizing Final Fantasy XIV each week in Wisdom of Nym, hosting guides, discussion, and opinions without so much as a trace of rancor.
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