The new addon Endwalker of Final Fantasy XIV will start its Early Access in 2 weeks. Here are some useful things you can do to prepare for the expansion.
This is Endwalker: The fourth addon of FFXIV, Endwalker, will be released on December 7, with pre-order customers able to play from December 3. It concludes the 11-year-long story surrounding the gods Hydaelyn and Zodiark and is set to be the culmination of the MMORPG.
Director Naoki Yoshida promised fans about 30% more story content than in the addon Shadowbringers and that their open questions will be answered in Endwalker. Additionally, like always, there will be new dungeons, a new 8-man raid, two new jobs, and more features.
Since the addon is almost here, there are some things you can do before the release or Early Access to be well prepared for Endwalker. Here are 6 of them.
1. Catch up on side quests
This point will primarily affect newer players who started FFXIV in the summer or a few months ago. With Endwalker, the current storyline of the game will be concluded, and many story fans are already looking forward to the grand finale.
However, to better understand the finale, you can still complete some side quests before Early Access if you haven’t tackled them yet.
Natsuko Ishikawa, one of the authors of the main scenario of FFXIV, has recommended from her perspective to complete the quest lines regarding the “Entwined Shadows of Bahamut” and the Omega raid.
- Bahamut (also known as Coils) is a Level 50 raid that can be completed quite easily alone or in a small group at Level 80. You can get the first quest from Urianger in the Suncert X: 6 / Y: 4 (via Lodestone).
- Omega is a Level 70 raid that you can either do without level sync with friends or through the duty finder. The first quest for it can be received in Rhalgr’s Reach from Wedge X: 12.6 / Y: 12.4 (via Lodestone).
In the past, completing certain quest lines, such as the Crystal Tower raid, has influenced dialogue options in new addons. It is possible that this will also be the case in Endwalker.
Personally, I would add the “War Triad” (Ishgard’s Machinist from Torsefers X: 11.7 / Y: 11.6) and the “Battle of Werlyt” quest lines (The Fenn X: 36.4 / Y: 31.8 from the Mhigan officer) to the list.
On one hand, because they are really good, and on the other hand, because they directly relate to the Ascians and Garlemald. Through them, you will learn additional details about the Shard worlds and the current situation in the Garlean Empire.
Both quest lines can be comfortably completed through the duty finder or in a group with friends. Their story fights are not difficult.
2. Clean up your inventory
Since each addon brings a lot of new items into the game, it’s a good idea to declutter your inventory before Endwalker. I’m a hoarder myself and know it’s hard: “Maybe I’ll need this piece of cloth someday? And I could probably still exchange these coins for armor.”
But just imagine how many new cool equipment and stylish outfits will be added for your projections with Endwalker. You’ll want enough space for that to be able to participate in the true endgame. In this context, you can also clean up your projection plates. If some of them are little or not used at all, you can make space for the cool Endwalker outfits.
Additionally: small things also matter. Selling the items to NPCs or on the market board can also generate a bit of money just before Endwalker. You won’t get rich overnight, unless you’re really holding onto rare items in your inventory.
So if you’re as much of a hoarder as I am, then do yourself a favor and do a 6-month delayed spring cleaning in your inventory. Otherwise, you might regret it later.
3. Obtain gear for new jobs
Speaking of gear: with Endwalker, two new jobs will be added to the game: Reaper and Sage. They will both start at Level 70, and if you want to play one of the two jobs directly at the Early Access of Endwalker, you can prepare accordingly.
- For the melee DPS Reaper, you can obtain a full set of the Modified Scaeva Armor of Maiming and the corresponding accessories.
- For the healer Sage, there is the Modified Scaeva Set of Healing and the appropriate accessories.
Experience shows that both sets should serve you well up to about Level 73-74.
So far, the modified and raid armors have always been a few item levels higher than the armor you can obtain in the early dungeons of the new addons. With the Scaeva sets, you will be well protected.
Additionally, these items are easy to obtain. You can exchange them in Rhalgr’s Reach at the NPC Enna (X: 13.8 / Y: 11-6) for the Allagan Stones of Poetry. The stones are plentiful in older dungeons and from daily content.
And as a bonus, you can also easily collect the special stones for the “Mog Mog Collection” event (via Lodestone), which offers cool rewards.
If you’re still unsure whether the two new jobs are for you, you can read our preview reports on them:
4. Level up to avoid losing EXP
Speaking of classes: with Endwalker, the announced reduction of numbers regarding damage, health points, EXP, and other values in the game will come into effect.
It is meant to prevent strong inflation and the numbers from rising into the billions, as this can also become a bigger burden for the servers. So expect your HP and other values in Endwalker to be lower than currently in Shadowbringers.
However, Director Naoki Yoshida warned in the last developer stream that jobs and classes currently sitting between two levels will begin to lose their collected EXP starting with 6.0.
This means that if your White Mage or Goldsmith, for example, is still about 30% EXP short of leveling from Level 78 to Level 79, you should gather that EXP. Otherwise, you will lose the already collected 70% because the EXP status will be reset in Endwalker.
If EXP isn’t that important to you or if you are as masochistic as I am with all classes at Level 80, then consider this writing null and void.
5. Log out before patch day
Maintenance before the release of a new addon is standard in MMORPGs. After all, the developers must upload all the new content online calmly and prepare the servers for launch. In FFXIV, pre-addon maintenance usually lasts 24 hours.
Since the Early Access of Endwalker is on December 3, you can expect that the servers will go offline on December 2 during the day. Those of you who want to dive into the action directly the next day can optimally position themselves before logging out the day before.
- If you want to start directly with the main story, you can position yourself in Mor Dhona in the Suncert. There, the first story quest of Endwalker is expected to start.
- However, if you want to unlock and play one of the two new jobs, you must log out in Limsa Lominsa for the Sage and in Ul’Dah for the Reaper. More precise information on unlocking jobs will only be revealed in the patch notes for Endwalker. We will make our own articles about it.
Thanks to the World Travel system , you can also try to switch to another server before maintenance and play the addon there.
This was recommended by Director Yoshida, for example, at the launch of Shadowbringers, to distribute the load more evenly across servers and reduce waiting times when logging in, and it is a tempting option, especially on busy servers like Shiva or Ragnarok.
However, keep in mind two things:
- Currently, there are no servers in the European region that are considered “underpopulated” or “small”. The status is labeled as “Standard” on Lodestone for all. This means that the load should be relatively balanced already.
- Additionally, you cannot use your retainers on a foreign server and therefore do not have access to the expanded inventory. When returning to your home server, you would again be in a queue and would, for example, not be able to complete instances.
So consider whether you want to log out on a different server before the addon server maintenance or not.
6. Prepare for the wait
The launch of new addons is often associated with server issues and queues in large MMORPGs. This is also something one can prepare for and should.
Especially in the case of Endwalker, one can expect queues in the thousands. This was already the case for Shadowbringers, although the launch itself went very smoothly.
FFXIV has gained a strong influx of new and active players in recent months.
- On one hand, many WoW streamers have started with the MMORPG and sparked the interest in FFXIV with their viewers.
- On the other hand, many inactive players have returned from their break to catch up on the story before Endwalker and prepare for the addon.
Director Yoshida and his team are aware of the situation and have already announced that they will do everything possible to ensure that the launch of Endwalker runs as smoothly as possible. However, due to the current situation with Covid, they could not build new servers in time to optimally handle the influx.
I would still recommend looking for an activity you can engage in while you’re in the queue before December 3.
It can be a short Netflix series or an anime to watch in the meantime, a book to read, or another game (like FFIV Pixel Remaster). It’s better to be prepared than to be super frustrated at being stuck in the queue for a long time.
And how are you preparing for Endwalker? Are you already really ready, or are there still last preparations you want to make? Let us know in the comments.
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