Last weekend, the Fan Festival for Final Fantasy XIV took place in Berlin. There were numerous announcements regarding the new expansion. However, a feature that will be released in the future saves MeinMMO editor Jasmin’s MMORPG experience.
I have been trying to get my partner to play Final Fantasy XIV for a long time. The story is just too good for any gamer who has even a slight interest in MMORPGs to miss out on.
I personally dive into every new expansion and simply enjoy the story. I’m not too focused on endgame content and only concentrate on the main campaign.
However, there is a significant problem with my partner. He played Final Fantasy XIV in its early days and eventually got lost in the quests between A Realm Reborn and Heavensward. This quest line is so well-known because it takes countless hours and was even later shortened at some point.
He absolutely hates running to the same quest giver over and over again, someone he has known for hours, just to collect some item or defeat monsters. However, with the Evercold expansion, a new feature is coming that gives him no excuse to turn his back on Final Fantasy XIV anymore.
No direct time savings, but a great comfort feature
The feature is called Auto-Move and Auto-Guide. This allows characters to automatically run to the quest target location, and there are additional visual aids indicating which direction to go.
At the Fan Fest, a prototype was already shown to demonstrate how it will look. The character runs along a specific path indicated by a blue line.
This means my partner can simply turn on the function, run to the quest giver, and do something else in the meantime. He doesn’t have to run to the quest giver he already knows all the time.
It would be even more practical if you could teleport directly to the quest giver. This way, my partner wouldn’t have to distract himself or focus on other things while his player character runs to the next quest destination.
Instead, he could stay on the PS5 controller the entire time and play Final Fantasy XIV. But hey – he will have to get used to the fact that there will also be some waiting time with the queues for content.
Final Fantasy 14 adapts to modern times
The implementation is already an enormous task. Therefore, the feature will not be available for every quest coinciding with the release of Evercold but will be gradually rolled out with each patch across all expansions.
Naoki Yoshida, the Director of Final Fantasy XIV, emphasized during his announcement that players are completely free to choose whether to use this feature or not. Those who still want to explore and navigate the world themselves can do so.
So far, the team has refused to take this approach. They consciously wanted to avoid automation. But Yoshida explained that they want to respect the modern developments in gaming and the current lifestyle of players.
I am already looking forward to my partner finally progressing faster through the annoying ARR quests so that we can experience content together from Heavensward. Plus, he will finally understand why I always rave about such a fantastic story when I talk about the MMORPG.
What do you think about this feature? Will you use it in the future, or will you still take every path manually? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
In Final Fantasy XIV, there are different ways for partners to play together. Some have reported their experiences and what they have experienced together – or rather deliberately avoided: Final Fantasy 14: “We play together, but very differently” – Couples talk about their shared adventures in the MMORPG
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