Final Fantasy XIV will receive its next major patch 6.1 on April 12. It starts the next storyline that concluded with Endwalker, introduces a 24-man raid, and fundamentally overhauls PvP. A cool trailer is included as a bonus.
This is included in patch 6.1: With update 6.1, FFXIV begins a new major chapter, which as usual brings a whole range of new content. These contents were presented in the producer’s letter (Live Letter).
Players can primarily look forward to the continuation of the story. After the grand narrative concerning the two deities Hydaelyn and Zodiark concluded in the expansion Endwalker, player characters embark on a completely new adventure.
Additionally, there will be the following new content as usual:
- New 24-man raid revolving around the 12 deities of Eorzea
- New extreme trial
- New dungeon
- New dream trial
- New ultimate raid fight against King Thordan
- The crazy side quests of Hildibrand will continue
- A series of side quests centered around the NPC Tataru
- Quests for the new tribe of the Arkasodara
- Delivery requests for the NPC Ameliance Leveilleur
- Major overhauls in PvP
- Revisions of the main story quests of A Realm Reborn. The mandatory dungeons of the story can be entered from 6.1 with a group of NPCs
- Housing in Ishgard, which will be distributed via a special lottery system
Furthermore, there will be a whole range of smaller adjustments and updates, such as business cards, new hairstyles, mounts, and outfits, cross-data center travel, and balance adjustments for combat jobs.
The patch will release on April 12, but will be divided into several smaller patches. This means that not all content will be released immediately on the 12th, but will be rolled out over the following weeks. You can watch the official German trailer here:
New Raid Makes Gods Enemies
Here’s what it’s about in “Myths of the Realm”: The new 24-man raid from FFXIV revolves around the 12 gods of the inhabitants of Eorzea and the truth behind them. These gods serve as patrons of cities and arts, but their origin and creation story remain a mystery.
According to the current interview with the Japanese magazine Famitsu, the raid serves as a kind of “epilogue” for the story of Endwalker. It will address themes and questions that were not fully covered there.
The first part of the raid is named “Aglaia,” which means “brilliance” or “splendor” in Greek. This continues the overall theme of Endwalker, which revolves around Greek mythology.
Fans therefore suspect that the raid will cover the history of the Convocation of 14, who ruled over the planet before the world’s split. Similar to what the 8-man raid Pandaemonium does. There are still a number of members of the Convocation who have yet to appear in the story despite their importance.
The trailer also features individual bosses of the raid. Among them, you can recognize the gods Azeyma, Rhalgr, or Nald-Thal. It is therefore likely that throughout the three raid sections, players could fight all 12 gods.
Overhaul of PvP – New Modes and a Season Pass
This is Crystalline Conflict: The new PvP mode was announced even before the release of the Endwalker expansion. It completely replaces the competitive FEAST and brings fresh air to FFXIV’s PvP with its new reward system.
In the new mode, two teams of 5 players compete against each other in special arenas. A match lasts 5 minutes. The goal is to move a large crystal from the center of the arena to the opposing team’s base.
To do this, at least one player must be standing in the crystal’s hitbox. However, the speed of the crystal does not depend on how many players are standing in the circle. It remains constant.
However, if an opposing player is standing in the circle, the crystal will not move. It’s a sort of reverse tug-of-war, just with more violence.
When reaching certain checkpoints, the crystal becomes chained and cannot be moved for a while. During this time, the teams must defend their positions or try to fend off the attackers.
On the battlefield, teams must not only pay attention to their opponents but also to their surroundings. There will be traps and monsters that will make their lives difficult. But there will also be shortcuts and boosts that can be used to ambush the opposing team from behind.
This is how competitive PvP works: For hardcore PvPers, there will be a ranking system they can climb to earn cosmetic rewards. It is divided into 5 tiers:
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Platinum
- Diamond
These tiers themselves are subdivided into several sub-levels, referred to as “Rising Stars.” So, for instance, you would advance from Bronze 2 to Bronze 1, to Silver 3 and so on. However, it is impossible to drop back from Silver to Bronze after losses.
What’s also changing: PvP abilities will be fundamentally reworked with 6.1. The limit break, which was previously shared by all players in a group, will now be available individually for each player and can be used freely by them.
To reduce dependence on healers, non-healer jobs will receive abilities that can regenerate their HP or significantly increase their defense (according to tooltips up to 90%). Healers will also receive their own PvP-specific attack spells to defend themselves.
Season Pass instead of static rewards
This is how rewards are changing: With the launch of the new PvP content, there will also be new rewards. The reward system is based on the classic season pass known from shooters like Fortnite or CoD.
With each new major patch, roughly every 4 months, there will be a pass for which players can earn EXP in PvP. The EXP can be gathered in all PvP activities; it doesn’t have to be specifically Crystalline Conflict.
Upon reaching certain levels, players receive rewards such as cosmetic items, emotes, and special tokens that they can exchange for other items.
Players need not worry about missing out on anything. Tokens can be used to obtain rewards from previous seasons as well.
In addition to FFXIV, we recommend 4 other MMOs and online games in April.
