Letter from the Producer Live, Part XIV
Saturday morning, YoshiP brought us his fourteenth Live Letter, discussing what's coming in Patch 2.28, as well as covering some of the major features of Patch 2.3. Here's a summary of the announcements:
Patch 2.28 was originally planned for 28 May, but SE had some issues in their office building, so it's being delayed slightly to no later than 5 June.
Zodiac Weapons
The Zodiac Weapons questline will continue in 2.28, allowing your Animus weapon to be upgraded to a Novus weapon.
The Novus weapons will be i110, with more upgrades coming in future patches, and they will look different than Animus weapons.
Novus weapons will be the first customizable Zodiac weapons; presumably this means that you'll be able to choose the stats you upgrade as part of the Novus questline.
Upgrading from Animus to Novus will involve getting Sphere Scrolls; in order to use them, you'll need Alexandrite, a new currency being introduced in Patch 2.28. It's not clear whether this will be capped (like Tomestones), but there will be multiple ways of earning it.
They don't have any immediate plans to adjust the difficulty of the Atma and Animus quests in either 2.28 or 2.3, but they may do so in the future. However, they do plan to increase the number of Mythology tomestones dropped (and add more places to get them) in the near future, so that it will be easier to obtain Trials of the Braves books.
What's coming in Patch 2.28?
Adjustments to the behaviour of pets when jumping -- I'm not sure exactly what this means.
New objectives in the Challenge Log
A new feature called the "Sightseeing Log," which is a series of locations that you'll have to reach by climbing/jumping. The locations will be provided through hints and riddles that you'll need to decipher.
Filtering and sorting options will be added to the Expert Delivery window.
Adjustments will be made to PvP, including making all skills available at Rank 0 and allowing free skill respecs.
You'll be able to queue for Leviathan (Extreme) and Thornmarch (Extreme) using the Duty Finder and without needing a full premade party.
The Echo buff will now affect Summoner and Scholar pets.
Filtering options will be added to the Crafting Log.
You'll be able to see a map of gathering nodes from the Gathering Log.
When a Disciple of the Hand repairs an item, its durability will go up by 100%, up to a maximum of 199%.
An option will be added to automatically sort the party list when you enter an instance.
You'll be able to queue for Expert and High-Level Duty Roulettes as a party.
You'll be able to give out Player Commendations even if you queued for the duty as part of a party.
The ability to preview what gear looks like on your character before you buy it will be added to NPC vendors, Market Boards, and crafting menus. This may also be implemented on treasure chest drops and quest rewards in the future.
Adjustments will be made to the Party Finder. (No word on what those are; we'll have to wait for the patch notes.)
FATE progress will now be displayed on the map.
You'll be able to click an aetheryte on the map to teleport to it.
New text commands to clear your chat logs will be added.
A list of available text commands will now be available in-game, so you don't have to go to the Lodestone to look them up.
You'll be able to press L1+R1 on a controller to dismount.
Characters' titles will now display on their nameplates.
An option to automatically skip cutscenes you've already seen will be added.
When 2.28 drops, Fantasia will be made available for purchase through the Mog Station. See below for details.
New standing and sitting poses will be added:
Fantasia
Fantasia will be purchaseable on an account-wide level (all your existing characters will receive whatever you buy).
Three purchase options will initially be available: one, three, and five phials. You can only buy each option once, so you'll only be able to buy nine phials total. The ability to buy as many as you need will be available in the future.
They'll be delivered to you via mooglemail and cannot be traded.
They're looking at pricing them around 1000 Yen, so probably $10?
Patch 2.3 Tidbits
Patch 2.3 will be entitled "Defenders of Eorzea."
A new Primal, Ramuh, will be added, with both Hard and Extreme modes.
Ramuh will mainly drop i100 accessories, with i100 weapons being dropped rarely. There will also be a rare mount drop.
You don't have to do the Sylph beast tribe quests to unlock Ramuh, but they will provide a lore background for the fight.
Three new dungeons: Hullbreaker Isle, Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard), and Stone Vigil (Hard). Not much information about them other than there'll be a fight with a "kraken that FF fans are familiar with."
A new system will be added for crafters: Item Desynthesis. More details on that below.
A new feature that they're calling Hunts will be added; see below for more details.
BLM will be receiving a buff to increase its single-target DPS; they're also looking into adjustments to other jobs.
The ability to respec your chocobo's abilities will be added.
New Main Scenario and Hildebrand quests will be added.
Personal rooms in FC housing will be added.
A new PvP mode, Frontline, will be added.
More Crystal Tower content will be added, and it will drop Oils and Sands of Time.
A chocobo breeding system will be added.
More details on Frontline, CT, and chocobo breeding will be coming in the next Live Letter on 12 June.
A new vanity gear set called "Night Wear" -- possibly sleeping clothes?
Item Desynthesis
This system involves breaking items down into crafting materials. Unlike similar systems in other games, this isn't just pressing a button and getting mats -- it involves using specific skills in order to break down the item, and was designed specifically for crafters to enjoy.
When you reach level 30 in a Discipline of the Hand, you'll get a Desynthesis skill. There are eight different skills, one for each class. These skills work differently than standard FFXIV skills: you can upgrade them by earning and spending points. However, one character won't get enough points to max out all eight skills, so you'll have to choose which to specialize in.
You'll be able to desynthesize almost every item in the game -- even fish! The only limitation mentioned in the Live Letter is that you won't be allowed to desynthesize the highest item level items that were added in the most recent patch.
That having been said, the success of your desynth attempt depends on your desynthesis skill and the item level of the item you're attempting to desynthesize. So if your skill is low, and you try to desynth a high-level item, you'll likely have a 0% chance of succeeding.
When you desynth an item, you'll get materials the item is made of. The type and amount of items you get will depend on the item level of the desynthed item and your desynthesis skill. Obtaining these items, you can do something and get rare items.
"Hunts"
This will consist of players earning a currency called "allied marks" by defeating specified monsters in the open world called "marks."
There will be multiple difficulty ranks of marks. The higher the rank of the mark, the more allied marks you earn when you defeat it. These difficulties will range from barely soloable by an i90 player to needing a chocobo companion to things that will require a group of people to beat.
While many of the marks will be available at any time, each Grand company will designate one monster per week as an additional mark that its members can defeat to obtain bonus allied marks. Similarly, each player will be assigned a bonus mark every day (these will differ from player to player, so that not everyone is hunting the same thing).
Allied marks are used to purchase items such as gear that is currently obtained by trading in Mythology tomestones, items that are unique to this content, and Alexandrite.
Miscellany:
The Rank 7 (450-day) Veteran Rewards have been announced:
Dyeable glasses frames and lenses are coming soon:
They showed off a two-person chocobo:
New emotes are planned as rewards from future seasonal events.
YoshiP will look into adding the ability to display enemies' remaining HP as a percentage.
There are no plans for an ingame DPS parser, but they do plan to add "training" content where you have to do a certain amount of DPS within two minutes to clear it.
YoshiP mentioned that he'd like to add a refer-your-friends program.
Finally, they showed a tonne of concept art, including this tank armour:
Also wedding outfits:
Some chocobo barding:
And a bunch of concepts for the new Crystal Tower:
That's it for this Live Letter; they've got a special English-language one set for 10 June from E3, and then Part XV (covering the rest of Patch 2.3) will be broadcast on 12 June.