Today, during the Letter from the Producer Live broadcast, Final Fantasy XIV Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida and Global Community Producer Toshio Murouchi provided more information about the Shadowbringers expansion coming next month, and update 5.0 coming with it.
First of all, we get a trailer showcasing the dungeons included in Shadowbringers. Actually the video is shorter than those prepared for the previous expansions simply because the dungeons are filled with possible spoilers.
Yoshida-san moved on to showcase a new mount tied to the story named Amaro.
Secondly, we get to see “The Dancing Plague” which is the fight against Titania. The fight can be challenge at level 73.
We finally get an extensive look at the Trust system, which allows players to challenge main scenario dungeons with allied NPCs. This allows solo players to progress on their own while filling the role they prefer in the party.
There is a variety of NPC allies with specialized AI and unique actions. They have dialogue and banter and they react differently to different situations.
You can see them in action below.
Of course, playing with other players will be more efficient. The drop rate is also 1/4 of what you’d have with a full party. A dungeon played with the Trust system should take about half an hour to run.
If the player is incapacitated, it’s game over and the dungeon needs to be restarted. On the other hand, if an AI party member is incapacitated, the others will try to raise them.
The first time you attempt a dungeon, you’ll have to talk to an NPC to start the Trust system. If you have already cleared the dungeon, you can bring it up from the menu. The roster of NPC available varies depending on how far you are in the story.
Each character has its own job. Some NPC like Minfilia or Alphinaud have unique jobs. They’re smart enough to cover their roles well, and they can even run out of AOE attacks and deal with boss mechanics.
Interestingly, there are different behaviors. If you’re the DPS, Minfilia might hesitate to use the limit break, but Alisae would use it as soon as available. That’s just her personality. On the other hand, if you’re not the DPS, Minfilia won’t hesitate and use it herself.
New adjustments are coming for gatherers and crafters. Both will get new actions and traits due to the increase of the level cap.
New information will be added to gathering and fishing logs via tomes and regional folklore. Alarms will be added to help people take advantage of unspoiled, legendary, and ephemeral gathering points.
Quite conveniently, there will be no time difference between Eorzea and Norvrandt.
There will be new tackles for fish in the 2.0 areas, named Boilies. Obtaining tomes of regional folklore will also be made easier.
For crafters, Steady Hand II and Byregot’s Blessing will be added to all classes. Recipe aspects will also be removed.
The crafting UI will be updated with more information. Durability and condition will be displayed more clearly. The collectable synthesis status will be clearly displayed, and active crafting statuses will be showcased as well. Hardcore players that enjoy the challenge can hide the data.
Increases from actions will be displayed in the crafting log. The maximum initial quality limit for many items will be raised to 75% making it easier to get HQ items by using more HQ materials. On top of that, obtaining master recipe books IV, V, and VI will be easier.
Yoshida san opted to keep quiet on whether there will be another Materia tier, but he mentioned that the fact that he mentioned it at all might just be a hint on what’s to come.
We then get to see the design of new gear for both gatherers and crafters. New graduates joined the art team, which brought some freshness to the designs.
We then moved on to system updates. There are so many that most will be included in the patch notes. Today, the team is talking only about a few key points.
There will be new tomestones named Goetia and Phantasmagoria. The latter will be added only two weeks after the release of Shadowbringers.
White scrips will be added for crafters and gatherers. Glamor dressers will get their capacity increased to 400 (from 200). Glamour plates will be increased from 10 to 15. A furnishing preview feature will be added.
We then get to see a new mecha mount, and another for Gunbreaker, which will be a sabertooth tiger.
After that, the furnishing preview feature was showcased. It includes most of the furniture items in the game (excluding some seasonal ones), and after you have set up your house however you like, you can go about obtaining them.
We also get to see some images of new furniture, gear, and minions. The snazzy shirt has a version with a T-shirt underneath for those who prefer a more conservative look.
The centurio seal limit will be increased to 4,000 (from 1,000). In hunts, when you have the right bill for a B-rank you’ll have a display of the direction of your mark. A message will also be displayed when an S-rank spawns in the region you’re in. There will be a surprise bound to an S-rank.
Retainer windows will be updated with a sort function and more information. Material melting requests will be sendable in succession. All mounts will finally have flying enabled.
Achievement filters will be added including unfinished, complete, and whether they grant items or titles. A new achievement watchlist will keep track of up to 30 achievements.
The requirements to become mentors will be updated, and to ensure that all mentors are held to the same standards, you’ll need to obtain certification again as of patch 5.1 as legacy mentors status will be wiped.
You can find the new requirements below.
We finally get to take the first look at the Eden raid. You can watch it below. The team couldn’t show more because of spoilers. The raid includes battling against the Warrior’s of light’s power of imagination.
In the end, we get to see a presentation of the key characters that will appear in the expansion. Thancred has changed to a Gunbreaker. Y’shtola is now a Witch. Alphinaud is a bit less of an annoying brat (Yoshida-san actually just mentioned that he grew. That’s my personal take). Minfilia is back… or is she?
We also meet the Crystal Exarch, the mysterious leader of the people of the Crystarium. The Garlean Empire’s founder Solus zos Galvus will also appear.
We then see Vaulthry, Ran’Jit, whose role is mysterious, while Lyna and Feo Ul will be our allies (and we learn that the fairies will have their own fairly complex language). The Heroes of the First will also appear and we’ll learn what happened to them after we met them in Eorzea. They will mostly appear in the role-related quests.
Below you can see the full schedule of upcoming relevant dates. We learn that Eden normal mode will open with patch 5.01 on July 16. Patch 5.05 will open the Savage version and a new Treasure Map named The Dungeons of Lyhe Ghiah.
Players are encouraged to take advantage of the World Visit system to play on the least congested worlds at launch, and the team has been experimenting with a new queuing system for quests. This means that the infamous Trials of Raubahn should not happen again.
New servers will be added to the European Data Centers on June 18: the names are Spriggan and Twintania.
Below you can see a few additional products and events coming down the line, including the left-handed accessory by Hori and info on how to purchase tickets for the upcoming Orchestra concert.
On top of that, we learn that talks are undergoing to release the Brave Father Online movie in the west, and they look positive at the moment.
If you’d like to know more about Final Fantasy XIV and its upcoming expansion Shadowbringers, you can check out the details and footage released in the previous broadcast, information on the new races, the reveals from Tokyo FanFest including the Dancer job and the Hrothgar race, an official batch of screenshots, and a look on how the new city of Crystarium has been created.
Just a few weeks ago, Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida himself also explained why there won’t be male Viera and female Hrothgar, and why the expansion won’t include a healer job. An official benchmark has been released to let you test your rig and check out the new races.
If you want to get ready before the expansion’s release, Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood is currently available for PS4 and PC. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers will officially launch on July 2 for PS4 and PC.
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