Today was the day that many eager Final Fantasy XIV players have been waiting for! During the most recent Letter from the Producer LIVE, Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida walked everyone through some of the changes that are coming to Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers.

Gameplay Adjustments

The FATE System New rewards other than EXP will be added Additional requirements must be met to unlock certain rewards Unique tokens will be implemented that can be exchanged for these rewards at specialty shops.



Side Quests All 5.0 side quests can be undertaken at level 70 Enemies will be scaled to player level when accepting side quests Intended to facilitate leveling of multiple jobs



Role Quests Four sets of role quests will be added Retrace the journeys of the First’s fallen heroes Physical DPS, Magical DPS, Tank, Healer One quest line must be completed to advance the Main Scenario New jobs will have quests from level 60 to 70 All jobs will have a new quest available at level 80



Crafting and Gathering Quests Five sets of new quests will be added Stories centered on the Crystarium and a collective of artisans For DoH- The Facets of Forging, Crafting, and Nourishment For DoL- The Facets of Gathering and Fishing Hone your skills as you progress through the story of the Crystalline Mean Lean more about the world and lore of The First



User Interface The first addition of a new theme- Light Skin New skins will slowly be added All UI elements to be expanded Cross-world Linkshells to be expanded to eight channels Target information to be updated will display more detailed health percentage (ex. 0.8%) Party list information to be updated Housing furnishing placement preview to be added …and more!



Battle System Changes

Charged Action System New actions designed for more versatile usage Actions will gain charges for later use Charges will build until reaching a maximum limit Actions will gain an additional charge as the recast timer cycles Charges may be consumed to use an action whenever you want



Casting Interruption System Interrupt enemy actions to turn the tide of battle PVE’s “Silence” status effect will be incorporated into this new system Actions that can be interrupted will be more easily discernible Tanks and ranged DPS will receive role actions for these purpose



Removal of Role Action Customization As part of the general action review, role actions will be revised to set abilities New role actions will be automatically obtained upon reaching the required level. The number of available actions will be adjusted.



The MP and TP Systems MP will be capped at 10,000 and TP will be eliminated The piety attribute will be adjusted in accordance with this change (Piety will remain an attribute that only affects healer roles) TP will be removed, and affected actions will be revised so that they may be used more freely



Main Attributes and Materia The difficulty in gearing up will be adjusted for each role The attributes for all accessories will be revised Main attribute increasing materia will no longer be meldable Main attribute increasing materia melded to existing equipment will be revised to have no beneficial effects Main attribute increasing materia will no longer be obtainable Weekly token gear, as well as savage accessories and belts will have two materia slots



Pet System Pets will no longer be affected by enemy attacks or PC actions Pet actions will be removed from the pet hotbar Pet action will be recategorized as player actions Actions for pets designed to function as tanks (Titan-egi, Topaz Carbuncle) will be revised



Additional Battle System Adjustments Various other changes will be made to improve overall usability Battle system calculations will be adjusted and changed Chain bonuses will be removed from dungeons (in order to standardize EXP gain) The damage limit will be increased (999,999 to 9,999,999) to account for future damage inflation The party bonus will be adjusted (to account for the number of players filling a given role) The rate at which the limit gauge fills will be adjusted (for 5.0 and later regions only) The HP of a barrier shielding a party member will be displayed in the party list



Rebalancing Player Roles

Job Synergy In order to address rigid party composition and the perception that certain jobs are essential: The effectiveness of synergies between certain jobs will be reduced Debuffs reducing slashing, blunt, and piercing resistances will be removed Action values will be revised Certain actions will be removed The synergy of the new Dancer job will be emphasized



Tank Role Jobs Adjustments will be made to account for the main and off tank roles All four tank jobs (including Gunbreaker) will be viable as MT and OT Tanks will possess defensive buffs that can be aplied to all party members Additional buffs designed for OTs to support MTs will be added Tanks can also use buffs to enhance their defenses for a limited time Job effectiveness will vary depending on player skill Offensive stances will be removed Players will instead toggle tank stances on or off Tank stances will be adjusted Damage dealt and received reductions / max HP increase effects will be removed Only enmity generation will be increased (all attacks will increase enmity) Adjustments will be made to emphasize the reduced damage received aspect of tanks Enmity generating combos will be removed The Tank Mastery trait will be added All damage received will be reduced by 20% Bonuses to maximum HP and damage dealt based on certain attributes will be granted



Healer Role Jobs Healers will be thoroughly rebalanced to emphasize a pure healing role Protect will be removed New actions will be added to address gaps in each healer’s repertoire White Mage will receive an instant heal to mitigate the cast times of other abilities Scholar pet actions will be revised, while direct heals and barrier magicks will be adjusted Astrologian stances and card effects will be adjusted Offensive actions will be reviewed



DPS Role Jobs Design concepts will be more traditional and mechanics will be revised accordingly Monk, Dragoon, Ninja, Samurai, Black Mage, Red Mage The playstyle of these jobs will remain relatively unchanged There will not be significant changes or additions to mechanics Bard, Machinist, Summoner Machinist is currently undergoing significant changes Bard and summoner mechanics will be partially reworked



Other Announcements

Hori will be releasing a left handed gaming device. Yoshida helped to give them input on how they should design it! No price point yet, but they’re aiming to keep it under $100 US and it will be out before the end of the year.

Eorzean Symphony Final Fantasy XIV Orchestra Concert 2019 was also announced for Yokohama

Lastly, the Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Benchmark is available later tonight!