Hello everyone, this is Naoki Yoshida, Producer and Director of FINAL FANTASY XIV.
First, I would like to thank you all for your patience and cooperation in dealing with server congestion during the early access for Dawntrail. With your support, we were able to reach a record number of concurrent users we’ve not seen since the release of A Realm Reborn in 2013.
It has been a joy to watch you all play, each in your own unique way, but we’ve become aware of several issues that may have proven a hinderance to your overall experience. For that, I sincerely apologize. We’ve already announced on the Lodestone that a number of these issues are presently under investigation, but rest assured we will be doing everything in our power to address them as quickly as possible. You can expect a follow-up announcement as soon as fixes are ready for implementation.
We’ve also been poring over your feedback for jobs. As we plan to make several fixes and adjustments to actions in Patches 7.01 and 7.05, I would like to take this opportunity to explain some of these changes, and our planned schedule moving forward.
Planned Monk Adjustments
While it was our aim to preserve monk’s playstyle from the Patch 6.x series, several changes to their core abilities─stacks of Fury chief among them─have significantly changed how it feels to play the job.
We discovered certain actions had incorrect potencies, as well as an error pertaining to the requirements to apply stacks of Fury. We plan to address these issues in Patch 7.01, which should result in improved effectiveness of area-of-effect attacks. This will also necessitate minor adjustments to the job HUD. My apologies again for monk’s inadequate performance, which presently differs from what we previously announced.
Planned Astrologian Adjustments
We’ve received considerable feedback concerning Astrologian, specifically the difficulty of play during damage burst phases, which we plan to address in Patch 7.01. Light Speed, which is essential in these phases, will have its recast time adjusted, and will also be made into a charged action. We’re also planning to shorten the recast time of their two draw actions, and adjust the potency of Macrocosmos. I ask for your patience as we work to implement these changes in a timely fashion.
Planned Viper Adjustments
Newly released in Patch 7.0, we’ve received feedback pertaining to the busyness of their skill rotation. To that end, we’re planning several improvements, including the easing of directional requirements, and changes to the effects of several actions. We’re aiming to implement these changes in Patch 7.05, though we also intend to make some smaller adjustments to the range of certain abilities in Patch 7.01. It will take a while longer, but we hope to address player concerns as best we can.
Planned Black Mage Adjustments
Before learning the action Umbral Soul, black mage has difficulty recovering MP. We plan to address this with adjustments in Patch 7.01, with plans to make further adjustments to action potencies in Patch 7.05.
Planned Tank Adjustments
Players have cited concerns with holding enmity in battle, due to the fact certain jobs are able to begin encounters with high damaging attacks─an issue compounded by the removal of damage from dark knight and gunbreaker movement abilities. To help remedy this, we will be adding increased enmity effects to tank area-of-effect attacks, as well as their movement abilities in Patch 7.01.
Planned Samurai and Red Mage Adjustments
For samurai, we’ll be reducing the recast timer of Tendo Setsugekka and Tendo Kaeshi Setsugekka. For red mage, we’ll be extending the effect duration of Manafication.
Planned Pictomancer Adjustments
We’ve discovered an issue wherein players could manually disable the effects of Subtractive Palette, Aetherhues, and Aetherhues II. This will be addressed with Patch 7.01, but we ask that you please refrain from manually removing these status effects when practicing your rotations. My apologies for any confusion this may have caused.
This covers all of the core issues and adjustments that can be discussed at present. Bear in mind, of course, this does not entail everything we have planned, and we will continue collecting feedback after the release of Patches 7.01 and 7.05 as we consider further changes.
In the meantime, I hope you continue to enjoy your adventures in FINAL FANTASY XIV!
Naoki Yoshida
FINAL FANTASY XIV Producer & Director
