FF14 patch 7.4 marks the beginning of a new era in many ways, from the beginning of a new storyline to the removal of class-based fashion regulations after more than a decade. Dawntrail’s biggest strength (aside from the jamming songs) is its combat design, and the recent Pilgrim’s Traverse Deep Dungeon was a great example of that. Now, lead battle designer Masaki ‘Mr. Ozma’ Nakagawa has hinted that he’s creating something “truly new” that will be playable at some point during the rollout of patch 7.5x.
Pilgrim’s Traverse was the first stage in Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida’s attempt to rethink how difficulty is approached in MMORPGs, and it was largely a success. It’s interesting enough on an entry-level level that I finally convinced some friends to dip into the original Palace of the Dead for the first time to try out this new service. At the other end of the spectrum, The Final Verse (Quantum), a scaling challenge fight, allows players to choose how high they want the difficulty to go, with additional rewards earned as the levels go up.
The second step in this process can be seen in the new variant dungeon “The Merchant’s Tale” in Patch 7.4, which was recently published in Liveletter 89. Also coming is the next stage in that incredible raid series: Arcadion. However, Nakagawa, who has earned a reputation for helping create some of FF14’s most complex (and often difficult) encounters, says he is “not involved in the 7.4 raid.”
He explains that “another great team” is working on the Arcadion heavyweight tier (and its savage counterpart). “Since finishing work on 7.3, we have been focusing on the core content of patch 7.5x. This is something new and fresh for Final Fantasy 14. I can’t say much more at the moment, but we are working hard to ensure that everyone enjoys a truly new experience.”
There are some obvious choices as to what that is. If all goes well, a new Ultimate Raid is expected to arrive during the FF14 7.5 patch series, which would typically involve Nakagawa.
Additionally, a new limited job “Beast Master” will also be available at the same time. Square Enix hasn’t shown us how it will play yet, but it’s likely to be at least as unique as Blue Mage, if not more so, which means it certainly fits into the “truly new” category. But maybe he has something else in mind?
Despite his reputation, Nakagawa emphasizes that it’s not all about challenges. “Difficulty is an important part of combat content, but far more important is whether that content is actually fun to play.” He says this philosophy is exemplified in The Final Verse (Quantum).
“If you want Q40 (the mode’s highest level of challenge) to be harder, it’s easy,” he says. “Doubling the combat time would have surpassed the ultimate level of difficulty, but I didn’t do that because my goal was to provide a fun-packed, dense and exciting experience in a shorter amount of time.
“The same goes for Q15 and Q30. Choose the difficulty level that suits you and enjoy it at your own pace.” With 8.0 promising job adjustments along with the team’s new approach to challenge with adaptable levels, it’s sure to be an interesting time for FF14 players. Personally, I’d love to experiment with more challenging battles like Dawntrail.
If you’re looking for other options to pass the time until patch 7.4, we’ve rounded up the best single-player MMOs. If you want to take your game to the next level, few hardware upgrades can match the best gaming mice when it comes to expanding your control options in MMOs.
What do you think about the overall difficulty and battle content of FF14? Stop by the Discord to be reminded about lost positions and uptime management.
