In the 67th Letter from the Producer Live broadcast, Final Fantasy XIV director/producer Naoki Yoshida and global community manager Toshio Murouchi (with translation by Aimi Tokutake) revealed new information on Endwalker’s disciple of the hand and land classes as well as other system changes expected in the expansion.

We’ve summarized the major information below — check it out!

Endwalker Delay

The release of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker has been delayed by two weeks to December 7. Early access will now begin on December 3. Yoshida apologizes, as this will be one of the largest expansions they’ve yet created. The content is moving according to plan. This is a saga that has been in development for 11 years, and this is the last chapter of the Hydaelyn/Zodiark saga. They want to tie up all the loose ends and Yoshida wanted to examine a lot of subtleties with this regard.

These examinations ate into the master quality assurance time, which necessitated the two-week delay. It was a matter of a few business days in the schedule, but with concerns with congestion they wanted to take time with QA as that is intertwined with how smooth the launch will happen. The decision was made last Friday. Yoshida says that being producer and director that he’d be able to deal and move on, but with Endwalker being the finale, he said he didn’t want to compromise as the director and made the choice to delay.

Yoshida says they remember the Heavensward launch where he promised a spring launch but the expansion launched in early summer.

He understands that people have taken time off and are preparing for this. They considered cuts or patches, but they wanted to prioritize quality.

Upcoming Schedule

• 12/3 – Early Access Launch
• 12/7 – Endwalker Official Launch
• 12/21 – Pandaemonium Release
• 1/4/2022 – Patch 6.05 Release. Includes Pandaemonium (Savage), New Allagan Tomestones and New Gear
• The All Saints’ Wake seasonal event was originally planned to release alongside Endwalker, but with the delay into December. The team worked hard on it so the timing is now January.

Launch Trailer

Here’s the Endwalker launch trailer. Potential spoilers ahead, you’ve been warned!

Main Character Profiles

What’s to Come in Patch 6.0

There is a system that works while you are questing, where characters will follow alongside you or ride a mount with you and have conversations. If you lead them off track they’ll return to their position. It’s an essential part of the narrative. The team is working to let you use /gpose during this feature.

New role quests will be added. There are five questlines with each belonging to tanks, healers, melee DPS, ranged DPS, and magic DPS. Extra quests for completing these will be added in Patch 6.1 or later. There will be no level 90 job quests, the ones at level 80 in Shadowbringers are intended to be a conclusion. If they were to resume them, they’d start with new characters, etc.

Studium Deliveries will be five questlines for crafters and gatherers, similar to the Crystarium Deliveries in Shadowbringers.

New dungeons will be added. Yoshida says he needs to be careful depicting these.

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• New trials will be added. The names of which are a secret. There will be a Normal and Hard mode as always.
• A new raid dungeon will be added. Pandaemonium: Asphodelos will be added in Patch 6.01 two weeks after launch. The Savage version will be added two weeks later in Patch 6.05.

• In Patch 6.05, a new treasure map dungeon called “The Excitatron 6000” will be added.

PvP Update

• A new small-scale PvP content called the “Crystal Conflict” in Patch 6.1. The team was concerned that if the timing was aligned with Savage raids there would be a conflict for attention. So they decided to take their time and balance the content to be ready for 6.1.
• A new reward system for PvP will arrive in 6.1 as well.
• Short matches with simple rules that can be played casually.
• Removal of role-based matchmaking and actions.
• Addition of distinctive PvP actions and job-specific Adrenaline Rushes.
• The team may repurpose some visual effects for actions, but they will remain separate from PvE actions.
• Closer to 6.1, they will show us how the jobs will function in this new type of PvP mode.
• Crystal Conflict will have two teams of 5 competing against each other. There are no role restrictions and there will be Casual, Ranked, and Custom matches available with skill-based matchmaking.

1 • Two teams with bases on opposite ends of the map compete to claim possession of a crystal in the center – the Tactical Crystal.
2 • Once a team has claimed possession of the crystal, push into the opposing teams base.
3 • The team that gets the crystal into the goal wins.

The initial example had an Old Sharlayan setting, but there are other maps with different locations. Some of the fields have special gimmicks.

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• Seasonal rewards will be awarded on place or tier, and include titles, achievements, and other accolades.
• “Series” periods will be added (Tentative name). Players may earn series rewards by participating in any PvP content during each series.
• Crystal Conflict will have its own season with tiers and ranks. But the general PvP mode will be conducted in a series. Yoshida says they haven’t set a clear delineation yet, and they may modify this.
• A series would last between major patches, like 6.1 to 6.2. However, a season would not be dependent on the patch cadence, e.g.: 6.15 to 6.18, etc. In general they’ll be shorter.
• Players can earn rewards by accumulating series EXP and raising their series level. As you participate, your series experience increases, where tokens are awarded with leveling up. Gear, mounts, and other items will be awarded for reaching certain series levels.
• When a new series begins, your series level will be reset to level 1, and the reward lineup will change.

• You will also collect tokens that carry over to a new Series, and previous rewards you may miss will be available by exchanging these tokens.
• For players that want to take their time and may miss a Series’ rewards, they will be able to exchange the tokens at a later date.
• Series experience and levels are not limited to Crystal Conflict, they are for all PvP modes.
• They had players in mind who wanted to spend time in PvE like raiding, without worrying they’ll miss out on Series rewards forever – that they can engage with PvP and earn tokens to exchange the next time they come around as rewards.
• Regarding the criticism: “do we even need a PvP?” Yoshida says they want to continue growing and expanding FFXIV and supporting PvP is part of offering a wide variety of content. Don’t worry that PvE content will decrease, separate teams work on this content.
• Yoshida says he understands there are players who have religious objections to engaging in PvP. They want to continue to support PvP and that there are players that enjoy it on a regular basis.
• The GARO collaboration items were discontinued and they have heard requests to bring it back – it’s a work in progress.

• Calling Card System (Tentative name) – This feature allows for customization of profiles, displayed before a match begins. These will be potentially used outside of PvP as well, as an addition to the profile that displays int he player search window.
• Backgrounds and profile customization options will be added as rewards throughout the game (some as PvP seasonal and series rewards).
• There will be another Live Letter before 6.1 on how to customize and decorate the Calling Card by clearing various content.
• The Feast will be unavailable as of Patch 6.1.
• Preseason play will still be available from Patch 6.0 to 6.1.
• Wolf collars will still be obtainable and tradeable so there is no need to discard them.
• The rewards obtainable from The Feast will be rolled into the new rewards system. Yoshida thanks Feast players for their support and hopes they will support the new mode.

Crafting and Gathering Adjustments

• Disciples of the Land quests that currently require HQ items will be updated to accept both HQ and NQ items.
• HQ item delivery bonuses for DoL will be removed and base rewards improved.
• Actions that affected HQ yields when gathering will be adjusted.
• The requirements for achievements that involve gathering HQ items will be updated so they can still be completed.
• New actions will be added and existing actions will adjusted.
• Recipe progress and quality values will be adjusted in accordance with value downscaling across the board.
• Along with the above, further adjustments will be made so that the difficulty of crafting HQ items will not increase significantly in 6.0.
• For Mining and Botany, new actions will be added and existing actions will be adjusted. The name of “Perception” will be adjusted in some languages (English unaffected.)
• Greater perception heightens the chances of triggering Gatherer’s Boon, which increases yield by one.
• Actions that increase the probability of obtaining HQ items will be replaced with actions that increase the probability of Gatherer’s Boon.
• For Fishing, new actions will be added and existing actions will be adjusted.
• Large-sized fish will now appear in place of HQ fish, and action descriptions will be adjusted to reflect this.
• Perception will affect fish collectability.
• Spearfishing will be adjusted where it’s now a mini-game of sorts.
• Upon teeming waters, players will now directly utilize their harpoon to catch fish for greater immersion. Bonuses are awarded for successive catches, and more.

• Next up are leve reward adjustments. The amount of gil rewarded per levequest will be adjusted in light of gil inflation. The EXP and gil rewarded by tradecraft and fishing leves requiring a large number of items are currently too high and will be reduced.
• The EXP and gil rewarded by certain other leves will be increased to balance with the adjusted ones and the overall downscaling operation.

System Adjustments

• Required & Earned EXP downscaling – all classes and jobs, retainers and Trust NPCs will be affected.
• The time, number of duty clears, etc required to level up will remain unchanged.
• There will be a mid-level EXP reset as of 6.0. The team wanted to bump you up to the next level, but the database must be overwritten to implement the downscaling of values. As a result, any EXP accumulated between levels prior to 6.0 release will be reset to 0.
• Yoshida recommends that if you have a job that has a little way to go to the next level, to level it up before 6.0 drops.
• It would take three weeks of servers being offline to implement a way to preserve the EXP count between levels, so not worth it.
• Yoshida says don’t feel pressured to max out the level of all of your jobs, just to get the jobs that are close to the next level to the next level.

New Allagan tomestones are:
• Allagan Tomestones of Aphorism
• Allagan Tomestones of Astronomy

These sets are obtained with Aphorism.

• The team is trying to figure out how to expand glamour plates, and by 6.1 they hope to have a plan in place to start addressing inventory capacity.
• The number of tomestones needed for weapon exchange will be reduced from 1,000 to 500. The team looked at the balance of raid loot drops, and the removal of belts, and that it would restrict players’ options to continue to collect 1,000 to exchange for a weapon.
• The team will be able to add some new hairstyles for viera and hrothgar. Yoshida knows it’s felt like a long time, but the two races are very unique in how they are built which limits the types of hairstyles they can use.
• Female viera will have more hairstyles at 6.0. Male hrothgar will have more hairstyles as of 6.1. Viera males were constructed differently than females, and there are less limitations on hairstyles.

• Purple crafters’ and gatherer’s scrips will be added.
• The Achievement UI has been updated with a “Near Completion” and “Recommended” tab as well as an overall visual re-design. It’s supposed to look like a journal the Warrior of Light is using.

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• Group pose can now be activated while playing an instrument.
• The company action “Back on Your Feet” will be replaced with an action that extends sprint duration within cities.
• Items containing a random minion or mount will be added to the Grand Company Seal Exchange.
• Support for Embody’s Immerse Spatial Audio will be added (Windows only). It’s an original sound add-on produced by Embody that brings 360-degree personalized spatial audio to FFXIV.

Housing Update

• A new residential district, Empyreum, will be added based in Ishgard. The new area will be based on the Firmament. 24 wards + 24 subdivisions are planned.
• Players may tour the new area in Patch 6.0 with land available for purchase from Patch 6.1.
• The team has been working towards a new land purchase system. Relocation to land that is not yet ready for purchase will no longer be available as of 6.0.
• Land devaluation will be removed in 6.1 and it will no longer be possible to grant brand-new FC members authorization to purchase land or the rank of FC Master.
• A lottery system will be implemented in 6.1. The development and operations teams can designate a plot as first-come-first-served or through the lottery system. The majority of plots will likely use the lottery, but they’ll monitor for the need for first come, first served plots.
• To enter the lottery for a private plot: your character must have at least one class or job at level 50 or above. Characters must hold the Grand Company rank of second lieutenant or above.
• Another character on the same service account must not own a plot on the same World (though you may enter the lottery for the purpose relocating to a new plot).
• To enter the lottery for a free company plot, a character must be a member of a free company with authorization to purchase and relinquish land. Free company must have at least 4 members and be rank 6 or above.
• Another character on the same service account must not own, as buyer, a FC plot on the same World (though you may enter the lottery for the purpose of relocating to a new plot).
• The lottery schedule will be shared cross all Worlds and housing areas. For a period of several days, players can view a plot’s placard and enter the lottery, receiving an entry number.
• After the lottery has closed, the winning numbers are decided, and the winners must claim possession of the land. This period can last several days. If it is not claimed a new lottery period will commence.
• Each player my only enter the lottery for one plot of land during each lottery period. Lottery entry will take place at each empty plot’s placard where players can view the number of entrants. You’ll be able to evaluate based on the amount of other entrants.
• Players must buy the full price of the plot upon entry – unsuccessful players will be refunded in full. This is to prevent players from signing up for a plot on a whim. Players cannot withdraw after entering a lottery.
• The winning entrant can be confirmed via the plot’s placard. Winners must claim possession of their land within this period or it will be forfeit. (Only 50% of the purchase price of the forfeit land will be refunded.)
• These measures are intended to prevent abuse or purchasing plots unnecessarily and abandoning them.
• The back-end logs that are recording the system will be monitored for players attempting to interfere with others trying to purchase plots and will be considered a form of harassment.
• Players who did not win the lottery can receive a full refund within a limited time frame. The money can’t be stored on the server for a long time, so it’s limited to 90 days.
• There will be another walkthrough of this process prior to the release of Patch 6.1.
• The team is still looking into investing to expand housing servers for more wards and plots.
• A housing exterior that can be used like an outdoor restaurant or cafe. It’s available for small, medium, or large houses.

Oceanian Data Center

• Currently planned to open February 2022. Data Center will be called “Materia”.
• Worlds will be treated as new Worlds with free transfers and more bonuses available.

Announcements

• The Endwalker patch note reading livestream will air December 2 at 3:00am PST. Audio will be Japanese only. There may be a special guest appearance.
• The team is working on Patch 6.1 and constructing a new adventure. Apparently a certain gentleman will be re-appearing in Patch 6.1…

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