Final Fantasy XIV: Week 3 - Player's Perspective

The last few weeks have been rather quiet in the world of Final Fantasy XIV. For an MMO that requires continuous improvements and tweaks, this is not exactly a good thing. Though producer Yoshi-P last touted that the next major patch (1.21) would bring the biggest update yet (and also bring it one step closer to its targeted 2.0 relaunch), the period of silence following this announcement has led to rumors about Yoshi-P giving up on his lofty task of fixing FFXIV. As unfounded as those rumors might be, FFXIV certainly does not need any more bad press.

As if waiting for the opportune moment to make a dramatic reprise, the hard-working producer has finally broken the silence and released a preview showing off the new jobs that will be included in 1.21, as well as a targeted release date for the patch. Come March 9th, seven additional jobs will be added to the current list of launch classes.

Dubbed the “Classic Job Pack” by longtime FF fans, the new jobs are indeed staples of the Final Fantasy series; Paladin, White Mage, Black Mage, Warrior, Monk, Bard and Dragoon will be made available after the next patch, which players can switch to upon finding the required “job stones” for each profession. Currently the requirements for obtaining the job stones are unknown…will new players be able to switch to these new classes instantly, or will they require leveling up one of the starting classes first? What about the skills and equipment associated with each job? According to Yoshi-P, each job will have its own dedicated quest as well as an Artifact Armor (AF) to find.

More importantly, what does this update portend to the existing set of jobs? Will Gladiators be left out of parties in favor of the tank-focused Paladin? What kinds of spells are exclusive to a Black Mage that a Thaumaturge couldn’t do? As usual, it will be up to the players to discover the best possible combinations to mix the old and new jobs together, and with the addition of two new LVL 50 Raids, Square Enix is hoping more players will begin migrating toward the slow-starting MMO.

On the subject, Square will also be merging the game’s servers on March 27th, cutting down the existing eighteen servers down to ten. In the meantime, players have until March 12th to change servers by filling out a World Transfer application. Hopping to another server will dissolve all currently owned Linkshells, but retain friend list information. A name change may also be required in the event that one character moves to a server that already contains their name.

Details on the merged worlds, as well as the application to request a server transfer, can be found in this official link: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/..

With all these big changes in store, it looks like Final Fantasy XIV is one game worth keeping an eye on this month, even in light of the release of what is arguably the biggest gaming release this year, Mass Effect 3. Will the improvements from the latest patch be enough to gain the attention of gamers after they’re done eliminating the Reaper threat? Only time will tell.