Final Fantasy XIV Online | jiggles, Seven and rinks have all returned to Eorzea

[jawa_]

twitter.com/FF_XIV_EN/status/1743603390486294782

News on FF XIV and Dawntrail will be shared at the Tokyo fan fest; streaming from 1am (UK) tonight.

[jawa_]

Level cap increase from 90 to 100
Tural, a vast continent where new adventures await
New cities: Tuliyollal and Solution Nine
Distinctive new areas, including Urqopacha, Yak T'el, Kozama'uka, Shaaloani, and Heritage Found
New allies to encounter: the Pelupelu, Moblins, Mamool Ja, Yok Huy, and Hanuhanu
New threats to overcome, including Valigarmanda, Eliminator, and the Barreltender
New dungeons
A new raid series: The Arcadion
A new alliance raid series: Echoes of Vana'diel
A new limited job: Beastmaster
Expansive new lifestyle content: Cosmic Exploration
New gear and crafting recipes
New variant dungeons
New Field Operations
A new Ultimate raid: Futures Rewritten (Ultimate)
New trials
New Unreal trials
PvP updates
Blue Mage updates
Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures
New plans for Deep Dungeons
Gold Saucer updates
First graphical update
Duty Support updates
System updates

+ New job: Viper (DPS)
+ New job: Pictomancer (DPS)
+ New race: Female Hrothgar

Phew!

Dawntrail information site: click

[jawa_]

twitter.com/FF_XIV_EN/status/1744331877476163967

...and the Tokyo fan fest has completed! Looking forward to hearing more about Dawntrail - and the 7.0 update - in the coming months.

[Carlos]

Allegedly the Xbox trial is coming 21st Feb. Personally I can’t wait to get back into the game.

I wish Microsoft had put it on Azure servers allowing streaming of it though. It would save downloading updates and let me play it on my iPad.

[Monkey Man]

The open beta test for the Xbox Series X|S version of FINAL FANTASY XIV is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, 21 February 2024 at around 8:00 (GMT) / 19:00 (AEDT)!

The open beta test will only be available to new players who will be playing FINAL FANTASY XIV for the first time. Take this opportunity to invite your Xbox-owning friends who have never experienced the ever-expanding world of FINAL FANTASY XIV and adventure together!

https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodeston ... 10c7d9fd95

[jawa_]

I really don't get why Xbox gamers will need to pay for Game Pass Core to play this when even Sony doesn't require gamers to pay for PS Plus to play it. The only thing I can think of is that Square Enix get money from Sony for having the game on PlayStation? In which case I wonder if this will now change when the game appears on Xbox?

Modern gaming with various time-limited situations continues to get murky.

[Met]

It used to be back in the day because it was a PS3 game Sony online was free anyway. Then, on the move to PS4, Yoshi fought to keep it grandfathered in because players were already paying for their sub, and that was one of the sticking points about bringing it to Xbox. I guess something gave in.

[jawa_]

The beta for Final Fantasy XIV Online will release on February 21st across Xbox Series X and Series S.

This is free for all Xbox owners, and progress will transfer over to the full version when it launches "immediately" following the conclusion of the beta. Further details about this will be announced later on.

Final Fantasy XIV Online's Xbox beta has a release time of 12am PT / 3am ET / 8am GMT on February 21st.
In terms of when the beta will end, this hasn't been determined as of yet - it'll be revealed in the future.

Source: Pure Xbox

Are you an Xbox player keen to try the game out?

[Monkey Man]

twitter.com/gamepasstracker/status/1760243282246840735

[Photek]

I'll give this a whirl over the weekend.

[Monkey Man]

twitter.com/Xbox/status/1765456439605395741

[jawa_]

It has been announced that the Xbox version will use a new currency for purchasing items and subscriptions.

...as revealed on the game’s official website, the Xbox version will include its own currency called FFXIV Coins, which players will have to buy with real money to make purchases on the Final Fantasy 14 Online Store and the Mog Station.

The Online Store is used for buying various items for use in the game, such as costumes, mounts, emotes, weapons, minions and furniture.

The Mog Station, meanwhile, is used to upgrade to the full version of the game, add game time to the player’s subscription and buying other services.

According to Square Enix, players who only play the Xbox Series X/S version of the game will have to buy FFXIV Coins and use these on the Online Store and Mog Station. Players who use their account on multiple platforms, however, can make purchases on the website using real money as usual and they will be carried over to the Xbox version.

The new currency will likely have been added to allow Microsoft to take a percentage from microtransactions and subscriptions, but only for players exclusively playing the game on Xbox consoles.

Source: Video Games Chronicle

This seems a little odd. The PC and PlayStation versions allow items and subscriptions to be purchased directly from Square Enix's FF XIV website. It is perhaps surprising that Sony agreed to this, but maybe this was in return for exclusivity. It appears that Microsoft has insisted that transactions be undertaken via the Xbox Store rather than through an external website; presumably as they will take a cut of all purchases made, depending upon the agreements that have been made.

The benefit for PlayStation gamers is that pricing of items and subscriptions is the same as the PC version; and that a PS Plus subscription is not required to play. Xbox players will perhaps wonder if pricing will be the same through the Xbox Store; and a Game Pass (Core) subscription is needed to play.

[jiggles]

I thought I’d said goodbye to this forever after running out of steam in my Endwalker playthrough but I’ve resubbed now and looking to get caught up in time for Dawntrail.

Moved servers back to Cerberus (from Siren, so back to Excellent ping after a long stint of meh), and rejoined my old FC. Buzzing about it really.

[Seven]

I never thought of saying goodbye forever to the game, I always knew I'd come back to it every now and then but i do tend to social a lot on FF14 and outside of it ala discord etc - so that would play main part in it.

But yeah I'm doing some stuff while waiting for Dawntrail to be released; usually with friends since going solo is bit meh.

[jawa_]

I was wondering about trying the game again. I really like the presentation and the exploration, but I have never got to grips with battling and don't really have any idea about how it works. The ability to play (most of?) the dungeon battles in singie-player has tempted me to return as then I won't be letting down other people during the fighting and I can try and work things out at my own pace.

[Knoyleo]

I also resubbed last week.

Not in preparation for the new expansion, MSQ wise I'm only at the start of Stormblood, but I missed having a big yet casual kind of game on the go, and I'd like to get through the MSQ again. I probably need to focus more on that than I have been, and worry less about the side stuff until later.

[rinks]

I'm tempted to give it a try, but obviously it's hugely daunting to start such a beast from the very beginning. Does it give you a structured way to keep track of the vast amount of things to do? (I'm aware that my completionist tendency probably isn't really suited to this kind of game.)

[Met]

Quests show up on the map and have 3 levels of icon: general side quest for flavour; blue sidequests with a + that unlock something like a dungeon; the flaming meteor icon that progresses the main story.

There's a journal that keeps track of things and a UI element that you can toggle that directs you to the next MSQ if you lose track between play session or patches.

Raids and fights etc have completion marks to keep track of things.

It's pretty easy to pull the map up for a region and realise you've got a couple of things to unlock there.

[rinks]

OK, that sounds good. I'm a sucker for a well-designed map structure. Cheers.

[rinks]

Just realised that the Starter Edition is only available to claim as a Game Pass perk until Friday. I'd better nab it now!

Anything I need to know about server/world choice?