The latest major update forFinal Fantasy XIV, specificallypatch 7.3, is available starting August 5, and with it comes a slew of new and adjusted content. While players have been a little down on the MMORPG sinceDawntrail, this patch doesn’t look to help too much, with 7.4 appearing to be the major patch that will bring players back. Regardless, update 7.3 still has quite a few improvements that hopefully will satisfy current players.
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What We’ve Come to Expect
The content we’ve come to expect in a major post-release patch for the MMO’s expansion, Dawntrail, isn’t anything new. Square Enix has been using the same formula for a decade now, having a similar rollout and content distribution, with some adjustments here and there. For 7.3, we’ll, of course, be getting new story quests, finally concluding the Alexandria scenario we’ve had since the start of Dawntrail. Along with this comes a new Trial and Extreme version, along with a dungeon (Meso Terminal) to coincide with the story quests.
Being an odd patch, we’re also getting the second Echoes of Vana’diel Alliance Raid, San d’Oria: The Second Walk. This is arguably the biggest piece of content most players will be looking forward to, considering the Alliance Raid content stories have been more interesting than the main story for the last two expansions thus far. This will dive deeper into more of Prishe’s story as we learn more about where she came from and get nostalgic from all the Final Fantasy XI throwbacks.
Outside these two, we’ll also be getting a new Treasure Map: Vault Oneiron. This is themed after the high-tech areas similar to Solution Nine and can be accessed with the newly added Gargantuaskin Treasure Maps. This looks to be a new type of treasure hunting, a means of gathering with friends and going through various RNG-based dungeons.
Other than that, The Wreath of Snakes will cylce in for the Unreal raids, there have been a slew of adjustments to the potency of skills for most of the jobs (Pictomancer once again recieves a nerf), and iLevel 740 crafted gear can be exchanged for 750 gear.
…dive deeper into more of Prishe’s story as we learn more about where she came from and get nostalgic from all the Final Fantasy XI throwbacks.
What’s New
One of the biggest improvements is the addition of headware now being able to be worn by Viera and Hrothgar. Considering this was something that fans have been wanting since Shadowbringers, and something Square Enix have said they’re working on, it’s finally available, or at least to “a large number” of existing headgear. On top of that, they have made adjustments to specific hoods and headware where bangs from certain hairstyles will appear, instead of simply removing them.
For combat-related content, cast bars have been added below the nameplates of certain enemies. This is a huge quality-of-life improvement that ensures players don’t have to look at the enemy list to see when a cast is about to go off. On top of that, while not combat-related, another new feature has been added over the heads of players: chat bubbles. You finally have the ability to see what people are saying in a visual means other than looking at the chat log, something most MMORPGs come built in.
One of the bigger issues with the Field Exploration, Occult Crescent, is that if you’re entering an alliance raid with upwards of 24 players, it wouldn’t always guarantee gaining access to the same instance. This is finally changing with this update, as it will always put players in a new instance.
We should also mention that new items have been added to the PvP shop in exchange for Trophy Crystals. This is something we’ve been waiting for since Endwalker, considering you quickly run out of things to buy if you play PvP somewhat regularly. On top of that, a new Bayside Battleground map has been added to Crystalline Conflict, with the quality-of-life improvement of seeing how long before a medicine kit respawns on the field.
Miscellaneous
Outside the main course, we have various other adjustments and new content:
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