Eorzean Evening Post: Patch 3.1 – Details Confirmed .

The newest Final Fantasy XIV developer livestream from the Tokyo Game Show went a long way in confirming details on what we can expect to see in Patch 3.1. We know that it’s set to release in November, and that it’s titled As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness. As suggested by the title, the story will focus on the struggle of the Warrior of Light (the player) against the Warrior of Darkness, who was introduced for the first time at the end of the Heavensward final credits.

I’m also hoping this won’t deviate the story too far away from the plot concerning Estinien and his ongoing struggle with the dragon Nidhogg. I found myself growing to like everyone’s favorite emo Azure Dragoon, and want to dedicate myself to doing what I can to helping him out of his current predicament (I’m keeping it vague to prevent spoilers for those who haven’t finished Heavensward yet).

Outside of the story itself, there’s plenty of content to look forward to. I touched on these in a previous post, but now we have more details on what we can expect these features to include. Oh, and a new Haurchefant portrait for your house – can’t forget that!

The Void Ark Raid

For a time, “Void Ark” was a tentative name for this raid, but it seems to have stuck as the team continues to call it that. I personally think it’s a pretty cool name for a raid that takes place on a huge haunted sky pirate ship, and I’m really looking forward to trying this out.

We already had a good idea that it was going to be the next 24-man raid. It’s now confirmed to be similar to difficulty and in requirements as the Crystal Tower series. There will be three parties of eight players made up of 3 tanks, 6 healers and 15 DPS.

There will be a weekly loot lockout, similar to Crystal Tower. However, gear and material lockouts will be separate this time around.

Airship Exploratory Missions

If your Free Company has a workshop and is building a fleet of airships, then you already have a jump on this new feature. Your FC members will be able to ride these ships to floating islands filled with monsters and treasure.

These areas are open content, which means you can meet other parties who are exploring the same island. The goal is somewhat old-skool in that you are there to kill as many monsters as you can and reap the rewards.

Though all details of the exact party system haven’t been revealed yet, we do know that even if you’re not part of a FC, you can still take part in these missions. You can also queue up solo or create a pre-formed party before heading to islands.

Let’s talk about risks and rewards. We know that the monsters there will be tough: even the weakest will be the equivalent of a A rank hunt. There will be even more rare and powerful Notorious Monsters, too.

The rewards for your effort include three types of chests: Bronze, Silver and Gold. We do know that these chests can possibly drop new gear of up to ilvl 210, which rivals the most powerful gear in the game right now. You can also use materials dropped from the islands to craft unique gear, and exchange items you don’t want for points that can be used to purchase other items.

 

Lord of Verminion

The Lord of Verminion mini-game will take place at the Gold Saucer. It’s a RTS, 2-player game where you summon minions to do battle against each other. Think Pokemon meets Civilization or such.

There are four different modes: tutorial, challenge, training and battle. Each round has a time limit of 10 minutes, and the game will match you with similar players based on previous battle performance.

Each minion has four stats: HP, ATK, DEF, SPD. They also have a skill, special effect, type and a specific point cost to summon.

There are four types of minions: Critters, Puppets, Monsters and Gadgets. The game plays out similar to Paper-Rock-Scissors where Critters > Puppets > Monsters > Critters. Gadgets are the odd one out, not having advantages or disadvantages to any of the other type.

There are, of course, achievements and rewards tied to the game, along with earning MGP. This should be an interesting little pastime, especially for those who really concentrated on collecting all the many minions in FFXIV.

 

Other Notable Topics

Though we don’t have exact details, we know that the new relic weapon quest is confirmed for patch 3.1. Depending on your feelings for the previous relic weapon quest, this could be something good or bad.

In 2.0, the relic weapon content was considered fairly grindy compared to the rest of the game. In my opinion, it was meant to be this way to discourage all but the really dedicated people to jump through the hoops required to gather all the atma or alex or light needed to make their weapon more shiny.

Again, we don’t have any specifics on how this is going to work. We do know that people who completed the previous relic weapons will get a bit of a boost in starting the new relic. So, we’ll just have to wait and see.

We haven’t heard if any major housing changes are going to happen in this patch yet. I’m looking forward to being able to share my house ownership with friends, and possibly even moving my house to another housing ward sometime in the future. These are all features that were listed in previous Live Letters, but with no confirmation of what time-frame we’d see them happen.

We do know that housing glamours, which were introduced with the housing worshop in Heavensward, seem to have development attention. We’ll be getting a new craftable housing glamour to create the Moogle Style house of your dreams in patch 3.1. Oh, and as I mentioned above, the Haurchefant portrait is a real thing. I’ve gotta have one for my little cottage, thank you.

Aside from that, we’re seeing some new outfits and hairstyles. Some are confirmed to come from the Gold Saucer, including the exciting new afro hair. I can just imagine all the afro lalafells already.

The final thing of note is that the devs are at work at improving how the Ninja plays. Ninja is a fast-paced DPS job that requires you to input specific combos, known as Mudras, to execute specific skills. Due to the speed of the job, however, some players suffer from what is known as Mudra lag, which is not only frustrating, but can also casue you to miss combos and lose DPS in the process.

Ninjas should be happy to hear that in patch 3.1, Mudra lag is finally getting a good looking at in hopes to make the combos a smoother experience. That, along with the already implemented TP battle gage, will hopefully make the life of the Ninja a lot better in FFXIV.