Eorzean Evening Post: Great Features of Patch 3.2 - MMOGames.com

This week we’re continuing our look at the features of patch 3.2, moving beyond just the Mentor and Novice Network systems and looking at other quality of life features that were introduced.

Beast Tribe Quests

It isn’t quite what you might consider a quality of life feature but, beast tribe quests have been a staple of end game content for quite a while. These are daily repeatable quests that provide a number of rewards for completion. The beast tribe quests in Heavensward also tell the story of specific beast tribes and show how their settlements change and grow thanks to your help and influence.

Patch 3.2 brought us a brand new tribe to help out – the insect-like Vath. These are individuals who have broken away from the hive-mind Gnath race, who worship the primal Ravana. But, just because they are thinking and acting on their own doesn’t mean they don’t feel the call to return to the hive…

I won’t give away any of the story, but much like the Vanu quests that came before, you’re helping the tribe build up their settlement and find new ways to survive. You’re also learning a lot of lore and culture about the Vath tribe and the struggles they face.

Both Vanu and Vath tribe now reward level 60 players with Tomes. Vanu quests hand out a hefty 15 Eso Tomes for each completed quest a day. The Vath reward 5 Lore Tomes for each quest, which adds up slowly over time.

However, if leveling an alt job is more important to you, you can still choose to complete the quest with any job level 50 or above for the daily experience boost. No matter which you choose, you will also earn tribal tokens that can be exchanged at the vendor for items, including items you need to complete your relic weapon.

Duty Roulette Queue Order

Want to run a duty? Grab a number and wait in line. Because now you can actually see where you stand in the queue compared to other people who are playing the same role.

I know I can’t be the only one who queues up for a Duty Roulette and sees that vague average waiting time estimate, then realizes I need to refill my drink. Or the phone rings, or you get a text, or the cat knocks something over in the other room…  But you have no idea where you stand in the queue, so you don’t know if you can walk away from the PC and risk missing the duty finder pop while you’re away.

Well, this little feature gives you a better idea of how much longer you have to wait, and how fast the line is moving ahead of you. For those of us who play DPS classes and are used to the longer waits, it’s really a nice addition to have a better queue estimate.

Duty Roulettes in Parties

Until this patch, players have been unable to queue for Leveling Roulette, Trails Roulette, Main Scenario Roulette, and Guildhests Roulette with a pre-made party. That meant, if you wanted to run any of those duties, you had to leave your friends and FC pals behind and do it solo. Night after night.

While I understand the reasoning behind this – it was to ensure new players got through story content – it was a real bummer that a group-oriented game meant PUG-forced grouping for so much content.

Players have been asking for years to be able to group with friends for Leveling Roulette, and now it’s come to pass. It has been such a nice feature, too! My FC has been taking every advantage of it, and it actually has helped us teach newer players dungeon mechanics much easier because it can be a nightly thing if we choose.

Since Leveling Roulette is one of the best ways to level a job, and it also offers max-level characters a stack of Eso Tomes, this has to have been one of the best changes of this patch, IMHO.

Raid Changes

There’s been a movement to revive the Crystal Tower raid within the community. Thankfully, there’s been some movement to help the status of this raid from the developers, too. Previous to the patch, Crystal Tower provided players nothing but a fun experience, some loot drops, maybe a minion, and the chance to practice level 50 rotations.

With patch 3.2, the Crystal Tower bosses now give players experience! While it’s not a huge amount of experience, it’s respectable, and much more than players got before.

The Tower also drops music scrolls for the Orchestrion. Some of the tunes from these raids are really awesome tracks, so to have them playing in your house or inn room would be plain awesome!

The Void Ark raid also got some love this time around. Drops are no longer limited to one per week. You also get the Mhachi Farthing, used for upgrading Eso armor, each time you run it now. Once a week, you can earn the Mhachi Matter, which you can trade for the new tier V materia. Good stuff!

Tome Changes

We all knew that the Tome rotation was going to happen soon. Just like in the past, the lowest form of end-game currency, the Law Tomes, were removed from the game. The armor you used to be able to earn with these Tomes are now purchased using clan hunt seals in Ishgard.

The Eso Tomes have taken the place of the Law Tomes, and the Eso armor is far easier to obtain and upgrade now. Any Duty that used to reward Law now rewards Eso, and you can exchange all your unused Law for Eso as well. This has been a fantastic time to quickly catch up with the rest of the folks who already have Eso armor, and to start gearing alt jobs if you haven’t done it through Void Ark yet.

The new Lore Tomes take the spot that Eso Tomes once had. The armor takes about the same time to earn as Eso did, but is a pretty big jump in ilvl. The asthetics of the armor is designed around the Primals, which is a really neat look. This is the first Tome armor to ever have materia slots, too. So you can further boost the gear’s stats through melding materia to it.

Just like every FFXIV patch, patch 3.2 had a ton of content and quality of life improvements for players to enjoy.  Every time a new patch drops, I’m always amazed at how much the team packs into the normal updates.

The above list didn’t even touch on the new Main Quest Scenario storyline or the return of our favorite Manderville man, Hildibrand. The next patch is going to bring some huge new PVP changes for those who enjoy that aspect of FFXIV as well! Look forward to it!