Random Thoughts.....What Are You Thinking?

Proto Ultima will be in the patch (unspecified however). It will be 24 man apparently, unchanged from Fanfest.

Native Resolution 4K will be given priority than Direct X 12 support.

The Monk (WoL specifically) shown in the trailer will be the new AF gear for Monks in 4.0. Female one is unspecified.

Trailer was said to be really hard to accomplish to what we have seen, stating that the process is almost like making a movie.

No comment on whether the female is a dancer or a monk.

"Obviously, the AF equipments will be obtainable once you're level 70"

The remaining AF equipments will be announced on sometime during next year's PLL.

The song used in the trailer might be different in the complete version of the opening in the future.

We are given at least 1/3 of the major content of Stormblood announcement (the remaining 2 assumed to be told during Japan Fanfest and Europe Fanfest.) This excludes minor ones that will of course be included in the future.

Hints that the scenario against Garlemald may go up to 6.0.

Up till now the Primals are summoned mostly by people of beast tribes. So as we are going to a totally new region and area, the primals that will appear in the future will be somehow illustrated differently from what we have seen so far.

Ascians may have a slightly lower presence in Stormblood.

Zenos yae Galvus is described, so far, with only a hint, as a character that does not go in line with any character.

Yoshida told the interviewer to look closely at his artwork and see if they can notice something from it. He also said the weapons he hold isn't exactly related to his character, and "if asked if he's holding a gunblade then yes he is holding a gunblade."

When asked if he can be compared to Kefka Palazzo. Yoshida asked to refrain from comparing. "For now, he's the biological son of the current Emperor". Yoshida told us to look forward to the future about him.

Regula Van Hydrus will have a role in 3.5 apparently. There will be a decisive moment about him, and any questions or doubts about him will also be revealed in 3.5 apparently.

Though the staffs have decided on what to do with Estinien, for now, they won't divulge anything. Yoshida also claims that Estinien is a character he like so he would like to have him at least appear in the future. He also prepared a "amazing stage for his appearance", and is afraid on how he would be received by the players.

Though whether Estinien will have a role in 4.0 or not is unclear, but as for who will appear in 4.0, it's almost already decided.

Voice recording for Stormblood will start soon. Yoshida also state that Estinien will not be the character that will just disappear entirely. Personally, Yoshida would like to have Estinien join the scions, but knowing his personality, even if Alphinaud were to invite him, he won't immediately take the offer and join, since he doesn't like company.

The flow for Stormblood to level 70 is the same: One main job will be going through the MSQ all the way to 70.

Side quests ratio might be lesser this time but the exp MSQ offers will be increased to be proportional. Though one thing to note: It's NOT about the amount of it will be lesser, it's more like the ratio between MSQ and SQ will be adjusted. For example. If 2.x has 200 MSQ and 150 SQ, then 4.x will be something like 250 MSQ but 100 SQ.

Another new job will be hinted on the upcoming Fanfest Japan/Tokyo.

Jobs. No classes.

Yoshida teasing readers. "I just love that Marvel character. Whether that means other things...yes...or not...heh. As for what I wore during 2014 (referring to Dark Knight T-Shirt), that's only because I like Christopher Nolan's movies (specifically referring to Nolan's Batman trilogy)"

When asked if revealing Dark Knight (the job, not Batman) is a coincidence. "Coincidence, maaaaybe?"

There won't be new roles in Stormblood.

As for battle system changes, it won't be to a point you need to relearn those skills once they enter Stormblood. To put in an extremely rough image: Think of it this way, for example: Adjusting Featherfoot to allow players to have high evasion rate instead of what we have right now. But do note that NOT all actions will be adjusted like that.

The entire objective of skills adjustment is to make it a lot more useful than before and not just some actions that are just there and doesn't serve any purpose. Of course there will also be some skills where it drops the current but gained other types of effect. However, Yoshida clarified that what he said was just an example. Do not take of it as an entire truth yet, as currently it's still undecided.

The skill cap when reaching level 70 remain the current level 60 cap, and stated that they plan, or hope, to not go beyond the error of having the skill for the specific job increase or decrease even if they add more skills. Though this is not finalized, but currently this is where they are at.

When asked about "battle system specific UI" that was mentioned in Fanfest Keynote. Like for example, "Will there be any changes on the concept of maintaining Blood of the Dragon or Enochian itself?", Yoshida answers: "This is just an example, but there is a possibility that you can maintain the effects of Enochian infinitely. But in return, it's only an added bonus towards Black Mage by doing through specific order. Something like that. This is really just an example, like when the Enochian timer starts ticking, basically even if the timer has been used up it will automatically restart. But, with specific time with specific actions used, a somewhat different element pushes it to a plus side...something like that. Currently the problem is, between the situation of "the case of being able to maintain Enochian" and "not being able to maintain Enochian" created such a huge gap in DPS itself. Therefore, if we don't think of something to address on the state of Enochian not "wearing off" and on top of that, giving bonus to players who have done well to maintain Enochian, then we won't be able to close the gap itself. However, if we made it too simple, the top players will feel that it's boring, so from there we try implement a new feature, and aim for a point where the top players will feel even better playing it. Though it's just a tentative conversation here, but there are cases where being able to do AoE attacks right after Ley Line, and then while continue avoiding, gradually moving away from your destination."

On additional skills, there isn't much but considering how tank stances will work with the adjustment that will come in the future. Yoshida is still thinking of how to address the problems of stance switching on additional skills right now. However the adjustments will shape the outcome of the battle content itself, as they are created through formula calculations, and other factors.

The overall new skills for Stormblood is aimed towards making it much better than the roles they are confined to, like making DRG great again more fun, or make PLD defend better, and sturdier. However, how to obtain those new skills might be different from the usual, like there will be changes in the usual "level up to a certain level, receive job quest and gain new skills".

There are also considerations on whether each jobs will get their specific UI or not. Like DRK has a specific DRK gauge bar, and from there DRK players will manage that bar. The image is something like that. The UI interface graphics will be different depending on what job you use, as well. Like if MNK, Greased Lightning will have 3 orbs like Mantra located somewhere on the screen, first orb will lit when the greased lightning stack is 1, and then if 3, if shines brightly, something like gauge getting filled up in fighting games.

Even so, DoTs will still require management, so not all timers will be removed. For example: Enochian get its specific UI to manage while Thunder I/II/III will work just as usual from before. So in short, skills that encompass what the job truly is about, will be getting a specific UI. The specific UI used by key skills will be the key to have your DPS go higher, but doesn't change the core concept of how the skill itself works.

Specific UI will only be available for jobs at level 60. 1 - 59 will be as usual. Think of it as once you gain actions that shapes the core of the job itself, then the system that corresponds with the skill will be available, therefore, the level where you gain your skills may also change in order to allow you to get used to the skills beforehand. Most of the existing skills will be overall adjusted to accommodate it.

Additional Skill changes however will apply to all levels, so it starts from level 1. Additional job skills that are told to be shared across roles will be skills that are buffs (Raging Strikes, Internal Release, etc) and debuffs (Bio, Miasma, etc). Melee Range and Long Phsycial Range are considered different roles. However Physical Range and Caster however may, or might be considered under the same role. As for tanks, Skills that share the same effect may be the selected skills that are shared across roles, but still requires lots of factors to be considered before it's finalized.




Global Cooldown combos will not change, however.

Existing jobs will have different images accompanying those changes. The unification of jobs and class itself may be in 5.0 onwards when asked, that is if they want to do it. Because that itself will take a lot of time to actually execute it, they don't have time right now to deal with this.

Yoshida commented on the level up bonus points and commented that new players rarely ever does that since other recent, new games rarely have that feature.

One staff member actually proposed a "Intermediate Hall" (due to having Novice Hall) to Yoshida. Where it teaches rotations to players. Yoshida was initially quite "meh" over the feature, but recently began to think that maybe it's a good idea.

For Accuracy, Yoshida commented that there is a possibility that it will be removed altogether and is quite stumped that it's a feature that in the end caused inconveniences more. As for Parry, it lies under the same fate. The specifics MAY change but in the end it MAY be removed entirely.

For End game Raids, though Yoshida's thoughts will make it too long, in short he is happy about the result of the raid scene right now and he does understand that some may feel somewhat "not enough" from it, and he doesn't plan to be satisfied from there, and he plans to do adds something more to the experience even after one has cleared the raid.

Yoshida is extremely glad that people being able to experience the story from doing normal mode of the raid, and he personally thinks he should maintain the Normal - Savage two mode setting. However, he also understands that top players felt held back by that setting and he knows that it's because there are top players that the normal players have something to strive for, and on that, Also, he is discussing with the staff on topics like "Maybe it'll be better if there is one more mode other than Normal and Savage", geared specifically to the best of the best players. (Personal comment: Looks like most of you here are one step closer to what you ask for. Though, personally? Beware of what you wish for...)

When asked what kind of challenge, Yoshida said "Maybe it's kind of, instead of content that is made for everyone, it's more of a content of superiority". When asked if this is a mode beyond Savage, Yoshida says yes. And to enter that, "A party that has cleared all the requirements beforehand" is his answer. Yoshida did also mention that instead of a difficulty based content, it's more like a "challenge". When asked if the person has to clear Savage 4th floor beforehand, Yoshida says yes. He only hoped that since it's a no holds barred difficulty, Yoshida hopes that no one will complain that it's too hard... ("Too hard" may be the words you should not say for this particular suggested mode).

Yoshida personally commented that Creator Savage is the best when it comes to raid balancing so far. He is glad that because there are a lot of people that have cleared Savage, it encourages other lesser players to give it a try and they have been progressing nicely. However, he doesn't promise that this difficulty will be the baseline for the next raid due to level caps, battle system changes and other factors.

On Creator Savage clear comments. Yoshida predicted that the world first can clear A9S under 2 hours, while A10S, 2 1/2 hours, which Yoshida's predictions were slightly off. While A11S was cleared just before the maintenance, the opinions within the staff hence were split during the prediction, so the gap between the World First clear time and the staff's prediction were around 6 hours, and the staff predicted whether world first could clear A12S within the same day, which again, kind of hitting the staff's prediction mark. So the clear time around 48 hours (or more or less) is almost definitely within their expectations. Yoshida also commented that A11S was indeed the wall to most.

Optical Sight mechanic has created a player base of "being able to do this mechanic easily" and "bad at this mechanic". They definitely took note in that.

Not much hints about 24 man Alliance raid. Of course, the raid remains 24-man (meaning 24 players), you may be able to catch a glimpse of it on the next upcoming Fanfest.

On Forbidden Land of Eureka, Yoshida doesn't think that it's a place everyone would like to visit, equating to a ghost house where "why would I want to purposely visit a scary place like that".



While the inventory expansion is underway, it is unknown whether they'll be doing it for Retainers or not. That's because the system specifications of inventory bag for the player and the retainers are different.

When ask if the termination of PS3 support means they have secured the additional resources needed to expand the inventory slots for other platforms. Yoshida says "As a lot of players completely misunderstood that, No, the termination of PS3 support has nothing to do with it, at all"

(Yoshida does provide an in depth explanation about the inventory system thingy but I'm omitting this in order not to clutter the content too much. I may make a separate topic with the full translation if requested)

When asked further. Yoshida has clarified that a lot of people cited how memory problems are the ones holding back the game, but in actuality, it never was about memory issues. (This was also explained in depth but I'm providing a TL;DR version of it).

Also, the reason of ending PS3 support is due to how they want to enhance and improve the playing experience of FFXIV itself through a hardware that provides a much better experience, and since Sony has been pushing PS4 up, both companies decided to fully bring the game into the next level, is the reason Yoshida provided. Yoshida also reiterated that cutting off PS3 support is not meant to cut off, or, abandon the PS3 players, but he's doing it completely to encourage the players by playing the game with a much better experience.

On next segment, Jumping potions. Yoshida mentions that the ratio of agreement in implementing jump potions are 7:3. If they do implement this, the devs will decide to allow jumping potions only up to a certain level (which is level 60).

The release date for 4.0 Stormblood is strongly hinted (note: Strongly hinted, not confirmed) to be June next year.