The Mog Log: The last stretch before patch 2.2 in Final Fantasy XIV

The past week has brought up an interesting problem regarding the timing of this column and upcoming releases. On the one hand, I had planned to talk today about why there aren't more tanks in Final Fantasy XIV. On the other hand, we also have received a lot of news about patch 2.2, which is launching in a little over a week. Do I push back discussing the patch previews in favor of talking about a larger structural issue?

I don't think I can, especially when the reason there aren't as many tanks is one that's been explained dozens of times in other games whilst still being applicable here. Instead, let's talk about 2.2. We've got a week and change until this drops, and while I've already discussed a good portion of the endgame elements, we've got a clearer picture of what's coming out other than that. So while we'll doubtlessly learn more during the next live letter, let's talk about what we've got now.

Glamourous

The problem with a vanity system is that there are always things that you can't do with it that someone wants to be able to do with it. I know at least one person who had really hoped for one thing from this system that we know for certain will not actually be possible. There has never been a vanity system that makes everyone happy, and this will not be the one that changes that.

Having said all of that, I think the system is fairly powerful at the moment. Make a prism, use it on an item, and put anything at or below that level onto the new item. You are restricted to items equippable by your current class or job, which makes me a little bit sad, as I'd dearly hoped to slot in a couple pieces of MNK gear from CT onto my PLD kit, but I can settle for the many pieces of equipment that are usable by PLD without being ideal. I would also note that if you still have some dated equipment kicking around, that equipment is usable by any job.

We're also getting what appear to be colorable crafted versions of the game's major dungeon sets. I'm not sure what levels those will be, and part of me fears those will be the new crafting recipes at the top tier of dungeon quality, but the fact that they exist alone is a good thing. I've been trying to get my hands on an Infantry Shirt without luck pretty much forever.

Gentlemen!

I love Hildibrand. The whole quest line involving everyone's favorite gentleman is like a litmus test for the game as a whole. Yes, you could argue that the quests are mechanically the same as you'd find in any number of games, and you'd be completely right. The difference is that the sequence is utterly hilarious and brilliantly executed from start to finish. Over the course of one quest line, 2.1's Hildibrand story made fun of anime, Final Fantasy XIV itself, the players of said game, quest objectives in general, and zombies.

To say that I'm looking forward to the new quests is obvious. I also suspect that this will tie into the new weapons previewed on the patch page, since fighting Gilgamesh appears to be tied into the Hildibrand story. We know that we might want to drag our Relics out of storage, so I'd be a bit surprised if there is no option to upgrade to another tier through means slightly more involved than just spending more tomestones... perhaps through a fight with a legendary weapon collector. Is this where Gerolt's "new" weapons come in?

But more than anything, I expect this to be fun. I love the localization devs' approach to humor in the game as a whole, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they can produce in another go-round with a quest that's meant to be silly, start to finish.

Go get that (also, gardens)

We don't know much of anything about ventures at the moment. We know that they involve decking your retainers out in all your old no-longer-worthwhile Darklight gear and setting them out to go grab something, but that's about it. This does appear to be meant to ease the pain of farming, but it could also wind up being a nasty sideswipe to the game's economy again.

2.1 hit the economy pretty hard. Instead of giving crafting classes a new way to make money, it destroyed the prices on almost everything and made crafting less worthwhile than ever. Philosophy materials became trivially simple to gather, crashing the prices on crafted 70 armor and weapons, and no one was buying furniture because no one could afford a house in the first place. One of the few real sources of profit left was the various items that were worthwhile to farm, just because those were still in somewhat shorter supply and you had to work to gather them up.

There's room to point out that things like fleece are annoying to gather and the subject of far too much competition. However, if ventures are easily repeatable, it might cut down on farming altogether, removing yet another way to make money and exacerbating the current issues. I know, there are new craftable items incoming along with glamour prisms... but still. It bears noting.

Similarly, I'm not yet sure what function gardens are meant to serve. Providing reliable botany materials? Gathering those isn't exactly challenging without your own private patch. Time will tell, hopefully.

Granting rewards

Oddly, we don't yet know what we'll be getting from the new dungeons outside of tomestones. My first guess is that we're going to see level 70 armor drop, which is high enough to make Darklight optional but not so high to make Crystal Tower irrelevant. Or perhaps the powers that be will really surprise us and the dungeons will just give everyone a chance at bonus tomestones instead of quickly replaced gear. Who knows?

Well, we'll know in a little over a week. Feedback on all of this is welcome down in the comments, of course, or via mail to eliot@massively.com, but next time around I'm obviously going to be talking about the patch and my impressions of same.

From Eorzea to Vana'diel, there is a constant: the moogles. And for analysis and opinions about the online portions of the Final Fantasy series, there is also a constant: The Mog Log. Longtime series fan Eliot Lefebvre serves up a new installment of the log every other Monday, covering almost anything related to Square-Enix's vibrant online worlds.