Letter From the Producer LIVE LXX Announces Patch 6.1 Date

1 Apr 2022
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The second half of the patch 6.1 Letter from the Producer LIVE was broadcasted this morning and with it came a whole lot of information for the upcoming patch, Newfound Adventure including its trailer.

With the trailer came the confirmation of the release date of patch 6.1: April 12th. As this is a major patch, there will be a 24hr maintenance prior to the patch going live.

As always, Yoshida re-watched the trailer and then started the presentation with an overview of what is coming in 6.1 patch.

What’s to come in Patch 6.1

  • New Main Scenario Quests
  • New Sidequests (Patch 6.1x)
    • “Tataru’s Grand Endeavor” series begins
  • New Role Quests
    • Additional storyline
  • New Tribal Quests (Patch 6.15)
    • Arkasodara tribe quests (for battle classes and jobs)
  • Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures (Patch 6.15)
  • Omega: Beyond the Rift (Patch 6.1x)
  • New Custom Deliveries (Patch 6.15)
    • Ameliance Leveilleur
  • Duty Support System
  • Improvements to A Realm Reborn Main Scenario Quests
    • Duty Support for A Realm Reborn (Patch 2.0 only)
    • Major revisions to Cape Westwind and later duties
  • Changes to Main Scenario Roulette

They then showed off the Duty Support system for A Realm Reborn and its differences to the Trust System as it was introduced in Shadowbringers. For Patch 2.0 content, primarily unnamed characters will join you in these MSQ duties. It will say “Eager Conjurer” or “Scion Thaumaturge” for example instead of you being able to call Alisaie to your side. In the recent interviews with Japanese media outlets, Naoki Yoshida did mention that there will be MSQ related NPCs as characters for the Duty Support system in 3.0 and the 3.x series, but as of right now, it is unclear whether or not this will be restricted to Heavensward or not.

During a short excursion into Toto-Rak we were given a first glance at the changes being made to the dungeons. In this instance, the ceiling of the dungeon was raised much higher, offering up a much cleaner view of the dungeon amongst other significant map changes that could already be spotted from the short preview.

What’s to come in Patch 6.1 (continued)

  • New Dungeon
  • New Trial
    • The Minstrel’s Ballad: Endsinger’s Adia
  • New Unreal Trial
    • Ultima’s Bane (Unreal)
  • New Alliance Raid
    • Myths of the Realm Part 1
  • New Ultimate Duty (Patch 6.11)
    • Dragonsong’s Reprise
  • Job Adjustments
  • PvP Updates
  • Plot sales in Empyreum, Ishgard’s residential district
  • Adventurer Plates (beta version)
  • Portrait editor (beta version)
  • The Unending Codex
  • Data Center Travel (Patch 6.18)
  • Miscellaneous Updates
    • New Game+ additions (Patch 6.0 and a portion of 6.1)
    • New Hrothgar hairstyles
    • More glamour plates and locations where they can be used
    • Ability to try on items from the FFXIV Online Store
    • New idle animation for parasols
    • Check mark displayed on items used to obtain minions, mounts, etc already acquired
    • Improved market search for items used to obtain minions, mounts, etc.

The first big topic they dove further into, were some of the upcoming job adjustments in 6.1. Keep in mind, that the following is not an exhaustive list of the upcoming job adjustments. Yoshida clarified during the Live Letter that more jobs would get adjustments and there are planned adjustments that may be pushed to patch 6.2. Please look forward to the full patch notes for 6.1 for the entire list of changes.

Job Adjustments

Patch 6.1 Job Adjustments

  • Machinist
    • Potency of multiple actions, including Heat Blast, Wildfire, and Drill, have been increased.
  • Samurai
    • To resolve issues with widely fluctuating DPS from critical hits, the actions Midare Setsugekka, Kaeshi: Setsugekka, Ogi Namikiri and Kaeshi: Namikiri will now be guaranteed critical hits.
    • To reduce action bloat, Hissatsu: Kaiten has been removed.
    • In accordance with this change, action potencies have been adjusted.
  • Ninja
    • To improve synergy with other jobs, Mug (120sec recast) will now apply a debuff to enemies increasing damage they take from party members.
    • Trick Attack has been changed to now only increase personal damage dealt to target.
    • In accordance with this change, action potencies have been adjusted.
  • Dark Knight
    • To improve survivability when using Living Dead, the effect of Walking Dead will now restore HP by a significant amount upon successfully landing attacks.
  • Dragoon
    • Shortened the animation lock for Jump actions.
  • Summoner
    • Searing Light will now be cast directly from the summoner instead of Carbuncle.
  • White Mage
    • The effect radius of Cure III and Asylum has been extended to 10 yalms.
    • Liturgy of the Bell can now be ended at will to restore an amount of HP dependent on the number of stacks remaining.
  • Scholar
    • The effect radius of Sacred Soil has been extended to 10 yalms.
    • The effect duration of Expedience, granted by the action Expedient, has been reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds.

Next, we got a look at the first installment of the new Alliance Raid Myths of the Realm, called Aglaia. For the story, Players will be accompanied by an NPC who Yoshida had to hide from the stream in order to not spoil more than he wanted to. The dungeon appears to be high above the ground and the platforms lead to a gigantic stone statue of Rhalgr.

New Tribe Quests (Arkasodara)

After this very short preview, Yoshida brought us back to Thavnair and showed the first tribe quest area for Endwalker, the Arkasodara. Their camp is located just northwest of Yedlihmad. We also got a look at several new mounts, minions, and fashion accessories which will be available through various means in 6.1x. He then took another look at the Dream Fitting system which will allow players to try on items from the MogStation ingame. This feature will only be available at inn rooms.

Housing Plot Sales from Patch 6.1

  • All wards in all residential districts to use lottery system in Patch 6.1
  • More plots will be available for Free Companies in Patch 6.1
    • Per-region sales will be monitored, and system adjustments made from Patch 6.1x onward accordingly

Lottery Cycle

  • All world will follow a shared 9-day cycle (Earth time)
    • Lottery Period (5 days)
      • Players can view a plot’s placard and enter the lottery, receiving an entry number.
      • Initial schedule: From release of Patch 6.1 on April 12 to 7:59am on April 16 (PDT) / 14:59 (GMT) / 17 April 0:59 (AEST)
    • Results Period (4 days)
      • Winning numbers are decided, and winners must claim possession of the land.
      • Initial schedule: From 8:00am on April 16 to 7:59am on April 20 (PDT) / 14:59 (GMT) / 21 April 0:59 (AEST)

New gear, glamour, and housing items were shown next after which they took a break and showed past trailers of products which turned out to be April Fool’s jokes.

New Extreme Trial: Endsinger’s Adria

The second half of the 70th Letter from the Producer Live opened with the new extreme and a very quick look ad the arena and the first few mechanics of the fight. As a reminder: players will receive two totems upon successful completion of the trial.

Adventurer Plates (beta version)

A much longer focus was given to the new Adventurer Plate system. Yoshida spent roughly twenty minutes designing his character’s plate while explaining the new system.

The system consists of three parts:

  1. Profile
    • Display what time you normally play, your favorite jobs, titles, playstyle, and more!
    • Your GC rank, FC name, and search comment will automatically be reflected.
  2. Portrait
    • Customize your portrait by selecting a pose, expression, lighting, camera, background, frame, accent, and more.
    • You can save multiple variations, and switch between one of your favorites at a time.
  3. Plate Design
    • Choose from a selection of base plates, plate frames, top and bottom borders, and more.

If you want to see the system in action, the section starts at 2:42:33 in the video:

The last big part of the Live Letter were the PvP updates with a closer look at the new PvP mode Crystalline Conflict, which will be replacing The Feast.

PvP Updates

  • Crystalline Conflict – small scale PvP
  • PvP actions revamped and Limit Break actions for each job
  • New PvP rewards system
  • The Feast will end with the release of Patch 6.1
  • Rival Wings on hiatus during Patch 6.1 for balancing

Crystalline Conflict

  • 5v5 team competition
  • Each team formed of 5 different jobs, with no role restrictions
  • Casual, Ranked, and Custom matches available
  • Ranked matches group players of similar skill

Basic Rules

  • Two teams with bases on opposite ends of the map compete to claim possession of a crystal in the center.
  • The teams with the most players in the vicinity of the crystal will gain control over it, and begin pushing it towards the enemy base.
  • The team that gets the crystal into the goal wins!

Yoshida took a tour through the arena and then played a test match with other devs on stream which also features a variety of Adventure Plates shown at the beginning of each match. Forward to 3:14:16 of the video to watch the Crystalline Conflict in action.

A regular match lasts five minutes. Should neither team secure a win in that time frame, the game will go into Overtime and enter a Sudden Death mode. Once one team has been wiped out completely, the match ends.

New PvP Reward System

  • “Series” periods will be added.
    • Series are currently planned to change with each major patch.
    • Play any PvP mode to earn Series EXP and obtain rewards upon reaching new Series Levels.
    • Individual matches will continue to reward EXP, PvP EXP, tomestones, and wolf marks.
  • Series Malmstones
    • Raise your Series Level by earning Series EXP from PvP activities.
    • Earn a reward each time your Series Level increases.
    • A new currency, “Trophy Crystals”, can be exchanged for various items in the Wolves’ Den
    • Certain malmstones reward you with emotes, equipment, or Adventurer Plate (beta version) elements.
    • When a new series begins, rewards will be updated and your Series Level reset. (Trophy Crystals carry over.)

PvP Updates (continued)

  • Ranked Match Seasons
  • Ranking tier and placement is determined by the amount of Crystalline Conflict ranked matches won during the season, and determines the rewards earned at season’s end.
    • Ranking Rewards (tier)
    • Ranking Rewards (Place)
  • Rewards include achievements, titles, Adventurer Plate (beta version) elements, and more.

Risers and Tiers System

  • Changes to the Rating System
    • Between the tiers of Bronze and Diamond, there will be up to a maximum of five sublevels called “risers” players must progress through.
    • Rating progression works as follows: Bronze 3 –> Bronze 2 –> Bronze 1 –> Silver 3 and so on.
  • Risers and Rising Stars
    • Rising Stars can be earned by winning ranked matches
      • When a match is won: Gain 1 Rising Star (Lose 1 after a loss)
      • When a match is won with 3 Rising Stars: Move up to the next riser, number of Rising Stars will be set to 1
      • When a match is won at highest riser of a tier: Move up to next tier at lowest riser, number of Rising Stars set to 1
      • After A loss with 0 Rising Stars, you will drop down to a lower riser in that tier where possible. You cannot drop down a tier.
  • A New Tier
    • Beyond Diamond lies the new, highest tier: Crystal
    • Can be reached by winning a match with 3 Rising Stars at Diamond 1
    • In the Crystal tier, ranking is determined by the amount of Crystal Credit in your possession instead of Rising Stars. Credit is gained or lost depending on the outcome of matches.

PvP Schedule

  • Series apply to all PvP content. Play any PvP activity to accumulate Series EXP and earn various rewards.
  • Seasons only apply to Crystalline Conflict ranked matches. Play ranked matches during a season to determine your ranking tier and placement.

With these major changes out of the way, Yoshida was happy to announce the return of the GARO Collaberation Event with new achievements, titles, and gear sets for Shadowbringers and Endwalker jobs. The old trailer for the event was shown and no ending time of the event was announced so far.

Finally, the Live Letter ended with miscellaneous announcements. The Primals will hold two live concerts for their new mini album titled Beyond the Shadow on June 4th and June 5th in Japan. Both events will be available as paid streams world-wide. The album will be available starting May 25th for $24.99 / £15.99 / €15.99 on the Square Enix store.

Endwalker Artbook

Also soon available on the store is the official Endwalker artbook “The Art of Resurrection – Among the Stars”, which is available for pre-order now and will release on September 13th.

and the traditional Patch Live Reading by Yoshida schedule once the servers go into maintenance on April 11th.

The trailer and some of the new screenshots that were shown during the over three hour long Live Letter can also be found on the 6.1 Special Site that saw an update today as well.


Images courtesy of Square Enix.