Letter from the Producer, XI

[Corrderio]

Hello again, all fans of FINAL FANTASY XIV!

June has arrived at the speed of light, bringing with it warmer days. But outside isn’t the only place where the mercury’s rising. Things are also heating up here on the team, on both development and—*gulp*—scheduling fronts. We’ve reached a crucial stage of work on 1.18, and as promised in my previous letter, today I’m going to give you a progress report on auto-attack.

Now, if a picture paints a thousand words, a video should paint several times that and then some. So before I launch into the main body of this missive, I’d like everyone to check out the video of auto-attack I’ve (had) prepared. Please keep in mind that this content is still under testing, and is subject to change. I repeat, this is a video of content under development!



I’ll release all the juicy particulars closer to the release date, but for now here’s a rough sketch of the changes that are in the pipes, organized into bullet points.

•Auto-attack functionality will be prioritized in 1.18.
•Attack motion diversification and fine-tuning are planned for 1.19.
•Battle classes only will receive auto-attack.
•The stamina gauge will be abolished with the introduction of auto-attack.
•Recast timers will be adjusted for certain actions obtained via quests and guild marks whose action costs were managed solely through the stamina gauge.
•Certain actions dependent on the stamina gauge will have their effects adjusted.
•Characters will be made able to switch between passive and active modes while moving.
•Multiple attacks during auto-attack is also being planned for the future.

In implementing auto-attack in 1.18, we’ll also need to make major revisions to enmity algorithms, tweak the motion of certain actions (as seen in the above video), and also rebalance a handful of them—just to list a few battle-related items. It goes without saying that all these will require a great deal of testing. Please pray with me that our lead battle planner Akihiko Matsui doesn’t collapse from exhaustion. */pray*

To touch on some other items under development, I’m happy to say that work on one raid area is complete, with the second hot on its heels. We just need to secure enough time for testing and optimizing balance…which, I’m afraid, will push the patch behind schedule. I’m very sorry for this, but given the tremendous size of the patch, I estimate that it’ll take two more weeks beyond the anticipated mid/late-June release date to deliver it to our fans. I promise you, though, that the extra time in development will be meaningful. The FINAL FANTASY XIV team is resolute as ever in its mission to bring about great and positive changes to Eorzea, and we ask for your continued understanding.

1.18 is promising to be a heavyweight among patches, and we expect to have plenty of details to share with you in the weeks leading up to release. Please bear with us in the meantime.

Thanks for reading! Catch you next time and/or on the forums!

[Corrderio]

Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't look as fast paced as I was hoping. Although the new Chaos Thrust animation (Shares the same icon so I'm going to assume it is) is pretty wicked.

[Levin]

Well I like them new animations. Also they may increase the speed of battle since, it's "still under development", but who knows. Still, I like it. Also nice CD rings on the icons.

[Celeras]

Well at least it looks like it won't suck to play anymore. Pacing seems fine to me, XI-esque except you have way more to manage and TP comes way faster.

[Spira]

Nice weapon skill animations...

[Corrderio]

After looking at the vid more I hope the damage formula is still in development since it seems like Chaos Thrust still seems pretty weak for being 2000 TP.

[miokomioko]

Yeah those animations look pretty fuckin' slick.

[Gokulo]

If there was ever a video and its sole purpose was to highlight auto-attack, SE would get laughed at so bad...

Auto-attack: totally new concept!

Aside of that, I like the new animations and liked the part about being able to move while changing passive/active

[Celeras]

P.S. •Characters will be made able to switch between passive and active modes while moving.

I'm far to happy about such a simple thing.

[Draylo]

Nice weapon skill animations...

Yeah this^, they look amazing.

[Hiroishime]

i was hoping for more on the letters, oh well 2 more weeks it is.

[Tomino]

WSes look great indeed (is the Gladiator one already in game btw?).
Guess the announced delay means patch will be around July 1st-2nd week?

[Zettofaia]

Aware me on weapon skills please, did they re-do the animations or are these new ones?

[Corrderio]

They redid the animations. As for the sword, my shell believes it's Rage of Halone.

[Lazytowner]

It took them this long to allow me to move while switching from Passive to Active?

Well damn, I guess I'll start playing again.

Spoiler: show

Seriously. This moronic design flaw was the last straw for me a few months ago.

[sceptre]

yea its rage of halone has a charging effect on it the same and the icon is the same im happy there changing the animations tho because rage of halone sucks lol.

pushed back 2 weeks tho oh well lets just hope they keep us informed for 2 weeks on changes that way at least its someing to look at.

[Kensaki]

Mid to late june + 2 weeks. I'd say more like 3 weeks.

EDIT: Also is that pug using mnk af2?

[Elcura]

Mid to late june + 2 weeks. I'd say more like 3 weeks.

EDIT: Also is that pug using mnk af2?

Nope, looks like velveteen doublet vest, culottes (could be wrong on the name) and leather shoes.

[Alkar]

Nice really. Hopefully they'll release info on mages though.

[Dooom]

No kidding. I just... wow. Does "battle classes" refer to melee/mage classes, or just to melee? 'cos I'm assuming crafting + gathering classes obviously don't get auto attack.