FINAL FANTASY XIV Online News

Important Announcement Regarding the Endwalker Release Date

We have an important announcement regarding the release date of FINAL FANTASY XIV: Endwalker.

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FFXIV's new PvP mode is like Overwatch's Escort but more casual-focused

The new Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker expansion is nearly here and it boasts many impressive new features, all of which were detailed in the latest Letter to the Producer stream earlier today - including a proper introduction to the new FFXIV PvP mode called Crystal Conflict, which sounds like it'll be a more casual-orientated version of Overwatch's Escort mode.

Square Enix previously announced that the next Final Fantasy XIV Live Letter stream hosted by producer Naoki Yoshida would provide details on the game's new "casual-orientated" PvP mode, and they delivered on that promise with the reveal of Crystal Conflict - which will be added to the MMO in patch 6.1.

In Crystal Conflict, two teams of five players have to push a giant crystal in the centre of the map to their scoring area in the other team's base. This is similar to Overwatch's payload in Escort mode except that it's far smaller-scale with more basic maps, although there will be traps or gimmicks on the map - the stream illustrated this with a big Bomberman-style explosion.

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You'll be able to directly harpoon fish in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

The big Final Fantasy XIV Letter to the Producer stream for this month detailed many interesting changes and adjustments coming to the MMO in the coming weeks, despite the slight delay of the Endwalker expansion - including the surprising change that players will now get a proper spearfishing minigame when hunting in murky waters.

Spearfishing was introduced into Final Fantasy XIV way back in the Stormblood expansion when that was released in 2017. Other than the requirement of being a level 61 Fisher and having completed various quests beforehand, the process of spearfishing is very simple and has remained unchanged since it was introduced - find some teeming waters, use the spear on them, catch fish.

That's set to change in the Endwalker expansion and patch 6.1. As illustrated by producer Naoki Yoshida in the Letter to the Producer stream, now when players go to spear fish after finding the sparkling teeming waters areas they will activate a fun little minigame instead - so they're directly harpooning the fish they catch.

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FFXIV Endwalker delayed into December

Square Enix has delayed Final Fantasy XIV's Endwalker expansion by two weeks. The new slice of content was initially due to release on November 23, 2021, but will now be available on December 7. If you have early access, you can jump in on December 3.

In a blog post on the MMORPG's website, producer Naoki Yoshida explains that releasing Endwalker on time was always going to come down "right to the wire". He also points to the dual nature of his role, as he oversees the project as the producer while being the director in charge of development. In the end, Yoshida thought the expansion could be better, and making those improvements ate into the time the team would have been using to make sure Endwalker was stable enough to run for players.

"At this rate, there was a bigger risk of us reaching the release date without ensuring stability as one form of quality, and for that reason, I have decided to postpone the release at this time," he says. "As we also anticipate large amounts of congestion across all game worlds, I felt that even in this respect it wouldn't be right for us to release the expansion while lacking adequate stability. I am truly sorry."

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FFXIV's last pre-Endwalker Live Letter details crafting and PvP updates - here's when to watch

We have just over two weeks to go until the Endwalker release date, and the FFXIV devs have provided plenty of info on what's to come - except for crafting, gathering, and PvP updates, that is. We're on the eve of the Live Letter broadcast that'll reveal those last few details for the MMORPG, so here's a quick breakdown of when and what to expect from the event.

Letter from the Producer Live Part LXVII will broadcast on Friday, November 5 at 7pm PDT / 10pm EDT, or November 6 at 2am GMT. You'll be able to catch it on YouTube and Twitch, and in what's finally becoming an FFXIV tradition, the event will feature live translations from Japanese to English - no need to await unofficial translations for context. The devs have noted that co-streaming will be allowed, so if you want to stream your reactions, you're all clear.

As previously announced, this broadcast will reveal more details on what's changing with crafting and gathering jobs. We already know that HQ items will be removed as of the 6.0 update as part of an effort to reduce inventory bloat, which is going to mean some big updates to gatherers in particular. Abilities that increase your HQ gathering chance will be changed to get you more items instead, but we don't know the full extent of the revisions there yet.

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