We’re in the home stretch leading up the next expansion for the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, and as is tradition, director and producer Naoki Yoshida detailed everything in the next wave of content during a Live Letter from the Producer stream. FFXIV Patch 7.5, called Trail to the Heavens, goes live on April 28 and is the first part of a two-part story update series before the upcoming expansion. And as usual, it includes a new dungeon and trial boss fight for the main scenario quest, and a ton of updates to side content shown in a hard-hitting trailer for Patch 7.5 itself.
Here, I’ll break down all the important details from the Live Letter to make sure you’re ready for FFXIV Patch 7.5, where you’re in it for the Beastmaster Job updates, the Crystalline Conflict PVP content, or the next Alliance Raid, or all of it!
FFXIV 7.5 New MSQ Details and Dungeon
While this is closing out the Dawntrail patch series, 7.5 seems to be deeply rooted in story threads from Endwalker. The next dungeon, called The Clyteum, takes us and the Scions back to the snowy ruins and abandoned factories of Garlemald, and the Garlean character Jullus seemingly plays an important role in this stretch. MSQ will also take us back to the moon, Mare Lamentorum, as the new baddie Halmarut and her stuffed toy with Calyx’s soul drags the Scions there.
Yoshida mentioned that lore enthusiasts will have a lot to pick apart from The Clyteum as the dungeon is designed to show remnants of Garlemald before its destruction. The new trial boss, Enuo, and while its place in the story isn’t clear, Yoshida said it’s going to be more difficult and fast-paced, but with fewer environmental gimmicks compared to Patch 7.4’s Doom Train fight. You can see moving AoE attacks and pathing mechanics in the fight, but more surprising is seeing Zero and Golbez involved as hinted in the trailer, calling back to Endwalker’s patch series.
Although the story arc will close out with part two in Patch 7.55 in early September, Patch 7.5’s MSQ will be the typical length as other patches in the past.
Echoes of Vana’diel Alliance Raid Preview – Windurst: The Third Walk
Closing out the 24-player Alliance Raid series for the Dawntrail patch series, Windurst: The Third Walk goes further in this Final Fantasy XI crossover. Yoshida jokingly likens this to an HD remastered version of FFXI as it pulls directly from the old MMORPG. This new instance has a few new gimmicks and mechanics as seen in the opening boss fight against Shantotto, who’s a Tarutaru Black Mage from FFXI, but much bigger this time. Those who play Black Mage will notice Shantotto using the Job’s abilities in raid form and manipulating the arena’s platform.
This will close out the Echoes of Vana’dield raid series and conclude the story of guest characters Alxaal and Prishe. We also got a look at the new gear set you can earn for all Jobs from Windurst: The Third Walk.
New Crystalline Conflict PvP Map – Archeia Harmonias
PvP players can get ready for the new map for the payload-pushing mode Crystalline Conflict – Archeia Harmonias takes place in a library and Yoshida mentioned that the team has worked its map design, tinkering with lines of sight and spaces where fights tend to happen. It also has unique on-map mechanics, such as:
- Healing glyphs are in front of each spawn point and will reduce damage by 50% and heal over time when standing on it.
- Aetherometers are checkpoints at the halfway point between the map’s center and teams’ spawn points, and the payload will stop at the aetherometer. The team advancing the payload standing in its proximity will charge the aetherometer, and the payload will move again once it reaches 100%. This number will reset if the advancing team leaves the payload’s proximity or if an opponent enters the proximity. After fully charged, it’ll create a bridge and a jump glyph for players to advance. Yoshida showcased how the meter fills fast to keep up the match’s pace.
- Jump glyphs act as shortcuts for teams that activate it and will be at teams’ spawn points to help them get back into action. These will remain for the rest of the match.
Beastmaster (BST) Limited Job Coming to FFXIV 7.5
Let me preface this by saying that Beastmaster looks like a very complex Job. It’s the next Special Job in the vein as Blue Mage. It can only be used in specific instances and has its own unique mechanics, progression, and quests. It’s categorized as a Melee DPS starting at level 1 and with a level cap at 50. You need to have a normal Job at level 50 or higher, completed A Realm Reborn through 2.0, and Dawntrail registered on your account in order to access Beastmaster.
The core concept of the Beastmaster is to capture monsters in the open zones and summon them into battle; there will be a total of 50 capturable beasts, which will go into the Master’s Bestiary. You can choose to summon one of three beasts during combat and use their abilities in fights, the types of beasts you have active will change your tactics and the Instinct system dictates what you can do alongside them.
Beastmasters can progress through what’s called Crucible of the Unbroken, which is single-player content akin to Job quests, which hasn’t been seen in FFXIV before. Some monsters are capturable in party-based content like Alliance Raids, but there will be ways to get all 50 as a solo player. Yoshida showcased the Job in action during the stream, so check out the FFXIV 7.5 Live Letter if you want to see Beastmaster gameplay.
How Beastmaster Works in FFXIV 7.5
You have specific actions for capturing beasts – Gauge to see if you can even capture it, Weaken to attack it and bring its HP down, and Catch to finish the process (you’ll still need to defeat the enemy). It’ll be added to the Master’s Bestiary with lore details in the log.
You have three Battlehorns to assign beasts to from the bestiary and set on your hotbar. While you can only have one active at a time, you’ll be able to swap between these three during battle. Once it executes its Finisher action, the beast will go on cooldown and allow you to summon another beast on your battlehorn.
Beasts have four different actions – Finisher to end the rotation with a powerful AoE attack and send it back on cooldown, Trick which is a unique utility skill depending on the beast, Tempered Release for another unique attack, and Nature’s Gift to draw power from the beast for the player’s own attack. All beasts’ specific skills will be laid out in the bestiary.
Beastmasters will manage two different meters, one for the player themself and one for the beasts, and when they both reach 100 or higher, you can execute an Instinctual tandem attack. The more meter you accumulate past 100, the stronger the attack. Instinctual skills will set up Instinctual combos, which is what you’ll build towards in a rotation – there are four elemental affinities you can attain from Instinctual attacks to create the combo. At higher levels, you will have more actions that will speed up the accumulation of affinities to trigger combos faster.
Additionally, combining two affinities will open Light or Dark effects, as seen on the Beastmaster’s Job gauge, and you’ll have a brief window to use them before the effect wears off. These are the basics of the Job and I’ll be looking deeper into the mechanics as more information comes out.
Other Gameplay Updates in FFXIV Patch 7.5
Many of the system-level changes coming to Patch 7.5 are for convenience such as consolidating dyes and making glamour outfits easier, which were made simple for A Realm Reborn in 2013, but FFXIV outgrew a lot of those UI elements. Here are the notable changes:
- Duty Support system comes to The Dusk Vigil and Shisui of the Violent Tides dungeons.
- Lots of gear will now be storable in the Armoire.
- Dyes will be consolidated to color groups to save inventory space; current dyes will not be functional once Patch 7.5 goes live and can be exchanged for the new dyes.
- Updates to the Housing system include increased limits for indoor and outdoor furnishing, new interior fixture designs, and an option to adjust the number of character models rendered within housing.
- Sightseeing Log’s log message will display the emote required to complete it and if specific time and weather conditions haven’t been met, if required.
- Outfit Glamour update includes gear from FFXIV 3.0 onward being able to be stored as outfit glamour, and individual gear pieces can be removed from outfit glamour.
- Crafting is being made more convenient – players can now change Jobs, use food and potions, move items in their inventory, and join/leave parties and use linkshells while on standby with the crafting log open.
- Chocobo companions have new animations associated with companion rank and they will now react to the Pet and Poke emotes.
This story is developing.
