4.3
Patch 4.3 is going to be another big one for Final Fantasy XIV. As revealed by a producer live letter last night, the next major update will be titled Under the Moonlight, and will be a customary catch-up patch between major raid cycles (4.2 just gave us Sigmascape, culminating with Kefka, and 4.4 will continue that trend).
The update, said to be coming in “late May” (which will either be May 22 or 29), will add new main story quests, Namazu beast tribe quests, one new dungeon, a Deep Dungeon 2 with 100 floors (it’s not a sequel to palace of the dead, but rather a reinvention of it), a new 8-person trial with normal and EX difficulties that’s not going to be part of the Four Lords storyline, a new ultimate raid tier in the form of an Ultimate Weapon fight (4.31), the Pagos Expedition Eureka zone that’s ice-themed, the follow-up Return to Ivalice 24-person raid The Ridorana Lighthouse, more PVP advancements, adjustments for Dark Knight, Astrolgian and Samurai, cross-world linkshells (64-person), a raid roulette, and a companion app (that can mange your inventory and access the marketboard, and also has a premium option for more retainer and saddlebag space).
Note that not all of this stuff is coming in 4.3 proper. Some of it could be considered 4.3x, meaning, several parts will arrive at a halfway point between 4.3 and 4.4 (4.35) — the next Eureka zone is probably a perfect example of something that’s pushed back into that territory.
Again, hardcore raiders only have the ultimate fight to look forward to, but there’s a ton of other stuff to do — and if the ultimate tier is even close to as difficult as the Bahamut battle, it’ll take weeks for most groups to get through. I’m mostly excited to dive into a new Eureka zone already (hopefully with some improvements) and see what the next raid tier is in 4.4. Although it’s probably going to deal with Omega (the main antagonist of the Sigmascape storyline), I’m pulling for a move into Final Fantasy VII and a showdown with Sephiroth — it’s the natural progression given that the first Deltascape and the second Sigmascape gave us confrontations with Exdeath (FFV) and Kefka (FFVI) respectively.
Final Fantasy XIV [Twitch via Reddit]
