The Final Fantasy XIV team announced that the next Letter from the Producer LIVE is going down at the Tokyo Game Show on September 28 at 10:50 p.m. PDT. This will be the first Live Letter since before the launch of the Dawntrail and we’re expecting the game’s director, Naoki Yoshida, to spill the tea on what’s coming in Patch 7.1.
It’s crazy to think it’s been three months since the last Live Letter and, since then, there’s been a major expansion launch and the release of the first leg of the The Arcadion’s Normal and Savage raid variations. But Patch 7.1 is on the horizon and, while there’s been no official release date announced, we’ve gotten a few insights on what to expect in this patch and future 7.1 updates.
“In patch 7.1,” Yoshida began in a recently published interview with PCGamesN, “we will be having the alliance raid Echoes of Vana’diel, and we are also creating a 24-person savage which is shaping up to be really good. So I hope players will look forward to that.”
Echoes of Vana’diel is Dawntrail’s Alliance Raid series that will serve as a crossover into the world of Final Fantasy XI. While we have a general understanding of how these crossovers work given past events and, most notably, through the YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse Alliance Raid series that featured combat mechanics and characters from Nier Automata, there’s still very little we know about Dawntrail's Alliance Raid offerings.
One thing Yoshida has been keen to keep us apprised of is the team’s adjusted approach to gameplay difficulty, specifically in terms of Alliance Raids. Patch 7.1 and Echoes of Vana’diel will be our first foray into this updated design methodology resulting from player feedback saying Alliance Raids have grown too “simple.”
Yoshida shared more about this in his interview with PCGamesN. “When a player goes through on their first playthrough they will probably wipe three times – this was what we felt was a good line to draw. It’s not that we want to make it difficult, but we want to provide an exciting experience for the players. So I hope they will experience that.”
In addition to more Echoes of Vana’diel news, we hope Yoshida shares more details about the Savage Alliance Raid currently in the works. Likely to be launched in an update soon after Patch 7.1, Yoshida has been mum about specifics but has at least made it clear that it wouldn’t be aligned with Echoes of Vana’diel or even the new large-scale, Bozjan Southern Front-style area.
Yoshida elaborated with PCGamesN. “On the other hand, the 24-person savage – this is going to be a completely different boss. So it is going to be completely different content, okay?”
There’s only 23 days left until the Tokyo Game Show and the next Letter from the Producer LIVE, so we don’t have to wait too long for Patch 7.1 to be completely uncovered. The Live Letter will be streamed exclusively on the Square Enix YouTube channel. While all audio from the livestream will be in Japanese, English readers can still follow along with the English translations available on each presentation slide.
