There was a ton of information to parse through this morning when Square Enix dropped the preliminary patch notes for Final Fantasy XIV’s 6.3 update that’s coming on Jan. 10. The list was long, and some things were small but exciting, while others were expected, or very small changes.
All of the expected additions are there: new dungeons, new trials, a new alliance raid, new story, and side quests all will make an appearance in Patch 6.3. With those things always comes some new items such as housing decorations, mounts, minions, gear, and more.
Players didn’t get any certainty about where many of these items come from, but some can be inferred by the additions of other things or the category that they’re in. For example, the Corgi minion that everyone is fawning over wasn’t given a location where players can get it, but because Khloe’s Commendations rewards contain new Corgi earrings and a bandana, it can be inferred that the minion will also come from either Faux Leaves or Khloe’s Commendations.
In case you’re having trouble parsing through the plethora of information the patch notes contain, here are some of the highlights from the long-winded post for those who don’t have time to read it all.
More waymarks slots
It’s the smallest change, and it doesn’t even have an explanation under it, but it’s the addition that fans are absolutely screaming over that is coming to Patch 6.3. Currently, players can only save five waymarks for various duties, but that number will be increasing to 30 when the patch goes live.
This is huge for those who like to mount farm or run harder content frequently. Raid and FC leaders who run a lot of different content will no longer have to choose their top five and will now be able to save up to 30 waymarks. This is especially useful since Savage content will always hold at least four of those spots for parties that run those on a weekly basis, which only left room for one other trial or dungeon in the waymarks settings.
Treasure maps
In addition to all of the quest-related content players would expect, some new things were added such as a new treasure map that will be obtained and will always lead to Elpis. These maps will lead to an arena that will spin and land on various prizes that can be earned after defeating the enemy that pops up.
Housing updates
There are some new things in the housing sector of the game. There are some new things that can be crafted in the company workshop, including a new exterior. The game is also getting some new furnishing items and aquarium fish.
The biggest housing update is that there are a few new Wards added, and the developers are making these wards unassigned, meaning that any plot is made available to both FCs and individual players. This is how it used to be before the lottery system, which changed the formula for how houses were distributed by splitting Wards into FC only or individual player only. Now, the new Wards will adopt the old method, which will make plots available to both.
New mounts, minions, and accessories
Everyone will of course be looking to get the new corgi-themed minion. The patch notes still didn’t confirm where they’ll be able to get the minion, but they’ve got a better idea now since some corgi-themed accessories were added to Khloe’s Certificates of Commendation.
An elephant mount was shown, which appears to be available once players have completed the new Beast Tribes. There are plenty of new mounts and minions added besides just these since quite a few more were shown off in the latest Live Letter from the Producers, but only a few were shown or mentioned in the preliminary patch notes.
Island Sanctuary updates
Island Sanctuaries got a giant update in 6.3. Players weren’t expecting quite the amount of changes that the patch notes showed, but most of the changes are very welcome. Naturally, the rank cap increased from 10 to 12, a new vision has been added, there is a new structure to build, and new gathering points and materials are appearing.
Two of the biggest features to come out of this update are the mini-map’s filter, which allows players to only see their desired gathering nodes, and an overhaul to the workshop menu, which will make it easier for players to decide what to put in their workshops to maximize efficiency.
A smaller, yet welcome update to Island Sanctuaries is the notification when someone comes to your island and some changes to orchestrion settings. Visitors will now hear the orchestrion you’ve chosen, and the orchestrion will now continue to play the selected song even after leaving and revisiting your island.
Updates to gpose
Group posing got a surprising and unexpected update that players are sure to love. The biggest one is the ability for RGB values to be set from zero to 255, a big improvement from the previous system that made it harder to achieve the color desired during poses.
New stickers and frames have been added to allow players to dress up their photos, and they can also choose to display the Data Center name when Display Home World is selected in Sticker mode.
Smaller, yet notable updates
There are a ton of little things that were added to the game that are worth mentioning, and some players are most excited about. Sometimes, even the littlest additions can make players enthusiastic. Here are all of the smaller things that players can look forward to, at a glance:
- A new /linkshell emote
- A new Mammet-themed cat umbrella
- New poses for the Sit emote
- New poses for umbrellas
- The ability to set your umbrella to automatically be pulled out when it starts raining
- Time remaining for party effects are now listed in the party list
- The droprate for the Bluefeather Lynx Flute (Endinger EX) has been increased, but the totems required to buy it have also been increased from 50 to 99
- A new map marker was added for quest destinations that are not in cities or in open areas.
- New map icons were added for Deep Dungeons, Variant/Criterion Dungeons, and Field Operations
- Party members’ portraits will now show at the beginning of certain duties
- There is also an option to turn on portraits in the Commendation screen at the conclusion of content that allows for them
- The collectability screen while gathering has markers that indicate the collectability of that item
- Four new playstyle icons were added for Adventurer Plates
- New poses and accents have been added to Adventurer Plates
- A new Clear Blue theme was added to UI themes
- Current Gil is now displayed in the inventory
- It is unclear whether they are going to take away the HUD icon for Gil or if they are just adding it to the inventory screen
The new patch will go live on Jan. 10, and maintenance is a little shorter this time around, only beginning at 8pm CT and ending around 4am CT instead of a full 24 hours like most updates of this size take.
