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| Liz Maas |
A look inside the maelstrom, and the PS4 release.
01.25.14 - 5:08 PM
Final Fantasy XIV fans who are extreme early birds got a look at A Realm Reborn's next batch of content this morning via the 12th Letter from the Producer Live. As previously mentioned, the patch brings a new primal, more turns in the Binding Coil of Bahamut, a vanity system and more.
First, the PlayStation 4 version, as planned, will see its beta start on February 22nd, the day the console releases in Japan. It is a worldwide beta. The retail version is set for April 14th, and there will be a collector's edition up for grabs, with a Fat Chocobo mount and a Wind-up Moogle minion included. Fans can pre-order starting Monday. Good news if you don't plan on picking this version up - if you currently own a Collector's Edition of A Realm Reborn, you will still get these two items for free.
As many of us have been asking lately, the letter answered another burning question: Where is A Realm Reborn's soundtrack?! The answer to that is also April, and it has 119 tracks (six hours) of musical goodness - not to mention a Wind-up Bahamut minion as an ingame item.
As for the patch, it will be titled Through the Maelstrom. One of the big features of the patch will be new turns for the Binding Coil of Bahamut. Currently, players can play through turns 1-5 of what is considered the most difficult content in the game. 2.2 will add four new turns, 6-9. Not surprisingly, there will be new Allagan tomestones which will likely drop in the additional turns - that is, another type of currency that drops only in endgame and you can trade in for high-level gear. Does this mean new equipment will become available? Most likely.
In the patch, the weekly lockout on turns 1-5 of the Binding Coil will be removed, and they will be added to Duty Finder (currently you must manually form your own party of 8). Players will receive 'the power of the Echo' - that is, a stat boost - if you fail any of those turns, and it lasts until you defeat that turn.
The new Primal battle is, of course, Leviathan. He will have Hard and Extreme Mode fights, but Square didn't share what his item drops would be, or what level. He will be the hardest Primal to date, but because hard mode is tied to the main story, he says that it will not be extremely difficult. Looks like there's a related Chocobo barding, too.
One of the new dungeons is Amdapor Township, not far from Camp Tranquil (South Shroud). While the rewards haven't been finalized (although it sounds like it will drop the new Allagan tombstones), story-wise we will learn more about why Amdapor was destroyed.
Finally, the patch will bring the long-awaited vanity system, although it will be called 'Glamours.' A vanity system simply means that you can wear a certain piece of equipment for its stats, but you can put in a more aesthetically pleasing item in a vanity slot so that other players will see that on your character instead. (Darklight-wearing tanks and dragoons might appreciate this feature… I'm just saying.)
Patch 2.2 is scheduled for sometime in March.
