The Final Fantasy XIV team revealed the details of Patch 6.25 in the latest Letter from the Producer LIVE (or Live Letter as fans call it). In this article, we will be going through the important points that FFXIV players should know about Patch 6.25 from the Live Letter, including its release date.

FFXIV Patch 6.25 Release Date: October 18, 2022

For starters, let's start with the patch itself. FFXIV's Patch 6.25 will go live on October 18, 2022. There will be maintenance on all worlds before the patch goes live. The maintenance will start on October 17, 2022 at 11:00 PM PST. The maintenance will end on October 18, 2022 at 3:00 AM PST. The game will be inaccessible at those times. Once the maintenance is over, players can then log in. As with most maintenance, be prepared for long queue times. Players who want to update their game must also make sure that they still have some days left in their subscription.

FFXIV 6.2 recap

The Live Letter starts off with a recap of the 6.2 release. Game director Naoki Yoshida and community producer Toshio Murouchi were once again present for this Live Letter. Yoshida mentions that the patch release went smoothly. Other than adjusting the health points of the final savage raid boss, everything still went well. Yoshida also talked about Storm's Crown trial, as well as Pandaemonium. He noted that both of them got positive reviews, especially the latter which reintroduced a character that the team says had an “early exit”. As for the former, Yoshida mentioned that the team is always looking for ways to implement older Final Fantasy characters into FFXIV. He also mentioned that delaying the savage raids by a week got positive reviews from the community. This gave everyone time to prepare by crafting the new equipment, something the devs were surprised took off really well.

Other than the raids, Yoshida also looks back at the newly release Island Sanctuary mode. This feature came with 6.2's release and was meant to be a way for players to relax amidst all the raiding and dungeon diving. The team noticed, however, that although overseas players were taking their time with their Islands, Japanese players weren't. In fact, Japanese players ended up optimizing their Island Sanctuaries, leading to more grinding. Yoshida also notes that the players wanted to be able to do more with their islands. This includes being able to customize their islands. He mentions that they knew the player base would eventually ask for it, however, it was not that easy to implement. The team aims to work on this, as well as allow the placement of garden housing items on the islands. There is, however, no set date for it.

Yoshida also brings up some feedback regarding cosmetics in the game. He said that the Titania weapons were well received, following the flash effects that are part of Ultimate weapons. However, he brings up that players were hoping for a way to disable armor and gear visual effects. This is understandable, as the Ultimate weapons can get really distracting. Yoshida, however, says it is “not that simple” to implement the feature. He also brings up how fans want to be able to emote while equipping fashion accessories, something that team is trying to improve but will take time.

FFXIV 6.25 features

After doing a recap, Yoshida and Murouchi went on to discuss the new things coming to 6.25. They mentioned that there will be no class adjustments for 6.25, and only some numerical adjustments if needed. Potency tweaks for PvP jobs will arrive at 6.28, with action adjustments happening at 6.3. In short, big job changes won't be arriving until the next big patch. This will most likely arrive early next year or so. They will, however, focus on some adjustments to address a recent imbalance that happened. This imbalance happened when the team increased the hitbox of the enemies in the game. While this made it easier for melee classes to hit their skills and improve their DPS uptime, it also made it so that the ranged players can stand even further from the enemy. The team aims to fix this imbalance in one way or another.

FFXIV 6.25 Teaser

They also showed two screenshots to serve as a teaser. The first one showed a location in the game, while the second showed a whole new set of glamour, which Yoshida jokes is similar to a “Spy Family” that's popular in recent times, alluding to the series Spy X Family. They did not give many other details regarding this teaser. Other than this, they also mentioned that the All Saints' Wake seasonal event will be making a return, slated to go live on October 19, 2022. That's one day after the patch goes live.

Yoshida also mentioned that FFXIV Patch 6.25 will include the next part of the Hildibrand quest line. The quest, titled Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures, will continue the story of the fan-loved Hildibrand. Players who want to experience this story for themselves must make sure to start the Hildibrand quest line in Ul'dah, and continue following it all the way to Endwalker. Other than seeing Hildibrand again, players will also be able to continue their grind for the expansion's Relic Weapon. This expansion's relic weapons, dubbed the Manderville relic weapons, require quite a bit of work, so players need to work on it.

This patch also sees the introduction of a new Best Tribe: the Omicrons. These robots, which you meet in Endwalker, now have their own Beast Tribe, and in turn their own quests. These quests are targeted at Disciples of the Land, that is, Botanists, Miners, and Fishers. The Beast Tribes are an excellent source of EXP, so players who want to gain levels for these three Jobs should make sure to unlock the Beast Tribe as soon as the patch goes live.

FFXIV 6.25 will also introduce the Variant and Criterion Dungeons. Variant dungeons are level 90 variable difficulty dungeons. That is, the dungeon's difficulty increases with party size. These dungeons have branching paths and a variable progression route. The players also have a non-player character (NPC) in these dungeons. Criterion dungeons, on the other hand, are way more difficult compared to Variant Dungeons. In Criterion dungeons, four players are required, and there are no NPC companions. Other than that, the party also has a limited number of revives, and the revives of healers are disabled. Players who want to go through these dungeons must plan well, as it will test them to the limit.

Other FFXIV news

Yoshida also mentioned that the game would be receiving a new North American Data Center. This Data Center, named Dynamis, will have four servers:

  • Halicarnassus
  • Maduin
  • Marilith
  • Seraph

This Data Center will go online on the 1st of November, 2022, with the Housing Lottery going live on November 4, 2022. They also mentioned that more worlds might be added once 7.0 rolls around.

The FFXIV team is also currently hiring for the following positions:

  • Scenario Designer
  • Game Content Designer
  • Live System Designer
  • Marketing Planner
  • Environment Artist
  • VFX Artist
  • UI Artist
  • Graphic Engineer (Console and PC)

Most of the jobs require the applicant to be fluent in written Japanese and do not need to have experience in game development. Yoshida mentioned that they will be teaching the applicants the game development part of the job. Interested applicants can head on over here.

Yoshida and Murouchi then revealed that the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival is no longer remote next year. They confirmed the following locations and dates:

  • Las Vegas, Nevada
    • Las Vegas Convention Center
    • July 28-29, 2023
  • London, UK
    • ExCel London
    • October 21-22, 2023
  • Japan
    • Early 2024
    • More details soon

This is an event that everyone is looking forward to, as the previous few Fan Fests were done online due to the pandemic. The Fan Fests are also looked forward to because this is where players get sneak peeks and teasers for the next patch.

Yoshida also revealed the winners of the weapon design contest for the game's two latest jobs, Reaper and Sage. Each job had two categories, the “Serious” category, and the “Joke” category.

Weapon Design Contest: Reaper and Sage

For Reaper, the Avatar Scythe (Serious) and the Scarecrow (Joke) won in their respective categories. For Sage, on the other hand, Feo Ul's Noulith (Serious) and the Maid Brim Cutlery Set (Joke) won. These weapons will become obtainable in the game as actual weapons at a later date. The players who designed these weapons will also be receiving various in-game prizes.

That's basically all there is to know about Patch 6.25 of FFXIV. For more FFXIV-related news and guides from us, click here.