The wait is almost over for the first major update for Final Fantasy XIV in a post-Endwalker world. To tide you over for the FFXIV Patch 6.1 launch on April 12, the official full patch notes have been published on The Lodestone. While it has every single detail on what’s new and what’s been changed, we’ll focus on what’s worth highlighting here.
Much of what’s detailed in the patch notes has been teased and showcased during the previous two Live Letters, so there aren’t any big surprises. However, we are now better prepared for the new raid, trials, and quests, and we have our first looks at some of the new items included. If you’ve missed out previous coverage, this will roundup all the important things you need to know.
We hope you had everything sorted before the game went offline because its currently FFXIV maintenance time before Patch 6.1 goes live on April 12 at 3:00 a.m. PT. The full FFXIV 6.1 patch notes page includes all the upcoming Job adjustments — and it’s a lot. We’ll go over the big ticket items here, but be sure to check out our full breakdown of all the FFXIV 6.1. Job changes.
Below is our FFXIV 6.1 patch notes summary highlighting all the important information.
Editor’s note (4/11/2022): This story has been updated to reflect the publication of the complete FFXIV 6.1. patch notes.
FFXIV 6.1 Main Scenario Quest
It’s an exciting time in FFXIV because we have no idea where the main story is going to take us. What we do know is that the “Newfound Adventure” moniker for this patch signifies the return to relative normalcy instead of dealing with imminent calamity. From the patch notes, it seems that MSQ will get 10 new quests. No surprise here, but you’ll find Tataru in The Rising Stones ready to give you the opening quest for Patch 6.1 MSQ, aptly titled “Newfound Adventure.”
With new MSQ comes a new four-player dungeon. It’s name is still hidden even though the Patch 6.1 trailer teased gameplay of the dungeon. Players will need to have an average item level of 560 or higher (which you should already meet after finishing Endwalker). This new dungeon will be added to the Expert Duty Roulette upon completion.
Myths of the Realm: Aglaia Start Quest
The most significant piece of content coming to FFXIV Patch 6.1 is the new 24-player alliance raid titled Myths of the Realm. The first leg of this raid series is called Aglaia and it’ll usher us into this wild raid to explore the mythos behind FFXIV‘s twelve gods. We have a summary of everything we know so far about what’s going on in Myths of the Realm based on the previous Live Letter.
In the patch notes, we see that the Myths of the Realm starting quest is located in Old Sharlayan given by an NPC named Fresh-faced Student (X: 9.1, Y: 11.5) — the quest is called “A Mission in Mor Dhona.” A fitting name because this will take us back to Mor Dhona to link up with some old friends at a familiar place alongside G’raha Tia. However, there is a requirement to finish a certain quest in 6.1 MSQ, although the patch notes does not specify.
Myths of the Realm: Aglaia Raid Requirements and Rewards
In order to run the Aglaia raid, players must complete the quest “A Mission in Mor Dhona” and have an average item level of 565 or higher. (If you need to gear up to reach this average ilvl, be sure to use our FFXIV endgame gear guide.) Like any other alliance raid, three parties consisting of one tank, two healers, and five DPS will form for this instance.
As for rewards, players will receive one item per week for clearing Aglaia — standard raiding loot procedures apply. Upon receiving an item from the loot list, player relinquish their ability to roll on all other items. The weekly reset is every Tuesday at 1:00 a.m. PT, as usual. Each alliance will get their own chest for members to loot from and the loot within is identical across alliances.
Additionally, all players who clear Aglaia get two (2) Cracked Anthoclusters and one (1) Aglaia Coin. You can exchange Aglaia Coins with the NPC named Nesvaaz in Radz-at-Han (X: 10.6, Y: 10.0) to receive materials to upgrade Radiant’s gear. For more information on Radiant’s upgrade materials and augmented gear, please refer to our FFXIV endgame gear guide.
Endsinger’s Aria Extreme Trial Details
Ensinger’s Aria is the third Extreme trial for Endwalker and is a much more difficult version of the original. It comes with Patch 6.1 and players looking to give it a try should be prepared for tough fight. As usual, you unlock the Extreme trial by talking to Wandering Minstrel in Old Sharlayan (X: 12.7, Y: 14.2). You need an average item level of 580 or higher to participate. (If you need help gearing up, be sure to use our FFXIV endgame gear guide.)
Upon clearing this Extreme trial, you will receive two (2) totems which can be exchanged for rewards with the NPC Nesvaaz in Radz-at-Han (X: 10.6, Y: 10.0).
Ultima’s Bane Unreal Trial
If you’re in the mood for more challenging boss fights, you’ll want to try out Ultima’s Bane, the new Unreal trial coming with Patch 6.1. This is a reimagining of the Ultima Weapon battle in A Realm Reborn, except it is not a joke. Players will need to have an average item level of 560 or higher — players will also be synced to ilvl 565 for this one.
If you haven’t already, you’ll need to complete the level 80 quest “Fantastic Mr. Faux” to access Ultima’s Bane (Unreal). You get the quest in Idyllshire (X: 7.0, Y: 5.9) from the NPC named Painfully Ishgardian Man. And in order to access that quest, you need to complete the quest called “Keeping Up with the Aliapohs.” As such, Ultima’s Bane (Unreal) will be the available trial for Faux Hollows.
New Role Quests Available
For the diligent players who completed all of the Endwalker role quests, you can take on a new questline as a sort of epilogue. The quests titled “Bitter Snow” can be found in Radz-at-Han (X: 7.7, Y: 9.4) from the NPC named Shirabaht. Seems like Fourchenault will learn a few things about putting in the work. According to Yoshida-san, we’re going to learn about Fourchenault’s combat prowess!
Again, this will only be available to those who have completed Endwalker and finished the following quests:
- “A Path Unveiled” (tank role quest)
- “To Calmer Seas” (melee DPS role quest)
- “Laid to Rest” (physical ranged DPS role quest)
- “Ever March Heavensward” (magical ranged DPS role quest)
- “The Gift of Mercy” (healer role quest)
Major Job Changes for Tanks, DPS, and Healers
The complete patch notes outline all the FFXIV 6.1 Job changes, and there is lot going on. Chances are you’ll be affected by them in some way. As for tanks, Paladin‘s Requiescat has a new function, serving as the catalyst for the Blades combo — that combo also does healing now, too. Much has been made of Dark Knight‘s Living Dead and now it’ll allow the player to heal themselves through dealing damage — it can trigger an additional affect called Undead Rebirth which changes things up as well.
The biggest thing we see to an overhaul when it comes to DPS Jobs is with Samurai. Several Samurai abilities have been changed to guarantee critical hits while getting potency changes across the board. Ninja also has some new quirks in Patch 6.1 — the most notable is the revamp of Mug, which takes on the party damage increase that Trick Attack used to have. Trick Attack now only applies an increase for personal DPS. On paper, it looks like Dancer received a ton of changes. But in practice, it’s more of a rework of how its moves and procs are categorized. And for Summoner, it’s Ruby-based spells get longer recast timers but higher potency in return.
Healers got some changes to the MP cost of their core spells. However, the biggest changes are with White Mage — the Healing Gauge gets Lilies faster and Liturgy of the Bell can be triggered manually for healing based on remaining stacks. Asylum and Cure III also get increased ranges. Sage gets a nice quality-of-life perk with the Addersting Gauge fully recharging upon entering an instance. And while Scholar‘s Expedient had some surprising utility, its duration has been cut in half.
Please refer to our full breakdown of FFXIV 6.1 Job changes for all the details.
New Game+ for Endwalker
Along with Patch 6.1 comes the implementation of New Game+ for Endwalker MSQ. Like the other expansions, it’ll be split into two parts, allowing you to either start at the beginning of Endwalker MSQ or pick up from somewhere in the middle. If for whatever reason you want to get emotionally wrecked at any point in the future, you can. This NG+ update also includes all Endwalker role quests.
Duty Support System for A Realm Reborn Dungeons
As we’ve previously covered, the story-based aspect of the Trust system is being reworked as the Duty Support system, and it’s being implemented for all MSQ dungeons in A Realm Reborn. Players can now take NPCs into dungeons as party members instead of real players if they want — these will be generic NPC and not important characters, unlike Shadowbringers and Endwalker. The Duty Support system will get its own new UI element and can be accessed under the Duty menu tab.
The Big Overhauls to A Realm Reborn Duties
Not only will you be able to run A Realm Reborn dungeons with AI-controlled teammates, but a bunch of dungeons themselves will be overhauled. Below is an exhaustive list of changes to FFXIV 2.0 dungeons from the official patch notes.
Copperbell Mines (Lv. 17)
- The content of the battle with Kottos has been adjusted.
- The content of the battle with Ichorous Ire has been adjusted.
- The content of the battle with Gyges the Great has been adjusted.
- Certain dungeon mechanics have been adjusted.
The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak (Lv. 24)
- Certain mechanics in the battle with Graffias have been adjusted.
- Extensive changes to general progression through the dungeon have been implemented.
Haukke Manor (Lv. 28)
- The content of the battle with Lady Amandine has been adjusted.
- After the battle with the manor steward and manor jester, an object allowing players to warp back to the starting point will now appear.
- The positioning of certain monsters has been adjusted.
Brayflox’s Longstop (Lv. 32)
- The content of the battle with Aiatar has been adjusted.
- The positioning of certain monsters has been adjusted.
- The map layout has been adjusted.
The Stone Vigil (Lv. 41)
- The content of the battle with Koshchei has been adjusted.
- The difficulty of certain mechanics has been eased during the battle with Isgebind.
Dzemael Darkhold (Lv. 44)
- The route through the dungeon has been adjusted, and the positioning of certain treasure coffers has been changed accordingly.
Cape Westwind (Lv. 50)
- The duty has been changed into an instanced quest battle to be undertaken solo.
Castrum Meridianum (Lv. 50)
- Maximum party size has been reduced from eight (8) to four (4).
- The content of the battle with the Black Eft has been adjusted.
- The content of the battle with the magitek vanguard F-1 has been adjusted.
- The content of the battle with Livia sas Junius has been adjusted.
- Extensive changes to general progression have been implemented.
The Praetorium (Lv. 50)
- Maximum party size has been reduced from eight (8) to four (4).
- The content of the battle with the Mark II Magitek Colossus has been adjusted.
- The content of the battle with Nero tol Scaeva has been adjusted.
- The content of the battle with Gaius van Baelsar has been adjusted.
- The battle with the Ultima Weapon has been removed.
- The battle with Lahabrea has been removed.
- Extensive changes to general progression have been implemented.
- The ability to skip certain cutscenes has been added.
As detailed in previous Live Letters, The Praetorium is being split into separate duties with Patch 6.1. The dungeon itself will be shortened (outlined above). The fight against Ultima Weapon will be a separate four-player duty called The Porta Decumana, which will also be included in the Main Scenario Duty Roulette. The fight against Lahabrea will be an instanced solo duty.
Because of these overhauls, rewards for completion have been altered. Castrum will award 100 Tomestones of Poetics while Prae will award 150 Poetics. As for the Main Scenario Roulette, max level players will actually gain more Tomestones with the reward going from 300 Poetics to 350 Poetics upon completion of the Roulette (Tomestones of Aphorism and Astronomy rewards remain the same at 100 and 50, respectively).
New Hrothgar and Viera Hairstyles
Haha, yes! Finally, some new hairstyles for our lion boys and buns! We saw a bunch of the new Hrothgar hairstyles during the last Live Letter, but now we know they are really for real. If you’re wondering where their ears went, don’t ask me. Some of the character creation options for Hrothgar have been changed as well. What we didn’t see in the Live Letter, however, was the new female and male Viera hairstyles, which you can now see below.
Crystalline Conflict PVP Mode Debuts
The brand-new competitive PVP mode called The Crystalline Conflict will make its debut in FFXIV Patch 6.1. The official patch notes run through the specifics of the new PVP mode in grave detail, so we won’t do that here. But here’s what you should know.
- Two (2) teams (Astra and Umbra) of five (5) players compete in a Payload-style competitive match.
- Three (3) maps are available: The Palaistra, The Volcanic Heart, and Cloud Nine. Each has unique elements, conditions, and in-match events to shake things up.
- There will be major overhauls to PVP Job actions.
- You can choose Ranked, Casual, and Custom matches.
- There are six (6) ranks in Ranked mode: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Crystal.
To get a full breakdown of the rules, strategies, and systems built around the Crystalline Conflict PVP mode, check out the official patch notes page.
Mounts and Minions Galore
It’s always exciting to add new mounts and minions to our collections and it looks like Patch 6.1 is giving us some good stuff. During the last Live Letter, we got a sneak peek at those 6.1 mounts and minions. With regards to mounts, we’ll be able to get our hands on a Pod 602 from NieR: Automata (if we have the MGP to blow at the Gold Saucer), a hippo car, and a big Troll, to name a few. As for minions, we can get a little toy car with Nero painted on the windshield, a puppy, and a kangaroo-like fellow, among others. And look at this thing:
Adventurer Plates Go Into Beta
Adventurer Plates are your Warrior of Light’s in-game visual profile cards. You can customize the photo of your character and the information that gets shown on the Adventurer Plate as well as its aesthetics and design. You can create a custom Adventurer Plate for each of your Jobs. Note that this will only be a beta version, so the design and functionality is not final — a final version is set for Patch 6.15.
FFXIV 6.1 Important Quick Hits
FFXIV Patch 6.1 covers a lot of ground, so we’ll run through some things that don’t necessarily need explanation but are worth highlighting.
- A whole bunch of existing gear can now be equipped regardless of gender.
- Unlock the Unending Codex through Patch 6.1 MSQ — this will act as your very own FFXIV encyclopedia.
- Ishgard housing district, aka The Empyreum, officially opens with plots of land going on sale.
- The new housing lottery system will be put in place alongside the opening of The Empyreum. (Read our breakdown of the housing lottery system.)
- Dreamfitting at your character’s bed will let you try on paid-for MogStation gear to see how it looks in-game.
- Number of Unsung Blades required for a Discal Tomestone will be reduced to four (4) down from seven (7).
- Power of the Echo is coming to all Endwalker trials (except Endsinger’s Aria) to assist parties that wipe.
- Heavensward dungeons get Explorer Mode.
- Lots of new furnishing items from the furnishing design contest are now in the game.
- The fight against Hraesvelgr in Sohr Khai (Lv. 60) is getting adjustments.
- Bozjan Southern Front gets changes such as better EXP gains from Castrum Lacus Litore and Dalriada.
- New emote will be available.
- Sightseeing log looks cooler.
- Some very notable adjustments will come to Wondrous Tails.
- Weekly restrictions on rewards from Pandaemonium Asphodelos raids are being removed.
- The Garo collab is back, and you can get these sweet gear pieces in the Wolves’ Den Pier PVP zone or by using MGP in the Gold Saucer.
- Players who die in by falling off the edge of the arena in trials from A Realm Reborn and Heavensward can be revived!
