Final Fantasy XIV players continue feasting, as the latest Live Letter from the Producer gave a ton of information on new content in FFXIV Patch 6.2. The update is called “Buried Memory” and, as expected, Patch 6.2 releases in late August 2022. Along with a continuation of the main story in MSQ, FFXIV 6.2 will have new Tribal Quests, Relic Weapons, dungeons, trials, raids, PVP content, and Job changes. Most importantly, we get the debut of Island Sanctuary. We break down all of that and more with our Live Letter summary below.
New MSQ Dungeon and Trial
As always, a major patch continues the main story. And, oh my god, is that Cid? Hell yeah! Our man is back and involved in the main scenario quests again — you love to see it.
More MSQ means a new four-player instanced dungeon as well: for FFXIV Patch 6.2, we’ll get what’s called The Fell Court of Troia. Based on the name alone, we know this continues Endwalker‘s trend of steeping its lore in Final Fantasy IV references. Troia was a town you visited in the old RPG, and it had a primarily matriarchically society. The Live Letter featured a preview screenshot — it looks dire! (See below.)
Perhaps we’re venturing back into the void, considering the aesthetic and the events of Patch 6.1 MSQ.
FFXIV Patch 6.2 will include a new eight-player trial boss fight, but the details were kept secret for spoiler reasons. Additionally, we’ll get an Extreme difficulty version of the trial.
Hildibrand Quests Tied to New Relic Weapons
There’s nothing quite like the grind for Relic Weapons, and there’s nothing quite like the goofs of inspector extraordinaire. With FFXIV Patch 6.2, these two become one. It was revealed in the Live Letter that the next series of Relic Weapons are unlocked through the Hildibrand quests, which means you need to be caught up on the entire saga of the Gentleman of Light Hildibrand Manderville.
Thus, these Endwalker-era relic weapons, these esteemed legendary Manderville weapons, have quest-centric progression. It’ll continue through future 6.x patches. The questline itself will continue as well with more “Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures” quests. Based on the preview screenshots, Nashu Mhakaracca finds herself on the moon.
These features won’t be in the game until Patch 6.25, which should come a couple of months after Patch 6.2 goes live in August.
Tataru’s Grand Endeavor Continues, Tied to Heavensward Alliance Raids
One of the treats of Patch 6.15 was the debut of the sidequest series “Tataru’s Grand Endeavor.” Finally, the stealthily sinister leader of the Scions got to expand her business adventures, and she will continue to do so in Patch 6.2. There will be more quests in this series — however, players must have the Shadow of Mhach questline completed. This is the 24-player alliance raid series from Heavensward that began with The Void Ark.
If you haven’t done these yet, we have guides for the entire Shadow of Mhach raid series that will get you up to speed. It also features cool sky pirates who are now friends with Tataru.
Next Tribal Quest Series With Omicron
You shouldn’t be reading this if you haven’t finished Endwalker yet because we’re about to talk about the Omicron, Ultima Thule, and the next Tribal Quest series.
While many believed the next one would center around the Loporrits on the moon, we’ll actually be helping rebuild the final Endwalker zone, Ultima Thule. This Tribal Quest series is focused on gathering (Disciples of the Land), which begs questions about its story implications.
Remember Nekropolis, that old dilapidated food court area on Ultima Thule? Well, it looks like business will be booming again in the saddest place in the entire FFXIV universe. Can’t wait to serve fish, harvest plants, and mine ore for these sad robots!
If you haven’t done the latest ones, be sure to check out the Arkasodara Tribal Quests from Patch 6.15 — they’re a good time and feature some great rewards.
Pandaemonium Continues in Abyssos
As we predicted, the next wing of the Pandaemonium raid series is called Abyssos. Themis and Erichthonios take us deeper down Lahabrea’s wild dungeon in the depths of Elpis with four more eight-player raid instances.
The normal versions of Abyssos will launch on the day Patch 6.2 goes live. However, we will have to wait one week for the Savage versions. The decision was made to give players time between the two raid tiers. There were cases for and against the decision, but Yoshida mentioned this is a test run and that the team will adjust future rollouts based on player feedback.
This style of rollout was also influenced by the FFXIV world races, where skilled players around the world unofficially compete to see which team can clear new highly difficult content first. We covered the Dragonsong Ultimate world race extensively during Patch 6.1 and even interviewed the winners, Team Neverland, about the real-life commitment of a world race.
Back to the Containment Bay for the Unreal
Not only does Tataru require us to have completed optional content from Heavensward, but the next Unreal trial also takes us back to an old trial series. Containment Bay S1T7 (Unreal) is the next high-difficulty trial and you’ll face a revamped, tougher version of Sephirot.
Yoshida mentioned they’ve changed several mechanics for this version. The earth shaker mechanic that targeted two players and caused proximity damage is not in this fight, and the adds phase that gave tanks a hard time has changed. We expected new tricks up Sephirot’s sleeve, though — Unreal trials are no joke.
FFXIV 6.2 Job Changes to Come
While we didn’t get any specifics, Yoshida touched on a few updates with regards to Job changes in FFXIV Patch 6.2 during the Live Letter.
We previously covered that the FFXIV team intends to overhaul Dragoon and Astrologian, but those plans have been delayed. Yoshida said too much was needed to make this happen for FFXIV 6.2, but he will explain the adjustments in detail in a future written post.
What’s more interesting is that there will be changes to how critical hit and direct hit work. Both Crit and DH are both key stats most Jobs spec into, but Yoshida acknowledges some ability-based buffs and debuffs that affect those attributes feel useless. This will be explained further in the next Live Letter.
FFXIV PVP Updates
Patch 6.1 brought some much-appreciated changes to PVP, introducing a new competitive multiplayer mode with Crystalline Conflict and completely overhauling how every Job played. Patch 6.18 starts season two of Crystalline Conflict and Patch 6.2 will start season three. This means new progression tracks and rewards as well as further PVP Job changes.
Additionally, Rival Wings makes a return in Patch 6.2. This mode was removed when Patch 6.1. dropped and was sent back to the drawing board for overhauls.
We have tons of PVP guides, so if you haven’t tried it out, be sure to use our Crystalline Conflict tips and our PVP Jobs tier list to get started. If you need a little motivation, check out some of the PVP-exclusive gear you can earn.
Expansion of MSQ Duty Support into Heavensward
The Patch 6.x cycle is bringing the Duty Support system to all MSQ dungeons in FFXIV, making almost the whole game playable solo with AI-controlled NPCs as party members in four-player instances. While Patch 6.1 gave all A Realm Reborn content the Duty Support treatment, FFXIV Patch 6.2 covers the post-ARR dungeons and most of Heavensward. This includes the following dungeons:
- Snowcloak (Lv. 50)
- Keeper of the Lake (Lv. 50)
- The Dusk Vigil (Lv. 51)
- Sohm Al (Lv. 53)
- The Aery (Lv. 55)
- The Vault (Lv. 57)
- (Oh god, oh no, I can’t do this again.)
What’s even better is that you’ll be able to take characters from the story into these dungeons when using Duty Support. A preview screenshot shows Alphinaud, Estinien, and Ysayle together as a party. Finally, some justice for Ysayle.
That’s not all. Patch 6.2 also sees the revamp of two trials from post-ARR MSQ. The Steps of Faith will become a solo duty and Thornmarch (Good King Moggle Mog) will have its difficulty adjusted.
Variant and Criterion Dungeons Detailed
Buckle up for some brand-new types of content coming to FFXIV. In Patch 6.25, we’ll get Variant Dungeons and Criterion Dungeons, which are both instances that feature variable difficulty in new places in the FFXIV world. The first Variant/Criterion Dungeon will be The Sil’dihn Subterrane, which is going to be in Thanalan and likely tie to Ul’dahn lore. While this will be the instance for the first iteration of this content type, the two have some key differences.
Variant Dungeons feature variable difficulty that scales with the number of players in the party. There are no role restrictions or party size requirements to enter a Variant Dungeon. You can change Jobs while in the instance, too. The interesting part is that Variant Dungeons have different paths based on players’ choices, which will change the outcome and the story of your run. There will also be “a certain NPC” tagging along for narrative purposes. Multiple runs will let you see the branching paths.
Criterion Dungeons are even harder versions of these instances with tougher enemies. These must be taken on by a four-player party with traditional role requirements. The dungeon path is predetermined and will not have the “certain NPC” accompany the party. Normal revive actions are disabled, but each party member gets their own revive — the intention is to eliminate the advantage of party compositions with non-healers who have a revive action.
The Savage version requires a premade four-player party. You cannot use matchmaking to enter. Enemies are tougher, and if the party wipes, all enemies respawn. After a certain time limit, enemies will get even stronger. And the kicker: no one gets a revive action.
This first Criterion Dungeon is called Another Sil’dihn Subterrane and Another Sil’dihn Subterrane (Savage). We have a full breakdown of Variant and Criterion Dungeons, which you should read through for all the details.
Island Sanctuary and Everything We Know
The star of the show was Island Sanctuary. Players have been itching to hop on this Harvest Moon-style content ever since it was revealed, and the Live Letter gave us plenty of details. Island Sanctuary is its own contained instanced zone. Each player gets their own island and will gather materials, craft items, cultivate the land, build and customize their own facilities, collect and take care of creatures, and let their minions run free.
Despite the focus on crafting and gathering, there are no Disciples of the Hand or Land requirements to enter. Island Sanctuary has its own systems and mechanics. And, thank The Twelve, Island Sanctuary items will have their own separate inventory.
You’ll also be making handicrafts and trinkets, which you can sell for the island-exclusive currency. There is a path of progression throughout the island, too. And based on the screenshot shared in the Live Letter, the island looks huge. Island Sanctuary is a primarily chill, relaxed kind of solo-based content. You will be able to invite friends and free company members to your island to hang out as well.
More details will come in the next Live Letter closer to the release of FFXIV Patch 6.2. We have a full breakdown of Island Sanctuary, so be sure to read that if you’re ready for Patch 6.2’s hypest content.
Glamour Dresser and Adventurer Plate Expansion
The last big things worth mentioning are the expansion of both the Glamour Dresser and improvements to the Adventurer Plate feature. We knew this was coming, but it’s still music to our ears that the Glamour Dresser will double its size, going from 400 to 800 slots.
Adventurer Plates are technically still in beta, so the feature has had some issues. As a result, Patch 6.2 will bring several quality of life improvements as it becomes an “official” feature. The process of applying portraits and gear sets will be easier, and the user experience for editing Adventurer Plates will become more streamlined.
