Final Fantasy XIV Is Taking The Right Steps To Alleviate Endgame Gearing Issues

The 77th live letter for Final Fantasy XIV has revealed tons of information about the new content heading our way in Patch 6.4 including some striking changes to the endgame gearing system. Scheduled to release on May 23, the patch will feature the long-awaited encounter with Golbez along with the continuation of the main scenario as the foundation for the next major expansion is laid down.

Patch 6.4 will feature the final raid tier for the Endwalker expansion—Pandaemonium: Anabaseios & its savage version. While the Savage version will be released one week after the launch of the patch, the gearing rewards and relevant systems have been switched up this time around. Though this isn’t a solution to the problem when you think about the grand scheme, it’s a step in the right direction.

One of the major changes in Patch 6.4 will be the acquisition of Chest gear from savage raids. Ever since Heavensward in 2015, savage raids have dropped the Chest armor from the fourth and final raid of the tier. You can also earn books from that floor which can be traded for a relevant Chest armor from the tier vendor. Up until now, this required a total of eight books.

This will no longer be the case in Anabaseios. Players will be able to acquire the Chest armor from the third floor of the tier and the number of books required for the piece has been reduced to six. This makes the fourth floor exclusively for the tier weapons, mounts, and miscellaneous items such as the orchestrion roll and the minion. Keep in mind that the minion can be acquired from the normal version as well.

In a similar fashion, the number of books required for the leg armor and accessories has been reduced to six and three respectively. While this may not seem substantial to some people, keep in mind that a lower value means a lower amount of raid clears required. As players in the Party Finder rely on RNG to acquire savage loot, having a lower number of books decreases the number of weeks the players will need to wait depending on RNG.

Gearing in Final Fantasy XIV has been a problem consistently since the days of Heavensward. There are a multitude of reasons for this and the core problem has never really been addressed. This change is minor and does little to alleviate the issues with loot and gearing but it’s a small step in the right direction. It’s worth noting that the weekly restriction on savage loot is still in place but another feature was introduced for this.

Players will now be able to exchange the books acquired from the fourth floor for books from the other raids at a rate of 1:1. This is a really good change in theory but there’s a bit of a problem here as well. The exchange is only one way and you can’t trade books from the first three raids to acquire the fourth one. Furthermore, players normally stock up on the fourth book in case they get unlucky with weapon RNG.

This might create a paradox where the player has the illusion of choice but fails to make a decision as it is still based on RNG. It just goes to show that there are several problems yet to be solved with Final Fantasy XIV’s gearing system but seeing as how Square Enix was kind enough to resolve Dark Knight’s Living Dead problem and think about raid loot for a little, things might start to change from 7.0 onwards albeit at a snail’s pace.

Final Fantasy XIV is available on PlayStation 5, Steam, and last-gen consoles. Players can also experience the game by signing up for a free trial which includes the award-winning expansion Heavensward and has no restrictions on playtime.