FFXIV Live Letter summary: Graphical update, blacklist improvements and the return of the Yo-kai Watch crossover event

Final Fantasy XIV’s Live Letter from the Producers 80 happened today and while it heavily focused on the upcoming graphical update that is a huge part of the Dawntrail, we were also shown a lot of other upcoming things to be very excited about. 

Although the Live Letter from the Producers itself wasn’t translated, we have reliable translations thanks to the efforts of Minori and Miuna over on the official FFXIV Discord server. 

FFXIV Dawntrail Benchmark

In a not unexpected turn of events, the Benchmark for 7.0 was announced at the very opening with the trailer revealing a lot of new and exciting things, including some never before seen Job Actions. 

The Benchmark will release in 24 hours, from the time of writing, on April 14. If you’re unsure whether your current set-up will be able to run Dawntrail, this is the perfect opportunity to test and Yoshida urged players to do so as soon as possible. 

Graphical update

The first half of the LLP (Live Letter from the Producers) focused solely on specific aspects of the long awaited Graphical Update, with live in-game comparisons between 6.8 and 7.0. We visited many current locations, and even a few which have never been seen in-game before, seeing the graphical update in full effect for the first time.

• Grass and foliage now moves in response to player movement
• Mounts not only appear sharper, but also pitch when turning
• All textures much improved, including rocky terrain, aetherytes, gear sets and character models
• Increased number of light sources and reflective surfaces in all areas
• Scenery items, such as background plants, will now moves with the environment, such as swaying in wind
• Stone floors now appear much less dull and reflect the environment around them, especially when wet
• Gear now reflects the environment better, such as having a blue tint when blue skies are present
• Added more polygons to fingers and toes
• Fog appearance has been improved to add a ‘mysterious feeling’ when present in the distance
• Additional rendering methods implemented to allow more customization of visuals, particularly useful to avoid anti-aliasing issues
• Added a Soft Shadows option, with parameters which can be custom set to personalise the appearance of shadows throughout FFXIV. This feature is only available to those playing on PC or Mac
• Improved texture and animation of waves, meaning they appear more realistic along coastlines
• During regular gameplay, NPCs eyes will move ever so slightly to add life to the character. This will not happen during cutscenes or while using gpose.
• Increased number of objects in many areas
• Graphics Upscale can also be implemented, as well as Dynamic Resolution, in order to optimize performance while not losing out on graphics
• PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series S players will have low-detail models forcibly enabled for distant objects and shadows

Everything newly added in 7.0 will have full benefit of the newly updated graphics, while some older items may have to wait their turn to get their glow-up. 6.0 Job gear will be the first in line for their makeover, which will come in 7.1, except for Paladin. Paladin Job gear has been used a lot for testing, so this gear will be fully updated with the release of 7.0. 

Sneak peeks of Tuliyolal and Solution 9

Much to the development teams discomfort, Yoshida insisted on showing off some of the features of Tulliyolal, including the large number of objects as well as lighting differences between night and day. 

During this demonstration, eager viewers caught sight of a tower in the distance which Yoshida admitted was a ‘place you can get to if you try really hard’ before eluding to the fact that it may or may not be a jumping puzzle. 

Yoshida also referred to the grapes, explaining that there will be no more low-poly grapes. We also caught a glimpse of a small part of Solution 9, though Yoshida refused to turn the camera through fears that the ‘scenario team will be very mad’.

7.0 Blacklist improvements

Enhanced blacklist functionality

• Up to 200 people can be add to your blacklist, data is stored server-side

• Character models will now be removed from sight once a character is blacklisted, extending to all characters tied to the blacklisted characters service account
• Where encounters with the blacklisted character is necessary, such as during duties, the players name will be displayed as “Unknown” and if they try to communicate, players will be able to choose whether to temporarily see their message

Mute list

• Up to 200 characters can be added to your mute list, data is stored client-side
• Entirely separate to the blacklist, this will prevent you from seeing message from a muted character, and any other characters tied to the muted one, outside of duties
• During duties, the muted players name will display as normal and you’ll have the option to temporarily view anything they say in chat

Term filter

• Can specify terms which will then be filtered out of chat. This applies to Say, Tell, Yell, Shout and /emote in all circumstances, including during duties

Estate expulsion

• Estate owners and masters will have the power to banish people from their estate for a period of 10 days
• Estate owners and masters can grant this privilege to up to four members of the estate’s associated Free Company
• When a player with this privilege is on the estate, any player that they have blacklisted will be immediately expelled from the estate

Enhanced Lodestone privacy settings

• Limit who can view parts or all of your Lodestone profile or remove yourself from the search entirely
• Characters that you’ve blocklisted in-game will be prevented from being able to view your profile on the Lodestone

Yo-kai Watch x FFXIV collaboration event returns on April 24

The long awaited return of this incredibly popular event is finally happening, and it’s happening very soon. Beginning on April 24, players have a fresh chance to get their hands on all of the rewards associated with the previous Yo-kai Watch crossover and one very special new addition, a Framer’s Kit. 

Full schedule for FFXIV in the run up to Dawntrail

Between now and the release of Dawntrail, there’s a lot to look forward to, including two collaboration events (Yo-kai Watch and Dragon Quest), the second half of Moogle Treasure Trove: The Hunt for Genesis, two more Live Letters from the Producers and a media tour. 

That’s a lot to fit in, but here’s the key dates you need to know:

And with that, we’ll be into Dawntrail and off on a new adventure. 

Some Final Fantasy XIV statistics to leave you with

• Final Fantasy XIV has amassed more than 30 million players worldwide.
• The game has been nominated for 313 awards, winning 240 of them.
• Players have attuned to 88 aetherytes on their adventure from A Realm Reborn to Endwalker, not including those to come in Dawntrail.
• There are 325 duties available in Duty Finder.
• Including side quests, there are currently over 159 hours worth of cutscenes.
• If you listened to every song from FFXIV, you’d be listening for 4,917 minutes. That’s over 80 hours.
• In the last year, players have melded 16,096 tonnes of materia to their gear. 
• Corks fired from bottles of Realm Reborn Red have travelled a combined distance of 46,152km. Is it just me or are these statistics getting a little strange?
• In the last year, players have gulped down over 54 million liters of potions, not including Fantasia

Finally, in a touching moment, it was revealed what Final Fantasy XIV means to its players, by way of a touching word cloud:

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