In the latest Final Fantasy XIV Live Letter, Square Enix announced various new additions to Shadowbringers and the core game as a whole.

For starters, starting December 24, update 5.18 will hit, removing the Eden raid (and Savage variant)'s weekly restrictions, allowing you to get all the loot you want. In addition, Deepshadow Solvent will be purchasable with Manufactured Coins, so you're able to upgrade your weapons to iLevel 470, and the 14th's season of the Feast will begin.

While there's some great changes coming up before Christmas, it's 5.2 that everyone is looking forward to, and rightfully so. Hitting sometime in mid-February, update 5.2 "Echoes of a Fallen Star" will include a bevy of new content and modifications to some of the formulas.

  • New Story Content
  • New Dungeon "Anamnesis Anyder"
    • They have made the commitment that there will be a dungeon added with every patch
  • Qitari Gathering Beast Tribe in Rak'tika Greatwood
  • New Chronicles of a New Era Quests "The Sorrow of Werlyt"
  • New Trial "The Ruby Weapon"
  • New Extreme Trial "The Ruby Weapon (Extreme)"
  • New Raid "Eden's Verse"
  • New Savage Raid "Eden's Verse (Savage)"
  • New Upgradeable Equipment Series of Quests Begins (Eureka 2.0?)
    • Focused on Bozja Citadel, home of the Hrothgar
  • Job Adjustments
  • PVP Adjustments
  • Ishgard Restoration Updates
    • High-end content will start to roll out
    • Diadem is being redesigned exclusively for gatherers at level 10 and items are used to restore Ishgard and their own scrips
    • Expert Recipes and New Collectible Items
    • Kupo Fortune: Scratch-off Tickets after contributing a certain number of items to gain rewards
    • Ranking System per week for both Gatherers and Crafters
      • Gain Special Titles, Achievements and Rewards
  • Additional changes to Crafting
    • New Actions
    • New feature to estimate effects of your next action
    • Easier to desynth stacked items
    • Party Requirements for Company Crafting Removed (Finally)
  • Fishing Updates
    • New Open Fishing content exclusive to Fishers
      • Board a ship and fish at high seas
    • Adjustment to Ability Level Requirements
    • Tugging Animations Easier to Distinguish
    • All-Purpose Lure Added
  • Skysteel Tools
    • Primary Tools that can be upgraded in future patches
  • Materia
    • You no longer will lose a weapon when crafting materia
    • Any crafter can meld/affix materia to gear provided they meet the level requirement
  • Miscellaneous
    • New Allagan Tomestones
    • Additional New Game+ Chapters
    • Rank Increase for Free Companies
    • New Leap of Faith Courses
    • Fellowships can be viewed in the Companion App
    • Umbrellas

 

Obviously the content everyone is waiting for is the new raid, continuing the mysterious story where we hopefully will learn who is behind the mask. The piece of art associated with the new raid seems to indicate we'll be travelling to Final Fantasy X's Thunder Plains. The new upgradeable quests should provide players even more exhausting content, provided it's the Eureka 2.0 we've been expecting, and the new Trial comes just in time for Final Fantasy VII Remake. What's exciting is that this will be tied to the new side story that will likely include Emerald, Diamond and Sapphire down the line.

Final Fantasy XIV update 5.18 will be out December 24 with 5.2 content starting its roll out mid-February.

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