Final Fantasy 14 Going Back on Controversial Change

Final Fantasy XIV‘s recent 6.11a patch made balance adjustments for several jobs in PvP, most notably for the Black Mage. The patch gave the class a significant buff, and many players felt that Black Mages became overpowered, as a result. Apparently Naoki Yoshida agrees, as the producer and director has announced that the class will see additional tweaks in patch 6.15, which is set to release on June 7th. The adjustment was decided by looking at win rates in Crystalline Conflict, but Yoshida decided to reverse course after an investigation in which he battled against several other players.

“…a black mage’s overall fighting style is reliant onspellcasting, specializing in area of effect attacks, damage over time,and limiting opponent movement. While this job has the potential toinflict extensive damage─particularly during limit breaks─in many cases,its relatively low health and sparse methods of self-defense make itdifficult for the black mage to execute said limit breaks before beingstruck down by melee combatants. Having said this, my personalimpression after countless Crystalline Conflict matches is that, in thehands of a skilled PvP combatant, the black mage has more than enoughpotential to excel in battle,” Yoshida wrote on the game’s official website.

Yoshida goes on to state that the changes made for patch 6.11a were “implemented on relatively short notice,” and that ideally the team should have waited until patch 6.15. That would have given them “more time to verify and test our prospective changes.” The producer and director apologized for the situation, promising that Square Enix will keep this in mind in the future.

Balance issues can be a real headache when it comes to games like Final Fantasy XIV, and it’s not hard to see how these issues can crop up. Hopefully, patch 6.15 will rectify these problems, and make for a more enjoyable game for all players!

Final Fantasy XIV is available now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the game right here.

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