FF14's battle designer is cooking up "something new and fresh" for the MMORPG, but he's focused more on fun than difficulty

FF14 patch 7.4 is kicking off a new era in many ways, from the start of a fresh story arc to the lifting of class-based fashion restrictions after more than a decade. Dawntrail's greatest strength (aside from its jamming tunes) has been its combat design, and the recent Pilgrim's Traverse deep dungeon was a great example of that. Now, lead battle designer Masaki 'Mr Ozma' Nakagawa has teased that he's in the process of creating something "truly new" that we'll get to play at some point during the patch 7.5x rollout.

Pilgrim's Traverse was the first stage in Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida's attempt to rethink how the MMORPG approaches difficulty, and it was largely a success. At an entry level, it's interesting enough that I finally convinced some friends to dip into the original Palace of the Dead for the first time ever so that they could try this new offering. At the other end of the spectrum, its scaling challenge fight, The Final Verse (Quantum), allows players to choose how far they push the difficulty, with additional rewards the higher you go.

We'll be seeing a second step in that process with patch 7.4's new variant dungeon The Merchant's Tale, which was recently unveiled during Live Letter 89. We'll also be getting the next stage of its phenomenal raid series, the Arcadion. However, Nakagawa, who has earned a reputation for helping to craft some of FF14's most intricate (and often difficult) encounters says that he's "not involved in the 7.4 raid."

He explains that "another amazing team" is working on the Arcadion Heavyweight tier (and its savage counterpart). "After finishing my work on 7.3, I've been focused on a major piece of content for patch 7.5x. It's something new and fresh for FF14. I can't say more right now, but I'm pouring everything into it so that all of you can enjoy a truly new experience."

As for what it could be, there are a few obvious options. If everything goes well, we're expecting a new ultimate raid to land during the FF14 7.5 patch series, and that's typically something Nakagawa would be involved with.

We'll also be getting the new limited job, Beastmaster, at around the same time. Square Enix has yet to show us how it plays, but it's likely to be at least as distinctive as the Blue Mage, if not more so, meaning it certainly fits into the "truly new" category. But perhaps he's cooking up something else altogether?

Nakagawa does stress that, despite his reputation, challenge isn't everything. "Difficulty is an important part of battle content, but way more important is whether the content is actually fun to play." He says this philosophy is exemplified with The Final Verse (Quantum).

"If I wanted to make Q40 [the mode's highest level of challenge] harder, it would be simple," he remarks. "Just double the fight length and it would surpass ultimate-level difficulty. But I didn't do that, because my goal was to deliver a dense, exciting experience packed with fun in a shorter time.

"The same applies to Q15 and Q30 as well. So please choose the difficulty that feels right for you, and enjoy the content at your own pace." With promises of job adjustments in 8.0 alongside the team's new approach to adaptable levels of challenge, it's certainly going to be an interesting time to be an FF14 player. Personally, I'm eager to take part in the experiments if it means even more rewarding fights like those in Dawntrail.

We've rounded up the best single-player MMOs if you're looking for other options to pass the time until patch 7.4. If you want to up your game, few hardware upgrades can top the best gaming mouse when it comes to expanding your control options in an MMO.

How are you feeling about the state of difficulty and battle content overall in FF14? Stop by the PCGamesN Discord and reminisce with me about lost positionals and managing uptime.