Preliminary FF14 7.3 patch notes finally change one of its weirdest old dungeons

The preliminary FF14 7.3 patch notes are here, and they reveal some key changes coming in the critically acclaimed MMORPG's new update. Titled The Promise of Tomorrow, the incoming patch will mark the conclusion to the Dawntrail story arc, and almost certainly set us up for the road to the next expansion. Among the reveals is a redesign for one of the game's oldest and most notoriously weird dungeons, the previously hinted overhaul to Phoenix Downs, and yet another free Fantasia for all the glam fiends.

Final Fantasy 14 game director Naoki Yoshida already gave us a pretty extensive rundown of what to expect from patch 7.3 during the recent Live Letter 88, so I won't go into too much specific detail about basic additions. There's new main-story content including a dungeon and trial, the second part of the Echoes of Vana'diel alliance raid series, and new treasure dungeon Vault Oneiron. Alongside the much-discussed introduction of chat bubbles, however, there are a lot of smaller improvements to one of our best MMORPGs to talk about.

Firstly, Square Enix's Creative Studio 3 has introduced new pop-up tutorials to quests with specific objectives such as transporting objects or escorting NPCs. These will appear automatically on your first such instance, and can be reviewed from the duty list. You can also extend the maximum range at which player and monster models are displayed in most areas, although note that this won't increase the total number that can be shown at once. A new, separate setting does let you turn up 'character and object quantity,' however.

NPC Duty Support has been introduced for the new MSQ dungeon, The Meso Terminal, but it's also coming to an unnamed other Dawntrail duty. That means that the mysterious end-of-story trial will offer you the ability to fight alongside computer-controlled characters in place of other real players if you want. This wasn't available for the final boss of Dawntrail, or the 7.2 story trial, but it also wouldn't have made narrative sense in either of those instances.

Duty Support has also rolled out for optional A Realm Reborn dungeon Cutter's Cry, and it's come with some big changes. One of the oldest pieces of group content from FF14 2.0, it's long been notorious for its unique structure that leads to veterans running through, ignoring monsters, and diving through the sands to the next area, leaving any unaware newer players at the mercy of the mob.

Yoshida recently joked that the team "ignored every regulation we had set for designing dungeons" while making Cutter's Cry, and now it appears some of those unique, interesting, but ultimately irritating edges are being sanded down. The shifting sands to move between areas will now only appear when enough enemies are defeated, and tweaks have been made to all three boss battles (presumably this latter change is primarily to account for the NPC companions).

Phoenix Down, an iconic Final Fantasy item that's long been little more than a novelty in FF14, is about to become much more useful. It's now available to buy from many vendors, can be stacked up to a total of 999 in your inventory, and can be used in combat. It works on players even outside your party, and is available in public areas, instanced dungeons, guildlevels, four-player trials, treasure dungeons, deep dungeons, field operations, and variant dungeons.

This extremely welcome quality-of-life change should result in a lot fewer wipes to an accidental early healer death, and mean you aren't so pressured to bring a Red Mage or Summoner along for their resurrection skills. With that said, you can expect a full eight-second cast time for the new-look Phoenix Down, along with a lengthy six-minute recast, so while it is a nice boon, you shouldn't rely on it too much.

A new enemy cast bar can now be displayed under their nameplates in certain cases - it'll be enabled by default, but you can turn it off in the menu. Currently it's just for instanced content, but the team is considering it for the likes of large-scale FATEs. Hunt trains will be busier this patch, as Shaaloani, Heritage Found, and Living Memory will all have multiple instances to accommodate for the increased activity there, although Yak T'el is going back to just a single one.

One final excellent change for new players is that, if you're using the 'join duties in progress' toggle, you'll no longer be thrown into something midway through if it's your first time doing it. "This change was implemented to help ensure players can fully enjoy duties they are experiencing for the first time," Square Enix explains. It's a small but valuable tweak, allowing you to run roulettes without worrying that you'll suddenly find yourself at the end of a dungeon that you haven't seen the early parts of.

I thought we were done with the handout of free Fantasia bottles, but it seems CS3 is still making small changes to player character models. You'll therefore be able to get yet another Phial of Fantasia from the wandering moogle in Old Gridania (x:10.7, y:6.4) during 7.3, but you'll need to claim it by the time patch 7.4 arrives.

In terms of other rewards, you'll want to check for new items at gemstone trader Kajeel Ja in Tuliyollal, material suppliers in the housing estates, and the MGP vendors in the Gold Saucer. Many more emotes can now be used while sitting, most notably those that have your character eating or drinking. Finally, if you spot some fashion you like, there's a new 'glamours' button found on the window used to examine player equipment.

Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.3 launches Tuesday August 5. You can read through the preliminary notes courtesy of Square Enix; Yoshida will be hosting a patch reading stream on launch day to talk through those alterations.

Be sure to keep an eye on the FF14 server status and maintenance times in the runup to the 7.3 launch, and take a look at our updated FF14 system requirements if you're considering an upgrade to support the newly expanded display settings.

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