The Final Fantasy XIV team has confirmed that a new season of The Feast will launch with Patch 4.06, which is scheduled to release in early August.
The Feast is Final Fantasy XIV's PvP arena, which received a major overhaul in Stormblood . Stormblood removed level restrictions so that jobs only had to be at level 30 to enter, rather than previous requirements, where players had to get to level 60 and then rank up to 48 in PvP as well. PvP levels/ranks have no effect on performance now and are only a form of prestige.
Gear was changed to affect appearance only, meaning players no longer need to worry about undergeared players on their team. PvP attributes are now determined by role. This helps make player skill and coordination the focus of PvP, which in turn makes PvP more fair and accessible.
PvP hotbars are now provided for each job. Upon entering PvP content or the Wolves’ Den Pier, the hotbar automatically switches over to the new PvP hotbar mode. That means PvP actions don’t get mixed into PvE hotbars, and players don’t need to copy over from hidden hotbars in order to switch between the two game modes. Jobs also received new Combo Actions to free up valuable hotbar space.
Stormblood added a new PvP Actions UI, and all PvP actions are now PvP specific, allowing those actions to be adjusted without affecting PvE balance. For example, Protect in PvP is an ability that can be used instantly, which is not the case in PvE.
There are nine actions per job: two of those actions are selectable by players, while seven of them are shared by all roles. There are also three selectable traits out of a total of nine traits, including stuff like Increased Damage Dealt, Increased HP, Decreased Recast Time and so on.
Finally, direction requirements for melee DPS have been removed, meaning that while melee has lost some complexity it has increased maneuverability.
But players have not had the opportunity to try out all of these PvP changes from Stormblood in a ranked season yet, so the start of a new season of The Feast is a great opportunity to see how all the changes truly play out. Players can also earn PvE experience points via PvP and level up other jobs as they battle one another.
Plus, a new season of The Feast also means new rewards. There is an exclusive, full set of epic spiky armor as a reward for breaking into the top 100, and this set of equipment won’t be found anywhere else. Check out the concept art below:
There is also a full lineup of new weapons for all jobs that will be purchasable with special ticket items earned via PvP. All players who finish in the top 10 will earn enough tickets to exchange for the weapon they want. Other players can also earn these tickets by placing in Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond rankings, with ticket items earned depending on rank.
Those who don’t make it into the top 10 can save up their tickets and continue to participate in ranked matches in order to earn their weapon. There will be even more prizes available in the future as well.
Finally, there will be further discussion of recent changes to PvP in Stormblood on Friday, Aug. 4 at 8:30 p.m. EDT, on North American Community Team's PvP Special Broadcast: Culling Time. There will be a giveaway of a Grand Company-themed pocket watch during the stream, which can be watched on the official Final Fantasy XIV Twitch channel.
How do you feel about the PvP changes? Do you think they seem promising? Will you be fighting for a chance at that spiky armor set? Feel free to talk about Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood ’s new PvP season in our comments section below.
