Today's patch 2.3 preview offers a look at chocobo raising, a new way to bond and grow together with your beloved feathered companion.
To access chocobo stables, and begin raising a chocobo, players must complete the following quest:


Quest Bird in Hand
Required Level Level 30
Location Central Shroud (X:20 Y:21)
NPC: Luquelot
Prerequisites Players must first complete the quest "My Feisty Little Chocobo" and also belong to a free company which owns an estate.

Stabling Your Chocobo



To begin raising a chocobo, players must first acquire a Chocobo Stable, which can be purchased from the housing merchant NPC in any residential area. Once placed on the estate grounds, all free company members can stable their chocobos and begin their training.

* An estate can only house one chocobo stable, which is shared between all free company members.
* Players cannot mount their chocobos or summon them to battle when they are stabled. The companion menu is also inaccessible when your chocobo is stabled.

Training Your Chocobo



Your chocobo, as well as those of your free company members, can be trained while stabled to earn experience points. Chocobos can be trained once per hour, and will demand one of the following fruits or vegetables as a reward for their efforts:

Krakka Root / Curiel Root / Sylkis Bud / Mimett Gourd / Tantalplant / Pahsana Fruit / Thavnairian Onion

Experience granted will be the same regardless of the item selected, though stable conditions may affect experience gains. These fruits and vegetables can be obtained through gardening.

Chocobo Level Cap
For chocobos that have already attained the maximum rank, rewarding them with a Thavnairian onion following training will increase this upper limit by one.
* A Thavnairian onion is required each time you wish to raise the maximum rank.
* Chocobo companions cannot exceed rank 20.

Favorite Feed
If you reward your chocobo with the same snack after repeated training sessions, that fruit or vegetable will become the chocobo's favorite feed. Your chocobo's favorite feed can then be used to grant beneficial effects when summoned to battle.

You may change your chocobo's favorite feed if you so desire by repeatedly rewarding your chocobo with a different snack after training.

Maintaining the Chocobo Stable
As you and your free company members continue to use the chocobo stable, it will begin to accumulate dirt and grime. Stable cleanliness is reflected by one of three conditions─good, fair, or poor─which can be confirmed by accessing the stable. Keep your stable clean to ensure that chocobo training is effective, yielding the most experience.





To clean the stable, access the chocobo stable interface and select Clean Stable. You must possess a magicked stable broom in your inventory to make use of this option.

Gardening plus locking your chocobo has actually made me a bit pessimistic about this. Tying it so closely with gardening as it immediately bars some players from ever getting the necessary catalyst. I'm hoping it's available through other means.

Oh well we'll see. The actual training cutscenes look really cute.

Well then, it looks as if Kio doesn't like it after all. What do you have to say for yourself now, Pie?