Moving will be made to interrupt spellcasting

Implementation of new instanced raid "Cutter's Cry" (level 50)

Implementation of new instanced raid "The Aurum Vale" (level 50)

Unlocking PLD
Learning PLD abilities
Acquiring PLD artifact armor
Implementation of level 30-50 job quests for PLD
(** Repeat above for each of the 7 jobs)

Ability to conduct player search via text command

Abolition of slot cost for accessories and reorganization of equipping conditions

Implementation of logout bonus

Guardian's Aspect to be abolished with the introduction of logout bonus

Implementation of quests to gain access to player residences in each city-state

Implementation of player residences at inns

Patch 1.21 is going to be the biggest patch yet since the launch of FFXIV service.

The addition of seven classic jobs, their related abilities and artifact gear, two new instanced raids, private player residences, a cutscene replay feature, chocobo armor, a reworking of crowd control, adjustments to classes, revisions to how spell-casting works, changes to food and medicine effects and recipes, and so on and so forth. (The addition of the On/Off toggle for sub-targeting is another addition I’m looking forward to, being a mouse-and-keyboard man myself.)

For the long-awaited changes to food and medicine, we’ve gone back to the drawing board at a conceptual level, and will be making distinct changes to each item. We’ll be keeping you informed of the new concepts and such on the forums and in Topics posts, so please hang on a bit longer for more details.

There is something I have to apologize for. We were shooting to have the new “hamlet defense” content ready in time for 1.21, but despite the progress we’ve made, I’m afraid the scale is just too large for that to be possible. I’m truly sorry about this. But, it’s going to be fresh new content that can allow all classes to play an integral role (not just combat classes!), so I hope it’s something you can all look forward to. Again, I’m sorry for the delay, and ask for your patience and understanding.

I’d also like to share some info on the release schedule for 1.21. We’d originally aimed for the patch to go live in the second week of February, but after looking over the amount of content and all the accompanying UI changes, localization, balancing, QA’ing, and such, we’re currently looking at a delay of about two weeks. We’re pushing really hard for an end-of-February release, but ask that you wait a bit and keep an eye on the announcements we’ll be making on the forums and in Topics regarding details. (Don’t worry, none of this will have any effect on the version 2.0 schedule!)

Last of all, I’d like to talk about the merging of servers I’ve mentioned on the forums. This is something we’ll be doing to ensure that everyone has a chance to meet as many other players as possible and encourage embarking on adventures together. We’re currently looking into how to make this particularly effective for the European players distributed across all Worlds, as they are fewer in number than players from other regions.

The server merge is a temporary measure intended to help FFXIV progress. We’ll be reintroducing Worlds when the number of players demands it, and with relaunch of version 2.0.

We’re planning to allow for an adequate amount of time between when we release the information regarding the server merging and when we actually carry it out. But for now I’ll have to ask you to wait a little while for the details. Patch 1.21 is a much higher priority, so the merging won’t happen until sometime after it goes live.

Since we’re in the final phase of patch work, this letter kind of just zipped through things, but I also wanted to mention that in addition to the 1.21 environment, we’re also running 2.0 clients on the shop floor now. One of the things we’ve done so far is make sure that more character customization options will be going in the relaunch version. We’ll be releasing more info in the future, so keep an eye out for that as well!

Well, I’m gonna get back to it. See you in the next letter, or on the forums. See you soon!

This is the best letter/update I have seen in a very long time. This should bring a few people back!

I'll be checking it out when it's released, but I find it hard to get excited about something that's been dragging on for so long. Especially when the ls is pretty much dead.

Although, I am getting a bit bored with the dungeon defenders grind. Perhaps I'll be more excited in a month.

Thanks for that link, Kio. Now whoever checks our internet logs here at work will wonder why a 30-year-old went to a my little pony website :P haha