When Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki Yoshida took to the stage for his opening keynote at the North American Fan Festival, I knew change was coming. He'd been hinting that the next expansion—which we now know is called Evercold—would mark a new era of Final Fantasy 14.
Despite that, I still thought it was all going to be relatively safe. Creative Studio 3 has been trying little bits here and there throughout Dawntrail, but its core gameplay and patch cadence has remained staunchly the same.
I was wrong.
Yoshida's keynote felt like a recognition of the community's frustrations, one which culminated in the big announcement: Evercold will mark the end of the two-minute meta, and a brand-new combat style intended to return some flexibility to rotations and individuality that has suffered at the hands of homogenisation.
English (US)