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STORMBLOOD DIURNAL VS NOCTURNAL PATCH
Renovations to the crafting and gathering jobs were applied across the patch cycle to improve accessibility to newcomers, removing redundant abilities and providing more information to players.
STORMBLOOD DIURNAL VS NOCTURNAL PLUS
Further, a New Game Plus mode was added, allowing players to replay certain main and side story quests. Flight became unlocked for players in A Realm Reborn areas after completing its original main story. Many quests and objectives deemed to be unnecessary have been removed from the main story quest for new players, especially in patch content for A Realm Reborn. The main story of A Realm Reborn was also given a major overhaul in the 5.3 patch. Role quests for the different combat, crafting, and gathering job teach aspects of these roles while expanding on the story and history of the First. Further providing experience points, Shadowbringers quests outside the Main Scenario Quest now scale between levels 70 and 80. Trust supports players new to or unfamiliar with online games, eliminates the wait for matching to other players when used, and provides experience points for secondary jobs. This system takes inspiration from the Gambit system in Final Fantasy XII, and the characters are programmed to take actions reflecting their personality. These companions vary based on when the dungeon occurs in the story, and have unique dialogue.
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New to Shadowbringers, players may enter dungeons using computer-controlled "Trust" companions rather than other players. They refrained from adding a new healer job in order to maintain game balance between the three existing healers. The team added a new tank job to balance the number of main and secondary tanks, and a new ranged damage dealer as one had not been added for several years. Dancer, a ranged damage-dealer, wields chakrams, drawing inspiration from real-world folk dances, with an emphasis on "encouraging allies". Gunbreaker, a tank, wields gunblades, taking inspiration from Final Fantasy VIII where these weapons first appeared. Two new jobs were added, Gunbreaker and Dancer. Resources, such as magic points, were rebalanced for ease of use. Tank jobs lost the penalty to damage while focused on holding enemy attention, based on player feedback. Maximum level increased to 80, with changes to improve flow and preserve job identity. Gameplay at large remains unchanged from Final Fantasy XIV: players interact with each other in a responsive persistent world. Main article: Final Fantasy XIV § Gameplay The third major content patch had its release delayed by two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These updates expanded the main story, added new features, and premiered secondary storylines including a crossover written by Yoko Taro that features characters and elements from Nier: Automata and the "Restoration of Ishgard", a long term campaign to rebuild the embattled nation in the aftermath of the Dragonsong War. As with its predecessors, major content patches were scheduled for every three months. By December 2019, the title had reached a cumulative total of 18 million player accounts. Shadowbringers received widespread critical and popular acclaim, particularly for its writing and focus on player accessibility. In addition to adding new areas, the expansion pack increased the level cap, debuted two character classes and two playable races, and introduced the ability to explore dungeons with non-playable "Trust" companions. Emet-Selch accompanies and tests the player character, confident despite their meddling. Several comrades accidentally trapped there join them, as well as Emet-Selch, an immortal villain who seeks to harness the First's apocalypse to restore his deity, Zodiark. Shadowbringers takes place on the First, a parallel dimension on the brink of collapse, where the player character is summoned to rescue and restore the world. It released as a standalone product for current players for new players, the "Complete Edition", originally launched with Heavensward, was updated to include all available expansions. As before, Naoki Yoshida served as director and producer and Masayoshi Soken composed the soundtrack. It was released on July 2, 2019, two years after Stormblood. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is the third expansion pack to Final Fantasy XIV, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix for macOS, PlayStation 4, and Windows.
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