Last week, I had a nasty surprise on Monday morning. I went to log into Final Fantasy XIV, like I do every morning before work—and I couldn’t.
I had no one to blame but myself; I’d known there was maintenance coming, but I hadn’t been reading the handy notes that Square Enix had been putting up every time I logged in.
They tried to warn me; I just wasn’t having any of it.
Instead of the maintenance being from roughly 9 p.m. until a weird time of the morning, like I’d gotten used to, it was actually a 24-hour maintenance that had me locked out of my morning routine and hoping my poor little jute plants wouldn’t die.
By the time it was all finished, I was well-versed in the preliminary patch notes and raring to go. I had gotten myself completely hyped up; this patch was designed to be the prelude to a brand-new expansion, and I’ve never experienced an MMO expansion before. There were so many things to see!
So now that I’ve had a week to play around with the 4.4 patch, here are some of my favourite parts of it so far!
The tomestone emote
A few weeks ago, I had a look at the FFXIV Companion App and some of the goodies you get in-game for registering it.
4.4 added a few new things to that list of goodies, including the Tomestone emote.
You unlock it for free just for having the app registered to your account—and it doesn’t have to be the paid version, because goodness knows I don’t have that!
The character you connect it to will get this new emote in General down near the bottom, and when you execute it, they’ll literally just pull out what looks like an iPhone in a case that looks like an Allagan tomestone of poetics, and will poke at it excitedly.
It’s just so hilarious, and I love it so much!
Bonus: If you read the action phrase for it, it brings back sad memories of Magikarps splashing around and accomplishing nothing.
The alarm function
Before I discovered Garland Tools, which is super handy for timed gathering nodes, I spent a looong time researching the possibility of setting alarms in-game for those nodes. I kept missing the Grade 3 Thanalan topsoil, and it drove me crazy!
Back then, the only way to set those alarms was to use a third-party app or website, which could get annoying with only one monitor.
BUT NOW
The new game alarm in FFXIV, which you can find in the Actions menu in Extras (right beside Group Pose) means you can actually set those alarms within the game. It looks like you can set it up for just about anything; when to go check on your chocobo in its stable, when to check your retainers, when you check nodes. The possibilities are endless!
It also looks like you can pick to set it by local time, server time, or Eorzea time (which is handy if you want to set alarms to let you know when you have to go do something IRL), set it to repeat, and even set little reminders for it.
The only downside? The alarm’s memory gets wiped when you log out of the game, and you have to set them up again the next time you log in. This makes sense, because who knows how long you’ll be out of game, but still.
The new furniture
There was a lot of new furniture released in 4.4, and to be honest, I still don’t know where a lot of it comes from. Even Reddit didn’t know when I checked.
But some of it is craftable, and it’s pretty neat!
The mahogany bunk bed strikes a particularly nostalgic chord with me, because I had a bunk bed when I was a kid and would always build forts out of it by tucking blankets in under the top bunk’s mattress.
The real favourite here? The imitation shuttered windows.
I’m not going to go making a pile of them for my own house, but I love the fact that they got released because previously, the only way to get interior windows (other than the tiny ones included in your house) was to get imitation square windows.
Those are a level 70 carpenter recipe, and usually go for upwards of 100k on the marketboard on my server.
By comparison, the new windows are a level 51 carpenter recipe, and although they’re a bit smaller than the square windows, they’re a really nice way to make a bright interior more accessible for crafters.
Plus, they look like they’d fit perfectly into a classic Italian villa look!
The new glam
I am nothing if not a fan of cozy outfits. If I can get away with a pair of leggings and a sweater, I’m going to.
And if I can’t, I’m probably going to try anyway.
The newest glam, the Whisperfine set, looks like one of the coziest sets I’ve seen in-game so far!
The jacket essentially looks like every dream I had of finding the perfect wool coat a few years ago, with a little turtleneck peeking out the top. The skirt for ladies comes with the warmest-looking Nordic patterned socks I’ve ever seen.
And the boots? Well, they’re basically Uggs. Basic af.
I can’t make them yet because it seems the requisite materials come from the new treasure dungeon, but that’s okay! Eventually I shall have my Uggs.
So those are my favourite parts about 4.4 so far! You’ll probably notice I didn’t really mention any of the new dungeons—as a main crafter, I haven’t really gotten into them yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
YOUR TURN
One thought on “What I think of Patch 4.4 so far”
Sadly I have not even dabbled in this patch yet thanks to morning sickness (yay?) and I’ve only had my bf log into my character to save the house lol but I’ve seen lots of screenshots on my characters Instagram of all the new and headache inducing fights I’m not ready to heal 😂!