It’s been almost a decade since a realm was reborn inFinal Fantasy 14, and asEndwalkerapproaches the tail end of its content cycle, producer Naoki Yoshida contemplates a potential level squish in the game’s near future. Considering how the level squish inWorld of Warcraftreinvigorated its cumbersome leveling process, it makes sense that Square Enix would at the very least want to weigh its benefits. When thenextFinal Fantasy 14expansioninevitably launches in 2024, players will be able to reach Level 100, and though progression feels smooth inEndwalker, it’s a huge undertaking for newcomers to catch up to current content.
Of course,World of WarcraftandFinal Fantasy 14are two largely different games despite belonging to the same genre. The focus on story makes the leveling experience inFinal Fantasy 14linear and relaxing. There’s no real rush to reach endgame, because the plot and its memorable cast of characters is very much an important pillar of a player’s journey. By contrast, questing inWorld of Warcraftis compartmentalized into its expansion packs, and the only barrier of entry is a character’s level.
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With therelease ofEndwalker’s Patch 6.3,Final Fantasy 14producer Naoki Yoshida held a live patch notes reading when he mentioned that the developers were having internal discussions about making level adjustments after the nextFinal Fantasy 14expansion. Specifically, the team at Square Enix wanted to know where the community stood regarding a potential level squish. It didn’t take long forFinal Fantasy 14players to make a thread on the game’s official subreddit, and the feedback has certainly shown that there are certain steps the developers could already take to make things better.
The most glaring problem with the leveling system is that manyFinal Fantasy 14jobsonly feel like they have a complete rotation several expansions in. For newcomers, this would effectively mean playing an inferior version of a class for hundreds of hours until it would unlock its iconic (or even essential) abilities. Perhaps the best example of a back-loaded job is the Dragoon, which doesn’t even get a second area-of-attack ability until Level 62. Ultimately, players believe this disparity between jobs prior to reaching the level cap hurts the game more than whether it will have a hundred levels or just fifty.
Given thatA Realm Rebornis often considered to be a great filter of sorts for new players inFinal Fantasy 14, it would make sense for Square Enix to verify that combat jobs feel complete by the time characters reach Level 50, with the expansions only further enhancing on the foundation – comparable to the jump Dragoons feel when going fromStormbloodthroughEndwalker. While Square Enix cannot commit to any major reworks during an expansion’s content cycle, the recent changes made to Paladin in Patch 6.3 show that the developers are certainly interested in modernizing and overhauling jobs to fit an ever-evolving game.
Final Fantasy 14is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.
